WE’D LIKE YOU TO MEET VANESA JEAN Meet Vanesa Jean. Vanesa is 14 years old. Vanesa came to live with us in 2009 after the government’s children’s services removed her from a bad situation. Her father (who is a Voodoo man) and her mother gave her away to work for a family who abused her. Something that rarely happens in Haiti happened for Vanesa and that is that the abuse was reported and she was removed from the fam- ily’s home. Vanesa is a very quiet young lady. She likes to help in the kitchen. When she grows up she would like to be a dancer. Her favorite subject in school is math. Her favor- ite foods are bananas, white rice and pork. WINTER 2012 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: VINEYARD 2 HARLEM ROAD 3 UNIFORMS 4 SHIPMENT 5 CHRISTMAS 6 TRANSITION HOUSE 7 Serving Christ through the Children of the Loyal Oaks Community Chapel Children’s Home, Despinos, Haiti INTRODUCING OUR HEAD COOK, GENESE MARCELLUS This quarter we would like to introduce you to Genese Marcellus. She is the head cook at the children’s home and she has been cooking for the children for twelve years. Genese has seven children of her own, ages 12 - 25. Their father became ill and died four years ago. Genese works seven days a week, cooking to pay for their schooling and everyday needs. Genese arrives at the children’s home at 4:45 am to begin cooking breakfast for 120 children. Around 9:00 am breakfast is finished and cleaned up and then she begins preparing our main meal which is served at 2:00 pm. Genese then cleans the kitchen and is fin- ished around 3:30 pm. When asked if she would like to do something different than cooking she said that no, she enjoys cooking. She would like to say hi to everyone in the states and hopes you have a good life and she is praying for you. She asked that you pray for her and the children’s home and that you continue to help.
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W E ’ D L I K E Y O U T O M E E T V A N E S A J E A N
Meet Vanesa Jean. Vanesa is 14 years old. Vanesa came to live with us in 2009 after the government’s children’s services removed her from a bad situation. Her father (who is a Voodoo man) and her mother gave her away to work for a family who abused her. Something that rarely happens in Haiti happened for Vanesa and that is that the abuse was reported and she was removed from the fam-
ily’s home.
Vanesa is a very quiet young lady. She likes to help in the kitchen. When she grows up she would like to be a dancer. Her favorite subject in school is math. Her favor-
ite foods are bananas, white rice and pork.
W I N T E R 2 0 1 2
V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 1
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
V I N E Y A R D 2
H A R L E M R O A D 3
U N I F O R M S 4
S H I P M E N T 5
C H R I S T M A S 6
T R A N S I T I O N
H O U S E 7
Serving Christ through the Children of the Loyal Oaks Community Chapel Children’s Home, Despinos, Haiti
I N T R O D U C I N G O U R H E A D C O O K , G E N E S E M A R C E L L U S
This quarter we would like to introduce you to Genese
Marcellus. She is the head cook at the children’s
home and she has been cooking for the children for
twelve years. Genese has seven children of her own,
ages 12 - 25. Their father became ill and died four
years ago. Genese works seven days a week, cooking
to pay for their schooling and everyday needs.
Genese arrives at the children’s home at 4:45 am to
begin cooking breakfast for 120 children. Around 9:00
am breakfast is finished and cleaned up and then she
begins preparing our main meal which is served at
2:00 pm. Genese then cleans the kitchen and is fin-
ished around 3:30 pm. When asked if she would like to do something different than cooking
she said that no, she enjoys cooking. She would like to say hi to everyone in the states and
hopes you have a good life and she is praying for you. She asked that you pray for her and
the children’s home and that you continue to help.
As our team prayed about what our
purpose was, it became clear that
God wanted us to show His love and
let the children know that He has a
plan for them. Part of our purpose
was to build picnic tables which fulfill a
tangible need and we also wanted to
fill an eternal need. We decided to
show this through a VBS program with
all of the children. Each day we wor-
shiped with the children, played
games, prayed with them, and taught
them about the love of Jesus. The
language barrier was a challenge but
as always the Lord seemed to diminish
that obstacle daily. We started to
know the children individually and see
the plans that God has for them. One
young man, Daniel Joseph, wants to
be a Doctor someday and participate
in medical missions to Cuba. Another
young man, Robens, wants to be a
Mechanic. Christele wants to work in
a bank and Myrlande wants to be a
Doctor. These children have real
dreams that God has placed in their
hearts and minds! Hearing the dreams
of the children confirmed our purpose!
One of our team members Cyndy
Epps, an amazing artist, was inspired
to paint a mural for the children. She
decided that a beautiful beach and
nature scene would be nice. We
agreed on the scripture passage from
Matthew 6 that talks about not worry-
ing. It also encompassed he theme
that God has a plan for the children.
The final element was placing each of
their handprints around the mural. This
made them part of it and let them
know that God has a plan for
each of those handprints repre-
sented. We were able to individu-
ally pray blessings, protection and
God’s divine plans over each of
the children. The presence of the
Holy Spirit was heavy as we
prayed!
I would love to say that in the end
the children were blessed more
than we were, but of course that
would be a lie! I woke up excited
each morning to see their smiling
faces! The joy of the Lord flows
through them and around them.
These children are so happy, kind,
content, and giving! I was hum-
bled by their love for our team
Page 2 I M A G I N E M I S S I O N S
and the prayers they lifted up for us.
My intent was for us to pray and
bless the children, which we did, but
they gave it back tenfold to us! The
scripture from Matthew 19:14 “Let
the little children come to me, and
do not hinder them, for the kingdom
of heaven belongs to such as
these”, has new meaning for me. It
is obvious to me that the Kingdom of
Heaven rains down on those chil-
dren daily and that the Kingdom of
Heaven truly belongs to them. I feel
privileged and grateful for the op-
portunity we had to serve them.
Charity Santiago
Vineyard Church of Augusta
G O D W I L L T A K E C A R E O F Y O U , G O D L O V E S Y O U , G O D W I L L S A V E Y O U , A N D G O D H A S A P L A N F O R Y O U ~ V I N E Y A R D C H U R C H
A team of 18 from Harlem
Road United Methodist
Church traveled to the
LOCC Children’s Home in
January . . . Where we
were blessed beyond
measure! The moment we
stepped into the orphan-
age compound, we were
surrounded . . . well,
SWARMED by kids . . . kids
with huge smiles . . . kids
who wanted to hold our
hands . . . kids who wanted
to know our names . . . kids
who wanted to be loved.
Throughout the week, the
kids continued to shower
us with their love. Each
one of us was “adopted”
by two or three kids who
stayed by our sides wher-
ever we went, as if to
watch out for our wellbe-
ing. Once when we
showed the kids how to
make friendship bracelets,
U P C O M I N G E V E N T S
Page 3 V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 1
H A R L E M R O A D U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T C H U R C H
thoughts were focused on
the plans and material lists
for the shelter house, and
the plans and supplies for
the crafts and games.
When we came home
however, all we could
think about and talk
about were the kids . . .
Melissa’s kids . . . GOD’S
kids.
We were also blessed by
Melissa, Pascal, and Ro-
selle. Our entire team was
inspired by the compas-
sion that these three peo-
ple have for the kids, and
by the faith they have
that God will meet all their
needs. We experienced
first-hand the trials that
they face each day with
intermittent electricity,
vehicles that don’t want
to start, outsiders that
make demands, genera-
tors that need TLC, roads
so filled with traffic and
potholes that it’s a chal-
lenge to get anywhere,
emergencies causing
more outlays of cash . . .
And we witnessed their
peace-that-passes-
understanding as each of
these three calmly and
patiently dealt with the
matter at hand. God truly
chose the right people to
be at His orphanage.
Melissa, Pascal and Roselle
are doing amazing things
at LOCC, and Harlem Road
UMC is asking God to guide
us in how we can best help
them over the next several
years!
one of the nine-year-old
girls made a bracelet for
the woman she’d
adopted. When another
of the ladies was handing
out lollipops, and the kids
started to push into her to
get a lollipop, her young
guardian angel stepped
in and made sure the
other kids knew to be nice
and get in line. Several of
our team received letters
from kids who expressed
their love and happiness
that we had come to
spend time with them.
We went down there to
build a 20’ x 36’ shelter
house so the kids could
do things outside in the
breeze and still be out of
the sun, and to do games
and crafts with the kids.
You know . . . It’s funny.
We were in Ohio prepar-
ing for our trip, our
• Melissa will be in the
states from February 29
through March 15.
• We will be having a Haiti
update meeting (carry-
in dinner) Tuesday,
March 6th, 6:30 pm.
Upcoming Mission Trips:
Chris & Beth Hostetler will be
there February 24 - 28
Mark & Tonya Robinson
leading a team from Hart-
land Vineyard from Iowa
March 10 - 24 (putting in a
garden & playground)
Galilee Christian Church,
Jefferson GA, May 29-June 7
Insight Youth Group, June 10
- 19 (building a shower
house for the little kids and
cleaning up our trash area)
High school Senior Trip, June
19 - 18
Page 4 V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 1
God is doing wonderful things in the lives of these
children, as well as the lives of those of us fortunate
enough to help them come to know the love of
God by providing clean water, food, an education,
and teaching them about Jesus.
If you would like to send a contribution, sponsor a
child, or help in any way, there are several ways in