Summited by Denny Brand~
#1. I was privileged to lead a group from Trinity Reformed Church located in Orange City, Iowa to Haiti from July 30 – August 7. There were 8 folks who went from Orange City, one being was my son-in-law who is an associate pastor at the church. The make up of the group was very young as 5 of those going had just graduated from college in 2006. They were all 1st timers to Haiti and 6 of them had never done anything like this before. There were also 3 couples which made it good for them as they were sharing this experience together and able to process what they saw and thought together. Obviously it was quite hot while we were there, but when one goes to Haiti in July/August, what else could one expect. Due to a scheduling conflict, we spent from Thursday to Sunday with Chrissie and Jon Jon and then came to Pignon on Sunday and spent the rest of our stay in Pignon. On Monday, we cleaned out two depots at the hospital so that there will be room for supplies as they come in and also identify what they already have. Wednesday was a paint day and the area that was painted was the front entry to the hospital. We first cleaned it real good and scraped away the old paint and then put on two coats of fresh white paint. It really brightened up the area and it was a job well done. Thursday was a sight seeing day as I wanted the group to get a good feel for what was going on – we went to the farm, visited the water project, went to the river to observe the activities there, talked about the schools and the agricultural plots and then the day was finished off with a great presentation from the all the folks at the hospital to explain the mission – where it has been and where it is going – all the great statistics that back up all the good things that are going on in the North and Central plateau and then sharing with us the needs and what still needs to be accomplished. We only got to sing one night at the hospital as it rained every evening we were in Pignon. The one night we did go sing was a special time for the group.
The day that I haven’t talked about yet is Tuesday. This day was probably the highlight of the trip for most of us. We went to Bouqueronne and did a Bible school for the kids. Jared and Stacy had lined it up with the principal and we were expecting about 100 kids. When we got there, there were about 150 kids there and the number grew as we started the Bible school. Wilken and Gevy acted as our interpreters and one of our group, who is teacher, led the activities. We thought we would spread out into two rooms, but the principal had them already sitting in one room, so that is what we went with. We had kids everywhere including cement blocks as we ran out of benches for everybody. In spite of what we would have considered impossible conditions, the Lord turned this into a great time. The singing was fantastic as Wilken did a great job leading this. They learned a memory verse and a lesson was presented. We also did a craft which was the making of salvation bracelets. The entire group was able to participate in this and it was a blessed time. Then we went outside and played games. It was hot, but that did not seem to bother anybody but us. I might add that most of the kids were dressed in their Sunday best – beautiful! The morning was made complete by feeding all of them. Again Jared and Stacy had arranged to get the food there and had hired the cooks. We had 200 plates and they were all used up – I think we fed generous portions to most of Bouqueronne. The amazing thing is that all the kids sat and waited patiently while we served them. Our team was overwhelmed with emotion as this was going on – this was something that most of them had never encountered or ever thought about. We then made a mistake of trying to get them to form lines to get a drink that we prepared for them and that did not work – chaos would describe what went on. Live and learn – serve them and don’t try to form lines. This was a great day – one that we will all remember.
#2. We traveled to Pignon commercially to Port a Prince and then took MAF to Pignon. We stayed overnight in Fort Lauderdale on the way down and then we took “Spirit” to Port au Prince. We had never flown Spirit before but found them to be very good. On the return trip, we made the entire trip in one day. It started at 7:15 in Pignon and ended 11:15 in Omaha. Every flight was on time and we did not experience any difficulties at all. Getting through customs went smoothly – getting to the MAF terminal went very well as Nadier was right there to pick us up – this was as smooth a trip as I have ever taken.
#3. We stayed in the MN house while in Pignon and as usual, the accomadations were great. The food was excellent.
#4. Overall, this was a fantastic and successful trip. No one got sick, everybody was co-operative with what we were doing, and we had some great discussions and devotions in the evening. It was great to have Jared and Stacy there to take care of all the details. All the projects went smoothly and they did a great job of arranging everything. I know that I as their leader, was so thankful that they were there. I am certainly not handy and being able to defer the questions to Jared was great. I would encourage any group that goes in the summer to think about doing a Bible school. It is a great time and very rewarding for the group and very beneficial for those that we are serving. I have never gone to Haiti yet and not had a blessed time. I think the feeling is always there for a group that they are going to go to Haiti and help the people there. That did happen, but I would guess that if you quizzed each person, they would tell you that they got more back than they gave. All praise be given to our Lord for a safe and great trip.
Denny Brand
Pastoral Care Leader
