Haiti Mission Trip

Monday, July 20, 2003

E-mail from Cynthia Jaramillo:

Dear Family and Friends,

After a warm but restful evening, most of us were up before the crack of dawn, you see, the sun comes out by 5:00 am and sundown is on or about 6:00 PM. Sandra and Rick served a delicious breakfast at 7:00 am and once we all cleaned up we were on our way to the activities scheduled for the day.

The Soccer Camp Crew, Ian, Opal and Ian along with their Haitian counterparts Franz and Ashka, met with boys and girls from three different Churches (about 20 kids per Church). Our Crew had 60 soccer balls, nets, uniforms, etc. The athletes started with prayer and a bible lesson, followed by games. I can't tell you how much fun everyone shared. Then a group of Haitian ladies helped serving lunch, which was provided by our team.

After lunch all the children were returned to their respective churches. The rest of us headed to one of Pastor Alvarez's schools to perform sing and share in fellowship with a group of children. When we arrived, we counted 178 children! Our group performed an interpretive dance to the music He Reigns. Children were given colored scarves to identify each group so that later in the morning we could divide ourselves to assist each group with the crafts we had brought for them; color beads to make bracelets, crowns to color and paint and of course we had three giant containers with Gatorade and snacks for the children. Cynthia spent some of the sown time playing games with the smaller children and singing in French. She also helped translating with all the other groups and it was a wonderful experience for all.

We were told that Michael and the street kids did not have any food and
were able to purchase a supply of rice, beans, pasta, spaghetti sauce, oil, salt, sugar and more to last them at least 2 or three months. After riding in the back of the "Big Truck" through streets that have seen better days and in the scorching sun of the early afternoon, we reached Michael's home to deliver the food for the boys. We stayed for a short visit, toured the home and met many of the boys that were in the house and that time.

To finish the day, we returned to the Guest House for dinner and for a Birthday celebration.... guess who turned 50? Karen Lefler!!! We sang Happy Birthday in English and in Creole too.

Please continue to pray for us and we will continue to do the Lord's work in Haiti.

God Bless us all,

Cynthia Jaramillo