Snyder Memorial Baptist Church- Missions Blog

The Journey to Grand Goave

sreeder — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:06:59 +0000

Bon swa! We have arrived safely in Grand Goave! After our arrival in Port au Prince, we ran into some difficulty with our transportation, luggage, and getting us all there at the same time. After waiting in the airport parking lot for close to two hours, a second truck came to retrieve the luggage, and we began our journey. The road from Port au Prince to Grand Goave is nothing more than a dirt path that people have been using for ages. With little to no direction or traffic laws, we inched our way along, having to stop several times due to traffic. Along the way, several people had to fight the conditions. All 15 of us were jammed into a small sized van, and over-heating and motion sickness plagued several people. While we knew we were close to our destination, it began to rain heavily. We all were concerned with our bags, because they had no covering in the back of a pickup truck. However, we arrived before the worst of the rain came, and for the most part, the bags were dry. Getting there around 8 o’clock, we were warmly welcomed with hugs from friends we had missed, a roof over our heads, and delicious Haitian-style chicken and rice. Our first day was a little longer than expected, but the journey was not one we would trade. All the troubles in the world are worth being in a country we love.
With love from Haiti-
Cameron, Tyler, and Whitney

College Students leaving for Haiti

sreeder — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:11:57 +0000

Tyler, Whitney, and Cameron headed to Grand Goave today to help build rubble homes. Be praying and watch for updates!

Last Day in Brno

sreeder — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:18:00 +0000

Wednesday night’s “English Evening” has been the most interesting expereince for me so far. Amanda already posted about the logistics of it. I spent time with the advanced group, and I cannot get over how well they all speak. I especially bonded with two 18 year old girls, Tereza and Lucia. They were so smart and intriguing, and as cool as they were, they were just so excited to be talking to me because I am American. They are fascinated with everything American and they hung on to my every word about my life and home. Gloria asked us if we would lead a singing time with the group. Most of the people that attend English Evening are not Christians and they never have singing during this time. The group was very open to it and we had a blast singing praise songs (and even some Beatles tunes). One man in the group turned out to be very good at guitar and we all had so much fun singing and dancing along. Hopefully someone there will want to lead in the following weeks and they will continue that. Tereza and Lucia told me that this was the best English Evening they had ever attended.

Yesterday was our last day of Kindermusik English camps. The morning with our two/three year olds was so special and sweet. They all had learned so much and were so proud of themselves. We spent the afternoon helping Gloria with her library and making photo books for her. In the late afternoon we had our last camp time with the 4,5 and 6 year olds. There are so many of them at this time was always a bit chaotic, but they all showed so much improvement in their English and they seemed to have so much fun. We so enjoyed getting to know the little ones and their parents.
This morning was “Moms Club” here at the mission where Moms and their toddlers come for several hours and we had the chance to play and talk to the Moms. This is another great mission opportunity that Gloria has to bring families to the mission house. Her mission/home is truly an open door. We spent the rest of the day working on the library and preparing for tonight’s grill party. We enjoyed several hours of fellowship with our students and their families. It was a bittersweet time saying our goodbyes to these sweet people and precious children. They will all certainly be missed!
After the party, Gloria took us to see a Medieval castle on the other side of town. It was built in 1213 and was stunning with gorgeous countryside all around it. We leave early tomorrow for Italy. We are so excited about our last few days of the trip, but we will certainly miss Gloria and all of the friends we’ve made here. Gloria has been so good to us and we have been so blessed to have this opportunity!

More pics from Czech Republic

sreeder — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:36:13 +0000

ABC Music and Me Camp – Brno, Czech Republic

sreeder — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:05:24 +0000

Blessings

sreeder — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:07:01 +0000

Photo from yesterday

What an incredible day it has been! At camp ABC English and Me this morning we had one new student in addition to the ones who have been coming. This group is from ages 2-4 and there’s only about 4 of them. But they are SO fun and special to watch as their faces light up. They get so excited to see a picture of a cow and answer correctly that yes! It is a “cow”! We truly have the best time with them and find ourselves speaking to them in the same accents they use when talking to us. Our “Hellos” and “Good-byes” are sounding very Czech-English these days….

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon today helping Gloria with various projects. Mom and Meredith mainly worked in her garden while I attempted to go through her computer and get pictures organized to have some picture books made of different weekly events that Gloria leads here.

The afternoon music class is a much different experience than the morning one! These children are older, ages 4-6, and there seems to be 100 of them, while there is really just 15…But with all their parents and siblings in there as well, it can be difficult to always have control and attention. The language barrier also makes it that much harder. Gloria does such a good job of translating just as much as necessary, since the whole point of the class is for them to be hearing and learning English. We try to pray before each class time, and I think this afternoon went much smoother than the days before. In a way I love the language difference. It’s so funny for a 3 year old to look up at you trying to tell you something and you have no idea what they’re saying!

Tonight was the biggest blessing. We were especially tired after a lot of work today. After the second music camp was over, we had to quickly clean up everything and set up for English night here at the mission house. English Evening consists of an hour of English lesson, an hour of Bible study, and then the rest is somewhat of a worship/social time. They split up into 3 groups: beginners, intermediate, and advanced. Mom, Meredith, and I each participated with a different group level. The whole idea is for everyone who comes to simply practice speaking English as much as they can. I was with the intermediate group, led by Gloria’s fellow missionary friend, Beth. There were 2 girls probably a little younger than me, and a young man. I ask for prayers for him as he is in the other room right now talking with Gloria and Beth. I could tell during Bible Study that he is actually not a Christian, as he argued almost every point the rest of us made. Apparently he has been coming here, though, for years. Obviously he is attracted to something here. Pray that he will accept Jesus and for Gloria and Beth as they continue to minister to him after this week. Meredith and I talked on and on with a couple of very fluent 18 year old girls. They just wanted so badly to keep talking and practicing with us, saying they wish we’d still be here in Wednesday nights to come! I truly have always taken for granted how lucky I am to have grown up with English as my first language and not really having the need to learn another one fluently. It is unbelievably impressive and humbling how smart these people are and how hard they work to make the best lives they can after their country has historically been through so much.

We are having an incredible experience here in Brno, Czech Republic. Please continue to pray for the children, their parents, and all the Czech people we come in contact with. We want them to keep coming back and hearing Gloria tell about Jesus!

Amanda

with Meredith and Kerri

Open the Eyes of My Heart

sreeder — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:07:49 +0000

We have had an awesome experience so far. Last night after arriving, we had a wonderful worship time with their church plant. Amanda and Meredith sang “Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord” and ‘Shine on Us.” We thought those would both be good since they were simple and repetitive. Godknew what they were supposed to sing because “Open the Eyes of My Heart” is in their Czech song book in English and in Czech! In the picture you can see the people looking down at the words. (at least that is why we hope they are looking down!. ha.) It was an amazing time to sit there and hear them read Luke 12 in Czech while we were reading those same words in our Bibles in English. Before the children left for “Sunday School”, we had an open prayer time for anyone to pray out loud. Before I realized what they were doing, I heard this precious little girl right next to me ( in orange headband in one of the pics towards the back) suddenly break out in Czech saying something with much emphasis. I just thought she was talking out loud. Then she ended with “Ahhhhmen.” Wow! Then I realized it was prayer time, and this precious child was the first one to pray …and a long prayer with no inhibition whatsoever! After the message we had communion and that was another WOW moment for sure. We didn’t understand anything being said, yet we KNEW everything that was being said. Jesus died for EVERY one of us and He alone understands every language. It was a deeply moving experience to worship one Lord together although we never understood any of the words except for “Ahhhhmen.”

Today was very full! We started out with our ABC English and Me Music Camp this morning and that same precious little girl that prayed, Adelka, was there. She repeated and soaked up everything we sang and said and so did the others. We took a glorious walk in this beautiful area after lunch, and then did some yard work in Gloria’s beautiful yard. Camp again with A LOT of older preschoolers this afternoon. We have “revamped” our crafts for the rest of the week to make them a little less hectic for our active participants! Gloria has had such a wonderful response to the camp, that she has had to turn some children away, but what a great problem to have in that that will draw these families to the ministry.

I asked Gloria what to ask you all to specifically pray for, and she said for peace for the children to feel calm, yet eager to learn, and for the children who are more shy to to be receptive. Focus in a group atmosphere is more of a challenge here than in the US. She is doing an awesome job

already and the Lord will use her through this program to reach many more families! Thank you all for you prayers for our safe journey here and for what God has in store the rest of the week.

Blessings to all!

Kerri, Amanda, and Meredith

Back in Fayetteville

Wick Smith — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:58:40 +0000

We made it back to Fayetteville around 9 pm tonight. Sarah Barefoot & Sue Byrd picked us up at RDU on the church bus. It’s great to be home. We look forward to seeing everyone Sunday and sharing the stories from the trip.

Back in the US

Wick Smith — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:34:40 +0000

We made it back to Miami on time around noon and have made it through customs. Our flight to RDU is at 5:15 pm. Looking forward to getting home.

Last day in Haiti – a great day!

Wick Smith — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:21:28 +0000

The entire team went up to Repatriate today to finish work there . Jane & Gail finished painting the trim on the caretaker’s house. The rest of us moved gravel from one area of the compound to another to level the area under the shelter we completed earlier in the week. We had to do so by shoveling the gravel in 5 gallon buckets & carrying it to the shelter area. That seems to be the Haiti way when they lack equipment otherwise.

We then helped the concrete crew that was working on filling a LARGE area with fill dirt and rocks. They had one wheelbarrow and a bunch of 5 gallon buckets. So we shoveled fill into the buckets & carried them into the foundation area. There are no bobcats, backhoes, or other heavy equipment to do this sort of thing, so they make do with what they have. It’s very inefficient by our standards, but they make it work. We just jumped in and helped.

The home we are helping to build was at a point that the professionals had to do all the work. The block is all laid and they began putting the final coat of finish on the masonry to give the house a much more professional look. It will really look good when complete.

We met the entire family around 1 pm at the house today. It was delightful. It is a husband and wife with three small children, ages 6, 3, and 1. As we’ve mentioned before, they are devout Christians and attend the Cite Soleil church. They will be a great influence on the neighborhood. We then had a chance to share “Sweet Sweet Spirit” with them and Wayne gave a wonderful prayer to dedicate the home. Photos follow this post.

We took the afternoon off, and the manager at the compound took us up to Ibo Beach . It’s 30 minutes from Cite Soleil and a more rural setting, but no less needy. Haiti Outreach Ministries has a church and school there, but not enough room or resources for a medical clinic yet. The church started in 1995 and became part of HOM a few years later. The heartbreaking part of that visit was the sanctuary of the church. The roof of the sanctuary collapsed in hurricane Isaac in August of last year. It would cost $30,000 US to get a new roof & they have funneled their resources to other areas to help the community. About 500 people attend the church every Sunday, even as it is. Photos follow this post. We also saw the homes in that area & took a few photos of the local scenery.

Another interesting tidbit – when Snyder sponsored a mission trip to Haiti in Sept. 2010 with the NC Baptist Men(9 months after the earthquake), we built shelters for homeowners near the Ibo Beach area. I am happy to report that the shelters we built are still standing, and in use.

It is quite evident to each team member that God had a plan for our trip, and the work we would do. It was not exactly what any of us thought it would be, but He knew and it worked out perfectly. Our one regret was that Joanne & Gary Copeland could not be with us. They had plans to go, prior to his diagnosis. We are praying for his recovery and look forward to both of them joining us next year on our Haiti trip!

We will leave for the airport at 7 am tomorrow morning & look forward to a uneventful flight and some cooler weather. Thanks again for all your prayers and comments.

Merci Servir!