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Serving on a short term mission trip has been the most spiritual experience of my life. I thought I was going to Jamaica to help build a house for a family in need. We did build that house, but as it turned out that was only a small part of the mission. That short week of serving brought me closer to Christ than any other experience in my life. When I got home, I almost felt guilty because I got more out of the experience than I left in Jamaica. I soon found out this only meant that I had to go back.
Seven members of the Church of the Saviour were on a mission trip to Haiti the week before last. This trip was planned last August and September as the annual mission work from COS for the HOPE orphanage. Little did we know that on Jan 12 a major earthquake would devastate much of the country of Haiti and put our trip in jeopardy.
We were not sure if we would go right up until the last days. We needed two things to happen: 1) The Christian Service International missionaries needed to be able to host us and have productive work for us to do, (they have been working under much stress since Jan 12 and needed help, not disruption) and 2) American Airlines had to resume flights to Haiti. With our convincing of the missionaries that we would work hard to repair the HOPE orphanage, with American airlines resuming flights the day before our planned departure, and with God’s will, we spent nine days repairing walls and ceilings of the orphanage, which the orphan girls referred to as their “broken” home.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and probably in the world. Many people live in poorly constructed shacks without water or sanitation in the best of times. To put things in perspective, the homeless people of Cincinnati at the DropInn Center downtown have a life of luxury compared to much of the Haitian population.
The earth quake destroyed most of the shack type housing in the PAP area and many large structures that were not constructed to any special standards. With continuing tremors people feared living inside and tent cities developed on any available land and in the streets. Tents is a nice term for sheets, blankets or tarps hung on wooden sticks. Dirt floors, no water, no sanitation, no privacy from people or the elements.
In the midst of all this, we saw God a work. In the evenings, we could hear from the Clinic’s open windows where we stayed nightly prayer services in the community, with people gathering to pray and sing praises to the Lord. On Wednesday night we attended the praise service at the church of Esther who is one of the helpers at the Clinic. There were forty to fifty people gathered in a cinder block building whose front and back wall had been partially destroyed by the quake. A single light hung over the makeshift alter, people brought there own chairs to sit on, but they sang loud and clear the praise of the Lord for what they had. They prayed for their fellow Haitians and asked for strength to continue the healing of the country. Pastor Doug delivered a message via a translator to Creole and received many “Alleluias”. It was inspiring to see people gathered under such conditions, in a church that had no right to be actually standing, everyone praising God for what he continues to do.
Since we stayed in the Clinic which is adjacent to where the HOPE orphans are temporarily housed, we had the opportunity to visit them and hug them. They are well cared for and safe. We heard them singing in the evenings and their bright and smiling faces greeted us each day. They know God and their matrons are protecting them and raising them to be ever so grateful to churches like ours that give them support, though there is fear with every after tremor.
We visited the Church near the Clinic that previous COS mission trips had helped build. On each visit it was inspiring to see that there was always a service or Bible study happening. People are thankful for what God has done for them and they desire to learn more, despite the hardships that they face on a daily basis.
We were in Haiti on two Sundays and it is amazing how many people could be seen in white pressed shirts, beautiful dresses and skirts, ties and shining shoes, carrying Bibles. Riding in the back of pickup trucks or on the back of a bicycle, they dressed up and headed to a place of worship. Many trust in God and know his power.
The experience for me was thrilling, emotional, inspiring, sad, loving, appalling……the power of God drove us to work hard and long hours to get the orphanage back to a livable condition. We felt we made great progress and worked a team for the glory of God and for the betterment of a small part of Haiti. Toby Banks, the director of HOPE, said it best in one evening devotion, “You are like a bird building a nest one stick at a time. You can’t do it all at once.”
If you want an experience that opens all your senses and feelings and provides a physical benefit for God’s great kingdom, consider a COS mission trip to Haiti. There is plenty more work to be done. If you can’t participate personally, over 95% of the funds to CSI go directly to the field work, which is much different than many other worthy, but less efficient, charitable organizations. Think about helping our global neighbors. Thanks for your support.
"I thank my God every time I remember you." Philipians 1:3
This is the verse written on a card from the CSI clinic where we stayed for 8 nights on our trip to Haiti last week. I took the card because the pictures on it caught my eye. I read the verse thoughtfully for the first time 3 days ago. Since our return from Haiti, I’ve been catching up---getting back into the busy-ness of my life in Montgomery. I think about Haiti a great deal and when I do I think about some of the special people that I know and love. And I thank God every time I remember them.
I’d like to share their stories with you and help you see how God is at work in Haiti through them.
I was so anxious about this trip. We wanted to so badly go and help…to support our missionary and Haitian friends. But we did not want to burden them with our presence. It was a lesson in discerning God’s will and trusting that if HE wanted us there, we’d get there. On the plane from Miami to PAP, I sat next to a young Haitian man. It was his second plane ride ever. (He looked at the bag with the pillow and blanket in it and said “Is this for me?” I said yes and he asked if he could keep it. Seemed like a good idea to me, bringing an extra blanket to an earthquake ravaged country.) His first ride had been on January 12th…the day of the quake. He had left Haiti to visit family, leaving behind his pregnant wife and 2 year old daughter. It took him 6 days to make contact and find out they had survived. He was finally able to return on Feb. 20th…one day after civilian flights were resumed by AA. As we circled over PAP, he strained to look out the window. We could see some destruction downtown and thousands of blue tarps serving as shelters. He was quietly emotional, yet so thankful. He thanked me and our team for coming to help his country. His joy, rather than fear, upon returning to his country inspired me.
Vilner, our 5’4”, 125# soaking wet, strong as a bull, hard working as the Energizer bunny concrete mason. I met him in 2002. Every year since then, we’ve worked with him, trying to keep up with his effort and determination. His answer to my morning greetings, How are you? was always to point skyward, tap his heart and say “Avec Jesu!” (With Jesus in my heart.)
Vilner’s 14 year old daughter was killed during the January 12th earthquake. She had been with her family on the roof of the house and went downstairs to nap. She was crushed when the house collapsed on her. It took several days to recover her body. The house was looted. He lives now with his 2 sons, remaining daughter, and wife under a tarp with a table and a mattress within the fence of the old guesthouse in PAP. Vilner gave us all prolonged, grief-stricken hugs when we first saw him. He repeated this every day. He showed us a photograph of his daughter. He continues to work for CSI’s construction projects every day. He is still Avec Jesu and continues to draw his strength from God.
Toby Banks, with her husband, Tim, direct the HOPE Center for Orphaned Girls. They have shared their missionary story several times here at COS. They do a phenomenal job caring for the girls and guiding HOPE in its ultimate mission---to improve Haiti’s leadership from within via the girls of HOPE. After the quake, we did not know if the HOPE building could repaired. The threat of public rioting and widespread disease outbreaks was real, and to a lesser extent is still present. Tim and Toby made the painful decision to evacuate all 20 girls and their own 2 teenagers to Ohio. The humanitarian parole status for the girls was changed while they were on the bus to the airport. They were turned around and returned to the embassy where she spent the next 60 hours with the girls and her teens in a vain attempt to gain permission to leave. She and Tim then made the decision to send their children, Hannah and Isaac, back to Ohio to live with relatives so they could finish their academic years. They are sacrificing so much to live in Haiti and care for the HOPE girls, and now they are prematurely separated from all their own children. We shed “Mom tears” together as we talked about the kids.
How great a sacrifice can be made, O Lord?
Tim and Toby continue to oversee the care of the girls and the repair of the building. They are also beginning a community outreach program which will provide paying jobs and homes to their neighbors living in tent and crude shelters. The program has 4 objectives:
- Allow Haitians to maintain their dignity.
- Honor God through service.
- Building community through helping their neighbors.
- Help stimulate the local economy.
CSI is partnering with Catholic Relief Services to build small homes made of pressure treated wood and tin at a cost of $2000 each. Vilner and Remy, another long time worker, and their families will be among the first to get these homes. It is a means to distribute aid where needed, but more importantly will provide ways for Haitians to care for their families and neighbors. Caring for each other is not typically part of the Haitian culture. This program can potentially change the hearts and minds of hundreds of Haitians in Croix de Bouquets.
Junior Cineas is a 26 year old Haitian I met on a family mission trip during Christmas 2002. He was befriended and became a Christian under the tutelage of a missionary who was associated with HOPE’s early development. His father is a true voodoo witchdoctor and he never knew his mother. He completed high school and struggled to find his future, considering medical school among his options. That path was blocked because in Haiti, there is only one legitimate medical school and admission is limited to the wealthy. Junior was always self-conscious and unsure of himself. His association with missionaries and other Blancs set him apart. He sometimes endured taunting from fellow young Haitians because of this. Junior is a passionate Christian prays constantly. He prayed for God to show him His plan for his future and God answered his prayer. Junior is currently enrolled in a seminary school in northern Haiti. The school is giving him 6 months off to travel the PAP area and minister and preach to his fellow Haitians. He is modeling himself after the Apostle Paul---teaching people about Jesus and encouraging them to rely on God’s strength as they recover their lives in the midst of the destruction of the quake. He is more comfortable with himself than ever and proudly says, “I am a missionary!” He’s found that when he declares this to someone who is harassing him, the negativity stops. He has found his passion in the midst of despair. I was in awe as I listened to him describing his way of teaching strictly through talking with people and recounting Bible stories. Rather than force conversion upon people, he asks them if they want to learn about God. If yes, he asks them 4 questions as they talk:
- What do you think about the world around you and how it came to be?
- How are people different from animals?
- Do you want to know God?
- Do you want to know God’s love through Jesus?
He is traveling the cities and countryside, living in a simple tent, training others to teach in this way, and following up with his “students.” He prays for everyone he meets. Junior disdains churches that spend precious resources on fancy buildings and sound equipment. He feels that all energy should be used to reach those who are still outside the church looking in.
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have come not to call the righteous, but the sinners.” Mark 2:17
Junior told me about one of his first experiences in a refugee camp. He was recording names on a paper so that he could pray for the people. A woman questioned him---was he taking names in order to bring them aid? “No, I’m writing your name so I can pray for you.” “Oh!” she said. “That is what we need more than anything! We need you to pray for us!” There is a post-earthquake tsunami in Haiti…it is a wave of Christianity and calling out to God. Christians like Junior are boldly declaring their faith and helping others to find their strength in God. (Psalm 46)
I am humbled by this trip to Haiti, even more than previous trips. The Haitians and the missionaries have suffered and sacrificed more in the last 6 weeks that I will in 6 years. Yet, their faith, spirit, and passion for God far outshines my own. God is working through my friend on the plane, through Vilner, through Tim and Toby Banks, and through Junior to bring hope and new life out of the rubble and despair.
I promised all of them that I would pray for them---to ask God to give them peace, strength and endurance for the long roads ahead. I ask you to join me and continue to pray for them and all of Haiti.
Five years ago I made my first mission trip to Haiti.
It was a life changing experience. I came back humbled that people who had so little could be so rich in spirit.
I have been fortunate to be able to return to Haiti every year since.
When I heard on Jan 12 about the earthquake in, my heart sank. I realized that the Haiti I had come to love would be irreversibly changed.
Our mission trip this year was in serious jeopardy. The Guest House where we stay was damaged beyond repair. People were sleeping in the road outside. The orphanage was damaged. Praise the Lord the girls were unhurt, but they, and their matrons were jammed into temporary quarters at the clinic.
We wanted so much to be there to do what we could, but we also did not want to add stress to the resident missionaries.
I’ll skip the details. God had a plan. Seven of us were able to go. American Airlines resumed flights the day before we left! We got a list of things to take two days before our flight, everything from peanut butter to plumbing fittings to tents and tarps. We packed and checked fourteen totes and every-one of them made it!
From the air Haiti looked almost normal, but not for long. We deplaned through temporary facilities and linked up with our ride. We were to stay at the clinic. They just had space there for the seven of us. Like I said God had a plan! As we rode to the clinic, we saw damaged buildings and temporary shelters on the open spaces and the reality of what had happened hit home.
We were at the clinic in time for lunch. An hour later we were at HOPE finding out what we were to do. The Haitian work crew had already made amazing progress with repairs. Interior and exterior walls had been patched new columns poured to strengthen the building. Our job would be to sand the repairs, the walls and the ceilings, repaint them and reorganize the “stuff” that was stacked everywhere. Greg Benson, the CSI field director, told us his goal was to have the girls back in HOPE by mid month. Our reaction Wow! Looked pretty unlikely to us!
It may not be obvious, but I am not a young man! One shoulder is damaged beyond repair. I am scheduled to have a hip replaced at the end of the month. But amazingly God gave me the strength to sand, paint and lift for nearly 10 hours a day, every day! He did the same for all our team. We set to work with amazing gusto. We meshed beautifully. No one got mad. We shared as we went and we looked out for each other. And at the end of the week we realized that we had made amazing progress. There was still work to be done but the goal of having the girls back in their “home” mid March was indeed within reach.
One other blessing of our work was to work alongside the Haitians. Some were old friends from previous trips and others, faces that were new to us. Pastor Doug got to practice his creole. “Sakpase Dude” became the standard greeting!
We made one trip into Port Au Prince, on Sunday, for a worship service with other missionaries. We saw more of the damage from the earthquake. We saw the mess that was once the guest house. We saw the damage in the ravine where homes are still tumbling from the aftershocks. We saw the tent and tarpaulin homes set up wherever there was space. But the people we met were remarkably cheerful, returning our greetings with a smile.
Most evenings we shared in devotions with the Andersons and the Banks, the missionaries who run the clinic and the orphanage. We heard about the days after the quake. We shared tears with Toby Banks as she described her frustrated attempt to be able to bring the girls temporarily to America. And then we saw God’s hand at work as we heard CSI’s plans for the future. With the loss of the guest house they have decided to focus their efforts at the clinic and HOPE. They have already been able to purchase the land between the clinic and HOPE. Plans are already drawn to build a new HOPE on this land and then to make the old HOPE into a new Guest House. Teams will be able to stay close to where they will work.
Good news has come from Toby’s frustrated attempt to bring the girls to America. The Kokosing Company has promised to help with the building of the new HOPE. They have pledged up to $250,000 in matching funds. And will sponsor teams of 10 from their employees to help with the construction for 6 months. We could have a new orphanage as soon as 6 to 9 months!
We heard too about plans for a prosthetics clinic and a widow’s home. And in the shorter term about plans already under way to set up teams to go into the nearby tent encampments and identify families needing medical help or food supplies. They will give out tickets to the clinic where these needs will be met. Land and simple, very inexpensive, wooden homes have already been purchased to provide durable housing for Haitian staff members who have lost their homes.
So many exciting things going on!
One night we got to visit with Junior, a young Haitian, who is training for the ministry, with support from members of this church. Junior would normally be at seminary in the North of Haiti, but he has taken a 6 month leave of absence to return to PAP. He shared with us his plan to go and live in the tent encampments in center of PAP and minister to the spiritual needs of the people there.
What a joy to listen to this later day Paul.
And one evening we went to a Haitian church service. Esther, the housekeeper from the clinic, and her husband, Pastor Luc, run a simple small church close by. We sat as guests of honor right at the front of their sanctuary. The building had lost one end wall to the quake and had a large crack in another. The lighting was weak and unreliable. The congregation was small but energized. Pastor Doug got to preach with help from an interpreter they had provided. It was the highlight of the week with a continual chorus of Hallelujah and Amen!
I said I came back from my first trip to Haiti humbled. As I reflect on this last trip I realize I am humbled again. Humbled as I see the resilience of the Haitians at coping with adversity. Humbled as I see how the adversity of the quake is being turned into opportunities.
I marvel at the strength and faith of people who when asked how we can help, simply reply “Pray For Us”
I am so thankful to CSI Ministries for all the support and help they give to churches, missionaries, and ministry teams. I have watched and listened to hear how their work has changed lives and brings the message of hope around the world. May God continue to bless your work! |
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