Nathan Self's video

Today Nathan emailed the team a great video that he put together with highlights from the Haiti trip. See it here! DCHS Haiti 2017 Video

Thanks Nathan!

Back in Tucson

Everyone got back to Tucson safely at about 10:45 on Saturday night. I think I speak for the whole team when I say that it was sad leaving Haiti. We made so many friends and built up so many relationships with people even if we couldn't fully communicate with them. Smiles, laughter, and just knowing that someone is your friend go a long way in relationships.




 Last year when I went to Haiti, I became really good friends with one of the Village Champions who was deaf. Unfortunately, this year we weren't working in the same village that this Village Champion was working in. I was a little bit bummed out. But on Monday the teams that were working in that village came to eat lunch at our campus! I got to see Josue again spend time with him. There is something special about reconnecting with someone that you had met before on a different mission trip and hadn't seen in a year and a half.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to know everyone on the team a little bit better. Most nights our team took time to read through a chapter in James and then discuss our thoughts on it. It was really cool to see into everyone's hearts as we discussed the chapter and as we talked about what we had seen during the week. I got a glimpse into everyone's heart even when I wasn't talking to them. Every single person on this team had a heart to serve and a love for Jesus that showed clearly by the way they conducted themselves and the way they interacted with anyone they came in contact with this week. One of the many times that we interacted with people was in Strategic Village Time (SVT). We would walk around to different houses in a village and talk to people about food and water safety, learn demographic information to relay to MOH, share the gospel, and primarily build a relationship with them. I thought it was so cool that even if there were some people not doing as much of the talking to the family, they were still playing with the kids or finding some other way to interact and show Jesus' love to others. I was really impressed with the way that everyone jumped right in to forming a relationship with someone without hesitation.





I also can't go on without talking about the church services. Worshiping the same God with other people from a different culture who are speaking a different language showed me in a different way and in more depth that God is God of all things and all people. I knew that before, but it just put it in a different perspective for me. A lot of the songs that they sing at their worship services are the same songs that we sing back in the U.S. We sang songs like "Mighty to Save" and "Our God is Greater". On the power point screens they had the lyrics in Creole and English. It was an experience I will never forget.

One more thing I would like to add is this: Mr. Vance said that my goat was mentally challenged. I think that was an understatement. This goat was beyond dumb. I can't even fathom how this goat got to being so slow in his brain (if he even had one to begin with). Here's an example: we tied up the goats to a tree while we were waiting to give them to families. My goat, Cappuccino, thought he could escape. The tree was right next to a "fence " made out cactus that is poisonous (which is why it was a good thing to use as a fence). The fence only went out another 5 feet before there was a huge clearing. Cappuccino thought that the only way for him to escape was to eat through the fence. I don't know how much cactus he ate, but I know it was enough to splatter green goop right next to my shoe. Oh well. This goat will always stay in my memory... probably not for the best reasons though.




This trip has been over a year in planning and I am so amazed at how God has answered prayers and made this trip, that was once only a thought, become a reality-- a reality that was so much greater than I could have ever hoped for. There were times of frustration and times of joy during the planning of the trip, but no matter how much frustration, or long emails I didn't want to write, or long hours of finding flights, no matter how much those things happened, it was all completely worth it after taking the trip. I would go back and do it all again in a heartbeat. I've said this once before, but I'll say it again because I really mean it: Haiti, Mr. Vance, Kristina, Christina (my mom), Nick, Sean, Chelsea, Nathan, Drelyn, Katrina, Sass, Holly, Caleb, and all of the Haitian people have and will always have a special place in my heart.

June 23-Nathan Self

After a long but good week of serving throughout the local Haitian village of Bercy, today's relaxing break at a resort was not opposed to by any of the tired faces on our team. Although the trip to the resort was planned for the entire day about half of the team; Alex, Drelyn, Chelsea, Mrs.Jorg, Kristina, and myself, chose to take part in a unique experience during the morning. We left earlier than normal at 7:30 and made our way to the main campus. Two companies that were started at mission of hope, called Vibella and Three Chords Haiti, sell handmade jewelry and goods to teams and local Haitians. They were offering to let people who were interested learn more about them, meet the staff, and then make your own headband alongside the staff of Three Chords. This experience took place all of Friday morning and it was really cool to be able to hear some of the stories of the staff on how this job has impacted their lives since the earthquake in 2010 when these businesses were created. Making the headband was really cool and wasn't as hard as i thought it would be. With the assistance of a staff member i finished mine in a matter of minutes.
After wrapping up that cool experience we hopped on the canter, a semi-opened seated truck like vehicle, and made our way to the resort to join the others for lunch. Our lunch was a traditional Haitian meal of chicken, rice and beans, coselaw, plantains, and a soda. I absolutely love Haitian food so i was very excited to be able to enjoy one last meal like that. After lunch our team split up again: Mr.Vance, Nick, Caleb,and Alex went fishing while Sean, Katrina, Drelyn, Chelsea, Jason, Mrs.Jorg, and myself went snorkeling. Since i didn't go snorkeling last time i was very excited to go this time. The reef was very interesting swimming through and all the pretty colored fish were around every turn. My favorite one that i saw was a puffer fish but sadly it never puffed up. Upon returning we had just enough time to swim a little more and grab a refreshing mango smoothie before hopping back on the bus to head back to camp. The rest of the day was filled with relaxing, spikeball tournaments (which i will proudly say Chelsea and I lost in the second round.....only after getting a pass on the first round), devotions, and packing for tomorrow's travels.
This trip has truly been amazing and I have been so blessed to hang with this wonderful team and get to served the amazing people here. Thank you to all of you who have continued reading our posts throughout the week and have kept us in your prayers it's much appreciated. I would ask that you continue to pray for us as we travel back into the country tomorrow and slowly make our way home. Also please keep Holly and Drelyn in your prayers as they both came down with fevers this afternoon. They are not the first to get sick this week so my hope is that they can recover quickly just like all the others did. Thank you so much for your support and I know we are all sad to leave Haiti but are definetly looking forward to being home again.
-Nathan Self
(it's also pouring down rain for the first time all week right now and it's amazing!)

June 22-Chelsea Stemet

I haven't gotten a lot of sleep this week because for one, it's super hot and humid even underneath a super thin mosquito net, but I'm also very paranoid of bugs- especially spiders. As soon as I climbed into the top bunk, I noticed a daddy-long-legs-looking-thing and couldn't go to sleep for a good thirty minutes at least, which resulted in me being exhausted the next day. Breakfast consisted of cereal, pancakes, and all of the songs we learned in Creole from our favorite Haitian intern. Today was goat day, something all of us have been waiting for since the beginning of the week. Our job was to hold live goats by ropes and wait for families to claim them. We had been told there was going to be ten

June 22-Bob Vance

I can't believe Sass talked about the goats and didn't mention how mentally challenged Jason's goat was. His goat was definitely at the bottom of his class. Holly's goat was the most unruly goat I've ever met. We had a blast though. The entire trip has been one huge blessing. We have had so much fun. It started with Sass trying to carry on a knife in her backback. I gave her a hard time about it only to find out the knife was really a Father's Day gift for me. I felt horrible about picking on her. I also felt bad when the bag I was carrying on, the one David Jorg packed for me, was found to have 5 very sharp, metal drills bits in it. That went over really well with the airline. Well, we made it through fine. We got through the Haiti airport and only lost one child, but we found him. Everything since then has been even more fun. Our kids are great!!! They have the most gentle hearts and they love Jesus. They jumped right into things like they've done this a million times. We have planted trees, painted houses, and made friends. It's been amazing. When you see Caleb Kruis, ask him to sing you a Haitian song. There is a lot more I could write about, but typing is making me sweat and I've already had my shower. I need another one, but, then again, I need another shower as soon as I step out of the last one. The good news is, it's a wet heat.

June 22-Sass Tucker

Today was the day I had been looking forward to for weeks; handing out goats. Could it get any better than that? Bright and tired smiles filled the table at breakfast as we anticipated handing out goats. Finally the time came to pick our goats. Despite my biased opinion, my goat, Harrison Ford, was by far the best. What goat named Harrison Ford wouldn't be the best?? Caleb's goat, Gregorovich, was more like a dog than a goat. After getting into the canter, Gregorovich proceeded to sit on Caleb's lap as Caleb caressed the poor confused goat. The day could only get better! After giving out the goats(and the water filters) to each family we played with the kids surrounding the church until lunchtime. The kids club came after lunch, where we were greeted by several children as if we were famous. We sat in a sauna of a church and sang and danced with these energetic kids, while every inch of our bodies were now soaked with sweat. We formed an assembly line as we passed meals to the children, and we ended up feeding 250 kids with rice and beans. Leaving the church was devastating, but all in all another great and successful day for the team.

June 21 - Kristina Burdine

Today was our 3rd day of actual service. It was filled with fun and laughter and learning a few more songs in Creole. We have two amazing interns, one from right here in Haiti. Jean Marc goes to school in Oklahoma and enjoys teaching us Creole, even with our American accents. It's been such a blessing to have him as one of our interns. We've heard his story on previous trips and it's great getting to know him. We are having a blast.

Our project today was painting a house. I wish we could post a picture to show you. It looks beautiful. I was excited when we were using more than just the cream color. The houses we painted the last two years were completely painted in cream.Today's house was cream, white and pink! I still ended up painting only the cream color...hahaha! I was so proud of everyone for giving it their all. I look forward to sharing photos when we return.

The food has been great. It never disappoints. Rice and beans and plantains and some other stuff :)

I'm having a great time getting to know the students and the other two adult chaperones. It's been a week filled with a lot of hard work and tons of laughter. My cheeks hurt from laughing so much. It will be sad to see it end in a few short days.

The week is going by so fast. Tomorrow is our last day of serving in Haiti. We are all looking forward to it, even though the girls all have to wear skirts all day in the village. It was nice wearing shorts all day today. It will be another day filled with blessing others and being blessed ourselves in the process.

It's almost time for dinner, team devotions and then shower and bed :)

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Blessings,
Kristina Burdine