ALL INFO ON 2010 TRIPS.
HAITI 1 BLOG:
March 27, 2010. Matt called in last night and gave us another update about our team. they spent yesterday at La Bay resting up…(they endured a pretty grueling schedule with travel and time spent serving and pouring themselves out for people)… they walked to the beach with some of the kids from the town. La Bay is low-key and is an awesome place to meet families and talk to them about life in Haiti. Curtis and Danielle Rogers live there as missionaries with Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. they are located a couple miles (maybe 10) away from the main campus…but it takes around an hour to get there (sometimes more) due to the road conditions and having to cross a river! They work a lot with the local farmers and workers to deal with the massive erosion problem…they’re attempting to help them grow crops and establish sustainable food sources and clean water. Curtis and Danielle took some time to share their heart with our team about missionary life…the ups and the downs…the joys and pains… This was great for our students…to see two people, both young (26 yrs old), from Lexington, KY, living in another country…committing their lives to the people of La Bay and Haiti. I’m sure eyes were opened to a whole new way of living life and the kingdom.
Today they are headed back to St. Louis de Nord where they’ll have one last night together. NWHCM always does a big debrief time as a large group where students and leaders can share the things that hit them the hardest…pray for tonight…pray for hearts to be broken and molded…
pray for travel tomorrow…sometimes Port au Prince can be tedious and long…pray for patience…for safety… our team is scheduled to arrive at midnight at the Louisville International Airport. I want to challenge you guys to ask lots of questions…give your students some time to process and then ask them questions like , “what impacted you the most?” ”how do you see you life being different?” ”how can our family support the work in haiti?” etc…
thanks and God bless you guys ….proud of the families who trusted…be proud of these students. God has done great things. God will continue to do great things with the willing. Continue to trust…continue to risk…continue to go to love the hurting…to feed the hungry…to live the gospel of Christ.
this is the last post from me…peace… -brent
March 26, 2010. We heard from matt last night who said that today was his favorite day. they spent time at the orphanage…surrounded by hundreds of kids…and it was wonderful! Our students put on a carnival type event for the kids there where they got to make crafts, play games, interact with our team, etc. This is a great treat for the orphans there…its a break from their routine where they laugh and get showered with attention and love and value. Our students were great! Matt said they ran short on water while there…they had 30 water bottles for 38 people…so he hitched a ride with our favorite interpreter, Kurvens, and went to fetch more… no worries though, all if well and hydrated. It’s crazy to try and put yourself in the shoes of the Haitian children who understand thirst way more than we ever could… it’s crazy how much we take our clean tap water for granted… crazy. here’s another side note… 1 quarter ($.25) is the cost of 1 meal through a program NWHCM runs for the people in Haiti…our pocket change brings the basic neccessities of life for orphans and widows and struggling families. Our students are seeing these realities everyday and are sure to come back changed. I want to challenge you (parents, families, friends) to encourage that change in your students…to encourage that change in your homes and workplaces… what could be done for the suffering and broken (in our local communities and in haiti) if we were to open our eyes on a daily basis? I’m excited to hear stories from our team! They are now at to La Bay where they will spend time with the missionaries there and put on a VBS with the children of that village. Continue to pray…ask God to break hearts both in Haiti and at home, pray for courage to pursue something different in this world.
pray.
-brent
March 25, 2010. Hello again. We heard from our team late last night…so here’s another update. They spent yesterday back on the main campus (they had just returned from Chansolme)… They said the drive back was really rough. In the northwest zone of Haiti there isnt much infrastructure…you’ll find a small patch of paved road in a larger city… but pavement is very hard to come by. the roads are bad. like constant pot-hole (like largest pot-hole you can think of pot-hole)…and so travel is usually a painful process. But they made it back to the mission and had some down time spent with the babies from the baby-orphanage and talking with the elderly from the gran-moun program (this program houses and feeds orphaned elderly from the community). They also had the chance to help out NWHCM in a big way by bottling pills for the pharmacy. NWHCM is an awesome place. This place feeds those that are hungry, nurses the sick back to health, provides surgical units and resources, orphan-care and development, a pharmacy (we take tylenol for granted people!)… NWHCM keeps people alive and gives new life in a real way…and your student is a part of that.
This is really cool… there is a deaf ministry in St. Louis that Travis and Mckenna got to help with…cool that God places certain people with certain gifts and abilities in certain places to do the work of the gospel! be proud of your students…
This morning they head out to Syline Myette to spend the day and night with the kids from the orphanage their. Today will be a tiring day…but it’s that kind of tired that you love because kids who don’t get held and loved and played with as much as they deserve and hanging on you and playing soccer with you and chasing you and tackling you…etc etc etc. there are around 180 orphans out there…so it will be a fun day for sure. our team has planned a carnival for the kids where there will be different stations that they rotate through. Pray for our team that God gives them endurance…constant perspective that though they are tired beyond belief that they are doing the work of his Kingdom. Pray that they play well…shower the kids with love and attention…pray for the orphange and the work thats being done there… just pray in thanks that God is so good and faithful and wise and powerful. Let me also throw this out there…if you’d like to sponsor a child from the very orphanage that your student is at right now…go to this page: nwhcm.org a little money can go a long way for a child and a mission that is doing great things…
After today…the team will head to La Bay with Curtis and Danielle Rogers. Pray pray pray…here are some photos:
March 23, 2010. Hey parents and family and friends… here is a belated update from your Haiti team. We got word from them last night that things are going very well. They have been in Chansolme, Haiti for the past several days working with the people of that community. if you remember…this is the town that our students have committed themselves to knowing and working with to bring life change… There was a groupd of students that met with town leaders to continue the discussion of the greatest needs of the area…this is a huge step in partnering with the people to improve life…bring life. there the team also did vbs with the children. they feed 180 kids! the girls from our team broke of and did purity and self-worth discussions with the local adolescent girls…which they said went so well. some of our guys had the opportunity to spend time sharing the gospel with the local teenage guys… and Matt said he’s been blown away by how God is moving. remember…when we first stepped foot in this town we were the first american team from NWHCM that the people had seen…and now we’re taking 2 trips in…committing ourselves to them…it’s awesome! they’ll spend today with Pastor Blanc and Ordinelle from Chansolme… then they’ll be back at the main campus (St. Louis de Nord) where they will definitely attempt a cold shower and rest up before heading off the Syline Myette (the orphange) they have a lot planned for the orphanage. pray that our team continues to be flexible…Haiti demands that plans change, etc. pray that God works in our students hearts as He uses them to love those who have experienced so much…pray that lives will be changed…purposes are realized…mouths are fed…God moves. we’ll be updating this site regularly from this point forward.
-brent
MISSIONS APPLICATION
WHY MISSIONS?
Our hope is simple…to be a generation rising to love God and the things that He loves. When we come to a place where we see who God is and what He has done, our response is love. We can’t help but respond by pouring out our lives for Him, by serving others, by going to tell the Good News that there is hope and truth and freedom found in Christ. He has called us to be a light in the darkness (Matthew 5.13-14). He has called us to go and make disciples (Matthew 28.18-20). He has called us to something more than just existence…but to a missionary life with Him.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Mission Haiti
March 19-28, 2010 approx $1600
June 14-25, 2010 approx $1600
We will be working with an established group in Saint Louis De Nord called Northwest Haiti Christian Mission (www.nwhcm.org). Our trip to Haiti is an intense trip with opportunities for serving in orphanages, children with mental and physical disabilities, and the elderly. We have also adopted a community called Chansolme through a program called The Neighbors Project. We will likely be doing more demographic work to assess needs and begin the planning process for building an Orphanage/School/Feeding center in Chansolme. This trip will be an opportunity to partner in the work that is already being done in Haiti, to feed those who are hungry, to love those who don’t know love, and to bring the hope of Christ to the hopeless.
Haiti 1 Meeting Days (all spots are full)
4.30-5.30 in the foundry…
Haiti 1
Jan 13th
Jan 27th
Feb 10th
Feb 24th
March 3rd
March 17th
March 19th leave for Haiti
Haiti 2 Meeting Days (deadline January 10, 2010)
4.30-5.30 in the foundry…
Haiti 2
Feb 17th
Mar 10th
Mar 31st
Apr 14th
Apr 28th
May 12th
May 26th
June 9th
June 14th leave for Haiti
Local Impact Week
July 5-8, 2010 approx. $100
While there are needs in places like Haiti that are thousands of miles away, there are also needs in our own backyard. We will be partnering with several organizations and missions in the Louisville and Southern Indiana area to serve our neighbors during the day. Then we will come together each night for a message and worship. This will be a great opportunity to get a taste of inner-city missions.
HOW DO I GO ON A TRIP?
If you are interested in going on any of the mission trips you can download a High School Missions Application and turn it into Haley Schell along with your trip deposit.
Haiti 1- application and $100 Deposit Due December 13
Haiti 2- application and $100 Deposit Due January 10
Local Mission- application and $100 Deposit Due April 11
We never want money to be the reason that a student is not able to participate in missions. Please talk to us about our plans for fundraising and financial support.
FOR MORE INFO…
Contact Haley Schell
hschell@mynorthside.com
812-541-4072