Haiti: It's Go Time!

Wow. . . it still doesn't feel real that I will be in Haiti tomorrow!  After finding out only two weeks ago that I would be going, it doesn't seem possible!  Almost 2 years ago when Daniel and I went the first time we knew and prepared for months but it is so awesome how the Lord has opened the door to this amazing opportunity! 

I've been playing over in my head our last trip and thinking about this upcoming adventure: the beautiful people we met and the struggle they face every day, the faces I will know and the ones I will get to meet, the church service all in Creole and the spirit of God alive as if we understood every word, and the awesome team members that the Lord placed together then and this time around!

In the mornings we will be teaching some fairly simple but useful crafts to about 30-40 women.  I am so excited about being able to use a passion the Lord has given me to serve Him!  I want to briefly introduce you to two of the main crafts we will be teaching and when I return I will post tutorials for them and I plan to do an overview of my time in Haiti. 

You've probably noticed the popular paper beads that are often sold through fair trade from women in other countries.  We thought it would be a wonderful skill for the Haitians to learn as they could make jewelry to sell in their local markets and possibly internationally in the future. 

This is a sample bead I made while practicing to teach the women:

For these beads to be more shapely than a small cylindrical tube, you need longer paper than that from a magazine or a regular 8.5x11" sheet.  As I researched how to make them better, I found that posters would work wonderfully!  The paper is longer, thicker, and a lot of times very colorful.  After I discovered that posters would work well, I set out to find some.  I began emailing some local businesses in Nashville but the doubting Thomas in me really wasn't expecting much response.  Within two days almost everyone I had contacted had replied or contacted me wanting to donate old posters they had.  Here is a shot of the posters that were donated so graciously by some of Nashville's finest!

Vanderbilt Sports Information

Vanderbilt Special Events

Hatch Show Print

The Sounds Baseball Club

The Country Music Hall of Fame

Average Joe's Record Label (not pictured because I received them after this pic was taken)

I want to give a BIG thank you to all of these Nashville businesses who so willingly donated these posters for Haiti.  You don't know how much it is going to mean to the Haitians and I can't wait for them to make beautiful beads using these!

The other craft we are going to teach is a basic fabric flower as pictured below:

I feel so incredibly blessed to be going on this journey tomorrow and I can't wait to report back to you about our trip and how God is working in Haiti.  Please be in prayer for our team as we build relationships, teach crafts, do discipleship training, and host a basketball camp.  We leave bright and early tomorrow morning and return on March 22nd.

Thank you in advance for your prayers!

Ashley