Women's prison was cray cray.

Mud huts, children so poor that they have no clothes, tent cities, witnessing to people who don't speak your language. I really thought I had seen it all.....Guess not. Today we went to a women's prison where most of the women there are in for killing their husbands. It was nuts, but rewarding. Pastor Joshua even got to pray with a girl who was from the states. Pretty cool stuff. Anyway we have a ton of stories that we are excited to share with you when we get back. Please pray for our safe travel, and we will see you soon.

Jon

PHOTOS!

Hey guys,

We're almost at 2,000 blog views for the trip.  We finally have some decent internet so enjoy the photos and keep checking bag for updates!

Thank you,

Dylan Balsz

At Brians House

So all of the team besides Josh, Dylan, John, and I (Michael) left to go back home yesterday. We dropped them off at the airport after a 3 hour car ride from Carne, then we took a tour around Port Au Prince and it was really eye opening to see how difficult life is out in the city. There were different people running up to the van begging for money, kids trying to wash the van while we were driving just hoping that we would tip them, people coming up to the van trying to sell stuff to us, etc. It really shows how much we have back in the States in the simple matter that we don't have to spend all of our time trying to fulfill our basic necessities of life. So after we spent some time driving through the city, we finally landed at Brian McDaniels house and within 15 minutes of being there we were already getting ready to go back out to the city to go evangelizing. So we did that, and basically there was somebody talking to different groups of people via microphone and speakers, and Dylan, John, and I were standing in the back praying and handing out Gospel of John booklets to the people. And while we were out there, a construction vehicle ran into an electrical pole and it blew up, creating a little bit of manic upon the people. Thankfully nobody got hurt though. Anyways, after we were done evangelizing, we went back to the house at Brians, had dinner, and Josh got ready to give his first teaching of an overview through the Bible to a group of Haitians staying at the house. Finally, we took a small group down the street to this random church service and it was pretty intense. We didn't stay for much of it but we could hear it even back at Brians house for hours on end.

But yeah, that was basically our day yesterday. The next couple days should be awesome. We will probably be doing different things such as visiting an orphanage, going to a missionary training center, doing a medical outreach in a tent city, possibly more evangelism... etc. So please pray for us that God would give us grace in this time, and the boldness and compassion that we need to reach the people in Haiti. Thank you all so much and we're looking forward to seeing you next Sunday!

-Michael Anderson

Tonight I will post a blog entirely made of photos :D

Josh's Epic Post...More to Come

Well, we arrived here on Monday and the following day, I (Pastor Joshua) began teaching a group of Pastors from different villages all over Haiti, about 30 in all. We showed up with a package to give them, including a notebook, shirt, and a Bible in their language Creole. One of the Pastors began crying the moment he opened it because he didn't have one. I was then able to give them an overview of the Bible. It took about 4 days, 5 hours a day. We finished on Friday afternoon and had a graduation with a certificate to give them. They loved it! I was blessed.

While I was doing that the rest of the team was taking the local kids through VBS on average about 100 kids a day, just in the age group 9-12. Abby talked about the VBS in the previous post. It was awesome hearing all the kids sing worship songs in the Creole language. I am excited to see all the kids on Sunday morning, I know the rest of the team is as well because of the relationship they have had the opportunity to develop with them over the week.

Every day around 3pm we would head over to the local soccer (fútbol) field and put on a soccer tournament for 4 of the local villages. Today we had the final game... It was amazing. It seemed like everyone from all over the country came and stood on the side of a tiny uneven field loaded with rocks, gravel, holes, and tons of cactus in order to cheer on their team. They would stick it out every day, even during the daily downpour of rain. Today the team that won was awarded with brand new soccer balls we were able to bring, along with medals, a bottle of coke, and a net, which was gold to the team. It was like they won the Olympics. Alex was able to share his testimony to the crowd... It was really neat because he was asked to share in Spanish and then it was translated into Creole. The reason he did was because we are 30min from the Dominican Republic which is a Spanish speaking country, he did a great job and it was well received. We took a ton of photos and video. It was soooo exciting we will upload them once we get to an internet connection that can handle it.

Tomorrow we get to spend the day enjoying church with our brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel Caneille. They asked me to share, so keep me in your prayers. I plan to share Jesus' parable of the sower.

Early Monday morning we will be heading back to Port Au Prince. From there most of the team will head back home, a few of us will be staying to do some more ministry which we will tell you about when we get there. The internet should be a little better when we get there so we plan to post more often and hopefully upload photos. I plan to have Dylan or Mike post, they can tell you about the mud hut they were invited into where they witnessed a woman giving birth on a dirt floor! They were able to pray for the family right after... the pictures are pretty surreal.

-Pastor Joshua

Don't worry, we're still alive!

Hello everyone,

Sorry it took us so long to post on the blog! The internet was not as accessible as we anticipated. We arrived safely on Monday afternoon, unpacked 30 bags, and spent the evening getting acquainted. Haiti is quite a change from what we are used to back home, with no running water and outhouses for toilets, but it has been nice to get away from all of the usual amenities to focus on why we are really here. We spent Tuesday preparing for VBS and the soccer tournament, and Pastor Josh began the first day of the Pastor Conference. In four days he is teaching a "crash course" overview of the Bible, going through every book and explaining them.

Day 1 of VBS was definitely a success! Almost all of the 85 kids who showed up attend church here, Calvary Chapel Caneille, and we had so much fun with them. During small group sessions, after we told the story of creation, many of us were surprised to find how knowledgeable they were of what it means to believe in Christ and be saved by faith. It gave us an opportunity to encourage them to grow in their faith and pursue God in a deeper way.
This afternoon we had our first official soccer game in the tournament we organized for the local village teams. Despite the rain the turnout was amazing, giving us a chance to reach around 300 people in sharing why we were there. The soccer game really allowed us to experience true Haitian culture and understand a little more of what their lives are actually like. We are so excited to spend more time with the community and cultivate deeper relationships so that we can share Gods love with them. That's why we are here in the first place.

Tomorrow we are going to post again, with a more in-depth description of all of the things we have been doing and include several of the 30GB worth of pictures our designated photographer, Dylan, has taken.  Keep our team in your prayers! We are all healthy and happy and would love if you could pray that continues, for the pastors Josh is helping raise up in the community, and that both the VBS and soccer outreach would be effective in spreading the gospel.

- Abby :)

Welcome to the Reach Haiti Team Blog

Hello to all of our readers!

Check here each day to stay up to date on the Haiti trip.  We will post photos, stories (mostly funny ones) and updates about what God is doing on the trip.

As a church we really pulled together and made this happen, so be sure to check in and stay informed on what God has in store for CCYL on our first missions trip.

Each day a different team member will post a blog post so you will never be bored - and hey, if someone stinks at writing at least you only have to deal with one of their post.

To learn more about the missionaries we are visiting and supporting check out their link below! Betty and Bastia are truly amazing individuals.
www.cccaneille.org

Betty left and Bastia right, this was there original sanctuary, they have since built an actual building.

Scroll down to check out some photos of us packing for the trip - there have been many, many all nighters put into this and we thank you for all of your prayers, monetary support and donations.

Check back soon!

Thanks,

Dylan Balsz
Haiti Missions Coordinator

Dylan during 3:00am packing!

Over 50 soccer balls were donated!

Team name badges, each one has the team members favorite Bible verse.

Team name badges, each one has the team members favorite Bible verse.

Daniel Velasco and Michael Anderson packing the supplies.

Pizza ordered straight to FedEx office.

Name badges are drying after being laminated, these are for the bush pastors Josh will be teaching to during the 5 day pastor conference we are hosting.  "Pastè" means "Pastor" in Creole and "Travay 29" means "Acts 29."

Here are 12 of the 25 supply suitcases we packed for the trip, all together we have 36 bags and over 1,600 pounds of supplies!