November 15-22, 2008
Wheatland Salem UMC, Naperville, IL 

This team had a moving week in Haiti.  For all but team leader Jeff Simpson, this was the first visit to Hope House and VOH.  One had been to Haiti before but had not stayed with us.

The nature of their visit was more pilgrimage in nature than work oriented, although they were able to accomplish some important tasks during their time with us, the hardest of which was cleaning off all the grease on the wall behind the kitchen stove at VOH and putting a coat of paint on that area and the ceiling.

Since last year's Wheatland Salem team had distributed Bibles to all the third grade and older students at VOH, this year's team wanted to distribute them to this year's second and third grade students.  This was done at the worship service on Sunday for those who were present and was completed later in the classrooms for those who were not in church on Sunday.  Having heard about both the food shortages in Haiti and the food uncertainties we were facing at the VOH, they brought over 400 pounds of food with them and money to buy additional commodities, including hot dogs for all our students and staff.

One of the highlights of their visit was a moving tour of Food for the Poor, especially the feeding program.  They were also very touched by Gladys and the children at Little Children of Jesus, so much so that when it came time to decide what to do with the $4,000 they had left after buying the Bibles and other supplies used in their projects that they left it all, asking that it go for the care of those children.

The team went home so fired up about everything they saw that they are hoping to be able to host a mid-week regional meeting between our weekend meetings in March.  They also hope to generate additional support for all our ministries, especially LCJ.

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