Team Bio: Israel & Alison Snider

Before joining New Life Church, Alison and I had known that God was leading us to the mission field.  We looked at various mission outreaches over the course of the last few years from working on an airstrip in Papua New Guinea to the clean water projects going on throughout Central America.  We prayed about it and never felt lead to those mission fields.  When the trip to Haiti was brought up, we prayed about it and Alison knew right away that it is what God had for us.  It took me a little longer to get there.  I really felt led that God would give an opportunity to use specific skill sets and when that came about I would know that it was what God wanted and not just what I wanted. When the chance came to build housing for Haitian families in which they worked side by side with us to take a vested interest in there home, that opportunity spoke volumes to me and confirmed what Alison had been led to in prayer. 

This mission trip will take all of us from New Life, our friends, our friends of friends and all of those who donate and lift us up in prayer to Haiti.  We know not everyone can physically go and not everyone can financially give but everyone can lift this team, our families and this trip up to the Lord in fervent prayer.

A Video Created by YWAM for Haiti

Here is an awesome video with many of the staff we worked with this week including Owen, Dieunack, Alex, and Samuel.
http://vimeo.com/10546669

Great Haiti video

Please take a few minutes to watch this amazing video...
http://www.royaleagency.com/foundation/

Village Children

Here are some pictures of the village kids we had a chance to spend time with while working in Timonette.

Alison enjoying some time loving on the kids. 

 Big Momma.  Not the name we gave her but what the people of the village called her.

Gemson - he teared up a couple of times when talking about losing his family in the earthquake. 

Clothes Washing 

Naptime, right on the rocks

Prison Photos

Here are some photos from the prison.  The first is when we went back to give the shoes and soap to all the prisoners.  Patrick wanted me to speak and explain to them that it wasn't us that paid for the shoes with our money but that God had provided extra for our trip and though we didn't know what he had planned for the money he showed us that he wanted us to use it on them. 

5th Section Trip

Here are some photos from our tour of the 5th Section of St Marc.  It is known as the poorest area around St Marc and also was the center of Voodoo in the area.  This is the area that the YWAM base has focused there efforts and the results are already tangible, as you can see by the writing on one of the houses.

I thought the 5th Section to almost look like a mix of Vietnam and African plains.  It truly was a beautiful but poverty ladened area. Here you can see rice plants and banana trees.

Houses in Ba-la-gay.  They are preparing a medical clinic in this village that will be staffed by a doctor out of Florida.  They had the building up and the water filtration unit set up.

These 3 photos are from Ba-la-lay village.  This is where the first Homes of Hope were built in 2006.  The villagers were very friendly and as you can see by the writing on the building above have been very receptive to Gods message.  This village was minutes away from where the Cholera epidemic started and over 20% of its population died from the sickness.

Team Photos

Here are a couple team photos we took.  One from inside the newly finished house and the other in front of the YWAM base.

Last Day - House finish and dedication

I can't believe we come home tomorrow. I said this on my last trip and I feel it again. Something just feels right when I am here. I know it is because I am doing what I was created to do - spread the Gods message. But the feeling is pretty awesome.

This morning we got to go to the police station in St Marc and pray over the officers and the people that were in the holding cell. As we were praying in a circle an officer walked over and joined us! Can you imagine that happening in the US? What an amazing testimony. We prayed for discernment, wisdom, and integrity that they would do their jobs and hear Gods voice.

After that we headed out to finish painting and to dedicate the house to God. The painting went very well. This has been the greatest team to lead. Whenever a job needs done everyone is willing to step up - I was overwhelmed today at one moment as I walked around and everyone was working hard doing whatever was needed to finish the job. After we finished Terry let both families give mini testimonies of their lives since the earthquake. It was a good reminder that 1 year ago these families lost everything they had. And while it wasn't much, it forced them into a tent for a year. We got to pray over them and hand them their keys. It was a very powerful moment and none of us wanted to leave. We really developed some relationships with these families and all of us want to come back.

Terry did our de-briefing tonight and it was really good. They gave us a questionaire for suggestions and he talked about the things that this base needs. When Terry talks I really get a feel for his love for this country and also the frustrations he faces trying to reverse some historic trends. The dilemma is how do you help a people that desperately needs help without turning them into a welfare society? It is a question that has been pondered for generations and this base lives it every day.

Going to have our final team meeting before bedtime and early departure tomorrow. We all can't wait to see our family and friends. Pray for safe travels!

Day 5 - 5th Section Tour, paint house, install doors and shutters

Last nights crusade was pretty amazing. There were 3500-4000 Haitians singing, dancing, and praising God. I have a couple of short videos of it that I will share when we get home. They really get into it and you can tell many of them genuinely love the Lord.

This morning Kevin took the group out into the 5th section of St Marc. It is out the "road" from Timonette. I use the word road lightly as it was an hour of bouncy dirt road that beat all of us up a little. The 5th section is in the Artibonite region where the cholera epidemic started and was at its worst. It is a beautiful region of the country but very cut off from everything. It is where YWAM has focused much of their attention since it is the poorest region. Terry is such a presence there that at every little village children would run next to the truck yelling "Terry, Terry" Ywam was the first group to get to these people during the floods of 2006 when they were cut off for almost a month. Kevin said many people starved to death and the ones that lived were in pretty bad shape. They were also the first to respond after Cholera broke out there. The people know that Terry will help so they called him befoe any other organization. They delivered water filtration units and taught the people better sanitation to try to stop the disease from spreading but in a country where people bath, drink, and sometimes urinate in the same water supply the disease took a serious toll. It is amazing to see homes of hope so far back in the back roads and they really are making a difference here.

After our tour we went back to the home and hung shutters, painted the first coat and hung the doors. It wasn't as taxing as previous days but the long tour took away some of our energy so it worked out well. It really starts to look like a home when the paint starts going on. We continue to meet and get to know some amazing families and kids and our whole team has taken a particular liking to one named Gemson. He lost both parents in the earthquake and is now living with his grandma in the tents. She is the one going to live in one side of our house with all of the children. I didn't realize some of them were her grand kids. Gemson came to the Crusade last night and cried because he missed his mom and dad. He started crying again today at the jobsite. It pains me to see a child that is 10-12 years old hurting like he is. I am sure you will hear more about this amazing boy when we get back.

We are heading out to get ice cream! After all the constant heat we are ready for a treat. We all love and miss you. This week has flown by for us and we can't believe tomorrow is our last day.

Day 4 - Work / Prison day

Today we went to Timonette to work on the house some more and Kevin (the construction mgr) worked it out so we could leave right after lunch so we could get to the prison today. This morning we mostly just moved rocks for the masons to use on the foundation. It was really awesome to see them take these boulders and hammer them down to fit together and make the outside of the foundation. As I was watching them today and when they were skimcoating I couldn't help wander what they would be paid per hour in the states. The government pays them about $7-10 a day when they employ them. Their work structure on the site is much like the states - they have a construction manager and a foreman with journeymen and apprentices working under them. YWAM negotiates the price for the home with the manager and he pays his workers. The system really seems to work and its really funny to see the foreman yell at the guys when they aren't doing something right.

When we got back to the base around 1:45 we all cleaned up and went to the prison with Patrick to hand out the shoes and soap. Quite a few base staff went with us because they were so excited and wanted to see. When we got there there was a local media guy there that was filming the whole thing!!! Patrick and I both spoke and we sang a praise song with all the prisoners. And praise God it will be played on local television. I almost forgot one last thing... When we got there we didn't have a speaker to talk with because they are using it for the crusade tonight. (note to self, raise some money to buy Patrick his own speaker for just the prison ministry) Now understand, we are in a tiny prison in St Marc Haiti and we look to the right and there just happens to be a guy with a megaphone talking to sone prisoners! So he allowed us to use it. Just another example of Gods hand on this trip.

One last thing and I am going to get ready for the crusade. This morning we had a prayer time for Haiti and that God will comfort and heal the hearts of those who lost family in the earthquake. This is probably a very hard time for many of them and we prayed that They would turn to God and feel the love that he has to provide.

The crusade music is getting ready to begin at 5:30 and will last for about 2 hours and then the preaching will begin. I pray that God brings many Haitians each night of the crusade and that they are touched by the hand of God.

Shoes, soap and prayer request

Just wanted to post once more before bed to fill you in on what happened tonight. Not only where we able to purchase 350 bars of soap but we also bought over 200 pairs of sandals for the prisoners without them. The ladies also purchased a bunch of stuff for the female prisoners. All this is do to your generous support for this trip. I can't tell you how proud I am to be a representative of New Life Church and to be the leader of this team. After working all day they were all pumped up to continue to serve late into the night. We just finished bagging all the stuff up at 10pm.

The prison ministry has been one of their most successful outreach programs but is short funds for the last 3-4 months. Patrick really is an amazing young man that really has a heart for prison ministry. He didn't quit smiling all night!

One last thing - please pray for the Crusade they are having on the base tomorrow night. A bunch of the local churches are hosting it in rememberance of the earthquake. Pray that it is successful in bringing people to the Lord.

Day 3 Perlings, doors, and windows

Another blessed day today for the team. Irael, Alison, Cary and I helped set the concrete perlings in the ground today for the next house. The Haitian masons were skimcoating our house today, they were finishing up when we left. They gave some of us a chance to try the skimcoating. Cary got laughed at by some of the women - this is why they hire the professionals. The rest of the team worked to make door frames, window frames, doors and shutters. They got a ton accomplished and have really taken the opportunity to spend some quality time with the families still in the tents.
Alison had the great idea to put scripture verses under each perling as we put them in the holes. We will put some in the foundation tomorrow also. We want this home to be surrounded by Gods words and promises. They are already beginning to take pride in the home as they were using broken rocks to make landscaping beds.
We had an opportunity to talk with Patrick who runs the prison ministry last night and have decided to go shopping and get some soap to take back to the prison. It was the number one thing requested since the prison doesn't supply it. I don't think I covered this the other day (maybe I did but it bears repeating)- there were around 300 prisoners in the prison and they were crammed in these tiny cells. If I had to guess they may have been 20'x20 at most and all had between 18-24 people in them. We hope to go tomorrow. Actually we are going now, patrick just walked in!

Day 2 First Day of Building

We had another awesome day today.  They had us split into small groups that were doing different projects and I feel like we really got alot accomplished.  Cheakita and Aaron were cutting and making door frames, Glenn and I did various concrete jobs like making blocks and pouring beams, Cary Alison, Shay, and Cary all helped put the roof on. 
The way they do the home is they pour the foundation and set the beams before we get here.  Then we finish the house and  we pour the foundation and set the beams for the next team on another house.  It really is efficient and we get to do every part of the house.  We also got to meet the families getting the house.  One is a family with 4-5 kids (i cant remember) and the other is a newly married couple with their first child on the way.  The husband from that family worked with Glen and I and Cary was able to speak to him as he knows spanish.
We are all very tired as the heat is pretty taxing.  We all feel excited and cant wait to get back out there tomorrow.  Keep us all in your prayers and please pray for the country of Haiti in general.  We truly believe that God has great plans for this country, where Christianity was originally established in the Western Hemisphere.  Pray that God will restore this nation to what he orignally intended it to become...
Till tomorrow.....

We are here, Safe and God is Awesome!

Hey Everyone,
Matt here.  Just wanted to get an update to all our prayer warriors back home. The flight yesterday went awesome and we had no glitches whatsoever the whole day.  It was pretty amazing to go from 1 Inch of snow to 85-90 degree weather.  The drive to St Marc from Port au Prince was another eye opener for alot of the team.  There is still much devastation not cleaned up and the poverty that is here breaks my heart.

We had orientation last night when we got in and found out that not only are we the only people on base besides the staff,but we are the first team this year!  It is really quiet on base compared to the last time I was here when they had over 140 volunteers.  They gave us a schedule of what we will be doing this week.  Today we got to visit the St Marc Prison and participate intheir prison ministry. We sang some songs and a few of the team shared some words.  Glen also got about 2-300 tracts from John Pipers church that we were able to hand out to the prisoners.  I won't go into huge details about the prison but I will tell you it was an amazing experience.  I'll let everyone else tell their own stories when we get back.

We also met with Terry Snow, the base founder/leader this morning and he gave us his (Gods) planfor St Marc and updated us with the current status. They gave us a tour of the city and also took us up to the village where we will be building the home for the next five days.  We got to play with some children and meet the some of the families that will be getting the homes.  We are getting ready  for church service tonight and as I type they are singing worship songs.

Everyone is doing wonderful and we feel your prayers.  The weather is great at night and most of us slept pretty welllast night.  I actually got a little chill - huuuuge difference from last May when it was 90 degrees at night.  Keep praying that we will continue to get opportunities like we had today at the prison to love and minister to these people. 

Everyone sends their love!

Mission of Hope

Click on the link for a really cool story on what God is doing with this particular group in Haiti.  Through teaching proper sanitation lives are being saved and opening doors for the Gospel.
http://www.mohhaiti.org/blog/