United Methodist Volunteers in Mission
Indian Run UMC, Dublin, Ohio
Lévêque, Haiti
December 2013

Click on a date below to see the photos from that day. Once there, you may hover over a photo to see a slightly larger view or click on a photo to see a much larger view.

• 12/6/2013 - The team gathers 4:45am in the Indian Run UMC parking lot for a send-off from family and church friends. The flight to Port-au-Prince is through Chicago and then Miami. Mechanical problems in Chicago delay their arrival in Miami, so they must spend the night at three different hotels in the Miami airport area. After communicating with Haiti VIM, arrangments are made to pick the team up on Saturday morning for direct transportation to Lévêque.
• 12/7/2012 - We are met at the airport by Carine Odilus and the Haiti VIM drivers to take us to our project site, Lévêque. Everyone settles into their new home in Leveque for the week, and we renew many friendships from last year. The church construction has progressed nicely. It looks awesome with a blue roof. Today we are acclimate to the big change in temperatures. We left icy roads in Columbus. It's over ninety here - we aren't in Ohio any more!
• 12/8/2013 - We have a wonderful morning today at the 2 hour worship service in Lévêque. Our cook, Lulu, leads many of the hymns and sings one solo in English as well as Haitian Creole. On guitar Greg leads our team in singing 'Open the eyes of my heart, Lord' for the worship service too. We celebrated Holy Communion today - a first in Haiti for all of us. What a blessing! This afternoon we relax and have an early dinner at Obama Beach, just 30 minutes north of us. Tomorrow we start helping with construction on the church.
• 12/9/2013 - We have a very good day in mission today. Children are often around us with school in session, and several help in the afternoon. As the Haitian laborers surface the rear altar area wall, we work on moving mortar when needed, move sand into the sanctuary for mixing, clean off the sanctuary floor where numerous concrete mixes have hardened over the past year and a half, and repair tools required for our work. The heat is MUCH more tolerable than past years, because we have the shade of the church roof to cool things a good 5-10 degrees. We also have a nice breeze much of the day. We arrange with the school principal to start Bible School tomorrow through Thursday.
• 12/10/2013 - On the church site, we move more sand into the sanctuary, sift sand, and continue to work on the sanctuary floor. Today is our first day of Bible School. Michelle tells the story of Jonah with Caz interpreting. About half of the team joins Michelle to help with the crafts with children in all six classrooms. Each class sings for us as well. Many photos are taken with our school friends.
• 12/11/2013 - Today is a bit hotter than past days, over 90 in the shade. We rotate some team members for Bible School and have the story of Noah as the theme. The highlight for the children may be the animal crackers they get to put in their ark craft. Work on the sanctuary proceeds much like yesterday. In mid-afternoon Jonas (one of the local Haitian workers with whom we worked last year) takes us for a tour of the community, the Mission of hope project and a plantain plantation. Everyone remarks on our walk that it is impossible to believe that tomorrow is our last full day in mission in Lévêque.
• 12/12/2013 - Where did the time go? The sanctuary is looking so much more like a house of God and will be a wonderful place to worship. With the rough finish on all interior walls, the smooth finish on the altar wall and some of the rear wall, and a relatively smooth floor, it is a blessing to all of us to have had the opportunity to serve in this awesome way. At Bible School this morning the theme is the parable of the lost sheep. The younger children have fun with making a sheep and the older children show their artistic talent with hearts made from wire. They all love the matching baseball caps donated by the Klass family.
• 12/13/2013 - We leave Lévêque this morning and journey to Mellier to visit the community where we served in 2010 and 2011. Wow! We are awestruck with the church that we helped construct there. Words can in no way do it justice; even pictures will fall short of expressing the awesomeness of this house of worship to be dedicated next month. We are deeply humbled.
• 12/14/2013 - We get to relax a little around the pool, before we head to the airport for an afternoon flight. We are transported to the airport late morning, and despite a little delay in Chicao, we make it back a little after midnight. Bondye bon! Tout tan! Tout tan! Bondye bon!

Return to Mission Experiences list