One night in Port....and back to the DR

We spent one night back in Port-au-Prince before heading back to the Dominican Republic for our last four weeks of outreach. The base moved out of the Children's Home and into a church where some of the Mission Adventures teams had stayed. It was 'very' different! BUT it was amazing to see our friends again! Emily Rice and I were invited out for a 'going away' evening with some of the staff. We all shared what was next for each of us and some of our fondest memories of Haiti. It was a super nice night out with friends and good food to boot! It was also sad saying goodbye to everyone.

The next morning we went over to Peterson's house (the base director) and waited for our transportation. A few of us girls went to a local store to buy food for our journey! When our transportation arrived we were super excited, it was a luxury little bus with air condition and enough space that we were not on top of each other, we actually got to spread out a bit. The bad part was, I was quite nauseas most of the way but I managed to not get sick.

Our border crossing was NOTHING like going to Haiti. It wasn't a market day and things were so vastly different, we cruised right through.

St. Marc: Weeks 4-6

It was a sad day to leave the Children's Home and the family we had in Port-au-Prince! 

This is going to sound really odd, but it was really sad to leave our tents where we slept behind! We boarded up a bus with all our stuff and headed to St. Marc, about two hours from Port-au-Prince where YWAM has had a base for about 25 years. I was really sick for hours the morning we left, I'll spare you the details but I went from getting sick to boarding the bus with a pan and praying a ton that I didn't get sick on the trip and yes, God heard my prayers and I made it. Our new living quarters were a cement room with no screens, where we encountered tons of mosquitos, frogs, spiders and the sort! We had fans in the room but the electricity went out at night so they didn't prove to be much use! I had been challenged with what I could eat with all my food allergies but I was super blessed to have a salad prepared for me at each meal and often an avocado to go with it! Much of the food was prepared with corn oil, with corn being one of my allergies, I couldn't eat much off the food line. 

The base was 'quite' different! There weren't any children to play with or daily worship each evening as there was at the Children's Home in PAP. There was no wireless internet, the connection was hit or miss, along with the electricity and there were only a few wires to connect your laptop or computers to rarely got online. There was a prayer room and a pool though. We also had the freedom to go out of the base in pairs. You could catch a 'moto' (a moped) that would hold 3 people into town for 25 cents each. The motos were fun to ride and although looked scary, because the traffic goes any which way on either side of the street/sidewalk/etc, but I always felt safe! :) 

Twice a week (Thursday afternoons and Sunday mornings) we went to the local prison and worshipped and talked with the prisoners. The first day we were there, we prayed with a lady to receive Christ and gave her a bible. God is good! Phillipson is one of the full-time Haitian staff that started this ministry and God has used him to transform lives of those he's encountered there. The conditions were insane! :( The women were all in one cell and the rest were men. Some of them had served their time but they are required to pay a fee to get out and many didn't have the resources or family to help them so they would be there long after they needed to be. There were 30+ people per cell! The prisons we have in America would be like luxury hotels compared to what the Haitians had! One of the days that we were there Phillipson got permission from the guards to take pictures with my camera and then handed it back to me and asked me to take more so here are some of the shots we got.

There was another team there with us this day doing a drama. This gives you an idea of what the prison looked like.

The men and women would gather at the door and listen intently to the message.

Many of them would write notes to give us.

Phillipson sharing a message.

A different view, they were doing construction on the upper level. In the middle is where clothes were laid to dry.

This picture doesn't really give an idea of how crammed they were in there.

This man was crying as Phillipson prayed for him.

This guy had just gotten out of prison, had given his life to Christ and was now coming back to  share his testimony and help with the prison ministry.....amazing transformation!

Squeezing in the little space of a window to hear the message and worship.

Steven, one of my team mates from Canada. Steven is a measly 6'7", so we never had to worry about losing him in a crowd! :)

We brought bibles to give them and they loved them! Some wanted bibles in English so they could learn English.

The girls had the privilege to minister to ladies from the Brothel once a week. Margaret had made a decision to leave the Brothel the week we arrived and gave her life to Christ. I had many opportunities to hang out with Margaret and hear her story, it wasn't until I heard her story that we learned she was sleeping on the street since leaving the brothel and then several women at the base helped her find a home to stay with a local pastor and we took up a collection to help her get her food business going again. I was able to go with her to move into her new home and we prayed with her, she was so happy and cried and cried. Her husband died in the earthquake and she was forced to go to the brothel to earn a living, where she would have sex with as many as 10 men a day for as little as $1.25. By the time she paid the brothel for rent, she was making less then a $1/day. To hear her story, broke my heart! Margret continued to come to the Tuesday afternoon sessions when the ladies would come to the base. 

One of the things I worked on while being in St. Marc was the Eyes of Hope documentary our team was working on. We interviewed police, pastors, rice workers, the Mayor, an UN worker and lots of other people. Our team split into three different teams, some of the girls went to the Brothel several days a week, a group of us worked on the documentary and another group worked on stories for our 30 Days of Prayer book for Voice for the Voiceless, a photogenX ministry, and a second book in the series, 30 Days of Hope, which focuses on individuals doing something to fight each injustice. There's a link on the side bar of this page, if you'd like more information or want to order a book. 

Several of my team members have been sick on and off. The last week in St. Marc, I got Dengue Fever and was out of commission for about 3 days. Being sick in a four world country, sleeping on a concrete floor, where it's very hot and the closest bathroom is a soccer field away, was no fun! I was better for our last few days, but fairly weak. 

The base had a big crusade the last week we were there each night. They worked with 30 local pastors and had buses and trucks picking people up and brining them in. There were a few thousand people there. One thing I love about the Haitians is they know how to worship!!! 

St. Marc was not affected by the earthquake, however there was lots of rubble and poverty like we saw in Port-au-Prince, which made me wonder how much of the rubble we saw in PAP was from before the earthquake!

One of the girls that hung out in front of the base. 

One morning we went out before sunrise to interview rice workers and watch the sunrise. I caught this on the way back in a moving vehicle.

Craziness in the market. 

This is where Denison, one of our translators lived. We went to visit his house.

This is typically what the back of a 'moto' looked like, packed with people!

People ride on the top of buses! Yes, on TOP! 

Dani asking a UN worker for directions.

UN road check.

Signs like this were visible everywhere in Haiti!

'thank you Father'

These UN workers were really nice to us!

Haiti: Week 3 - Salvation, Soccer Tournament and Food Distribution

We spent the entire week in Cite Soleil. It was truly a Glorious week! Each day/week we pray as a team to see what the Lord is leading us to teach, do, etc. The first day at the end of teaching we began a time of ministry. While I was praying for this one lady, I strongly felt like I was supposed to share the Gospel, so while I was praying I incorporated it into my prayer. I could see and feel the ladies around being drawn in. The next lady wanted to pray to receive Christ, she said she wanted to be baptized to but then changed her mind. Same thing with the next and another and then a guy. WOW! I was so blown away, FOUR people in a row accepted Christ into their hearts, being forever changed! We left and went for lunch, away from the tent city so we didn't have to eat in front of people and came back to hang out with the kids and talk to people. As soon as we got back, a 17 year old boy walked up to Elizabeth and I and said he wanted to pray to receive Christ! Again I was blown away, we hadn't been there very long, and he didn't look familiar, I asked him several questions, wanting to make sure he understood what he was doing and then prayed with him. I felt the Spirit leading me to ask him if he wanted to be baptized, which he did, so Elizabeth and I baptized him right there! His name is Samuel. Little did we know that another 18 year old boy named Sony was watching and wanted to accept the Lord as well! We told Samuel that he now had the Lord inside of him and could lead others to Christ, so he led Sonny in a prayer and then baptized him! This reminded me of how Jesus taught the disciples, and how the Love of Christ is contagious and can spread like a wild fire, if we get out of the way and let it! SO SO SO encouraging! What a blessing and privilege to be a part of leading 6 lost souls to Christ! He doesn't need us to do any of this BUT He allows us to partner with Him, this really blows me away, that He uses sinners, like myself to accomplish the work of His Kingdom! Each day we were there this week, we saw more and more of power of His Love!

On Tuesday, Jorn, Hilary, Cyrielle and Dani stayed back to do an interview with Peterson, the base leader, so we had a small team. We started our morning in prayer before we left the base as we usually did. Jill, taught about 'Intimacy with God', and we followed with a time of ministry. Jill and I were praying for a lady named, Helene, who had asked for us to pray against spirits that were haunting her, she prayed to receive Christ and Jill started to say "Holy Spirit come and fill her....", before Jill finished her sentence or it was translated, Helene fell to the floor screaming and shaking, immediately everyone backed up a little and started praying over her. Jesus showed up again and used us to cast out demons from this lady. This happened over and over again this week, there were so many people taunted by the demons and such Freedom was released as they met Jesus right there in the middle of the poorest, most dangerous place in the world! Thank you Jesus!

On Friday, one of the Mission Adventures teams that was there had organized a soccer tournament and Valternir, a brazilian cook, prepared a feast for lunch and in the evening we had worship. What a FULL, FUN, GLORIOUS day! There was such a big crowd gathered for the tournament, they had different color jersey's donated for each of the teams. Debbie Walker, a dear sister I met in Haiti from the Orlando base, and I were talking to a group of ladies and sat and helped them cook and sell their food. I learned how to make several different things. This was probably my most favorite day of all!

 

My teammate, Emily, with baby Johnny from the Children's home where we stayed.

 Vogley, one of the Haitian staff, with baby Johnny.

 Mike is from the Salem base and was leading a Missions Adventure team.

These girls were so sweet! They were SO excited EVERY time we got there and followed us around. :)

So BEAUTIFUL!!

Dani holding a baby and teaching.

My friend, Deb, from the Orlando base settling a disagreement! LOVE her!

Getting ready for their match.

Anacias is on staff in Haiti.....his shirt was a tad small for him. 

Deb trying some fish

Deb learning to make Haitian food.

The lady we were cooking with.

Me helping make food to sell. It was HOT and SMOKEY but so much fun!

Fish and madinar (sp?)

Bread fruit frying

Our amazing brazilian cook serving at the food distribution.

Everyone fell in love with Garrison, especially Emily.

Jill letting the kids play with her hair.

Steve was trying to convince this little girl to put her dress back on. 

Hannah hanging with the kids.

Hannah and Elizabeth

Lucy and her husband, Peterson, run the base in Port-au-Prince, this is their baby, Tabby!