mission:HAITI

note from daniel: we are in “mission trip” mode right now and all our interns have, are, or will be experiencing ministry in a cross-cultural context. Three of our interns recently returned from Haiti. Here is a highlight of that trip. Written by Mary Catherine.

Once arriving in Haiti, we stayed at New Life Children’s Home for two nights.  It was located right in Port-au Prince.   This is an orphanage; however I was surprised to learn that many of the beautiful children staying there still had two parents.  Their families couldn’t afford to feed them and send them to school.  Staying at the orphanage was definitely a highlight for me, as it was for many others.  The kids were adorable – words can’t explain.  They all had so much love and joy, even when they had so little when it came to material things.  I couldn’t help but feel guilty staying in the guesthouse.  Even thought it was complete with ants and cockroaches, it was a mansion compared to the dorms the kids lived in.  During our stay, we painted some dorms and a bathroom, but the majority of our time was spent holding the hands of a child in a wheelchair, comforting a crying baby, playing some intense soccer (and getting badly beat), or pushing a little boy or girl on the swings.

On Wednesday our group had some once in a lifetime experiences.  While at a museum, we ran into a man named Jonas.  He knew our leaders, Phil and Chad Snyder.  He told us his testimony about how both his father and grandfather were witch doctors.  Jonas was “next in line,” however he became sponsored to go to a Christian school and became a follower of the Lord.  He took us to his house, way in the “backwoods” of Haiti.  Many kids stated running towards us, jumping on us and fighting to hold our hands.  As we walked down a hill, we went inside a house here a baby had just been born.  The umbilical cord was still attached!  After many pictures of the newborn, we moved on to a church, where there was loud singing and dancing.  Some people then began speaking in tongues.  I had never seen anything like it before.  After our excursion to this little village, we learned that most of those kids had more than likely never seen a white person before.

Thursday was my favorite day.  We went on a three hour trip up a stone road to the mountains.  We arrived at a town called Fom Batise.  GLOW (the organization we went to Haiti with) has a school there.  Phil Snyder (one of our leaders) told us that before GLOW came, most all of the children had red hair and brain damage from being malnourished.  Now, after a feeding program and a school, the town is improving, as well as the health of these beautiful children.  This was a humbling experience for me, as it showed me that the money we donate and put in the offering bucket at church goes such a long way, and helps so many people.  Giving can at times be a hard thing for me, as I’m sure it is for many others.  However after seeing the impact it has had over Fom Batise, it makes it easier for me to want to give.

All in all, Haiti was an amazing experience.  I can’t wait to go back!

KIDS CLUB GOT STARTED TODAY

Kids Club is for elementary age kids to come and play games, learn about God, and have fun in a safe environment. There is also a snack we give out and drinks for everyone. It’s held in a neighbor lady’s yard. She is very generous with allowing us to bring lots of kids to her lawn. The kids can do all different things, like play with sidewalk chalk, play basketball, hula hoop, or just sit on a blanket in the shade and talk. It is for all the neighbor kids, and most of them know each other so it’s fun for them to play with their friends.

The first day of kids club was a success. We went around the neighborhood before it started and told the kids and parents where it was and what we would be doing. A lot of kids already knew about it since they have been doing it for 3 years now. The location changed from last year though, so we had to tell people where to find us. I think the kids really look forward to coming and hanging out with us and their friends, playing games, and of course, getting to eat ice cream.

About 20 kids showed up. They had lots of energy! We played different games like red rover, basketball, tag and we had a Bible Story. We got volunteers and the kids acted out the story of Noah. Many of them were familiar with the story already, so it was good that we brought along props to make it interesting. We also had a squirt gun that Mary Catherine shot out on the kids to symbolize the rain. The kids listened well so we hope it was meaningful for them.

Before today’s events started, we circled up and prayed and asked God to bless what we have going here, and we asked Him to be present in everything that goes on this summer. This is such a great opportunity to be able to go to a neighborhood and show Jesus’ love to the kids, some of which who are not used to being in a safe, fun environment. We’re hoping God will keep blessing the kids lives through Kids Club.

A DAY OF TEAM BUILDING

Written by Mark Haskin

We started the day by hoping into a church van and headed up to Grace Adventures, a wonderful camp that has been doing youth and team building ministry for years.  Our leader for the day did a great job helping us think through what it will take for us to be the best team possible as we minister to others.  We set some expectations and personal goals for the day as well as goals for each specific team building exercise we attempted.

Some of the expectations for the day were:

• Learn how to work together knowing we each have different leadership types
• Know that we are all in this together
• Have a common sense of mission
• Listen to each other, not just what is being said, but what is not being said, which was explained as being a ‘Jesus Listener’

Our personal goals were:

• Even when I am afraid, I’m going to go for it!
• Push myself farther than I would like to
• Keep getting better at the task at hand
• Give everything I’ve got and encourage others to do the same

It was very helpful that we would revisit our goals and keep them as our focus point throughout the day as it helped us continually evaluate whether or not we were keeping our goals in mind, not just accomplishing the task at hand.  We learned that there was a difference between the two, accomplishing our goals and completing the task.  For one of our tasks our goal was to have effective communication between the members of our team and the task was to get from one side of a “river” to the other by using planks of wood and bricks.  We completed the task, but our communication was not as effective as it could have been during the entire activity, but by the end, it had improved greatly.

At the end of our day at Grace Adventures we each wrote down things that are going to be important to keep in mind and practice during our summer here at Calvary.

They were:

• Be flexible
• Continually challenge ourselves, wisely challenge each other and be open to accept those challenges
• Incorporating everyone on the team into what we are doing
• Talk about what we are thinking and what our plans are for the next step

Some other highlights for the day: On the ropes course, completing an element that we were not sure we could do. Completing our ‘log across the river’ puzzle

Experiencing this all with “Stand in Jake”.  I didn’t mention this earlier, but we brought a Stand in Jake since the real Jake was in Israel during our time at Grace.  We brought along a life-size foam man and named him Jake so he could experience all of the team building exercises with us.  Taking him along on the ropes course as well as the ‘logs across the river’ exercise served as a metaphor making us include a team member even if they were not able to come up with ideas or physically help with the problem solving.
All in all the day was a great success, we met all of our expectations for the day, grew closer at a team, learned how to work together and how our different leadership styles complement one another.  I am very excited for the rest of the summer as grow closer as friends and a team and as we work together to show God’s love to others.

IT BEGINS

Yesterday the interns gathered for the first time this summer. They are a great group. This is going to be a good summer.

One of the things I wanted to do first with them is consider who they are as emerging leaders. So we spent a lot of time yesterday looking into the types of leaders they are becoming. Here is how they scored on an assessment on each interns leadership type:

• Emily & Mary Catharine are RELATER Leaders.
• Ben had a combination of being a DOER & THINKER Leader
• Mark is a MOVER Leader
• Jake is yet an unknown because he hasn’t joined the internship yet (he is in Israel). However, I have a suspicion that he is a MOVER Leader.

So what the world are Relater, Mover, Doer, Relater leaders anyway? (oh yeah, there is also leaders known as THINKER Leaders… that is what I am). Here is a simple description of each:

• DOERs are primarily concerned about the tasks to be accomplished by the team. They like to focus on the task at hand, make checklists, get things organized, correct errors, and hit deadlines. Doers want the team to get it right.
• THINKERs are primarily concerned about generating new ideas and solving team problems. They like to gather information, analyze a situation, brainstorm new ideas, develop plans, be creative, and get all the pieces working together. Thinkers want the team to develop creative solutions.
• RELATERs are primarily concerned about people and team relationships. They like to get to know the other team members, build relationships, encourage others, be a good listener, and be supportive. Relaters want the team members to get along.
• MOVERs are primarily concened about achieving goals and getting the team from here to there. Movers like to accept challenges, set goals, get others involved, make decisions, take approopiate risks, and persevere over difficulties. Movers want the team to win.

Yesterday we also spent time setting individual and team goals for the summer. I am not going to post their individual goals, but here are the team goals that were set by the interns;

• The kids we work with this summer will have a better appreciation of Jesus.
• The kids will have lots of fun and want to be a part of the activities
• That there will be a friendly environment and the kids and interns will know each other well.
• That each intern on the team will be meaningfully invested, using their personalities, gifts, and passion to better the ministry to children.
• That kids and their families will get increasingly connected to the Calvary Community
• That the kids will get a better understanding of the Bible and Church.

Tomorrow I will be taking the interns off site to do some team building. They will come back tired, but a functioning team. We will have pictures and an intern will journal the day. Look for it on Friday.

Daniel