The Bridge Blog

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

This morning we woke up at 6 a.m. to prepare for our first day of Vacation Bible School  for the orphans in The Bridge Christian Children’s Home. Our team rested well their first night here in the house. They buzzed with excitement as we anticipated being with the children. We scarfed some breakfast of toast, bananas, pineapple, fresh eggs and coffee. Then we headed over to the orphanage with all our supplies.

They were all sitting at the large table quietly waiting for us. Ericlee and I introduced the team to the kids. We explained the schedule. Gerby and Walquis helped us lead a time of singing to start off our morning. The kids sang a song about David conquering Goliath (one of the stories we plan to study later this week.) As the kids sang their voices climbed higher and louder. Smiles spread across their faces. I couldn’t help myself: tears began to run down my cheeks as I was overwhelmed by their joy.

These children were so solemn just a year ago. They were from broken and abusive homes. Some have watched their parents die because of illness. Others were born into families where witchcraft and voodoo were practiced. Others were practically starving in the streets. I think of Serline, one of the youngest, who gobbled down three plates of food at our table last summer and barely spoke a word to us. Her parents are dead and even her sweet grandmother who begged us to take her to the orphanage because she couldn’t care for her among the seven other family members just died in September. She is a true orphan. Today Serline was grinning. She was singing with explosive joy. Her cheeks are less gaunt and more round. Her eyes dance. I’ve even seen her mischievous side a few times in the last week!

After our singing, Bev introduced our theme for the week – The Armor of God. The kids said they had not studied this before so we were eager to teach them.  Then we split up into our groups: Bible story (Bev Damm, Nancy Willey, Dorina); Crafts (Jenn Jenkins, Stephanie Farrar, Dana Johnson); Drama (Ericlee, Kelly Damm, Jeremy Schmidt). Ericlee is leading the games for all the children at the end of our day. We are all helping with that part.

Today’s theme is the Belt of Truth (Ephesians 10-11). Bev shared bout why a tool belt is important when doing construction work. She shared truths about God we should remember each day. The Craft group had the kids making belts out of glitter, paint and newspaper. The Drama group shared a few skits showing how important it is to carry all our tools on our Belt of Truth.

The kids were especially thrilled about Game Time. I got to see my husband in his element teaching fitness to the kids. It was so cute to see them doing push-ups, squats, running piggy back and cheering one another on.

–Dorina Gilmore

Have you ever stopped to think that the way in which you think you are helping is actually harming the person?

In our minds we, when we give the money to the person on the street, participate in the local angel tree drive, or even go to the other side of the world to do a VBS in a very poor country, we are doing something good.

But what if that money is being used to feed an addiction. What if the parent who isn’t incarcerated feels helpless when another person gives their child a toy instead of being able to provide this for them. What if the VBS is so elaborate that the children no longer want to do the weekly childrens bible study.

What if the things we do as Christians in this world are actually hurting people instead of helping to develop them? What if there was a way to include and equip the poor to be a part of their solution.

I just finished reading “When Helping Hurts: How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself“. If you care about helping people, I highly recommend it.

It has made me re-think the missions program at The Bridge, as it touches on local, national, and global poverty, as well as short term missions trips. Its my hope and prayer that we are not hurting people when we think we are helping people.

In many ways, Haiti has been forgotten about. The earthquake took place 3 1/2 months ago. Unless you are connected with somebody there, the average American has forgotten about the devastation that took place and continue to take place. Since Haiti, there have been numerous earthquakes in other countries that have caused many deaths and destruction.

The Bridge stepped up their support for Haiti during the aftermath of the quake as we have a strong connection to an organization there called Christian Friendship Ministries. 60,000 + people went to Pignon from Port Au Prince to seek refuge, and CFM was set up strategically in churches to help many of these individuals with food, shelter, and clothing, as well as sharing the love of Christ through action and deed. Along with sending funds to CFM, The Bridge sent funds through Adventures in Mission to help with supplies in a tent camp called Marassa. Marassa consists of 2 tent cities right next to each other with approximately 2,500 people each. A month after the earthquake, they had received no supplies

No Food

No Water

As soon as I learned this, I knew where we needed to send the rest of the money. It is awesome to see how the funds we sent have been used to help people in such great need.

Marassa 14 Camp 1&2 from Adventures in Missions on Vimeo.

(From Thursday, July 30)
Thursday was one of the best and yet hardest days of my life. Today was the day we met the 16 orphans who have been chosen to live in the orphanage. It was actually the first time Wowo, the orphanage director (along with his wife) had met all of them.

The day started early as the orphans were due to arrive at 6:30 am. It seems quite early, but the sun rises about 4:00 am here and we think the mentality was that the earlier it was, the better since many had to walk 2-3 hours each way to come and meet with us. This way they would return home before the heat got too bad. The smallest child, a little girl named Serline lives about 7 miles away.

When the children arrived, our team greeted them and had them come inside the house we are staying in. There was just enough room to seat them all around the table we eat at. We had many activities planned for these children, but they were a bit nervous at first. So we played board games with them to help them relax. After that, we did a few crafts. The best one being a canvas with their name on it. We wrote their names and they painted the rest. Those special names will hang in their room at the orphanage.

While all of this was going on, Dorina and I each pulled a child aside and with the help of a translator, we asked them some questions about themselves so that we can create a profile on each child. We’re not sure where God is leading, but we have dreams of finding at least a sponsor for each child, if not a family that is willing to adopt them. It was difficult to listen to their stories and see the faces that go with the names we’ve been praying for. We were also able to give outfits to the 16 childresn of the orphanage.

We finished off our day with a storytime and playtime back at the church with the Pignon children. Just like yesterday, it was a shortened timeframe because we needed to leave by 6:00 pm to travel to Gerby’s outstation. They were putting on an evening service for us.

I do have to confess that this was indeed my favorite day. It was the day in which I felt like this was what I was made for. This was the day in which I got to minister to the fatherless with my own hands. Just like Eric Liddle says in “Chariots of Fire”–”When I run, I can feel His pleasure.” Well I wasn’t running, but there was a deep satisfaction that I believe comes from doing what God made you to do. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for these orphans and how God has in mind to use me.

-Brandy Freeland

From Wednesday (July 29, 2009):
We have done a lot of respecting of the Haitian culture and graciously doing our construction projects their way even though it doesn’t make sense to us, but today we were able to do things in a more efficient way and the Haitians were impressed. Mind you, it didn’t start out that way. We are pretty sure that Pastor Peter was humoring Nathan and his crew when they gave their suggestions.

You see, our team was asked to help with the pouring of the cement for the floors on the level the children will live on. Pastor Peter stated that there are usually plenty of helpers around when they work on the orphanage, but not when they need do concrete because it requires that they carry buckets of cement up the flight of stairs. One of the workers that we talked with later said that he did that once and he’ll never do it again. He could not even touch his arms afterward. Imagine carrying heavy buckets of cement up and down the stairs all day. Maybe now you can understand.

So Nathan, Paul, Bryan and Ernie stumbled upon a pulley and began formulating an idea. They found parts and pieces around and rigged up a pulley system to carry the cement buckets. They even tore pieces of rags to cover their hands as they pulled on the rope. Well when they completed 3 times the amount of work that Pastor Peter had expected to get done, the guys were pretty proud of themselves. That is when Pastor Peter admitted that he was impressed. Pastor Louie is now suggesting we complete the rest of the work on that floor tomorrow…

Anne and Stacie worked among the Haitian women in the kitchen, organizing it in there. They were able to complete the task of going through food, throwing some things away and also clean it. Clorox wipes are an amazing inventions! At one point, they found a big storage bowl of rice with mice droppings in it and decided to feed it to the chickens in the backyard. We’re pretty sure the Haitian women were trying to understand why we’d throw such a perfectly good bowl of rice away.

Speaking of chicken, yesterday Ernie came upon the women who work in the kitchen. They were catching some of the chicken who run around the yard and killing them for our lunch. So he asked if he could kill one too. They said yes! So Ernie learned a new skill yesterday and today, on his birthday, got to enjoy the product of his new experience as we ate lunch. Don’t worry, we’ve got pictures of that one!

One of the core values of The Bridge is dependence upon God in prayer.

The Bible makes it clear that all good gifts in life come from God and we can accomplish nothing of spiritually significant apart from trusting and abiding in Christ.

The Bridge is entering a new and significant season of ministry and in light of this, we believe that this is the perfect time to call our church family together in collective prayer and fasting in the areas we are asking God to move by the power of His Spirit:

Vision: That we might truly love God, enjoy His presence, power and His protection.

Leadership: That our Elders, Staff and lay leaders would truly seek the heart of God and lead our church body into His perfect will.

Outreach: That God might bless our church family with 250 new people, seeking Him as we officially launch a new service, in the form of our first Video Venue on September 13.

Community Life: That the Lord would cause our LifeGroup ministry to grow and bless our various ministries when they relaunch in September.

Families: That our families and marriages would be greatly blessed by God and that our children would choose to follow Christ whole-heartedly.

Students (Junior High, High School, College) & Young Adults: That God grows these groups of believers and leads them into new chapters of discovery, service and spiritual fruitfulness.

Extended Bridge Ministries/Service: That our Deaf Ministry, El Puente (our Spanish-speaking church plant) as well as our Celebrate Recovery program, experiences God’s favor like never before. We also pray that many would step forward at our church to fill critical ministry roles by serving God through serving others.

Would you please join us in creating a week-long chain of people calling out to God in prayer and skipping at least one meal to show our Father our seriousness in turning to Him for His favor and blessing?

Sign-ups will be available on the Plaza on Sunday, August 9, or you may sign up now at thebridgefresno.com. We are asking you to commit to a week of prayer and a day of simple fasting during the week of August 9-15.

Monday was our first construction day. It was a day of transition—learning the culture, reconciling with not knowing the language and the blending of two ways of doing things. We had book knowledge of this process, but today we had to put it into practice. It is not easy to view things in a non-American way. To learn how to view that our way is not always the best or right way.

We began our day with breakfast together and then began to figure out what was needed from us—what was on the agenda for the day. We ended up in two different locations. A portion of the team worked in the orphanage painting the ceilings. In America, at this point in the building process, we would not have painted the ceilings, but it is what the Haitians wanted, so we did what they asked of us.

After a brief rest in the hot afternoon, Stacie finally got to do the thing that she does so well…teach the children. Before we left America, she was able to obtain 5 children’s stories about Haitian culture. She did such a good job at putting together a story, craft, game, etc for each of those books that we have plenty to do with the children each day. On this day, chose to color with the children, who definitely did not want to give up their crayons and to read one of the books. Something so simple as coloring a page with crayons—something our children take for granted and yet it the children here were engrossed in their activity and did not want to stop.

Our evening was filled with the orphanage director and his family stopping by so that we could meet them. They are a sweet family that seems hand-picked by the Lord to minister to His children. They love children and are very excited for this opportunity. We had many a good discussion about how we can best join in the ministry to the children when we are back home in America. There is a definite love from our team for these orphans. We cannot wait until later in the week when we will be able to move beyond a list of their name and age, but to meet them in person. We also learned from Peter that the committee overseeing the orphanage has decided to name the orphanage, “The Bridge Children’s Home” because of our connection in building the facility, but also because of it being a bridge in the children’s lives to a better future. Tears fill my eyes as I meditate on that—that each one of us at The Bridge have gotten to play a part in that. Thank you, Lord for the privilege of being a part of your plan for these children’s lives.

On Tuesday, our day began early because some of the Haitian construction workers showed up to begin their work then. It was something that involved a whole lot of banging so none of us could sleep through it. Thus our day started at about 5:30am.

All hands were on deck as our whole team headed to the orphanage to paint and work on building the door frames. Pink in the girls room, green in the boys and white in the storage room. The door frames were done in an interesting Haitian way, but in the end each door was completed. We also built shelves to go in the storage room. Much work was done, but more importantly a lot of fellowship happened as we worked alongside our Haitian friends. Our team agreed that one of our favorite moments was when we noticed that in the pink room, it was all of the Haitian men working in there together. It was quite a funny sight.

Our day finished out with our daily ritual of debriefing about our day. This team has bonded since its inception. We can’t imagine our team with anyone missing or another person added. It is apparent to all of us that our team was hand-picked by the Lord. We all work well together, know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and not a moment passes without laughing. Laughter goes a long way in binding a group of people together in an unfamiliar environment. We couldn’t have asked for a better team.

-Brandy Freeland

On Sunday, the team dressed up and walked to the church next door. After brief introductions of our team to the church, we left in a large pickup where most of us sat on benches in the back. The road to the next church is chaotic to say the least. The closest description of the ride would be a roller coaster with no seatbelts with the addition of dust and mud. We stopped and gave introductions at a second church and then moved on to the San Rafael church. This is the church that the Bridge is funding to help build a larger church building. Construction seems to be just about half way. The fence is completely done, but the church building itself only has foundation and walls. Pastor Louie says the roof is next and the flooring after that. There is a water well right in the middle of the seating area. They plan on keeping the well working underneath the floorboards. Talk about the Living Water of Christ!

After church, we headed back home…again, on the Haitian roller coaster. Mamas and children squished into the cab of the truck and the rest of the team rode in the back. What an incredible way to see the country villages of Haiti, but it was certainly full of adventure. The best part was when we came upon a HUGE dip in the road full of mud. Our driver, Alex, contemplated whether to barrel through it with all of us on board or whether to have us pile out, walk around it and wait for him to gun it through in hopes of making it. We went with the piling out option and as soon as we even mentioned prayer—the truck stopped slipping and sliding and made it through.

Thus far, we have been fed well—even eating goat meat. The Haitians are very generous in what they prepare for us each day. A group of incredible women fix our breakfast and lunch, also doing our laundry daily. It might seem odd that we would have them do these things for us, but it gives these women a chance to earn money for their families—a rare opportunity in a culture full of unemployment.

Every afternoon has been filled with resting and then when it begins to cool down (as much as it can cool down here), we let the kids into the yard and it is soon filled with laughter and smiles as we introduce them to things like Legos, Candyland and Memory. There’s certainly plenty of ball games and jump roping going on too. Speaking of kids, little did we know that we brought our own celebrity along in Tiana who is 10-years-old. The Haitian children just stare at her white skin, blonde hair and freckles. Tiana is learning how to ignore their stares and get down to the business of playing with her new friends. She must be doing something right because when we had church last night, she had a group of children waiting for her at the door.
We wish there was some way for you see, smell, hear, taste and feel what we are here in Haiti. We have our camera, but sometimes there is just not enough time to snap a picture of what we see so we can share it with you. In our mind’s eye you have missed the joy on the children’s faces, the group of people gathered around a well, pumping water, the iron used on our clothes with the hot coals in it, and the smell of the hot, sweaty bodies that swarm us whenever we open the gates to the church courtyard to play. You’ve also missed the feel of the never-ending, muggy heat and the sound of the church bell ringing, the rooster crowing and the young women warming up for their church songs.

Monday starts our work at the orphanage. It is built way differently than we would at home and it is not nearly as completed as we thought so we are going to do the best that we can to help and keep ourselves busy. We’ll tell you more about that tomorrow.

To follow along with more updates throughout our days, you can find us at:
www.twitter.com/thebridgefresno
www.Facebook.com/thebridgefresno
www.alohagilmores.blogspot.com
http://journeyintohisheart.blogspot.com

On Sunday morning we awoke to the familiar noises of rural Haiti: roosters crowing, donkeys braying, the church bell ringing, a random saxophone whining in the distance, a Sunday School class reciting Bible verses, children giggling in the yard, the sizzle of eggs frying in the pan and even the scratching of mice. After a grueling day of travel with many hours of waiting in airports and on buses in between, we are finally here.

Our trip from Fresno to Los Angeles to Miami to Port Au Prince was thankfully uneventful. When we arrived in Port Au Prince, Pastor Peter met us and drove and our 23 bags plus carry-ons (minus one lost en route) to the smaller airport. We waited almost five hours in the small airport for our flight to our final destination – Pignon. We were blessed by fellowship with many other missionary teams also preparing to travel to remote parts of the country to serve the people. We felt a strange brotherhood with them.

Tuesday was our second day of Sports Camp for the Haitian kids in Pignon and we felt so blessed by God’s presence here.

Each day we are splitting the 120 kids into four teams and the teams rotate each hour. Each team rotates between Soccer, Baseball, Hurdles , and Relay Races Maria Lazo is in charge of the Gilmore girls and Stacey Belmont is graciously delivering drinks to all the campers and coaches (A HUGE job!)Monday was slightly chaotic when 150-some kids showed up for camp and we were only prepared with shirts for 120. We experienced many challenges because of the language barrier with the kids. We also faced extreme humidity/heat in Haiti with not enough water to serve the kids on the field. Kids were pushing and stealing water from each other and we had to split up some arguments started by bystanders. We have come to expect these kinds of challenges but they are never fun. In the afternoons, we are hosting a Story Hour for the youngest kids in the neighborhood who cannot participate in the Sports Camp. Many of them are seven and under. Mom/Maria Lazo brought a story set in Haiti from Child Evangelism Fellowship to share Christ with these kids. Debbi helped with props and pictures. Peter’s oldest daughter, Stacy, served as the translator.

Maria shared the story in the yard next to the church and the kids were absolutely quiet and enraptured by the details of the story and her expressions. It is clear that storytelling is highly valued in this culture which has not yet been polluted by television, video games and other distractions. They were so hungry for more. We look forward to sharing with them each afternoon this week as the 5-part story continues.

Please pray for good health and continued safety for the team.

-Dorina Gilmore