The Final Countdown

Hello all!

            It is so hard to believe that this was our last full day in the beautiful country of Haiti. This entire trip has been nothing short of amazing, and we are all very sad to know it is coming to an end.

           

         We woke up this morning and had our daily team devotional where we read and talked about Romans 10, which challenged us to gain zeal for our everlasting God. We then loaded up on our bus and headed into the community to experience “a day in the life of a Haitian.” We split into three separate groups at three separate households, and were put to work right away: doing dishes, sweeping the floor, cooking lunch, and fetching water. It was quite an amazing and eye opening experience to say the least! It was so incredible to see how generous all of the families were as they welcomed each of us into their homes with open arms. We all enjoyed a Haitian culinary masterpiece for lunch that we helped prepare at each home. Eventually, our time with the amazing families had come to an end and we all loaded back on the buses to return to the Guest House, even though we all wanted to stay there all day long.

            

        After enjoying a second very delicious lunch at the Guest House, we all headed back to the bus to go visit a local hospital located in Bohoc’s neighboring town called Pignon. We of course jammed out to our favorite Haitian music the entire bus ride, complete with a few air guitar and flute solos thrown in for dramatic effect. Hey, go big or go home, right? We finally arrived at the hospital and were given a short tour of the facility. We then headed back into Bohoc to visit the Souvenir Market the people of the community had set up for us. After some intense haggling and a lot of stress, we all managed to walk away with some beautiful items.

            We then headed back to the Kris Sel Espwa to play with the children one last time. The boys quickly formed into two teams to play a game of futbol while the girls found some younger children to entertain. Even though there weren’t many children there, we made the best of our last day and had an amazing time bonding with the beautiful Haitian children. When it was time to leave, it was extremely hard for all of us to say goodbye to the children we had all come to know and love. It finally hit us that we were about to come back home.

           

            It is hard to put our incredible experiences we had this week into words. God has shown us his immense Glory in so many ways here in Haiti, and we all feel so blessed to be a part of this team. Please pray for our safe travel back home, we can’t wait to see you all!

Bonswa for one last time,

Rachel and Taylor S. 

Bon Fet (Happy Birthday)

Sak pase, friends?!

We are all getting used to the sound of roosters waking us up bright and early! Breakfast was served at 7am and as usual it was delicious! We had eggs, freshly baked bread, and juicy pineapple. Oh how we will miss this food when we return to the States!

Our devotion this morning came from 2 Timothy 4. In this passage, Paul’s clock is winding down and he gives Timothy his own version of the halftime speech. Paul has challenged Timothy to continue teaching the Gospel, to endure suffering, and he ends verse 5 by saying, “fully carry out the ministry God has given you.” This spoke to us, urging our team to not only be intentional with our words, but with our actions as well. It is our goal to pour out our hearts to the people of Haiti so that we leave greater room for God to impact their lives.

This morning we made many house visits to members of the Bohoc community. It was very exciting for our team to finally see the inside of the homes we’ve been passing all week. The families were all so inspiring and each had a different story to tell. From the woman who is living each day by prayer alone, to the new mother who is trying to find her way to Christ again. Then there was the 100+ year old “father” of the community. Boy, did he have a story to tell! He has seen four generations of his family, has no regrets for his life, and stated that he “can’t wait to go home to the Lord.”

We returned to the Guest House and enjoyed one of our favorite meals. Everyone loved the rice, fried plantains, chicken, some sort of pasta, and the always appreciated Coke!

This afternoon, we returned to the Wisdom Club. Many of us were excited to see the same children we worked with yesterday. We discussed homophones and then enjoyed one on one conversation, sharing favorite bible stories, customs of American culture, and hearing prayer requests. We ended in prayer and song, then said our goodbyes to these wonderful people.

Dinner tonight was a lasagna dish, an unknown yummy green vegetable, and cheese and crackers. We have grown very close to one of our translators, named Wilnot, and after dinner we were surprised when his band, “Christian Brothers,” came to perform for us. We gathered on the second level balcony and listened with much anticipation as they sang their first song in Creole…Happy Birthday! Today, our wonderful teammate Scott turned 22! They continued on and sang five more beautiful songs, Accapella style. Even though we don’t speak the same language, we understood their passion as we worship the same God.  

After “Christian Brothers’” fantastic performance, the celebration continued downstairs. Hannah and Jason coordinated a birthday cake surprise, not only for Scott, but also for Jedlain, our 410 Bridge team leader whose birthday is tomorrow. Jedlain has really touched all of us this week so we wanted to do something special for him as well. Both he and Scott were very appreciative of the cakes and we all enjoyed an impromptu Haitian birthday party!

We are all looking forward to tomorrow’s activities, but we are sad that it is our last full day in Bohoc.

With love,

Jessica and Abby 

Our Part in a Bigger Story...

Hiiii!

We started our day with a yummy breakfast of pancakes and papaya. Everything here has been homemade (including the peanut butter), so the food has been nothing short of amazing. Our devotion this morning was pretty fitting to discuss during this particular time of the trip. We discussed the story of Rahab and how her life early on did not seem significant, but you have to follow her entire life story to understand the significance of her life. This allowed each of us to reflect on the fact that each of us are a small part in a much bigger story and that we may never realize our impact here in Haiti, but the effects of our actions will last in this community for a lifetime.

 Once we got on the road this morning, we headed to a community nursery to assist in the preparation of planting coffee trees. This was a detour from our normal itinerary, but was a pleasant one. Everyone had to get down and dirty by mixing donkey dung and soil together with our hands. We put this mixture into little plastic baggies that the coffee seeds will be placed in. This was such a fun activity! Older children came over to watch and music came up in conversation, which was followed by everyone’s best rendition of “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman. We closed in a powerful prayer and a visit to a charcoal maker’s house to see how that is done (this is something that was discussed in great detail throughout the morning).

Lunch consisted of lasagna, chicken, mango, and an unknown vegetable that tastes like a combination of carrot and potato and grows in a tree. We still haven’t figured this one out, but have been told it does not grown in the States. Everyone took some quiet time for themselves after lunch, so that we were all well rested for our afternoon activity.

We hopped back on the bus after resting and took off to the “Wisdom Club.” This is a club made up of older kids that are already experienced in English and want to learn more. We each were able to have one on one time with a student. After our debrief with each other, we learned that each conversation consisted of talk of the Bible, Christianity, church, and Jesus. This was so rewarding to hear!

We ended our time at the “Wisdom Club” by singing “10,000 Reasons” once again. What a powerful song! One of the children (Elzar) rode back with us and sang “Lord I lift Your name on high, Lord I love to sing Your praises.” She had a beautiful voice and had the whole bus singing along with her.

Dinner was a yummy beef noodle soup and homemade bread. Seriously can’t get enough of the bread! Our debrief as we mentioned before was very uplifting. After the debrief, Hannah and Jason passed out letters to each of the team members that close family and friends had sent to them. This was a great pick-me up to get us through our last few days here as we are all far away from home. It was a beautiful reminder of why each of us feels called to be here. Thank you so much to those of you that wrote! That meant the world to us.

God is doing great things in and through us here, and we can’t wait to share more of this with all of you upon our return. Keep praying for us and for the people of Haiti.

Bondye beni ou! (God Bless You)

Rebecca & Hannah R.

Hide yo' kids, hide yo' goats

Alo from the guesthouse in Bohoc! Last night we experienced three blackouts, but it turned out to be a blessing as the team went outside and star gazed while enjoying the cool air. When we woke up the electricity was back on and we enjoyed a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, toast, and oatmeal. The food is so delicious and we can never say ‘mesi’ enough to the kitchen staff.

During our devotions today, we talked about how Jesus always took the harder path because it was the right thing to do.  This really inspired us today! After devotions we headed into the village to widen a road. Our Haitian leader told us that it is important to widen the road because it allows the citizens to drive through the road easier in case of emergencies. Before they began to widen the road, many people would die in their homes because they could not drive to the hospitals. The roads are fenced with cactuses so to widen the road, we chopped down the cactuses and re-planted them a few feet back. The Haitians were working hard while praising the Lord for allowing their community to work together towards this goal. It was very moving. We popped a tire on our way to the site, so while we were working on the road our driver was getting the tire fixed but when we were finished, the tire wasn’t quite ready. We walked about three minutes back to the main road where to Rhian’s excitement we passed by five goats. We were all so impressed that the tire was being pumped by an air pump that we would normally use to pump bicycles and basketballs.

After the tire was fixed and was put back on the bus, we drove back to the guesthouse for lunch. Here in Haiti, lunch is the larger meal of the day and today was no exception. We ate beef, mango, rice and beans. We went back to the Kris Sel Espwa to play again with the kids. Some of us enjoyed a perfect moment of singing ‘Father Abraham’ in Creole while it began to rain. After the song ended, we ran to shelter in the school. The kids all had fun sticking their hands and tongues out to catch the cold rain. We left the school before the roads became too muddy. We went back to the guesthouse for dinner. After dinner, we had our devotions and shared our favorite moments for the day.

Right now, most of the team is hanging out in a common room playing Apples to Apples, mafia, and listening to Pitch Perfect songs. Life is good and God is good.

Bon nwi,

Hannah F. and Rhian (who wishes to give a shout out to her momma) 

Our first full day in Bohoc!

Our first full day in Bohoc was nothing short of incredible!

We started off our day with an early 7 am breakfast (the food has been amazing), followed by a brief devotional.  In our devotional, we discussed the story of Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4:1-27) and also stressed the importance of going deeper into our relationships with each other, the community leaders, our group leader / driver/ translator and the kids we just can’t stop playing with.

After our devotional, we headed out to one of the local middle schools to help some of the children learn English.  The specific students we worked with are getting ready to take their national exams so they were eager to continue learning the language.  We’re all amazed by the students’ enthusiasm to learn and their desire to soak up knowledge. 

After our English lessons, we headed to the center of town to take a quick peak at the weekly market.  It was slammed with locals who were out selling rice and grains, vegetables, fruits, livestock, shoes, clothes and other knickknacks.  We were also able to see one of the local witch doctors who were selling their voodoo treatments.  Witch doctors are on the decline in Haiti, and specifically Bohoc, as more people see the incredible work that Christ is doing in this community (and throughout the country).

A quick visit back to the guest house for lunch and then we were back on the road to central Bohoc, this time for some relational activities at the Kris Sel Espwa (i.e. fun with kids).  Upon arrival, the children greeted us with a beautiful song and we reciprocated by performing our best version of “Father Abraham.”  We then spent the next two hours playing soccer, duck-duck-goose, Little Sally Walker, red-light green-light and many other games. 

We headed back to the guesthouse and finished up the afternoon by playing with the increasing number of kids that have been hanging out around our house (yes we’re all completely worn out).  Another incredible dinner and we finished off the night with a debrief.  Our debrief lasted almost two hours and included a few incredible testimonies, a discussion on our highs from the day and multiple screams as some rather large creatures flew in and around the heads of the team members.

God’s hand has been at work for each of us on this trip, all in different ways.  We’re excited to see what He has in store for us the rest of the trip and hope that we continue to give back to the Haitians as much as they’ve given to us thus far.  

Joe, Scott, & Jason

Bohoc "Beautiful Rock"

Bon nwi! (I wish you could hear our attempts at Creole).

We have officially arrived in Bohoc! After a delicious breakfast and devotional (and waking up to the sound of roosters outside) we headed out around 8:30 this morning. After a long, but beautiful, drive through the mountains and various communities (and a scare that our bus broke down but thankfully was just a broken AC belt) we got to Bohoc just in time for lunch. The outreach house staff prepared fried chicken, vegetables, rice, fried plantains, and the freshest papaya we have ever had! It was delicious.

After lunch Jason, Scott, and Joe started a “futbol” game with some Haitian boys who were hanging around our guest house. This attracted more children and teens and pretty soon there was a crowd full. We began to talk to them as some of them knew a little English and we attempted the little bit of Creole that we know. Their smiles were so contagious and we were all having so much fun despite the language barrier. The younger children loved piggy back rides and it was so humbling when they said they wanted to play “Duck Duck Goose”, a game we had all grown up playing and something we had in common with the kids.

We then headed off to meet with the members of the leadership counsel for 410 Bridge here in Bohoc. We met in a pavilion outside of another guest house. Jedlain translated for us. They each (there were five men and two women) introduced themselves and welcomed us to their country and community. They told us that we can consider Haiti our second home and really made us feel loved and welcome! We asked them questions and they told us some of the problems they have been having in Bohoc, the main problem being the water systems and lack of clean drinking water. We talked about plans to work towards better conditions concerning these problems and then asked if they had any questions to ask us. They started smiling and got very excited! They asked what lead us to Haiti and why we felt compelled to come help. Our conversation continued for about an hour and then we headed back on the bus for a tour of the water systems.

We drove for a few minutes and got back off a little ways down the road. Jedlain led us through and down a path that is taken multiple times a day by the members of the community to get water. When we go to the bottom there were a few women collecting water, one washing a pan, and another washing some clothes. Jedlain showed us what they needed to fix and said that the water was not safe to drink and that 80% of children contract malaria and typhoid from drinking this water. We walked back up through the path and went to another part of the community where there were two water pumps that pumped water from the spring but one was broken. Some boys followed us as we made our way down and we ended up having some neat conversations with them! It was really neat to look around and see nothing but land and mountains.

After that we came back to the guest house where we are staying. We got to play with the children some more who were waiting on us when we got back! Dinner was served and was once again delicious. It was some sort of soup with chicken, potatoes, dumplings, papaya (maybe), and possibly some other stuff but it was SO GOOD! They also served bread which of course was so fresh and obviously had just been baked.

After dinner we gathered in a living area near the kitchen and each named our favorite part of the day. Then we went over a song that we plan to teach at a school in the morning.

We'd like to end off tonight with a bible verse from our devotional this morning that really impacted our day! It is Paul telling about his living situations while in prison.

Philippians 4:12- “I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Bondye beni ou! (God bless)

Kayla and Taylor H.

We've Arrived!

Alo!

We have officially arrived in Haiti. As a team, we have been stressing the importance of being flexible. We experienced that from the start today when we were faced with a slightly delayed flight. Three hours later, we had safely landed in Port-au-Prince.

After a quick jaunt through customs, we were joyfully welcomed by our Haitian leader, Jedlain, and another 410 Bridge representative, Ronald. We were able to briefly see the city of Port-au-Prince as we made our way to Cabaret, where we are currently staying for the night.

The roads were bumpy, the temperature was hot and we witnessed living conditions that most people in our group have not experienced. However, the spirit of the people we have come in contact with has been uplifting and contagious. We are all so happy to be here!

A couple highlights so far:
- Today is Flag Day in Haiti, and we were lucky enough to share in this holiday by experiencing a local parade in front of our house right before dinner.
- The President of Haiti and his motorcade drove by us twice during our drive through Port-au-Prince. How cool?! Not quite the same security measures we are used to though.
- We experienced our first blackout at the house tonight. We were amazed how calm the city was during the few minutes we sat in complete darkness. If this had happened back home, everyone's reactions would have been a lot more dramatic. How peaceful it is down here!

We would like to leave you tonight with the Bible verse from today's team devotion as well as a picture of the sunset from our house.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Philippians 2: 3-4

Off to Bohoc tomorrow we go! Can't wait to share more of what the Lord's doing on this journey.

Bon nwi!

Jason & Hannah