Wednesday, December 30, 2009

day three

It’s a little late, Sarah is in bed, so I (Corbin) will do some blogging!

Every morning, I step outside of my room and into an almost surreal landscape. Our hotel stands on the edge of a palm tree forest blanketed with spongy-green turf where cows and goats graze. An occasional greeting from the resident chickens and a "Bonjou" from a hotel employee sets a peaceful mood amidst the rising sun. We are fortunate to have the amenities we live with at home - a comfortable bed, air conditioning, and a clean shower that, although lacking a few kPa, is refreshing after a long day under the Haitian sun. It's awesome. Also, a bit surprising. It beckons the question, "Is this Haiti?" More importantly, it reveals the potential for and spirit of contentment and revival shared by Hatians in Jacmel. It's encouraging.

The contrast between our residence here and American wealth at home with the cinderblock shacks and disorderly towns of the Haitian populace presents a stunning antithesis of human experience that opens eyes and breeds discontent among foreign observers - especially Christians. Nevertheless, our encounters with Haitian culture thus far testify that happiness transcends wealth (or lack thereof) and that the human experience is defined by community, not currency. This reality renews every day.

For the past couple of days, we were guests of Eglesia Weslyan, a small church where we taught kids Bible lessons (through interactive skits - a big hit), learned Haitian songs, and played all sorts of games. Like soccer. Surprised? After a lunch of fresh goat and fried fish, we visited a large - though somewhat trashed – recreation field where we continued to engage kids in sports and conversation. We will follow a similar schedule for the next few days.

I have found that though the schedule is repetitive, the discoveries are new and revealing each day. Here are some things that I have learned and observed:

1. Chuck Norris is famous in Haiti. Hailed as "The Boss," his name is adorned on the sides of the rather erratic taxis known as "Tap-Taps."

2. Time is your most valuable resource. Yes, Haitians need money and material resources, but they are in desperate need for people to love them, to teach them, to play with them. Many here have conveyed the unfortunate reality that the kids' parents and teachers are mean and don't provide a lot of the care that is crucial to their development.

3. Everyone plays soccer. One of the more memorable parts of the trip has been playing soccer with Haitian teenagers. Though Deeds and Yanni have been able to keep up, the kids told Pastor Eric that he should just give up.

4. At our very first day of VBS at the church, Yanni was talking to the group of children and teenagers, and he preached salvation through Jesus Christ. When Yanni asked for those who would like to follow Jesus to stand and pray, I was thinking, "Is he really giving a salvation call on our FIRST day?" Sure enough, several of the older people stood to accept Christ. We look forward to encouraging these new believers in their walk with Christ this week, and please join us in praying for them.

5. Colossians 1:28-29 says, "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." Sometimes you have to travel to another country to remember that our work is indeed a struggle. Exhaustion is expected from all believers, no matter the country. Thankfully, we struggle with all His energy. Which is powerful. ‘Nuff said.

6. Haiti lacks a viable education system, and this arguably contributes to much of the poverty and political unrest that has permeated its history. Verbal communication to most of the kids has been difficult because of the language barrier. There are some, however, that love to learn and use books, movies, music, and any resources available to learn English and other languages. We have been blessed to converse with a few special teenagers who are smart and driven. Their names are Joaz, Joel, and Elizah. These guys are gifted. Fight for their opportunities. Pray for their futures.

7. Nobody has been injured or sick for more than an hour (yet)!

We will post pictures soon. For now, I sleep.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Day 2

Hello everybody!

Well, as you can tell, we made it to Haiti okay. The plane trips were smooth, and getting through Haitian customs was a hastle as they all seem to be grumpy and few speak english, but we did it. Once through customs we took our first breath of Haitian air... and it smelled like smoking the wrong end of a Cuban cigar. I'm telling you people, the air here is so polluted from giant piles of burning garbage that you absolutely cannot escape from it. It's okay though, its hot and humid here, just the way I like it. The mosquitos aren't that bad. A lot of the team members went to REI and bought 100% deet, which is the most potent possible bug repellent, and I think it's working... for the most part. Once out of the airport, Haitian men all tried to grab our bags and carry them to their taxis in a desperate attempt to win our buisness among people begging for handouts. It was intimidating to say the least. Our guide found us and led us, running, to a van where we all squeezed in and made a periouls journey through the worst streets I've ever seen in my life in Port Au Prince, the capitol. I've been to several countries, but this BY FAR was the craziest driving experince. The streets are crowded with beat up pickup trucks adapted to be taxis (Tap Taps) and motorcylces primarily. As we zoomed by overcrowded vehicles we were hit twice by motorcycles who, unphased, kept going and went around us. That among other things is why the condition of the vehicles is so poor; no paved roads, ambiguous road signs (if any), and a total disregard for the side of the street to drive on. But enough about the roads, I'll move on... After about two hours just trying to get through the chaos of Port Au Prince, there were another two hours of twisty mountain roads to get to Jacmel where we are staying. By that time I had volunteed to ride with the Guide (Thony) in his truck, and that was a great choice because I bombarded him with questions about the language, the culture, himselft, and everything else in between.
Some thing's I've learned:
We pa We- see it or not see it. Whatever will happen will happen. A haitian saying I saw graffiti'd onto a shack and asked about.

I've learned Haitian goat it good, Haitian water is bad. No diahrea yet.

Sak Passe- What's happening? Map Boule- Just chillin.

I've learned Haitians are beautiful.

Diri= rice

I've learned Haitians are freakin crunk. Those guys can DAAAAANCEE!

Today we went out into the town of Jacmel for the first time. They really need and love us there. I feel like I'm doing a lot of good, and this is no vacation. They are the poorest I've ever seen, but very polite and VERY loving. They share absolutely everything. Trying out my Haitian Creole, I accidently told a little girl and her sister that I was thirsty, and they left and returned with two ziplock baggies full of water and gave them to me... my heart broke into a million peices.


-Sarah

Kerry G: Today was our first day of VBS. We taught the kids the story about the prodigal son and then we did a skit to better enhance the lesson. The cool thing was, the Haitian people reenacted our skit so you could see that what we did really had an effect on them. We had anywhere from 150-200 people show up at the church ranging anywhere from 2 years old to 35 years old. It was so great. They have a great memory also. There are 3 Emily's on this trip and they were able to identify Emily 1, Emily 2, and Emily 3 individually. So after the skit we sang a song in English, it was Jesus Loves Me... and they sang us a song in creole. Then was arts and crafts time... which should really have been called "Yanni getting tackled by a mob of children" or "Haitian children learn to share". Yanni pulled out the paper that the kids could color on... and literally got trampled. The children went nuts over crayons too. Josh took crayons and broke them to make more... that didn't go over so well. It was hard making them understand that that was sharing without using english. The language barrier is definitely something that is frustrating, to say the least. However, we've been blessed with two awesome translators: Thony and Allen and we ran into a girl from New York who agreed to help us as well. Please keep her in your prayers- her name is Jasmine. After arts and crafts we went to a restaurant in Jacmel and had a great mean. MJ at fish eyes. Then we rested for a little bit before heading to the soccer field. Soccer gets serious, to say the least... and everyone wants to barter for your clothing and shoes too. We met some great people. The older children and people in their 20's can sometimes speak decent english, enough to teach us as much as we want... and enough for us to teach them. We even met one guy who could speak fluent spanish, so I began speaking to him through that, then he told me he was fluent in french, creole, and portuguese, and he could speak some english and french... but he had never left Haiti. Talk about random, but gifted. We also met a midwife from Canada today. She's the only white person I've seen here besides us. She moved here and is trying to start up her own clinic to deliver babies on the island, so please keep her and her desires in your prayers as well.
As far as us, please pray that we don't see the "Haiti Hello's" or the "Sak Passe Squirts"... if you get what I'm saying. Keep the children in your prayers, as well as the language barrier situation (it's getting better though), Jasmine, our safety, and that we can be flexible under the ever changing circumstances
Praise: Jasmine, VBS went great, the children here are so loveable, being blessed with great translators... the ones that are with us and the ones we met along the way, and being blessed with such a strong unity among our group

That's all I can think of. Thanks for you time. We miss you & love you guys.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Flabbergasted

We. Are. Here .... We are actually, finally, here. I almost can not believe the words as I type them and sit in a room and overlook some scrawny horses as they graze at the foot of the mountains in Jacmel, Haiti. Most of us have been up for 30 + hours, and a few of us has got some winks of sleep on the plane, but all of us know without the shadow of a doubt that this is where we are called to be at this time. We made it through customs and our plane flights without any bumps (praise the Lord) and took a four hour van ride from the airport in Port Du Prince to Jacmel in the hotel where we will be staying. The ride was culture shock, to say the least, we have first Navigated through busy streets of Port Of Prince and then the windy and narrow roads that led us over the mountains to Jacmel. The van ride alone was enough to exposes us to every condition to be found in Haiti and, ladies and gentlemen, this is truly a third world country.

Kerry G: I Prayed and Prayed that God would show me something, ANYTHING, in Haiti ... little did I know what I was truly asking for. The minute we stepped out of the airport I got what I asked for. There were soldiers with guns by the doors yelling for us to move and keep going. Right across from them were tons of men just yelling, asking us if they could drive us. The way they looked, it was as if they Had no joy in their lives. Not one of them had a smile on their face. Every last one of them had a face that was hardened by years of this life. I've seen poor people, I've seen homeless people ... but this was the first time I had ever seen poverty. True, genuine poverty. It's something that someone should never want to see again, yet something no one should ever know. We got in the bus (these people are crazyyyy drivers, by the way ) and people would just jump on the back of our van holding their stomachs and holding up one finger, just begging for a dollar. They'd come right up to us in the middle of the street with cars, vans, motorcycles and flying in every direction, and stare at us through the window with something in their hands, usually a fried plantains, as if that was fried plantain The only thing that was keeping them alive. Little kids were just running The Streets by themselves, no parents. Pigs were in the market eating fruit that was being sold off the ground .... and when I say "pigs", I do not mean a little pig, I mean something the size of a huge horse in the shape of a pig. It was the biggest pig I have EVER seen. Trash was lining the streets on fire ... they burn their trash to make room for more. The houses here were sometimes walled rooms, maybe with no door, maybe with no furniture. I never knew my heart could break so much from complete strangers. I had so many emotions and thoughts running through my heart and my head that I was pretty much numb. Words cannot describe what I saw with my eyes, and they definitely cannot describe what I felt in my heart. It was just so overwhelming. God showed me what I asked for. He showed me that in a world with no love, this is what happens. He showed me how truly blessed I really am and how I take that for granted every day of my life. I will never have to walk the streets alone because not only do my friends and family love me, but my God loves me and when everyone else is gone, He'll be there. My desire is to share that with everyone I encounter here. God has shown me that I am to love these children, these people, just as much as He loves me ... and even though I do not fuly comprehend the extent of His love, or How to Demonstrate that, I know that He's going to use each and every one of us on this team to love ... we simply love his people. I hope that at the end of these 9 days, the children here will know that even if they do not have love at home, there is a God who loves them and He will NEVER abandon them. Not ever. Tomorrow they're going to be hit with a wave of love. :) I mean, who does not want to be hit by that?:) VBS is going to be AMAZING! We're all so pumped. Right after VBS we'll be having a soccer tournament, too. The people here, they love soccer.
We Prayed for 2 flights safe. We arrived unharmed.
We Prayed that we'd come to the hotel safely, with the drivers going 70 on a dirt road at the top of a mountain, that sometimes Seemed impossible .... but we're here ... every last one of us. And boy did we see some breathtaking sights along the way. God's beauty can be seen in these mountains.... His beauty shines through in a country that is so hard, so cold. It's undeniable.
We Prayed over VBS tomorrow .... and I know, come tomorrow, that prayer will be answered, too.
I ask that you keep us in your prayers. Keep the people here in your prayers. And keep the drivers here in your prayers too.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

When God Shows Up and Shows Off.

Last week the Haiti team found themselves face to face with a terrible monster; The final payment for the trip was due and those who couldn't make it faced the imminent possibility of not being able to make the trip!

Although most of the people on the Haiti team had raised the needed requirement to go, there were two or three others who had worked hard and still fell short of the amount needed by upwards of hundreds of dollars while the deadline was the next morning. *gulp*

So... as you sit here, white-knuckled, on the edge of your seat, wondering 'what"..oh what will ever happen to these poor little missionaries?', I will be so rude as to refrain from telling you how it all ends, and pause for a moment to let you hear it from one of those little missionaries herself: Emily Fischer. Take it Emily!


"I sat in on our last Haiti missions meeting and knew that I was not going to go, not with 910 more dollars to raise by 2:00 pm tomorrow. After the meeting I talked to our group leader. I actually told him, "Yanni, I'm not going to Haiti and don't try to talk me out of it." He asked me if I had the money would I go, and I said yes that I still wanted to go, but I just did not have faith in this and did not really know if God had wanted me to go in the first place. He asked of me to not give up until the deadline and called Melissa Johnson (the other leader for the trip) for me and set up our meeting.
I drove to her house in Oakwood and we sat in my car through midnight processing through some stuff- through the real reason why I had given up. If this did not happen then it would feel like God would not hear me. I could not bare thinking my God did not hear me, so I just removed myself from any risk. Mel J told me that we should pray for a yes anyways, and we did. From midnight through early morning I prayed and begged and waited. I have never felt so desperate in my life. By 6am I had seen God manifest his love and presence- I had the entire cost of the trip pledged. I spent the next day picking up sponsor checks and walking in awe of what God had done. He showed me that He does hear me- He specifically hears my voice. So much has happened already in me and we have not even left yet- I know that if God has made himself known this intensely so far, then Haiti is going to be something else, something completely God ordained and awe-inspiring."


Emily Fischer
12/14/09

So... there you have it folks. God is really somethin' isn't he?? Like Emily, the other members of the Haiti team who were short were provided for completely in one night. And everybody is going on the trip- not one person excluded!

I heard something beautiful from someone once that this reminds me of. This person said that as he was training to be a lifeguard one thing that he was taught when rescuing a drowning person who is strong and resistant is to wade by the person as they thrash around in the water... literally... to tread water three feet away and carefully watch until the drowning person is at their weakest and ready to give in to the waves. Then, and only then, can the lifeguard swoop down and rescue the person, because had the drowning victim been any stronger surely they would have pulled both the lifeguard and themselves to watery doom in their panic.
I find that this is a lot like our relationship with Jesus sometimes. There are times when we think we are left alone...abandoned to drown and be consumed by waves (waves of money deadlines, for example). All the while Jesus is treading water with us three feet away and waiting carefully for us to be weak enough and let go of our ego and pride and fear and just shout between gasps of breath,"Jesus! You are Lord! You alone can save me!"... and then, he swoops down and saves us. And thank you, thank you for that sweet rescue.