Days in Msilitza...

We have spent the last 3 days in Msilitza village.  It is Children of the Nation's first village partnership program in Malawi and there are over 500 children who are part of the program.  

We were so excited to be able to paint the preschool classroom - instead of dingy, dirty yellow, it is now red, green, blue and yellow...and also has letters, numbers and shapes on the wall.  We also painted the widows' room and the kitchen as well (the kitchen is where COTN workers prepare 2 meals a day for those children.)

The other part of the team spent the days updating the sponsorship photos for the children.   "Tsekalela!" was heard over and over and over ("smile!")

On Friday morning, we were the surprise guests at morning devotions for the high school students.  We arrived to watch and join them, and found ourselves in the front row being asked to present the devotion.  It was a good lesson for us that giving devotion to God verbally should never be a task or something we fear...it should probably come more easily to us than it actually does.   We are going to practice!!   Especially since the head master said, "Okay, well next week then" :)

Overall, we are just loving the kids here.  We felt a little like celebrities driving through the village - the kids come running up to the bus, waving and yelling "Azungu BYE!" (Azungu is their word for white-person).  All of the COTN kids just want to be near us - to hold our hands, teach us clapping games, get their picture taken.  We had to remind ourselves that getting work done is NOT the point of being here.  Letting these kids know they are loved and valued is. 

Tomorrow we head to church in the morning and then travel 2 hours north to spend a few days in Chiwengo village where the COTN children live in the children's homes.

You can pray for us as we have the chance to present at a local school about motivation, goals, sexual purity, peer pressure, etc. on Monday and Tuesday.  We are nervous but thrilled with that opportunity. 

Thanks so much for thinking of and praying for us. 

Slaughtering Chickens

Well, hopefully that title got your attention.

After all is said and done, I think the one thing people on this team will tell you is that we had to slaughter chickens yesterday.

We spent our first full day in Malawi seeing what life is like for those Malawians who live in the villages nearby.  In groups of 3 or 4, we met our host families and spent the morning doing chores with them like carrying water, spreading mud on the floors, sweeping with branches, shucking dried maize, etc.  They got a huge kick out of us being so clumsy with their tasks.

After lunch we went to the local market on somewhat of a scavenger hunt to buy some grocery/gifts for our families that we would then help them cook.  Chickens were on the list, unfortunately.

I actually didn't watch the sawing off of the head or blood draining in my group, I was consoling poor Emily who loves animals.  Everyone else can tell you their stories when we get back.  I'm just really glad we have brave guys on our team.

Today we began our painting project in another village along with taking sponsorship photos for Children of the Nations.  We will spend the next 2 days continuing these projects.  It's quite chaotic as the kids are so excited to see us, and we have trouble getting actual work done, but I am so proud of my team.  They are hard-working, patient and up for anything.

We are loving our time here, and are thankful for the sunny weather.  We are slowly but surely seeing God in new ways, and we are grateful for that as well.

Thank you!
Kristen

And we're off!

We leave tonight.  That is crazy!  This date seems to have been looming for a long time, and it's finally here.  As a team, I can tell we're all feeling somewhere in the middle of a mess of anxiety, excitement, relief and fear.

So now all of the planning is over.  No more preparation to be done.

I think our situation is best expressed in a few telling numbers:

** 7 months of meeting as a growth group.

** 26 50-pound bags about to be checked.

** 4 airplanes.

** 31 hours of travel.

** 14 people working together... and a whole lot more worrying about us :)

** Hundreds of kids waiting to be loved on.

** ONE God whom we love and want to follow.

We hope to update you through this blog whenever possible.

Thank you for your prayers!

Headed to Malawi!

This trip has been in the works for quite some time.  Not only have we been meeting since the fall session of groups, but the idea of taking people to Malawi has been in my head for quite a bit longer than that.

I have led many mission teams before, but this is the first one where I honestly had no idea what we were going to do, I just knew that I wanted to go back to Malawi and I wanted to take people with me so they could see … see what God is doing, see how other people worship, see how other people live, see extreme poverty, see what Jesus meant when he said “religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”

As the leader, I prayed and prayed and prayed when the groups catalogue went online – that God would bring the right people for this team…and man, did he blow me away!  Thirteen compassionate, willing, God-seeking and pretty-freakin-awesome people joined – I feel like the luckiest growth group leader in the history of EastLake.

So, we are going.  Starting out with no plans at all, God heard our prayers and provided some ways for us to help, including painting one of the village community centers, pre-school classrooms and widows’ facility.  We will be updating sponsorship information for the organization we are traveling with (Children of the Nations – www.cotni.org) and we will be teaching at a local high school to 240 teenagers about avoiding temptation and staying focused on their goals.

More importantly, we are going to see.  Like Pastor Ryan said 2 weeks ago, my prayer is “God, open our eyes.”  Open our eyes to see the kids that need affection and hope, the people who need prayer, the ways we think that are not inline with Yours, and most importantly, open our eyes so we can see how big You really are.

Thanks, EastLake, for your prayers.  Here are the people on the team so you can be praying for us:

Tammy Anderson                                                Carlye Fitzsimmons

Stephen and Jenn Branstetter                               Lindsay Heller

Andy Burchinal                                                   George & Danielle Mekhail

Kristen Bushnell                                                  Krislyn Millar

Krysten Campbell                                                Brenda Pottish

Noel Christmas                                                    Emily Schaefer

Last Haiti Blog...

CLOSING BLOG ENTRY – 2011 HAITI ORPHANAGE TEAM

 We arrived home safely early  Monday (May 9^th) morning.  I think we all had mixed feelings about having to come home because part of us wanted to stay in the hot, humid, dirty environment to keep lovin’ on the kids, and the other part of us missed our families & couldn’t wait to take a hot shower! ;-)

It’s very hard being back – I think the culture shock is harder coming home than it was going over.  I can’t explain it in words because you just had to be there & experience what we experienced and see what we saw. 

As I’m writing this, we’ve been back 4 days and I know most of us haven’t even felt like socializing because we need time to process everything.   We are feeling the withdrawals from each other & from the kids; we formed such a bond with them & with each other – we became a family.  This trip was truly about being the hands & feet of Jesus to those kids & malnutritioned babies.  Jesus walked the streets always stopping to heal the sick, feed the hungry & help those in need.  This particular outreach wasn’t about building anything or digging any wells for clean water, we just went to walk the streets & bring love, joy & hope to those kids and babies, and they loved every minute of it!  They just want to be held & loved, to have someone pay attention to them & tell them they are beautiful & smart, and that they are important.  This really gave us a “hands-on” experience & true meaning to God’s greatest commandment that we love one another; love – that’s what we are here to do.

Lastly, another key observation myself & others made while on this trip, is that the people of Haiti are so happy  & content despite their circumstances.  But the truth is, they don’t know any different – whereas, we were there comparing & thinking “how can they live like this!?” I noticed this immediately upon arriving & thought about it a lot during the trip because it fascinated me.  In a way, I am envious of their world because they are living very simple, content lives, and they help each other out all the time.  They are not corrupted by the “things” & distractions (i.e. material goods, media, celebrities etc) that we are, and by not having those “things”, they are able to be in the moment and be free from comparison.  Pastor Ryan often says that “comparison is the thief of joy”…so maybe that’s why they are so happy…I don’t know – just something to think about.  It makes me want to live my life more simply & more intentionally.

As the leader of this team, I feel so incredibly blessed by the group God gave me – they were the rockstar team!  Everyone had such unique personalities, such amazing God-given gifts to contribute, and wonderful humor so that we were laughing non-stop even in the midst of such hard circumstances. ;-)  I am so thankful for the special bond we formed & I know it will never be broken because we shared a life-changing experience together!  At the end of our stay, one of the directors at the orphanage said this to us, “Don’t think about what seed you planted in Haiti & in these kids, but rather ask yourselves ‘what seed did Haiti & these kids plant in you?’”  I know God is truly at work in the hearts & lives of everyone on this team, and I can’t wait to see what seeds this trip planted & how they grow in the next few months & years!

Thank you all for your prayers & support – God is good!

Heidi

Last Haiti Update

**********
Day 4 (Tues)
We spent the morning playing with the younger kids before they went to school.  It's amazing how happy they are...we look at their circumstances (no parents/family) and surroundings (dirty, cramped living quarters, old/broken computers, limited food & clothing etc), and we feel sorry for them, but to them it's a luxury and they seem very content because it's better than being on the street and wondering when their next meal will be. 
The older kids love spending time talking to us because it gives them a chance to practice their english.  They are all very intelligent.  It amazes me how much they study, even when they aren't in school they are walking around with their notebooks studying into the late hours of the night.

This afternoon the director of the orphanage (the guy who started the orphanage) took us on a tour of Hinche and then over to the future girls' campus.  Right now the UN is renting the property from the orphanage, but when they leave the orphanage will convert the buildings into a cafeteria and a dorm. He also showed us the property across the street where they will be building a vocational technical school.  It's pretty impressive to see how God has blessed them and provided for them over the years, and to see what their vision is for the future.

**************
Day 5 (Wed)
We left the orphanage around 11:00am this morning to make the long trek to the airport.  It was a very emotional morning as we played our last games with kids and had our last conversations with them.  A lot of them drew pictures and wrote us letters telling us how much they loved us & hoped we would come back someday.  We have truly bonded with these kids.  It's hard to imagine starting our mornings without these kids; their smiles and their laughter bring us such joy!
Brother Mike (one of the guys who helps run the orphanage) prayed and talked with us before we left.  He challenged us with something I won't forget...he said "don't look at this experience as the seed you have planted in these kids, but rather to ask ourselves 'what seed has Haiti/these kids planted in us? How will our lives change from this experience?'"

For me (Heidi) personally, I almost think there will be more culture shock going back home.  After seeing the lowest levels of poverty we've seen & experienced this past week, having totally forgotten about our lives at home, and completely putting our heart & souls into the lives of these kids, I just think it's going to be so hard to go back to the materialism, the hurried pace of life, our cushy jobs, technology etc.  

As the leader, I feel so blessed to have had such an incredible & amazing team to have this experience with.  Everyone has such heart for serving God and wanting to help others & to make a difference in this world.  I can't wait to see what we are all doing months/years from now that will be a result of our trip to Haiti, and I know we all hope to go back many more times.

Thank you all for your prayers and support - we had a safe and healthy trip, and God did some great things in people's lives!  

Haiti Update

Day 3 (Monday):

We wake up around 5:30am everyday to be ready for coffee and oatmeal at 6:30am. For all of our meals we gather on the upstairs patio area under the mango tree - it's such a great way to start and end each day.  This morning we watched all of the younger kids get their uniforms on & get ready for school. And we brought our devices and showed them the internet & play music videos, and within seconds you'd have 15 kids climbing all over you because they wanted to see - it was so cute!!  The rest of the day consisted of splitting the team up in half (morning and afternoon shifts) to go visit another orphanage in town.  The orphanage takes in malnourished babies, toddlers, and sick women & men. We spent a couple of hours just holding & feeding the babies, and then playing with some of the toddlers.  They reach up and reach out so that you will pick them up; they are so starved for human touch & affection - it just breaks your heart.  Leaving was the hardest part because the minute they sensed us leaving & separating from them, the entire room started crying/screaming.  So that made us realize what a calming effect our presence had on them the entire time we were there.

When we returned to our orphanage, the girls on our team took a bunch of gifts (e.g. Hair clips, ribbons, bracelets, bubbles etc) over to the girls side of the orphanage and it was like Santa Clause arrived in Haiti - holy cow!  We must have had 50 little girls clammoring and screaming at us!  It put huge smiles on their faces, and it put huge smiles on our hearts. :-)

The other part of our day that really affected a lot of us was the walk into and around the town of Hinche.  A few of us have been to other poor countries, but we have never seen anything close to what we saw today...it's almost hard to put into words.  It was so surreal, and some of us commented that we felt like we must be on a movie set (because it didn't seem real) & that we felt like we had stepped back in time.  People were sewing on machines that looked like they were 50 yrs old, people pulling wooden carts with wooden wheels, women balancing stuff on their heads.  It was hot & humid and the air around us stunk, everything was so muddy & dirty, and the people are sitting on the ground or in their stalls trying to sell you stuff.  

At the end of they day we are hot, sweaty, tired, and we don't have much electricity or water supply here, so we don't really get to get cleaned up much.  But the team doesn't seem to mind because our days are so rewarding and so fulfilling, and we're enjoying adapting to the Haitian culture.

Praise God for this amazing experience!!

Haiti Update

Day 1 - Saturday
we arrived today after a long red-eye flight. 95 degrees and 14 of us crammed like sardines into a van for a 3 hour drive to the town of Hinche (where the orphanage is located). Driving through Port-au-Prince was immediate culture shock.  Seeing the poverty and earthquake destruction was so much more intense than seeing it on TV...it left us speechless.  The city is very dirty and very chaotic - everything from the infrastructure, to the the driving, to the streets, to the shack homes.  In fact everything here seems/feels chaotic; I can't imagine my entire world/life being so dirty, out of order, and noisy. 
But once we hit the countryside, it was beautiful and peaceful.  We noticed the majority of the locals would just be sitting around in groups or sitting outside their homes & didn't seem to be doing much & we commented "I wonder what they do all day?". And then it hit us, their day is spent just trying to exist, to find food or water etc.
There are about 250 kids at the orphanage and a bunch of them came running out to greet us as we arrived.  We got settled and a little orientation with some of the staff, had dinner, and then went to bed shortly after because we were so exhausted.

Day 2 - Sunday
************
Woke up early for breakfast (oatmeal) and coffee under the mango tree.  Then one of the older boys from the orphanage took us to visit his church in town. Walking the 15 min walk through town gave a real up close personal experience with how the locals live in Hinche.  Town was quiet because most everyone is at church.  We went to a Baptist service and there was about 200 people there and of course everyone was staring at us white people - it was funny.  Service lasted 3 hrs 20 min (spoken in french creole), and I'm pretty sure the prayer alone lasted as long as an entire ECC service :-). It was the most amazing, once in a lifetime experience!  
Came back and had lunch under the mango tree (thank God for the mango tree because it's the shade that gives us relief from the hot 95 degree sun)!  Then we went over to the girls side of the orphanage and painted their nails and blew bubbles with them...holy cow, we were an instant hit with the nail polish!  It was so fun to make them feel so beautiful.  And they all LOVE to have their pictures taken...they constantly poke at you & pull on you and say "photo, photo?" It's so cute!  They just want you to play with them and show them love & affection.
The boys side of the orphanage is fun too - the boys like to play soccer and basketball a lot.  A lot of them are in school (they attend school at the orphanage) and they love to talk about what they are studying and learning.

Thank you all for your prayers - the team is well & doing great!