George Hill wraps up this stay at NVM

George Hill of the Indiana Pacers conducted a basketball clinic each morning, Monday through Wednesday this week for 100 local kids. This is the report on the final day. After the basketball lesson the kids received a good meal, a Pacer's string backpack, an autographed photo of George and a Pacer's tee shirt. They were so excited. And they also received some final words of challenge from George.

George was here in partnership with Kids Against Hunger. The lunch for the kids was provided by their organization. This organization is committed to feeding hunger people around the world. After the morning session, they headed for Onaville for a major food distribution. It was a great day and here are the photos.

The kids enjoying a great lunch provided by Kids Against Hunger

George Hill hanging out with the kids

Pastor Pierre and his wife Dianne enjoying the morning 

Aaron Elliott (former NVM staff and now on NVM board) with Jim (a Kids Against Hunger board member)

Fifi has become a Pacer's fan! 

George's final words to the kids 

You rarely see me because I am usually taking the photos

The kids were excited!

Well, that's the final word on George Hill's visit. It was a great week and he left a lasting impression on the kids. He claims he is coming back. The kids certainly hope so.

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,
Jim & Cheryl Warner

George Hill is on move in Haiti!

For the first two days of his visit, George Hill of the Indiana Pacers was working with kids on the NVM compound. But on Tuesday we ventured up the mountain side to visit Quisqueya Christian School. This is an international English school with 300 students. During our time at the school George had the chance to speak to the students and to have some fun with them. The group then played soccer with some of the student which was great fun. And finally, we returned to the basketball court. They brought up two teams to play a short exhibition game, George took part in a rapid-fire shooting contest (which he easily won) and conducted a press conference which was broadcast across Haiti. All in all it was a successful and fun day. And to bring it all alive, here are the pictures.

Sharing his life, lessons and testimony to the students 

Teaching some of the students basic basketball drills 

And a little bit of showing off (the kids loved it!) 

A quick game of Knockout with the students 

George let the last student win to get a "no uniforms" day!! He was mobbed.

George signed over 100 autographs after the session 

George with his girlfriend Samantha and some of the kids 

George's first sport was soccer 

He plays with intensity!

And he "loves" to play 

George and our crew watched a short exhibition game

George with one of the exhibition teams

Lightning - How many 3-point shots you can make in one minute 

George won - 18 out of 25! 

The press conference

It was both fun and a privilege to have George Hill in Haiti. Pray with us that his work and ministry off the court will continue on and be strong! He is a great guy with a big heart. And I think I am rapidly becoming an Indiana Pacers fan. I will be watching and routing for you George! Let's cheer him on together.

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,
Jim & Cheryl Warner

George Hill is in the NVM House

Now, I need to start with a note for all of you non basketball fans. Who is George Hill, you say? He is one of the stars of the NBA. Specifically, he is a point guard for the Indiana Pacers. He helped the Pacers give the Miami Heat a run for their money in this year's playoffs. Now, on with our story.

George Hill is here with a group of folks from the Pacers and Kids Against Hunger. He is here to conduct a basketball clinic for 100 kids in our area and to distribute food to folks in Onaville. He will also be conducting a session at a Christian international school near Port-au-Prince. That one will be televised nationally in Haiti!!

In any case, here are the photos. They can speak for themselves. It was a wonderful day!

George with Pastor Pierre speaking to the kids

George's girlfriend - a dynamite soccer player

Passing drills at the clinic

More drills!

George teaching the kids

My beautiful wife with a beautiful baby!

George's 2-handed dribble!

Showing them how it is done

George really wanted to play soccer

High Five after a goal

We had a great day with George and his group. And there is more scheduled for tomorrow. We will report in then.

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,

Jim & Cheryl Warner

Baskets of Blessing

The Basket Class in Onaville is producing beautiful baskets and is now completely run by the Haitian ladies.  It has been a joy and blessing to work alongside Madame Julia. She is Pastor Massillon’s wife and has become a precious friend!  Julia has 15 new ladies making baskets and 10 helpers.  The helpers are the ladies that graduated from the first class who produced quality work.  During the course, each lady makes 5 to 8 baskets, which are sold in the NVM Project Hope Gift Shop.  Each lady makes enough money to feed her family each month. And after the course they will continue to make baskets for the ministry.  It’s a joy to teach this fun skill to these ladies! It is something that gives them hope for a better future.

Haitian ladies teaching Haitian ladies :)

Joy in working together!

As you can see from the pictures, these baskets are beautiful works of art! The ladies are very proud of their work and each is made with a unique style of hand sewing.  It can take a half day or more to make one basket, depending on the size.

New Fall designs - beautiful! 

New Christmas baskets - the work of 15 new basket makers :)

Each basket will be tagged with their picture and then sold to mission team members who come to the NVM Compound.  We also now have a small market of the baskets being sold in the States.  If you are interested in purchasing a basket, you can contact me anytime. My email is cheryl.warner@cru.org.

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,

Jim & Cheryl Warner

We say farewell to the GAiN Team - Final Thoughts!

The GAiN mission team drove away from NVM this morning at 6:30. And they take with them many great memories. Yesterday I asked each of them to write on a 3x5 card their greatest impression from the week. You can read their responses below.

What they did

This team accomplished a great deal! They distributed water filter systems to 100 families in four communities, planted a corn field, worked on a farm irrigation system, purchased and had installed a new pump for the water well in the field, built shelves for the dorms, conducted a women's ministry event, produced craft kits for the Haitian ladies, cleaned the dorms, painted the inside of the NVM church, visited two communities and washed lots of dishes. It was a full week and we are so grateful for their hard work! But most important, they shared God's love and his good news of Jesus with so very many. They truly were the hands and feet of Jesus this week. And they also encouraged the pastors serving the churches we visited this week.

Cheryl and I want to thank each of them personally for following the Lord's leading to come to Haiti and for their willingness to work as a team. They were great!

What the team members had to say!

It is always interesting to hear what God has been teaching team members. I asked them to record their greatest impressions and here are their responses. Some are short and some are longer. And some even expressed themselves in poetry!

Haitian harvest – help wanted!

Hungry mouths and hearts

Helpless stares in despair

Hopelessness in children’s smiles

Fields are calling

Prepare the soil

But who will pump the living water?

Help me Holy Spirit to heed your call

  

Farming God’s way.

This trip can be described in the following words: heart wrenching, life changing and evidence of God’s never ending love.

I am in awe of how God can unite individuals from across the world to participate in his divine plan for sowing seeds of revival for the Haitian communities in such a short period of time.

Having Christ is having everything. The other stuff doesn’t matter.

I love the unity the Holy Spirit brings to a group of believers. Serving together is such a joy.

Beautiful country,

beautiful people,

huge need,

I can play a part.

God’s ways are not our ways.

A real glimpse into the heart of Jesus.

God has changed the focus of this trip for me by impressing the importance of not my plans and expectations but him telling me to “listen & wait” and he will bring along and show me what he wants.

My journey this week was driven by passion and permitted me to humble myself so that I could absorb the joy and love that God has to share with everyone.

Bare-bottomed sweetheart

Born in a place she didn’t choose

But she knows nothing else

Dusty, hot and happy to be hugged

I was brought into the world on the third base

She’s barely even left home

Lord, let me live in such a way that I am loving the least of these.

God has great love for all the people of the world.

In each of us is the power to help or hurt one another. In a world of hurt it has been a sincere blessing to serve as God’s hands and feet along side an amazing group of people.  Thank you!

It is easy to get caught up in the poverty and while quite real and worth a hand up, one should look past to the people who exude a joy and simple approach to daily life. This is something we could surely learn from.

God has given his children a spirit so great that it is capable of great things despite economic circumstances. i.e. tremendous love, laughter and perseverance to continue each day with a smile. God is great!

I was humbled with the visit we had a Chambrun seeing how little the kids had and yet were so full of love and joy. I thank God for leading me in this experience in Haiti and to serve with this great group of people. Praise God!

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,

Jim & Cheryl Warner

Visiting Our New Friends

It's Thursday! And the GAiN team spent the day working on some final projects on the compound. But the highlights of the day were two trips to visit local communities. In the morning the team visited Chambrun which is a very poor community less than a half mile from NVM. Most of our ministry is focused on the people living in this community. And in the afternoon they were taken on the 30-minute drive to the NVM church plant in Onaville. This is the largest displacement camp in Haiti and is home to over 200,000 people. All of these people were displaced from their homes after the earthquake in January of 2010. It was a great experience for the team members to visit these two communities.

Chambrun
The NVM nurses have developed wonderful relationships with many in Chambrun. The team members had the chance to meet some of them. And of course, play with and hold the children.

It is a short walk to Chambrun from NVM 

Kids like to have fun - everywhere 

The kids love to see photos! 

Showing some love 

Soccer - the international sport 

Man to man! 

Most of the homes are made from sticks and mud 

Posing for the camera 

The NVM Children's home in Chambrun will be moving to NVM soon

Onaville
Most of the people living in Chambrun were living in Port-au-Prince before the earthquake. Most of them lost family members in the disaster and were uprooted and moved to a large temporary city at the base of a mountain just outside of town. However, Onaville is now becoming their permanent home. Houses are being built and businesses are starting. The new city stretches for over 6 miles and is home for 220,000 people.

From the hillside, Onaville is an amazing sight

The church has drilled a well

And sell clean water at a greatly reduced rate 

The new church and property

The team on the mountain side 

You have to love the kids

Thank you for your prayers for this team. We have had a wonderful week of ministry. And we realize that spiritual success only happens when God is involved. And he has responded to your prayers. The team will rest tomorrow after a long, hot week of work. They will then return to the USA on Saturday. We will post one more time on this team to summarize their work and to give some final thoughts.

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,

Jim & Cheryl Warner