haiti 2018 missions blog

Today is the day!

Hi everyone! We are so excited to get started here in Haiti! All these teams are here and we are ready to work, serve, and love the people of Haiti. Stay tuned here for updates from the students nightly here in Haiti. We are so stoked for this week!

Day two - 91000 mouths

Bonswa (good afternoon) from your girls Annie, Faith, Caroline Cyko, and Caroline B!!

First full day in Haiti was a success but we are drained. The weather is pretty toasty but  don’t worry we have our fans- FSL(Fans Save Lives). We started off our day with some oatmeal and mango, then we took a small tour of the MOH campus. It was cool to see the behind the scenes of the organization and it’s incredible development especially over the past year. Fun fact they send out 91,000 meals a day to many hungry children. Not only are they physically feeding the children but they are spiritually feeding the children as well. Their students attend a Christ centered school where they can grow in their skills and faith. Next we went to MOH’s other campus by the ocean and visited with the elderly in the Grace house. Even though their was a major language barrier it was clear that a smile was enough to brighten their day. We performed a song and dance and it was pretty lit(check out our IG for a vid!)! After that we enjoyed a lunch beside the ocean. Then for the best part, the kids!! We had our first kid's club today and it was crazy fun. They were so happy and cute. We were welcomed with many hugs and side note- they loved our fans (FSL). We were able to sing lots of songs and serve the kids some yummy food. This really made us appreciate our many blessings at home. Now we’re back on campus enjoying our cokes, playing cards, and super excited for dinner. We’re stoked for the rest of the week and what God has in store for us!!

Love, 

Faith, Annie, Caroline Cyko, Caroline B

Day three - Bonswa to everyone in States!

You’re hearing from Louis, Daniel, and Jakob here on the island. Today, our KLIFE chapter was tasked with SVT (Strategic Village Time) where we visited local Haitians of Leveque and asked them questions about their living conditions, relationship with Christ, relationship with the church, and other general aspects of their lives. We got to eat lunch at the Berci campus where we literally eat on the ocean front under a shaded pavilion. Today was certainly caliente. We cooked in 200 degree Celsius heat. Needless to say, it was like working on the surface of the sun. Tonight, we are invited to join the MOH staff for the celebration church service where we can worship and praise God and learn more about the sponsoring process here (mom... I’ve already signed our credit card up for 10 Haitian children). Speaking of children, the little niños running around are certainly a force to be reckoned with. We all get to act as little jungle gyms for the kids but fail to understand what they ever want except for “un foto?”, “Bonjour,” and when they stick their little arms up to be held. The bus rides have certainly been exciting. Our short and bumpy rides usually consist of Olympic song challenges on the way to the village, and naps on the way back. Our night will most likely end with a hilarious game of silent football. We’re having so much fun we probably won’t be coming home for another month.

Au revior!

day four - Bubblegum Pink paint party

This morning we got to do something that was a first for many of us- paint a house pink! Because we were painting the girls got to trade in our skirts for shorts today! *insert Massie doing a happy dance*.  We painted a lovely lady’s house bright bubblegum pink and had a dance party with the kids in the village. Most of the paint ended up on the house, but we got pretty covered as well! We then went to lunch, where we had rice with vegetables and crab. One of the crabs that the cooks didn’t catch ended up hiding in the girl’s bathroom! It still hasn’t been found so we will all be checking our beds before we sleep tonight. In the afternoon we did kids club with a church in the village. We sang the Haitian favorite “Oh Mango Tree” and attempted “Head,  Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in Creole. Highland Park Klife did a great skit on David and Goliath, and  the kids all cheered when David won and Goliath dramatically died! We ended the day with a lively game of Spicy Uno and dinner with friends. We are excited for the rest of the trip and are all looking forward to Haitian church tomorrow! 

Love,

Massie, Kaley, & Savvy

Day 5 - church, tour, & rest

      Sunday, the day the Lord looked back at his creation, was a day of rest for all of us. In the beginning of the day, the KLIFE chapters, and other mission groups joined the Haitians that regularly attend the local MOH church, to worship together. The service consisted of more traditional songs, such as Hosanna in the Highest. The songs were in both Creole and English. Directly following worship was a time of powerful prayer, during which a Haitian gentlemen spoke a heartfelt and passionate prayer to Jesus/Jezi; all of this prayer was in Creole. Even though we couldn’t understand exactly what he was saying, we could all feel it deeply. What’s really impressive was the length and emotion put into it, like he was never at a loss for words. We then had the experience when they collected tithes as a man spoke with music playing peacefully in the background. Following this came a sermon spoken in Creole . Because none of it was in English, it gave us the opportunity to observe how the Haitian people reacted...which consisted of clapping, Amens, and Hallelujahs! The last part of the service was an altar call, during which three church leaders prayed over anyone who wanted to come up, with a similar passion to the first prayer. 

      Next in our day, after the service was dismissed, we had a lunch break that preceded our tour. We toured the whole Berci campus, including our normal lunch spot by the ocean, the Grace House for the elderly Haitians, and a school. We learned more about MOH’s wide variety of ways they can help people through volunteers and education. 

       Second, we returned once again to Leveque, back up to the hill where we had our first Kids Club. We learned about the founding of this community, and how it originated on helping the deaf people of Haiti, as well as giving Haitians permanent housing. We took photos with kids, gazed at the beautiful Mountain view, and took giant KLIFE group pictures. 

     Our last stop on the tour was the Mission of Hope technical school. Currently they are in their first stage of building a college and sports complex. This complex will add and additional eight buildings to the four they already have, which will allow each building to be designated to a different major. The sports complex will include basketball courts, a soccer field, and locker rooms, which will bring together the Haitian communities to further the ministry. A cool fact about it was that the degrees attained by the graduates are transferable to the U.S.

      Finishing off our day we ate dinner and spent time and money at Madam Cheep Cheep’s, a Haitian shop on the MOH campus. Even though we greatly enjoyed the day of rest, we are thoroughly excited to continue serving the Haitian community on Monday! 

Love from Atlanta KLIFE,

Chandler, Cooper, & Mac

Day six - Last Chance to Dance!

Bonsoir y’all! Caroline Calhoun, Lily Calhoun and Anna Burkett here! We just finished our last work day in Haiti. 

We started the day off with a good laugh at Chandler, who had to eat his breakfast without his hands due to a loss in an epic game of Silent Football last night. He looked like a Roman. After a good chuckle, we hopped on the bus and headed to Levêque for SVT time. 

Anna’s favorite part of SVT was meeting a family who we got to sing and dance with. The mom was so grateful that we were there, and you could see the joy on her face. Our conversation lasted for about 30 ish minutes, and we ended it in prayer. 

Caroline’s favorite part of SVT was being able to hold and play with an 8 year old girl. This girl had bright eyes and was all smiles. She had a bright red lollipop in her hand, enjoyed wearing my glasses, played with my hair, and talked to me. Her joy was contagious and absolutely incredible to see. 

Lily had two favorite parts of SVT. I loved meeting this 60-something year old woman who told us how the Lord is teaching her that she is beautiful. Her passion for knowing the Lord was so awesome to see and really encouraged me to think the same thing. I also loved getting to uplift a mother whose husband left her. Joel told her how to be strong and about his mom who is so strong. It was beautiful to see the two of them connect. 

Before we left SVT, we got to have a dance party with a bunch of kids right outside the bus. Our new jam is “Oh Mango Tree!” featuring lots of killer dance moves. Be sure to have to have us teach it to you when we get back home. 

Lunch was a great rest time. On the way back to Levêque for kids club, we played the Olympic song challenge (it’s an after-lunch tradition now). We broke our record of 23 for a stellar performance of 36. Wreck ‘em tech. 

Kids club was full of dancing, singing, and laughing. We all got to hold a bunch of cute kiddos and tickle and hug them. We passed out meals and drinks. We took a bunch of pictures with them! It was hard to leave but their smiles and excited waves kept our spirits up. It’s been so good to be here and we can’t wait to tell you more when we get home. God is doing some awesome things in the people of Haiti and in us too! Au revoir! 

***Update on the crab in the bathroom situation: it was caught and released back into the ocean. It put up quite a fight, but all is well now haha!***

See you soon! 

day seven -let's go to the beach, beach!

Hey everyone! 

We just came back from our last full day in Haiti and it was amazing! We went to Wahoo Resort. We went snorkeling, jet skiing and swimming. Despite the constant reminders to reapply sunscreen, some of us got burned. The whole resort was beautiful. People were selling turtle shells and fresh coconuts. Some kids from other KLIFE chapters were able to be baptized which was super cool to see. 

Overall the whole week was so rewarding. It was so cool to see how God moved in us and in theHaitians. We had so much fun but are excited to come home and see everyone tomorrow! 

Love Tarpley and Sydney