Hi everyone! This is Joel Buford from The Wesley Foundation at Texas Tech. I wanted to take a few minutes to keep y’all in the loop with what is happening here at the mission in Mole St. Nicolas.
This morning we started with Brad leading a devotion he had prepared, in which he wove John 6:65-69 into his current life. We followed this with a hearty breakfast of biscuits and eggs before splitting the team into three to send out.
One team stayed here, in the mission, to continue painting the wall of the playroom, but quickly adapted when a part of the fence needed repair.
The other two groups, mine included, made the 30-minute hike to Karnage, the nearest fishing village, to play soccer, lead VBS and bond with the new pastor, whom was called by God less than a year ago to lead the people.
Upon first arriving, the kids knew exactly why we were there, but speaking through the awesome translators helped relay what we wanted them to know. I led the VBS lesson, Witchy did a tremendous job translating as we taught on the fear we experience every day. The kids seemed truly engaged, especially after we brought the crayons out! Then we said our goodbyes, after another quick game of getting absolutely crushed in soccer, and made the journey back to the mission. The kids walked with us, not leaving our side until we got to the edge of their road.
We then chowed down on some “Haitian Spaghetti” as my team had called it, which is comprised of noodles, a sweet tomato sauce, and hot dog bits, topped off with fresh onion, parsley, and peppers. This was the energy boost we needed to start the afternoon VBS in the mission grounds. I helped Al Martin, also from The Wesley Foundation, run the interactive skit.
We brought Owen to help us tell the story of Moses and the Red Sea, appointing a kid as Moses, a group as the roaring waters, a group as God’s chosen people, and of course Pharaoh and his army. We went through the whole story emphasizing that God has always delivered His people from struggle and pain, and that He does the same for us through Jesus Christ. We may not walk through an ocean or turn a stick to a snake, but will feel His love and power.
After rotating four groups of kids, we sent them all home with the promise of being here tomorrow another fun afternoon. Our team then took some time and when to the shore to test the waters and work on bonding within ourselves.
This lasted until a delicious dinner of pepperoni pizza on Haitian dough, which was truly a treat. We then journeyed back into town to round up as many people as possible to meet us in the town square to watch SING, in French of course, but we did manage to put English subtitles on. The movie was cut short by a power outage and we walked back to the mission to clean up and get ready for the early morning boat ride to Kapafu. With that I say much love from Haiti and thank you for your time and prayer! Au Revoir!
***
Hello, everyone, it’s Jared Timmerman.
The time I’ve spent here so far with everyone else has been wonderfully exciting and wonderful and I wouldn’t trade any day so far for anything else.
This past day was outstandingly remarkable because we got to begin the morning with an amazing devo Brad prepared for us. Then right after a delicious breakfast of biscuits and eggs all of the teams split up: two of the teams hiked 30 minutes to Karnage the nearest fishing village, some of my group (Kaitlyn, Alex, and Tyann) worked in the clinic while the rest of us spent the morning here in the mission painting, and when we could paint no more we got to help out fixing part of the fence.
When everyone was done with their work for the morning we all got back together for a lunch of spaghetti with hot dogs, onion parsley, and peppers. When we were mostly rested after lunch we got to go back into the VBS we started holding this week with its bible lesson, crafts, rec, and my station, the Bible skit. It was both a tiring and wonderful time because all of the kids had so much energy but it was just so great being able to spend the time with them playing, having fun, and just getting to know them.
We ran the skit on Moses and the Red Sea choosing kids to be Moses and his people, the sea, and the pharaoh and his army. We told them about how God will always make a way to save his people and will protect them from the evil trying to overtake them.
After we regrouped back at the church and said goodbye to all of the kids we all went off to do our thing; since it wasn’t our turn to do swim lessons a whole bunch of us got to go down to the beach for the rest of the afternoon and have a great time together up until dinner.
Right before dinner, I got to play with Fabi a sweet and independent little girl and I came close to missing dinner because of how insistent she was on jumping on the trampoline.
After a great dinner of Haitian style pizza and a giant moth flying into the cafeteria, we set out into town to invite everyone to see a movie. I’m glad we were able to get a great crowd together for the movie especially thanks to our translators Merry, Own and Witchy (who I was with). It was Sing but I still wish we watched Shrek.
Sadly when the power cut out during the movie we had to pack it in for the night but it was still an amazing day. I still feel like I have more love and energy to give to Haiti, I can’t wait to go to Kapafu tomorrow because there’s just so much to do. Thank all of you for your time and prayer and goodbye! Au Revoir!
**
Please leave comments. Comments will be read at dinner!
We had some issues uploading pictures…sorry for the delay. We will make sure we get more pictures of everyone for tomorrow’s blog!
BUT FIRST…A SPECIAL VIDEO…
