Haiti June 2017 Day 5 by Jonah Vander Kooi

Psalm 103:8 — “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”

The last day. Full of mixed emotions, we had morning devotions facing the ocean. After eating we packed our lunches and boarded the bus to head to the kids. Everyone was looking forward to seeing the kids again, but we also knew we had to say goodbye at the end of the day.

The kids were eating breakfast when we arrived so we had a little time to slap on some sunscreen and drop our bags off. Slowly, a couple kids turned into many as they ran down the hill from eating. They jumped into open arms, onto shoulders, and in laps.

During the morning, there was a group of about 20 men that were rounded up to take care of the problem in the well. We worked on taking a 700 pound pipe out of the well. It was in the way of the pump so we could not get the pump all the way to the bottom of the well. Using pipe wrenches, thick wire, ratchet straps and many hands we hoisted the pipe up foot by foot. After getting about 20 feet of pipe in the air we would cut through the pipe to keep it from bending and to lighten the load. Cutting through the pipe meant hitting water that was still in the pipe. Anyone within a 10 foot radius was drenched from head to toe.

After a couple hours of yelling and counting to three in Creole we finally brought all 230 feet of the heavy pipe above ground. You didn’t have to see it to know that we had finished that part of the project. Yelling, dancing, and clapping could have been heard or seen from anywhere. We then lowered the pump back in and sealed the top, and turned it on with satisfaction.


The rest of the day consisted of playing games and engaging with the kids, enjoying every last moment. Some kids would want to play soccer, others would rather run around with your phone all day. Everywhere you looked you could see God’s love. His love was ever present throughout the whole trip. Love was the theme this week for our team, and it was hard to lose sight of God’s love when you are with these kids.

Goodbyes came faster than anyone would have liked. We took a picture of everyone there and the hugs and tears began. Kids worked their way around to everyone to say goodbye and you could tell they did not want us to go. As we boarded the bus the kids would knock on the windows and wave one last time.

Leaving here is very hard, but when we do we know and trust that every one of these 63 kids is in the hand of God.

Haiti June 2017 Day 4 by Andrea Westerbeek

Blessed be your name,

When the sun’s shining down on me, 

When the world’s all as it should be,

Blessed be your name.

What an amazing worship experience with our Haitian family!  Hearing praises to God in Creole was such a blessing to us all.  The drums were beating, hands were raised, the kids were dancing, and it moved us all.  God’s love was bringing us even closer together as a family.  

Francisco and Mark Vermeer both spoke to us about the one true Shepard and all his sheep and how we can’t not spread the good news of God’s love to others.  We had special music by many of the One Vision team, including a solo by Mama Ninotte.  The group from Iowa sang “Our God is Stronger” for them, and then they joined us in singing “10,000 Reasons” and “Blessed Be Your Name”.  

As a project for school, Samantha Vermeer put on a dance to raise money for Bibles for all of the kids.  She was able to be there to help hand them out.  They were all excited to receive a Bible of their very own and were very proud to show them off to us.

The rest of the day was a wonderful, restful Sabbath:  playing games, making puzzles, teasing the kids, and a nail-biter of a soccer game.  We enjoyed every minute of the time spent with them today.

Tomorrow is the last day here for us.  We are all looking forward to it, and sad to see it come to an end as well.  Continue to keep these precious kids in your prayers daily.  They are so precious to God and us as well.  Pray that they continue to grow in him daily and continue to seek out His plan for their lives.  What a mighty God we serve!

Haiti June 2017 Day 3 by Allison Obbink

 Day 3: Love

“ Dear friends let us love one another, for love comes from God. “ 1 John 4:7

As we reflected on the day today, we talked a lot about God’s unconditional love for us and for his kids and staff here in Haiti at One Vision! This week there is so much love filling up the buckets of the kids and our team. It’s hard to put into words.

Today we took the kids swimming along with the UCI College kids. It was a beautifully hot day so the water felt amazing! The kids were just super pumped. We did have to wait a bit longer then expected for the bus to come because of a flat tire, but in the meantime we were blessed to be able to praise God through song! The kids are so fun to listen to sing praise with all their hearts! After swimming we went back to One Vision so some of the team could continue working on the water pump. The rest of us got to have play and relaxing time with the kids. They were tired and several kids just wanted to snuggle or have their backs rubbed. This was a great way to end the day.

We all are anticipating church at One Vision tomorrow with our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ. For those of us that have worshipped with them before it is beyond exciting to go back and for those who are going to experience this for the first time, well, they are in for a special treat and looking forward to it.

“We love because he first loved us.”— Thank you Jesus for loving each and every one of us, you readers, and the kids at One Vision.

Bon Swa!

Haiti June 2017 Day 2 by Teresa Dekkers

“How lovely are you dwelling places, O Lord Almighty!” Psalm 84:1— His dwelling places, we are assured in His Word, that the Lord’s dwelling places are no longer only in the Holy of Holies, but that we can meet Him anywhere at any time.  And in Esther, He claims, “such a time as this.”  We are here in Haiti on day two for such a time as this and dwelling with our Lord & his loved children. Many things happened today at One Vision.  Mark from Katelyn’s Fund, along with Karl, Jonah, & several others from the team, worked diligently most of the day trying to fix the well.  They seemed to make some headway at the end of a very sunny, hot day.  They hope to be able to have it fixed tomorrow.  There was some memory making happening today as well.  Laura, a team member, brought supplies down so that each child and care giver could have their own scrapbook to keep pictures they have been given by sponsors & others who love them.  It was fun to see the kids get creative & enjoy making their books their own.  The rest of the day was spent sharing with the kids letters & pictures from their sponsors, connecting with the kids & getting pictures of them doing various very fun activities.  It was a good day!  Tomorrow is beach day with the kids & we are all very excited for that!

Haiti June 2017 Day 1 by Jocelyn Westerbeek

Today was our first day in Haiti! We were all really anxious and excited on the ride down to the orphanage. When we got there the kids dropped what they were doing and ran to greet us from the bus. Getting off the bus little hands and arms were grabbing at us to come and love on them. For those of us who have been here before we were so happy and overjoyed to see our kiddos again. Along with the first timers who were nervous, but quickly comforted by the smiles and the love the kids gave. Today was a day to build relationships. One of the things we started with was a sponsorship craft we made a hug. We had a lot of time to just sit around and spend time with the kids. Some did chalk while others played games. A couple of our guys decided to play a game of soccer and soon realized they were way in over their heads. Those kids could just keep going and never stop. While all this was going on Mark and Fransisco went to the City and picked up Teresa from the airport. Today was a fun day and we can’t wait for the adventures ahead.