Haiti Mission Team | Update Feb 21

And they're off!

The team of 17, from three cities (Chicago, St. Louis, and Las Vegas) and representing 7 churches, arrived in Miami tonight before leaving the country tomorrow. Tonight was a quick dinner of pizza and a team meeting, where some of the team members met each other for the first time.

Eleven of the 17 have been to Haiti before, so there's a lot of experience on this team. Seven are medical professionals who will anchor several triage teams next week, alongside willing hands to do a variety of tasks like measuring height and weight and taking blood pressure and temperatures leading up to seeing one of the doctors. The great majority of their patients will be children.

There will be children's ministry teams at every stop as well, which is a source of great joy for all involved. The children, almost all of them orphans, revel in the attention and the small crafts that are prepared in advance for them to do.

During the last part of the week, three of the team will focus on pastor training. Haitian pastors from the region will come to Cambry for some intensive training by the pastors and educators on our team.
 
Our goal is to send an update once a day (probably late in the evening) with prayer requests and pictures. Please use the suggestions below to start our team off with your prayer support. Haiti is a wonderful, difficult, strange, hot, challenging place with very overt spiritual and physical challenges. The team relies on the power of prayer to see them through the week, and appreciates your willingness to pray for them very much.

Prayer Requests:
Generally, pray that the Lord Jesus will be exalted in this week, that He by the Holy Spirit will work powerfully in and through the team, that we will be of real encouragement and assistance to the church planting and ministry efforts of El Shaddai, that Satan will be bound, and that the gospel will go forth with great grace and power during this week. More specifically, please pray:

1. For the safety and health of the team, good team unity and chemistry, and for safe travel to, within, and from Haiti. There are 17 team members from 7 churches.
2. That all the bags will get through customs in Haiti on Saturday without any fees being charged or bags being confiscated
3. For Ted as he preaches Sunday morning at the churches in Les Cayes and Savanne,  Erik as he preaches Sunday morning at Cambry, and Craig as he preaches at Cambry Sunday evening.
4. For the Pastor Training Team (Ted, Erik, and Craig) as they seek to encourage and equip around 80 pastors from all over Haiti Wed-Fri.
5. Pray for the Medical Team and Children’s Ministry Team as they provide care for some of the orphans and the surrounding community at Savanne (Mon), Cavaillon Tues and Wed), LaHatte (Fri), and locations to be determined (Thurs).