Haiti July 2011 – 4Life Team

DAY 6

We’ve just come back from another evening service at Eglise Evangélique Vie Nouvelle (New Life Evangelistic Church) after serving the children every day we come home for lunch and return each evening to share testimonies, songs, skits and a short word with the congregation.  The church is located in an area of Haiti called Tokyo. The church motto is- Une glise pour le people de Dieu (a church for the people of God). The people of God he is referring to are those who live in the community surrounding the church. This part of Haiti is considered to be a slum area, but there are places that are worse. In close proximity to the church there are 3 voodoo temples and a prostitution house. The community is plagued with extreme poverty, lack of education and lack of employment. Many have had to rely on their own wits to survive. When you add the devastating effects of a major earthquake to the rest of these conditions, things can look quite bleak.  Some feel they’re doing fine without God. What more can God offer them? God has invited Pastor Cange to join Him in reaching the people of Little Tokyo. Through feeding programs, medical programs and reaching out to the youth God is showing them he has a lot to offer. In addition to physical and emotional help God is offering life to this forgotten community. The church offers some of the modern conveniences many don’t have at home. Pastor Cange’s desire is to make the church a place where people want to come. They were able to put in a real bathroom as he put it. They also wanted to put in a tile floor to beautify the church. He and his wife began to pray. This trip we were able to provide him with the funds to put the floor in.. On Tuesday he shared the news of God’s provision with the church. On Wednesday they purchased the tiles and he was excited to show us how beautiful they were. Today they tiled the bathroom floor. They will install the rest of the tile on next week. Praise God!!! Pastor Cange prays that the people will see the blessings of God every time they walk through the doors.

- Victoria Griffin

Haiti July 2011 – 4Life Team

DAY 5

So, it’s day 5 and we’re still going strong. Today we arrived at Pastor Cange’s church ready to do whatever God willed us to. We sang some songs in Kreyol with the kids and they sang right along with us. We fed them rice and a little piece of meat and by their empty plates, we knew they were grateful. After they were finished eating, we gave them all a couple pieces of candy. Everyone knows kids LOVE candy, but because these kids have to live in such harsh conditions, they barely get to have simple things like that. Honestly these kids are amazing and when you see their faces light up, it makes your day. Although there are many barriers such as language, culture and customs, it doesn’t matter. God still finds a way to shine through all of it. It breaks your heart to see how hard these children’s lives already are when most of them are no older than 10 years old. But at the same time, it’s incredible to see them, in spite of their circumstances, yell and scream “Glory to God” and, “Lift Jesus higher” at the top of their lungs.

- Taela Griffin

Haiti July 2011 – 4Life Team

DAY 1

Well, we`re finally here.  We, a small group of 10, have found our way into the heart of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.  We`re sleeping under mosquito nets in soft beds, while much of Haiti has no place to lay its head.  Sunday was our settle-in day.  We are so blessed to be here.  Our hearts are open and our hands are ready to do whatever God has called us to.  Even in the little things, the glory of God has been seen.  The first day we were able to feed children with our leftovers from lunch.  God sees even the sparrows-and so does He see the hungry children.  Our transportation is the back of a pick-up truck, one that TSC provided for Pastor Andre (our host) and his ministry.  The ride is bumpy and dusty, but the Lord has opened our eyes to see all that the Haitians have.  To us, they have nothing.  But they have Jesus, and that is all that truly matters.

Haiti has some incredible faith.  There are churches everywhere, lone structures amongst the rubble.  Cars and trucks pass us by that speak of God, saying “Jesus“ and “Dieu Tout Puissant“ (God is Powerful).  We made it to Pastor Cange`s church on Monday and we learned that the church was only nine months old.  Already the congregation had grown to about 160, and they feed and teach children about the Word of God.  The hunger for Jesus is so strong-the children scream and shout His praises, unashamed because only our God could bring them through.  We took a tour of the tent city and were able to pray and administer medicine to a woman who had been injured, and God truly opened our eyes to see how the people of Haiti are living.  Their homes are small, like walk-in-closets, and they have no clean running water.  But they still glorify God, because He is good to them.

We don`t really understand why God allows to live as we do and others to live as they do.  But God is Almighty, and His ways our higher than our own.  His love transcends every barrier, whether language or spiritual.  We were able to serve the workers of the church, sing songs in Creole to the children, and give them candy.  The joy in their faces and the smiles on their lips are reward enough for the work we do.  Just being able to see the hand of God moving is…truly amazing and indescribable.  Sure, we`ve had our struggles.  A few of us were having stomach issues and it was hard to work in the heat.  But God has brought us here, and we are thankful to be here.  I know that coming back, our perspectives will be changed.

And this is all for the glory of God.

- Judith Vigliotti

Detroit 2010 Trip Report

War Week is an annual youth conference coordinated by Pastor Tim Dilena’s church in Detroit. Watch this video that shows how hundreds of high school students pack the sanctuary of Revival Tabernacle to be challenged by the Word and participate in outreaches in inner-city streets.

The next team of young adults will be going out in July 2011. Today is the last day to register, so check out the 2011 SYP Trip Schedule to register now!

Zambia 2010 Trip Report

Kakabalika House is home to young men that used to live on the streets of Lusaka, Zambia. Check out this trip report of the team that went out in May to assist local workers ministering to the boys living in the home as well as those still living on the streets. Our next team will be going out in May 2011 – check out the 2011 Trip Schedule to find out more and to register!

Zambia 2010: SYP Image Gallery

Zambia 2010: Team Update

Coming to Lusaka, Zambia, was a mission in itself, after 28+hrs of travel we finally arrived here at the Kakabalika House.  I really did not know what to expect when I arrived in Zambia, but this has been a very interesting trip on many levels: culturally, the climate & environment and also spiritually. 

A strong emotional experience swept over me as soon as I stepped into the Kakabalika House.  I began to cry uncontrollably for 15 minutes realizing just how sweet and different are the lives of these boys from the story we’ve heard about their life on the street.  I knew that God was moving in my heart and there was a tremendous refreshing and cleasing taking place in my heart. These children  continue to be changed everyday and I’m glad I could be a part of their growing experience…a God experience!

– Testimony from Noah Goerge (TSC Team Member)

Detroit 2010: Day 4 – War Week

The final day of War Week here in Detroit was amazing.  Just like the previous few days, we started here at RT for some worship and a word to prepare for the day.  The students were all given cardboard to write the prayer requests on (which we’d been getting in the community all week)…more on that later!

Then it was back to McKenzie field (where we served yesterday) to do some more work.  After working for the afternoon we packed up and headed back to RT where we got the cardboard with the prayer requests and lined a mile of the main road here and interceded for the town and all of the requests that we’d gotten this week.

The night ended with more worship and a final word from Pastor Dilena…can’t wait to get back and share more photos with you of the powerful week here in Detroit!

Some of the prayer requests that were prayed over:

Click on the images below for a larger view:

Detroit 2010: Day 3 – War Week

It’s the end of our second day here in Detroit at War week and I wanted to give you some facts that Pastor Dilena shared with us this morning about the city of Highland Park (just outside of Detroit – it’s where we’re working)

- Highland Park was a world renowned city at one point

- The first car ever made was here in Highland Park

- The first ever production line was here in Highland Park

- The first (and shortest) paved road in the nation was here in Highland Park

- in the 1930′s and 40′s it was called the cleanest city in America

- it also had one of the best school systems in the nation

Here are some current facts about Highland Park that he shared:

- Highland Park is the most violent city in Michigan

- Highland Park has the highest rate of single parent homes in the nation (77%)

- 38% unemployment

I hope that gives you a better idea of what War Week is all about and why we’ve traveled from New York City to Michigan for a week to serve with Revival Tabernacle.

Today we went out into the community again, this time to a local park that’s been abandoned and rundown for years.  We spent the morning cleaning, cutting down trees and weeds, moving trash and just getting the park back in shape.  During our evening service the Mayor of Highland Park came and thanked the groups for their work on that park, remarking that he’d played at that park some 20 years ago and was so happy to see how much work we were doing to give it back to the community.  We had the chance to pray over him and then got back into worship followed by a powerful word from Pastor Dilena.  We’re all looking forward to our 3rd and final day here tomorrow at War Week!

I’ve included a few ‘before and after’ shots for you to see the work that we were a part of today!

Detroit 2010: Day 2 – War Week

We started our first full day of War Week here in Detroit with some powerful worship at Revival Tabernacle that led to a great time of prayer and preparation.  After our morning session we had a quick lunch and headed out into the community.  Our team went into a neighborhood nearby and broke up into several groups, partnering with youth from Detroit.  We went door to door inviting everyone that we met to some of the events that War Week is putting on over the next few days – from a fair with inflatable games for the community kids to giving out backpacks full of school supplies for the upcoming school year.  We got the chance to take prayer requests from many of the people we met and even prayed with quite a few of them.

After a quick shower we came back together at RT for the evening session with some more worship and a great word.  The young adults on the team spent the evening doing some ‘behind the scenes’ work such as cleaning up the kitchenafter 500 youth ate dinner there, and taking over the childcare for the evening.

Now it’s off to bed…and back to work in the community tomorrow!