‘Called to go to Haiti’

  Originally published August 23, 2014 in the Suffolk News-Herald Group returns from weeklong mission By R.E. Spears III Editor Early Friday morning, 26 people, including a large contingent from Suffolk, returned from a weeklong mission trip to Haiti, the first major effort on behalf of the Haitian people by a ministry founded by a Suffolk pastor. Supply and Multiply was founded by Pastor Chris Surber of Cypress Chapel Christian Church and his wife Christina, who will be moving to the town of Montrouis, Haiti, with their four children early next year. They have been on several mission trips to … Continue reading ‘Called to go to Haiti’

‘Haiti is a beautiful place.’

  Originally published August 14, 2014 The old school bus rattled along the highway too fast, it seemed, especially considering the frequency of vehicles approaching at similar speeds from the other direction on our side of the two-lane road. To be fair, we spent nearly as much time on their side of the road, as speed limits in Haiti seem to be determined by the speed at which one’s vehicle can move. So you’re always passing or being passed, and about half the time, if you have the courage to look down the road through the front window of your … Continue reading ‘Haiti is a beautiful place.’

Suffer the Little Children

  Originally published August 18, 2014 The children seem to come from nowhere and everywhere. Even before one of the team members took the first soccer ball from his pack, there were curious children coming through the gate into the scrub-covered field outside of the health clinic where we were set up for the morning. First there were two or three and then four or five. When the first soccer ball — covered in scripture written in the Creole language — came out of the pack, it was as if the Pied Piper had sounded his flute, and soon we … Continue reading Suffer the Little Children

Five loaves, two fish and 27 gardeners

  Originally published August 13, 2014 In a little more than 24 hours, 27 people from Virginia, North Carolina and Illinois will board two different aircraft bound for Miami and then Port-au-Prince, Haiti, for a seven-day mission trip to the small town of Montrouis, 47 miles from the nation’s capital. Mission trips are not about numbers. They’re about showing the love of Christ, with the goal of planting seeds in fertile soil and harvesting the fruits of those who have planted before. The Holy Spirit ultimately brings the increase, as the seeds of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are watered … Continue reading Five loaves, two fish and 27 gardeners

Carmalie’s Story

  Originally published August 9, 2014 Carmalie is a pretty, 9-year-old girl with a wide, toothy grin that just begs for a camera to catch it. She loves to dance, and her friends describe her as the happiest girl in her neighborhood. Sometime in the early morning hours of Aug. 8, in a broken-down shack in a dusty, rubble-filled little town in Haiti, her grandmother, who cared for Carmalie and three other orphans, died. The children all called her “Grams.” Grams had taken them all in, provided shelter for them and what meager food she could find with the help … Continue reading Carmalie’s Story

Why Haiti?

Originally published August 4, 2014 Since I started this blog as a way to document a mission trip to Haiti in August 2014, it’s appropriate for my first real post to describe the point of this trip. Why Haiti? It’s a fair question. I never considered myself a missionary. I never had a connection to anyone there, other than the same kind of connection every American has had who has watched the news during the past several decades. I might have said something like, “Those poor people” as I watched news coverage of the devastating earthquake or a hurricane that … Continue reading Why Haiti?