Category: haiti

  • Vision Trip Report

    Vision Trip Report

    The cool moist Pacific air greeted me. I sent a text to Kristen, who was waiting in the cell phone lot. “I’m outside.” Three minutes prior I walked off my Southwest flight from Chicago, the last leg of my return flight from Port au Prince. A few minutes later and I saw her pull up…

  • My favorite photos from the Haiti Vision Trip

    My favorite photos from the Haiti Vision Trip

    I’ll be sharing some stories and reflections on the 2014 Haiti Vision Trip with Praying Pelican Missions over the next week or so. But for now I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures. (Hover over the images to see captions, RSS readers, visit the site to see missing captions)

  • Sharing the Vision for Haiti

    Sharing the Vision for Haiti

    In the morning I leave for a less-than-routine trip to Haiti.  I say “less-than-routine” because while it’s easy for me to get comfortable traveling to Haiti, it’s just one of those places I don’t want to ever get routine.

  • Still Praying. Still Giving. Still Going. Haiti Four Years Later

    Still Praying. Still Giving. Still Going. Haiti Four Years Later

    It’s been four years since the world awoke to the reality of the January 12, 2010 earthquake that devastated the Port-au-Prince area. Millions were displaced. Nearly every home was damaged. Over 100,000 lost their lives. The Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, imploded. 

  • Come to Haiti with Me – April 12-15, 2014

    The sounds of Haitian children singing worship songs to Jesus reverberate in my dreams.

  • 4 Roles of the Youth Worker on an International Short-Term Mission Trip

    This week I’m getting the opportunity to go behind the scenes with Praying Pelican Missions during their busiest week of the summer, shadowing Haiti Operations Director Jim Noreen. (He is overseeing 7 ministry sites around the country with about 170 participants in country.)

  • Sights and Sounds from Haiti

    If you’ve never been to Haiti you need to know that it is a place of alluring beauty. I don’t know how to explain it but I draw energy from being here. It has a pace & vibrancy that’s intense. Everything is just a little bit turned up… noises, colors, humidity, etc. While I can’t…

  • When Helping Helps

    Have you read When Helping Hurts? It’s a powerful challenge to church leaders and short-term mission organizations to think about the unintended consequences of “helping.” [Hint: Stop reading this post and go buy it now. It’s good.] Short-Term Missions and Youth Ministry Getting practical, and with an eye on youth ministry, we are often torn.

  • Off to Haiti, Again

    This morning I woke up at about 5:30 to the sound of Kristen unzipping our tent in Yosemite National Park. That sound was the last breath of my vacation. A week of swimming in mountain streams, playing games with the kids late into the night, campfires, hikes, and a million giggles. It was awesome. But waking…

  • 5 Reasons We Can’t Forget About Haiti

    “Hello. This is Berthan, have you forgotten me?”  “What? Who is this?” I replied into my office phone. It never rang. Why now? It must be a wrong number. “Berthan. It is me. Have you forgotten me?” It was said so fast, with a powerful accent, and I was in the middle of something that…