The Maine Team Goes Off Campus

The team's activities today took them off the NVM compound. We loaded up the vehicles and headed for Onaville. As we have reported before, Onaville is the largest displacement camp in Haiti. However, it is quickly becoming a permanent community. It is good to see progress. The purpose of our trip to Onaville was to work with the Haitian ladies who are producing crafts and to conduct a special event for 30 ladies from the church there. It was a great success. The men came along to see the ministry and what the ladies were doing. Gami Ortiz came along to give them a short talk about the Onaville community and ministry. And while the sessions with the women began, the men took a long walk up the mountainside. Here are some of the sites.

Gami giving his talk

The men hiking up the mountainside

Some of the ladies bought baskets from specific Haitian women

Babies are hard to resist

Buying the specific baskets helped build relationships and prayer partners

Handing out supplies for the next batch of baskets

Snacks were served!

Cheryl gave a powerful devotional on putting hurts behind us

The second session was a sewing event for ladies in the Onaville church 

Our translator and friend Regine models the sewing project

The team ladies helped guide the sewing process 

The ladies did a tremendous job on their projects 

Hard at work 

A helping hand 

Sewing away

You have to love those drinking glasses 

Success 

Proud of their finished projects 

Pat gave a devotional to this group

They are so grateful for what Cheryl has done

Cheryl's ministry to these ladies has made a tremendous difference in their lives and they are very grateful. The last line of the sign above is true. They really do love Cheryl. And the feeling is mutual. It will be hard for her to leave these dear ladies. But they are in good hands as Tina Bergen assumes the leadership of this ministry. We are so grateful for what God has done and will continue to do to help support these families and to build a sense of self-worth. And we thank the mission team ladies who were a big help today.

The team has a day off tomorrow and will complete their work week on Saturday. Please be praying that God will work through them and speak into their lives.

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,
Jim & Cheryl Warner

The Maine Mission Team Keeps Rolling On

It is hard to believe but Wednesday is drawing to a close. The weeks go by so quickly when teams are at NVM. And today was a good day and I have included lots of photos!

First the men. They completed their woodworking projects and one of them is shown below. For some time people have asked us to post a map of Haiti. So the men built a nice frame and hung it in the dining hall. They also replanted some watermelon seedlings in a garden in the children's home. Mid afternoon they joined the ladies for the special time with a group of Haitian women. More on that later.

The ladies continued work counting and repackaging medications. There also did some baking to produce goodies for the afternoon session.

Then at 3 pm they hosted an event for a group of special Haitian ladies. Cheryl gave a great devotional, the ladies created a cellphone holder and played a rousing game of bingo. Fun was had by all. And given that we are moving back to Dallas soon, it was hard to say good bye. These ladies are indeed special to Cheryl. In the first photo you see Deanne Pierre, one of the Haitian church leaders, Cheryl and Tina. Tina will be taking over Cheryl's responsibilities when we leave.

And while most of the team members are from Maine, there are two couples hailing from someplace else. Pat and Joe live in Pennsylvania and David and Louanne live in Minnesota. We have been ministering with Pat and Joe for many years. And Jim worked with David to ten years prior to joining CRU.

Joe and Pat

David and Louanne

David made an interesting and encouraging comment to me this afternoon. He noticed that our ministry at NVM is based on close personal relationships. He is exactly correct. Both of us have dear friends here and it has been a privilege to ministry alongside so many wonderful people.

God was good today. Much was accomplished and hearts were touched. Thanks for your prayers and we will check in with you again tomorrow.

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,
Jim & Cheryl Warner

NVM's "Maine" Mission Team!!

The mission team from Maine is well into Tuesday and things are going well. The men have been working on construction projects. As you can see below they are building shelving units for the homes of US staff and framed boards. These boards will be used to mount photos of the Haitian staff and project information. We are mounting the photos so that visiting mission team members can be introduced to the Haitian staff working alongside them and to learn their names. The men are doing a great job.

The women have been sorting clothing in one of our storage containers. I will try to include photos of that work tomorrow. They also joined Cheryl for her final class with a group of Haitian ladies from Chambrun who are now making rolled beaded jewelry. It was a great opportunity for the team members to see the production process and to meet the ladies. It was also emotional for Cheryl as the ladies are saying thank you.

And late yesterday the team had the chance to visit some of our friends living in the nearby community of Chambrun. As we have reported before, these dear people are very poor physically. However, many of them are rich emotionally and spiritually. We had a wonderful couple of hours visiting and playing with the children.

We love to see what God does through the lives of the team members who come to visit us and to ministry alongside us. And we are so thankful for this team, as well. We will continue to report to you on their activities for the rest of the week!

Serving on your behalf in Haiti,
Jim & Cheryl Warner