Busy Week!

The past week has been busy!!  We had Mike Feagan's team visiting from Indiana, a milestone birthday for Hoslais, and a MASS wedding... 7 couples!!!!

Mike Feagan has been coming to Haiti with his family & friends for several years now and it's neat to see how their relationship with the H2H community develops each time.  His teams have embraced H2H's philosophy of building up capacity within the country by supporting local leadership.  During their week here they spent time with the H2H children, the H2H students and went to our church in Foche several times... including helping the Pastors give food to the community.

 They also were blessed to be here for a very special birthday for Hoslais!  

It was so much fun to see the older H2H kids host his 50th birthday party and it's was a celebration that will be remembered!!  The food took days to prepare and the program included singing, dance performances, speeches and even a gun salute!  The DJ played music well into the night and the evening concluded with a spontaneous dance off!

Hoslais Honorat is Pastor Luc's younger brother and a cornerstone of our H2H family.  He shares Luc's passion to see a new generation of Haitian children take control of their country and he influences the younger generation by showing God's love in action as well as words.  Hoslais is an Inspector in the Haitian Police Force (Coast Guard Division) and his character has a unique blend of compassion & discipline and he is a great role model of the H2H children!

Bon fet Tontom... Happy Birthday Uncle Hoslais!

If that wasn't excitement enough, we finished the week off with a massive wedding!  Two couples from our Grande Goave church and five couples from our Foche church got married on Sunday in a joyful celebration service.  The church was packed and many people had to peer in through the windows.

The two couples from Grande Goave were Zachary & Marie :

 

and Lembe & Louisna:

This week we get to enjoy some down time!

MEI High School Team

It was so much fun to have a team from MEI High School (Abbotsford, BC) visit us last week.  They really connected with the kids and blessed them is many ways.

The smiles in these pictures say it all!

Learning the church dance from the professionals!

Teaching H2H students to sing "Amazing Grace" in english

Mobile Guitar lessons!

No lesson needed, this guys a natural!

Teaching english in H2H School

No one's sleeping in class today!

A+

None of these students will forget how to count in english:  High 5 - High 4 - High 3 - High 2 - High 1 :)

The Preschool class learned "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in english

Team showing off their purchases from the market

Jesus film in Kreyol

This theatre even had popcorn!

Soccer camp

The big boys got a chance to play too

oops...

Guesthouse is getting a new kitchen!!!

The door to nowhere now has a purpose!

A quick look back

Once again it's time to celebrate the start of a New Year!

Last night we had a quiet New Years Eve with some friends & family - mostly playing games and just chatting.  It struck me as I went to bed that it was really nice to just have some unscheduled "down time" without thinking about what needs to be done, or what is happening somewhere else.  I think that will be one of my new years resolutions!

Before I think anymore about 2017 I want to share a bit about what's been going on at H2H the past few months.... and thank you for helping to make it happen!

The repairs to H2H's compound have been completed and we are now working on increasing security.  We are raising the external walls by a few feet, adding barbed wire to the perimeter, building a security tower at the entrance and revamping our security protocols to include night security.

We are continuing to do food giveaways with the Manna Packs - most recently giving each of the H2H students a bundle to take home to their families.

We are also giving away sheet metal (to replace roofs), garden kits (including tools, corn & black bean seeds) and pairs of chicken/rooster.

 

Hundreds of people in the mountain communities surrounding Grande Goave have received these items and they are so grateful!  Now that the initial shock of the Hurricane has passed, the realization of what was destroyed has set in.  People are fearful of the coming months because they are anticipating very scarce perishable goods, expensive non-perishable goods and water born disease... not to mention the pending election results!

Please pray that God will bless these seeds and laying chickens and that 2017 will be brighter than projected!

Thank you again to all who have so generously supported H2H this year!

Team Albert

I've lost track of how many teams Albert has lead to H2H but I remember his first trip the best -  because it was my first trip to Haiti too!  We had never met before and neither of us had any idea what the powers-that-be had in store for us... shortly after that first trip Albert became one of H2H's board members and I moved to Haiti.

Albert's teams always have a good balance of fun and productivity, and this team this week didn't disappoint!

They kicked off some big construction projects....

Putting a roof on a new classroom at H2H's School:

Breaking ground on the Guesthouse's new kitchen:

And building some shelves in the Children's Home kitchen:

The team also did their part to eradicate Haiti's rat population:

We drove up the mountains to give food to the community of Lavanj (I don't actually have any pictures of the food give away because it was almost dark when we got the truck unstuck on the way up!):

Took the H2H kids to Taiino Beach:

And built relationships with the kids by being willing to "do it Haitian style":

The team did a fabulous job taking pictures themselves so please check out my Facebook page to see the pictures they posted there as well.