Haiti is Gorgeous!

Quite often, everything that you hear in the news about Haiti is negative- about how poor people are, the areas of violence, etc. I think it's important to remember how gorgeous the country is too. Not only are the people of Haiti amazing, but the land of Haiti is too. The picture at the top of the blog is one of the views that we see from GLA everyday. These three pictures are also pictures that I've taken from GLA also- the gorgeous sunsets, and one of the waterfalls nearby that we will hopefully be able to go see while we are in Haiti.

Pictures of God's Littlest Angels Orphanage

I thought it might be good to add a few pictures of where we will be in Haiti for others to see. These two pictures are of the two compounds that God's Littlest Angels has. The first picture is of the Toddler House, which is actually two separate houses within one compound. The house at the back of the yard is where the volunteers live, where the school rooms are and where the older boys at the toddler house stay. The house on the right has the kitchen and eating rooms for all of the kids, ages 2-12, at the toddler house, and bedrooms for the younger kids and the older girls. We will be holding the VBS at this house.
The second picture is of the main house compound. The guesthouse where our team will be staying is to the right once you enter the gate. The second floor of this house is where all of the nurseries for kids ages 0-2 live. There is a balcony on the top floor where volunteers can work with their assigned children. The first floor has a kitchen, eating area for volunteers and staff, and offices for the foreign staff.
Hopefully this will help you picture a little better where we will be staying while we are in Haiti!
Kristin

Kristin's view of the trip

Tomorrow we will be holding our third team meeting, and we will be going over a lot of the plans that have been made for the specifics of the VBS in Haiti. As I am planning to ask everyone to share some thoughts on the blog about our upcoming trip, I thought I'd start by sharing mine.
This will be my fourth trip to the country of Haiti. I spent three weeks in Haiti in June 2004, four weeks in June/July 2006, and 6 weeks in June/July 2007. Each time I have returned to work at God's Littlest Angels Orphanage. I just love it there! I love having the opportunity to do my part in caring for the orphans of this world, by loving them and simply being there for them. I have come to love the country of Haiti and all of the beauty that is present, even in so much suffering.
On my last trip, in 2007, I was there while a team from Alberta did a VBS for some of the oldest kids at the orphanage. I was able to help out during the VBS, and enjoyed it so much!! They did a great job of planning, and the kids obviously loved it. That week really started some wheels turning in my head. Every time I had gone to Haiti, I had gotten so much support from Hillcrest, from financial support, to prayer support, to material support, of things to bring to the orphanage. I knew how much going to Haiti had changed my life, and I wanted to have the chance to help others experience the exactly same thing. Once I got back home in August, I started to see if it would be possible to take a group of people from Hillcrest to Haiti the following summer to run a VBS for the kids again.
Things started to fall together very nicely, so I held a few informational meetings in October to get the information about the trip out there for those who would be interested. Amazingly enough, I had exactly the number of people apply to come along as I had room for. The list of people coming is on our first post.
We've all been very busy since then, working on planning the VBS and fundraising. It has been incredibly affirming to see all of the support that we've been given along the way. This has definitely been a growing experience for me, as I have never led anything like this before, but I am so excited to see how God is going to work through our group in Haiti. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we prepare to go and bless God's children in Haiti. Please also pray for the children that we will be ministering to, that their hearts may be open to receiving God's love through us.
Kristin

Email

We set up a team email address to use with this blog. If anyone has a question for us, please feel free to send us an email, or ask it in the comment section. The email address is hillcrestservinginhaiti@yahoo.com. It is also located under our profile at the top.
Thank you!

An Introduction

This blog was started to keep our church family updated on our mission trip to Haiti.
We will be working at God's Littlest Angels Orphange from June 6-16. Our main purpose for our trip will be to put on a Vacation Bible School for the older children living at the orphanage. We will also be spending time with the little ones at the orphanage, providing extra love and attention to those that need it. We estimate 30-40 children will attend the VBS.
Our first fund raiser was held on January 23 at the Arby's restaurant in Hudsonville. We were able to raise $220.00 toward our plane tickets with this money! Thank You!
Our second (concurrent) fund raiser was selling Little Cesar's Pizza Kits. Our profit on that fund-raiser was approximately $500.00. Wow! Thank you Hillcrest for your support!
The third funraiser we are planning is a combination carwash/bake sale to be held in Hudsonville some time in April.
We are busy preparing the VBS and getting very excited to go serve God's children in Haiti.
Here is the list of our team members and what their assigned task will be in Haiti:
Brett Applebach: snacks
Lauren Boynton: craft assistant
Megan Dornbos: singing
Jay Kiel: quieter activity
Deb Ohlman: crafts
Lori Schuitema: snack
Nathan Schuitema: quiet activity
Kelly VandenBerg: story telling
Ryan VanderPloeg: large group games
Kristin Vanderwell: coordinator
Cheryl Vanderwell: photographer
We hope to be able to update this occasionally as we prepare to leave, and then several times while we are in Haiti so that our friends and family will be able to follow what we are doing during the week. God's Littlest Angels (GLA) does not allow us to post pictures of the children on the web, or to mention any kids by name, but there will be plenty of stuff we can share!
Thank you for following our status! Please keep us in your prayers!

The Hillcrest Haiti Mission Team