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Monday, March 12

Haiti: Day Four

Yesterday (Sunday) we headed to the Valley of Hope for church. As always, it was an incredible experience. Although, this time I would also label it as an adventure .. . The day started by climbing into the back of the “big tap-tap” with all of our girls. It was such a treat for them to be able to come with us. Rides in the truck are usually bumpy, but I do believe that I acquired more bruises from this one than any other. It was so fun though. The girls sang, and giggled most of the way there. Miss Jesuala sat my lap, and thoroughly enjoyed my small shrieks as we all bounced around. We stopped for fuel about half way through the journey. I have been with Serge before when he has fueled up, but this time we went into the convenient store. It was very nice, and clean. We all bought a little snack, along with candy for the girls (which St. Therese got for them), and headed on to “the Valley.”
We got there around maybe 11:15am, and the service was already in progress. Following the worship, a man prayed, then sang a song, which was followed by more praying and singing. Our girls, and St. Therese sang next. This was the best part of the service to me. The girls sang something in Creole that I couldn’t ever understand, but I immediately recognized St. Therese’s song. She sang “Because He Lives.” To hear a Haitian women, who has survived more than I can ever imagine, sing these words brought tears to my eyes. The Haitian’s dedication to Christ always amazes me. They know that simply because He lives, they can face anything, and come out of the other side standing.
Then Pastor M. went to the front, and asked Mr. Donald and our team to come forward to share. I believe that he spoke for another minute, and then Pastor Danielle came to speak. Next it was Pastor Riley’s turn to preach. I love Creole, but I was so thankful to finally be hearing English! Following his sermon, there was another mini-sermon from a gentleman I didn’t know. He also presented Mr. Donald, and Pastor M with a beautiful wood-carved name plate as a celebration of one year since the church was dedicated.
After the service, we had sandwiches and fellowshipped with the people. When we got back to My Father’s House (after another interesting, bruise creating ride) we rested for a few minutes and then headed to see the girls one last time. Its always so hard to say goodbye. Today (Monday) I am going back to the States. Please pray for safe travels.
Thank you all for your prayers, love and support throughout this trip. God has done great things. I will share more about all of this in a recap, that I’ll post later. I don’t want to go into detail now, but let me just say that God is an awesome God.
Love and Blessings,
Han

Sunday, March 11

Haiti: Day Three

Haiti: Day Three
I know that I said yesterday was Day One, and now I’m randomly jumping to Day Three. Ah, it must be the heat getting to my brain. We had a great day yesterday (Saturday) with the girls. The day actually started with my favorite Haiti breakfast – French toast! It was delicious, as usual. We headed to the girl’s home about 9:30am. After a few minutes of play time, we gathered them and began writing letters to their sponsors. This is always a long process, because we like the girls to write their letters in English. After completing the task, the girls went out and played soccer for a while. They always seem to have so much energy!
After their play time, we gathered them again, and did a lesson on dental hygiene. I purchased toothbrush cases from Walmart, and brought in some stickers for them to decorate them with. The girls share (almost) everything at the home, so we thought it would be a good idea to give them their own toothbrush case with their name on it. Smith and I read a book about a Lion that never brushed his teeth. It was cute, and I think it really helped the girls understand. After they decorated their cases, we passed out brand new toothbrushes.
Following the toothbrush activity, we really just hung out when them. Sarah brought bubbles and chalk (two of their favorite things). So, that kept them entertained for quite a while. A part of the team went back to the house, which just left Sarah and I with the girls (and, of course, Smith). We were just sitting talking with them, and listening to some music. Anaika grab some finger nail polish and started to paint my nails, next she motioned for me to take my shoe off. I am so paranoid about people touching my feet. Especially in Haiti, when they are (honestly) nasty. I let her paint one toe. She was please, and moved on. I did feel special that she would even be willing to do that.
We came back to the house for dinner. After dinner we had an amazing devotion! I really felt the presence of the Lord. After devotion, we had a little fun. It began to rain, so Mr. Gerritt and a few of us slid across the floor on the deck. Not something I would normally do, but it was a blast.
Today (Sunday) we are heading to the Valley of Hope for church! I am so excited.

Blessings,
Han

Friday, March 9

Haiti: "Official" Day One.

Technically, this is my second day in Haiti. We didn’t do much yesterday, besides travel and hang out with the girls for a while. This morning we ate breakfast, and then headed out to see a few new things. Our first top was the TLC Barefoot School. I’ve heard so much about this school, and I couldn’t wait to actually get to see it. Ms. Linda had given us a few directional pointers before we left, so I felt very confident that we would easily locate it. She gave us the name of the street, and the color of the gate (two very important things to know in Haiti). As we were walking along, I said “Wait, how do we know the street names?! I don’t see a sign.” Well, this mission team (or at least that is what I assume they were) were sitting beside us in the back of a truck. They all started laughing, and then asked what street we were looking for. Turns out we were like 100 steps away from the school. The Lord always guides our steps.
The school was amazing! We walked up on the chapel service, which was so neat. Then Mr. Nixon (the principal) gave us a tour. The students were very polite to us, and the classrooms were beautifully decorated. They even had a very large library, and a computer center! My favorite part was the murals that were painted in the area where they eat lunch. I have pictures of them.
Next we visited the Apparent Project, which is a place where Haitians work to make necklaces (among many other things) like our girls do. It was very neat to see what the production looks like on such a large scale. The director of the Apparent Project was very nice, and she showed us all around. It was an incredible experience.
After leaving the Apparent Project, we travelled to an orphanage that is actually very close to My Father’s House. I was amazed that I had walked by it so many times, and yet never knew what lied behind that gate. There were 3 babies, a 3 year old with brittle bone syndrome, and what we think was a 7 year old with serious medical/mental problems. We all sat down, and started playing with the children. A little boy named Claudine and I instantly clicked. I held him for a while inside, and then we moved outside so the children could get some sun. This was honestly one of the best experiences I have ever had in Haiti. It was so wonderful to just be able to love on him. At first he was steady looking around, but after a while, he would just lay his head on my chest. It was such a peaceful moment. I found out before we left that he was HIV positive, and that just breaks my heart. Hopefully, I will have some time tomorrow to visit with Claudine again.
We came back to My Father’s House for lunch and relaxation before the girls got home from school. We headed to HUG A Child around 1 o’clock. While we were there, a team member did health checks. It is always such a blessing to have someone from the medical field with us. Next we made crafts for the girl’s sponsors, and then we basically just played together. I love just spending time with them. Ms. Fran brought out some educational games, and they had a blast with those. Mrs. Sheila sent some of those “punching” balloons with me, and the girls absolutely thought they were great! A balloon isn’t that big of a deal to me, or probably to many of you, so as I watched them chase these 8 balloons around like they were the best toy ever I had a major reality check. What we often take for granted, is such a treat to them. Next time I am bringing stuff to make balloon animals. That will be so much fun!
Tomorrow we are spending most of the day with the girls. I have several projects for them to do. It should be a great day!

Blessings,
Hannah

I have now survived the Haiti airport FIVE times!

My official fifth trip began at 7pm on Wednesday, when Kelly and I hit the road for Ft. Lauderdale. I wouldn’t dare say that it was the longest 9 hours of my life, but it definitely felt like a very long trip! There were a few trials, the first was going through the FL turnpike, where we had to pay a toll. This was a problem, because I had zero change, and at midnight the lady wasn’t too happy about it. After we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, we set out to find a Walgreens to buy toothbrushes. The problem arose when we realized that not all Walgreens were open 24hrs. After 3 tries, and at almost 3am, we finally found one! Whew. On the way back to the airport the GPS (or maybe I) got us really lost while trying to find the economy parking. When I say really, I mean like a good half hour of literally just riding in circles. We finally found it, waited for the tram, and then headed to the actual airport. Check in was simple, but then we discovered that our flight had been delayed 2 hours. This wasn’t a huge disappointment to me, but this is when I realized that I would not be getting in a nap before the “Haiti day” began.
We arrived in PAP around 11:30. Everything went smoothly with immigration and claiming our baggage, but then came the dreaded “cat walk.” I told Kelly to hang on to the top of the luggage cart, and I just pushed through the sea of Haitians. Thankfully, my faithful Serge was waiting for us at the end! When we found him, he asked if I wanted to sit in the truck or if I wanted to stand and wait for Sarah. I, of course, thought waiting was the better idea. Serge placed us in a shaded location, and then left us with the luggage while he went to look for Sarah. In the meantime, Mr. Donald and his crew arrived. Sarah arrived maybe an hour after that. I had to laugh because God chose for me to spend my first two hours in the place in Haiti that I dislike the most! It actually wasn’t bad at all though.
When we arrived at My Father’s House, we took a few moments to settle in and then headed to see the girls. Seeing them for the “first” time each trip is always such a treat. They were doing homework, but we were able to interact with them a little bit. We headed back in time for dinner, which was amazing, as usual!

Blessings,
Hannah