DAY 5 RECAP
Hey everyone! Drew here! It was a long day/night so they wanted someone who talks a lot to try and recap it all!
Our morning started out busy with all 3 of our programs running full speed! Mason, Cole, and In were helping Jose load SIX HUNDRED concrete bricks onto a truck in town and unload them back at the Mole! It took 3 trips, and let me tell ya, we were moving a bit slower towards the end and our backs were a bit tighter!
While that was happening, Elizabeth had an awesome VBS teaching over the fruits of the spirit! The kids seemed to love it! They even had a whole song and dance prepared to teach the kids! I was in the room just in time to capture all of it and I was smiling ear to ear behind the camera!
Last but certainly not least, Katie, Hope, Shy, Alexis, and Brad worked in the pharmacy and clinic! Brad, Hope, Shy, and Alexis took on the enormous task of sorting hundreds and hundreds AND HUNDREDS of pills. The work in there is far from over, but they put a dent in it today! Katie was manning the nurses station with a thermometer in one hand, arm cuff in the other, and a smile on her face as she greeted the incoming patients and practiced her Creole with the translators by her side!
I had the opportunity to float around all three groups today and see how much joy they worked with and it was super encouraging for me to see that! I got clips of everyone in actions and hopefully y’all will be able to see them soon so you can know more about what the Mole is like!
Today was the last day of VBS and it was a blast watching all the kids run in with smiles on their face ready to learn about the Lord! They learned everything from how Jesus calmed the storm, to Peter walking on water and leaning to trust, to all 9 fruits of the spirit and what they mean!
After lunch was full fledged prep time! As I am typing this it is 3:30 in the morning during our locking, and in order to make that the success it has seemed to be we were all hands on deck making todays breakfast, filling goodie bags with candy, popping popcorn, and decorating the church for all of the days festivities!
All the time spent prepping was worth it as we saw kid after kid laughing with their friends and enjoying a hot meal and snacks throughout the night!
TIME FOR OUR ALL NIGHT LOCK-IN
Before you know it 5pm was here and it was go time! Our lock in was Avengers themed (I’m watching the French version of Endgame has I’m writing this) so we divided the 60+ kids up into teams with Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man! We headed outside where we had a WILD team chant off with flags, and wow, that was a BLAST! It was super cool to watch people who don’t speak the same language come together for a common goal!
Somehow we were able to direct that pure adrenaline and energy into a game of capture the flag! It was a bit of a mess because the teams were big, but with the help of strategy, sneakiness, and a bit of luck team Captain America and Team Iron Man came out victorious!
After the flags were captured we went into a team building game where each team were tasked with building a structure of some sort with one of two goals in mind…make it the best looking, or make it the strongest! Or both! People say those things don’t usually come together, but most people haven’t met me…lol.
We all settled back down to watch Infinity Wars and munch on sone snacks! I have never seen that movie in its entirety, and I would probably still say I haven’t because watching it in French put a bit of a twist on things!
Once the last stone was captured by Thanos we headed back outside for our last round of games! We tied the Avengers theme into a hide and seek sort of activity where there was 6 people hiding around a certain area of the Mole with different color beads and the kids job was to find all 6 and the first person to do so won! I had the task of hiding the orange one and I found one one of the greatest hiding spots I could have (I can’t tell you cause that would give away my secret)! Eventually the kids found me because of course…I was being a bit too loud…
Last bit possibly the most fun part of the night was our dance party! We had a freestyle contest with the kids where each team picked their best 3 dancers and they each got 30 seconds to show us what they had, and man, THEY HAD IT. THESE KIDS CAN DANCE. There were some awesome shots that came out of it!
Shy and a few others followed that up by teaching the kids how to do. The Footloose line dance, which ended in many of them joining in and an all around good time! Then of course, what’s a dance party without a final dance circle?! People slowly started circling around and before I knew it I was in the middle of all of it! One after another kids came to the middle and let loose! It was a ton of fun, but like always, it had to come to an end.
We all wondered back inside and settled down for Endgame, handed out popcorn and cookies and that’s where we sit now!
From a very sleepy Mole, God bless and goodnight!
***
DAY 6 RECAP
Hello world it is me Claire and Elizabeth, today started out as a restful day because we stayed up all night for the lock-in. Going to sleep around 6, we got to start our day with a wonderful 6 hour nap. We woke up around 12 even though some people got up a little earlier or a little later. Sleeping in the midday Haiti heat wouldn’t be our first choice for a post Lock-in refresher, but it got us all rested up for the later adventures to come.
We continued our day with lunch, rice and beans with something on top, most of us have resorted to not asking questions and showing back up to the wonderful kitchen staff with empty plates and a big smile. After we fueled up, we hit the mile walk to Karenage, greeted by familiar Lubbock winds and super-hot sun, the only difference was the buckets of sweat from the humidity. Saying bonswa, which is creole for good afternoon, as we passed lots of people, we eventually reached the outskirts of town.
We got to check out a fort that was built in the 1400’s that the Haitians used to defend themselves against Christopher Columbus. The forts architecture was very impressive considering the fact that it was built so long ago!!! We also explored a small plane that had crashed on the island in the past few years.
Once we reached Karenage, we quickly headed out for hut to hut, which is where we walk around and meet different families. We offer prayer to them and gather the children in the center of town to play games like hot potato and have dance parties. Most of the group stayed in the center of town and colored pictures that we had left over from a few of the VBS’s throughout the week, painted nails while we perfect how to say our creole colors, and blew bubbles with the younger children. Hope, Mason, Cole, and Brad went off with some of the older kids to go play long game of 7 on 7 soccer that had them winded afterward.
Once we finished up with our activities, we decided to walk them back to their houses and pray over their families if they would like. Claire was busy hanging out with a kiddo that didn’t want to leave her alone, meanwhile I was also stuck with two lovely girls that would not let go of my very sweaty hands, even though I enjoyed every moment with those precious girls. I got the opportunity to walk them the pretty lengthy walk back to their house with their momma, and they wanted Immanuel and I to pray for them, and so we did. Immanuel and I then had to hurry back to catch the group after taking our detour to drop off the little ladies. Okay, back to third person so y’all can’t tell if Claire or I are the one typing (:
On the way back from Karenage, most of us headed back to the beach. The beaches here are beautiful the water is so blue and the sand is so white. Maddi, Kate, Brad, Joel, Shy, Katie, Al, and I (Claire) swam around in the ocean and Courtney tried to see how far she could swim towards Cuba. Alexis and Drew sat on the beach, Drew wore long sleeves and thankfully he still has not got sunburnt. When they broke off, Hope, Cole, Mason, and I (Elizabeth) went and played some basketball and soccer downtown. We got the chance to talk to some older and younger people, which was really fun for everyone involved.
Once we got back, we regrouped over dinner and chit chatted about our full day of activities. We sat down for a short devo from Shy and Alexis about expectation vs. reality, which was really eye opening to hear about their expectations of Haiti and how reality actually ended up. We assigned everything for the Easter party tomorrow, stay tuned for more details on that! To finish up our night, a bunch of the girls are getting our hair braided by the staff on campus. Super excited and pictures to come!!
From Claire: Hi Mom, Dad, Thomas, and Cara I miss y’all!! <3 Cara don’t worry I brought a different pillow so I am surviving.
From Elizabeth: Hi Mom, Dad, and KARA, not Cara, sorry Cara but Kara is my sister and I don’t know you. Hope everything is well back home and I miss y’all lots. To everyone reading, thanks for keeping up with our Haiti trip, it really means a lot (:
Please feel free to leave comments! Comments will be read each night at dinner!
Drew- I miss you sooooo much! But I am SO glad you’re having such a great time with the kiddos and showing them the love of Jesus! That makes my heart so so happy!
Love ya lots!
G
Great pics! Thank you for the awesome ministry you are doing!
Hey guys, so glad so see everything is going well! Claire, I love you, and I am so proud of you! I can’t wait to see you and hear more about the trip!
WOWZERS! Ya’ll are doing a m a z i n g things in Haiti. So thankful the lock-in and vbs went so well. Kuddos to the strong men in the group, Mason, Cole and Drew for moving 600 bricks. Katie, Hope, Shy, Alexis, and Brad way to serve in the pharmacy. The dance party sounds so fun! Shy, teach me that footloose dance when you return. Thankful hut to hut was a success and ya’ll got to pray over families, what blessing for them. Very grateful Courtney didn’t swim to Cuba. I am excited to see ya’lls hair braids, too bad Al can’t get a hair braid. Keep up the wonderful Kingdom work in Haiti! So proud of you all, God is using you in mighty ways! Love you all! P.S. Seeing the pictures is a great visual story of the work your doing, really enjoy seeing them and enjoying the blogs, thank you for keeping us in the loop.
Love you two have sisters with the “same” name!
Remember to ENJOY every minute of your last few days. Before you know it, they will be sweet memories!
Love you kiddo!!
You all look like you are having a wonderful time while serving. Praying the rest of your trip continues to be lovely. (Kate–any chance you are getting some photos, too? Love you! Mom)
Hi Cole! I am so happy to see all of the great pictures and read about your week! Such a blessing for you and the children! We miss you! Mom, Michelle, Lora, Jake & Gandalf.
I have loved following you guys on your amazing trip! My low of each day is knowing that the sweet people of Haiti live such difficult lives and my high of each day is receiving the Tech team posts and the text messages, photos and videos from Katie showing me the love that you are all sharing.
You all have all been such an inspiration to us back home! I have shared videos/photos and stories to Katie’s extended family and her aunt immediately signed up for volunteer activities in her home town. My husband, Gene, is a dentist, and over the last few days, he has been exploring dental mission trips to Haiti. Katie, you may just need to show me and your daddy the ropes in Haiti!
Thank you all for inspiring us all. You have sparked many lights! God bless you and safe travels tomorrow. 🙂
Betsy and Gene Omeis
Courtney- Love that you’re having such a wonderful experience serving and sharing God’s love! I hope your attempted swim to Cuba means the ankle is doing ok. So many here at home are following along with the fantastic work y’all are doing. Very proud of you all! Love, Momma & the bros.
Hi Brad! Hope you are doing well! We have been enjoying the updates and pictures. We are so proud of what you and the Wesley team are doing in Haiti. Have a safe journey back to Lubbock. See you soon!
Love,
Mom, Dad and Laura