February 4, 2014

Happy Tuesday! We are nearly finished with the roof on Rachel’s Inn. The team has been hard at work climbing on the roof to finish it by tomorrow. Once the ridge cap is put on, the roof will be done! The plan is to begin putting the roof on Chardene later this week. Jeff Laing and Jon went to Chardene today to take measurements and order the roofing supplies.

It rained a lot last night so we didn’t get to travel to the schools today because we were worried about getting stuck in the mud. Pam, Anne, and Krystal did go to the Nursing School though. They worked in the pharmacy section of the school and organized supplies.

A paint crew painted two apartment rooms today at the Mission Center. We painted the walls and the ceiling after the drop ceiling was torn out. Tomorrow we will finish painting the cabinets and it will be ready to house a new group of people this week!

It’s hard to believe the first week is over and part of our crew is heading back to Ohio. Maybe they will bring back some of the warm weather to melt the snow at home. We are excited for new people to arrive, though. Keep praying for us!

Shout Outs:

From Steve Amstutz: Hey Jana! Miss you like crazy…I am doing great and feeling blessed being here…the people are beautiful and we will have a lot to talk about when I get home! I pray you are doing alright and can’t wait to see you in a week! Love you, Steve.

From Jacob Suter: Hey mom, dad, and favorite siblings, it’s been 80 degrees and sunny every day this week so I hope you are enjoying the cold and snow. Looking forward to seeing everyone especially the Pizza Princess! Jacob

From Shari: Happy Birthday Dillon! I wish I could be with you for your special day but know that I’m thinking of you and I love you.

From Anne:  Hi My Daughters (Alyssa, Kayla, & Addie… Daddy too ;)   I love you and Miss you VERY MUCH.  Enjoy the Snow… Make another Snowman Oleuf for me ;) 

From Jeff Laing: God is so good. These people have so much of what counts. Hello Linda, Brianna, Clay, Aaron and Adam. Miss you so much. Saved by grace.

From Jeremy Basinger: Dear Mom, I miss you Mom. So so much, Mom. You are the best, Mom. Love you Mom. Mama’s Boy 4eva.

Hi Dru.

From Pam: To Bethany, my favorite child. I miss you.

From Mark: Dear Amy, my favorite child. I miss you.

February 2, 2014

Feb 2

Sunday started with a very emotional church service at St Marc with Lauren, Katie and Tyler providing special music.  Jeff Lange gave an inspiring introduction of the team.  Pastor Herva was prayed over by the congregation in honor of his birthday.  Tyler gave an inspirational message from Matthew 9:31-38.  The rest of the day spent doing what God intended the seventh day to be (napping and laundry…lol)  The food continues to be plentiful.

February 1, 2014

Feb 1

Saturday was a long busy day with extra projects added.  The Mission Center is now RAT FREE in the ceilings because the drop ceilings are now gone.  Lots of dead rats were laid to rest…lol  We decided to paint the ceilings black with looks very nice.  Half the framing is done for Rachel’s Inn.  Hopefully the tin will be going up Monday.  We are still questioning how many Americans it takes to fix a Haitian oven. 

Teaching continued for Anne Shari at the Nursing school with CPR and OB classes.  First test were given and scores were good.  It’s helpful they can read French J 

A nice end to the day was a quick swim in the Ocean

Hello to our Prayer Warriors

Fearless Leaders

God has been so good to us. We have overcome some frustrations the last couple of days that can only be credited to our Lord and Savior. After going after supplies yesterday, we headed to the airport to get our renegade bags of supplies. Who knew the airport closes at 4:00? Today, Mark left bright and early and was able to bring all of our supplies. Yeah! Today was another great day in beautiful Haiti. Sunny and 88. :) Two different groups were able to go and teach today. One group went this morning to Dupin and the other group went to St. Marc this afternoon. Another group went to the nursing school this afternoon as well. All three visits were a huge success. Some of the things that were taught were; CPR, checking vitals, abstinence, hygiene, and ultimately, glorifying God. The construction crew had another successful day at the mission center. No injuries, and a great deal of work got done. A new project sprung up last night as well. One of the dorm rooms was problematic with a certain varmint-so we removed the drop ceiling, patched many holes and began to paint the ceiling black. Steve A. thought it might be cool to paint the floor tile black too so he dropped a gallon of paint. You would think that going to Haiti on a mission trip would cause one to lose weight. Well, Chef Liane has other plans. The food has been amazing. (No goat so far) Thank you for all of your prayers. We can definitely feel them. God is working in Haiti! On them and especially us! Blessings to you all.

January 30, 2014

Hello from Haiti! We arrived safely; some of our luggage…let’s just say that’s a different story. However, we have hopes that it will show up eventually. As expected, Mark has made several trips to Port au Prince and we don’t anticipate that changing any time soon. The team had a productive first day! Anne and Sheri went to the nursing school to teach the students basic nursing skills such as taking vitals, prenatal care, and delivery. The students were very receptive and asked great questions. Most of the men began the renovations on Rachel’s Inn. The plan is to add a metal roof in the next few days. Heather, Lauren, Megan, and Steve A. went to Chardene (one of the Mission Possible schools) and held two sessions with students educating them on abstinence, STDs, and God’s design for marriage. They were greeted with a refreshing beverage…check out the photo below! Finally, some team members stayed at the mission center cleaning and organizing. Katie organized “team shelves” stocked with items like sunscreen, soap, etc. for team members to use while serving. Jeff H. and Krystal tackled the organization of the tool shed making it much easier to locate appropriate tools for the construction group. Jean is officially our housing and accommodations hostess/specialist/guru. Thanks to her, everyone will have a place to sleep and sheets to sleep on. Despite our lack of food, Liane organized our kitchen and whipped up fabulous meals from nearly nothing. Don’t worry, we won’t starve! All this to say: we’re safe and excited to see God moving in Haiti. Keep praying for the team. We wish you could all be here to see what we’re seeing and experiencing. God is good. Katie and Heather

January 20, 2014

It's hard to believe that today is our last full day here in Haiti. We really did have a full day! We loaded the truck early this morning and traveled to the school in LaHatte. It was a rough ride, to say the least, as we drove over a dry, rocky, narrow, curvy river bed to get to the school. Words cannot adequately describe the terrain! It was wonderful to see the school though, and to watch the students learning in their classrooms. We also led some games and songs with the students in their classrooms and at recess. In the afternoon we went to MPCA to present to the students in the Teacher Academy. We taught them about the importance of movement in brain development and academic performance. We then demonstrated numerous simple movement activities that can easily be used in their classrooms with their students. Since 90% of students come to school knowing Creole and are then taught French, Patti taught an English language lesson using gestures, movement, and acting out a story. The Teacher Academy students learned very quickly and had fun doing it! We came back to the Mission Possible Center and had another delicious meal of beans and rice, plantains

, chicken, and juice. The meals have been wonderful! Now it's time to pack our bags and prepare to leave the 90 degree weather of Haiti and return to cold, cold Ohio. We are anxious to return to our families, yet we will leave a bit of our hearts here with the people of Haiti. This trip has been a blessing and a privilege for all of us!

School Initiative Team - Sunday

Happy Sunday from this beautiful island! It’s hard to remember that it is January and Ohio is covered in snow when I am writing this at the Mission Center, listening to the ocean waves lapping on the beach! Today we went to St. Marc for morning worship. Tracy was going to give the message while Herve translated. Before the service, Herve showed us the school that is on the first floor. He said that before he began the church in this area 17 years ago, there was a lot of voodoo influence and a witch doctor lived right next to their property. (He has since left!) Once a month the church gathers on a Sunday morning then goes into the city to clean and work and brings back buckets of fresh water for the people in the neighborhood. There is no safe well water in the area. The people need to go to the main road just to get water. The service was wonderful and the spirit of God was evident in the songs, beautiful faces, up-raised hands and their total worship, even though we don’t share the same language. They are our brothers and sisters and it is a joy to worship together with them. Tracy’s message was from 1 Corinthians 12 about being one in the body of Christ. Her message was about working together to encourage and build up the body through having a servant’s heart. After the service, we went to the hospital in St. Marc and Herve took us through the wards. It’s hard to even describe what it was like and seeing the medical needs they have there. He asked Herve to pray aloud over the patients before we left. After going to the adult wards, we went to the pediatric units. Wow… that was difficult to see the sick little ones in there. We saw a premie baby in an incubator and asked Herve if he could pray over the mother and baby before we left. It was an experience none of us will forget. In the afternoon we relaxed and took inventory in the kitchen. Late afternoon we headed back to St. Marc to be a part of their youth group. Tracy spoke to them about the importance of abstinence. Since it was a mature topic, Patti and Becky took some of the little children outside for bubble blowing. Tracy fielded some great questions and the teens were very engaged in the teaching. A majority came up front to commit to purity. We came back to the mission center and enjoyed the ice cream that Herve bought us. It has been another full day. Good night to all of our loved ones!