Fowler Day 6 & 7…

Day 6 –

Greetings everyone,

It’s honestly hard to know where to begin with these types of posts. Reason being is that there have been so many incredible moments thus far that its nearly impossible to share all the small details. One of the many ministry activities that we have worked on this week is something called Hut-to-Hut. We have visited different villages throughout the greater area of the Mole. This has lead to opportunities sharing Christ’s love to others showing that the light of Christ will always shine brighter than the darkness and that the darkness shall not and will not over come it. We are reminded of this in John chapter 1:4-5. We have prayed for the lost, the broken and the weary. Our prayer is that this very light we read about, that the Prince of Peace will meet them exactly where they are.

This trip has reminded me that we are all simply brothers and sisters in Christ, and that we all have a father that loves us. We must never under estimate the power of our faith and how much of an impact it can have on someone looking for Christ. “We don’t control the wind or the weather our ship is sailing in. The good news is we do control our rudder. Point it at Jesus and let his grace lead you onward and upward” – Jeremy Riddle.

Blessings from the Mole,

Seth Carncross

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Day 7 – final day

Bonswa from our last full day in the Mole! Remembering that this is our last full day is so bittersweet- if any of you know me you know the trip was fulfilling in my heart in so many ways, but came at a stressful time. However, it is SO much easier to leave knowing I’ll be returning in about 7 weeks!

This morning our team had an early wake-up call to travel to a nearby village, Kapafu, which is about 40 minutes by boat almost straight across from the Mole. Teams I have traveled with in the past have traveled to Kapafu, however somehow in my time here I have never been! I 10/10 would recommend making the trip. We were up so early we saw the sunrise on the beach waiting for our two boats. We loaded both of them full with 11 Americans, the Epstein parents (Lauren and Matt), and two Haitian mission staff members that functioned as our translators, as well as Mama Gigi and Benna.

Additionally, on the way there we loaded 50+ bags of rice and beans, and two full water coolers to leave in the village. Usually we don’t hand out food and water, but Kapafu goes without both often and the translators did a good job of explaining that the blessing came from God, not the Americans. The water was clear all the way through the ride and Addison made the comment that we went on a ‘Caribbean Cruise’. When we got there, the village was extremely compact. Houses were on top of each other, and there were probably around 40 of them total. The mayor’s house was right at the entrance, so we asked her to gather around the people who were in the area.

We began by singing some Haitian worship songs led by Mama Gigi, then introduced ourselves and said a few words about how glad we were to meet them. After that, Sandi told the story of Job and how he struggled for so long and cried to God for help. She had one of our translators read a lot of the scripture aloud, and explained how even though Job suffered and doubted God, in the end, God provided for him. She explained that it might seem easy for us as Americans to trust God as He provides food and water for us, and it might be tougher for them when they have no clean water or food. However, she encouraged them to trust Him anyway. After this, we played a few games like hot potato and limbo, and then allowed the mayor to help us distribute the bags of food so that houses got the appropriate amount for the people living there. I spent most of my time in the village holding a one month old baby named David, who was SO precious (even though he ended up peeing on me). His mom was so sweet to let Sandi and I hold him most of the time and I was extremely temped to kidnap him on the boat to take home with me.

When we got back from Kapafu, we ate lunch and had market day directly after. This is when different vendors from the town come into campus and sell us things like bracelets, baskets, Haitian coffee, etc. Even though this is my 5/6^th market day, I still ended up buying a few things and my dad ended up purchasing something from every vendor- gifts for the boys, a few painted fish for our cottage, etc.

After this, we had a big chunk of spilt time- some of us spent a little time with the orphans, played cards or took a break to pack our things. I spent some of this time finishing up taking individual pictures of the kids to update their personal sponsorship pages! Around three, we took the boys from campus to the beach to swim for an hour, and then came back and switched to take the girls.

My dad, Jerry, has become good pals with WoodJerry, who is the youngest kid in the orphanage. Woodjerry was his little buddy at the beach and came to the gate with a little bear. When my dad asked Susan to tell him to put it back, he replied “I want to take my bear swimming with me” and that was possibly one of the cutest things ever! He played with it for a while and then hung out in my dad and I’s arms sleepy and teeth chattering from the water.

During beach day, Lauren and Matt hosted a marriage class and a few of the couples traveling attended that. After we got back from both beach trips, we had about an hour before dinner and split to finish packing and shower. Dinner was at 6, and directly after we had a movie night for the orphans and some kids that live on campus. We watched Hop in French so the kiddos can understand and with English subtitles to get us Americans through. Chloe and Addison spent time making enough popcorn for all the kids, and Emma even sent each one home with a ring pop (Thank you Mrs Reenders!!).

Following the movie night, our team ended the trip as we have in the past, doing a prayer walk through the campus. We each assign ourselves a portion of the campus to pray over and do a complete walk through, praying for the staff housing, the missionaries, the church, the orphanage, the clinic, and various other parts of the mission campus here. After this we headed to bed as we will be up early tomorrow again to begin our journey home!

Each trip here proves to be so fulfilling in many ways, both old and new. I’m excited to start our travel back but so sad to leave all of the friends I’ve gotten to know here! However, this trip was especially special getting to share it with my dad and introduce him to the place and people I’ve come to love! Sorry for the long blog- I guess that’s what you get when a communication major gives a day recap. Thanks for all the love and comments coming our way! Our team loves hearing from all of you!!

Much love (and probably many tears tomorrow),

Abbey

PS: @rachel lau if you’re reading this, thank you for your sweet encouraging comment! I’ve never received a personal comment on a trip before and my face lit up and I teared up when it was read aloud last night. See you so soon- praying for good weather for all of you tomorrow!! XO