On February 28, 2013 “The Rubble Raisers”, an STM from Jemseg Baptist Church, began their trip to Haiti to help build rubble houses. This was the first time the church had put together a team to go on a mission trip. To say the least, it created much excitement and the support was amazing!
The team was made up of eight people: Janie Trebble, Janet Fanjoy, Kim Thorne, Matthew Hall, Kristen Hall, Susan Hall, Barrie Hall and Rev. Daniel Walton. The process really became serious on Palm Sunday in 2012 when Rev. Dennis Shierman and Mrs. Linda Naves, both representing CBM, attended our service and talked with us about missions.
Each team member agreed to pay a portion of the total cost out of pocket, but to come up with the rest of the money by doing some fundraising. Why would this be the case? Well, there were a couple of different reasons. First of all, it would be a time of team building and learning the strengths and weaknesses of each other…and ourselves! Second, it would give the church family and members of the community the chance to be a part of the process even if they were unable to go themselves. They were all given the chance to help “send” missionaries. And send us they did!
We can’t thank our church family enough for the way they supported us!! Many of them supported our efforts by baking goods to be sold and then buying things off the table too; as well as many community members volunteering! The community showed equal excitement!! At Christmas time the local Lions Club approached us and asked if it would be okay for the to throw a “send off party” for us before we left; of course it was! All we had to do was show up and they would take care of all the details to prepare for and advertize it. It’s safe to say it wasn’t just the church who had ownership of this trip, but the entire community and surrounding area.
Each team member was challenged in his or her own way while we were there. We quickly learned it was possible to communicate through the communication barriers. We faced culture shock the instant we stepped outside of the airport in Port-au-Prince. And, the Haitian people were very patient with us as they showed us what we could do to help them; they were great teachers.
Will we do something like this again? Each member says “Yes!” God has been so good and faithful to us throughout this process and he has touched our entire church family through it. It’s our prayer that the Haitians were as blessed as we were! If you’re considering a trip like this, don’t wait until the right time, it will never come; just make up your mind to do it!
