Hannah's Post

Haiti is an amazing place. It is very beautiful. There are great people here. They are the nicest people you will ever meet. God has touched my heart so many times this trip by seeing all the kids and watching them live their lives. If it would be me, I would not make it. They walk with 50 pound bags full of different things on their head without a problem. We hiked up a mountain today.
We have made benches for the past few days for the mountain people so we brought them up today. We hiked and someone else brought the benches up on the truck. We were hiking and a girl got sick. She decided to tough it out. She is a really good role model. We all prayed over her and she got better almost instantly. She was still feeling sick when we started again but better than before. It took us two hours to get up the mountain. We got to the school and had a devotional. We were praying over a girl and her family and I started feeling sick. They instantly started praying over me, I felt very loved and special, the color restored in my face and I felt a little better. God does wonders! The girl who was sick and I rode back down in the truck and instantly fell asleep. I woke up and built more benches. I felt A LOT better. We built benches and painted class rooms. Dinner was delicious! We had a ‘meeting’ time and Donald Jr. (the president of Lifeline) answered a lot of questions. Tomorrow is market day and we will also have Haitian food for dinner. It is so exciting! Haiti is an awesome place. You should come sometime!

- Hannah Heismann

Benches, Bible Study, & Bercy

Today was a great day working with the team from Ohio. They all worked together to build ten school benches for some schools here who are in great need of them.

They also did a Bible study with one of the classes at Lifeline’s school here in La Digue. They talked about how each one of the children was made special and how God loves them and they are to love each other. The kids had fun decorating crosses to remember to love one another the way Christ loves us.

This evening we all went to the Bercy Orphanage where the team spent some time playing with and loving on the kids. The kids had a blast playing with the new people.

Tomorrow we are all climbing up the mountain to Petit Bois to give them some of the benches that were built today. Climbing up the mountain is always a great experience and we’re looking forward to the trip tomorrow!

Arrival of Ohio Team

Today a team from Ohio arrived to spend a week working with Lifeline. We are so excited to have them here. Some have been here before and for others this is a first time. After they got settled in we took them on a walk through our village and to the dam. The kids in the village were so excited to see new people to love on.

When we got to the dam we were saddened to see that Hurricane Tomas had broken the dam. Dirty water was flowing through it with great force. It completely busted through the rebar. It was a strange sight to see.

But we are grateful that no one was injured when it happened. As this week goes on, pray for the team that is here that they have a great week and that God moves on their hearts. We’re looking forward with anticipation to see what God has in store for this week! If you’re interested in coming to Haiti on a short-term mission trip and have the experience of a lifetime, email us at missionlifeline@bellsouth.net.

No More Cold Nights

Due to the cold rains of Hurricane Tomas, nights have been abnormally cool for Haiti. On top of that, many of the homes here have leaks in their roofs and the rains have been pouring in at night getting people and their belongings wet. Thankfully we had some blankets that we were able to pass out to some of those in our village today. They were so grateful to receive them knowing they can now be comfortable at night and not spend the night lying awake shivering in the cold. Who would have thought that Haiti would be cold enough for blankets, but we are so grateful that we had them to pass out to those in our village who needed them for these chilly nights. Praise the Lord for blankets!

Hurricane Tomas

Once again, Haiti is has found itself in another tragic situation with floods from Hurricane Tomas. Praise the Lord that Lifeline’s village of La Digue was only hit with pounding rain but very minimal damage. Some homes had a little bit of water damage. Many are having to wade through much water in order to get in their houses. Even in hurricane rains, the children still lined up outside the gate to come to Lifeline’s feeding center. As we watched our children come in the gate, they were all cold, wet and muddy yet still happy and anxiously running to come to eat the one meal they would eat for the day. While we were being hit with rain here, Leogane was being pummeled with hurricane winds and rains even more intensely. Leogane was the epicenter of the earthquake and now was also one of the worst-hit areas in the hurricane along with Gonaives. Four people died as a result of the floods. Much of the city of Leogane is now under water. Missions all across the country are scrambling to help those affected by this tragic hurricane. The US Military deployed the USS Iwo Jima to offer their help and relief supplies as well. The cholera epidemic could now possibly worsen as these new flood waters form a perfect breading ground for the disease. These dear people have been hit with so much tragedy this year. Please continue to keep Haiti in your prayers. God is not finished with this country yet!!

Urgent Prayer Request

We’ve been watching the approach of Hurricane Tomas as it gets closer and closer. We are making preparation in every way that we know getting our diesel and groceries in any event we will be unable to go to Port-au-Prince for our business affairs. From time past we are very much aware that the prices of things sky rocket and there are shortages of goods and there is even a possibility of not being able to go to Port at all. In knowing that, we need everyone to pray for the safety of the mission and all of Haiti. There are still 1.3 million people living in tent cities. Those tents won’t be able to withstand hurricane winds. With the rain, many areas often flood which will again increase the chances of cholera as well as destroy all of the few belongings they’ve acquired since the earthquake. In all of this, we know God is in control and it’s comforting to know that we know the One True God that holds us in the palm of his hand.

First Egg!

Today we celebrated a small but happy victory for Lifeline, our first egg! We’ve had chickens for about two months but they haven’t laid any eggs yet so we were so excited to see our first egg in the coop. Eventually when they lay enough eggs, we are going to use them in our canteen to feed our school children. Eggs are a great source of protein especially for children who suffer from malnutrition. We’re hoping these eggs can provide a great source of nourishment for the children who eat at Lifeline. Lord willing this one egg is the beginning of many more to come!