Valley View, Closing Comments
Sunday morning began with worship in our church within the compound. Corey, Tiffany, and Chassidy had worked with Herby and some of the children, to sing a song during the service. They did an excellent job. Herby at least shared the verse that the pastor preached on, with those sitting near him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them. I kept Leonel occupied by feeding him Fruit Loops. The hardest part of that was keeping the other children from surrounding him and playing with his toys. Please, a little room so the air could circulate. From the attire the locals were wearing, you’d think it was Easter Sunday. Women and girls in pretty, fancy dresses, and men in ties, at an outdoor service. In our church, it is not uncommon to see even adults attend services in shorts, and we have air conditioning.
During lunch, it was announced that we would be going to the beach. Unfortunately, because of the cholera epidemic we would not be swimming and the children would not be coming with us, because we weren’t sure we could keep them from getting in the water. We decided to start the walk to the beach later in the afternoon, when it wasn’t so hot. So, at 3 pm we walked to the beach. I expected a long walk, but it couldn’t have been more than 15 mins. The hard part was crossing the newly asphalted road, where you had to step up, then down the other side, about 2-1/2 ft. We walked through one woman’s property, where she was sitting outside doing laundry, and by the way she wasn’t dressed (if you know what I mean), you could clearly tell she wasn’t expecting Sunday afternoon company. She wasn’t there when we returned.
I’d love to tell you the beach was beautiful, but the tide was in and there was a line of debris along the entire length of the beach where the ocean met it. Most of the debris I saw was plastic bottles and pieces of styrofoam, with a few shoes, and other typical beach trash. We spent a good hour, or so, looking for the elusive shells. Some were found, but they confiscated them at the airport. Seems you can’t take them out of the country. We had taken them back and bleached them, too. When we first got to the beach, there were a few locals swimming, but they left, and one fisherman looked like he actually lived in a small lean-to he had set up. I love being near the ocean, but it was sad to see it so dirty. There are beautiful beaches in Haiti, but we were told they are expensive to go to and cost even more if you want to swim.
When we returned from the beach, it was time for supper. Our last supper for this trip. We had spaghetti, garlic bread, green beans, peaches, and one last opportunity for the delicious fresh pineapple. We had several visitors who stopped by after the evening church service and there was plenty to feed them.
The evening seemed to slip away and there was still so much that needed to be done. Toys we brought needed to be distributed to the children. Donnie said we could do it however we wanted, and said different teams do it differently. She said that some would have a child where there was a special bond and give that child something. It really bothered me that we didn’t have a specific item for each child. I know I thought that there would be more of a collection of toys for the children to choose from and play with, but seems the children had their own toys, and sort of expected an individual gift. I couldn’t pick one child to give a toy and not another. We ended up giving out a lot of marbles. A suggestion I would offer to teams who want to provide gifts for the children: A can of play-doh, a pair of sunglasses, hats, jacks, marbles, Barbie dolls for all the girls, play jewelry, hair accessories, silly bands, yo-yos, games, are just some of the ideas.
We still needed some one-on-one time with the children to say good-bye for now. There would be little time in the morning because we needed to be packed and ready to leave by 9 AM and the children would be at school by 8 AM.
Prior to our wrap-up time, Donnie took the time to explain the funding for the Cabaret Children’s Home and school. The program is 100% donation based. Last year’s budget was about $131,000. They seek out sponsors willing to contribute $50 per month for a specific child. Some people choose to send money as they feel led. Contributions can be made on the website. If something comes up out of the ordinary, Donnie says her response is, “then there better be a check in the mail tomorrow to cover it”. Donnie’s husband, David Garrett oversees the program from the Jacksonville Baptist Association, but it is not a budgeted item.
Kim had asked us to look for our snapshot moment to share Sunday evening during our wrap-up time. This was the one moment during the trip, when we knew why we were there. As I look back, now, I know I was there because Donnie needed my expertise with spreadsheets to compile the data on the children, so she wouldn’t be bogged down with the task once she returned home. It’s not what I spoke of, though, on Sunday evening. I tried to look for something that stood out and was more meaningful, you know, like leading someone to accept Christ. Spreadsheets are everyday to me, and that is why God wanted me with this group, so he could save Donnie the headache. When you know the Lord has called you to be part of a mission team, you can expect that the Lord is going to use your God-given talents to benefit Him and accomplish His perfect plan. Just be willing.
I closed the evening with a devotion from Col. 3:23, “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men”. We may be leaving Haiti behind, but our mission field is still all around us, especially in our workplaces. Don’t lose the mindset of leading others to accept Christ, simply because you have reached the end of a specific time period designated as a mission trip.
On Monday morning, after breakfast, Mike closed us out with his comments and thanks for coming. He felt more could have been accomplished had he not contracted malaria, but we know God’s plans are perfect. Herby, then, gave a heartfelt thanks for us coming to his country to help his people that he loves. He was so grateful that we would leave our homes, our jobs, our families, and pay to come help the people in Haiti; his people.
In closing, a few little suggestions:
Be sure to pack everything you mean to. Leaving your Philosophy book in Haiti, is costly to replace, and shipping it is just not an option, and waiting on the next team to bring it to the states and mail it, takes too long.
When you go through airport security, don’t have any shells or coke bottles. They will be confiscated.
When you go through airport security, don’t tell them you’d rather not take the metal hairpiece out … just take it out!
Never tease about taking a child home because they are so cute. You could just find out that the parent is more than willing to let you.
Don’t ever think you were not meant to be part of a mission team because you don’t know enough Scripture or enough about witnessing or enough about teaching Bible studies. Most of the time we go as support to those the Lord already has in place as resident missionaries. They are the ones that get to know the people in the communities and establish the repoir with them. We go to support their work in any way necessary. If you feel the Lord calling you to a specific missionary endeavor, just say, “Yes,” and leave the rest up to God.
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Thank you so much for sharing so much of the details of your trip! Your words make it sound like an amazing experience! An experience I would like to participate in one day myself. Also, thank you for your words of encouragement for those who have not yet had the opportunity to go on a mission trip. You truly moved me to say “YES”!
Thank You!!!