Greetings Blog Readers

This blog will record our plans, thoughts, experiences, and a few photos related to our Mission Trip to Haiti.  We will leave Montana on 25 January 2012, and spend a night in Miami.  The next day, we’ll fly to Port-au-Prince for a 10-day mission experience.  Our exact assignment won’t be known to us until about 3 weeks before we get there.  That keeps it exciting, sort of like wondering what surprise is in that big, wrapped box under the Christmas tree. 

I’m the team leader, Don Skillman.  This will be my third mission trip to Haiti. Each of the previous ones have been wonderful experiences: full of laughter, sweat, intense emotions, stunning surprises, unforgettable people, and powerful spiritual growth.  We go not to build things, but to build relationships – and that’s exactly what happens.  A historian told us on our last trip that John Wesley said, “Don’t send help to the poor.  Take it!”.  I’m not sure how accurate that quote may be, but I like it.

This trip is “sponsored” by St Paul’s United Methodist Church in Helena, where I’m a member and the missions committee leader.  Our work in Haiti is coordinated by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).  They coordinate work on about 300 projects that were identified after the terrible earthquake in January 2010.  Most teams engage in light construction, destruction of ruined places, and "side projects".  The extra projects are things like visiting an orphanage, feeding a tent compound, running a simple neighborhood medical clinic, visiting a school.  These half-day or one-day projects are often the most memorable part of the trip.  In the past we have worked on removal of rubble from a partially destroyed house that was being turned into a guest house for future mission teams, and to tear down a church that was first ruined by hurricanes and then cracked by the earthquake.  It was great, dirty, physical labor.

   I can’t promise the mission team members a “life-changing experience”, but I won’t be the slightest bit surprised if they have one.  I can promise that they’ll be amazed at the resilience of the Haitians, their laughter and smiles, their powerful work ethic, their sincere gratitude, and their perpetual belief that things will get better.  We will definitely make unforgettable memories, we will never look at poverty or America in the same way, and tremendous personal spiritual growth is a distinct possibility.   We will come home feeling that we have received vastly more than we gave.

This is the first mission trip for some of the team members.  It is a courageous step to go to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere to humbly serve the nicest people on earth.  There’s never a perfect time to go and do something like this.  But when things are right enough and the inner nudges become strong, then obstacles begin to evaporate, the tools and resources appear,  and it’s time to go.

I am humbled and honored to lead this group of good people to Haiti.  My plan is to keep them safe, expose them to the beauty of Haitians, enable them to work very hard, and together we’ll find Christ absolutely everywhere.