- by Rob Miller, Youth Pastor

On June 23 the Shiloh Youth Group from Plain City, Ohio loaded onto a bus and headed to New York’s JFK airport.  After an all night bus ride we boarded a plane bound for Port-au-prince.  There were 34 of us total; 30 youth, the youth pastor, a sponsor couple, and their son.  Although we had heard stories, none of us had ever been to Haiti personally.  When we arrived we met Mark Kennell, and his brother Merv, who had arrived a few days earlier to prepare for us, and who would serve as our, hosts, guides, leaders and cooks.

On Saturday we went to the boy’s orphanage to meet the boys, see what we would be working on, and begin working.  Most of the work that first day was cleaning up the yard of trash, rocks, and leftover debris from the old wall.  We also spent a fair amount of time hanging out with the boys, playing, basketball, cards, or soccer.  That was a pattern for what the rest of our week would look like.  Work wise we did a lot of painting, both at the orphanage and also at the mission house.  There were also repairs and various types of cleaning to be done at both places.  Whenever there was a break from work there was always someone around who we could get to know.  If it wasn’t the boys at the orphanage it was the little girls who hang around the mission house, or the teens that we played cards with in the evening.

As we prepared to go to Haiti we prayed that God would show Himself to us in new and different ways. I know that I can’t list all of the ways that that prayer was answered,  but here a some of the things that we have talked about since we’ve been home.  The faith, and the worship of the Haitian believers in the midst of really tough circumstances, the joy in a child’s smile who has nothing, the quiet times early in the morning on the observation deck, and through His work being done in ministering to others.

One of the most moving experiences we had was the afternoon when we took food into a tent city.  We were all impacted by what we saw.  Our hearts were deeply touched by the needs around us, and we came away with a lot of questions.  Most of those revolved around two major ideas;” why have I been so blessed when there is so much pain,” and most importantly “what does God want me to do in response to this pain?”

We would like to again thank Mark and Merv for going along down with us and for all they did for us. The things we saw and did, the lessons we learned, and the way in which we met God will stick with us all our lives.  Our prayer is that this trip was not just a week long mission trip, but an influential point that alters how we live the rest of our lives.

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