Twitter / AsburyWGM

Monday, March 28, 2011

Haiti Slideshow

Click here to view a slideshow of images from the Haiti trip!

Haiti house panoramic

Thanks to Michael Haddock for taking and combining this panoramic of the house we worked on over spring break! We have uploaded fairly large versions of them, so feel free to click to expand them to see more detail. Hopefully soon we will have a slideshow up from the trip as well.





Thanks for all your prayers!  Sharing with Global Cafe last night was great!  Looking forward to next spring break!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Haiti Team Report this Sunday

Come hear a live report from our team to Haiti!  Sunday, 6PM at Global Cafe`!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Getting ready to head home.

Note: In the midst of packing, we didn't upload any pictures tonight.  Sorry!  We will upload some tomorrow if we can find wi-fi in the airports.

Hey everyone, this is Chris Wylie writing again for the team.

Today was our last day in Haiti.  After a long week of work and a day spent as tourists yesterday, it was nice to have a day of relaxation before leaving early tomorrow morning.  Today we came together a few times to debrief for our entire trip and share what we have experienced personally with each other.  I found this to be very helpful in the early stages of mentally and emotionally unpacking everything that I’ve seen and experienced in the past ten days.  It was very interesting to hear what everyone else in the group has taken away from this trip as well.  I feel as though the team has really come together over the course of the last week.

After a day spent napping, sharing thoughts, and fixing wireless networks, the team went across the street once again to spend time with the children of the New Hope Club.  We spent the first fifteen minutes or so watching Carly speak to the kids, and it was amazing to me to see how well he keeps their attention and connects with them.  Nathan, Maria and I then performed a short skit for the kids before distributing snacks and spending some time playing.  Before leaving, we bought cards and kites that the kids had made.  Sarah explained to us that they have taught the kids to make crafts that they can sell to tourists instead of resorting to begging, and we were all very happy to purchase from them.

Today has definitely been a great way to close out our trip.  I greatly appreciate having time to rest and relax, share with one another in great detail, and play with the kids across the street one last time.  Without a doubt, this week has been a life changing experience for us all and I’m sure we’re all excited to return.

God bless everyone at home

Getting ready to head home.

Note: In the midst of packing, we didn't upload any pictures tonight.  Sorry!  We will upload some tomorrow if we can find wi-fi in the airports.

Hey everyone, this is Chris Wylie writing again for the team.

Today was our last day in Haiti.  After a long week of work and a day spent as tourists yesterday, it was nice to have a day of relaxation before leaving early tomorrow morning.  Today we came together a few times to debrief for our entire trip and share what we have experienced personally with each other.  I found this to be very helpful in the early stages of mentally and emotionally unpacking everything that I’ve seen and experienced in the past ten days.  It was very interesting to hear what everyone else in the group has taken away from this trip as well.  I feel as though the team has really come together over the course of the last week.

After a day spent napping, sharing thoughts, and fixing wireless networks, the team went across the street once again to spend time with the children of the New Hope Club.  We spent the first fifteen minutes or so watching Carly speak to the kids, and it was amazing to me to see how well he keeps their attention and connects with them.  Nathan, Maria and I then performed a short skit for the kids before distributing snacks and spending some time playing.  Before leaving, we bought cards and kites that the kids had made.  Sarah explained to us that they have taught the kids to make crafts that they can sell to tourists instead of resorting to begging, and we were all very happy to purchase from them.

Today has definitely been a great way to close out our trip.  I greatly appreciate having time to rest and relax, share with one another in great detail, and play with the kids across the street one last time.  Without a doubt, this week has been a life changing experience for us all and I’m sure we’re all excited to return.

God bless everyone at home

Saturday, March 19, 2011

One last look at Haiti

Hello everyone, it’s Maria again. The internet is actually working quite well at the moment so I’m going to type fast. The original plan for this morning was to go through the National Museum in Port-au-Prince and then see more of the city throughout the day. As it is in Haiti, we faced some challenges, but nothing that we couldn’t handle.


The Presidential Palace virtually untouched since the Earthquake.

A painting of how the palace looked pre-quake.

First stop was the museum, except that it was closed today. We are assuming it’s because of the elections tomorrow-no big deal. In the same area as the museum are the presidential palace and an independence monument that just happens to be a 200 stair tower. Our second idea was to climb the tower to get some great pictures of the city (in case we didn’t have enough already). It turns out there is a key you must get to unlock the gate to climb the tower. After driving around and waiting for about 25 minutes Gens found out the person who usually has the key wasn’t in today. As Gens said “the election is against us”.



Luckily we are good at improvising and Gens was able to tell us some history of Haiti while showing us some statues of past presidents. It ended up being an interesting experience because the statues are in the middle of what used to be parks before the earthquake. The parks are now tent cities, where it is estimated that 1 million people, ¼ of the city’s population, still live. I’ve heard about the tent cities through the news but actually walking through the maze of tents touches your heart in a different way. I felt like we were walking though people’s front yards just to take a few pictures.





Over lunch we asked Gens to tell his story of the earthquake. Again, hearing about it on the news is a lot different than hearing it from someone you have become friends with. The thing is, if we wouldn’t have asked Gens to share, he probably wouldn’t have brought it up. The Haitians aren’t trying to take advantage of their situation. I’ve realized this week that Haitians are proud people and they just want us to learn more about who they are.

A wedding party passed us on the road today.  The photographer was in the back with the groomsmen.

On top of their other responsibilities, these groomsmen were transporting the cake!  Not sure I would want that job on these roads!

Nathan was stuck in the back of the Honda and decided to try to nap on the way home. It was a bumpy ride!

I realize this blog is bittersweet as our time in this amazing country is winding down. We are all trying to process the many experiences we’ve had as we say good-bye to new friends. One thing is certain though: this trip has been a blessing to everyone on the team and God is using it to teach us how to be better servants.

God Bless and Boiler Up!
Maria Cranor

Friday, March 18, 2011

Back on-line...sort of.

Well, its Ben again, and I’m writing the blog again!

I’m actually writing for Thursday and Friday because we have been without Internet for 2 days now! We forget how much of a luxury it really is to have immediate access to the World Wide Web.


Thursday was a very, very active day! In one day’s time we accomplished almost as much as we had all week. We were really working in rhythm with each other. We worked really quickly and actually ran out of supplies. We decided, and were determined to finish the roof!!! There was one section that proved to be very difficult. The front left corner of the house was within two feet of a steep cliff preventing the use of a ladder from the ground. So we built a ladder off of the peak of the house connecting to another wooden ladder coming out from within the house. I was volunteered to go out on top of the roof to screw the tin in. Looking over the edge and stretching to reach some of the screw points was crazy, but I loved it! We had to call ahead for more supplies because of our rapid work and when they arrived, were on the clock. We had quite the assembly line going and managed to get each section of tin up in around 5 minutes. We finished getting all the tin up on the roof and really enjoyed each other’s company! It was very exciting to know that we got the entire roof up before leaving Haiti!

Yesterday was an exhausting day, and I know I’m still recovering a bit from it all. The non-Asbury group left at 4:30 this morning so we were on our own today. Today we put some finishing touches on the roof and had to haul the remaining wood and cinderblocks down the steep hill. We took one of our wooden ladders and laid a 2x6 over and proceeded to slide the cinder blocks down the hill, which made fast, and much easier work of our task!!






Having finished our work, we got back to the guesthouse early today and enjoy some much-needed time in the pool. I enjoyed jumping in the air attempting to catch the football and just relaxing at the side of the pool. We were all worn out by dinner.

As if we weren’t tired enough, we were invited to plays soccer, or futbol as they call it, with a group of kids tonight. They beat us 9 to 4, without breaking a sweat, and obviously taking it easy on us.






 This happened way to often.

 But, they didn't think this method of goal keeping was fair. :-)

Ben thought we could have an advantage if we played a man up.


By now I am truly exhausted and I think that applies to the rest of the group! We are enjoying our remaining time together! This trip has been such an amazing experience!

Update from Haiti














Hello Friends and Family!
I just got a cell phone call from Nathan explaining that everyone is fine, they just haven't had internet for the past 24 hours except for a brief 30-minute window in which time he uploaded several pictures to a Picasa album.  After a little bit of exploring, I was able to find them to post here.

Be assured that they have a cell phone in case of emergencies.  Today is there last day at the worksite.  Tomorrow their Haitian translator is going to show them some other parts of Haiti they haven't had a chance to see yet.  Thank you for your prayers!
Cydil

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Over Half-Way through!

It’s my turn to blog tonight.  My name is Nathan Waggoner and I am the team leader.


We are a little past the half-way point of our missions trip to Haiti, and our team is closer than ever.  We have shared a lot of experiences and have laughed a lot.  We also seemed to hit our stride today at the worksite with everyone staying busy.  We were so productive in fact that we had to quit a little early when we ran out of materials!  The  south  side of the roof is basically finished, so tomorrow we begin adding the tin to the north side.  Each piece seems to go up more smoothly, so hopefully we can make some real progress tomorrow.  The pictures today were mainly taken by Maria, so she is not in any of them.  I can testify that she worked though!





You may not be aware that this is the first of up to 40 houses that WGM is sending teams to build, so we have been involved with what will in many ways be the ‘model’ home!  It is a scary thought that our methodology may be copied many times in the coming months and years.  Thankfully Bill from WGM Headquarters has been here helping walk us through.  Bill has been working on getting this Adopt-a-Home project off the ground for more than a year since right after the Haiti earthquake last January.  The homes for the first four families have been sponsored and teams have been scheduled throughout this spring and summer.  We know we aren’t building the Taj Mahal, but for a family living in a tent or temporary apartment, this is the starter home they have prayed for.  If you or your church would be interested in sponsoring a house and sending a team, contact Bill at Bill.Bucher@wgm.org



Ben meant this to be a 'super hero' mask, but we think he looks more like a hostage!

Bill’s wife Sandy came along on this trip.  Bill brags that he has finally followed through on his promise to take her on a Caribbean vacation. Krista has also been a part of our team after staying on after the OCU team.  She is an IWU grad and friend of Bill and Sandy’s.  It has been fun having her on our team! Tomorrow is our last day with Bill, Sandy, and Krista since they will be flying out on Friday.  We will be sad to see them go. 

Bill makes sure the 2x4 is straight before using it as a cross-support.

Krista help Chris remove some nails.

Sandy talks with Gents (our translator) while trying to help Bill keep track of the project and team finances!

As two guys that won't back down, Bill and Ben have had a mostly friendly rivalry during this trip, but a mutual respect has grown.

We hope to get an early start tomorrow.  Haitian time doesn’t always allow our task oriented schedule, but we can always try.  :-)