Time to come home. Special thanks to Pastor Herve, his wife and little Jacob.


We had a trip trip home, driving in Port au Prince is crazy.


but once you're on the plane or even back inside the safety of the airport gate, your almost home and our week away fades into a dream. Hope I never forgot the lessons I learned.

This morning was very nice, the rest of the team from the US left for home at 6am and we said our goodbyes then I crashed until 7:45 then frantically got ready for church (just like home!). We went to church just a few minute walk from the Mission Centre at Lanzac and it was a very interesting service…in french! The worship was great. We had to stand up and introduce ourselves, thankfully Pastor Herve translated for us. He also translated some of the sermon for me and I took notes. Since the mission centre was soooo quiet, when we returned our group of 4 sat and had the greatest discussion…for me it sorta felt like the best part of the trip as we began to open up with each other and share the experience.


We swam and looked for shells on the beach in the afternoon and our hosts prepared another amazing Haitian feast of chicken, beans and rice, fried plantain….so good.

Tonight we played cards for the first time and had more fun. The best part of the day was spending so much time with Pastor Herve. We talked with him for hours, he even decided to miss his evening service at St. Marc to stay with us and share more of his story and vision for Mission Possible…plus all of Haiti and beyond for that matter.

Tomorrow we're going back to Montrouis to do a final good clean of the newly laid ceramic tile at the medical clinic as well as sort and clean some of the medical equipment and supplies that have started to arrive in huge train sized cargo containers. Hopefully we can be back mid-afternoon for a final swim and to pack.

It's been a great trip but packing up sure sounds great, I can't wait to come home. We finally got some spare time today and it really made me wish you all were here to share the beautiful sunset we saw on the ocean.

Today we travelled to Gonaives to visit an orphanage that is supported by the 500 Club in the County. Mission Possible 's Pastor Herve graciously decided to bring Bleach, about 12 cases of bottled water, food and supplies.


We arrived at the orphanage at 10:30 after an hour and half drive north. Pastor Ismorin Noel met us in the centre of town and we followed him in our van down very narrow side street to Judee Center for Orphaned Children. We had brought medical staff but we were extremely happy to find out that the 4 children with cholera were receiving treatment in the hospital and that the remaining children were very healthy and happy. One week ago, the orphanage received proper water purification filters from the UN/government so it's hopeful that all the bad news reports can soon stop…. at this orphanage anyways, help has arrived. It's like one big family at the orphanage, the kids get along very well, they each have their own bunkbed! Small but nice cement building with well water right inside. They have a fairly large school/church on the second story. It's tight for that many but far better conditions than any of the other communities we have visited this past week.

We gave soccer balls to them from PEC Soccer Association and kicked the ball around for a while. The kids sang songs for us and we were off back home.


A quick bite of lunch and we headed over the school to help the other team clean up their supplies from a project they had all week to build a new health clinic. The other teams all leave for home tomorrow so it's going to be weird not having them around…but we get to experience a Haiti church service tomorrow so I'm excited about that and I expect it could go on for a big part of the day. I'm not sure what we are doing on Monday yet but our work here is done, we've seen some amazing sites and I'm missing you all and ready to be coming home in just a few short days.

I love you all. Dad

Today we had a crazy adventure to the poorest school of them all. It was a 30 minute drive up a dried up river gorge. You can only get to this school if it hasn't rained for a while. The truck went thru an unbelievable bumpy road, I thought we were going to get stuck or tip several times. At points the river bank was 100 feet high and just a couple feet wider than the truck. It was hard to hold on in the back of the truck because the river bank was lined with cactus and thorn bushes that would scrap your hands/arms if you didn't watch out.

At the top of the mountain is was a hot desert, no trees for shade but the kids were the most friendly of all the kids we have met yet and they stuck by our side from the moment we got off the truck until we had to leave. This was the last of the schools and our official job to get 3000 kids pictures taken and the school registrations verified for the new year is now complete.

I'm so excited, tomorrow the group we are with, Mission Possible, has agreed to take us the orphanage at Gonvais that the 500 club in "the county" supports. The kids are sick there and we are taking clean water and a nurse to help train them on how to isolate and stop the spread.

Nathan, thanks for your email, I love to hear from you and I can't wait to see you. Have a great time with Nolan and please be good, that's a very nice thing that Mr Conley is doing letting you sleep over so please be good and make me proud of you. Jacob, you too! I really missed party night tonight with you but it's the weekend so that will go by quick and I'll be home before you know it!

Hi Chloe, have a great play tomorrow with Gracie and the girls.

Hi Sweetheart, ya Christmas wow hard to believe it's coming up. I'm not sure I should do your shopping here? People selling old junk along side the road and burning garbage everywhere. They won't let us go the market but when we were driving by I think I saw some of my old favourite shirts that you donated so I'm hoping to get a chance to buy then back. Can't wait to go to Peterborough and get into the Christmas mode as soon as I'm back.

Amazing day, today we drove about 10 minutes down an old bumpy road then the truck dropped us off and we hiked for another 10 minutes up a steep mountain to a village school to Degeance, what an unbelievable to experience. The classrooms were separate little huts with tin roofs and woven grass sides that the kids could peek at us thru.

 

We were able to get 300 kids registered for school and their pictures taken before lunch. We got to travel with 2 of the children to visit their homes. The first home was made of cement and it was about the size of our bathroom. Inside there was 2 rooms and 9 people lived there. They all slept on rags on the floor. It seems sad but they are happy. The kids get a meal of crushed up beans and rice everyday. It's all they get for the whole day and they love to come to school. The school teaches them math and literacy but also about Jesus and the hope that gives them is really all they have but it's all they need. The kids at the Mission Possible schools are clean, healthy and happy.

 

Day 3 Mountain School at Degence:

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Mission Centre:

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MPCA School

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It’s very hot here, it was soo sunny today that one girl on our team had sun stroke(not Emily). … and we worked sooo hard. We were up until midnight sorting and writing out name cards for over 1,200 kids. This morning they woke us at 6am and we got straight to work travelling about a 10 minutes in the back of an old truck.

Today we finished early enough that we got back to MissionPossible just in time that I could jump in the ocean for a cool down swim. Tonight we had Haitian food for dinner. Beans and rice, chicken legs, fried plantain, fried bread fruit, hot sauce, beet salad. It was actually all very good.

 

After dinner Pastor Herve gave his testimony. I won't ever be able to do it justice but this man is amazing. He has lived a very tough life. His father left his mother when she was pregnant with Herve. A child in Haiti without a father has very little hope. When Herve's mother found another man, they had 4 other children and Herve was treated very poorly. He was the oldest but got to eat only if there was food left over. He wasn't welcome in his own home and eventually had to go live with his uncle. His uncle put Herve in school and started taking him to church but life was difficult. One day Herve was riding on the back of a truck and decided to try end his miserable life…just as he was about to jump, he felt the spirit of God whisper to him not to jump so he didn't. After Herve heard God's voice he began to find purpose. His uncle taught him to drive and Herve got a job driving for Mission Possible. Herve felt a strong calling to evangelism and asked Mission Possible if he could start sharing Jesus at the school. They agreed that Herve could do evangelism 1 day each week. Several came to know Christ and Herve ask if he could do more evangelism, they said no, you are our driver and we need you to drive! A week later Herve came back and said God was calling him into evangelism and if he couldn't do that fulltime he had to quit and he did! (They said he was crazy, a job in Haiti is very hard to find). Herve lead an evangelistic crusade in St. Marc, 185 many came to Christ and instantly Herve had his church! In 2006, Mission Possible brought Pastor Herve to Ohio and hired him as their Director in 2006. His vision to see evangelism and a church in every school has already been accomplished. His discipleship program in each school thru his bible school students is a visionary program based on biblical teaching of Jesus that is building the Kingdom in Haiti and is a recipe to change Haiti at the grass roots.

 

We’re doing great, going to a remote school tomorrow in the mountains that we have to hike too!

So far so good! I left home at 2:40am and got Steve at 3am sharp, Emily at 3:20 and Scott at 3:35. We went Shannonville route then flew down the 401 stopping just before Cornwall at 6am at a service centre for Timmy's.

We did good thru Montreal and arrived about an hour early at 7:30 making the check-in smooth and stress-free! Flight was great, we're about to land, 15minutes early, I better put away my laptop.

We have arrived safely at the Mission Possible compound!!! We arrived just after dark, all is great! What an adventure already. Meeting lots of people here, the "boys” from 3 different teams are sharing a cabin with bunkbeds.

Nathan, I hope you had a great day, I’m so glad I brought your necklace to wear, it’s helps me think of you!

Jacob, I’ve got your skateboard right hear, I’ll try practice so I can do some tricks like you!

Chloe, I’m so glad I brought your heart, nothing could have been better to help me remember you than the heart you gave me, I will hold it often.

Jenny, I love you, I’m doing great and I hope you are doing great too!

Love Dad