A little bit on Haiti

Well, we were just having too much fun to send updates! Sorry! (And then it got to crazy trying to get home...)

Saturday morning we were off to the Dominican Republic for the OMS retreat. We had breakfast with the Gross family at 6am and were at the 'bus station' before 8am.  The bus station was quite different from bus stations in the states. It looked like a little hole in the wall when we pulled in and they announced, "We're here!". There was barely enough room for 2 buses, a very small outdoor waiting area, and a small office.  We unloaded everyone and everything from the cattle truck, handed in our passports, and waited for our bus to be ready. 

A while later Brett Bundy emerged from the office and said that there was a 'slight problem'...they forgot to get the bus money before we left the compound. Everyone began pulling out their wallets and within minutes we had what was needed - over a thousand dollars. (Many missionaries giving up a large portion of their shopping money - which is huge since they only go into the Dominican once a year where they can stock up on things they just can't get in Haiti.)

Just before we reached the border, we stopped and several men boarded the bus to exchange money for us. At the border, we stayed on the bus, filled out paperwork, handed up our passports, and were through before we knew it.

It was strange how different things were the moment we crossed the border. The land looked different, the plants were different, the homes were built differently. There was still much poverty and trash strewn about, but not to the extent as it is in Haiti.

We stopped at a little buffet style, open air restaurant for lunch. The chicken was amazing and it was great to stretch our legs and get our first experience in the Dominican not looking through bus windows. Before getting our food, I headed for the bathroom along with many other ladies. In the bathroom, none of the stalls had toilet paper. As we looked through each stall, a woman holding a roll of tp appeared. She smiled and began to hand out just enough to each of us. After using the restroom and washing our hands, she handed us another wad to dry our hands with  - it was definitely different. The kids were all treated to ice cream bars (which is another rarity in Haiti) and we were back on the bus. 

We finally arrived at Sosua, but our bus couldn't fit down the street to the resort entrance because of construction next door. So, we all unloaded, grabbed our bags, and lugged them down the block and around the corner. All 31 of us and our luggage piled into the open air lobby to check-in where we were greeted and served a cool glass of juice.

After settling in, we all headed to the open air dining room overlooking the ocean for dinner. The missionaries were in heaven with the selection on the buffet, and were especially excited to see that they had decorated for Valentine's Day. Little Kristina Bundy was SO excited about getting to eat watermelon, but they didn't have any out for dinner. They did have just a few pieces they were using as a garnish around the roasted turkey and so she settled for hot watermelon and was happy as a clown (she also had some moments during retreat when she was scary as a clown - she has been battling health problems that cause her to crash and become a totally different person if she doesn't load up with protein every 2 hours.)  During dinner the waiters handed out single red roses to each woman which made the evening even more special.

Just after dinner we crowded together under one of the canopies for a worship service and to kick-off retreat. Despite the rain we had a great time playing games, singing songs, and listening to the waves crash below us. There was also much anticipation about the days ahead.

After our service ended, we joined the special Valentine's Day Karaoke night back in the dining area. Phil Dicks (who had come to facilitate the adult retreat) sang several songs from musicals like Les Mes and Steve Gross showed off his Kermit the Frog impression. Nathan even got into it with a little Johnny Cash singing Folsom Prison Blues. It was a great way to break the ice between those of us who had come to lead and the missionaries we were there to serve. It was a blast and we spent most of the night laughing both at and with one another.

Sunday morning when they finally gave us access to our meeting spaces, we began with worship all together in the adult room. Then we split off and had our first session with the kids. They listened intently, participated, and engaged in our discussion as we introduced the theme for the week, "The Pursuit of God" and talked about how God has been pursuing us from the very beginning and that He will be until the very end.  We discussed how God's greatest desire is for us to turn and pursue Him in return.

We quickly saw how sharp and connected to God these kids really are. The first question I asked was "What is salvation, and what does your faith mean to you?" Every answer they gave was grounded in the idea of living in relationship with God. No 'get-out-of-hell-free' or 'go to heaven someday' Sunday School answers. These kids understood that being a Christian was about so much more than just going to heaven or escaping hell - from our 6 year old to our 9th greater - they got it.

After the lesson, we broke out the scrapbooks and soccer balls and the kids went ballistic! They were SO excited about them and dove right into crafting. (THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who helped get the scrapbooks ready! Our hours of cutting and gluing paper definitely paid off - Bailey, I hope you have fully recovered from the short term fear of paper you developed while helping!)

When the parents came in to check on their kiddos during the break, they were just as excited about the crafts as the kids - and surprised that even the younger ones were more than happy to stay with us through the break and into session two. They were especially excited that the craft wasn't something that would just be thrown away, but something they could keep to help them remember what they learned and what God was doing in and speaking to them at retreat.   

Session two began after a short break (which the kids spent completely consumed with their crafting). We sang  more songs and jumped right into our lesson about how God wants us to come close to Him so He can speak to us and we can hear his voice.

Then it was time for lunch and our longer afternoon break. Nathan spent break swimming with the kids and hanging out by the pool with the missionaries. I offered to give essential oil massages and had 3 takers right away and three more lined up for the next day. I finished up just in time to head to our afternoon session.

Session 3 brought the story of God calling Samuel and learning to recognize and obey God's voice. The kids again were very engaged and without knowing it, began to tell the Bible story I had planned for the next day.  Funny how God works like that, finding such small ways to validate what you believe to be His plan.

After dinner we were supposed to have a kids' movie night and adult game night, but little Lily Ayars was in bed with an earache so we rescheduled for the next day and spent the night all together playing games and in fellowship.

Monday morning sessions were about chasing after God's heart and seeking His presence. During free time I gave more massages, and Nathan and I spent some good time hermit crab hunting with the 4 younger girls. Our evening session was about repentance: Jesus must increase and I must decrease.

We were responsible (with the help of Phil and Connie) for the kids during dinner and straight into movie night so the adults could eat together and spend the evening without kids. Surprisingly, even the youngest were happy to eat with us (and they ate well), only running to mom and dad to say a quick hello from time to time.

After dinner we rounded all 12 kiddos up for movie/game night. The younger ones were super excited to watch Meet the Robinsons for the first time. Brianna and I stayed with the little ones, but the older kids wanted to do nothing but play Mafia (their favorite game at retreat). So Nathan played Mafia and Brianna, Connie, Phil, and I watched the movie together. The kids were glued to the movie and even little 3 year old Sofie Ayars made it through almost the first half of the movie before being ready for mom and for bed. Stacey timed it perfectly though, she was coming in the door to get Sofie as I was headed out the door to find her!

6, 7, and 8 year olds: Lily, Kristina,  and Sarah made it through the whole movie (with a little cuddling during the scary parts) and Nathan and the big kids had a blast playing Mafia. Then it was off to bed to be ready for a last fun-filled day!

Tuesday morning we had the kids from just after breakfast until almost lunch so the parents could do their much anticipated grocery shopping.  We told the parents the night before to send their kids to "Kid's Club" (as Lily and Sofie so lovingly named our session times) prepared to swim. We planned to go swimming with them all when we finished our session while waiting for parents to return.

We spent most of the session working on a surprise for the adults - the kids were going to plan a worship service for that evening to close out the retreat. They decided to take the adults on the journey they had been on during retreat and shared a scripture verse, song, and/or thought/challenge from each of our sessions.

During our morning session we also talked about the difference between seeking God's hands (what He can do for and give us) verses His face (who He is). We challenged them to be a generation who would seek His face and they really seemed to connect with the challenge.

Connie and Phil joined us and we spent time praying over each kid individually. Nathan and Phil prayed over the boys one by one and Connie and I prayed over the girls one by one. It was a powerful, sweet, holy time that I wouldn't trade for the world. We asked each one if they had any prayer requests and prayed for those (most were that they would grow closer to God) as well as prayed however the Lord led us.

The things God brought to our hearts and minds to pray for each individual was spot on and each kid connected with our prayers in a deep way, almost as if they were grabbing a hold of each word, clutching them tightly and tucking them away into the depths of their hearts.  This, I believe, was the most impacting time for both the kids and for us. The time we spent praying built relationships between each of us that could not have been built any other way - no amount of talking or laughing or swimming or game playing or hanging out or wave watching could have built the type of connection that was established in our spirits  through that time with the Lord.

...before we knew it - it was time to SWIM!

Parents began to return as we swam and Nathan and I spent some more time crab-hunting with the little ones, mafia-playing with the big ones, and wave-watching with everyone. We also decided to join a group going to check out an art museum that Steve Gross found on one of his morning runs.

So we headed out of the resort walls for the first time and began what turned out to be quite an adventure! After debating about whether to call a couple of taxis or take moto-taxis, we decided that motorcycles would be wayyyy more fun - and much cheaper,  so we headed up a block to see if we could find some willing drivers.

We found a few moto-taxis waiting on the next corner and 100 pesos per motorcycle later, we were on our way! Nathan didn't have his feet on the pegs so our driver (who didn't speak much english) had to pull over to get us all situated. Our group had gone on ahead and once we got back on the road, we quickly realized that we turned right and everyone else had gone left.

I thought maybe he was taking a shortcut to catch back up since we had stopped, but then he made another right that took us out on the highway that led out of town - we knew we had a problem. We started to try to communicate with him that we were going the wrong way, but we couldn't exactly tell him where we were supposed to be going because we had never been there - and we didn't even know the name of the museum. Luckily he was able to call of the other drivers and find out where we were supposed to be going.

He turned around just before a large intersection (yeah, that was a little scary...) trying to squeeze our motorcycle hauling 3 people through traffic that was trying to get around us and traffic coming the opposite direction in a country where there doesn't seem to be many road rules, and we were back on track = insane!

We pulled up to this large castle-like structure where we found our group circled together praying for our safe arrival. Once laughing and sharing about our adventure, we realized that we were still missing Phil!  We weren't too concerned for him since he had a reputation of stopping here, there, and everywhere to make conversation and to make friends.

A few minutes later we see what looks like Phil coming up the large hill to the museum. "There's Phil!" someone said. "Wait, is that the same shirt he was wearing when we left?" we asked. When he arrived we all starting laughing as he had a brand new, and quite bold, Hawaiian shirt on. He introduced us to his new friend and driver - Charlie, and shared about his adventure. Charlie works for the visitor center and had all kinds of connections and had shown Phil around a little.

Connie insisted that Phil treat everyone to the museum since he made us all wait. After doing the math and paying the man, we stood in awe of huge stone sculptures in the first room. We made our way into the first courtyard and quickly realized that the majority of the art was very dark art. Wooden sculptures of demon-like creatures with snakes coming out of their eyes and mouths filled the courtyard along with metal wall hangings that portrayed the same kind of darkness. Intermingled between them were beautiful sculptures of heads, metal art/sculptures, and paintings that were so different from the rest.

We also found that the artists had quite an obsession with UFOs as much of the art included portrayals of UFOs. There was even a room filled with large UFO statues/sculptures....it was a little weird, we have pictures to give you a better idea. The next courtyard was the darkest yet and some of the ladies began to feel uneasy and chose to slip out of that area quickly.  We also learned that most of the art in that section was from Haiti, which is what we thought given the voodoo-like depictions.

Our tour guide then led anyone willing down a dark spiral staircase into a dungeon-type room. This room held what looked like a barbecue with wooden sculptures of skeletons on roasting sticks. In the back there was a large wooden sculpture that looked like the face of Satan. I didn't stay down there too long: Dark + Creepy = totally not my thing. I wasn't really scared at any point, I just didn't care to stay long. As we came face to face with these demonic images I kept mulling over scriptures about our victory as Children on God over the powers of Satan and darkness (which I had a vivid dream about Friday night).

Some decided they just wanted to get to the top to see the view they had raved about and up we went. We explored each floor quickly (mostly just more dark art mixed with a UFO theme, but the architecture of the building was quite intriguing). At the top we had a great view of the ocean and of the mountains.

Back at the resort, we prepared for our last session of the retreat. The kids arrived and we spent almost the entire session practicing and putting finishing touches on the worship service they would be leading after dinner. Little Kristina (who is usually super shy) brought her own kids song book and requested that we sing "Jesus Loves Me." We found a good place to fit it in and to everyone's surprise she agreed to lead the song!  (Can you say ADORABLE!)

The adults had finished up but I still needed 5 more minutes to quickly race through our last lesson about seeking God together. We challenged the kids to remember that they are all part of the body. Although they are young, they are as much a part of the body as anyone and that we felt that God had a plan to use them as a group of young people to impact Haiti for His glory. 

We challenged them to model themselves after the New Testament church - devoting themselves to prayer, fellowship, and breaking bread together. We encouraged them not to be afraid to be thought of as "too spiritual" if they saw another in need of encouragement or prayer, but to listen for God's voice leading them and to follow through with whatever He calls them to - even if it is scary or hard or they think someone will think they are stupid or silly. They latched on and we ended with a great sense of excitement and anticipation about what God might do both in and through them if they choose to allow Him.

After dinner we headed back to the same canopy we kicked-off retreat under for our closing service. Some of the adults had no idea that the kids were planning to lead the service and they were joyfully surprised. Each one took a turn sharing, from the youngest to the oldest (except for Sofie who was just ready for Mom after 4 days filled with sessions), they all participated. It was awesome.

Little Kristina led her song without hesitation and wowed everyone with her boldness.  The 3 youngest recited John 3:30 three times in a row with motions: "Jesus must get bigger, but I must get smaller." (more absolute cuteness!) We sang songs in between and closed up by singing Oceans with the waves crashing all around us - powerful, awesome, beautiful!

We were so proud of these kiddos - they were just amazing. Kristina never fought me once about eating her protien snacks which meant no crashes during kids club! Sofie, for the first time ever according to Stacey, stayed with the kids and loved it for all but the last part of the last session! Everyone engaged and participated. Even the teenage boys, the moment I would expect them to be done and disengage, they would become even more engaged - it was awesome to see them being leaders, volunteering and being excited to read verses, actively and seriously participating in discussion, singing the songs AND doing all the motions while encouraging and helping the little ones follow along.  The girls were great too, and it was really special seeing how God was working through each of their different personalities uniquely.

They are all just something else...something wonderful...something beautiful...and I do truly believe that God has something in store for them to accomplish for Him and with Him and through Him in the days ahead!

Wednesday morning we had breakfast, took pictures, and loaded up for the long drive home. God gave us another easy (and somewhat quick) passage at the border and we were back in Haiti before long. Everyone was exhausted as we piled all of our luggage and all of us onto the cattle truck for the short drive back to the compound. A jackknifed tractor trailer (which are rare in Haiti) kept us from going the usual route and we ended up on the road along the river - a part of Haiti I had never seen (and many of the missionaries said they had never seen).  Imagine a dirty river laden with garbage, people, shops, and homes all built on what appears to be ground but is truly a trash pile on both sides. We had only ever seen the river from the bridge on the main road to the airport. This view was much more raw and in your face, and it seemed to go on forever. Sad. Heartbreaking. Reality.

After arriving back "home" at the compound we all got settled and headed up to the Gross' for the rest of the day. Nathan, Steve, and Phil went traunchula hunting. I (of course) opted out and stayed to help Melissa put away all the goodies she had brought home from the Dominican: blocks of mozzarella and cheddar cheese, a chunk of deli ham, sausage, canned soups, yogurt, cream cheese and more (none of which you can find in Haiti).  We chunked and bagged and labeled and froze most of the bulk items and finally got to just sit for a while.

Steve came in at some point and said he had to change into nicer clothes - apparently they slipped into the church at the bottom of the compound to check out the revival service going on and Phil ended up on stage with Pastor Lucner. Steve had been in shorts and in the Haitian culture, that is just not appropriate for church. Steve went back down to 'retrieve Phil' and a while later they still had not come back. Melissa and I were ready to call it a night and so we went looking for them. 

In the church yard, which was overflowing with people who couldn't fit into the church since it was so packed, I ran into Pastor Job and Wawa (one of our translators from our first trip to Haiti) and invited them to come visit us the next night - what was supposed to be our last night in Haiti.  We finally found our guys and after going to see the tranchula they had found (I was not excited about this, but wanted to be able to say that I saw one), which was huge and creepy and scary and BLAH!, we decided it was bedtime.

Thursday morning, our last planned day in Haiti, we had another delicious breakfast at the Gross household (that Steve can make some mean breakfasts and Melissa's smoothies are De-licious! Actually, everything they fed us was beyond good!) After breakfast we spent some time hanging out with the kids and then I went to give Angie Bundy a massage (her Chikungunya was flaring up again and she was feeling pretty awful).

I came back to the Gross house to find the guys drinking fresh coconut water right out of coconuts from the tree in their back yard. The Gross' Haitian sons had climbed the tree and were chopping away and preparing each of us a coconut - it was pretty cool, and delicious!

Lunch was ready and we all gathered up to head to the market to buy food for Daniel's neighborhood kids (he feeds them every weekend and teaches

them as often as he can since many of them cannot afford to go to school.)

Our first stop was to pick up Rose (a friend if the Gross' and teacher at Cowman School) so she could be our guide and help negotiate prices at the market. She doesn't like it when people try to charge her friends more just because they are white. Some vendors will argue that they can afford to pay more, but as Rose told someone trying to charge Melissa the equivalent of $20 American dollars for a used lunchbox, "She wouldn't be shopping here if she had that kind of money!"

Rose's home is the last just before the river - this river is the same river we drove by the day before where the whole neighborhood comes to dump their trash (and where all the trash flows when it rains). Rose said they have had trash piled up to their doorstep before but that there are plans to cover the trash with sand and try to deter people from dumping there. It would take a lot of doing, but they have hope!

Rose and her husband David ("Coach" as they call him at Cowman since he is the gym teacher) invited us into their home. For Christmas they had replastered and painted and Melissa said it looked so different and brighter than it had before. Melissa then commented on Rose's new stove she had also gotten for Christmas. The new stove was just a small 4 burner cooktop that was sitting on top of their oven. Melissa said Rose had been so excited to get that stove since it was so difficult to get the charcoal started outside in the dark and have breakfast ready before school. We then learned that Rose had not yet been able to use her new stove because they did not have a propane tank to fuel the stove. They had been saving, but weren't able to afford one just yet.  We said goodbye to her 2 boys and thanked Coach for letting us borrow her for the day and set off to pick up Daniel on our way to the market.

The market was crowded and we would have been SO lost without Rose. We picked up some fruits and veggies (Melissa got a whole bag of Guava for the equivalent of 1 American dollar which we made the most delicious nectar and smoothies from!) and were ready to hit the bulk store for the things Daniel needed. Nathan and the guys took a short trip to the meat market (which apparently was quite a site and quite a smell) and were back in time to help me pick out some snacks for Pastor Job's family and the other friends we were expecting that evening.

We also found a propane tank on the top shelf of the bulk store, which Phil and Connie so graciously purchased for Rose - she was beside herself with joy! It was beautiful to watch it all unfold. They also helped Daniel buy some of the extra things he needed and we were off to Daniel's neighborhood.

It began to rain and we continued wet, but content, in the back of the pickup to Daniel's home (Connie and I wore ponchos but Nathan Md Daniel were soaked). We knew we were there when the truck quickly became surrounded by children calling Daniel's name. He led us down a small alley into an even smaller alley (only wide enough for one person to fit through) back to his home.

His home was a very small concrete room filled with cooking and cleaning supplies for his ministry. His bed was a small opening in the top of the wall that gave him less than two feet head space to slide into. He said that children sleep on his floor every night because they feel safe there. Outside his home is a small outdoor kitchen area (probably nothing like you are thinking...picture a 2 foot ledge where he can burn the charcoal and cook). There was also a hole in the ground covered by a piece of wood - this is their well where they draw very dirty water which they add bleach to for dishes and hand washing. I'm not sure where they have to go to get clean water for cooking, but I know it is not readily available.

There was also a small 'courtyard' that we could all barely fit into. That is where the children gather to eat and for classes that Daniel teaches for those who cannot afford to go to school. It was humbling and convicting to see his sacrifice for these children. Everything he has is for them - he spends his money, uses his home, and devotes his time to helping them build a brighter future. He doesn't have much of anything, but he gladly gives it all. He hopes to be able to expand his ministries and is waiting for the Lord to provide a way. Until then, he goes on helping whoever he can, however he can, whenever he can.

We got back to the compound later than expected, changed into dry clothes, and headed straight to the Gross' for dinner so we could be back in time for our guests to arrive. We weren't sure, however, if anyone would even be able to come since it was raining quite hard.

Pastor Job and his family did make it when the rain finally let up a bit. they were still quite wet when they arrived, all 3 on their only mode of transportation: a motorcycle.

.... more of our story to come! ...

Love,

Hannah and Nathan