CONNECTED!

Over four million meals in one location!  I stood in awe as we wandered through the massive warehouse at Mission of Hope, a partner of Feed My Starving Children in Haiti!  I couldn’t believe in what I was seeing.  I marveled as I thought of the thousands of hours, people, and donations that had come together to make such a sight possible.  There were meals from all over. From sites, and MobilePacks.  It was incredible!

I watched with such joy as the Haitian boys came from the soccer field into the feeding center.  The bowls lined up, cooked and served by our team.  As each boy came forward to receive their meal, they were met with food, and true smiles of joy.  It was a priceless moment as I watched it all come together. We carried in boxes to an orphanage in Port au Prince. Ten simple boxes delivered in love and again with joy. Soccer games, songs, arts and crafts, laughing, bubbles, snacks, smiles, giggles, and kids.  All connected in love as our team loved with reckless abandon. It was a truly a sight of a kingdom to come.  

3:45 am as 15 people gathered at the Minneapolis airport.  A partnership with Healing Haiti and Feed My Starving Children came together with Incarnation Lutheran Church, a Mobile Pack Host Church and another MobilePack Host from New Jersey.  Fifteen people stepping out in faith and trust into a journey of love, compassion, exploration, and self discovery.  

Snapshots, from eight days in a far off place called Haiti.  Snapshots, that standing alone are simply moments.  And yet told together, they are connected.  Connected in a story united in the simple commandment to love God and to love others.  Connected in the gospel.  

In an incredible tapestry, God has woven all of these moments, people, and pieces together.  A wonderful church in Minnesota, Incarnation, that has made it part of their DNA to partner with Feed My Starving Children to pack meals for God’s children, hungry in body and spirit. An amazing organization, Mission of Hope, that partners with Feed My Starving Children, to feed 90,000 Haitian children a day.  And an orphanage that has taken in God’s children to love and care for them.  10 simple boxes of food to help feed and nuture them.  And a team, of 15 simple folks who have journeyed to Haiti, to serve, live, and love in obedience and faithfulness.

Simple moments all connected to tell a beautiful story of 15 people who will never be the same because they have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.  And He is faithful as He brings it all together in His mercy that light may shine in the darkness and His children will be loved.  Connected!

Orphanages Making a Difference - A Glimmer of Hope

Today we met more amazing adults who love and care for children. Orphanages exist in all shapes and sizes in Haiti—one of which we visited was established to care for children orphaned by the massive earthquake in 2010. 

We visited Sister’s Orphanage in Port au Prince and Isaiah’s Orphanage in Titanyen. Singing, crafts, games and soccer played. We delivered the Haitian equivalent of “lunchables” to eager children at this orphanage.

Our second stop was at Isaiah’s Orphanage. Isaiah, the man himself, is an amazing example of love and caring. He was trained as an accountant as a young man. But when God put it on his heart to bring abandoned children home, he ended up bringing home 16 orphans home from Cite Soleil after the earthquake. He has helped with the children now, but he is a single man who followed God’s call. 

With 16 kids under one roof, he knew he needed a bigger house but “bigger” is still tiny by our standards. Each of the kids greeted us individually with hugs as we came in like you would greet a family member coming to visit. The kids call him “Papa” and he was obviously proud of the children as they sang the songs they had prepared for us. The faith statement for his life is “if God is for us, who can be against us”. He teaches the scripture faithfully to the kids at least twice a week as well as worshiping twice a week with the local Church.We felt that we were welcomed with Biblical hospitality for the stranger, walked on holy ground and we carry a part of their family in our hearts.

Gerry, our team member, played the violin and she was quite an attraction to the kids.

One of the many games played, Elastablast.

The kids loved to sit with us and enjoyed the attention each of us would give them.

We had fun playing soccer with the boys while the rest were painting nails, making crafts and enjoying music & games.

Each child was able to make their own colorful crosses.

Long Day

Today was our earliest day in Haiti.  The day began with a 6 am weekday worship at a large Haitian church.  The service was unlike our traditional Lutheran worship service.  People came and left this three hour service as a start to their weekday routine.  While at worship the participants continuously walked the aisles and pew rows as they raised their hands to God and offered spontaneous expressions of praise.  Our team observed from the second row of pews and were inspired by the Haitians active worship style and faithful hearts.  As the service progressed more and more people came and by the time we left (about an hour into the service) the large warehouse-like worship center was buzzing with people that were “fueling” their day via an inspirational mix of music, gospel, prayer, and testimony.

We walked back to the Guest House - getting a glimpse of the waking neighborhood - for another hearty breakfast before our next activity of the day.  

Loading the “tap tap” truck with our orphanage donations and some boxes of FMSC food - we headed on an adventure to Mission of Hope.  Mission of Hope is an organization that currently distributes FMSC meal packs to over 400 Haitian schools and feeds over 90,000 children annually.  The Director at Mission of Hope gave us an overview of all the work their organization does to feed the children of Haiti; including a farmer’s program where they help around 200 farmer’s a year to seed their land, cultivate a crop, and harvest the crop to support the farmer’s family.  Each farmer in this program keeps 80% of their crop for sale or use, sets aside 10% of the crop to provide seed for next year, and donates 10% of the crop back to Mission of Hope to be used in the core feeding program.  Mission of Hope receives 80-90% of the food it distributes from FSMC.  We toured the warehouse and saw racks and racks of manna packs similar to the ones packaged at Incarnation.  At this time, there were around 5 million meals in their warehouse, and these meals will fulfill the program’s distribution through the end of 2014.  It was amazing for the group to see how what started out as bags of rice and soy powder in Minnesota were transformed into ready-to-cook meals that will feed some of the most needy children in the world.  Our group also gained additional perspective from Dave G our FMSC team leader, and Don and Martie Martin who serve on FMSC’s community advisory board as representatives of our congregation.

After a quick water and snack break on the "tap tap”, the group changed gears dramatically.  While our morning was spent in worship at a mega-church and touring a huge warehouse of manna packs, our afternoon was spent at a very small Haitian orphanage.  This orphanage was home to approximately 12 to 15 children, and 3 adult caregivers.  The orphanage had a very small gravel driveway/yard and a cinder block building with a classroom that was no more than 200 square feet.  The team spent the afternoon reading a bible story to the children, singing songs with them, doing arts and crafts, and ending with a snack.  The children of the orphanage were like many of the children in Haiti, excited to receive hugs, play games, and generally be loved by our team members.  It was amazing to see how these children who range from infant to teenager all wanted to participate, and how they took care of each other as brothers and sisters in their orphanage community.

Our night included a trip to a local pizzeria run by former missionaries.  After dinner we returned to the Guest House for devotions.  Our reading from Matthew asked: “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?”  Jesus answered: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”  This day (and our whole week) in Haiti brings these Gospel words to life, and makes our group excited to share our experience with family, friends, and the Incarnation community.

Scott & Amie Odahl