Monday, June 27th: Valley of Hope Women's Conference

Haitian Bible used during the women's conference

A conference attendee working on a craft  

Day 3:  Monday, June 27

Today, we have officially been here for half of our week-long mission trip. Today, we traveled back to Bernard to the Valley of Hope Church for the Women’s conference. Susie will be leading the women on a study to teach them how to read God’s word and we will have some crafts and a hand scrub with lotion as a way to treat the ladies to something nice. 

We arrive later than expected and realize that the women have been waiting for over an hour for us to arrive.  God has given the Haitian people so much more patience than we have in the USA.  I cannot remember the last time that I waited on an event to start for an hour without complaint.  And realizing that some of the women walk a couple of hours puts things into perspective.

We had 45 ladies of the church in attendance for the conference.  The presence of God was in the place as there was singing, prayer, and a deep desire to learn from Susie’s message. Pastor Maxeau helped with the translation.  Each of the team members shared with the ladies how people know that we are Christians. 

For me (Mandy), I realized how to be a better servant of others as we had made a hand scrub from sugar, olive oil, and water.  Amanda and I showed the ladies how to use it to scrub their hands and then rinse their hands.  After each lady rinsed their hands, I dried their hands and put lotion on them. It was amazing to see the reaction of some of the women to having the lotion on their hands.  I gestured for them to smell the lotion (a lavender scent) and the smiling faces made quite an impact on me.  I think that many of these women in this rural area of Haiti had not had lotion on their hands before.

The ladies also did some crafts including a faith bracelet that Amanda helped them to make with each color representing part of the salvation message. Kristine helped the women with drawing designs on solid colored bandanas.  The women from the church’s choir decorated white bandanas to wear to Sunday services. We had noticed that the women of the choir wore white lace on their heads during the Sunday morning worship service.

One of the most powerful parts of the service was the time of prayer before the lunch.  Pastor Maxeau instructed each of us to pray with the ladies while they sang songs.  It was impactful to say the least to pray with different ladies of the church.  

As we ended the women’s conference, several women shared how they had been blessed about how to learn about reading, studying, and applying God’s word to their lives.   A few last hugs, a meal together with our team, the pastors of the church and their families, and we are again back to our lodging for another day’s work completed.

We had a long drive back this evening as traffic was heavy. It was closer to 3 hours rather than our normal 2 hour drive.

Sunday, June 26th: Valley of Hope Church Service and a Haitian Wedding

                                                                                 Pastor Maxeau preaching on Sunday morning

                                                                                         Members of the choir singing

                                  A Haitian wedding-- Pastor Maxeau's children, Fred and Alisha are in the wedding service of the Pastor's sister

                                                                                                         The beautiful bride

Sunday, June 26^th

Today we departed at 7 a.m. for worship service at Valley of Hope Church (Pastor Maxeau’s church) in Bernard, Haiti. It is another 2 hour drive from our lodging to the church, but we are starting to learn landmarks along the way that help to gauge how long it will take to get to church.  I (Mandy) stopped wearing my watch today to experience how the Haitian culture focuses more on the relationships rather than just the time to be from point A destination to point B destination.  Case in point, after the church service today, the pastor’s sister is getting married. 

Though his children, Alisha and Fred are in the wedding and his wonderful wife needs to get ready for the wedding, they take time after church to prepare our meal. Pastor Maxeau also shares about God’s call on his life and his excitement about our program for the women on Monday.

Following the worship service, the pastor invites us to his sister’s wedding.  We load up in the back of the truck to let the pastor’s wife and family ride in the front. They all look so beautiful in their Sunday best for the wedding.

A Haitian wedding has an interesting twist on how children are involved. There are multiple pairings of boy and girl children from smallest to teenagers who walk down the aisle to a song and dance.  We also had a group of flower girls perform a dance down the aisle.  There were multiple songs, speakers, and a sermon about Adam and Eve.  Love was spoken of often and the joyful crowd rejoiced in this beautiful marriage union.  Pastor Maxeau explained to us that there is no divorce for the middle or lower class people in Haiti. They stay together and work things out. They marry for life. 

Our drive back to our lodging was joyful as Bernard, one of pastor Maxeau’s church members and his four children rode in the back of the truck with Steve, Kristine, Amanda, and me (Mandy).  Bernard’s daughter, Allison, is 17, the same age as Christine and speaks very good English. She told us that gospel singer Kirk Franklin is her favorite.  She sang to us the song the Hillsong chorus of “This is the air I breath.”  What a beautiful voice as the evening sets in on day two.

We finish the evening with some trail mix and our team’s evening devotional.

Saturday, June 25th: First Day of Vacation Bible School

                                                 Haitian Children at Vacation Bible School at Valley of Hope Church in Bernard, Haiti

Valley of Hope Church, Bernard, Haiti

VBS camp kids gather near the well the church installed for fresh water in the community

Saturday, June 25 (Day 2)

We start out the morning with the luxury of a shower, but a rather cold shower as there is no warm/hot water. Yes, it is summer, but to wake up to a very cold shower is something that we usually do back in the states.  We prepare to leave around 8 a.m. as it will take around 2 hours from where we are staying to get to the church in Bernard.  Saturday is market day so driving through the streets proves slower with the fruit, clothing, and live chickens to be sold along the way.

The church is surrounded by mountains and a breeze that helps with the warm sun.  The children attending the Vacation Bible School greet us with singing welcome.  We originally had 50 youth that would attend this camp, but when we arrive it is well over 100 and as the camp progresses we have 185, nearly 200 youth.

Susie with help from Pastor Maxeau as the interpreter, gave a  lesson about how God loves us and how we come from God.  She used a felt board with pictures and had two children volunteer to hold the felt board.  After the lesson, we divided the kids into groups for music, games, and crafts.  The kids learned “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands”, first in Creole and then in English. The kids also sung “Jesus Loves Me.” Mandy and Amanda helped with the games, Steve and Pastor Maxeau led the songs, and Susie and Kristine made a pinwheel with the kids. 

All in all, it was a great day.  We appreciated the help that some of the pastor’s church members provided to help explain the games.  With so many children, our group will be sure to plan extra games and think about how to do as many crafts possible with extra kids coming to the camp.

After the day’s lesson, we gave a snack to the kids and bid them goodbye until Tuesday and Wednesday for the remaining two days of Vacation Bible School.

We board the truck and head back to our lodging for a good dinner and rest to start another day.

Departure Day: Friday, June 24th

A billboard of the Haitian President, a billboard that we see daily on our drive to the Valley of Hope Church

Friday, June 24th

Today started early as in 4:00 a.m. early. Our team was to meet at the Greensboro airport at 5 a.m. to check our luggage, pray before our departure, and go through security.  A wonderful TSA employee with American Airlines said that since I was going on a mission trip that it would only cost $30 to check my two bags rather than $60.  She was so kind to greet me as well at the gate with “God Bless You for your Mission.” 

We arrived in Miami without a hitch and then got on the plane to Port-A-Prince. It is interesting to be a minority on a plane as with my blonde hair and lighter features, I really stood out.  Landing in Port-A-Prince was an interesting landing experience because after the plane lands, the land does a U turn at the end of the runway as the runaway space is much more limited.

Immigration went smoothly and Pastor Maxeau was waiting for us after we left baggage.  This was a good thing because our Westover cell phone was not working.  The humidity of Haiti is very present near the airport.  With our bags packed, we started to make the long trip to our lodging. 

After watching the coverage of the Haiti earthquake in January 2010, I was not sure what to expect.  There were tent cities and there were many Haitians walking along the roadways-some paved, some gravel, many with potholes.  We were amazed at the women balancing baskets on their heads. One in particular had two live turkeys on her head.  For me, it was interesting to see people in 95+ degree heat sitting along the road selling purses, shoes and fruit.  Their small umbrellas or tarps covering them from the blistering heat. 

We stopped by an orphanage that we will work at on Thursday, June 30^th and met the 17 young girls who live there and a few other folks working there on a missions trip.   

Finally, we arrive at our lodging. A HaitianNational living in New York owns the property and only comes 2-3 times per year to visit.  We were amazed at the accommodations as we have space for all of us to have our own rooms and the Pastor had some Sprite/Coke products waiting on us.    But, I think that sticking to water will be very key here with the heat.

We unpacked supplies and practiced singing songs such as Jesus Loves Me in Creole.  And, let us not forget about our first Haitian meal of rice, chicken, and a macaroni lasagna dish…so much good food to help us with a restful night.

Well, no running water tonight to take a shower, but we have electricity for now as I  (team member Mandy) type up a review of our first day.  God protected us in our journey here and we are excited to start working with the kids of Valley of Hope Church tomorrow.

Haiti Team 1 Update from Pastor Maxeau

We are very blessed to have the team from Westover with us. They had a blessed day on Saturday with 185 kids!  On Sunday they had good service at the Valley of Hope Gospel Church.  On Monday they met with 45 women from different churches; it was a very good meeting where they shared their love together.  On Tuesday and Wednesday they had a VBS program with about 200 kids!  The kids enjoyed the program and were very happy.  Praise God!  Today, (Thursday, June 30) we will spend some time in one orphanage named "HUG A CHILD" and afterward we will visit the capital of Haiti, Port-Au-Prince. After that, we plan to go to the Baptist Mission to eat some pizza together.

May God bless you and thanks for your prayers,
Pastor Maxeau

We're Leaving! (June 24)

Countdown to June 24th...

Our team has been making the final preparations for our Vacation Bible School and Women's Ministry programs. Additionally, we have gathered craft/games to take to the kids and will pack our bags on Wed, June 22nd.  Keep our team in prayer as we will head to Haiti on Friday, June 24th.