Leadership Academy Graduation - Haiti

Equipping the next generation of Christ centered leaders...

Mission Possible has talked about this focus for many years and today we celebrated a giant leap in the direction of this focus.  

It was monumental.

Many of you have been hearing and praying for our leadership academy and today we honored our first class of graduates.

The candidates have been coming to training for the past year and have learned leadership skills, been trained in the Word, done physical training, and have learned to be a better leader, not only for our organization, but for their role in their families, churches and communities.

The morning started with a roll call and reciting of the core leadership points and singing of the Haitian National Anthem in front of their friends and family.  

It was followed by a graduation service where they were congratulated, honored and admonished to use what they had learned for kingdom business.  They received diplomas and rings in honor of their hard work.

We will now be working with these leaders to help us reach the island of Hispaniola for Christ.

Thanks for your continued prayers.  We will be leaving for the Dominican Republic tomorrow and are looking forward to seeing the work in Barahona.

Board Team - Haiti

Hello from the Mission Center in sunny Haiti.  The US and Canadian board of Mission Possible are here seeing the ministry, talking to our national leaders, encouraging those that have worked through our leadership academy, praying about what God has next for us, and enjoying the fellowship with each other and our brothers and sisters in Christ who live here.

We woke up in good time today and journeyed to Saint Marc to take care of some business.  While we were there we walked through the downtown area and shared the sights and sounds of this busy community.  We prayed with a father who showed us a photograph of his daughter who has a condition that is making her left lower extremity swelled.

We went up to see the Church and School in Saint Marc, Chardene and MPCA.  School has not started yet, but the principles in each school shared with us great stories about the upcoming school year and we heard about number of leaders and teachers that have been students at our school.  It made us feel good about the leadership focus of our mission and the potential of the students we work with.

In the evening, our leadership group came and ate supper with us.  We had cake and celebrated their involvement.  There are some great people working for us and we are going to have a graduation tomorrow.

I am posting two pictures tonight.

The first is a photo of an accident we witnessed today.  A young man was driving a large truck with large containers of water and as he went up a hill he started losing it, over corrected and the truck fell on its side.  We saw it happening and there was nothing we could do but watch.

Water went cascading down the hill and amazingly the driver jumped out the side window (obviously he was not wearing a seat belt).  We made sure he was ok and many people came, some filling containers with the free water that was pouring out. 

I couldn’t help think about the frustrating position this young man was in and how he was going to tell his boss about what happened.  If this is like normal accidents in Haiti, the truck will be there for days, weeks, or months.  My mind went to the difficult situation that many of our students are in.  They are in a desperate situation with little opportunity to get out of it.  The young man in the accident needs a tow truck, a repairman, insurance, and an understanding boss to help him through his.  Our school starts in a few days and our kids need spiritual help, discipline, a nutritional meal, and leadership training.  The accident reminded me that a lot of these kids have a great need and we have the opportunity to help in ways that they cannot imagine.

The second image I am posting of a young girl that was on the beach this morning looking in at us and our team.  I wandered if she is going to come to our school someday.  I wondered if she could someday be one of the leaders that can help train in God’s word to reach the next generation and continue the mission.  I am grateful for Mission Possible and look forward to see what God has in store for us in the next few days.

Mark Yoder

Board Team

Just wanted to post a quick blog to let everyone know we arrived safe and sound at the Mission Center.  We may have had to take the long way (4 hrs. instead of 1 1/2 hrs), but we were greeted with a delicious spaghetti dinner.  We are all excited for tomorrow and the rest of the week.  Keep us all in your prayers.

Gateway team and Teacher Seminar - Day 7

Sac passé!(What’s up) This week has been an awesome experience.  I have learned how giving and open those in the Haitian culture are.  When first arriving in Haiti, I saw how much more difficult the essentials for life are to come by and the way of life is much simpler.  Yesterday we played the high school and college age Haitians who have been coming to our evening meetings at soccer!  We had a great time playing against them even though we lost 3-6.  It was difficult playing on their field with all of the rocks and no grass.  I am looking forward to coming back to the U.S. for all of the amenities, but also at the same time I don't want this week to end.  I was playing with some of the little kids and would pick them up and spin them in a circle or throw them in the air and after I did that to the first kid I had a swarm of kids run over all hugging my legs and asking to spin them next.  After doing that to about thirty to forty kids, I was done but looking down and seeing how ecstatic their faces were, I couldn’t stop.  I’m so happy that God gave me this opportunity and thankful for it.  I couldn't ask for a better group of people to experience all of these things with.  When I get back home, I look forward to sharing all of my experiences and knowledge that I have gained from the Haitians and other people we’ve been with on this trip.   I hope all is well back home Mom, Dad and the rest of you and thank you for all of your prayers!

~Steve

Bonjour! As someone who, before this week, had only been to the Dominican Republic, this week was an incredibly different experience. The two countries, while sharing an island, differ in many aspects of their culture and ways of life. Both of the countries share the island of Hispaniola and similar flora and fauna, however, their similarities stop fairly short after that. The most noticeable difference is the language. While the D.R. speaks the well-known Spanish language, Haiti has it’s own unique language of Creole, which is essentially a mix of French, Spanish, and English, making it very hard to learn and translate. The other distinct difference is the terrain. While the mountains of the Dominican are lush and rich with an infinite number of greens, Haiti’s have been stripped barren and are a solid dusty brown. Haiti also brings along the strange and mystical voo-doo religion that has just recently lost its grip on the country. If asked which country I liked more, I couldn’t give an answer. The two experiences are not at all the same so comparison is impossible. Haiti has given me a new perspective and opened my eyes to missions outside of the Dominican Republic.

                                                                                    ~Griffin

Prayer together before the soccer game

We had a downpour after the soccer game and everyone enjoyed the cool rain

Griffin was referee for soccer as he carried 2 little boys around

We ended the week of youth services with a swim party in the ocean

Steve playing with kids at Chardene

Gateway Team and Teacher Seminar - Day 6 (from yesterday - no internet last night)

First of all I just want to say God is good! It’s amazing how much He has shown that He can use me in such a short amount of time here in Haiti. Not only that, but how much the Haitians have taught me about a simple faith and unconditional love. I came expecting to help them, and seeing how much they appreciate us gives me a change in heart. Our translators Carter, Tyson, and Jean have been with us everyday and each day I have asked many questions about Creole. They absolutely love when we ask questions about them and their language, so they always quiz me the next day and laugh at my pronunciations.  They always have a huge smile when I can have a conversation with them or the little kids.  The kids especially have so much fun when I show them the words I know, I count to 20 and say each color, then I teach them the English words for it. I think they are appreciative when we want to learn something from them. With that being said, today we hiked up to Degeance where there was very little space to play, but we improvised.  I walked up to a few little girls and asked them their name and age, told them their hair was pretty (Chave bel) and the little girl in green asked if I had a daughter because she loved me and she wanted to be my kid. So, I guess now I have a daughter named LuvnaJ The kids show us so much genuine love and they truly want to be loved, so being an example of God to them is such a wonderful opportunity. During the camp, I led games and I played guitar for each age group and we taught them the motions to “Lift Your Name on High” and at the end we all sang and danced to it together. As hot as it was, listening to them praise with us in their language gave me chills.  It has been a humbling experience and huge blessing to be here.  I love and miss you mom, dad, and everyone! Remember, Jezi renmen ou! Jesus loves you!

 -Erin