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Team Haiti 2015

Team Haiti 2015

On June 30th, eighteen students and two staff departed on Riverside Christian’s 5th Annual Haiti Mission Trip. After flying to Pour au Prince, Haiti, the team drove five hours to their final destination, Terre Blanche.

Throughout their stay RCS students and staff ran a VBS where students learned Bible stories, memorized verses and made crafts. Our team also worked alongside Dentist Mike Buehler in a dental clinic for the adults and youth of the village and distributed dental hygene packets. In the afternoon, our student spent time playing with the children of the village, developing relationships with them. Nine of the Eighteen students on this trip have gone on this trip before and we excited to see familiar faces from their previous trip. Throughout their week stay in Terra Blance our students were able to share their testimonies, help build a road, and make several house visits throughout the village delivering gifts and praying over the people of Haiti.

The Lord not only moved in the lives of the villagers at Terra Blanche, but in the hearts of our students and staff. Hear from a few of the team members on their experience and enjoy the photo album below.

Try and summarize your trip to Haiti in one sentence.
Kyla: “A tuning of my heart closer to the heart of God.”

Patty: “My trip to Haiti was an awesome experience that allowed me to get and inside look at the hearts of some of our students and how they show God’s love to the children of Haiti.”

Michael: “I can joyfully say that God is at work in Haiti, and His people have encouraged me in my walk with Christ.”

What was your favorite thing you ate in Haiti?
Richie: “Anything that Elvie, Danica’s mom, cooked was instantly transformed into a scrumptious meal. So I would have to say everything that I ate at the compound was extraordinary.”

Katie: “The rice was the best part of every meal in Haiti!!”

Patty: “Haitian peanut butter. I loved the consistency and the spicy kick.”

Where did you see God move in Haiti?
Kyla: “I saw God move in the love they had for me, for each other. It was such a pure love. Nothing to be gained, they love you. They don’t even speak my language and they love me. It’s obvious that love is from God. Such a love can mend the most wrenched of hearts, because that’s what the Love of Christ does. When they worship, kids, teens, adults they all do it with the same passion. They worship with conviction. They worship like they believe with all of their being the words their singing. They sing from the heart. They don’t see worship as a ritual but to them worship is a response to God’s glory.”

Katie: “God is everywhere in Haiti constantly changing peoples lives. Just hearing the children sing bible songs in VBS showed how God is working in the village.”

What was your biggest takeaway from the trip?
Patty: “It is overwhelming to see the impact that the mission team has had on Terra Blanche over the years. Terra Blanche was not much of anything when Dr. Buehler first started visiting. Now it has a medical and dental clinic that is set up as nice as some offices in the states. Of the dental patients we saw, the majority needed fillings rather then extraction and many wanted cleanings. The people are getting treatment earlier and it shows. The church and school in Terra Blanche are much better than other areas of Haiti. The school is nicely built and ensuring the students to receive an education as well as at least 1 good meal a day. When we first arrived I was surprised how many of the kids remembered the names of the RCS students that returned.”

Richie: “From both last year and this year, I have always been awestruck by their since of community. They are so accepting of kids from other villages when the come to visit us. They include them in all of their activites and that doesn’t happen much in the states.”

Michael: “This trip has caused me to consider my own life. Am I as devoted to God as I should be? Am I filled with God’s joy? Am I being His light to the world?”

Favorite or Funniest Memory from Haiti?
Katie: “My favorite memory would be finding my little girl that I had last year. It was the first day of the trip and in the afternoon I went out and was holding another child when i felt a gentle hand grab mine. When I looked down to see who it was I quickly realized that is was little Danika the girl that stuck by me all last year as well. It made the trip well worth it!”

Kyla: “The funniest was when Austin Kent did the most ridiculous dance with a Haitian girl. It was hilariously amazing to say the least. My favorite moment was the closing ceremony. Both the Haitian people and our team got to speak and it was incredibly moving to hear from both sides the impact that had been made. One of the Haitian elders spoke about my music and how it inspired him, it brought tears to my eyes because their music had inspired me so much I couldn’t believe that I could ever make an impact. He encouraged me to keep on singing to the Lord. It was a very humbling moment.”