One week in God’s presence.  One week of experiencing so much of God’s love through these people.  One week of watching what pure joy looks like. What is better, honestly? I was truly in Cielo (meaning “heaven” in Spanish). This week I got to continue the construction of a house, love on kids who loved me back a million times over, and I witnessed and was a part of the purest worship I have ever seen.  God has shown me this week that it matters not what we do for ourselves, but what we take initiative of and do for the world, especially those who need it.  Don’t be afraid of your decision to go right or left at an intersection, but pray for guidance that you take the best turn for God’s kingdom.  Love God. Love People. Live Unashamed.

His Servant,
Carter

This trip has been incredible. Today we played with the children of Cielo; it is pretty cool to see God moving in them. It is amazing to see them with a smile on their face when they see us. And I do not want to leave, so I offered Bryan 50 goats to stay for a bit longer.

Jeremiah Jones

Today Brian asked us what people group we have passion for. . . He told us to ask God to show us where he would have us serve.  God put the Refugees on my heart. He brought memories of my parents telling me that I had a gifting for different ethnic groups and language and just seemed to click for me. I do love languages and I love people of different ethnic backgrounds. I love puzzles and so the language barrier is an exciting challenge for me and I can’t wait to get started and use the gifts that God has blessed me with!

Anna – Maddy Merrill  (Japan)

Jacob’s life had its ups and downs , yet his faith was constantly growing & maturing – even through his mistakes . When he wrestled with God , his life changed forever. Remember that being a Christian is a growing process. You’ll make mistakes , but then you have to pick yourself up , learn from them & keep going. When times are tough that’s when you need to hang on tightly to God , w/o letting him go. Ask him to bless you – even through the tough times. When you hold on to God , you’ll discover something amazing. He’s holding on to you too. Think about a baby all it drinks is milk ; its all the baby needs. But now since the baby grows Its important that it has solid foods such as fruit , cheese , meat & all that other good stuff. That’s like when someone first becomes a Christian & he/she needs to live ff “just milk”. But as soon as you grow , grow and grow more for God’s Word you move on to solid foods as a follower of Christ – to become a deep learner who uses his spritual gift not just a spiritual baby. So I ask the question is it time for you to grow up? Hurry the clock is ticking ! [ Hebrews 5:11-14 & Genesis 32:22-31] !

To come to Haiti and serve the Lord in a context so culturally opposite than America is to be desperately humbled and challenged. We travel to serve as well as to learn. We go to love, yet are blessed to be loved by so many.

I desperately want to “lose” my passport and stay

Meeting the deaf in Haiti has been an amazing experience. A little boy named John sat with me in church Sunday morning and helped me sing along in French. As we sang a slide came up in English and I was totally moved by what we had been singing. “Lord You are Holy, You love me, my life my soul my testimony” I was moved to tears by the idea that this 12year old boy was helping me sing praise to God in French. After worship some of us moved to the childrens church and acted out a story of the Philistine army battling the nation of Israel. It was so much fun!

After service we rode out to Laveque and met the deaf leaders. We were able to hear their stories as they signed and Kyle voiced. All of their stories were so moving and to see the joy on their faces is life changing.

After sitting and getting to know the leaders we held a service on the hill where the church will be built later this year. Kyle led us in singing and signing a song before Patrick gave a sermon. At the conclusion of the message Patr and William annointed the land together. Following the annointing everyone stepped forward to take turns pouring oil on the cross Patrick had made in the dirt for the anointing. It was an unplanned event that yhe community would do this, but it was a wonderful moment for the community.

Monday when we got out to the community we were able to witness Williams teach us in sign six stories from Genesis as Kyle voiced. His expression was so amazing during his lessons, the stories came alive in his face. After the lesson we moved outside to begin painting two of the homes. It was great to have a task for a while because everyone would come up and watch us paint and point out spots we missed. After we got a good first coat on we left for lunch in Caberet. It was an authentic Haitian treat of chicken and rice with beans. Oh, the coke is awesome here, don’t tell my wife i’ve been drinking them… That afternoon we we returned to Laveque to put on a second coat and play games with the kids. It was chaos from the word go!
Tuesday we went to a wonderful place called Rebuild Globally where women and street boys make sandals and bracelets that are for sale to rebuild their lives and create sustainable income. Leaving there we went to LaPiest where the deaf lived before moving to Laveque. The sight of the wooden temporary shelters, where the families who were displaced by the earthquake live, was so vastly different from the homes we have seen built in Laveque I could understand the joy on the faces of those who have moved and the hope for those yet to move. Leaving their we rode through Cite Soleil, the third most dangerous slum on the planet. Cite Soliel is a tent city and that means a blue tarp for the roof and sides of the home. The more sturdy homes are made of tin and tarp fashioned together. Usually 6 to 9 people live in these tents and I could only imagine the sleep intermingled on a dirt/mud floor. There is no drainage system in Haiti other than aqueducts that are filled with trash and mud, so as you could imagine all the water from the nightly rain just stands where it lands. Children search for food or anything of value where the grey colored water flows. They do this in the same places pigs are looking for food. This water is also used as drinking and bath water for nearly 100,000 or more in the tent city. It was a very long ride through the slum and we were pretty quiet riding out to the resort area where we spent the afternoon.

Wednesday brought about a renewed vision and energy to spend the day out at Laveque. Upon our arrival children, knowing our children were arriving made their way quickly to the bus to greet us. We all moved into Mackenson’s home where we spent two hours sharing bible verses and praying. Many of the deaf crammed into the small den area of the home, there was no floor space or seat in the house, even the door was full of standing and sitting people. Every person had a bible, our in English and theirs in French. I am so moved by the willingness of our children assisting some of the people in the home in finding the scriptures. Watching them read scripture was like seeing beautiful art in motion. They signed as they read and would nod or sign yes or understand after reading. William led us in a song to close and we took a break for lunch. Kyle again took us to Cabaret where we again had a Haitian meal where some of us chose goat over chicken! It was a wonderful treat.

For the afternoon we planned a soccer game between the community and the team from Frazer! Lets just say if it were not for Patrick we would have never scored. It was an amazing day to end our trip but it had to come to an end. All the pictures in the world will never tell the whole story of our journey to Laveque moreover the journey of the deaf to their new home. The only real testament are the lives that will forever be changed by the beautiful people of Laveque.

Today is Wednesday and Matty and I were chosen to stay in the basement of the rec center to paint the ceiling and a few walls while every one else went to go on a prayer walk. At first i was a little sad to not be able to go out and pray for the community, but then i started realizing that we could make just as much as a difference in these walls as walking and praying outside. so Matty and i turned on the christian radio and just blew into it. I personally was praying for every person who came through these walls to know His love and grace. it took us about three hours, and it was hard work but i realized that I felt even better than I did before i started painting. it was a new experience for me, given the fact that i havent had to paint that many things, and I think that the mission trip has been amazing so far.

Joy Atkinson

Well today Joy and I were the ones that stayed back and painted ceilings when the rest of the people in our group went and prayer walked. Then we came back and learned more about different cultures and things about the world we didn’t know or i didn’t know at least. After that we went to another apartment complex, It was the best feeling ever! This girl named Sara was 10 years old and just jumped on my back screaming my name! after awhile when i mean like 3 mins into the conversation she came right out! Hey do you know about God?! In my mind I was going YES! thank you lord! she was asking me all sorts of questions. if i know him, if everybody in the world knew him. that’s when i just stopped and just sat and thought. well not everybody knows him… Then it hit me why doesn’t everybody know him why not? that’s when you feel like you need to change the whole world that instant! I got to share Gods word with two other girls that were muslim. I don’t know what i’m feeling but God has been amazing to this group. Thank you for the prayers! I can totally feel them.

Matty Drollette

I am so blessed that God has given me the opportunity to come back to the Dominican Republic this year for another mission trip. I have been blessed watching or team worked together building walls, mixing cement, doing the bucket lines and having VBS with the children. Yesterday and today we did a VBS with the kids in the community. Yesterday we made salvation bracelets with them. After explaining to them what each color meant, it was so exciting for them to tell us back what the colors meant!

Today we were in the same community working on a doctor’s house. We told everyone we would be back after lunch and would have another VBS. We had over 40 kids there today!!! It was so exciting to see them all come ready for another VBS. We were not in a house or church but in a room that had not been finished. There was not a finished floor– just cement walls. We used cement blocks for them to sit on and a piece of wood to make a table. They were just so excited to be there. Today we talked about Christ dying on the cross for us. After the story was told to them, we shared the Resurrection Eggs with them. The excitement they had as each egg was opened. When it came to the last egg to be opened, our translator, paused to get their attention. She explained to them the last egg was very special. When the little boy opened the egg, they were so excited because they knew why it was emptied. It was such a blessing to be able to share those eggs with the kids in the community. We left the Resurrection Eggs with the doctor whose house we were building. Her son was so excited and the first thing he did was to show her the last egg!

It came time to leave and they all were asking if we were coming back tomorrow. How much excitement they had to hear about the word of Jesus Christ. Praise God for the opportunity to share His word through some plastic eggs.

Karen Vander Hey

My experience in the Dominican has been amazing. On Sunday we went to the church and even though you could not understand them, you felt the presence of God. Everyone of them had their hands up, and it amazed me because they have nothing except for God and that is enough for them. While in America we have everything at our finger tips and we have God and we do not worship God like they did. Also on Monday we were working on a house and these little kids would just come up and grab the buckets for us and carry them down the hill, smiling like they had won the lottery. We were all complaining about heavy they were. The Dominicans have taught me that you never know if your guaranteed tomorrow, so you better live in the presence of God and with a good attitude.

Hollan Vander Hey