inspiration from Sean Penn and Haiti

Check out this video from Vanity Fair of Sean Penn in Haiti after the quake. It gets me excited to serve with you. The rest of the article is linked below.

Vanity Fair Haiti Article.

Info and pics of Haiti

Here is another email from Haiti, written to us about you all. So, here ya go, there are also some pics.

Hey guys! Here’s the update of everything going on in MA Haiti! This week and next week are all about getting the church ready to live in. The plumbing is finished, and all of the electrical work should be done by tonight. A few people told me that the pictures of the church did not work properly, so I’ll be re-attaching them to this email. Let me know if it doesn’t work for you this time!

One thing that God has put on our hearts from the very beginning is to bathe every little thing in prayer. If it is possible, we would like a list of the names of each person coming on each team, so that we can pray for each individual by name.

We would also like the youth groups to be in prayer long before they arrive in Haiti. These are the specific items that we would like them to pray about:

-Seriously ask God what His expectations are for their time in Haiti, and if He has any specific words or instructions for them.

-Pray for specific ways that they can bless and encourage the long-term staff here at YWAM Port-au-Prince.

-Also, we want them to please be praying for our team here in Haiti. MA Haiti is made up of: Mike Gervasi, Amy Alexander, Kyle Troyer, Ethan Haworth, and Amanda MacDowell.

I am sure that you have already briefed the teams about traveling to a third world country, but please remind them again that this is Haiti, and things will be different here. Everyone will enjoy their time here so much more if they come with open hearts, and are prepared to be very flexible. The teams also need to be aware that life will not be as comfortable here as it is in America. Haiti is a land of extremes: extreme heat, extreme poverty, extremely simple living conditions—picture rows of mattresses on the ground, bucket flushing toilets, and rice and beans for dinner.

On top of this, there are certain policies that we have put in place for this summer. The first is called “Be unplugged!” And it requires all of the students to leave iPods, mp3s, laptops, and cell phones at home. Cameras and video recorders are allowed, and the youth group leader is welcome to bring a laptop for correspondence. I know that this can be hard, but we guarantee that this will make the best missions experience possible!

Also, be sure to clarify the dress code so that the kids come prepared:

Girls: while on base and for some ministry they can wear: shorts to the knees, loose pants, capris, t-shirts, tank tops with straps at least two-fingers wide, and no spaghetti straps. Some ministry will require girls to wear: dresses, knee-length skirts and shirts with sleeves.

Guys: while on base and for some work/ministry they can wear: shorts, pants, t-shirts. For church and some ministry they will need to wear: pants and a button up shirt. Even though this is a third-world country, Haitians believe in dressing to the nines for church!

Last but not least, all the youth leaders should be informed that an MA staff member will be meeting them at the airport with a “YWAM” sign. After they go through customs there is one door to the outside where we will be waiting. In case they need to contact us, Mike’s Haitian cell phone number is (509) 36802207 and Amy’s Haitian cell phone is (509) 37679585. In the previous update, I included a basic airport briefing–please make sure that every youth group leader receives this briefing.

May God bless you all!

Amanda

A little something you should know part. 1

Over the next few day’s and weeks we will be posting some info on your Haiti trip. If you have any questions please email me, Phil at phil@missionadventures.net

Here is the first bit of somethings you should know, it comes in the form of an E-mail response from Amanda to another team leader.

-All of the electrical outlets are the same as in the US, no converter is needed.

-We would not recommend using American cell phones in Haiti. As far as we know, only at&t and t-mobile even offer service here, but it is so expensive that no one chooses to use their American cell phones. (To find exactly how expensive, they would have to contact their service provider.) The main two methods of contact in Haiti are skype and email. We will make sure that the youth pastors have reliable Internet access to keep their church/parents of the students updated.

-Like Kody mentioned, his number while in Haiti is +509 3883 1137. Kyle Troyer also has a Haitian cell phone, and his number is (509)38873364.

As the time draws closer for the teams to come join us in Haiti, we welcome any questions that the youth leaders may have! We want them to look forward to this summer with as little stress or worry as possible!

Amanda

Come on rise up.

Here is a video that I found on Seth Barnes site on Haiti. It is very inspiring and gets me excited for you and I to go and see change happen.

Welcome

Welcome to the YWAM Haiti Mission Adventures outreach site. Initially we created this site to bring awareness and provide ways to be involved with the work in Haiti. It has been over 2 months since the earth quake and there is still such desperate need there. We have adjusted this site from being one of immediate relief efforts to a blog that focuses on making it easy for you to register your team to go to Haiti to serve Jesus and His people there.

Within this site you will find stories of past teams and individuals who have served in Haiti since the quake. You will also find links to blogs where you will read inspiring and sad stories of what is going on and what God has done and is still doing over there. We also have all the registration info, dates, costs and other pertinent information regarding registering your team for your Mission Adventures outreach to Haiti.

Thank you for your interest with wanting to serve and partner what God is doing in Haiti. Please help us continue to spread the word and importance about what is going on in Haiti and the urgency there is to see people and teams coming from all over over the world to taking a part in rebuilding a nation.

For more info on Haiti and the work that is being done there please go to their web site and their blog site.

Thanks and we look forward to serving with you.

Mission Adventures International.