Mission to Haiti
Over March Break 2015, eleven students and two chaperones from Hamilton District Christian High went to Haiti on a mission trip and worked with the organization “Mission of Hope”.
The trip was an incredible blessing for all of us. During the week, we had opportunity to learn about the vision of Mission of Hope, worship with the people Haiti, and plant trees for people that needed them, speak with people in the surrounding villages, ask them about their needs, and pray with them.
Through these experiences, our students showed incredible leadership, growth and learning. Each one took opportunity to pray with individuals in the village, play soccer, basketball, or other games with the kids, and speak words of encouragement to the people we met.
We learned what a blessing it is for us to share our faith and speak of God’s goodness to his people. We also felt the blessing of sharing in people’s needs, sorrows, disappointments and troubles. We learned of the incredible faith of the Haitians, and we are now challenged to openly and confidently share our personal faith with our own communities at home.
Reflections of a beautiful country …
“Haiti has and always will hold a special place in my heart. Every day I catch myself looking through photos or thinking of something I did or someone I met on the trip. Being in Haiti is something that I will never forget.”-Brittany
“The experience has shown me how truly blessed we are to live in a country as well off as Canada. Being in Haiti made me appreciate things in life that we typically take for granted, like clean water, hot water, not having to worry about having enough to eat, or worry about finding a job. This trip was a blessing to me and helped me grow in my faith. I love Canada and while it’s a beautiful country, I think I left my heart in Haiti, and I can’t wait to go back.” -Ashley
“It’s good to be back and to see our families again, but I miss Haiti so much. I miss the kindness of the people and the smiles on their faces. I miss the excitement of the kids and the hugs they never seemed to run out of.” -Nicole H.
“On our beach day, we drove to a beautiful resort with water more clear than a pool. What made my day was snorkeling at a reef where beautiful fish were everywhere when swimming around the coral. When we left, we reflected on what a great trip this has been, this is a beautiful country with even more beautiful people.” -Eric
“The one word that comes to mind when I think about how I felt in Haiti is ‘peace’. There’s something about removing all of the distractions that seem to take up so much of our time here and focusing on prayer, worship, thankfulness, togetherness, and service.” – Lydia
“Among many things I’ve learned from the trip, one of the simplest but very important things has been how much that we have been truly blessed with. In Haiti it was so easy to count our blessings each day; for health, food, shade, rest, friends, Bibles, and clean water. These are things we tend to overlook on a daily basis!” -Victoria
“During our visit in the village of Mesaye, we talked with and prayed with a few villagers about their past life, prescience in a community, and future needs. This was a nice change from the other visits because I really liked learning how the littlest things can affect their lives.” – Davis
“While in the small village in Cabaret, we decided to buy trees to plant on our trip. A lot of villages in Haiti don’t have a lot of trees which doesn’t create a lot of shade in the everyday heat of Haiti. It was such an amazing experience to just be able to plant some trees and know and see that they were so happy and felt so blessed! After we were done planting trees we got to play with the kids. It was an amazing time filled with so much laughter.” – Janelle
“I really appreciated the morning devotions and the evening reflections as a time to pause and think about everything that was going on and thank God for the many ways we saw Him at work. We are called to use the incredible experience of living among a new culture as a way to enrich our lives. We had the opportunity to serve people far away, but now we have the opportunity to serve people in our own communities!” – Abby