Haiti Mission Trip March 2008 - Hope House

HAITI MISSION TRIP
March 13 - 24, 2008

Anticipation = to assume; count on; expect; forsee; predict; look forward to. All of these heartfelt emotions within us were just waiting to be reunited with the other half of our hearts that was still in Haiti from January 2004. Now, 49 months later, we again were landing on the tarmac of the country that brought new levels of dismay, confusion, frustration, anger & suffering beyond what we had ever experienced or witnessed. This was nothing though compared to the almost unexplainable joy, beauty, growth, blessings & peace felt above all else.

Haiti - March 2008
Hope House of The Lazarus Project

Our arrival into the capital of Haiti, Port au Prince, was met by Rev. Larry & Margaret Bollinger of Hope House (located just East of the capital.)

We were once again on a familiar ride in the back of the islands most used vehicle - a Daihatsu truck TapTap (open taxi) down the dusty, bumpy streets.


We couldn’t help but notice the familiar smells & sites of thousands of hard working Haitians all over the streets. Carrying goods in handmade wheelbarrows, sacks & buckets upon the heads & most wearing thin sandles or old sneakers or no shoes at all to cover their feet. Many traveling by foot miles across trash laden city streets, crowded street markets & communities, barren fields and rocky hillsides.

This time though, there was an enormous UN presence which reassured what we had already felt - no signs of danger. The clean, safe & comfortable compound of The Hope House would be our refuge for a week. Surrounded by gardens filled with beautiful plants & fruit trees, each dorm style room had modest creature comforts of bunk beds, generator controlled fans & a/c’s, warm showers and incredible homemade meals 3x a day served buffet style in the open air!

Our creature comforts also included a couple 8 legged visitors the size of tennis balls & one Stuart Little (aka - mouse) who thought it would be entertaining to climb up my bed post, within inches of my head, in the middle of the night.


(read STUART RETURNS poem in the next post)


But alas, most of us slept like logs and woke every morning to the gate buzzer rung by local children to see MaMa Margaret & the Americans who were visiting. Sarah, Starlye and other big eyed children charmed us, engaged in play and reminded us love does make the world go round.

GO TIM!

The first task at hand was to empty our 8 donation filled suitcases for distributing. These donations included a variety of medical supplies, vitamins, hygiene products, toys, candy, shoes, bandanas, jewelry & clothing.

When the local kids saw the brightly colored bandanas - it wasn’t long before more came asking for a bandana and to have it tied on immediately!

Our projects for the week included removing old paint & primer on an approx. 12’ x 30’ steel gate and then repriming it; cleaning & varnishing two large wooden cabinets, replacing screen windows; painting two 20’ high ceiling school classrooms & a 6ft. Mural on an exterior compound wall.

Each evening wound down with devotions written by each of the 8 team members: Pastor Paul, Merrily, Carol, Jody, Nancy, JoAnne, Tim & Rhonda. Then followed by praise & worship singing lead by accoustic guitar and closing with prayer requests & praises of thanks. Our stay with The Bollingers also included visits to other ministries. Life changing experiences to say the least! Stay tuned to read more about these special visits & much more in our posts to follow!

Once experiencing Haiti, part of your heart remains there........

Priceless - Friendship Baptist

Priceless – Friendship Baptist of Wilmington, DE

“Priceless” ….. that’s exactly what our relationship with God is…………priceless. Never should we take for granted the gift HE has given us in HIS son Jesus Christ; nor the plan HE has for each of us; and especially the daily opportunities to be part of HIS agenda in all situations!

Well we are counting our blessings for the “priceless” experience of being in fellowship with Friendship Baptist of Wilmington, DE just this morning. Trust me when I say, our whole family is walking RENEWED and WITH MORE VIGOR from more than just the brisk autumn morning. Our increased joyful awareness has been a revolving door as we visit with churches, businesses, schools, clubs and individuals.

Thank you Sister Alberta, Rev. Jackson & Rev. Heath for allowing us to share our adoption/ministry story before the church. We are so appreciative of your sincere interest & support in the work of Shoes 2 Share. Everyone we met today was so joyful and filled with an incredible amount of excitement for Lord and working for HIM! The shoe filled boxes & containers will find new owners in the many children, teens & adults that would otherwise go without. Thank you again and we will never forget the “up out of your seats” singing & swaying that we experienced today in the pews of Friendship Baptist!

Mountain Momma in WV & DE

Rhonda grew up making yearly trips to the southern area of West Virginia. It’s there that many of her relatives still reside and have given her the best of those simple and pure childhood memories. Hours of laughter & tears. And some of the the most wonderfully quiet (yet squeaky) chained porch swinging episodes are forever burned in her memory bank. The roadtrips never failed to have atleast one radio airtime playing of the famous lyrics “West Virginia, mountain momma, take me home, country road!” There’s something very, very special about the people in West Virginia. For starters, you can expect to consistently receive a hearty greeting upon walking into an establishment . Then there’s the official term for a soda - “pop” and the famous slogan “I’d say so & ya’ll come back now ya hear”. And if you haven’t had the pleasure of eating the best southern bisquits & gravy breakfast, on a classic melamin plate, while sitting on a front porch overlooking a crystal clear creek, then your truly missing some of the finest down to earth fellowship in the world!

Well some folks from WV have proven themselves again in being friendly, selfless and so gracious in their simple giving spirit. The youth of Brake Brethren Church

http://www.cob-net.org/church/brake.htm

not only collected hundreds or shoes, but they also collected hundreds of dollars in spare change to help offset the cost of distributing the shoe donations! This was such a blessing to S2S in helping to complete the mission of getting the shoes to their recipients. As we collect more shoes, the cost to distribute them increases - so thank you to our new friends in WV for the insight & leading to take S2S on as a project in full circle. And thank you to the Howard family for sharing the S2S mission with your family in WV and traveling back & forth to get the donations to Delaware. Your appreciated and admired in so many ways!

This month we received many individual donations, being dropped off at our warehouse. Lots of email inquiries to host shoe drives have come in and phone calls with questions on how to get involved. One group in particular went the extra mile, The Pike Creek MOMS Club,

http://www.geocities.com/pikecreekmomsclub/home.html

who mailed a monetary donation to S2S and with plans to kick-off a shoe drive soon. Thanks ladies for your dedication in being moms and for sharing with us the gift of giving! The small mountains (more like one big hill) of Pike Creek in Delaware obviously shares the same qualities of the large mountains of West Virginia!

No Fear

Over a month ago, I was asked to be a guest speaker/presenter at Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Middletown, DE. Well at first I thought, NO WAY I CAN'T DO THAT! And then I was quickly and gently reminded that I have no fear in the Lord's work.........that this was another chapter of my life and the S2S ministry that was unfolding before me. Soon a handful of incredible women lifted me up in consistant prayer as I prepared for the big day. May 5th has come and gone, but the day will be a milestone for me forever. With a completely calm spirit set within me (though my knees wobbled for a short bit) I was able to share our adoption/ministry journey.



It was a bittersweet experience planning for the day.....
......remembering the details of how God orchestrated our family.....
......turning us inside out experiencing life in a 3rd world country.....
......laying on my heart the need of something as simple as providing shoes to children going without in Haiti and beyond.....



I am so grateful for the many women who were spurring me on, encouraging me in the Lords leading, and spending time getting to know one another. I am even more grateful for the other women who also shared their journeys & hearing how God is walking beside them. The day was complete with each attendee bringing donations for SHOES 2 SHARE during this wonderful event titled "Stepping Out in Faith - Ladies Brunch & Conference"



I encourage anyone reading this to make a point of never denying yourself the gift of being around those who can bring out the best in you. Allowing the time to be in the presence of others - young or old, rich or poor - who will help you to become what you only dream of and what you may never have seen in yourself. Don't be afraid of what lies ahead!

Thank You Everyone at Crossroads!

Joyfully, Rhonda

Bike-a-Palooza

A dedicated group of parents & their kids of Chesapeake City Cub Scout Pack 336 got together recently for a great fundraiser. And I mean great! The weather was absolutely perfect and the parents were right on with providing food to fuel everyone.

But the Cub Scouts & their siblings showed the most enthusiasm by riding their bikes (helmets intact) like a pack of serious trained athletes.

The kids were sponsored for each mile around the oval track.......and boy were they racking up the miles!



In addition to raising money for Cub Scouts, the families also brought shoe donations to the event, for Shoes 2 Share, as an ongoing service project.

Enjoying the few hours of excitement with the pack also included bringing our newly acquired, decked out S2S cargo trailer! Thanks to our friends at


of Wilmington, DE for a beautiful job dressing the old girl up so we can take her to special events just like this!

So a BIG THANKS to PACK 336 of Chesapeake City, MD for a fun day and for helping to make a difference in their own kids lives, as well as, other kids around the world!



As the Cub Scout Promise goes:
I promise - To do my best - To do my duty to God and my country,
To help other people - and To obey the Law of the Pack.

Fondly - The Gang of Shoes 2 Share

Beautiful Strangers

Wednesday thru Friday were such beautiful days. I was looking forward to my ladies group gathering on Friday evening, though it was the closing of our current study, and already I'm missing them and being in their fellowship weekly! But I had several busy days ahead of me, cleaning, sorting & organizing......efforts toward trying to prepare additional rooms at our plant for all the donations that are pouring in. Also.....trying to seek some quiet time to work on a presentation for a women’s church group I'm speaking at about our adoption & ministry. We've only talked about doing this for 2+ years so it's not too serious that I waited this long, is it? Be nice now! But all of this isn't what stood out and made the days so beautiful. It was the strangers who I met, but don't feel like strangers at all. And the young girl who's not a stranger, but a little lady in training (my joyful 12 yr old daughter) also made these three days exceptionally beautiful.

During our travels, my daughter suddenly announces that "we should pray for our busy day Mom." And she did just that, in the most sweet & tender innocence of a child. Let's just say I had to pull over in order to not be a reckless driver and wait until I could see again. Pass the tissues please.....you get the picture right? So while passing through Middletown, I met with a gal at The Little Gym to pickup shoe donations from her. She happily introduces me to the manager, who was so excited to help us and work on establishing "shoe drops" in their establishments for an ongoing collection of shoe donations! That was awesome!

Later we meet several ladies at our plant who also have shoe donations. But that wasn't all - they sincerely, wholeheartedly, with devotion to serving, want to help beyond this. They have already rolled up their sleeves and are serving in many ways, and I'm sure I'm not the only person on this earth who has experienced the blessings through these women.

So thanks to Kristi, Deborah, Linda, Barbara & Wendy - strangers in passing no more, but ladies who I will be happy to continue experiencing the gift of their true desire to help others.
And also a special thanks to other women who have impacted me: Mom (aka Monnie), Laurice, Stef, Lynn, Maria, Heather, Merrily, Annie, Lisa, Kathy, Maureen, Kelly, Stacey, Debbie, Kim, Karen, Margie, Jamie, Cindy, Tammy, Elizabeth, Hope, Ellen, Nicole, Summer, Kris, Kathy, Chris, Robin, Isman, Sharon, Jacinta, Allison, Jen, Lisa, Joni, Margo, Stephanie, Lydia, Sandra, Cheryl, Gina, Nancy, Connie, Donna, Jo-El, Beth & Pocahontas (kidding, kinda). If your name is not here it's only because I'm running on overload with emotion and little sleep. I haven't forgotten you, but rather just my human memory is running at a slower pace than I'd like it to at the moment. My Ginko-Biloba herbal supplements don't always do what I'd like them to! HA! So much to be thankful for..........celebrate it daily! I feel like dancing - and I think I will!

Game Faces off the Field

Did you ever notice how much fun people have using "sports lingo" in everyday life. Like when someone yells at the TV "awe come on" during a competive sporting event. Or the kids playing wrestle mania and announcing " in this corner". And how about "you gotta put your game face on" before stepping on to the field of battle!

It's very admirable when athletes display true sportsmanship on and off the field. Well, we got to personally experience a whole team with their true "game faces on" after last Saturdays softball game at Caravel Academy. Cape Henlopen's Varsity Softball Team, after playing a good game of ball, did another good thing. One by one, bags of shoes were taken off the back of their bus and placed into a pile, next to the field, for donating to Shoes 2 Share. They were trying to leave quietly when we asked them to hop back off the bus and put their "game faces on" one more time for a picture with the shoes they collected and brought for us.



So from Caravel and Shoes 2 Share, we say a big "way to go" and "that's outta here" to all the players & coaches of Cape Henlopen Varsity Softball Team for taking the time to make a difference in the lives of others. You definitely exemplified the sayings "We gave it our all" and "There's no I in team".

Have a great season playing ball!

Tim & Rhonda Wampler