Maine Haiti Connection

Shoes of Peace

2010-06-04T00:15:00.006-04:00

The Elderly Feeding Program and Crocs for Haiti Ministries is now called the Shoes of Peace Ministry. The new website for this program is located at http://shoesofpeace.org.
We hope you'll stop by!

Heading Home

2010-04-01T10:28:00.002-04:00

We are ready to head out to the airport soon after a fabulous trip to Haiti with a fabulous group! We have been busy this past week with a number of things. Our highlights have been running medical clinics, visiting orphanages, a visit to the beach one day and sharing our life stories and faith with our Haitian brothers and sisters!

Yesterday our highlight was visiting the land in Bazen where Jovite and Mene will build their chuch. We set the stakes in the ground, and walked the property in prayer and song o cover it in Jesus' blood~~the blood of the lamb, for His hedge of protection about the property. They have been running a very successful children's ministry and now reaching the adults in the community as well.

I was able to be involved with some CHE training with Bibiana, Steve and Nancy and many other folks from various countries along with the community health workers from this area and Port au Prince. Interesting conversations about addressing the psychological effects of the earthquake along with the physical and spiritual needs.

We have learned much and do not go home the same people. I would pray that each brother and sister in Christ could join us in yearly growing ever closer to our Lord....tis was simply a means God provided for us to do so!

We leave Cap Haitien for Florida shorty. Tomorrow we will fly from West Palm Beach at 7am and return to Portland @ 1:55pm. We look forward to sharing with you soon, all the wonderful things we have seen and learned.

In our precious Saviours name,

Laura, for our Team

Hello from Cap Hatien

2010-03-28T11:00:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,

We are fairing well in Cap Haitien. Yesterday we spent the morning at an orphanage sharing CROCs, beany babies and water balloons with the children. Lots of smiles and hugs--much joy shared. Our group is wonderful and each of us are learning new things and rising to God's challenges in our thoughts, hearts, spirits daily. God is amazing!

To share one beautiful story, before we came to Haiti, Joe Corvino had had a couple of dreams, one repeatedly. This first vision of looking from a balcony over a body of water was confirmed to be the balcony of Pat's home overlooking the bay. As Joe shared, as he stepped onto the deck, it felt like he suddenly stopped like in an elevator as he glanced out and saw God's repeated vision from his dreams. The second dream he had was with a vision from a mountain, looking down over the ocean. Yesterday we traveled over the mountain to the beach and as we reached the crest of the mountain, there were a number of boulders that fell across the road that some men were working very hard to remove. We had to stop and wait to pass. Joe and Allan Stanford walked ahead and as Joe glanced out over the side of the mountain, he saw the second vision from his dream, overlooking the ocean. God drew him to Haiti and confirmed the call this year, despite individual fear of flying. Were these confirmations in advance, of God's call of Joe to Haiti?

Kim now has a hunch for what I have been talking about as my passion for Haiti and our Haitien brothers and sisters. She has caught the fire!! You should see her holding the baby yesterday at the orphanage. We will assure Jerry that she did leave the little girl there but takes home memories and photos of her time with this little child of God.

Joan has been a joy as part of our group here, as she shares little pieces of her life with us and has already lead one of our devotionals. If you don't know Joan Kelley she is our 17yo who has joined us. Awesome young lady!!

Allan continues to share his wisdom with the group and inspires us to think beyond ourselves. Mike Wilkins, friend of Allan, has shared his interesting perspectives and has certainly been an asset to our group in thought, labor and so much more.

Mike Boutin has been smiling so much more, has also softened his heart with those little ones yesterday at the orphanage....clung to one little girl for quite a time. He will share his testimony at our afternoon missionary church service today. What a blessing he is!

Me....I am continually astounded at how God takes our simple lives, broken as they might be, and molds us into vessels that He can then use so beautifully for His glory. As we take that one step forward, albeit perhaps risky, He leads on ahead of us and gives us more of our glory!

Amazing Grace!!! How sweet the sound and smell and song that He places on our hearts!

Blessings to our family and friends at home!

Laura

Update from Haiti

2010-03-28T10:58:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone,

We all arrived safely in Cap Haitien at about 11:30 this morning. We had some "bumps" along our way getting here that smoothed out with our MFI flight...Joe Corvino could be seen standing up with his thumb in the air at one point on this flight!! We have a great team and as we each try to figure out why God has us hear, He begins to speak to each heart! We had a great two days getting to know each other, between our traveling to get here and time spent this evening with Pat and Clark Moore, our missionaries.

We've had a great time catching up with Jovite and Mene with their new little boy, Samuel. Valery and Alain are also doing great. Enoch arrived at the airport today to load up our "tap-tap" of Mainers (and one Ohio-an) and luggage and a few of us got home with Pat's vehicle. Always an experience traveling the roads of Cap Haitien. Pat and Clark have been gracious hosts and good to put us to work after our meal on arrival!

Please pray for our time here, that our Lord will see to it to put His Hands and Feet to work through us. Pray that we will keep our eyes and heart on Him and remember that anything and all things we "do" are really for His glory and not the job to be done. Pray for Joan as she adjusts to this new environment as the only teen (albeit a very special one) on our team.

Blessings from Haiti to all at home! His blessings are new every day.

Thank you for your prayer support!

Laura (on behalf of the team)

Update on Request

2009-06-27T19:39:00.000-04:00

Just to follow up on this request - God challenged us to think outside the box and we now have more help than we expected to get! Isn't God awesome?! Anyway, if anyone is still interested in helping, we can always find a job for you to do but we are very thankful for all the help God has recently provided!

Thank you so much!

Jamie

Can you help Jamie??

2009-04-16T13:43:00.002-04:00

Hello folks,

Jamie and Philip Charles have been blessed recently with new opportunities of ministry being presented to them. Before they can take on anything more, they will need a few more volunteers to help out with the administrative end of things to stay on top of the associated day to day running of the ministry. Here is Jamie's request:

We're in need of a volunteer or two with His Hands.

We are in need of more help here in our office in New Vineyard, Maine. If you live in or near the area, and are willing to volunteer an hour or two one day a week, we would LOVE to hear from you! God is blessing this ministry with more opportunities for service but we need more help before we say "yes" to these opportunities. So please - let us know if you can help!

If you can help, contact Jamie directly at: jamie@hishandsforhaiti.org

Thanks! As needs/requests arise, if you have any questions about posting on the blog, please let me know!

Laura

We are home!

2009-04-08T20:43:00.002-04:00

Wow!
What a quick week we had together in Haiti! It was truly an awesome week and we felt the Lord's hand in every aspect of it...even the trying times. What an awesome group of 9 people we had on this trip! We got to know each other better and also our brothers and sisters in Haiti!

I would have a difficult time sharing what this trip has meant to me in this venue. There is so much in my heart and spirit...my mind races between the fatigue from the trip and the exciting things that we did and experienced.

I believe that God spoke to each of us individually in a very significant way this past week. I look forward to seeing what He will continue with our relationships built while in Haiti and how this will be used in His ministry into the future. I also look forward to Andy's video and in sharing with all who are interested to ask, what God is doing with the central Maine people in relationship with our family in Haiti!

For now...God has blessed us...Mary Russell is still on route home so we will pray...and thanks be to our Awesome God!

Amen?!

Laura

Video Update 3

2009-04-06T23:05:00.008-04:00

My final evening finds me sitting at the keyboard a little perplexed. After 6 hours of footage, over a dozen interviews and nearly 1200 still pictures, I am finding it difficult to digest all I have captured with my cameras, my eyes and my heart.

Images of stark poverty contrasted with people who are rich with what very little they have. With eyes filled with fear and desperation contrasted with eyes filled with love and hope.

Make shift shacks surrounded by garbage, foul odors and polluted water ....

Contrasted with beautiful mountains, green pastures, white sand beaches and quaint villages.

With Witch Doctors and evil spells, contrasted by dedicated pastors, the Holy Spirit and hundreds of children singing glory to GOD.

How does one ingest this all and sort it out with any sense of order? Only by understanding that we all were created in GOD’s image and that HE created this earth beautiful, yet all have fallen and are in need ofa Savior. That this is not a battle of flesh and blood, but of evil powers, principalities and wickedness in the spiritual realm. And it is these good men and women of the mission field, their support teams and pastors that lead the fight, by bringing the truth of Jesus Christ that will win this battle for the people souls.

In HIS grace
Andrew P. Collar

God's day....

2009-04-05T16:12:00.006-04:00

Today has been a beautiful day here in Cap Haitien! We shared a great hour or so in reading devotions and discussion before readying ourselves for church. We made our way across town to Pastor Saintil's church where we experienced a true Haitian worship service. Pastor translated much of his sermon for us which was quite touching and powerful in message. The music was amazing and God's presence was surely felt by each of us as we worshiped together with this beautiful family of God. Pastor Saintil started the church 25 years ago with only seven people in his congregation. Today he has 1400-1500 people attending his church each week. Last month he baptized 53 people and 103 people committed their lives to the Lord after a 40 day revival. This revival involved 3 hours each evening for those 40 days praising and teaching in his church. What a testimony!

We will be headed out to 4VEH (the Christian radio channel) missionary church service momentarily...making the most of our time visiting and worshiping our Lord with brothers and sisters here in Haiti! God is so very good! It is amazing to worship Him finding that no matter where you are, when you find other passionate lovers of Christ, it is so very inspiring to our Christian walk!

We thank you for your prayers and are looking forward to a trip out to Terrier Rouge tomorrow and a visit with Pastor Noel and his beautiful wife, Marie! Updates tomorrow....

Laura

2009-04-04T10:36:00.002-04:00

Good Morning from Cap Haitien!

Well, it has been a wonderful trip thus far and listening in on some of Andy's interviews of our local pastors here is simply a glimpse of what God is able to do when we as His instruments make ourselves available to Him! Some of the commentary was enough to inspire tears of awe of the God we commonly love and serve!

This morning we have some down time and will be headed to the beach for a time of relaxation in an hour or so. We are all physically well, spiritually seeking and finding God in some awesome places here!

As we continue our journey with Him here in Haiti, I ask for your continued prayer that we remain in His mighty shadow, eager and willing to serve Him in all that we are privileged to do for Him!

Enjoy the pics from Andy...we will stay in touch!

Laura

Video Update

2009-04-04T06:44:00.009-04:00

Day four found me on the shoreline at 5:30 am waiting for the sun to break the crest of the horizon. A brilliant red glow painted fishing boats as young boys pulled their nets to check the evening catch. It was special to hear the morning awake around me, a dog barking in the near distance, the call of a rooster, voices beginning to fill the air as people made their way out onto the streets. I am so blessed to be able to catch the sights and sounds of the Haitian morning with my camera.

After breakfast and our morning devotion we headed to a local village in the country side. My camera was at my side – literally as we made our way thru the Haitian streets.

Cameras tend to draw attention in this part of the world – and not in a positive way. Many times I caught a nasty stare or was verbally scolded for stealing the image of someone’s life or their surroundings. It’s understandable – it must be hard enough to live the life in reality – let along seeing a foreigner try to etch it in the archives of video forever. But that’s what I do, and I need to bring a part of Haiti home for everyone else to see, to feel and to understand. I was able to capture great images of our team at work, see to the elderly, visiting children, handing out crocs and observing the structures and lives that have been change as a result of sponsor programs like that at FEFC. Day five was more of the same – beautiful rides through the country, capturing the beautiful smiles of small children and listening to the beautiful hearts of the pastors that serve these communities.

I spent the remainder of the day shooting interviews with team members and our host Pat. It is very special to hear how this mission has affected each person’s life so differently.

How the love of Jesus and fellow man is the common thread. I can’t wait to bring this story home to share with everyone.

Love in HIS grace to all
Andy

A busy day!

2009-04-02T20:16:00.003-04:00

As we began our day we were indeed saddened by the news from FEFC about Tara. As we share in the grief our church family must be experiencing, we knew we also needed to head out as God had planned us to do.

There were many blessings in store for us today as we divided and conquered! Enoch, Alain, David, Cory and myself headed out for the day. We started with a visit with Rose Guerlande, our little girl who has now undergone a few surgeries and anticipates more. She looks beautiful!! She was in the hospital undergoing tests with anticipation of her next surgery in another few weeks. It was a real treat to see her accept the doll from Emma, Mary Russell's granddaughter with such a beautiful smile! She is truly a little angel that God has placed His hand upon and allowed us to be a part of her physical healing! I can't wait to see her grow into a young lady with love for our Lord!

Then we were off to the Universite Chritienne du Nord D'Haiti and had a nice visit with Steve and Nancy James, the couple that I stayed with while in Haiti in December. Steve is a wonderful physician, having practiced medicine in Haiti for the past 25 years. He has been my mentor, teaching me how medicine is practiced in Haiti. Enoch then gave us a nice tour of the University grounds including the Botannical gardens that he himself had planted 10 years ago.

I will let Andy share his perspective on our visit to LaSoudre where Mary R.visited some of the elderly from the Feeding Program, Mary Veilleux colored and sang with the children and David and I held a blood pressure screening. Valerie is the fine young man who stood by my side as my assistant!

On our way home we stopped to visit with a wonderful family. Jean Claude and his wife Monica have taken in 10 orphan children. Monica has recently been in the US for initial evaluation and chemotherapy session for breast CA and has a bit of a journey ahead of her. Through our development of Maine Haiti Connection, we were able to reach out to this beautiful family while here and visit with these beautiful children and Jean Claude, pray with them, encourage them and take pictures that we will put together for Monica to have while she has her long weeks ahead in the U.S. away from these precious little ones. They have some young adult Mennonite helpers living with them at present and it was amazing to feel the love of the Lord in this home! If you would, please pray for this beautiful family!

After another wonderful meal from Claudette, we headed out to the Children's Home of Cap Haitien and shared CROCs with upwards of 75 kids and in so doing, added a splash of color to a quite gray background! This will be another mission field Mary and I decided, reaching out to Bob V. with love and encouragement as he shares his love with these children in heading up this home!

Tonight, we gather together for fellowship and devotions. Our perspectives on the day are shared. We kick back and relax and look forward to tomorrow and what God has in store for us! Please pray for God to use us where He needs to be. Pray that He will touch each heart of those on our team, our missionary family we are with and those we touch each day.

God is blessing us,
Laura

Touch Down !

2009-03-31T20:35:00.003-04:00

The first leg of our mission trip went quite smooth. Flights were no hassle, baggage all arrived and no one was lost. A small snafu with a rent-a-car made the evening drive to Fort Pierce an extended adventure. Laura's rent-a-car had electrical issues and had to be towed away - getting us into Fort Pierce after midnight. After a short nap we were on the road again and headed for the MFI airfield. No snafus there either, and after a four hour flight we touched down in Cape Haitian. Again we were blessed with a clean pass through customs and shortly we arrived by tap-tap at the mission. Fellowship has been good around the dinner table, and planning sessions have been completed for the next few days. Pat & Clark were very happy with the new laptop, all the medical supplies, crocs and necessities the team has brought down. Tomorrow will be house projects, painting and repairing. We are sticking close to the house due to possible civil unrest in the community tomorrow. No worries – just a precaution. The video is going well and I have captured some very nice images for you all. God bless you all and thank you for your continued prayers.

We've arrived...

2009-03-31T20:27:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone from Cap Haitien!!! We arrived safe and sound at about noon today after a travail yesterday! Our flights went well but once arriving in Orlando we found out that Allan (and Lauraly) Standford and Corey Fleming had a fender bender. Fortunately no one was significantly injured and Lauraly was able to drive the vehicle home safely. The other 7 of us decided to get a bite to eat and thinking we would then be at our hotel and off to sleep within another hour or so, came out of the restaurant to find we had no headlights. Well...long wait, made short for your benefit....Tim, our tow-truck driver delivered a replacement vehicle and we finally arrived at our hotel just after midnight.

This morning after weighing in at MFI in Fort Pierce (wow, were we heavy...ok, the baggage was) we loaded into our cargo plane and we were off to Haiti! The weather is sunny and 80 degrees with a nice breeze! We arrived by noon and waited for the Customs Officer(s) to deliver the bad news...after all we weighed in quite heavily with MFI. The next hour's wait was worth it. Between Pat Moore, Pastor Saintil and Alain, our Haitian friends/family, we left the airport with ZERO dollars in custom's fees! Can you say Praise God??

Really, God has been good to us so far this trip, through the ups/downs of the past 2 days. We have a wonderful group and I know we will have a wonderful time getting to know each other better and working for our God and King! Andy should be posting a few pics for you all to enjoy later.

Pat and Clark, Alain and Enoch, Valerie, Jovite and Mene and Claudette are all doing very well. They are indeed family to us here! God has taken us and brought us together as His family from different places and experiences. And it's all about Him!

So tomorrow we will be hanging at the house doing some work projects due to a change in plans. Pastor Noel stopped by today to say that there was a chance that there might be a manifestation (protest) in Cap, which meant that we could be stoned or hassled if we were to try and drive through and out of town. It is a political season with elections around the corner so, taking his concern in stride, we will head to Terrier Rouge on Monday instead.

Please pray that our work here never outways our shining for God...our part in glorifying Him. Pray that all we do will be a blessing to Him whom we love and serve and to the people we encounter each day. Praise to Him who has carried us here this day for His purposes!

Laura

Views from Haiti

2009-03-30T13:25:00.002-04:00

Here are a few views from Haiti on the November 2007 trip.

Prayer

2009-03-30T11:58:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord,

We come before you and ask for your watchcare over the missions team. Even now as they travel protect them and bring them home again safely. Please keep them well in every way. Give them peace and freedom from distraction so they can focus on the work at hand, trusting that you will care for their loved ones at home. While they are in Haiti we pray that You would surround them with a veil of protection and keep them from anything the enemy would conspire to bring down their work. Praying against all evil we ask you to send your Spirit before them and open up new opportunites and relationships allowing the people in need to be open to their ministry. May many come to you Lord so your gospel can be spread in Haiti. Thank you Father for this team and minister to them personally as well in a mighty way. Please keep the weather mild and send Your Son to shine in this land!

In the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

Bags Are Packed

2009-03-29T20:19:00.003-04:00

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go - I standing here in three inches of snow - I hope I wake up before it's time to go. I'm leaving on Jet Blue hope to touch down sometime before 2 - Oh man, I can't wait to go !!!!

Video team is locked and loaded - eyes are on heaven and knees to the ground. Keep us in your prayers and we will keep you posted as we go.

Love Andy

MaineHaitiConnection....up and running soon!

2009-03-28T17:48:00.000-04:00

It is amazing how this website will enable us to keep in touch and multiply what God can do through us for our brothers and sisters in Haiti!!

I am very thankful to Carla Gade for all of her efforts getting this going for us!

We will hopefully see the website in action soon! Stay tuned....

Next Missions Trip Coming Up!

2009-03-28T17:17:00.000-04:00

The Faith Evangelical Free Church Haiti Missions Team will be leaving on March 30 and returning on April 8. The nine-person team includes: Laura Corbett, Mary Russell, David Clinard, Cory Fleming, Alan Stanford, Larry Veilleux, Mary Veilleux, Andy Collar, & Ron Colwell. Please be sure to keep them in your prayers.

Welcome

2009-03-28T16:04:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Maine-Haiti Connection blog.

Our full website is coming soon at www.mainehaiticonnection.org.