Forward Church

After arriving in Haiti and getting stuck in a long traffic jam, we are finally here at Cote Plage 16, our lodging for the week! We are looking forward to getting some sleep and attending a Haitian church in the morning. We ask your prayers for tomorrow. Praise the Lord! We are here!

The sun rose over Cote Plage as we prepared for our first full day in Haiti. With a total of 67 team members, the entire group worshiped together at Pastor Samson's church literally steps away from our lodging. After a greeting from Praying Pelican, Donte shared his testimony of being more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ (Romans 8:37). Joining him on stage, over half the group led the congregation in "How Great is Our God." We were all encouraged by the joy of the Lord expressed through song and God's Word. Following a delicious lunch, two buses transported us to Good Shepherd Orphanage. Sister Mona welcomed our group by sharing God's hand in establishing this beautiful home. With over a hundred children present, hours were spent just "loving on" kids. Soccer games, jump roping, coloring and bubbles triggered a few of the smiles and giggles from these precious ones. After a good supper back at Cote Plage, our orientation meeting (pictured) provided information needed to make tomorrow's first official day of ministry a great one. Thanks for your continued prayers. God is definitely at work in and through us in Haiti!

Today was absolutely incredible. We left for our ministry site of Bwadjout (Bwa-shoot) Haiti around 8:00 am. We traveled about 10 minutes by bus and then proceeded to do a 20 minute hike up the mountainside to find our beautiful community waiting on us to arrive. We quickly jumped into our construction ministry of digging the foundations for the new church/school. Wow! What exhausting work! The majority of our team carried bucket after bucket of sand and rock out of the construction area as a few of the team members worked alongside the Haitian workers picking and shoveling out the foundation itself. We were so amazed at the energy and willingness to help of the children! There were probably as many kids helping us as there were Americans on our team. Praise be to the Lord!

We had a flash thunderstorm today that sent precious rain to our dry community of Bwadjout. We helped with clearing out the trees and branches that fell on the road and houses due to the strong winds. Also, we helped the families and churches nearby collect the rainwater and even clean up the streets! We thank the Lord for showing His power to us today as He calmed the storm in time for our kids ministry. It was the perfect addition to our skit during VBS of Jesus Calms the Storm. How awesome is that?

This week we are not working alone in Bwadjout, we have other members of our team who are not from Forward. We have Forks of Elkhorn church from Midway, KY, Chad from His Tabernacle in NY and Rob from Pikeville, KY We are so thankful to be working alongside these awesome brothers and sisters in Christ and we ask that you remember them in your prayers this week.

The highlight of our day was the amount of children that showed up for our kids ministry. Believe it or not, we had 250 kids show up for an afternoon of fun! It was so much fun to begin developing relationships with these children, learning their names and their likes and dislikes. We are thankful that many of them can speak some English so the language barrier is not as large. Be in prayer for us as we minister to these children and open up our hearts to their love.

Today we spent the better part of the afternoon continuing to dig out the foundations for the church and haul away the excess dirt and rock. We sang songs and fellow-shipped together as we worked hard in the intense heat of the day. Eventhough the "feels like" temperature was 110* with 70% humidity, we all stayed hydrated and sun-burn free. Thank you for your prayers of safety and health, we can feel them.

We started off our morning with silly songs, skits, messy paint covered hands, beads, braids and soccer! We had close to 250 kids again today for VBS and it was so much fun. We took some time as we neared the end of our program to share the gospel with the children. We had over 30 children come forward for prayer and asking to know more about the Love that Christ sent to the earth for us. Please be in prayer for these children that they would come to know Christ personally and for us as we do our best to show them the way to the feet of the cross.

Just one of the many little guys rocked to sleep today by the team. He looks pretty cozy huh?

Tonight we had the opportunity to participate in an everyday experience in Haiti, buying and eating sugar cane off the street. Although it wasn't actually "off the street," since our vendor came into the church compound to serve us, it was a lesson in cultural diversity for sure! The vendor would slice and skin each rod of cane until it was clean and ready to eat. Then we would grab on to the other end, tell him how much we wanted and then he would chop it off while it was in our hands! We are thankful that he is very skilled in his work and with his sharp knife. It was an awesome experience and we are so thankful to get to participate in an everyday occurrence on the streets. Plus, it tasted so good!

Imagine rounding the corner and hearing hundreds of children chanting at the top of their lungs. Forget imagination. We experienced it. For the next three hours, the children of Pastor Junior’s church continued to praise and proclaim God Almighty as we finished the foundation of their new House of God less than a block away. Boulders and rocks were passed assembly-line style followed by mortar. The Haitian workers became like brothers as we laughed and sang alongside them throughout the day.

During a mid-morning break, a portion of our crew ventured further into hill country for another prayer walk. Traversing, we conversed with God about the Living Water He provides when we passed a hundred Haitians surrounding the community well. Minutes later, we met a baker. With translation, we lifted “Wha-djeez” and his family up to God and encouraged this Christian businessman to remind people of the Bread of Life each day.

Walking back to where we first heard the children, we noticed all were leaving. Seeing us, however, they cheered and ran back inside the church. (Remember – they had already been there for at least three hours!) With praise in English and Creole, we shared another miracle of Jesus and the power He continues to have in our lives. Needless to say, good-byes were difficult. A determined troupe of youngsters even persevered with us to the bus. This was the beginning of a new work in Haiti and many hope to return!

Today we were blessed to take in some of the beauty of God's creation. After a quick breakfast, we loaded onto the bus and departed Port-au-Prince for Jacmel, a small beach town across the mountains on the southern coast of Haiti. It was incredible to begin at sea level, traverse switchback after switchback to 5,000ft of elevation in the mountains, then descend back to sea level at Jacmel. The views were truly breathtaking! Once in Jacmel, we were treated to a lunch of cheeseburgers, fries, and a coke (American food!!) on the beach, followed by several hours of relaxation, swimming, and soaking up the sun. The crashing waves and vivid blue water were a welcome relief after several days of hard work in the community. Between the beautiful mountain vistas and the incredible beach it is clear to see why Haiti was once referred to as the "pearl of the Caribbean." This evening, we returned to Cote Plage to reflect on the week with the group and our host pastors. It was wonderful to celebrate the amazing things God has done this week and also hear the vision our host pastors have for the future of their work!