Hope Reform Church Spencer IA

Spencer, Iowa returns for seventh year.

Hope Reformed Church in Spencer, IA first sent a team to Pignon, Haiti,
in conjunction with a team from Sunnybrook Church in Sioux City, IA.
That was 2006. We have had a team in Pignon in conjunction with
Promise For Haiti every year since and twice a couple years. Wow!
Noticeable positive changes grace the area via street paving,
more electricity, cell phones, motorcycle taxis, school additions,
and a new beautiful town central park. With all of that said, much
of Pignon is the same as seven years ago. Beautiful sunrises and
sunsets, the wondrous beauty of the stars in the night's sky, water
pumped from city wells or carried from the river, open gar
bage heaps and scattered everywhere, animals wandering and
scavenging, children's huge smiles and laughs, dogs and chickens
that do not understand my sleep schedule, the daily morning odor
of burning refuse, and the constant daily reality of the struggle for life.
The hospital continues to reach out to the hurting. A new cholera
clinic last year saved many lives but was unplanned causing budget
stress. Two years ago Many Hands for Haiti began and continues to
support a lunch program for the patients. That is huge! Supporting
nd helping serve meals was another positive new experience for us.
We spent many evenings visiting patients and singing to them. Many
young Haitian men joined us and even sang a special song for us. A
surgeon in scrubs and mask joined us as well as almost everyone did
when singing Ala'm Kontan!
With the direction of Dean VanRoekel (Sioux City Sunnybrook interim
volunteer coordinator for Many Hands for Haiti) our team built, varnished
and assembled new desks for Guimby School. We loaded them on
TapTaps and made the mountainous trip for the delivery and also held
a VBS for the older students while there. Hope Church started and has
supported a hot lunch program for Guimby since 2007. Watching kids
eat a nourishing meal reinforced the need to continue our support. The
kids looked healthier due partly to the lunch program and partly due to the
health and hygiene being taught to the Haitians. Smiles, songs, and the love
of Jesus was everywhere.
The love of Jesus was also present at a Family Life Conference presented to
100 women and their husbands. With the support of Pastor Francios and
the use of his church, Philadelphia Baptist, our team witnessed to the
women during a morning session. Their husbands were invited to join
them for a lunch and the afternoon session. We gave each couple a
Creole Bible, sewing bags with notions and Bible verse inscribed folding
fans to the women and crank flashlight/radios to the men; we taught Bible
stories, sang and sang and sang, learned Bible verses, and challenged them
to be strong and loving couples and families. Some surprises, laughs, hugs,
and commitments were the day!
Visiting the poorest of the poor, we shared a bit of the gospel as well as a
bag of rice to help get them by. We realize again how blessed we are and
how our small gestures are so welcomed. We are the hands and feet of
God's love and the supporters back home. We wish they could all experience this!
We had the privilege to visit Bill and Jennifer Campbell and the kids at Haiti
Home of Hope orphanage. These people and this orphanage are awesome!
Painting nails seemed to thrill the girls as the guys played guy games.
Everyone loved the chalk drawings. This visit is always a blessing and
reacquainting is always fun.

We worshipped on Sunday at the UCI Worship Center, toured irrigated
fields due to new pumps, checked out the new Bible college and
dormitory construction site, visited the elementary school, and had
lunch with JeanJean and Kristi Mompremier. We have observed God's
blessings at UCI over the years and are proud to be a small part.
Our theme has been "Hope Touching Haiti Touching Hope". The
more we visit Haiti, the more we are blessed. This trip was just that!

Mike Schmillen

Hope Church, Spencer,IA