Author: vernonhammett

I purposefully set a demanding schedule for the week for these missionaries in an attempt to maximize their exposure to, and experience with all of the ministries here at Mission of Grace. I divide the team of 13 into three groups which are named Love, Hope and Faith. Each group will serve in different areas of the mission AND they will rotate assignments/activities. For example Team Love may serve at the clinic on Monday, Team Hope on Tuesday, and Team Faith may be assigned on Wednesday. In the morning while Team Hope is at the orphanage, Team Love may be praying with the villagers while Team Faith is working on a construction project.

Typically our day starts with devotions at 7:45 am followed by breakfast. We leave for our morning activities at 9 am and return to the guest house for lunch at 12:15 pm. We leave the guest house to partake in our afternoon activities at 1:45 pm and return around 5pm. Dinner is served at 6pm most nights and this is followed a discussion of “how did I get here” presented by one of the people who play a major role at the Mission. We end our day with a team debriefing where the theme is “how did we experienced God at work today”, and close out with prayer.

This morning we tour the different ministries which make up the Mission of Grace. They include a church, school, clinic, orphanage, elderly home, separate homes for teen girls, teen boys, and unwed mothers, and a soup kitchen. We start our tour walking a quarter mile up the mountain to view the remnants of the mudslide which took place in August 2015. It is this devastation which brought the Lott Carey teams to Carries in the first place. It is difficult to comprehend the magnitude of the water, mud, and rocks which cascaded down the mountain obliterating homes and uprooting the lives of the villagers. Vegetation has replaced much of the destruction and many of the people who lost homes chose to leave the area and rebuild their lives elsewhere.

Our first ministry stop is the Grace Community School. Note, there is no national school system in Haiti so most schools are privately run by churches or missions. The student body at Grace ranges from 4 year old nursery to eight grade. Tuition is $220 per year which covers books and school supplies, 2 uniforms, teachers salary and two meals a day. Mr Billy, the principal takes the team on a brief tour of the school and we get to visit several classrooms. I am proud to see they have completed the 2nd floor on one of the buildings since my last visit. Pictured below are the photos from: 2015 before the school building was started; 2016 when the first floors were completed, and this year showing the completed 2nd story on one building. Construction will continue when the funds are available.

2015 before school building construction

2016 first floors of school done

2018 2nd floor of school occupied

We take the short walk from the school to the clinic. This clinic is the only one in the region whose services are totally free…medical treatment, exams, tests, and prescription meds are all free. We leave the clinic and walk down to the elderly home which we call The Grandma-Grandpa House. We are greeted with smiles, kisses, and hugs from the residents here. After spending a little time with them we head further down the hill, passing by the teen boys home, to the orphanage which is home to The Children of Grace (they don’t like using the term “orphanage” at the Mission). The teen girls home is also housed within this compound. It’s quiet here because the older children are in school and the babies are preparing for their midday nap. The last stop on our tour this morning is the soup kitchen. The kitchen provides a noonday meal, 7 days a weeks, for 150 to 300 people. All who come can receive a meal and for some it is the only meal they get on a daily basis.

After lunch the teams head out to their assignments: Team Love is going to paint the orphanage while Team Faith gets to play with the children there, and Team Hope is headed to Grandma-Grandpa House.

The guys on our mission team lead bible study for the men in the Village this evening. The men are focusing on men of the bible so our guys lead a spirited discussion on King David.

I would say today was a great start to what I know will be a fantastic week of serving God at the Mission of Grace in Carries.

THURSDAY morning I joined the group of missionaries headed to the school. We spent an hour or so interacting with the pre-K students. They were a lively bunch who enjoyed the various learning activities we presented. After that I took a different group to the soup kitchen. Although it was their first time serving there, it was also the last opportunity we will have to do this in 2017. As a matter of act when I shared that message with Lenice she grimaced at the reality of it. The group spent a pleasant hour serving food and cleaning up the kitchen area before we headed back to meet the entire team. After lunch two groups from the team headed to the Children of Grace where we spent an enjoyable afternoon. I was disappointed I didn’t get to see bossy Ms. Julie one last time. She took a nap when she came in from school and never came out before we had to leave. During our evening debrief we learned that a mother delivered a baby at the clinic earlier in the day. It turned out to be one of Cullen’s “ladies” named Gailine who suffered from placenta previa. She had two previous miscarriages and, in fact, the doctors at the clinic sent her to a hospital because of the potential complications with her diagnosis. It was a joy to hear both she and the baby had fared well.

FRIDAY was the last full day the team would spend in Haiti. We went to the Haitian cultural museum and then stopped at a nearby resort to have a late lunch. When we returned to the guest house the teens were already having a great time. We joined them at the beach and spent the remainder of the daylight hours just having fun. The goodbyes were a little tough. One teen tearfully was clinging to a missionary not wanting to let her leave. Ms. Faviola gave me the biggest hug and said she was really going to miss me. It was tough holding back my own tears after that. My son Paul came from Port Au Prince once more to visit. We spent the evening talking and playing pool. I did not sleep very well the night before so I had to call it an early night.

We rose to bright sunshine on SATURDAY morning and enjoyed a delicious breakfast outdoors. The team packed their suitcases the night before so we were able to leave on time to head towards Port Au Prince for our flight home. We stopped by the 2010 earthquake memorial on the way. There are reports that up to 300,000 people were buried at this site. Our travel to the airport was completely uneventful and we were able to board our plane to return to the U.S. We are grateful for a rewarding time in Haiti and traveling mercies back home.

On Sunday this mission team contributed $400 (US) to purchase a weeks work of food for 20 needy families in Carries. Monday through Thursday a team is scheduled to go into the village to make deliveries to five homes each day. On WEDNESDAY morning I joined four other missionaries to take our turn making deliveries. As we went to pick up the food we came upon an elderly man sitting on his porch. Mr. Eluonie is well known in the village and I have often spoken to him and visited with him as I walked to and from the village. That morning we stopped and had a word of prayer with him. In August 2015 his former home was totally destroyed by a mudslide and he was buried up to his neck in mud and rocks for 3 days. His neighbors had to dig him out by hand because there were no tools or machinery in Carries to perform that task. He is a living witness of God’s grace and mercy, and he often had a word of praise as I passed by his current home.

The first house we visited was home to a mother of eight and she was happy to receive the donation. She has lived in the village a long time and had words of praise for the assistance she had received from the Mission of Grace over the years. I happened to pick up her youngest child while we were talking. As we were headed to our next stop I realized my shirt was a little wet. Almost immediately it occurred to me that her son had baptized me. A friend of mine shared, “if God can turn wine and bread into blood and flesh, surely He can turn pee into an anointing”.

As we continued to our next stop, I couldn’t help but laugh when I realized we were headed back to Mr. Eluonie’s home. I told those who were assembled there was no need to pray for him because we had already done so. However, Mr. Eluonie blew me away when he said, “that was the quickest God had ever answered his prayer”. You see he was hungry and in desperate need of a blessing. Little did any of us know that God had already worked it out.

Our travels took us to several other houses. One elderly woman told us she had trouble walking and thus had a hard time making a living. She shared that the food would be a tremendous blessing to her. Our final delivery was also to the home of a woman. I had met her on my walk with Cullen a few weeks ago. She willingly shared with the group that she had cancer and in fact freely lifted her blouse to show us her wound from a surgery to remove a mass from her breast. Cullen told me that cancer can be a death sentence in Haiti because cancer-fighting drugs are costly and thus unavailable. However, if it was not for her testimony we would not have know the extent of her situation. She, like everyone we met that day only asked that we pray for greater faith and trust in God.

Not only did these missionaries set aside $400 to feed families, they also contributed $150 to purchase food for an orphanage not affiliated with Mission of Grace. The donation meant 21 children would have enough food to last them for 30 days. Often these children don’t even get one meal a day. The “little orphanage” as we refer to it, is a place I look forward to visiting because the children are always so appreciative. When we last stopped by there a few weeks ago with the previous mission team, we noticed a little girl who showed signs of severe malnutrition. It was good to see she showed signs of improvement. She looked healthier, participated in our activities, and she even smiled at us. The pastor and proprietor of the orphanage expressed his appreciation for the much needed gift of food.

After dinner we surprised Missionary Nicole Jackson with a cake to celebrate her birthday. We also said farewell to Cullen Vane who headed back to the United States after spending 7 months walking the trails and hills of the village. Like all who serve, he is headed home for a period of rest and rejuvenation. Cullen has been an exemplary missionary who travels far and wide. Everyone in the village knows “Mr. Cullen” and often as we have walked goat trails people call out to him. He has used is own funds to purchase food for those in need. He has personally carried or escorted many people to the clinic to get needed medical help and medicine. He embodies the Spirit of the Living God and I am sure if he encountered the woman at the well, he too would have stood with Jesus to defend her. His love for the babies and the elderly will be greatly missed. Many times in the last few weeks some people have referred me “Mr. Cullen”. I know they mean it as a compliment and I proudly wear it as a badge of honor.