Snow Today. Haiti Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the big day! We are off to Haiti early tomorrow morning. Members of this year's team are Greer Putnam; Jim Lofgren; Paul, Alli, and Tim Swicord; Tara, Cassie, and Paul Signet; Sarah Finger; Richard Finger; Scott Putnam; Lisa and William Marik; Ken Lorang; and Mary Catherine Meehan.  We are looking forward to a great week of serving together!

Below are daily prayers you can use while we are gone:

February 2019 Lazarus Project-Haiti Servant Mission Team Prayer Tent

Our servant team posts a blog at the end of each day highlighting that day’s experiences.  You’re invited to follow us at http://stjohnshaititrip.blogspot.com/.  ***Prayers are requested for the specific servant team members listed on each day below.***

Saturday, February 2nd,

Pray that the SLJC Haitian Team safely travels to Port-Au-Prince and Hope House and the February weather in DC is favorable for their departure.  Pray for the political and spiritual leaders of Haiti to continue to work against corruption and greed in both business and government activities and improve the stability of the country for all people.  Pray also for the people affected by the summers’ hurricanes.

*** Sarah Finger, Richard Finger, Jim Lofgren, Kenneth Lorang, Mary Meehan, Lisa Marik, William Marik, Greer Putnam, Scott Putnam, Cassie Signet, Paul Signet, Tara Signet, Alli Swicord, Paul Swicord, Tim Swicord***

Sunday, February 3rd - church

Pray for the Haitian churches spreading the Word of God in the services and good works toward those in need.  Pray for the pastors and other spiritual leaders that the Word of God continues to embolden these Disciples of Christ and bring Christ to those in need.  Pray that the parents are also moved knowing God’s Word to work at home and with the churches to raise their children in God.

***Sarah Finger, Richard Finger ***

Monday, February 4th – Community VBS, work project

Pray for the staff at the Village of Hope School, including teachers, administrative personnel, and all that contribute to a Christian, safe, and productive environment for the students.  Pray for the students that they may be blessed in their learning, both academic and in Christian education, so that they can grow into adults and contributors to the Haitian society and lead the country into a better future.

***Jim Lofgren, Kenneth Lorang ***

Tuesday, February 5th– VOH school VBS, work project

Pray for the Village of Hope Health Center and the dedicated staff of doctors, nurses, aids, and helpers. Pray for healing for those who are ill and seek help from the Health Center. Pray that the Health Center continues to educate the Haitian parents in the surrounding neighbors to learn good health habits for their children. Pray that the Health Center continues to receive supplies and donations to treat those in need. *** Mary Meehan, Lisa Marik ***

Wednesday, February 6th- Community VBS, work project

Pray for the staff at the Village of Hope School, including teachers, administrative personnel, and all that contribute to a Christian, safe, and productive environment for the students.  Pray for the students that they may be blessed in their learning, both academic and in Christian education, so that they can grow into adults and contributors to the Haitian society and lead the country into a better future.

*** William Marik, Greer Putnam ***

Thursday, February 7th- Community VBS, work project

Pray and give thanks for the donors and volunteers for the Village of Hope as well as all other missions in Haiti.   Pray that all who are in Christ understand the need for such donors and volunteers and these donors and volunteers are supported by all in the good works that they do serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

*** Scott Putnam, Cassie Signet, ***

Friday, February 8th – LCJ

Pray for the orphanage of the Little Children of Jesus, including the dedicated staff that serves the children through God’s love. Pray for all the children at the orphanage that their lives are improved both in the spirit and body by the help of the able servants of the Lord working at the orphanage. Pray they continue to receive support from donors and volunteers so it can continue helping these Little Children of Jesus

*** Paul Signet, Tara Signet ***

Saturday, February 9th

Pray for the safe return of the SJLC Haitian team and that their faith has grown during their servant trip to Haiti.   Pray for continued strength and discernment for the VOH Haiti Directors. Pray that others will be so moved in Christ by the team’s example to support this mission in future years.

*** Alli Swicord, Paul Swicord, Tim Swicord ***

13 Servants in Haiti

We're back!  The internet was back up this morning and while slow, has stayed on today.  We'll start with yesterday's news...today.

We had our second VBS of the week.  This was held in the town of Ganthier which is the town that the students at Village of Hope primarily come from. They are the village that the health center mainly serves.  The church was on a very small plot of land and the structure was a tin building with some benches inside for the congregation.  They managed to fit about 120 kids into this space.  Our interpreters spent the first 20 minutes getting the kids excited by playing games and singing songs.  We did our skit, The Three Wisemen, which was received well. Different this time was that the children then re-enacted the skit.  They seemed to be excited to do it and showed us up!  We followed up with arts and crafts, as well as sports ministry, much like Tuesday.  We would like to thank Greer's wife, Nilah, for all the work she put into preparing items for the goodie bags, and costumes and props for our skit. The camel was a huge hit!

After serving them lunch and passing out goodie bags, we headed back to VoH for our own lunch after which we went back to our tasks.  At the end of the day, we were 90% complete. When we returned to Hope House, we had our usual happy hour. Some of us played card games and others relaxed with a book.

Today we rose earlier than we had been in order to get to VoH for the kindergarten opening. This is always a highlight for the team! Today at opening they remembered the earthquake which was eight years ago today.  They were encouraged to remember those they lost and look forward to a better future.  After opening, the kindergarteners had play time with duplos, blocks, and other toys. Some of us enjoyed sitting down and interacting with them.  For the first time, we did VBS at the school, this time with 3rd and 4th graders.  We followed the same program - we are getting really good at this!  With every performance, we get better! The kids again reenacted the skit, not once but twice, and did a fantastic job!  Again, we were outshined!  Adding VBS into the servant program has been a great addition to our week. It has really enriched our servant week and given us a nice balance of doing projects and interacting with the Haitians especially those who aren't part of the Village of Hope.  Village of Hope no longer conducts church services on Sundays so they have incorporated it into the daily schedule of the students (a few grades attend each day). We sat in the back and as always, are amazed at their beautiful singing voices.

Following the mid-morning service, the principal, Clovis, gathered up the children that are sponsored by St. John's congregational members and members of the team.  We were able to take a group picture and thankfully had the interpreters there to help us talk with the kids.  After lunch, we finished our projects. The band room was complete with all painting and staining done and instruments delivered to the room.  And the Village of Hope had one happy music teacher!  The painting of the science lab was also completed, as well as the delivery of a few materials for that room. To top it off, all fourteen benches have been built, stained, and drilled into place.  Some of us also took the annual climb up to the water tower/plant.

We returned to Hope House and experienced some fellowship, as usual.  Tonight at devotionals, we closed with communion which has become a tradition for SJLC teams.  We wanted to mention again that we are very thankful to Pat for the great devotions she wrote for our team. You may not have been here in person but you were in here in spirit!

As we look back on the week, we all feel privileged to have been able to travel to Haiti and to serve at the Village of Hope and in the Haitian community.  We are very grateful to SJLC and others for all the support you have provided to our team and to all our fans out there who follow us on the blog! Please pray for safe travels tomorrow as we return to the states.

 VBS on Thursday

 play time this morning

 skit re-enactment at VoH

skit re-enactment at VBS on Thursday 

playtime with kindergarteners 

 raising the Haitian flag (half-mast for remembrance of the earthquake)

 re-enactment at VBS on Thursday

 church in Ganthier where we did VBS

 our team - everyone who pitched in this week with the music teacher!

 sponsors and their children!

the benches

Quick Update

This is just a quick update to let you know we didn't have internet yesterday.  We will do a longer update tonight!  We are off (early) to the school!

Center for the Infants of Jesus (aka Little Children of Jesus)

Today's mission started with a visit to Center for the Infants of Jesus (formerly known as Little Children of Jesus). This has been a highlight for St. John's servant teams for 10 years, but is also one of the more spiritually, mentally, and emotionally demanding of all the activities we do.  As the first director told us ten years ago, their bodies might be broken but their spirits are not.  The orphanage, run by the monks of Missionaries of the Poor, care for residents ages 5 to over 40, all with different levels of mental and physical disabilities.  We spent about four hours there today which included communicating and touching those who are immobile, as well as playing balloon games and wheelchair races with those who are mobile.  Stimulation is good for them and for us. Some of the team also spent time feeding those who could not feed themselves.  Jim Haugan had a power struggle with a stubborn, smart five-year-old who wanted to change locations after every few bites (he lost)!  The five of us who visited Haiti ten years ago are amazed at how much the physical location of the orphanage has improved their life as well as how great the level of care is that these residents receive.  It's exponential - as it should be!  The monks, in addition to improving the living conditions for the kids, have also set up a housing arrangement for visiting teams to come and work with the kids, as well as planting gardens, raising livestock, a water purification system, and so on.  It's quite impressive!  We all continue to pray for these kids and those who care for them, as well as those who donate their time, talents, and treasures.

We returned to Hope House for a leftovers lunch - very American!  Then we headed to the metal works where we all joyfully put money in the Haitian economy.  It's always an experience to see these artisans at work. 

Following the metal works, we came back to Hope House and worked on another task that we all enjoy doing - preparing meds for mobile med teams. We packed heart medicine, penicillin, antacids, and motrin.  Our dinner was a delicious Haitian stew of beef and potatoes. Now we are getting ready for devotions and then we'll make the sandwiches for tomorrow's VBS.  More to come tomorrow!

 water filtration system at the orphanage

 The kids were happy to see us!

 Sarah hanging out with Kiki

 Jana and Sophia were fast friends!

Balloon time! Who knew Elisabeth was such a balloon artist!

Jim H. and a friend

 Wheelchair races!

Wheelchair train

This was the caboose

 Metal works - what to buy? What to buy?

Artisans making metal art 

 Artisans making metal art

 packing pills

packing pills

VBS - Awesome!

It's been three years since the Village of Hope has incorporated VBS as part of our program of serving here in Haiti.  This outreach to the community is serving VOH, as well as the community, well.  We have been very excited about this addition to our service in Haiti.  As part of this outreach, we include interpreters as part of our team.  Today we had five interpreters who are young and passionate and really get the kids excited about our visit and about our faith.  Our team lead off today with a skit, The Three Wiseman.  Our performance may not have been Oscar material, but the feedback from our director and the local pastor was very positive! Everyone got something out of our skit!  Following the skit, we separated boys and girls.  The boys participated in various sports ministry programs lead by our interpreters and supported by our team members.  The girls started out with the arts and crafts. They decorated crowns and colored pictures of the Wiseman at the manger.  After a while, the two groups switched.  An interesting difference between boys and girls, was the girls when they received the crown, were quick to want to decorate it while the boys were quick to place it on their heads.  You make your own interpretation of what that means.  A highlight for our team is then providing a meal of peanut butter sandwiches and kool-aid to the participants and a goodie bag at the conclusion of the program. It was an awesome morning!

Following VBS, we returned to Village of Hope and had our traditional meal - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Pringles.  Then we scattered to work on our various tasks - staining, benches, and painting.  While it was much warmer today, there was low humidity and a great breeze that kept us cool enough. We are happy to report that we are 90% done with our projects.  The plan is to complete them Thursday and Friday.  As we headed back to the truck to leave Village of Hope, Saron was summoned by Yvette and Christine.  They had found a goat tangled in its leash and it needed freeing.  Saron saved the day and got the goat freed!

We returned to Hope House, tired and sore and joyfully enjoyed fellowship which included Prestige, peanuts, and reflection on the day.  Oh, yeah, let's not forget showers!  During devotions, which is always a time of enrichment, we were surprised to realize it's day four of our trip!  Thank you for keeping up with our blog.  We enjoy sharing our adventures with you!

Hands and Feet

Today we were the hands and feet of Jesus.  Our main tasks today were cutting and prepping fourteen-foot benches, painting, and staining.  The benches will be used for parents or relatives in the waiting area so they have a safe and secure place to wait for their children after school.  The staining was done for all the cabinets that will house the musical instruments in the new band room.  The painting was done in the new music room as well as what will be the science lab room which will cover chemistry, earth sciences, and biology. Needless to say, those who stained and painted today are feeling the joys of their labor.  Between Prestige, Motrin, and ice, we will be back and ready for more tomorrow.  Interestingly enough for those of us that have been to Haiti, this was a cool, cloudy, and windy day.  It was out of character for Haiti but very conducive to the tasks of the day.  The guys who were working on the benches had a lot of spectators. School started back after the break, and they were curious to see what was going on.  Several Haitians helped the bench crew, which was good for the kids to see the collaboration between locals and mission team members - one team.

Following dinner, we did our nightly devotions followed by a couple dry runs of the skit for tomorrow which we are all looking forward to... lol.  The story is the story of the Three Kings, but as usual, the highlight for the team is making the peanut butter sandwiches, the goodie bags (which are top-notch), and Kool-aid. These will be distributed to the children at the VBS tomorrow. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.  Enjoy the pictures!

Staining

Cutting wood

 Staining

 Painting

Painting

Skit practice

 Goodie bag assembly

Peanut butter sandwich time

R & R

Our day started with attending church at Port-au-Prince Fellowship, the church Rob and Trish (field directors) attend. If you think we stand a lot at St. John's Lutheran, we spent the first 40 minutes standing and singing praises to the Lord. We were lead by a Haitian praise band which included seven band members.  Unlike Haitian churches we've attended, this service was kept to the standards of what we're used to at St. John's. The sermon really drew an insightful lesson comparing the physical heart to the spiritual heart. One little thing goes wrong in either and complications arise.  The three things that we can do to battle spiritual disease is first, see ourselves how God sees us. Two, be sensitive to the Spirit's influence. And finally, stay in touch with the Holy Spirit. As always, our church experience was spiritually uplifting and we really enjoyed the praise music.

As is the tradition for all servant teams, we went out for lunch, this time to a restaurant called La Fouchet. Its menu rivaled the Cheesecake Factory's and the tv was showing American football!  This is where a lot of UN, USAid, and state department folks stay. The food and service were excellent, but true to form, it took awhile to get our food.  Following lunch, we stopped at Giant Food, which is another tradition. We bought coffee, vanilla, plantain chips, and other Haitian goodies.  Dave treated us to ice cream which was delicious on a hot day!

After some time to relax this afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious taco dinner. The clean-up team serenaded us with songs from the Sound of Music.  The new Jim is no longer a rookie. He has volunteered to serve as the lead for the staining team and lead devotions tomorrow night. 

While today was a rest and relaxation day, the next five days are packed with work! Tomorrow we will go to Village of Hope school where we will paint, stain, and build. 

Our group - (l to r): Dave, Jim H., Jim L., Elisabeth, Sarah, Ken, Jana, Richard,  Christine, Scott, Saron, Greer, and Yvette.

PAP Fellowship is held at a private school.

The crowd after church

Lunch

Giant Supermarket

Tap tap (taxi)

The clean-up crew