Life Is Hope Mays Chapel UMC

We have made it safely to Haiti! We were so excited to get here! After we got all of our luggage on the school bus we stopped by Life is Hope B Orphanage and loved on some of the children! After playing with side walk chalk and a fun game of Hot Coconut (think hot potato with a coconut shell), we headed towards our lodging location. After getting settled we enjoyed a delicious Haitian meal of chicken, rice, fried plantains, pasta salad, pikliz (a spicy coleslaw), and french fries! We had a nice surprise of some cold Coke, fruit juice, and limeonade. We ended the night with a quick meeting and are headed off to bed! Tomorrow starts our first work day. Be in prayer that everything goes smoothly and that we have a good nights rest to be prepared for tomorrow.

Loving on some sleepy children.

Playing soccer with children at the lodging location.

Today after we had breakfast we hopped on the bus and headed to our worksite for the week. We started the morning with Tree Ministry by planting trees around local houses and spending time in prayer. After Tree Ministry we headed to the spot of land where we are making a chicken coop for a single father of five children, so he can have an income to support his family! While there, we cleared the land that was full of grass, weeds, and various trees so we could start the foundation for the coop. After we cleared the land, we had lunch and headed out to see the new Life is Hope A location! After visiting the new, empty, location we went to spend time with the children at the current Life is Hope A. After a long day of work and loving on children we came back and had a delicious dinner consisting of Haitian Lasagna, Kalalou (Haitian stew with meat and okra), and rice. We had a joint worship meeting with two other groups serving with Praying Pelican at the Life is Hope Orphanages! Tomorrow we will continue working on the chicken coop and hope to start putting the roof on a store depot for a single mother in the community. Continue to pray for good sleep and lots of energy as we take on the day tomorrow! The Joy of the Lord Is Our Strength!

A group with some children from Source Metela planting trees!

Laurie and Erisias praying over a new sister in Christ that we prayed with during tree ministry!

The group clearing the land for the chicken coop!

Jason after he got his nails painted by some of the girls at Life is Hope A!

Today started with another trip back to Source Metela with some more tree ministry. The children in the community are always so happy and willing to help carry the trees and love on us while we walk around the community sharing the Gospel with the families in this town. After we finished we got to work on moving some gravel to the store depot to smooth the floor out in order to lay concrete for the floor. We started a "bucket brigade and lined up down the street in order to move the gravel down the street. The local man that was helping us kept telling us "three more buckets" or "five more buckets" so basically we moved a lot of buckets of gravel!

The children will go to great lengths to try to communicate with us despite the language barrier! Luckily Mays Chapel came prepared with some cheat sheets with key phrases that have been very helpful!

After we moved the gravel and had some lunch we headed back up to the chicken coop location. Some of us played with the children there while a few finalized plans to start the ground breaking for the chicken coop! The man and his family are so happy to be getting this chicken coop and are so willing to help us in any way!

Kaylyn shovels out some of the dirt in order to start pouring concrete for the chicen coop!

After a long day of work at Source Metela we headed back to Life is Hope B which now houses all of the boys from both Life is Hope Orphanages! Even after a long day of moving for the children and a long day of work for us, we still played soccer, drew with chalk, colored in some coloring books, and loved on one another! God is good! Tomorrow we hope to finally start the chicken coop and continue with our ministries in Source Metela! Pray for a continuation of energy and for the people in the community of Source Metela as we are able to talk with them more!

Today we continued our work in Source Metela with hours of passing concrete in buckets so the workers could start the finishing touches of the stucco for the walls in the depot. Even though it was monotonous work, we passed the time with the “telephone game” and joking with each other. While most of us passed buckets, a few went up to the chicken coop and finished the digging which now will allow us to start laying the foundation!

Kim, Laura, and Emily taking a break during the day!

We decided to do tree ministry for a while during the day so half of the group went out in the community planting trees while some stayed back and sifted sand and rocks that are going to be used for the concrete for the depot.

After a long day of labor we went and loved on the boys at Hope Is Life B. The boys love the “dot game” and “tic-tac-toe” and will play until there is no chalk left!

To end the day we came back to our lodging site and played with the orphans in the orphanage on the site. The girls love to giggle and the boys love to play soccer! We had a beautiful sunset, shortly followed by a storm that brought some refreshing cooler weather. We also got a treat after dinner of some delicious cake! Pray for strength and energy as we head into our second to last work day!

Today our day started with half of the group moving more buckets of concrete to help with the depot and the other half going on Tree Ministry. We also had the opportunity to play with the local kids who come hang out with us at church. One of the workers hired by Pastor Jean, the pastor of the church we use as home base, went out and collected coconuts that we were able to drink straight out of the shell! Some of the other locals brought us a fruit called "ganip" that basically taste like candy! After lunch the supplies for the chicken coop arrived and we got right to work! A group of us stayed down at the church continuing to help with the depot while the majority of us went up to the chicken coop work site and moved over 150 cement blocks down the hill to the location in order to set the footer and in hopes to start laying concrete tomorrow! Our work day barely got cut short by a rainstorm but that didn't stop some people dancing and playing in the rain with the orphans back at our lodging site. Tomorrow is our last work day and we are all feeling pretty tired! Pray for continuing strength and energy as we end our time at Source Metela!

Some of the group enjoying some fresh coconut while on a break from working!

The group after passing down all of the cement blocks. Special appearance by some of the Haitian locals that helped us! Sheritab is the man that we are building the chicken coop for and he has not stopped smiling since we have started working on the coop! He has five sons and they are all so willing, happy, and proud to help us in any way they can. It's amazing how God is going to bless Sheritab and his sons in the coming years!

Natalie, Laura, Kim, and Emily dance and sing with some of the orphans back at our lodging site! The girls in the orphanage had a blast in the rain and the dancing made it even better!

Today we started our last day of ministry in Source Metela. We broke up into two groups again, working on the depot and the chicken coop. At the depot we continued to pass buckets of concrete to the workers and during our lulls of passing we were entertained by some local boys playing a fun game of marbles! The group at the chicken coop laid concrete to make the footer so the workers can begin the chicken coop! After lunch we did a few more bucket lines of concrete for the depot and headed out to Life is Hope A! While there we loved on the girls and played with finger nail polish, coloring books, and a parachute! There laughter was infectious! When we got home we sorted all of the donations so that Paster Jean can give them to Life is Hope and to the people in the community of Source Metela! After dinner we decided to surprise the children at the orphanage on our lodging site with a slip-and-slide! They absolutely loved it! They were laughing and squealing and were having so much fun! We ended the night with a surprise snack of fresh watermelon and sugar cane and had a time of reflection on the week! This week has gone by so fast, and we can’t believe it’s over!

The girls loved the parachute and all they wanted to do was sit underneath it as we moved it up and down!

Some of the girls (and team) were so tired all they wanted to do was sleep!

The team organized all of the donations that were given for Haiti! Thank you everyone who gave!

The kids were so excited about the slip-and-slide they didn't even need water!

This morning began our last day in Haiti so after we loaded up the bus we said goodbye to the children at the orphanage at our lodging site. We then headed over to Life is Hope B for one last visit. While there we played with them and got all the love we could get! Nadine had the opportunity to help some children that were sick by giving them medicine and was able to explain what the medicine did for the children to the women that work in the orphanage! Her medical skills were a great value to our team this week and we are so thankful that a few more children are no longer sick! After we said our goodbyes we headed off of Club Indigo for some much needed relaxation! After a fun day in the sun and playing in the ocean we are all exhausted and anxious to get home! Pray tomorrow as we travel back to Port Au Prince and then fly back to the states! We have had such a blast this week!

Chris and Laurie teach one of the little boys at Life is Hope A how to properly use a baseball bat! He thought it would be more fun to use it like Bam Bam from "The Flintstones"!

The group after a long day of playing in the water at Club Indigo! What a great week we have had! God is Good!