Thursday, December 31, 2015

Lane’s Blog Star 12/31/2015 Carrefour Haiti

               Today started out with a beautiful sunrise and the sounds of dogs barking and roosters crowing at an early 5:45 am.  Thankfully we had electricity so we were able to make a fresh pot of coffee to enjoy with our breakfast. Breakfast here is not your normal breakfast. It usually consists of tomatoes and lettuce paired with spaghetti. Well plain spaghetti which we put mayonnaise and ketchup on it if you are brave enough.
                After breakfast and getting ready for the day we all headed up the hill to walk around the community. The farther we got up the hill the more beautiful the view got. The view was not the most amazing part though. Walking around the  community you meet all kinds of people, but they all have one thing common and it is impossible not to notice it. They all have beautiful smiles as you approach to talk to them. Even though there is a huge language barrier there is no hesitation on their part to walk up and start a conversation.
                While talking to the people we would ask if they had any medical needs that we could help them with. One lady wanted us to take her blood pressure and sitting her down was all it took to tip the iceberg.  As surely as we were done with hers there was already a line of people ready to have theirs tested as well.  After about 20 minutes and many people later all of our nurses had a chance to test someone’s blood pressure.  We continued to walk around and even the people with some of the worst conditions were just filled with joy and blessed to be alive.
                We eventually made it down to a community soccer field unfortunately we had no soccer ball. We did however have a Frisbee. We attempted to teach the kids the concept of Frisbee, but they thought it would just be more fun to run around with it and play keep away from us. We were outnumbered 5 to 1 and had no luck at succeeding at the game of keep away.
                We went to back to base for lunch which consisted of homemade bread to which we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from. We spent the next couple of hours preparing for the next couple days. We put together all of our hygiene kits to give out at our Christmas party and at the doctor’s office we will be visiting. We also divided out all of the school supplies that we brought down to be taken to the Christmas party as well.           
                Me and Theodore (he prefers Ted) went down the street and attempted to keep up with the, locals in a friendly game of soccer. We started out scoring the first three goals, but after that the Haitians scored 5 in a row and we called it a game. We walked back home and showered and prepared for dinner. We learned a new game today that the Malone group taught us called Dutch Blitz. It is more less the same thing as nertz but with colors instead of suites. Me and my teammate Savannah dominated.
Now after having a wonderful dinner  consisting of chicken  pasta salad two forms of fried plantains and a local dish called picilis(Haitian coleslaw with a jalapeno vinaigrette) we sit out on the porch reminiscing of good times and learning about all of our  new friends  that we are forming down here.  With no electricity it is completely dark as await the ringing in of the New Year, exciting to start of the new year  by spreading Gods love mercy and grace with this wonderful country.
P.S.  Some kid named Cody finally arrived safely with no troubles. J 
Feel free to comment or ask questions I am here all week. Well more like 8 days but you understand.

                                                Lane (Aka Lame) Salsbury

Cody here

Cody has arrived safely and joined the team, gotten organized and we are ready for debrief soon. Tomorrow Grant comes and then the team is complete. 

Day One



Here are some photos from the first day...

















Wednesday, December 30, 2015

2nd group arrived

The Malone University students have arrived now too (except a few that missed flights and will join us in a day or so). Eating a YUMMY dinner..... Update later

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Arrived!!

The first part of the group has arrived at the base safely. Kelsey, Mike and Lane are sitting on the porch eating spaghetti before bed!! 

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Center

Here is a photo taken inside the new training and discipleship center.... Excuse the mats and little bit of furniture. There are still people living in it, but this large community area will be used as a classroom! This is beyond exciting for us to have this right next door to our mission base. (team members and staff can walk over for ministry) If you are still thinking of making an end of year donation, this is a GREAT way to help us reach out better to those in our own community. We still need about $3000 to have this project fully funded. We also need people to come and guest teach once things are up and running- hint hint.  #heartsunited #haiti #discipleship #outreach #orphanprevention #excitingnews #donate #missionarylife 


Tuesday, December 22, 2015

UPDATES

Sorry I have not kept up again... there are just too many social media outlets to manage (facebook and instagram get the most attention because they are easily accessed on my cellphone).  Anyway, here are updates from the last time I wrote....

-Upcoming mission trip (Dec, 30, 2015- Jan. 9, 2016)  WILL be happening.  There was some question due to elections and potential for unrest, but things are calm here in Haiti (at least in and around Carrefour).  Also, it was just announced last evening that elections will be postponed until January 10th so this makes the trip just like any other.  We have medical (nursing) students coming as well as some others who have been here to Haiti before.  We plan to do clinics and observations in other health settings, but also to hold a pretty in-depth young adult Bible Study for a few days and visit the orphanage quite a bit (even holding our annual Christmas Party with gifts and a HUGE meal for the children there).  Follow this blog to see daily updates from the team starting Dec. 30th.

-Training & Discipleship Center HAS BEEN RENTED!  This is very exciting news and the house God picked for us could not be more perfect.  Now we just need to get in there, clean, and set it up to use.  We have already talking to someone and will be meeting again early January. She has a small business and is looking to expand her production line.  She needs a new location where a few locals can be hired/trained to make pieces of her products- they will then either be sent to the main location to be finished, or possibly even finished here in Carrefour.  This is RIGHT in alignment with our vision of creating jobs for our neighbors, but also for cleaning up our community (she uses recycled trash) and for being able to mentor/disciple those who come to the center.
     We are still trusting God for the rent money for this house.  We still need $3000 US to rent the building for a year and get it ready, but the opportunities for outreach and impacting lives for Christ is well worth that investment!  This is SO EXCITING!  (if you would like to help toward the costs associated with operating this facility, please let us know or send a donation noting that it is for the Training & Discipleship Center to Hearts United with Haiti  PO Box 55, Morgantown, PA 19543- thanks)

-Orphanage-  Pastor's family is still in "crisis mode".  It has been quite a year for them.  First, his illness in the beginning of 2015, and now his wife is ill so there have been many financial hurdles for them as well as many physical/emotional ones.  We have been over there visiting and trying to help in any way we can with the children.  New chickens (30 of them) have been purchased and delivered to replace those that stopped laying eggs.  Food, fruit/milk, and other supplies have been delivered and donated to them.  The Nannies have been paid (including a Christmas bonus) and have started their Bible Study which I will continue to lead until one of them assumes the leadership role for this.  The children are well and look great when we go visit.

-Bas-Citronniers;  Goats are doing well and they are actively seeking to sell them during this Christmas season when the price is high.  The school children had a Christmas party I was not able to attend, but I got LOTS of photos from the committee there.  The children are making progress in school and test results have shown that.  We were able to repair some areas of the roof where there were holes (from wear) and replace some rotting boards holding the structure together.  They were rotted due to water damage from the holes in the roof.  We are still VERY pleased with the progress out there and the decisions/leadership initiative that the committee has taken.  They are WELL on their way toward sustainability which is exciting.

That's about all the battery life I have time for today.  Keep looking for updates from the team starting December 30th and I will try to post again prior to that.  God bless!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

MINISTRY NEEDS 2016


I know we put a list of the Christmas ideas, but here's God has given us for 2016 and beyond.

     -we have the opportunity to rent a building (right across the
             street from our existing mission base) to start the
             Discipleship & Training Center again.  It is an
             amazing opportunity, but we will need funds to build
             desks, put up chalkboard(s), and get things up and
             running.  Also, the rent will be $3500 for the first year.
   
     -we feel led to help the community school in Bas-
           Citronniers (very remote) with some of the needs
           they have there such as adding to their goat raising
           program (they need land, shelter, etc... for the goats
           they already have been raising to sell and they will
           eventually need a new roof for the school building).  We
           recently helped them with repairing the existing roof, but
           that was only a temporary fix.  The supporting structure
           for the roof is really rotted and needs replacing in the
           next few years (if not sooner).   We would also like to help
           them invest in solar power too since they currently rely on
           a generator for power but that requires gas. These will
           help insure they are able to be self-sustaining in the future.

     -God is leading and directing us to continue to look for land
          to purchase once our legal status in Haiti is finalized ( we
          were told it should be done by MARCH- yay!).  This land
          will be used to build our mission base and Training &
          Discipleship Center where we will do many types of
          community outreach (Bible Studies, classes in English/
          literacy/nutrition/etc. as well as various seminars for
          pastors, to teach job skills, and to reach our local
          area through education and discipleship).  In Haiti it is
          difficult to find someone to finance land, so we will need
          to have the bulk of the funding to purchase the land, then
          we will raise funds to build.  Land we have been seeing
          for sale that will serve our needs will be about $5000 US
          per acre.

Please consider one of these opportunities when thinking about your end-of-year donation.  God is moving in mighty and FAST ways lately in the ministry.  We are blessed to be part of His work in Haiti (and stateside).  **there are other aspects of the ministry that are in need of continued funding (ie:  the former orphan girls who have left Life is Wealth -- we help support them with education and occasional food/supplies and discipleship) but these three are the biggest ones.  A donation to "greatest need" will be put into a general account to be used as needs arise within the ministry.  We would LOVE for you to come to Haiti yourself and see first-hand the ministry in action.  Until then, continue to follow our blog, facebook and instagram for photos and updates.  Thank you and GOD BLESS this Christmas season!