Team Good News (from Wilton, NH) came to join us in Grand-Goave, Haiti with a total of 19 members, 4 of them, family from out of state. Many months of preparation and anticipation went into this trip only to have 15 of them stuck in JFK because of airplane repairs needed. This didn't discourage Team Good News, they were determined to come and do all that God had intended for them to accomplish!
Day 1 - We received 4 members that traveled out of Washington state and South Carolina. Having this be their first trip to Tree of Hope Haiti they did pretty good looking for Gama at the airport.
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| Left to Right (Desiree and Kenton Stenersen, Neal and Joel Kandoll, Gama and Nyah Parayson) |
Then after lunch these 4 went right back at it to the second house's foundation which is another one of our sponsored children named Kenel Raymond. His family had been living in a tent house (built with sticks and an extra large tarp) with a dirt floor. Surprisingly, it didn't fall down in the recent hurricane but it did get flooded and has been a muddy mess ever since.
Inside the Raymond's Tent Home with Kenel's sister. Below Kenel is the little boy in the white shirt with his mom, dad and other siblings. They all helped to build their house together with the missionaries and our haitian workers. Each time a house is built, a family is empowered to live above poverty. This family literally was able to get up off the dirt and even sleep in a bed for the first time!
Meanwhile Gama returned with the rest of Team Good News on Day 2 in the afternoon. They were eager to start and help out anyway they could.
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Everyone was happy to have finally made it safely! |
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Dale and Rick went right to fixing the generators with parts they brought from the states.
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Phil started on fitting wooden benches in our newly remodeled (taptap) box truck |
The ladies prepared a craft for the women's conference that was planned for the next three days. Pam Cheever lead a bible study of the importance of names and each lady would receive a plaque with their name to decorate.
The youth on this trip helped to decorate a name plaque for each of our ladies who work for TOHH to give at the end of their stay.
2 SPECIAL GUEST on this Good News Trip
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Ben Mertzic joined The Good News Team to take video footage to help up us make a TOHH promo video!! Can't wait to share it with everyone!!! Stay tuned... |
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John Strong came on this trip and worked on our vehicles, generators and anything else he could get his hands on. Good auto mechanics are a rare find here in Haiti and we so appreciated John sharing his skill with us this past week! |
Day 3 - Each morning Team Good News started with breakfast and a creole lesson given by our wonderful enthusiastic translator, Susie. They would practice the creole basics to help them get through their day. Susie made sure everyone was pronouncing words correctly by repeating creole in different octaves. It sure made us laugh!
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Susie |
As the work day began, we had a construction crew and a lady's crew who went up into the mountains above TOHH (about 20 minutes) for a women's conference. Pictured first is the construction crew forming the walls for two houses and putting the up. Each crew worked efficiently, everyone doing their part.
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Framing the Walls |
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Team Good News' Fearless leader Pastor Jared |
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Transporting plywood to put up the walls |
Walls going up for Kenel Raymond's family. |
Walls going up for Wilberto's Family |
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Meanwhile, the ladies in the group were driven up to the mountain church by Phil Stenersen (Team Good New's chofer) in the TOHH taptap box truck.
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| Pam Cheever prepared a well thought out bible lesson every day with these ladies. Susie did a great job making sure it was translated correctly and with passion about the importance of names given to those in the bible. She ended in bringing it to a personal level sharing that each lady was given a name for a special purpose. |
These ladies loved the ice breaker game as they picked who was next to share. Pam made a cube to be rolled and whatever it landed on they share their favorite color, tell us about their family, if they have animals or their favorite activity.
Team Good News wanted to pour out love to these ladies and paid for them to all have a snack each day. They all waited to for everyone to have hot chocolate and bread before praying and eating. It was a great way to end the session.
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After lunch was prep time for the children's program that Shana lead |
We opened the gates at 3pm and the children came running in!
We opened with songs and then Shana shared the bible story of the farmer who sowed his seed on four different types of soil. (The seed representing the Word of God and the soil representing the condition of our hearts). The girls acted out a farmer (Pam) sowing seed on hard ground, stoney ground and thorny ground. Shana encouraged the children to hear the word of God and let it grow like that of the 4th soil in good ground!
THE KIDS LOVED THE ART PROJECT
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Making birds and remembering not to let the birds eat the seed but to remember to HIDE God's word in our hearts! |
THE YOUNGER KIDS PLAYED WITH BUBBLES
Day 4 - The construction crew started early morning with building the trusses for both houses and started to paint. Thanks to the crew for allowing Nathan get in there building alongside of you all.
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| Pam continued her series on names and started to share about the many names of God. Then we had the ladies decorate their name plaque to put up in their house. They had lace, buttons, jewels, glitter glue, ribbon |
They loved decorating....
After lunch more craft prep for the children program. The children seemed to multiply!
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Shana continued to teach the children about the importance of the word of God that is sown like a seed in our hearts and how our faith will grow as we continue to keep our eyes on the SON (Jesus). Today's craft was to make flowers. The children loved how colorful they were and asked for their photo's to be taken with their beautiful flower. |
Day 5 - The construction crew finished up painting the two houses and putting up both roofs. They installed the front doors and locks. They made three full size wooden beds as Phil Stenersen felt led to donate a bed for a disabled man who has a house but had no bed. The ladies headed up for one final women's session and time just seemed to fly.
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Worship time in creole to begin our bible study |
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A time for prayer |
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Last day with the ladies up in the mountains. Thank you Pam for preparing such a wonderful time in the Word and fellowship with others all together. It was special.Day 5 - After Lunch- House Dedication Ceremony |
Wilberto's family was grateful to receive this house by Team Good News specially since they have been homeless ever since 2010's Earthquake; living with whatever family or friends could house them. Now, they have a place to call home!
Each Family received a wooden double size bed and mattress along with a months worth of food, a metal cooking stove, charcoal, a two sturdy grocery bags with all sorts of other goodies inside like bed sheets, solar lamp/solar flash light and an umbrella.
Let's not forget about the goat. To have a goat in Haiti is like money in the bank. If the goat gets pregnant than the money multiplies. Both goats given today were already pregnant. God bless them and multiply them.
Kenel Raymond's family thankful to receive a new house. During the dedication ceremony Kenel's dad shared his thanks with the team and was in awe of what God can do through people like Team Good News!
Day 6 - The morning was spent going out into the community to give shoes and clothing to those effected most by Hurricane Matthew.
Most families in our area had flooding or roofs torn off thier house. This mother lost everything. Her whole house came crashing down. They are living in community shelter right now but TOHH is preparing to build this women and her family a home with the Hurricane Relief Funds. 
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MOVIE NIGHT with Team Good News and giving out New KEEN shoes  Thanks to Sarah Vitello who works for EMS sports back in the states, who arranged all these sandal to be donated from her workplace. These shoes are durable and should last a while opposed to the cheap flip flops the kids tend to wear. Day 7 - Heading to Church on their last full day here at TOHH. |
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN COMING TO HAITI???
We have a few dates open this year...
May Sponsorship Trip (May 23, 2017 – May 30, 2017)
Recently, TOHH introduced a child sponsorship-themed trip to Haiti in January 2017. Now, we have another opportunity for you to meet and connect with your sponsored child! We are organizing a second team to come to Haiti in May 2017 for a one week, child sponsorship-themed trip! Friends and family are also more than welcome on the trip. Our long-term missionary, Cassandra Clemente, will be leading this trip in May. Prior to the trip, we will have pre-trip group meetings where we will be able to talk about what to expect in Haiti, our plans for the week, and more exciting trip details!The trip dates will be Tuesday, May 23, 2017 to Tuesday, May 30, 2017. We are planning lots of special activities for this week! During the week, we will take excursions to visit the sponsored children’s’ homes, meet their families, and learn more about their daily lives. We will have lots of fun time with the kids! We plan on having the children at TOHH for activities such as baking, crafts, and movie night! We plan on doing fun excursions as a team as well, such as a trip to Taino Beach. Child sponsors will also be given the option of doing a home improvement project for an additional cost. Depending on what the team decides, this may include home repair, or building beds, chairs, and tables.
We are excited to know if you, your family and/or friends are interested in joining this trip! The deposit for this trip is non-refundable and would need to be collected by the end of February 2017. The deposit is $125, which includes a t-shirt that we request you wear on travel day. The balance due for the TOHH Guesthouse fee is $450 per person and will be due one month before the trip (April 23, 2017). This includes three meals a day, travel to and from the airport, housing, and operation costs. The only additional cost is the plane flight to Haiti. To learn more about preparing for a trip to Haiti, follow this link: http://treeofhopehaiti.org/volunteers/preparing-for-a-trip/ We would love to know if you are interested by December 10, 2016.
TOHH Summer Camp (July 1st-August 21st)
TOHH summer camp this summer was a success! We are already preparing for next year’s summer camp program, and we’re so excited to share a new opportunity for you to get involved! During summer 2017, the TOHH summer camp program will run again for seven weeks, and Cassandra will be returning to Haiti to organize this program for sponsored children as well as other children from the community. We are expecting to accept even more children next year, and we could have 60 or more children in the program!! We are looking for volunteers who are willing to come to Haiti and help out with summer camp! Volunteers may sign up for one or more weeks during the summer to come work with the children. During the mornings, we will be teaching Math and English using crafts, games, and other activities! During the afternoons, we will be doing individual updates on the children and helping them write letters to their sponsors! The available weeks to volunteer next summer are listed below:
July 1 – July 8 (first week of summer camp)
July 8 – July 15
July 15 – July 22
July 22 – July 29
July 29 – August 5
August 5 – August 12
August 12 – August 21 (end of summer camp celebration)
