mostly music

thursday was all about preparing for the concert at a local nightclub, samba. we shared the bill with popular local jacmel band, so nice. we also were able to feed 600 people.

here’s luella on helping prepare the food:

“This is amazing.  Americans and Haitians are sitting on plastic chairs or rocks waiting for our assingmnets. Naomi is standing in the middle directing a chorus of helpers like one would imagine an orchestra leader directing a symphony. Her task….fix a meal for 600 Hatians with no running water and intermittent electricity. Huge pots began boiling with beans, as coconuts are being opened with rocks, lemons squeezed as onions are chopped. Language is no barrier because food is something we all have in common. I an given the task of peeling and then chopping onions. I knew we  were  finished when I leaned back and she looked at me smiling and said “fini”. 
     I know that I have never enjoyed the taste of beans and rice as much as I did that evening. You cannot beat rice that has been cooked with fresh coconut!” -Luella Smith

picking up with wednesday….

on wednesday, the team experienced whiplash of sorts.

in the morning, we were treated to a beautiful hike in the mountains to a spot called basin bleu. i’m pretty sure the garden of eden was displaced here from the middle east at some point.
we were tired from two days of music camp, and it was perfect timing to be able to recreate together as a team in a beautiful spot in God’s creation.

then in the afternoon, as sort of a last minute add-on to the trip, we were taken to a local orphanage to put on a mini-music camp for the 25 kids there. it’s important to note that this orphanage is separate from the two Haitian Children’s Home families. we didn’t realize the extent of how different the experience of these children vs. the HCH kids would be.
the kids are obviously well taken care of. the staff looked very attentive to the kids. the place, although very small, was immaculately clean, and the kids were all dressed nicely.

the major difference that struck our team was that these kids lacked life and joy and vibrancy. in their facial expressions. in their inability to open up to playful interaction with us. some of the older kids eventually opened up and had fun playing the buckets, shaking the jingle bell bracelets, and singing and hand motions. but many of the kids just sat or stood motionless and expressionless, even when we smiled and spoke to them directly.

this really hit home with me personally, because through our experience of adopting our two children from china, my wife c.c. and i have learned about the effects of abandonment and institutionalization on orphaned kids. they’ve been wounded profoundly and their experiences have taught them that opening up to others is dangerous and leads to hurt. even at a young age they learn to swallow all need and emotion because no one can be trusted.

the reality of the need for the love of a family hit our team hard. these kids need a mom and a dad to love them. large amounts of love is the only thing that can heal these kids.

as hard as the experience was, we are all grateful that we got the opportunity to provide a couple hours of light and life and fun to these kids lives. they each were able to accept it in various degrees.

personally, it strengthened my passion and calling to be more involved in caring for orphans. there are 143 million of them across the world. the need is staggering, but i believe that eventually Love (read: God [read: Jesus]) will heal everything and and everyone.

–stephen

repelling on the way to basin bleu

eden again?

tim with one of the youngest girls. she was so sick and lethargic.

jingle bells

joe and dan demonstrating the buckets for the boys.

a rare sighting of john bahr lifting his hands in worship.

hi, everyone. i apologize for the blog falling silent halfway through our trip. the second half of the week got incredibly busy and one by one our team (including me) started getting sick and we needed more rest at night during blogging time.

we are back and still processing what we experienced. we had a great week! i look forward to the team being able to finish up giving you updates from the last few days of the trip. stay tuned over the next few days for those updates.

keep praying for the team. several of us are still trying to get well, while at the same time trying to get back into the swing of life and work.

We visited the land today. Last year the vision for the Haitian’s Children’s Home was in jeopardy of becoming hindsight, the 17 acres along the coast here in Jacmel long destined to be the home site for nearly a decade was going to be sold off, and there was a only a few weeks to make a counter offer. Over one week, nearly $500,000 was raised to save the vision.

I walked on that land today. I had the highest of expectations, I was prepared to be amazed, instead I was blown away.

The pure undiluted beauty is beyond what I expected. The first thing that blew me away was how perfect it is. Perfect, not too big - we walked all of it in a morning - but big enough to eventually house 160 kids, a school, a church and a clinic. Perfect because on one side, the site is protected from the direct effects of hurricanes, and on the other, from the effects of the resulting floods. Perfect, in that if you were a child without parents, in jeopardy of trying to survive in one of the poorest countries in the world, literally one day you could have no hope, and the next day your home can be one of the world’s most beautiful places.

To me the impact of this is personal and hit very close to home. As a baby I was adopted and went to live in another one of the world’s most beautiful places, Panama. The thought that a child with no hope would suddenly have a home, when they would be grateful for any home, that is beautiful beyond words is amazing. The truth is though, that none of that matters if the people who are your parents aren’t wonderful, beautiful people. Mine are. What blows me away is that the people that these children are blessed with are magnificent. They wouldn’t agree. In a way I’d be concerned if they did. The love and care, the persistent devotion, the sacrifice of themselves I’ve seen without exception blows me away.

The procurement of the land was the latest step for the vision for the future of Haitian’s Children’s Home. Now it needs to be cleared and prepared for construction. I have no doubt that it will be completed, not because the tasks ahead are easy, because they aren’t. But because God, along with the perfect place, but because of His faithful servants, working to make it happen. Servants like the folks I have the privilege to serve with on our mission team. Servants like the missionaries here one the ground. Servants like the folks who provide support. It blows me away.

Mike Soper

This morning I woke up with crow of a rooster! I got ready and made my way to the roof of the house and just watched and listened as the city of Jacmel woke up. Behind the city, there was a beautiful mountain. The focus of the day was a music camp that was being held for the children of Jacmel. I felt so ready for this day to begin.

As in typical Crosspointe style, this turned out to be a music camp like no music camp that I have ever been part of. It was pretty wonderful filled with lots of energy. Sandra, a fellow Texan and I manned the shaker table. Sandra is one of the missionaries in the Haitian Children’s Home. This sweet Texan has a servant’s heart.

My daughter sent me an email before I left. In this message, she prayed that I might be overwhelmed by the steady hands of those who have been called to serve. Sandra’s, calm serving heart has overwhelmed me.

Luella Smith

Note: The team is still having difficulty posting blogs. This is an email I received late last night about their first day of music camp! The team is doing great, all are healthy, strong, and overwhelmed by God. Thanks for praying! For those of you anxious to see pictures…follow this link!

Pam

Yesterday the team got to go to the beach with the Haitian Children’s Home kids. I have to admit feeling a bit uncomfortable hanging out with the kids. It’s something I really wanted to do; I wanted to get to know some or all of them better, but I just didn’t know how. I went out into the ocean with some of the other guys on the team, still trying to understand how to fit in, and then the most obvious thing happened.

I say it was obvious, because it should have been completely natural for me. Being the father of four younger boys, when my family goes to the beach, I slip out into the water and, inevitably, one or more of my kids is standing on the shore calling for me to take them out. And as a father, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with them out in the deeper water any other way.

… so back to yesterday. I was out in the water and I see Elaine, one of my teammates on the trip, coming out into the water with Nia (Nick and Gwenn’s daughter) and a little girl I learned was Prisca, one of the little girls that has recently become part of the Mangine’s family. Elaine asked if I would take one of the girls out into the water and Prisca came to me.

We didn’t talk too much at first, mostly because I only know a few Kreyol words, and when I asked if she spoke English, she said “no”. That was kind of funny, though, because over the time we spent together, I asked her a lot of other questions to which I received both “yes” and “no” answers. At some point she said something and pointed at the shore; I asked if she wanted to go in and she said “yes”. Awhile later, though, I saw her walking back out into the water with Fritzie, and I took her out again. She was very excited about the waves and it was great to hear her shout at the really large waves that would sneak up from time to time. I’m pretty sure we both had a lot of fun, and being a father of boys who has always hoped to also have a little girl, it really made the day quite special!

Tim Phillips

thanks for hanging in there with unreliable internet connection here…

we’ll try to upload some pictures later if possible.

today our team made the 200 yard walk up the street from team housing to worship with the church here in jacmel. in order to respect the traditions here, we all dressed up a bit more than our usual crosspointe attire. we all worked up a pretty good sweat before even making it to church.

we sat up front and to the side where we had a good view of the stage as well as the congregation. despite the language barrier, we were able to join in worship by clapping our hands, dancing (not quite as demonstratively as the haitians,) and we even got to shout an occassional “Hallelujah!” i recognized two songs and got to sing along. i guess bill gaither and darrell evans have both made their mark in haiti.

the pastor taught from the book of job. my dominant reflection as i read the passages was that if there’s anyone who would have the experiences to begin to understand the suffering, loss and desperation of job, it would be the haitian people.

this afternoon we packed into a “tap tap” and headed to the beach with the HCH kids - both the Pye family and the Mangine family. we had a great time splashing in the water with the younger kids and watching the older boys play a competitive game of futbol on the beach.

sweet sugar cane is really good.

we’re excited about putting on the first day of a music camp for kids tomorrow.

thanks for all your prayers. keep ‘em coming. we couldn’t do this without your support.

love,
stephen (on behalf of our team of twelve)

john & elaine bahr
joe ballard
steve & kristi daugherty
dan grinstead
ken marshall
tim phillips
luella smith
don smith
mike soper

Just a little public service announcement for those who are anxiously awaiting pictures and more stories. I’ve been in contact with Stephen, Steve, and Danny today, all are well, and glad to be in Haiti. They are excited to share more stories with you, but they are having internet connection struggles at the team housing.

They hope to have it up and running soon. In the meantime I will continue to maintain contact with them through the HCH staff and by phone.

They had an awesome day today, and are collapsing into beds. Thanks for keeping them in your prayers.

Peace.
Pam

It’s a long, twisty, winding road, up and down, stop and go, jerking back and forth, with exhaust, fumes and so much more competing for your senses. I’ve done the ride a few times, and even with all of the aspects that could be complained about, the beauty that is seen through those bus windows is priceless. To arrive in Jacmel, makes it completely worth the 2-3 hours (yes it can vary that much) in that old rickety bus worth it.

A short while ago, our team arrived at the HCH team housing in Jacmel. Approximately 12 hours after their departure at RDU they were welcomed by Nick and Gwenn, Nixon and Sandra, Danny and Leann, Mikey and Georgette. They are tired, they are so very tired, and they are excited. They have been working together for several months to get to here, to be able to pour their hearts into the community of Jacmel, to equip the pastors, to share the Love of Christ and be a part of continual life transformation in Haiti.

This evening is meant to be low key. They will enjoy the view from the top floor of team housing, and they will go through an orientation highlighting do’s and don’ts for the week, have dinner, get settled in, and then call it a night.

Continue to pray for them as they try to put one tired foot in front of the other. Pray as they try to sleep amidst the sounds of the dogs, roosters, and street noise. Pray for continued improvement in health for those who were under the weather this week, and for those who are healthy, that they would stay that way!

Pray also for family members who were not able to join this trip. Many spouses, and kids are here in Cary and I am sure missing their loved ones.

Thanks Crosspointe, for loving this group so much! Thanks for supporting, encouraging and praying. Feel free to leave words of encouragement or a comment below, as Stephen will be occasionally updating and checking the blog.

Peace.
Pam

Another quick note to say that the team has landed safely in Port-au-Prince!
Pray for no ‘car-sickness’ while driving through the mountains to Jacmel.

The team is excited to be on the ground, and praising God for their safe arrival and the arrival of all of their bags! In addition, all of the bags cleared customs without a hitch!

Peace.
Pam