Another Amazing Experience

I'm writing the blog by myself again tonight.  You know Jim is feeling rough when he goes to bed before telling me what to write in the blog!  

The highlight of the day was going to a Haitian church.  Village of Hope has a new addition to the staff, Fan-Fan (pronounced Fon-Fon) and he took us to his church.  It is connected with an orphanage which is where he grew up.  It was such an amazing experience.  Despite not knowing what they were saying (although Fan-Fan translated some), you could feel the energy and the love of God radiating from everyone in the room.  Dave and Greer did a great job as preachers!  Following the service, many of the people came up to shake our hands and thank us for being there!

Following church, we went to the Eagle Mart grocery store.  People bought vanilla, coffee, rum, and other treats.  After shopping, we headed to Visa Lodge for lunch.  We enjoyed a buffet including pork, seafood carnivale', rice, beets, and so on.  It was great! 

We then traveled back to Hope House and unpacked our suitcases of donations and did some relaxing.  We played cornhole, talked, drank some rum and beer, and enjoyed our fellowship time together. There has been a lot of laughing (Dave is with us after all) and enjoying each others' company.

Tomorrow we head to the Village of Hope School where we'll see the opening, sing with the students, and do some projects around the school.  We look forward to seeing all the kids and getting to work!  We've been practicing the songs Dave and Dee provided for us but we've had to eliminate some after our practice session.  Nevertheless, we're prepared! 

Thank you for your continued prayers! 

Safe and Sound

We made it safe and sound and are enjoying a relaxing evening.  We were impressed with the new terminal at the airport but were disappointed that "the truck" is out of commission (hopefully temporarily) and we had to split into 3 trucks for the ride to Hope House!  Tonight we enjoyed a delicious dinner of pumpkin stew, salad and bread.  The stew is traditionally eaten on the Haitian Independence Day.  Before the independence, pumpkins were only eaten by the elite and rich. 

Tomorrow we are attending a Haitian church followed by lunch out.  Dave is "preaching" at the service.  He has learned never to volunteer without knowing what he's volunteering for first!  We don't have much work planned for tomorrow but are ready to get at it on Monday! 

Pray for Jim, as he's struggling with a head cold. 

86 and Sunny

It's hard to believe but in two short days, we will be basking in the sun in Haiti!  The report we received today is that it's 86 and sunny.  Sounds great since it's cold and drizzly here in NoVA!  But of course, we aren't going to Haiti for the nice weather, we are going to serve and share God's love with others.

Our team is looking forward to another great servant trip.  This year's team consists of returning members Greer Putnam (leader extraordinaire), Tom DeMik, Paul Swicord, Jim Lofgren, Christine Payne, Richard Finger, and me (Sarah Finger).  Joining our team are Dave Siebert, and Chris and Diane Brody.

We ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers while we are away.  Below is a daily list of prayers to include in your prayer time.

Saturday, January 19, Day 1

Heavenly Father, we pray for the safe early morning departure and safe arrival of St. John’s Servant Team to Port-au-Prince and Hope House. Open all hearts and minds to the needs of others, that with eagerness, energy and joy your love may be lavished on the children and people of Haiti.
 
Sunday, January 20, Day 2

Pray that the churches in Haiti will be filled to capacity with children, their families, friends, and neighbors and that the word of God will speak to them.
 
Monday, January 21, Day 3

Heavenly Father, we pray for the safe early morning departure and safe arrival of St. John’s Servant Team to Port-au-Prince and Hope House. Open all hearts and minds to the needs of others, that with eagerness, energy and joy your love may be lavished on the children and people of Haiti.
 
Tuesday, January 22, Day 4

Pray that Jesus will help us to practice hospitality to strangers and that God may bless the prayers of his people and assist us to model Christ in humble service. Pray for the Little Children of Jesus orphanage, both for the severely mentally and physically handicapped children and their staff who care for them. Ask that the Lord would provide for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs and that we will see the love of Christ working through them.
 
Wednesday, January 23, Day 5

Pray for the government and leaders of Haiti, that they will work to provide security, economic and political stability, and hope for their country and people according to the will of the Lord.

Thursday, January 24, Day 6

Pray for the donors and volunteers to the Lazarus Project, that they will pray for our neighbors in need in Haiti, and for them to understand the importance of sharing time, talent, and treasure.

Friday, January 25, Day 7

Pray for Haitian children and their families that their hearts will be opened to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Also, please pray for Bert and Roberta Anderson, the VOH Haiti Directors, and their staff.

Saturday, January 26, Day 8
 
Pray for the safe return of the SJLC group to northern Virginia and for good health for all.

T-6 Days!

Our suitcases of donations are packed and ready to go!

And Then There Were Two...

Nine of our 11 team members will be landing shortly back in the Washington, D.C. area.  Paul and I (Sarah) stayed an extra day and I'm really glad we did.

Our day started with Marilyn (Lazarus) making an appearance at breakfast looking much more herself!  Praise God!  We had some time this morning to relax, talk, climb coconut trees (go Tish!) and then the inevitable happened.  I, Sarah Finger, admit leg-wrestling defeat to one Paul Swicord.  We went two out of three rounds and he won.  I think I lost because the sun was in my eyes.  Yeah, that's it!  Tish wanted to take me on too but that didn't go as well for her.  As Mark said, it wasn't just defeat, it was total domination.  Sorry Tish!

After the group left, Paul got to work building screens for the health center and I made identification badges for the staff.  After lunch, Bert took us on a tour out to the Earthquake Memorial and then up Route 3 into the mountains, north and west of Croix-des-Boquets.  The Earthquake Memorial is hard to describe.  Before the earthquake, it was a quarry and because of that, it became a mass grave for thousands upon thousands of unidentified victims of the earthquake.  There is a small monument built there that says "We Will Not Forget You" and the date of 12 January.

After we left there, we drove up into the mountains and had a fantastic view of the bay and surrounding areas.  We saw an area where hundreds of thousands of people have been relocated out of tent cities into transition housing.  As we drove up the mountain, Bert pointed out a compound area that had been used by the Nepalese Army as part of the UN.  Paul and I took a picture as we whizzed by and we all agreed it looked like the Nepalese were not there anymore but someone was.  After turning around at Terre Rouge, a small village, we drove down a little ways to a tiny overlook, got out and took some pictures.  Back on the road, we started to approach the aforementioned compound area and then men there came out and stopped us.  Apparently, they did not like that we had taken photos of the area.  Bert has surmised they are ex-military.  Quite the excitement!

After returning to Hope House, we relaxed before a nice steak dinner and great conversation.  We ate at Bert and Roberta's apartment.  They also showed us some video of the school's Christmas service.  Super cute!

And now it's time for shower and bed before beginning our last morning here!

Update on Marilyn

Miraculously, Marilyn is up and moving, has color in her face and is ready to rock and roll!  In fact, according to Tish this morning, she asked, "where's my roller?"  Good news that we wanted to share!  Thanks for all your prayers!

Out and About in the Open-Air Truck

Regrettably, one of our team members, Marilyn, fell seriously ill last night and woke up not feeling well.  She was unable to travel with us today.  Please keep Marilyn in your prayers for a speedy recovery and strength to travel.

Today we gave up the paint brush for an opportunity to travel and move about Port-au-Prince.  The first stop was the metal-works where local Haitian artisans skillfully create some really cool artwork from tin.  They use old 50 gallon drums as their source of supply of tin.  We did a great job stimulating the local economy!  It's also really cool to walk around a Haitian community and move from shop to shop and talk with the many of the local artisans.  Many do speak some English.

The next stop was a first-time stop for all of us.  The name of the organization is Apparent Project, started by an American woman and her husband to create jobs with dignity for local Haitians.  Much of their artwork consists of necklaces, bracelets, other types of jewelry, baskets, purses, and the like.  In four years, this woman-owned business has grown to include buyers from Macy's and Disney and today employs 220 local artisans (70% are women).  What a terrific outreach to be able to provide the opportunity for a living wage for these folks.

Another treat was to actually eat lunch at a local Haitian restaurant.  In years past, we have lunched in higher-end hotel restaurants.  This year, we had requested something with a bit more of a local flavor.  We were rewarded!  We sat on an outside patio and had a terrific lunch off the main drag in Delmas, a suburb of Port-au-Prince.  We also made a quick stop at the supermarket for things like coffee, vanilla, cigars, rum, and Haitian desserts.

Our intent was to then head to the Earthquake Memorial but due to the high volume of traffic and congestion, it was too late in the day.  We'll have to save this for another trip!  Many of us commented that a day of riding and getting beaten up in the open-air truck with the sun on us was more difficult than the days painting!  It was still enjoyable because it's nice to get out!

Tonight, during our nightly devotions, lead by Mark, who requested that we all describe in 3 words what a memory would be of this trip.  Here is what we shared (some of them may not seem self-explanatory, so we encourage you to discuss further with the team members):

-all the children (Sarah)
-peaceful sunsets (Yvette)
-smiling children singing (Tom)
-dirty dishes done...not by me (Roberta)
-Stevenson doing well (Paul)
-Marie's girls bubbles (Greer)
-open-air truck (Tish)
-encouragement, hope, love (Christine)
-paint, paint, paint (Bert)
-white walls rollers (Mark)
-joy, fulfillment, hope (Jim)