Children's Hope: July Mission Trip

Monday morning started with a lot of excitement as we transported half the children to the Alabama House to work on their own personal photo album. They are the subject of a lot of pics but never get to see the finished project, so we gathered up a lot of individual pics of them and special people in their lives. The kids loved looking at the pictures and some spend two hours non-stop working on their books. A special thanks to GAs at FBC Mtg. who gathered stickers. Also while at the AH, Shan Stallings completed updated academic assessments on the children. The other half of the kids stayed at Children's Hope and enjoyed playing lots of games, a craft, and the Noah Ark story told by our very own Troy Amster!

In the afternoon, the kids were treated to a movie, The Jungle Book. Patrick O'connor initiated a reward system for the kids and this was one thing they had earned this summer. Troy and Ann along with the teenagers in the group headed off to Pastor Paul's church to join about 20 Haitian teenagers in a game of soccer. This was followed by Troy explaining the plan of Salvation to the teens and two boys accepting Christ. Later in the week, Troy, Dow, Steadman, Will and Davidson followed up with them presenting a Bible in Haitian Creole from Pathfinder Mission.

Tuesday morning mirrored Monday morning except we reversed the groups. Tuesday afternoon found a half the kids heading to the beach for swimming and their first ever swimming lessons compliments of Troy and Ann. Most of the kids took to the lessons very well surprising us all. Even the staff members of CH gave it a try with a lot of success. The other kids enjoyed time at the AH playing with homemade play dough and decorating homemade cookies (provided by Haden). The kids loved decorating cookies and licking their spoons clean. On Tuesday night, we all ate at Cap Lamandou which is a hotel/restaurant overlooking the Caribbean and was recently purchase by Comfort Inn.

WE repeated the beach and play dough/cookie decorating on Wednesday morning. On Wednesday afternoon, the team headed out to Basin Bleu which is a very beautiful waterfall with three very clear pools (see pic below). The travel to Basin Bleu can be a little treacherous but the people and landscape along the way can often prove to be quite interesting. We said good-by to the kids that night by a short visit to CH. Our team had learned "Sanctuary" in Haitian Creole and sang this to the kids. I gave the team 15 minutes to say good-bye because this is often a very difficult time for a team.

I also want to tell you about the pics of the sewing clinic below. John Turnbull who has been to CH several times and even filled in for Charley during Martie's hip surgery was the catalyst in getting the sewing clinic started. John enlisted two friends and very good seamstress from CA to come to Jacmel and teach a group of selected women from another ministry in Jacmel to sew uniforms for school children. The two women (Pam and Vickie) started with the ladies on Tuesday of one week and worked with them through Thursday of the following week. The group of women had never held a pair of scissors, had no clue about measuring and were illiterate. They took them from minus zero to making collars, cuffed sleeves and interfacing in this amount of time. For those of you who know a little about sewing you will really appreciate this and will hardly believe that it was possible. Pam and Vickie took these single mothers and widows who had no way to provide for themselves and children to having a marketable skill! It was such a blessing to watch unfold. A big thanks to John, Pam and Vickie.

Also, our continued thanks to Tommy and Joy and Martie and Charley who serve so selflessly in Jacmel away from US comforts and family. You are all such a blessing to all the folks you encounter.