True Hope: Final Day of VBS

Today was our final day of VBS. Todays promise was true hope and that God is with us on our journey. We started the morning at our assembly. We taught the kids a new song except today a translator taught them a creole song. It was so sweet being able to sit back and hear the kids worship in their own language. Jeff shared the great commission with the kids and the importance of telling everyone about God. We returned to our rooms for the final time. We made necklaces and Gods eyes with the kids. We told the story of Paul and Silas in prison from Acts 16. As VBS came to a close we said our goodbyes to the children who would not be joining us at the night service. When we returned to the house we ate lunch and just relaxed with the kids all day. We had the sweet opportunity to worship and sing songs with some of the older girls in both English and creole. It was such an encouragement to see the girls and the strong faith that they have and what great examples they are for the younger girls. At 6 we went to the night service. We had around 150 people show up which was a great turnout. We went over our verses for each day and sang a song from each day. It was awesome getting to see the parents worship with their children. Jeff gave a short sermon retouching all of the promises we taught the kids this week. In closing, all of the children came up to the front and we sang our theme verse for the week with the parents. This was such an encouragement because the kids will forever know Heb 10:23 and how true Gods promises are. The families thanked us for teaching their children about God's love for them. Continue to pray for the children and their families that they would know the Lord and for revival in Ferrier. Pray for us as we have our final day in Haiti tomorrow. Pray for us to finish strong and prepare to come home.

True Love

It has crazy how beautiful Haiti is. Not just the landscape but the people. We have been amazed at how loving and serving they can be. They are up before us serving, cleaning and getting ready for the day, and they are up later than us cleaning and preparing for the next day. Their servant love has really opened our eyes to how we are supposed to love others. It was our third day of VBS and they have been going great. Today we talked about how god promises us true love in Jesus Christ. We were able to share this important truth with the kids, teachers, and translators. And we sent them home with a way to continue to share this with their family. Pray that the kids share this and that many will come to know the true Christ. It is surreal to think that this week is over half way over. Tomorrow is our last day of VBS, and we have really built some  great relationships. We are having a family night tomorrow night when the families of our stud ts will come and we will share with them all that the kids have learned. Pray for the families to have open hearts and for truth to be heard. Thank you all for the prayers and support. Continue to pray for our team. Pray for our hearts as we prepare to leave. Pray for the relationships we have built. Pray for God to continue to move in and through us, to grow us and to break our hearts.

Another great day

Good evening readers. Tuning in live with Rebekah! Today was day 2 of VBS. The theme today was True riches: God provides all our needs. After the children raised the roof with the sound of their sweet Haitian voices they learned today's memory verse Philipians 4:19. It was such an encouragement because all the kids were able to recite yesterday's verse! It was truly a sign of God! With the sound of the recited verse still lingering in the air Jeff began to tell the story of Jesus feeding 5,000. He began with an engaging activity that revealed Haitian children love fish as much as they love chocolate! In the end Jeff captivated the hearts of the children and Jen excused the crowd with a prayer. With the dismissal the children rushed to their classrooms eagerly anticipating the days lesson. God provided wonderfully godly church leaders who took over some of the teaching. Thank you Lord for the blessings. The children (and adults) made paper bag fish to represent the day's story. After a quick recess the children returned to eat a spaghetti lunch.  It warmed the team's hearts to see such thankful children. VBS ended with the children singing and reciting a prayer. The spirit was fully at work today! Without a bump or hiccup the day ran smoothly. God is so good. The team ended the day building deeper relationships with the girls and bonding within the team. Though the heat and the mosquito's have been a struggle for our team, God has immensely blessed us! 

Wow! What a day! The first day of VBS could not have gone any better. The morning started at 5:45 with breakfast served at 6:30. We had  breakfast casserole, toast, and bananas. It was delicious as always! After, we brushed our teeth and headed to start the day! First stop was meeting our teacher, class, and church helpers. The kids  were so excited to see us! It didn't take long for us to hear "blanc, blanc" ringing through the school. Blanc is the creole word for white, so that automatically becomes all of our names. VBS was kicked off by an assembly with all of the grades. Jen introduced the theme of the week and the reason we came all this way to see them. After that, Kristen, Chloe, and Josh taught the kids the song "My God is so big" It was so fun to see them leaning English. They are so eager to get better with their English. Once song was over, Bekah and Taylor taught the theme verse for the week. It is Hebrew 10:23. The verse was followed by Jeff's teaching. He taught the story of Jesus calming the storm. It was important to know that if you trust God, he will provide. The rest of the day was spent in the classrooms. More Bible lessons were taught, crafts were done, songs were sung, and games were played. It was one full but rewarding day! Once the day was through, the team headed back to the home and played with the girls, helped cook, and prepared for the next day. We could not be more excited to see how God provides tomorrow! 

The Sabbath

Today has been an amazing sabbath.  The morning started off really early, some of us were up as early as 5am... Morning starts when the sun comes up, and tat was right around 5am. We woke up and had breakfast at 7 and were off to church at 8. This was our first experience into Ferrier. We walked out of the girls home and saw the different families and homes that were surrounding us. After a short walk we reached the church and our school, both the location of our VBS. We then spent the next 4 hours worshipping with our Haitian brothers and sisters. It was Mothers day here in Haiti, so they did some special stuff to recognize the mothers. We were then serenaded by a choir and a solo singer. The way haitian people worship is so true and genuine. They just lay everything down and worship the king. Several of the older girls were in the choir and it was great to see them lead out in worship. Jeff had the opportunity to preach and he did an excellent job. He shared about the love of god and how Ephesians Tells us to be rooted and grounded in love. The Haitians really seemed to enjoy it and gave him several "amens." After church we got to spend the rest of the day in sabbath. We just got to hang out and rest. Some played games. Some played in our kammock, and turned it into a swing. But all had amazon conversations and really built relationships with the children here. Tonight we have prepared for VBS. our supplies are ready and we are prayed up, we just have to wait for our kids. Pray for flexablity with our kids and VBS. Pray for our communication and our translators. Pray for relationships to continue and grow.

First night in Ferrier

It has been an amazing first day in Haiti. We are exhausted from our two days of traveling but are so happy to be here. When we landed I. Haiti we had to wait a little bit before our luggage arrived. As we waited we just took in our new surroundings. Once our luggage was all there we loaded into a van and started our journey to the girls Home and our new home for the week. As we drove an hour we were surrounded with new sights, smells and sounds. It was so much to take in but an amazing experience. As we approached The gate to our girls home we could see and hear the girls on the other side. As we came through the gate they welcomed us and made us feel like we were home. They hugged us and helped us with our bags. Once we got settled in to our rooms we got to spend the rest of the day hanging out. We played games, sang songs, and have spent the night dancing and singing in the dark. It is such a great sound to hear voices praising into the night. There are some things that will take getting used to, like the extremely dry heat. It is in the high 90s with little to no wind. No power and gravity fed water. It is do different here but the people are so full of love. Pray for us as we sleep our first night in Haiti. Pray for our worship experience as we get to go and worship with our Haitian brothers and sisters. pray for Jeff as he has the opportunity to preach tomorrow. We will also meet our teachers and partners for VBS, pray for clear communication and for god to move in a mighty way. We are having an amazing time and appreciate all of the love and prayers from back home.