Blog from Appalacia Reach Mission Trip: July 3-8th, 2011

Returned home this weekend from our mission to Appalacia in Harlan County, KY last week. Incredible time. Here is my blog about some of our experiences there. Check it out by clicking on the link below:

Reach Mission to Appalacia Blog 

Haiti Trip May 2011

Haiti trip in a Nutshell

We took off very early at 5:30am, to get to Atlanta. About a two hour drive from our location in Seneca. Everyone was excited as we pulled our vehicles into the FCC parking lot with headlights shining so we could see as we loaded my old GMC Jimmy down with our luggage, and some musical instruments to leave with Chadasha ministry in Haiti.

The second team to Haiti consisted of 10 people, and couldn't have been more different than the first as far as sleep preference goes :) On our first trip we all stayed up late, and got up pretty late in the morning. Most of the people on this team were early to bed and early to rise types...exactly the opposite of me! But it worked out alright, and we just had our evening hang out times earlier than the last trip. Of course I had to get up at 5 or 5:30 each day, and I have to say it is Thursday and I have been back since Sunday..and I am still sleepy!

So this trip we specifically focused on sharing the vision, and showing each team member what Chadasha and the Roberts ministry was all about. For our Foothills folks, we saw exactly what we are investing in through Project Reach. We did not focus as much on doing medical clinics, but we did have Dr Steve Brown with us and he did a lot of doctoring in the orphanages. He helped a bunch of little ones dealing with all sorts of physical issues from infections to fire burns. Steve is awesome!

In prep for this trip, I really felt led to bring some musical instruments and leave them there. Little did I know that God was setting this up. I had purchased several guitars and a large Djembe drum to take and ended up taking one acoustic/electric guitar and the drum.

I was really worried that the plane ride would be expensive and that the baggage handlers would trash the guitar, but right when I took it to the check desk, the AA agent asked me to place the guitar by the door, and she would have someone hand carry it down so that it did not go through the conveyor belt system. Praise the Lord! Long story short...the guitar and drum got there unscathed, and it only cost $60 total!

The plane rides and customs checks all went fine this time. An answer to many prayers. When we arrived in Haiti and passed through customs, we were greeted by the daunting gauntlet of people outside the airport begging to carry our baggage. This is just part of the P-A-P airport experience. The first time it freaked me out, and was actually quite scary, but this second time it was endearing because I was prepared for it, and I did not mind it. I simply yelled out “Chadasha” as I exited the airport door, and amidst all the clamoring of men trying to carry our bags for us, I found our Chadasha representative holding a magnetic truck sign. He got with me and the team, and we were on our way with multiple men (that did not work for Chadasha) following still asking to carry our bags. At least one of them followed us all the way to the truck which was probably 1/4 mile away!

Our transportation was different this time...A flatbed heavy duty truck we later dubbed "The Chadasha Grill" due to a long ride in which were tossed and turned and roasted like being inside a cookout grill. Sounds worse than it was. It was all in fun, because I loved the bond that developed over the week roughing it in that truck.
 
Basically, it is a flat bed truck with metal mesh siding and a metal roof with benches on each side to sit on. Not bad...just a little tough on the back/butt if you are in it for hours.

 In Haiti there are really no traffic rules that are distinguishable...pretty much everyone just goes all Banzai and it is every man for himself. And in Port-Au-Prince there are an estimated 3-5 Million people, so imagine how crazy it is! People will even drive in the ditch, on sidewalks, pass on the wrong side, really anything goes! Motorcyles, trucks, buses, cars, donkey carts, are everywhere! The missionaries we serve with are very used to this environment and their driving could put Jeff Gordon to shame, but the ride to the mission house was crazy as usual. I really can't even do it justice describing what it is like. And man do I love it! I wish we could do some of this type of driving in the USA!

The Roberts Family in Haiti

Without going into a ton of detail about each day, suffice it to say that we saw God affirm the great ministry and anointing that He has called the Roberts family and Chadasha Foundation to. This a family and organization that Michael Robison of Grace Church Kingsport introduced us to on the last trip. Time has passed and allowed us to see that these people have the same heartbeat to help others find and follow Jesus as we do. Each day we were shown opportunities to love on children, actually from the very first day out at the Children's Home in Pignon. What an incredible love God has for kids. I am amazed at the caring and happy attitude of nearly every child we saw in Haiti.

If I could narrow this trip down to three experiences that truly messed me up...I mean honestly broke my heart all over again...it would be these three:

1. One day we went out to the mass burial site outside of Port-Au-Prince. I had been there before, but something happened on this trip as I stood there looking at a mass grave where they say over 150,000 people are buried. Our missionary friend Greg Roberts was here during the time of the earthquake relief, and he said that 60 trucks a day were coming in for a month, full of bodies and dumping them in the ground here. The sadness in this desolate place is overwhelming, and in my heart I could hear the cries of the lost souls who perished that day not knowing our Lord. I heard and felt a small bit of the pain, and it made me cry uncontrollably. Today, I find this to be a great motivator that I must tell people about Christ and allow God to use me however he wants to help people find and follow Jesus.  

2. On this trip we visited a bunch of orphanages and the children's home in Pignon. One of the orphanages we visited was a tent orphanage. I did not have any concept of this before I went. It is what it sounds like...Children...living in tents...sleeping on the ground...in a sort of encampment. This is something that has happened as a result of so many orphaned children from the earthquake. This monster left much death, disease, poverty, and homelessness in it's wake. As we pulled up to this place outside of Cite Soleil (the toughest, poorest, worst part of P-A-P), the first thing I noticed was the man guarding the old rickety gate was holding a large machete. He meant business, and I could tell he would protect this place no matter what.

This orphanage is located in a very dusty bottom type area, with white dirt roads cluttered with garbage on both sides. I mean a lot of garbage. There is no waste management system here. Haitian dogs, goats, and cows wander the roads.

This orphan "facility" is on what looks to be about an acre, and has a small tin-roofed block building along with several large tents for the over 70 kids to "live" in. When the rains come, it makes for even tougher living conditions, and it is so sad to see little ones laying in the wet dirt on a mat such as you see in these pics. The pic of the little one in pink is actually of a boy. This is all they had for him to wear. He is just old enough to walk but is so malnourished that he cannot. He looks like an infant.

This baby was sick, and very stoic when we found him lying in the tent in mid day heat right next to another little one. The girls immediately picked them up and bathed them.

But here is a testament to the awesome opportunity God has given us to serve with Chadasha and the Roberts. Both babies, were allowed to be taken legally from the tent orphanage to the much nicer children's home in Pignon, where they were given food, meds, unconditional love, and encouragement. We went back to the children's home a few days later to see these babies...It was nothing short of amazing! God is obviously in this! These two babies seemed like they were dying at the tent orphanage - They were malnourished, showing no emotion, moving slowly, looking down and avoiding eye contact, unable to grasp a hand. After just a few days in the care of Chadasha an the workers at the children's home, the difference was immediately noticeable. So much so that I had to take a video of one of our team members (Kyle Stephens) playing with one of the little babies "Junior" or "Bubba" (The redneck name is still under investigation :) Press the play button and check this video out to see the change in this baby:

The children are precious. Even in this poverty, they run and play and laugh. I had to continually remind myself that this in not "camping." They live here day in and out, season in and out...Even during hurricane season. I can't Imagine. 

We handed out a couple soccer balls and it was on. Pretty obvious that many of these kids knew soccer, and their "goal" was a little skinny tree sticking up. A few of them could kick the ball and hit this little tree over and over again. I think they get a lot of practice!

The second day we were at the tent orphanage we handed out Jolly Ranchers, and I was amazed to see that the kids lovingly shared with one another. There was no "Mine" or "Me" attitude...I saw one little boy actually bite a jolly rancher in half and take the second half to a small very shy toddler and give it to him.

We can learn so much from these kids.

• The third thing that really messed me up this time was something that was not part of our schedule. Greg came up to me at the children's home one day and told me he had just gotten a call. There was an orphanage on the other side of town that had a Cholera outbreak, and it was a mess. They needed a team to come and help them clean up. He gave us the option of going or not going, being that we were going to risk getting infected with Cholera. Well...I asked the team members and every one of em' wanted to go.

 I don't think any of us were prepared for what we saw when we got there. The place was down the typical dirt road. This time closer to the city. We were greeted by the opening of a large gate leading into a courtyard. But something was wrong...there was furniture and clothing everywhere. The building had been cleared out, and people seemed to be walking around in disbelief. When I say clothing...I mean thousands of items of clothing all over the courtyard/parking area and all over the flat concrete roof of the orphanage. The workers had taken much of the kids clothing and the mattresses from the bunk beds to the roof. When we got there, they were preparing to spray the clothes and mattresses down with something to disinfect them. Upon further consideration, some of the team members decided that the kids needed new mattresses, and Michelle Roberts committed to getting them clothing. So what did we do you ask? What do you do with clothing and mattresses that are possibly cholera infected? What else could we do...we lit a match! Here are some pics:

We replaced the old mattresses with brand new ones within about 24 hours!

So we burned most of the clothes, and all of the mattresses. This was hard for the Haitians to stomach, and seemed like a waste to some of them, but along with the Cholera threat. there were thousands of roaches infesting the items and orphanage, and we had to get rid of the possibility of eggs, so we could not keep much of it. These clothes were wet and nasty, and the mattresses were worn well beyond what should have been used for the children. Greg has been in P-A-P for a good long while now, and has all sorts of hook ups. WIthin 1 day he had mattresses made and we were installing them in the orphanage. This after we cleaned and mopped it with bleach, and they sprayed it with insecticide. 

Even better news is that this particular orphanage is being moved to a cleaner nicer facility. The way this all came about confirmed to me again that God is using Chadasha and the Roberts family in a mighty way. I am so honored and glad that FCC and Heart of a Worshipper have been able to partner with them.

MUSIC GEAR: 

The music gear ended up being used in a way I had not considered. After I got there, Greg told me there was a a young man working at the children's home who was a great musician and worship leader, but he lost everything in the quake. His name is Shamma. So I took the guitar over to the home, hung out with Shamma, and he played and sang for me on the new guitar. We also wrote a song together translating from English to Kreyol. Shamma sings and plays with a ton of soul and emotion. He is very good, and needs a break. We had so much fun worshipping the Lord together, and I look forward to getting to know Shamma more. I hope that we can help him more in the future with instruments and equipment.He told me was 8 songs into finishing his first album, when the earthquake hit and destroyed everything. Now he lives at the children's home and teaches the children. He is a gentle spirited young man, with a huge heart. Here's a video of he and I at the children's home playing a song he wrote in Kreyol:

 

I was unable to bring everything, so I still have more gear to bring to Haiti, or send with other missionaries. But the mission house now has guitars and percussion instruments, including the large Djembe, so teams will be able to worship with instruments as they come on their trips.

Bright Future:

All I can say is that I cannot wait to return. I pray for the ministry in Haiti, and look so forward to the possibilities in the near future for working with Chadasha and other organizations such as Impact Haiti. We traveled to and worked on the approximately 3 acres of ocean front land that has been donated to build an orphanage retreat center that doubles as a Pastoral and church planting training center. 

This really is exciting stuff, and there is huge possibility to impact entire cities and villages in the name of Jesus Christ. The opportunities are wide open for planting contemporary churches, and it is obvious that children will love being able to travel to the retreat center for some time away from their home in the orphanage. Chadasha has recently brought in a man named John who is now living at the mission house. John will focus on training Pastors and planting churches in Haiti. Awesome!

Our next trip is scheduled for July 31st-August 6th. We would like to again bring 10-12 people maximum. We will be serving in various homes and orphanages, along with whatever else the Lord opens up for us to do. If you would like information contact me via e-mail at:

billswindle@foothills.cc