Last Day - Week 3

Today was a very active day for the team! All the Haiti “newbies” got to see the sights and visit a few important places.  The medical group plus some bounced and swayed all the way to La Hatte bright and early to finish a few physicals, then enjoyed a hike through the village, holding the hands of precious, little ones along the way, returning back hungry and sun burnt.  In the afternoon, the same group went to Degeance to hike up to the school as well as preview the land for the new school.  Everyone agreed it was amazing to see the beautiful, scenic view and appreciate the beauty of Haiti. 

Josh and Mirlene (Community Agent at St. Marc) gave a seminar about maintaining the Life Straws. Responsible persons from each school as well as all of the community agents attended.

               

  Pam and Deb conducted an afternoon training session for the community agents.  The community agents were very gracious for all they had learned and the teachers are encouraged by all they learned. They enjoyed learning how to use the new thermometers and in Lanzac, they are thrilled to have the new cup holding peg boards that Jeff made.  The time wrapped up with some sweet worship, Jezi renmen.

                The construction team took lumber and supplies to Dupin to set up to complete the new roof next week in the remaining few days of work.  The walls were completed on the tool storage shed so everything can be put away into a new organized space next week.  A couple guys finished a screen for rat prevention in the supply room.  Hooray! The rest of the day was spent sorting supplies to keep in Haiti and packing up things to take to Findlay.

                Some of the team will be leaving bright and early for the airport tomorrow AM. Thank you, Lord, for this amazing time in Haiti. May we never forget what we have experienced and take Haiti home in our hearts!

Shout Outs from Week 3 Team

Luke, Lyla, Lois, Levi – I miss you so much!! I hope you are all having fun. Mommy wants to give you hugs so badly….& give Daddy kisses 😉  Love,  Jenn

Hi Mom and Brother and Leo! These sweaty hot days in Haiti make me miss the cool Washington air… but my suntan is coming along quite nicely (haha). Special shoutout to Sara for being one of my prayer warriors and giving love and support to not only me but also my mom while I’ve been far from home. Hi Lyndon and Carol, hope you two have been staying out of trouble, miss you!

I am still alive -Adam

I am still alive too – Deb. Love to all my family and friends. I will be home soon! Will call when I get to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday.

Happy birthday Jana!  I hope you had a great day!  Meeting a lot of new brothers and sisters in Christ… Everything is going well… what a privilege to serve a mighty God with new and OLD friends! 😊 See you soon… Tell the grandkids Papa misses them… See you soon! Steve

All I can say is Wow!!  What an amazing day - birthday cake and all – with a little bit of welding - rejoicing in the Lord – in every way shape and form – I am so blessed to now know so many wonderful and amazing brothers and sisters! Will never forget!  Love from Haiti – see you soon!   B.J.

Hello to all my family – Miss you – Looking forward to seeing you next week.  It’s amazing here in Haiti. It will be fun to share my experiences with you and all my friends.  Nana sends Lots of Love to Paige, Carlee, Macy, Ragen, Owen, Lainie and Eden.. 

Still having a great time. I am finding so many sweet children to fall in love with every day. They are so adorable and just love to come up and give hugs and high fives.  Excited to see everyone next week.  Love you all, Sabine

Hochstettler family -  Kinda miss ya . . . just a little . . .  😊   Jeff and Heather

Hello from Josh and Crystal.  Love you all!!!!!!!

Jean (AKA Mary)  Days are very full of fellowship while working.  Thank you for your prayers, they are felt every minute of the day.  I am learning new skills, I can now crochet.

Hi kids! Our days are full and fulfilling but we are starting to miss all of you. Sewing ended today and it has been a wonderful time with the ladies. Lynn is finished teaching and will soon be heading home. Keep praying we can finish strong. Love to all!  Liane and Lynn

Love and miss you all, see you very soon! Love, Ellie

Deb V: Hi to all my family! Brenda tell Buddy I’m fine and I love him and tell Jeremy too. See you soon, love you!

Alicia: Hello my sweet family. I miss you but the sunshine is making me happy. Yes Mom, I am wearing sunscreen

Julie: Hi Lilli, Isaac, Chloe, Emma! Grandma is having a great time. Hi family, I am good.

Michelle: Hello Amber Dotson and my grandsons. Tell Dad hi too! Love you all, doing great. God has showed me so much, be home soon.

Amanda: Hey family! We are having such a sweet time here in Haiti. God has blessed us and we have accomplished so much. This team has become family. On the flipside, I ran into a spider about the size of my hand and it left me skiddish the rest of the day. Love you all!

Nana and Papa Macke: We are looking forward to being home. We love our Haitian family but miss our families!

Another Great Day in Haiti!

It was another great day here in Haiti with everyone going different places. Our menu board made us think of home. Too bad the fine print stated “just kidding”. Fortunately, we have had amazing meals here and no one is losing weight.

Our new sewing machine was put into service today and Herta made her very own quilt. She was so proud.  Liane taught her how to use the machine. She will be able to sew the reusable hygiene pads more efficiently.  The sewing group had a catch-up day here at the Mission Center sewing hot pads and preparing yarn for the ladies of St. Marc.

The medical team saw over 70 students at St. Marc for physicals. We had a bigger team today-which meant lots of help and high efficiency! Sabine, Travis, Ben, Greg, Tom, Madison, BJ, Ellie, Pam, Amanda, Myra, Julie, Alicia, and Crystal guided the students through foot checks, vitals, examinations, treatments, and getting them medicine if needed. With so much help we finished up earlier than scheduled and got to play a game of futbol (but with a tennis ball) and hung outside with the students. Sabine and Amanda played “Ring Around the Rosey” with several of the smaller children.

Josh and Mirlene (Community Agent at St. Marc) took a Tap-Tap and a moto to 4 different schools to get water samples from the Lifestraws. When then got back to the Mission Center, they began the water testing process to check for E-coli.

Deb and Michelle went to MPCA to spend the day with the Community Agents. We had a little bit of an intense situation. A teenage girl was brought to where we were treating some minor injuries, carried by the principal and other workers at the school. It was apparent she was having some type of seizure. The Community Agent got her VS’s and they were normal. She continued to have what looked like a seizure about 3 times. She would not respond verbally, but was able to follow commands. While we were waiting for her aunt to arrive to take her home, we surrounded her and prayed for her. About 3-4 minutes later, she opened her eyes and was able to sit up and drink some water. We found out that she was very sad because her father had passed away 2 weeks ago. We thank God and give Him the glory for intervening for this child. Both of the Community Agents conducted themselves very well and Deb was very proud of them.

The construction team delivered a new Lifestraw table to Lanzac. The kids were so excited. More progress was made by Jeff on the peg board that will be used to store individual cups for the kids at Lanzac. Jennifer, Debbie, Lynn, and Mark worked on inventorying and labeling tools for the new storage shed. Kevin and Steve worked on a special project.

Our evening concluded with a wonderful time of worship in the gazebo with Ballack (one of our translators) and his friends leading us. As in previous weeks, this was such a special treat and sweet time of reflection.

Stay tuned for “shout-outs” tomorrow night. We all send our love to friends and family!

First Full Workday with Week 3 Team - A Success!

Construction: Today the construction team completed several projects that have been in the making over the past two weeks.   They cleaned the rust off of steel tubing, in other words, the day was engaged in corrosion control. Jennifer is our designated organizer for the week. She worked on labeling the shelves in the new tool shed.

  

Bible School – Lynn finished teaching at the Bible School. Their session ended in an exam, and then the students surrounded Lynn and prayed for him. The students were so sweet in sharing their appreciation for Lynn and his teaching.

Sewing – Liane and Wendy.  We were fortunate to have two new people join us today, Julie and Michelle from St. Marys.  We enjoyed a fantastic afternoon crocheting purses from the T shirt yarn the Haitian ladies had made on our last session on Monday. It was our last session at Chardan so we took pictures of the quilts they made and recognized each of them for their participation.  There was lots of hugging and congratulating and Merci, Merci. We all were sad to part company and hope to see our ladies next year!

Medical – The medical team went to Dupin to do physicals in the morning. For the afternoon, they came to MPCA to finish the physicals there. Deb and Deb spent the morning with the Community Agents at MPCA and treated a few children with some skin issues.

After supper we had a time of praise and worship in the gazebo. Several shared of how God has brought them to this point. We are all so blessed.

Thank you to everyone back home for your love and prayers. 

The New Team Has Arrived!

The highlight of today was that our Week 3 Team finally was able to fly out of Ft. Lauderdale this  morning and arrived at the Mission Center at 2:15 PM. They looked amazingly well considering that some of them had not slept since they left early Monday morning. After eating a quick lunch, the medical providers, pharmacist, and nurses were whisked off to MPCA to do physicals on approximately 60 kids.

Deb and Heather went to Degeance with Anite, the school nurse, to do some follow-up checks on students. We have passed the baton to Anite to give the hygiene seminar to young ladies. Previously, all of the hygiene seminars were conducted by US teams.

The construction crew worked on the storage shed at the Mission Center. They got the roof on, the storage racks moved inside, and then leveled up. Lighting is the next stage of the process.  BJ modified a Lifestraw table to accommodate the preschoolers at Lanzac, making it reachable for them. The finished round classroom tables were delivered to a happy group of preschoolers at Lanzac.

The sewing team went St. Marc to begin instruction in crochet to over 30 women. The ladies went away knowing how to crochet (hopefully). They started out learning how to do a slip knot and by the end, they had a good start on the bottom of their purses.

The Mission Center is now buzzing with people.  Tomorrow a full day of work is expected. We will have more to tell you tomorrow night. Thank you, Lord for a great team of workers! 

Preparing for Week 3

Sunday – Some of our group went to St. Marc for church – Pastor Lynn Thompson preached and Pastor Herve translated. It was a great service, and many of the women from St. Marc who had attended the sewing classes last week were so warm and friendly when they greeted us.  Mark, Pam, Jeff, Heather, and Jean went to Dupin to church. Heather sang  “It is Well With My Soul”. What a treat to hear our Mission Center guard, LeFette, preach on John 9. There was no one to translate, but they were able to decipher that God is faithful, mighty, and strong in times of trouble.  After lunch we had a relaxing day at the Mission Center, swimming, reading, resting, and talking, except for Heather and Jeff. They didn’t consider it working on Sunday, as they were varnishing and drilling holes in tables under a tree by the Caribbean Ocean listening to worship music.

Monday – One construction crew worked on the storage shed here at the Mission Center. Others painted and finished putting the tables together. Adam poured a slab of concrete in the new storage room after mixing the cement by hand. The Haitian guard “President” was a big help. 

Heather made 14 beds on her birthday getting ready for the new team that will now not get here until tomorrow. Please continue to pray that there will be no flight delays tomorrow. We sang to Heather all day. She has spent her last 8 birthdays here in Haiti. 

Jeff will also be working on a storage peg board for tin cups for Lanzac. This project was initiated by Shirlene, our community agent at Lanzac. She did her capstone presentation on health promotion and the importance of having a clean cup every day for the children to drink water. Before we leave, we hope to have it installed for the school.

Another construction crew teamed up with the Haitians – to finish the third roof at MPCA. They are now known as the Ebony and Ivory Construction Company. Except for a little clean up – we are now finished with the roofing project at MPCA.

The sewing group went to Chardene to teach the ladies how to crochet a tote bag made of T-shirt yarn.  It was challenging to say the least but thrilling and exciting to see their faces when they “got it”.  The ladies were intrigued by Wendy’s support hose. They took her shoe off and pulled the knee-highs down. They were truly amazed!

The medical team went to Lanzac to follow up with a few students. We fell in love with this sweet little boy pictured below.  Throughout the day, the medical team worked on completing tasks from last week’s OB teaching and prepared for physicals that will begin tomorrow.

God is so good! We appreciate your prayer support so much! 

Saturday

The OB team did a great job this week......The ladies loved the seminar and delivery packs.  The diapers were a hit.  Thank you to all you have been a part of the kits. Each instructor taught 4 x day.

A new shop to store tools in when we leave.....Heather enjoyed getting to know Maddy.

Finally got Jeff away from sewing.

More bags of rice for our students.  Thank you for being a part of our fund raiser.  We plan to continue and will shoot for 100.

Consider it a joy to serve together.

These ladies are the most fabulous women to serve with..

 

Not sure what to say.........lolol

Six leaving, 14 staying and 15 joining us on Monday.

It' s been a blessing to serve with this team.  They are the best!!!!   Opps we told Ebby there were the best.  We do miss our Ebby friends.

Till tommorow

Shout Outs from Week 2 Team

Liane and Lynn: Greetings to you our friends and family. Our time is going well and has been very meaningful. We love you all and thank you for the support.  Hi to the grandkids!

Shari:  Hello & many thanks to my church family at the Mt. Blanchard United Methodist Church for all of your support!  Sending love to my parents, sisters, Logan, Dillon & Robert 😊.

Travis: Hello to all of my family back home. Keep the prayers coming! Good things are happening down here.

Sam: Hello to everybody!

Emily: It is always a pleasure to be in this beautiful country that feels like home to me. Hello to everyone at home. Looking forward to seeing everyone when I return.

Rachel and Kent: Nana has delivered more “babies” than we have grandchildren. Papa has a farmer tan and it is not from the sun. Papa has been speaking some Spanish. We love and miss you!

Jeff and Heather: Jeff is speaking fluent Creole (or so he thinks). He can now say “Bonjou, vini, and ok, ok, ok, ok”.

Adam: Hi Mom, Dad, Sarah, Caleb!

Jean: Each day here is full and fulfilling. Your prayers are heard and God gives me strength and endurance. Much joy here in Haiti!

Dan: Having a great time but looking forward to returning home this weekend. Pat, hope you enjoyed Valentine’s Day even though I wasn’t home. Weather has been beautiful here.

BJ: Abundance of love from Haiti to Oregon. God is great, wish you were here!

Madison: Hi Momma Bear and brother man! God is helping us do great things in Haiti. It has blown away all my expectations. I’m already missing home but I know my work here isn’t quite done. Don’t worry mom, I’ve been taking my vitamins and no sunburns (yet!). I love you both to the moon XOXO!

Wendy: Hello to all my church family, share group, and 4-12! Thank you all for your prayers, please continue. This place and the people are amazing. My love to Paul, Laura, and Erick, my precious kids and their wonderful families. Vanessa, you were right! I’m doing great and thoroughly enjoying serving the Lord in this way. I love you all and miss you!

Pam and Mark: To our grandchildren: we MISS you! When we get home, we will have a big popcorn and movie night. Thank you for praying for us. Things are going well.

Deb: To my church family and small group: thank you so much for your prayers. To Alicia, Julie, Debbie, and Michelle: I can’t wait till you arrive on Monday. I will be praying for your safe travels. To Laura, Ryan, Seth, Aleah, and Hannah, Scott and Candy, Daniel and Crystal: I miss you and love you. I am having a wonderful time!

Sabine: Still having a wonderful time. Sometimes I feel like I have more animals in my classes than moms, but it keeps life interesting. Will probably talk to you on Sunday!

Ellie: Shout out to Bridgette….oh, and my family 😉 Love and miss you guys!

Pics tonight are from Degeance and sewing at St. Marc.

Peanut: Bonjou to all my blancs! I’m now a momma and attended the OB classes. I can now do infant CPR. I wish my friend, Belinda, was here! 

Bondje, Ou Fidel - God You are Faithful

Our day began as usual in a circle of prayer and singing with the translators.

Deb, Shari, and Jean stayed at the Mission Center today and met with the Community Agents. They were all present along with Anite. We worked on documentation and reviewed blood pressure. They were gracious as they always are. We are amazed at how far they have come since the program started.

The medical team (Sabine, Rachel, Emily, Ellie, Pam, & Madison) went to LaHatte today to finish up the OB classes. 23 women graduated and received a beautiful OB kit. We had one mama who left yesterday because she did not want to participate in CPR. She returned today and was an awesome participant, giving 100% effort. She was able to graduate with the other women. Sabine had such a unique experience. She was teaching an OB class and all of a sudden a chicken appeared and flew up into the rafters of the room and proceeded to lay an egg. At that point a mule walked by outside the window. Needless to say, Sabine was distracted, but the students saw nothing unusual about the situation. I guess the chicken wanted to demonstrate childbirth for the class.

Adam, BJ, Travis, & Sam and Mardochee (a young man who Jeff and Heather have sponsored for many years) also went to LaHatte to replace PVC pipe used for the water cistern. Water is very limited in LaHatte. Several men in the community went home to get pick axes to help with the project. We are hoping this will improve their situation of a lack of water in LaHatte.

The ride to LaHatte was improved today because of Jeff’s ingenious idea of putting wooden jigs at the base of the picnic table to prevent it from sliding during travel. The passengers today really appreciated this modification.

Liane and Wendy went to Lanzac and measured for a new fence around the perimeter of the property. This will be a future project for another trip. Wendy met 5 children there and had fun learning their names and playing with them. Lynn, Liane, Wendy, and Mark worked on inventory. Dan and Kent worked along side each other at the Mission Center welding on table feet and grinding the rough edges.

The mother of Dan’s sponsored child works at the Mission Center. She brought all of her children to spend time with Dan. What a nice time they had together.

Jeff and Heather worked together today, which they were excited about – a post Valentine’s date. They stained round tables which will be used at the preschools.  

This great day ended in a beautiful time of praise and worship with Ballack and his friends, Ruth and Maxi. Ballack is one of our translators. He has a wonderful gift of leading people in worship. He taught us Bondje, Ou Fidel – God, You are Faithful. There was a sweet spirit as we shared testimonies and prayed for each other.

PS – Fizz Bo picture below from last night! A great time!

"LaHatte" Love is in the Air!

The medical team (Rachel, Deb, Shari, Emily, Heather, & Sabine) went to LaHatte to hold OB seminars for the pregnant mamas in that village. It started out with only about 10 ladies attending, but as the day went on, we ended up with 21. If you see the picture below, you will notice that someone is missing. That’s right – Mother-Hen (Pam) cut the cord and let us go to LaHatte without her today. Mother-Hen and chicks survived and are doing well – reunited at the Mission Center this evening.  Anite was “the boss”. The mothers looked healthy and are anxious to return tomorrow for their last 4 seminars. It was a great adventure bouncing back and forth in the back of the cattle truck on the way to and from LaHatte.  Thanks to Sergo,(Jeff was busy sewing) we had a safe ride.

Another amazing day teaching the ladies of Chardon a new craft!  Today they cut up T shirts into strips to make a purse or tote.  It is certainly a little complicated but after 4 hours of explanation and trial and error everyone caught on, Yippee!! The ladies are so appreciative and proud of their accomplishments. They are to finish cutting up their shirts and making the 5 balls of T shirt yarn over the weekend and we will share the crocheting technique on Monday.  We even got Jeff in on the ball winding! The ladies sing praises to the Lord as they work and laugh with us as we try to communicate. Liane, Madison and Wendy were on this team.

Today the construction team worked with both metal and wood.  It was a hot day all around at Mission Central with welding shelves, sanding shelves and painting shelves to include making several steel tables with adjustable screw in feet - to assist with stabilizing the load on uneven ground. This was to include making (6) steel tables that were finished off with five-foot round wood tops. The rest of the construction crew traveled up the road to Mission Possible Christian Academy (MPCA) and filled in a section of no roof – 26x28 ft open span in the school house – more so – conjoined, notched out, placed and leveled roughly (18) 12ft 2x6 boards – twelve feet up in the air. It was a good day all around for learning new skills.   

  

We are now getting ready to enjoy an evening playing Fizbo and  eating popcorn.

Happy Valentine’s Day.  We are looking forward to our chocolate and flowers when we arrive home. (No you are not getting out of it)  

Another Great Day!

Sewing was an adventure today! Wendy, Deb and Liane went to St. Marc. There was some confusion about a key, and we were not able to get through the front gate. We entered through the back gate which involved a short steep hike up a rocky road.  We put tarps down on the ground to work on the quilts. The breeze felt wonderful, but was a bit of a problem as it blew up the tarps and quilts. 

Nevertheless, everyone seemed to enjoy working on their projects. They are coming along very well. The Chardene ladies will start crocheting tomorrow. St. Marc ladies will begin on Friday.

Part of the construction team remained at the Mission Center.  Sam and Kent continued to build and weld the table frames for the wee little tables for the preschool classrooms. They were students themselves as they were learning how to use a mig welder. As they worked they enjoyed having conversation in Spanish.     Jean and Dan painted the frames for the shelves that will go into the tool storage building and began cutting the boards for the shelves.  Mark and Lynn installed new LED lighting for the bible school.

Three members of the construction team Jeff, Travis, B.J. and a stellar team of nurses set out for the small village of Dupin – an established school house – located up a bumpy dirty road 30 minutes from Mission Center Haiti.  There amidst the school house and children, the builders hung four swings, completed the perimeter of the fence, and installed a gate at its entrance. In addition, they tightened down the metal screws and sealed the roof of the cook house (sealing the leaks that previously existed).

Above mentioned stellar team of nurses were Pam, Sabine, Ellie, Shari, Heather, Emily, Rachel, and Madison. They finished up the two-day OB clinic with 25 Haitian women in attendance. They taught classes on topics such as infant CPR, labor and delivery, and breastfeeding. The team got the pleasure of meeting one of the Haitian midwives, Sylvadina, whose been helping mothers deliver their babies since 1973!! As the clinic wrapped up, each mother got to leave with a delivery baby care kit stocked with diapers, blankets, medicines, and cycle tracking beads. We are so thankful for the time put in by those back at home putting those kits together for them; everyone left smarter, healthier, and happier.

The team is enjoying the special candy bar treats that Jeff and Heather are sharing in the evening. We had a yummy dinner together and ended the day with our evening devotional under the stars.

Thank you to everyone who are praying for us. God is in Haiti!