Soccer Beyond Borders Day Four

Haiti day 4

Today was pretty adventurous, we have to say… this is Ayla, Megan and Denise reporting in from Haiti!!  We woke up this morning with a few tummy aches with the team… that passed quickly so to speak.  After a scrumptious breakfast of French toast and scrambled eggs we were ready to tackle the day and with that all the bags in the depot.   The plan was to bless three orphanages with supplies, food and clothing.

 After packing the bus, we were on our way!  Driving through the streets of Port Au Prince was and excursion in and of itself.  Loud with honking horns and miles of street vendors, motor scooters and pedestrians to navigate…. Our bus driver was AWESOME!!  We reached our first orphanage and we heard the children’s voices singing to welcome us!  The home of 30 some children was a cement structure with 2 rooms.  One for sleeping and one common room.  The gravel yard provided some shade and seating area for the kids but overall it was very desolate. Though they didn’t have much, they seemed grateful for the little that they had.  We were as delighted to be there as they were to have us.  We started with craft bracelets, bubbles and coloring as well as goodie bags for all the children.  The guys on the team initiated play with the soccer ball and the gals were busy outfitting each girl with a new dress.  We gave the boys soccer uniforms which were sooooo adorably big and thusly very cute!!  After play we fed them lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, a drink and what amounted to cheese puffs (called chicos).  The children’s faces and fingers were all orange! J  Before leaving we prayed over their pastor which caused some tears among our group.  We left them with supplies and smiles.

We moved onto the next orphanage further down the road.  We started this time with lunch during which we all sang and prayed together.  It was particularly moving when one of the children came up and sang by themselves a song they wished to share.  A couple others followed suit!  How beautiful it was!!  Once they were finished eating we brought in their brand new clothes and watched as faces lit up across the room!  Before we left we noted that their supplies were all but gone, so we ended up leaving them a bulk our remaining supplies.  Last but not least, we left them with the mission ball, the one world ball and the New Testament book.

At that point we were getting a little hungry and headed back to New Life for lunch … yum, yum.

We boarded the bus to take our longest journey of the day to an orphanage an hour away.  We were excited and happy given our first two experiences of the morning. Pouring rain accompanied our journey, which at first we thought a blessing to cool us down.  After the hour trip, we were about a mile away and realized after some debate and deliberation by pastor Bob that we could not continue on our way in fear of getting stuck in the mud with a big bus and lots of people!!  Yikes… not expected!!!  We then worked and worked and worked to get the bus turned around on the muddy road!!  It almost seemed impossible given the conditions, but after a half an hour we were on our way!! We dropped the orphanage supplies off at a local law enforcement office to be delivered when the roads were better.  We created quite a scene and attracted many locals, so on the way out we tossed a new soccer ball out the window in their direction which they fought over but we quickly moved away as not to cause a riot!

From there, we stopped at Metal Works – a Haitian art which is garbage tins turned into art work.  This area was a village of shops.  We bought many items and supported the Haitian community.  We made our way back to New Life to spend the remainder of the day with the kids.

What a great day it was!!

Soccer Beyond Borders - Day Three

Haiti Day Three

Day three in Haiti was extremely eventful. Shortly after breakfast our group walked over to the church for morning service. The service began with a traditional song that had the congregation up and clapping. Witnessing the celebratory spirit of the kids and other teams was a powerful way to join with the community, and it illuminated how important God is in the foundation of New Life. Pastor Bob gave the congregation a message about forgiveness and the invited the crowd to share in the peace of Christ.

Following the service, the team gathered together and prepared for the soccer tournament – laying out the donated shoes, socks, and jerseys for the two outside teams, two New Life teams and many other visitors. The event caused a big buzz in the community and there were at least 100 people waiting to come inside and watch.  The energy of the four teams was palpable and by the time the championship game ended, all of teams’ competitive spirits shone through. The passion, vigor, and skill of the Haitian players reminded all of us how much the game of soccer means to the people in this country. Before each team departed we shared the Gospel message with them – sharing New Testament booklets, a soccer ball with the mission statement, and some food for the way home. After the tournament concluded, we shared a meal with the players and had a chance to interact and see how much they appreciated the team’s presence.

After a long day in the hot sun, dinner gave a chance to wind down and share our stories concerning the day’s events. To end our day, we shared some time with the babies from the nursery and played in the park. It was fun to see the kids interact with one another and we all took turns holding them and helping them down the slide. The evidence of a great day in Haiti was seeing the boys interact and smile with each other, enjoying time with the team and enjoying the light summer breeze.

Goodnight! Peace and Blessings to you all!

Sincerely,

Mary Jo, Nicole, and Jason 

A New Perspective-Haiti Day Two

A New Perspective-Day Two

Two Scripture verses summarize my first day in Haiti. During my interactions with the children Jesus’ command regarding the treatment of “the least of these” resonated in my mind. They are so hungry for human touch and our love. It is truly humbling to be here serving them in the name of the Lord. Serving is the operative word for the second verse that comes to mind, “ the sleep of a laborer is sweet”. After a day of working and serving in the heat and humidity of Haiti, I slept like a baby.

                Before arriving, all I had seen were commercials and read others’ experiences about the journey to another country in order to help others in need. It hit me in the face the first day seeing the condition of some of the children. The second day I began to not only see others helping each other, but actually feeling the amount of love in the room, it was inspiring. The most difficult part of communication is the language barrier, and it was upsetting how I could not understand what was going on with one of the children. I then came to realize that laughter does not require a language, and that is what brings us all together.

                Some people tend to think that I am sacrificing things by coming to Haiti, that I am being too generous or heroic. It couldn't be farther from the truth. These kids bless us more than we could ever bless them. There are 120 kids around you who love you at first sight, and you stand there with a single feeble heart. There is no question of who is blessed. Each one of these kids has a broken past, but now it is clear that all they know is love. They exude it with every touch, smile, and word that sounds like gibberish to me. I spent most of the day with the babies. God used these beautiful kids who cannot often even speak to mend my spirit that was broken by the world. I never realized how much the Lord accepts and cares for me until He used these kids to reach out at just the right time. When I first walked into the baby room, a boy who started crawling up to me the moment he saw me and had his arms extended for me to hold him before I got through the gate. He would allow me to put him down without a struggle, unlike many of the other children, but the moment I put him down he had his arms open for me to hold him again. He relentlessly pursued me, but he did it gently and with acceptance. This I believed illustrates how our Heavenly Father pursues us. The most striking thing I have witnessed is how obviously God uses these kids because their hearts are unhindered by the world, like mine is. No matter what condition any child is in, I can’t pity them because when I see them, I see Jesus’ face.

Blessed to be here,

Dave, Val and Abbey

Soccer Beyond Borders Haiti Day 1

All Aboard the Haitian Vacation

After months of preparation, our Haitian Vacation (trademarked by Pat) finally has begun. Twenty three walking traffic cones(our new team shirts) gathered bright and early at O’Hare Airport. We made it smoothly out of Chicago. Ironically, the flight attendant kept saying we were landing in Fort Myers but we were supposed to land in Fort Lauderdale. As it turned out, there were storm clouds hovering above the Fort Lauderdale Airport preventing our scheduled landing. The pilots decided to circle the airport several times, however the storm took its sweet time and we needed to refuel so we had to land at Fort Myers. While in Fort Myers, we received word from Mr. Keefer that American said we would not be making it to Fort Lauderdale in time for our connecting flight to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This casted a cloud of anxiety over the team of twenty three “Soccer Beyond Borders” missionaries. But have no fear, the Lord is here!
Luckily, we swooped into Fort Lauderdale just in the nick of time. Fortunately, the gate we arrived at happened to be right next to our connecting flight’s departure gate along with an Italian fast food stop. Throughout our travel, our orange shirts were great conversation starters. One couple in particular was with us the whole way, traveling from Bartlett to Haiti for the first time since 1979. When compared to the changes we see after just one year away from Haiti we are excited for the couple to see the changes in their home country after thirty plus years. We shared our past experiences and future plans and wished each other good luck on the rest of our trips. Full of pizza and high hopes, we boarded our plane to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. One of our team members, who shall not be named (LAUREN!), prematurely stated that our trip had been uneventful thus far. Little did we know, we were in for a doozy.
Although we were pleasantly surprised with the drastic improvements at the Port-au-Prince International Airport, the organization did not suffice. As Murphy’s Law states, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” After collecting all 45 of our duffle bags of donated supplies we ran into trouble at Haitian Customs. Our convoy of carts was making out of the airport, but not before a Customs employee decided to check one of our duffle bags. They started with one and then they wanted to see them all. They would take a bag, empty everything packed in it, inventory it, and then attempt to repack the bag which they did with little success. We were constantly being asked how much we had paid for all the gear and we tell them it was all donated, however anyone could guess that there was a language barrier. The employees were asking us to pay a tariff for all the equipment we were bringing to Haiti. After three hours of this chaos, we called Bill Plaza and Miriam for some help. Eventually, they swooped in and saved the day. Unfortunately, we ended up having to pay a tariff for equipment that was free of charge to us and will be free to all the Haitians we will meet this week.
It has been exciting to experience Haiti for the first, second, or third time depending on the person. The culture shock never fails to shock us and it was cool to see the newbies take it all in the first time. We finally made it to New Life where we were greeted with full smiles and helping hands. Our bus was unpacked in no time! We quickly wolfed down dinner leftovers in order to join the children for movie night. We snuggled up with old and new friends while eating popcorn and enjoying Jack the Giant Slayer. Sadly, it is time for bed but we are excited for the adventures ahead of us this coming week.

Goodnight world, peace and blessings to you all. Port-au-Prince out.

Yours truly,
Lauren, Emily, Austin, and… Jake?

Many Blessings - to You!

Over the last two days a team of ten missionaries visited six orphanages ranging in size from 110 to 25 kids.  Our first days visit started by stopping at a brick building out in the middle of a field about an hour outside of Port au Prince, Haiti.  Twenty four children lived there in a building about the size of most people's garage at home with four adults.  Their house was made of concrete bricks, considered a luxury by most Haitians and a tin roof.  No water for drinking, no electricity and no food in the building, no extra clothes and not a toy to be seen.  They were excited to see us and couldn't wait to color a page out of a coloring book as we handed them each three crayons to keep!  They enjoyed a peanut butter sandwich, fruit drink and snack as we sang worship songs and ended in prayer, reassuring them that they were the precious children of God and he is with them and loves them always.  Our last stop for the day took us to an orphanage with 110 children.  They lived in a two story house close to Port au Prince.  Eighty percent of the children sleep on the floor.  They had no food in their kitchen, no table to sit at or shelves in the kitchen to store any of the pots and pans they cook with. All of these items stacked on the ground.  As we arrived they were praying where their next meal would come from.  After the snack we provided, we left many staples of rice, corn, beans, oil, butter, spaghetti, sauce and fish for them.  We got to spend time reading a story to the kids and singing many worship songs.  We so hope we brought the light of Jesus for just a little while to their lives today!  As we finished day one, heading back along the bumpy roads to the orphanage we are staying at, much silenced filled our vehicle as we all thought about how we could do more for the children we visited today.  The margin of disparity between our lives back home and here is wide.  Wider then most can imagine without visiting this place.  I guess we are here to fill the gap one life at a time!

Day two started by counting our food provisions and gathering our team.  We made a long bumpy journey out into the hills of Port au Prince.  Our first stop was an orphanage of twenty-five kids and this orphanage had a school attached to it where 100 community children attended.  The Pastor that ran this orphanage had posted a beautiful sign thanking us as we entered the building.  He played guitar and sang and had taught all of the children to sing.  They sang five songs for us as we shared a snack with them, colored and bounced balloons around the room that we has brought.  Many children had great skill drawing pictures as well.  This Pastor makes some additional money going from church to church with his children singing and playing guitar.  We left staples for their food pantry, as very little food was stored there before we arrived.  There were many smiles on the children's faces and thankfulness in their hearts when we were there.  We prayed with the children before we left, reminding them that each one of them were important to God and he has a plan for each one of their lives.  Our last stop today was to visit a home of twenty-four children that social services received from the streets of Haiti and the jail.  Most of the children ranged in age from 10-15 and were not what we were expecting.  We were told these children were out of control and fighting with each other regularly.  But what we found were children who now has a purpose in

life.  As the woman responsible for them has shown them love, fed them, clothed them, put a roof over their head and brought three teachers into the home.  One of our team members and our Haitian leader shared the love of God with them and reminded them that God does care about them and loves them.  Also, they are to treat each other with love and each one is a brother or sister to the other.  We reminded them to pray to God daily for all the blessings he has given them in the last few weeks.  Then one of the children got up and shared how thankful he was and another prayed for everyone there.  What a blessing for us to end our two days of feedings in this way.  God always is surprising us!  We went in judging these children and God reminded us that each one of us is a work in progress and only God can change our hearts.

Our team has been blessed beyond measure these last two days and we have been reminded again that God has brought us to Haiti to be his hands and feet.  To share his love with the poor, needy and orphans, just reminding us that we are walking the path he has laid out for us.  Our hope today is that all the people that donated money and have been prayed for us have been blessed by this blog.  Without all of you, the wheel would not be able to turn and to make these feedings happen.  We humbly thank you again!

Renee and Bill Plaza