I will strengthen you, surely I will help you.

Today's day in Haiti had so many new new things and places that human will and strength can't be used to accomplish the tasks and events that took place. If we can do it on our own God doesn't show up.

In the morning our team was divided as some went to the home for sick and dying babies and others to a school that excels in correct nutrition and education.  
At the home for sick and dying babies a very young girl was nearly lifeless and had been hooked up to an IV to sustain her life. Her desire for love and affection was so strong she reached up for a team member and pulled out her IV. She refused to drink a nutritious vitamin supplement and drank in love and care soaking it up like a sponge would to a spilled glass of water. As she was held she then was given water ... life giving water for her. Her dehydration had nearly taken her life. And the water gave her life. This divine meeting was arranged just perfectly with the right team member that had the prompting to give and do what only this young girl needed.

The members of the team that went to a school went to do what ever needed to be done.  How is it that all the team members, and the Healing Haiti staff member had the experience and skills in construction, painting and carpentry ends up helping to do some electrical work, plumbing, painting and plywood installation on a ceiling?  Each of us knew that we were in that place at that time to do only what God had equipped the team to do with the limited tools available.

Greetings from the Circleville Ohio Team

Hello to all!  This is our first blog post for the Circleville First Church Healing Haiti Team!  We had such a great commissioning service on Sunday!  We can feel the absolute support and love from our church family.
Our trip to Haiti began very early on Monday and we arrived at a very hectic Port-au-Prince airport about 2:30PM.  We found our team leaders, Charlie and Kristine at the exit of the airport and they took us to our transportation called a "tap-tap".  We familiarized ourselves with the guest house and turned in early after a long day of travel.
This morning, we started with a team breakfast and then got our instructions for the day.  Today was our water truck day.  We all took the tap-tap (mini transport truck) to an area where a 3500 gallon water truck is filled and then followed the water truck to a spot in Cite Soleil.  As soon as the tap-tap pulled in, children surrounded it!  As we exited the back of the tap-tap, children--some VERY small--were holding up their arms to be picked up and held.  How do you choose which child to pick up when there are 40 or 50 at your feet wanting to be held?  We then proceeded to the back of the water truck where a few of the team members helped attach the hose to the back of the water truck.  A line was forming behind the truck by the time some of us had gotten there.  The Haitian people that live in Cite Soleil bring their 5-gallon buckets or other receptacles to fill with potable water.  Sometimes the truck will get to each neighborhood only every 3 days or so.  You might imagine how valuable clean water would be if you only had access to every 3 days.  We watched as people would load these 40-pound buckets onto the top of their head, balance them, and then proceed back to their home /shacks. Sometimes, tiny little children were responsible for moving these big things!  At one of our stops, we were permitted to assist in carrying buckets towards the people's homes, but were advised not to go alone and not to go out of sight of the water truck.
With 3 - 5 of our team holding and assisting with the hose, that left the remainder of us time with the neighborhood children.  Most children wanted to be held, hugged, cuddled, etc!  It was nothing to pick up one child and have another one holding onto your other arm.  Of course I will pick you up!  I will also have one on piggy-back!  Now, that is a lot of arms and legs wrapped around you.  Lots of the ladies got their hair petted by the children, especially long hair, curly hair and blond hair.  One of our ladies even had a child braid one section of her hair that had come free from her ponytail.  Two children were seen to fall asleep while being held by one of our team members.  The children enjoyed holding our hands and dancing or doing hand-clapping games.  At one stop, we even had the chicken dance, the hokey-pokey and "heads, shoulders, knees and toes" going!
During our evening meeting, we all were asked to give one word that came to our mind about today, and why that word had meaning to us today.  Tony started us off with "speechless".  Megan followed with "overwhelmed", Renee with "taken," team-leader Charlie with "witness," team-leader Kristine with "eyes," Kelsey with "surreal," Joy with "energized," Kendra with "naive," Kristie with "thankful," Doug with "fulfilled," Adam with "blessed," Roanna with "joy," Lucas with "extreme," Jay with "innocent," and Tonya with "reality."  Next time you see one of our team members, ask us about our word and what was the meaning behind our word.
Tomorrow we're getting ready to have some different experiences with an orphanage, hospital, school and wound clinic on the slate for various team members.
We covet your prayers for our health, protection but mostly for our ministry to the people of Haiti!

Written by: Joy

Glory To God

Sunday, March 1, 2015

"Lord,we lift your Name on high.   Lord, we love to sing your praises!"   Our voices were all lifted in unison as we sang worship songs at the church in Grace Village in Titanyen  this morning.  The words were displayed in Creole and then in English.  Our voices were loud and you could feel the passion in the singing.  The power of the Holy Spirit was present.  Hands were lifted in praise.  Even though we speak different languages, we worship the same God.

After church we went to Pwadebouke to browse the many shops of the metal artisans.  Their work is beautiful!   Most of us contributed to Haiti's local economy in their shops.

Last day in Haiti and it's bittersweet.   Our final evening devotion included communion.   We remembered what Jesus did for us on the cross and we will remember how Haiti broke our hearts.

Ke Bondye Beni'ou
.

Oceans

Today we took the orphan children from LaPherre to the public beach. Several days ago when we visited the orphanage, some of the older kids were disengaged as we made rubber band bracelets with the younger kids. Today all of the children were completely engaged, laughing and playing with the team. What a sight to see! The children were so polite and well mannered. We handed out towels after being in the ocean and, without asking, each child folded their towel and placed the used towels in a pile for the team.

Despite the extreme poverty we have seen this week, Haiti is a beautiful country with beautiful faith filled people. God has his signature on the water, mountains, sky, clouds, the children and our team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw

Tell your heart to beat again

 Friday, Feb 27 Started the day with a 6 AM worship service at the church near the guest house. What a joyful, Spirit-filled church! We were all extremely blessed and moved by the music and prayers. After breakfast we drove to Carrefour, a home for sick and dying adults. God moved us out of our comfort zone as we massaged lotion on the bodies of the men and women. We prayed over each of them as well. Gina's heart was broken for a 17-year old girl very close to death. Our next stop was General Hospital in Port-au-Prince where we offered prayer and held some of the sick babies to give their parents a break. Michelle and Lisa's hearts were broken over a 13-yr old boy thought to be a street child left there with no one to care for him. Our hope and desperate prayer is that God finds a way to take care of him. The last stop was the Apparent Project where we toured it to see how many hands are employed to empower young women and men. http://www.apparentproject.org

Joy abounding

Thursday, Feb 26 Our team visited 5 elders today in Titanyen and provided each with hot lunch, cold juice, singing and prayer, and loved on them with feet washing and massaging with lotion. Highlights from a few of the elders: 105 yr old Marie was very excited to have a reunion with Charlie. A special bond developed between Connie and Marie also. Lindor wanted a beard and hair trim so between Lisa, Connie, Jonas, Karen and Maxim, he blossomed into a handsome "young" man. Edmond enjoyed sitting between Connie and Gina as he ate his lunch. Clecie, full of joy in her heart, joined in as we sang, and she lifted her hands in praise along with us. As her darling 2 yr old grandson leaned on her leg, we massaged her with lotion and washed her feet. She invited us into her home to show us a leaky roof and asked for prayer to fix it. Though her home was sparse, all her things were in its perfect place. Blessings were received by ALL of us! On to Grace Village for a tour of the school, new library, family-style homes for the orphans, aquaponic tilapia farm, the new medical/dental clinic, and the newly built bakery. Impressive!! So much has been done here. On our way back to the guest house, we made 2 stops to hand out Feed My Starving Children manna packs, at the mass grave sites The lines formed quickly as we drove in, with the smallest children at the front of the lines. Eager hands stretched out as we handed them the food.

Lines

Well. Trying to sum up the day in one passage is quite impossible. It was water truck day, so there's a big water truck that fills up, and we take the water to the poorest slum in the western hemisphere, Cite Soleil.I was nervous, because I didn't quite know what to expect at first. Right when we stepped off the tap tap (which is basically like a tram for transportation, just all caged in in the back), children swarmed us yelling "Hey you!" and climbing all over us like we were a jungle gym. I think the craziest part was just seeing such joy in the kids' faces. I mean, they live in this terrible city, with sewage flowing on the sides of the road, they barely have clothing, and where their houses can barely be even considered shacks, and yet these kids had the biggest, most beautiful smiles on their faces. You would just have to see it to believe it. This description does absolutely nothing compared to the experience you get from coming here. The people are always staring at us, like we're some kind of aliens. They were all so fascinated with my eyelashes and my blonde hair, and the young children and even teenagers would grab at both of them. This was not even half of it. Distributing the water was kind of the intense part. The Haitians were in the absolute longest line. Imagine going to Six Flags during spring break, and just the lines of people waiting in line to ride the rides. These people all lined up with their buckets, waiting for water, while we waited at the truck and held the water hose. So many people tried to cut in line, and you had to be extremely assertive and tell them no, and to "Respect la lina" (Respect the line). At some points, people would cut in line multiple times and you would just grab their bucket and throw it to the side to show them to wait in line. Our 2 helpers, Maxime and Valery, the two strongest Haitian guys on our team, had sticks and they would be yelling at the people cutting in line, moving their buckets back, and sometimes they used their stick the push the people back and be aggressive towards them. It was so fast paced and insane, and just to think that these people are so desperate just for water, which we have in overabundance. It really makes you become more thankful for small things like water, showers, and a bed to sleep on at night. On our second water truck stop, I probably got 5 new boyfriends, all wanting to add me on facebook, and kept saying my name and telling me they loved me. After our second stop, we went to a little soccer field (which didn't have any grass; it was just rock and dirt), and a few of us from the team played soccer with a bunch of Haitian boys from Haitian Initiative who were probably only 10 years old. These teams actually go to Minnesota World Cup and play really really good. I must say, they definitely schooled us! The coaches were laughing at us and I think some of the players on our teams were getting mad at us because of how bad we were. Bridget, one of our awesome leaders and I, just kind of stood around and watched half the time, while Mike and Charlie were kickin' butt (and probably about to die from a heart attack as well). After the practice was over, we walked for a small ways through the city to a large building, kind of like a pavilion. All of the soccer kids were going to eat. They all grabbed a silver, metal bowl and a man scooped some rice into their bowls and they went and sat down at the concrete picnic tables to eat. As it turns out, the food that was given to the boys was packed by a couple of our team members and many volunteers. They pack a mixture of rice and soy protein into a bag, by Feed My Starving Children, and it's donated to places all over the world, one of those places being Haiti. After that, we all came home exhausted and starving, and scarfed down a delicious shepherd's pie, rolls, pepper salad and coca-cola from the glass bottles for dinner. After we had all eaten and showered, we went upstairs for our evening prayer thing. We all talked about when we saw God that day, and our walks of faith, and I got to know these people in a way I never would have imagined. After hearing all of their stories, and them hearing mine, my respect and love for these people shot through the roof. We also named things we're thankful for,and some things I said are my family, having food on our table every night, and just being fortunate enough to be born in the United States. Half of us were in tears and one of our team members, said that "This feels like a therapy session!" and we all busted into laughter. I could definitely go on and on about just this one day, but to finish it off, I'd just like to say I think we have the absolute best team here. We're all so strong and unique in our own ways, and they've shown me things and had me do things that I would never have imagined and I will most definitely be coming back to see the awesome people of Haiti. :) Michelle Keller