Welcome to our site! We’re excited to share…
Another team is heading out! Please pray for our team heading out February 11. Follow their stories here.
For more about our ongoing work, visit the links at the top of the page.
Thoughts from the Michael family…
Well here we are wrapping up our time in Haiti leaving first thing in the morning.
We have had an amazing 5 days of loving and serving these wonderful people. As a group we have pushed each other to step outside of our individual comfort zones and be bold for Christ.
There has been much fruit as we have each been impacted by the extreme poverty and difficult living conditions yet met so many content because their hope lies completely in Jesus Christ. Phillipeans 4:12.
The hundreds of children in each village were just begging for love and just wanted us to hold them. Their smiles were amazing. Many were malnourished, with red in their hair and yellowish eyes. The hunger was prevalent. It has been tough but a real opportunity to really trust God. We have prayed with these children, their parents and over their villages. Mission of Hope has given us the opportunity to go into places that we could have never imagined. Knowing the truth that God loves each and every one of these children was the only comfort over the last few days. When we would break and reconvene on the bus to get a drink of water or slap a peanut butter sandwich together, the thought of those hungry children was almost unbearable. But God is sovereign. We are lookking forward to coming back and seeing the progress in these villages. We have a deep personal interest now in this area and we will be praying for them as a family.
Today we visited an orphanage where one couple housed 20 children. He sold his belongings and bought what he needed to start this amazing place. We played games and did skits and held lots of kiddos. Leaving will be tough but will give us an opportunity to really spend time thanking God for all he is doing here in Haiti!
From team member Ann Silva…
Psalm 24:1
God is sovereign over all things. Nothing catches Him by surprise.
As we were taking our MOH tour today, we learned about a man from Canada who called the director here and told him he had an ambulance he wanted to donate to MOH. The director politely declined the request telling the generous donor he felt it would not be put to good use. The donor really insisted that he wanted to have the ambulance shipped because he felt God had put it on his heart to do so. Not long after this, an EMT called the same director to tell him he wanted to move his family to MOH so he could offer his services. Again, the director did not think they could use him and again the EMT insisted he wanted to come. This all happened in the fall of 2009. In January of 2010, Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake.
What a blessing that God know what we need even before we do.
Another thought after today…
With the Lord, there is no language barrier.
Sharing God’s good news with someone that doesn’t speak your same language can be very difficult. Today, we spent time in Leveque, the small MOH village we’ve already visited twice before. A portion of the community is deaf. I saw two little girls from our group break the language barrier by speaking sign language. You should have seen the smiles on the womens’ faces. They welcomes the chance to communicate, laugh, sing and share life. We did the same thing through music and songs.
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet.”
Romans 16:20
“For nothing is impossible with God.”
Luke 1:37
From the Barnett Family….
Today, we spent our time loving on the kids of Haiti. Playing games, soccer, basketball , football, singing songs , sharing bible stories and the gospel. The whole team, young and old, carried kids on hips, shoulders, backs, one, two and some of us, mainly the McJunkin boys, up to 8 at a time! Some of the kids took us back to their homes to meet their parents which was a wonderful and sobering experience at the same time, it drove home the point that ultimately, we are just like them…. Our hope is in Christ and Christ alone! It has been an amazing time. All of us have been stretched and blessed. We covet your prayers! Tomorrow , we hope to see many of our new friends at church! On a humorous note, did you know they sing and dance the hokey pokey here in Haiti? Well, they do, young and old, Haitian and American , put their whole selves in and their selves out!
David, Holly, Emily and Daniel
From team leader John McGee
Our first full day in Haiti has already been a rewarding and joyous day of serving Gods people. We spent the day in Leveque painting houses and collecting trash around the village. We played soccer, introduced duck duck goose and had some great God honoring conversations with the Haitians. We have been encouraged by the way Mission of Hope has established relationships with the people of Leveque and continues to enhance the kingdom of God. We look forward to seeing our friends in Leveque tomorrow!
From team member Jim Wilson…
Wow! The pastor’s conference was amazing!!! Since only John Elmore is a trained teacher, all us guys were very nervous. We prepared diligently, but we were still nervous because we so wanted to honor God and our hosts. We felt so much prayer support from home and the strong women of our group. Well, it went so well. My brothers rocked in their messages. The audience was very animated and engaged. The very distinguished looking pastors on the front rows asked such great questions and John handled them biblically and beautifully. I really felt like we delivered the messages regarding confession of sin and forgiveness that we set out to deliver. I am grateful for the experience.
Afterward we greeted the newly arrived WM family group. It felt so wonderful to see friends from home. Then we gathered with our team to receive the most beautiful gift from the ladies (don’t think my brothers would have thought of this). While we were preparing for the conference, the ladies wrote out cards for each member of the team, putting on them praises for the God-given qualities that they had seen in evidence this week. It was a beautiful thing to hear each brother and sister say out loud those qualities. We have truly bonded as a team, growing in love just as Christ intended. It has been an honor to serve with these men and women.
This morning was a surprise treat. We got to go to a beautiful beach. The contrast between this beauty and the villages where we’ve worked all week is almost painful. But the R&R is sweet. It has been a powerful but tiring week. Memories for a lifetime. I’ve loved bonding with my team and our time here but I am ready to come home. See y’all tomorrow.
From team member Eric Mangelson…
Before coming to Haiti, I wasn’t sure how God would show up. Oftentimes I find myself so easily distracted by the daily activities I fill my days with in Dallas. Each morning our group of men start the day with a devotional ranging from confession of struggles to identifying voids in our relationship with God. This sweet time with each other has been such a difference maker in beginning the day the Lord has made.
God has shown His face in more ways than I can count. A few to mention include 1) bringing the power back on during the pastors conference; 2) watching Haitians pray to accept Jesus in their hearts and 3) encouragement after encouragement of selfless acts and prayer from the women in our group as we prepared for the pastors conference.
My prayer this week has been to simply surrender my fear of failure of loving the Haitians as God wanted me to. 1 Peter 5:6-7 reminds us that if we humble ourselves before God and cast our anxieties to Him, only on His timing, we will be exalted. God is great and I’m eternally thankful for His son, Jesus Christ.
From team member Jonathan Tyroch…
We have arrived at Mission of Hope! Our journey has already been filled with great conversations and lots of fun. Wade Nowlin even got to share Christ with someone on the plane. It’s going to be a great week. Excited to see what the Lord had in store!
From team member Susan Vermillion…
Last night our men’s team led many Haitian pastors in God’s truth of forgiveness through God’s story in their lives. We expected several women to also attend and I was humbled by their strength in numbers’s and willingness to learn.
A sweet older woman sat next to me and it was evident she was hungry for God’s teaching – she was so attentive, which made me curious as to why she wasn’t taking notes. That’s when God opened my eyes to the fact that unlike our bottomless purses, many of these people do not have pens. I didn’t have a pen, but I did have a bag of crayola markers that we had been giving out to kids in the village earlier that day. I reached in and handed her one.
From that moment on she beautifully scribed every scripture that was shared. When the evening closed, and we stood to leave she offered the marker back to me. I shook my head that she could keep it. As I turned, she slid her hand into mine and gave me a beautiful silver and bead bracelet. My first thought was “for a CRAYOLA MARKER!” but then was filled with what God had really given her – his teaching.
Her hunger for God’s word gave me a glimpse of His love & and overwhelming generosity.
“I assure you,” he said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” Mark 21:3-4
From team member Noah Brown…
It is all good in the Haiti-hood!! God is proving himself to be strong and good. Wednesday and Thursday night, we are giving a conference to 150 pastors, so not surprisingly, Satan has been storing up strife and insecurity within our group. However the members of our team have been quick to confess that they are being attacked, and everyone has jumped in with truth and scripture. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.
This morning we painted the insides of a school in a neighboring village, Minoterie, and played with lots of adorable Haitian children. They all want to be picked up and held and ask, “what your name?”
This afternoon, the guys prepped for the conference while the ladies organized supplies and donations on the MOH campus. The conference went great and the word of the Lord was preached. The women were exceedingly gracious to pray with us and help us with logistical details. The whole thing came together effortlessly and I’m so glad that God has made all this fall in place, and has used this to stretch and grow us and to preach his word to the Haitian people!
From team leader Roseanna…
Today was an awesome day in Leveque. Many of us painted the inside of four houses, while others played with kids and talked with people in the villages. Woody and Lindsey shared Christ with an 18 yr old girl who thought she couldn’t be a Christian because she had a tattoo and didn’t have any church clothes. The Lord used Woody and Lindsey’s stories of grace to reveal truth to this woman, and she is now our sister in Christ!!!
Tonight the men spent some time preparing for the pastor’s conference they will lead Wednesday and Thursday nights from 5-7pm. Please be praying for Eric, Mike, Marshall, and Todd as they speak on forgiveness to about 300 Haitian pastors and ministry leaders.
