A Mission, Texas Construction Team Update

2014 Mission Construction Projects

Los Naranjos Mission Patio & Bathroom

The local church community meets under a patio deck of one of the parishioners.  The patio cover was flapping in the wind and sagging very badly.  It needed more support rafters and the metal roof to be fastened down better.  However, the only time we could work on it was in the afternoon as the kids played on the site during the morning VBS time.  So, the team worked extra hard each day to pound out as much work as possible in the few hours they had each afternoon.  By the end of the three days, the patio had more than a dozen new rafters, significantly less sagging, and the roof was secure and safe.  The team also prepped their church bathroom for painting by mudding and taping all the drywall.

Before

Under Construction:

Los Naranjos Purple House

Last year our team had the privilege of helping one of the church families plumb and complete their bathroom, as well as complete one bedroom ceiling and texture/paint their walls.  We installed their toilet, bath/shower and sink/vanity for the bathroom.  This family is a single mother and her children who also support their grandmother and a disabled brother.  Apparently, this same house also had a 2nd bathroom (the brother’s) that had not yet been plumbed. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that at the time last year.  So this year we came back and finished off the 2nd bathroom for them.

Before:

After:

Los Naranjos Room Addition

What started as a small add-on project to help a church family build a small bedroom for their precious daughters turned into a much more ambitious endeavor.  Originally slated to be a 12 foot by 12 foot room, once on site, the project expanded into a 12 foot by 24 foot addition.  Complete with a laundry area, large bedroom, and space for a future bathroom the addition was completed in record time and stretched the entire team to the limits.  In 3 long days, with a ton of God’s help, we constructed the project from the ground up, including siding, roofing, electrical and even plumbing for the washing machine.  We brought a dream team of experienced construction tradesmen on this trip, and this one job tested everyone of their limits.  What a joy it was to watch them all serving Him by serving others on this job.  We should also note that God was so faithful for this job.  Early on we were afraid we wouldn’t have enough funding to support it.  That we had such an incredible team, but not enough to do.  But God blessed us with some additional funding at the last minute, and His glory was on full display as a result of it.

Before:

End of Day 1:

Nearly Done:

The girl whose room we were building:

Praying with the family inside the new addition:

Los Naranjos Pedro’s House

This house was built by another missions team, but still needed a ton of drywall, texture and paint work.  It also needed a lot of work on the one bathroom servicing their family of 7.  The parents and younger children were all gone working and at daycare during the day, but their oldest son, Eleu, jumped in to help however he could.  Developing a relationship with Eleu was by far the most lasting and most impactful part of this job.  Yes, we gave that house a life-long paint job and a functioning bathroom, but it’s the eternal relationship with the young man of the house that God smiled brightest about.  

Before:

After:

Haiti Day 5 by Kalyn

Through out the week so far, I have felt poured into emotionally and spiritually beyond the extent that I could have ever imagined. Particularly in the past 24 hours I have felt a radical change inside my heart, in ways that I never expected and I know that our team shares this struggle and joy with me. The past few days we have had the opportunity to build relationships with all of the beautiful (or "belle") children and it has been an incredible opportunity to view God's heart and simply be loved on. Every second of that has been incredible and beyond even words, but today was unique.

            We started the morning attending the service at the Source de la grace, and let me tell you, it was something that I have personally never experienced. Hearing songs that we have grown up with played in creole with such passion filled me with a sense of connection to our neighbors as I screamed the lyrics, unable to hear myself over the joyful noise. The sermon started passionately and we were captivated, even with the language barrier.

            Mid service we were faced with a challenge, as Anjian fell sick with a high fever. She came straight back to the guesthouse to sleep The rest of the service was filled with prayers of healing for her and we returned to the house, blessed, to find her fever had broken and she was feeling much better.

            After that, today was a day of rest and spiritual revival. Most of our team spent the afternoon napping and I had the opportunity to talk to some of the other girls for hours, which was such a unique blessing.   

            Today was ended with more great conversation about the Lord and I felt my heart shift to see a different, deeper side of Haiti. All of our journeys are unique and we can't wait to tell you all about it. I love you mom! See ya'll soon

Kalyn Mizelle

Haiti Day 3 and Day 4

Day 3:

Its been a wonderful third day here in Haiti! Today we woke up and ate breakfast then headed over to the orphanage. When we drove up to the church the kids surrounded the van and tap-tap with the biggest and warmest smiles. It was truly beautiful. We then chilled with some of the kids while they sang and danced. Some of us went to go paint a room and some of the guys helped mix cement for a tiling project.

 After our lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we headed on over to the orphanage. Because this was our second day they remembered us pretty well. Yesterday when I first walked into the orphanage some of the kids were afraid of me because my eyes were to small :P it was soooooo funny! One little girl asked me a question in Creole, I quickly turned to one of our translators, James, and this is what the girl asked: "Did God forget to give you eyes?" I laughed so hard afterwards and I replied: "Yes He did…. But you gotta love him :)"

Haha ok sorry that was yesterday, but the kids remembered us today pretty well and we all just hung out with them. We did some coloring pages and then did a yarn project with all of the kids. We brought a soccer ball and volleyball and they enjoyed those so much. All the kids are sooooo sweet and you'll just be standing and then little arms will come around from the back and hug you and they will cling on to you forever! And a lot of the times the littler ones will fall asleep on you. And I came to the realization that they feel safe with you, even just you hugging and smiling at them they feel safe.

We then said our goodbyes to the orphans until tomorrow and we hopped back into the tap-tap and van and left. We stopped at a grocery store but it was more like a bigger gas station without gas. We all got a drink or two and then we drove home. When we got back to the guest house some of us got into a heated game of foursquare. Dinner was served by Francoise, and it was amazing as every meal so far has been. Then we had a really great devotional. We talked about how we are polluted by the world and keeping ourselves pure, but not just sexually pure, but what do we struggle with that makes us polluted? It was very interesting to hear other people's struggles and most all of us struggled with almost everything everyone said.

But in conclusion to this blog, its only been three days and we have all gotten to know each other way better than we started off. And the team has grown together into more unity, which has been amazing. As well as the other relationships we have made, with the orphans, translators, and Francoise and her kids. I myself have felt like I have learned so much and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

~Anjian Hicks

Day 4:

 Today was a very unique day for our team in Haiti. We began the day a little slow with many yawns and a late breakfast, but we arrived at Source de la Grace and jumped right into action with the kids at the orphanage. There were so many beautiful and sweet moments as today was our last official day with the kids. One of those sweet moments was when our team had the opportunity to gather around the children and pray for them.

Love,

Catherine, Kalyn, Evan, Abby, Logan, and John.

Haiti day 2 by Tyler Green

Hey y'all! Its been a long day for sure… I am so glad we are finally here in Pastor Moise's guesthouse.  It has already been such a crazy experience and I am so excited because I know that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Yesterday when we arrived and walked out of the Haitian airport there were loud sounds; shouting, honking, chickens, street gamblers and many other noises were all vying for our attention. It felt chaotic. Some tap tap (taxi) wanting to take our bags, for money of course, and one man would not take no for an answer. Our team of translators, led by one named Jonas, quickly swooped in. In a matter of seconds, what felt like could have been a chaotic situation was calm. Jonas came up to the man and gently moved him away from us. I know that it made all of us newbies feel safe to see our translators completely take control of a situation in a matter of seconds.

The drive back was filled with sights of poverty. Seeing people living on a street corner, in door-less sea containers, after coming through a VERY hectic marketplace that smelled like rotten meat was very saddening. Shortly after that we arrived at the guesthouse and quickly got t bed since all of us were pooped. It was a bit of a culture shock to take a freezing shower out of a water-filled bucket.

Today, we started our morning with some breakfast, that Francois and Christine so kindly got up early to make. We continued on to the Church, Source de le Grace, where what we thought would be us doing a tiling job turned out to be us hauling gravel and wet cement so that some local workers could actually do the tiling. This was one of the moments that John had told us about; hurry up and wait.

After the cement hauling was finished, we walked to the orphanage that was attatched to the back of the church. All of the children were shy at first with the people they hadn't seen before, but they quickly warmed up to us. The kids are amazing! They don't care if you are paying attention to them or even looking at them. You can be talking to someone else completely, as long as they can hold your hand, or play with your hair, or even just touch your skin (The hair on my legs was a big attraction for the kids apparently).  There is such a casual sense of love with the orphans that is refreshing, coming from a society where councilors cant hug children at Christian VBS camp, or a job at a daycare center. One little girl would not let go of me and stayed with me the whole time. She asked me to bring her some candy tomorrow. Haha. It was strange but sweet to have five kids trying to love you at once.

When we arrived back at the bunkhouse, we played 'Ultimate Foursquare' before a delicious dinner, also very graciously prepared by Francois and Christine. Our devotional for the day was about what we are chasing after; are we chasing after vain temporary things or eternal and joyful things.

I am now sitting here blogging so that we can share our adventures with all of you. I hope this blog does this experience justice. Everyone is having a great time; we are all laughing and joking as I type, whilst trying to live stream the spurs game on John's iPad… it's a struggle. Love you all. God Bless.

                                                                                                Much Love, Tyler Green