Greetings to you all
after a long period of silence!! It's crazy how the weeks fly by and I
just don't seem to get to everything that I have on my "to do"
list. I want to share a bit of our time in Haiti with you. We had
just a wonderful time at the HOH and I was so excited to see how well things
are going there. Linda and the young leaders are just doing a great job
and it was evident that God is working in the hearts of these children and
youth. The thing that touched my heart the most was their eagerness to
hear God's Word and learn from the lessons we had prepared.
They were so excited
about the studies, they encouraged their friends to come as well. Our
group of 60 HOH kids grew to almost double that number by the time the week was
over.
We had a
great time of learning during our camp week and we all look forward to learning
more together throughout the year. Our theme this year was "Jesus,
My Only Hope" and Hebrews 6:19-20 was our theme verse.
As you'll remember I
was going down to the HOH with 3 young ladies from Canada, here we are at the
start of our trip.
They were a great group of
girls, they put up with a lot of inconveniences along the way; yet their
attitudes were so positive. They went willing to do whatever to help and
they certainly achieved this. Here are some of the activities they helped
out with...
Jenna worked extremely hard on
decorating wedding cakes the very day we arrived. The results were
incredible! Everyone at the wedding was surprised and asked where they
could get such nice looking cakes!
Heather spent many hours trying to
determine just how many children she could hold at any one given time.
She's very talented at this..
Meanwhile Samantha showed of
her one-on-one skills giving incredibly fun swing rides...
All three of these young ladies
joined into Camp week by each joining one of the three teams who were competing
against each other during the week. They did many things I'm sure seemed
crazy to them, like dressing up in weird costumes and outfits for no apparent
reason...
They were great sports though
and had a lot of fun and laughs along the way. One of their main goals
was to build meaningful relationships with the kids there and this time was a
great way for them to do that.
We were happy
to meet up with two other groups of people while we were at the HOH. The Lewis family was there from England. They are great friends and we had such a
wonderful time with them. Then we also
had our friends from Miami Shores Presbyterian Church down for the week of camp
as well. They were a great help, same as
last year. They brought down the colorful and much loved t-shirts and helped with
various crafts as well. They also were
great at holding the little ones during our sessions and making sure they were
loved and cared for!
Here are some of the activities
we did…
Decorating and
styling the t-shirts is always a hit with our kids.
We also had the kids
make up anchors out of wire to remind them of Jesus the firm anchor in our
lives. Then they made bracelets and
attached the anchors to them.
Here is Jamesley working on his anchor…
Rose Nirva and Kateleen show off
their finished product…
Fridson works on his coloring pages…
Every afternoon we played games with
the kids as well.
This day was the wild and crazy game of pop the balloon…
Together with
singing, learning Bible verses, studying God’s Word together, skits, programs
and many other things we had a wonderful Camp 2015 and are already looking
forward to next year!
For me, it was just a great time to be back home, I had so much fun with my girls Lala & Nanni; who, by the way, are almost as tall as I am now.
They were also flower girls in
Estephanie’s wedding and they were beautiful!
Meanwhile, Linda and I were the proud
moms…
Here are some other things we were able to accomplish while there:
·
Linda and I were able to spend quite a bit of
time talking and planning for the future of the HOH. We are both pleased with the
way things are progressing and we are excited to see what God will continue to
do in the lives of our kids and at the HOH.
·
I was able to meet with our pediatrician about a
number of difficult cases we have at the HOH right now. We talked a lot about Jamesley and his
diagnosis of bone cancer. After much
debating with numerous doctors in Haiti we are not sure that the diagnosis was
correct. With help from our friends in
Miami, we are trying to get a better diagnosis.
Haiti is a complex place at the best of times, and something like this
makes it even more so. Your prayers are
greatly appreciated for wisdom for all involved and we’d just love it if he
really doesn’t have cancer!
Here are a few other
prayer requests to keep in mind:
- School starts up next week and Linda and the other leaders have much to do to prepare our 40 + students for the new school year.
- Three of our adult “kids” have finished their schooling and will be leaving the HOH by the end of this month. Ricardo will be living with his brother in La Pointe while helping work at his shop. He will also continue to help Linda by running errands for her as she needs it. Rosemène is making plans on where she will live, but will continue to work as a Nurse’s Aide at the HOH. Dada also will work for the HOH as an aide, and will move to live with family. Please pray for these three as they take the next steps in their lives.
- Ernst, one of our young leaders has been accepted into a University outside of Port-au-Prince. We are excited to see where God is taking him into his future – but we will miss him greatly at the HOH.
- Finances are still and always a need – please pray for more resources to help the children who come into our home.
- We recently received 4 extremely malnourished babies; pray for them and their moms as they receive care together.
We appreciate each
of you and the part you play in this ministry.
We are blessed to have such a great team working with us to bring the
Hope of Jesus to the Children of Haiti.
