Hello family and friends,
I know I always start my updates this way, but wow, HAITI IS HOT. I keep telling myself that we're halfway through the summer, but wow, October seems a long way off. (For the record, September is just about as brutal as August here, so you probably have at least one more month of my complaints.)
Our schedule has been jam packed for the last month with a lot of really neat things happening. My mom ("Mama Nana" as my kids have come to call her), a sign language interpreter, came for a visit and started a program where she has taught several deaf students in Jacmel how to make seaglass jewelry and is helping them sell them to support themselves and the ministry of Joy in Hope. She also taught our kids some basic sign language classes and had them perform a song, "Shout to the Lord" in church. Since her first trip here, my mom has had a heart for the large deaf community in Jacmel, and it's neat to see her reaching out to a community who has been largely marginalized here in Haiti.
Along with my mom came our longtime friend, Israel. He is a photography/art student in college and came down to help us document our lives a bit and take sponsorship photos for our kids. Our staff also had some portraits done, which was great fun for them too.
The next week Joy in Hope hosted a vacation bible school in Jacmel in a new location. I am not sure what the final count was, but it was a big hit. Nick and I actually had very little to do with this VBS, and our newest team members, John and Jennifer Hancock really stepped up and jumped in with both feet. It's great having them here!
After that Nick and I had the pleasure of hosting a two person team from our home church, Crosspointe. Two of the pastors came down to visit and just sort of minister to our souls. It's been the first time we've really been able to connect since the earthquake, and the time was precious to us. We continue to love and miss our community at Crosspointe, and are looking forward to visiting in November.
Nick and I accompanied that Crosspointe team back to the states where we headed straight to Indianapolis for a week. Nick and I got to attend the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, meet with our counselors, speak at a couple of churches, visit with some friends and eat WAY too much. One of the big purposes behind this trip was to make a connection with a counselor who specializes in attachment issues in children. This was excellent time for Nick and I and we walked away not just with some great take aways, but the potential for an ongoing relationship with someone who really does understand what it means to parent at-risk children. We'd like to publicly thank Danny and Leann for watching our 3 American kids and Anise and Frantzo (a couple from our church and long time Joy in Hope team members) for watching our 7 Haitian kids.
The day after getting back to Haiti we had a joint team come in from Florida and llinois. They came to help repair and paint the earthquake damage to the Pye's home. While we were blessed to be able to spend some time with this team, again we want to thank our team members (the Hancocks and the Rigels) for diving in and getting the work done.
While this team was here, Joy in Hope FINALLY received our container of supplies from the United States. This was after about 5 of hard work and determination from volunteer, Cheri McDonald. She did an amazing job filling the container and getting it shipped to Haiti for free! We were able to get a great deal on purchasing the actual container, where it now sits on our land where it will serve as a construction depot.
Meanwhile, Pwoje Konekte continues to grow. We've had an overwhelming response and have been able to expand the diaper distribution part of the project to 90 families per week. All of the day to day operations have been put into the hands of Haitian staff. Things ran very smoothly during our absence. Several families from Pinchinat have been moved to a new, better planned camp. We're now working in both places as we try to determine where we can fill in the most gaps. The Konekte project has become even more personal to us lately as we've agreed to help a friend foster Edwinson, one of our favorite Pinchinat babies as she works him through health issues resulting from severe neglect and malnutrition. Having a baby around the house these past few days has been fun for everyone. Konekte has been and continues to be a very satisfying way to serve the community, but it's exciting to me that it can now run completely independent of me.
Wow, just reading through all of this made me a little dizzy. We have been busy. (In addition to all of this, my computer was stolen, and I am just working on an Ipad while I await the delivery of my new laptop-- (thanks again Crosspointe.) I am so sorry to be behind on emails again. I assure you I am slowly but surely getting them answered.
In the midst of all the travel and the teams and the projects, we continue to love our first calling the most--our family. Our kids are growing and thriving. They continue to test boundaries and act out at times, but they also are learning to grow in love and trust with us more each day. I am so proud of them and I cannot imagine what my life would be like without each one of them. I don't have any idea when our family might grow again. It could be tomorrow, it could be next year. That's kind of exciting and terrifying all at the same time. But we know that because of the Lord, our team, our amazing family, friends and supporters, we're not in this alone. Thank you for your faithfulness in support and prayer so we get to live this life. It's harder than we ever imagined, but more fulfilling than we ever dreamed.
With an ever-grateful heart,
Gwenn for the entire Mangine crew
Nick, Gwenn, Nia, Nico, Josiah, Fritzie, Jean Louis, Yves, Jerry, Sanndi, Prisca, Wildarne
(and Ann David, Felecia, Hugues and Esther too!)
Remember, you can also get more connected to us at:
Our blog- www.mangine.org
Our facebooks: Joy in Hope, Nick Mangine, Gwenn Goodale Mangine
Email: nick@joyinhope.org, gwenn@joyinhope.org
Here are a few pics-- sorry there aren't more... my computer was stolen!
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| The container arrives at our land! |
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| VBS Brema |
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| Me and my mom, Denise. |
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