Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Haiti - Skyview Ranch - April 1-8, 2016

April 2, 2016

Our first full day in Haiti was a great one!! We started off the day taking a bumpy ride up to our school in LaHatte to have a fun day with the kids! We played games, blew bubbles, some of us got our hair done (aka put in a bunch of tiny braids), and we just got to love on the kids. Heather and Rene got the opportunity to work on the Public Relations project by sitting down with some Mission Possible employees and hearing their stories. It was a blessing! While we all talked in devotions tonight, almost everyone talked about their different personal experiences at LaHatte. They noticed how much the children just loved to be near us- they loved to hold our hands, take pictures with us, and genuinely just wanted to be loved. We had an opportunity to walk up through their village as well, and of course we were being accompanied by all of the kids! The pastor at LaHatte walked with us and gave us a little history on the community, which was very kind of him and was interesting for all of us to learn about. Once we got back to the mission center and took care of our sunburns (despite having put on the spf 50 sunscreen that we had applied in the morning), we started working on our gate-painting project! The view of the ocean, and the sound of the waves, made it a pretty relaxing job. :)  Today was so good, we can't wait to see what the rest of the week holds!!


Kimberlie with her little sponsor girl and another little buddy!


Mallory getting loved through pampering and hugs! 


Todd made all sorts of new friends!


Shelby's little shadow! :) 


Working hard on the mission center gate!

April 3, 2016

Bon soir!!

Today we went to church in St. Marc and were welcomed with open arms. We were given the opportunity to lead a worship song during the service as well.  The Haitians were very friendly and gave us all hugs and handshakes after the service. Following the church service we drove around the city of St. Marc, which has a population of 350,000 people (Fun fact from Brent).

Once we got back from church we ate a very delicious lunch and then relaxed the rest of the day. Some of us went swimming in the ocean for quite some time and got roasted by the sun (Tyler). Others sat underneath the pavilion enjoying the view and breeze of the ocean. Overall it was a very relaxing day filled with great conversation and lots of laughs.

-- Kayla


April 4, 2016

Today was a full day of ministry at our Chardene School with both primary and secondary students. Our Skyview Ranch team did a great job helping with the Good Choices Leadership program for the first time, performing skits and helping our students learn how to avoid being selfish, remaining humble, and putting others before themselves (Phil 2:3).  Even though things did not go as smoothly as we hoped to begin with, Brent and his team were flexible and made adjustments as needed, and the Haitian students had tons of fun!


 One of our adorable primary students (wearing his MP Leadership bracelet) waiting to
learn about Good Choices from our Skyview team.


I was excited to learn that our Chardene Primary students now receive both breakfast and lunch each school day! 
This was one of several rotated varieties - a sweet & sandy concoction (pronounced "shut-shum") made
of ground corn, ground peanuts, and brown sugar.

Despite being uncomfortable at times, the joy we receive when serving Him is well worth the momentary lack of our Western comforts!  Nothing can replace the fun we're having loving on kids in Jesus' name - even the ones who don't know what we're saying to them, have no idea what American life is like, and probably don't fully understand the hope and vision we have for how great this country can become through God's grace and the leading of his Holy Spirit.


I loved watching our students receive copies of their student photos!  Many of them have never had a
printed photo of themselves!  This little one kept staring at it and loved showing hers to her friends.

Rene and Heather have spent a lot of time interviewing staff, teachers, and students to learn more about their lives and backgrounds. The work that they are doing this week will give us amazing opportunities to share the great things that Mission Possible is doing here in Haiti!

April 6, 2016

There has been so much rain the last two nights, and this afternoon, leaving us with wet clothes and shoes, and no MPCA Secondary school today.  But we got to share our Skyview Crew Good Choices skits with MPCA Primary, while the other MP Leaders taught their Good Choices sessions.


Jn Michel leading his class around the MPCA school for
Good Choices day.

Mike took his drone camera with us, and we had so much fun  watching the kiddos go crazy over it. The footage we are getting from both Shelby and Mike is a huge blessing for Mission Possible!


Mike had a blast entertaining the kids with his drone camera!


The women who work in the MPCA kitchen spend hours
every morning sorting the beans and rice to prepare for lunch.


Since there was not school this afternoon, we got to play with kids. 
Tyler and Mallory spent lots of time teaching this little girl how to blow bubbles.

After leaving MPCA, we spent the afternoon at the Mission Center, and the Skyview team did some more work on the fence. We watched an(other) amazing sunset, which included sail boats, fishing boats, and fishermen with nets.