My little sister, Christiana, and I have felt led to do something. It's something I have always wanted to do but didn't ever feel like it was the right time. It was one of those things were God said, not now, but someday. The time has come and I am totally excited in every way! What an awesome chance to experience this with my little sister! I pray it will be a life changer for both of us!
We will be leaving in June for a week to go to Haiti. SCORE! We will be going to the Port au Prince area, to the Mission of Hope, to work at the Hope House Orphanage and to help rebuild some of the damage caused by the recent string of hurricanes. We will get to love on the kids at Hope House, go on outreaches in nearby villages and do whatever else they need done during our stay!
Our mom, Vicki went a couple of times with the singing group she was in when she was younger. One of the girls she went with ended up becoming a missionary to Haiti. It will be really neat to see what she saw, and have yet another bond unique to mother and daughter! Since that time she was in Haiti, her friend's son, Brad Johnson, has taken over the mission and it has grown into quite a complex! Here is some general information about The Mission of Hope:
The Mission of Hope complex now sits on 76
acres of land. Approximately 1,300 children are
enrolled in the School of Hope, the Hope House
Orphanage houses and takes care of over 40
children, and the Hospital of Hope will soon be
completely operational. Over 600 adults, youth
and children come from surrounding villages to
attend the Church of Hope. In addition, Mission
of Hope assists close to 200 children in four
other orphanages in nearby villages through the
FeedAChildprogram, and employs over 150
Haitians.
Christi and I have no idea what to expect but are excitedly anticipating what we will learn, how we will grow and how we will be able to minister and be ministered to during this week in Haiti.
We received our first donation of support yesterday! All together we have to raise $3,000 by the end of May. She has been saving every bit of holiday money and babysitting money she can and I am doing my best to cut back and save for this awesome cause! I know God will provide the way to get us there since he called us to go in the first place.
We both adore children and have a strong maternal instinct which we are eager to use on these sweet children at the orphanage. She someday wants to be a pediatric nurse so this will be some good training for her! It will be an amazing experience to give the love of a mother to these motherless and fatherless children. I'm pretty sure I will come back wanting to adopt every child I saw. John is hoping that I get the notion to have some of our own pretty soon :)
From what we hear, Haitians are a demonstration of true joy. In a country where 1 out of every 5 children doesn't live past age five, and where 50% of the population is malnourished and close to starving, they love God with all of their might and praise him with a true genuineness most of us have never experienced. We will get to experience this first hand and see how truly blessed we are and what it means to be joyful in any circumstance! We also hope to see others join Jesus’ family while we are there. Many of the people of Haiti practice Voodoo which is a religion seeped in rituals, superstition and spirit worship.
Basically, Christi and I are hoping to step outside of our bubble and find a deeper meaning to our faith anda renewed connection with our Jesus.
I'll keep you updated on our support progress as well as any other news that may be important about this trip.
Things to pray for:
Raising full support
The people we will encounter in Haiti
The logistics like passports, shots, etc. to go smoothly
Our safety while we travel as well as while we are there
Our hearts to be prepared for what we will experience
The recent hurricanes did a lot of damage as you can see.
This is the area we will be going to
The Mission of Hope
Some of the kids at the orphanage, Hope House!
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