Motivation

Vision Seminar in Petit Goave.  Photo by Kathy Naugle.

The past few weeks have been challenging for me at work -- I've been slow to get over an upper respiratory infection and I still feel very weak, in addition to not being used to the heat.  I've just not been very motivated at work, no matter how many iced coffees I make.

Today one of my tasks is to fill out some forms for funding from the United Nations for some of our cholera work.  I'm just not feeling it today, although this is clearly a very worthy task.  So, as I go back and forth between this and other activities, trying to stay motivated by doing things in short bursts, I remember another post I'd wanted to write.  I've been wanting you to get to see the amazing evaluations we receive after our trainings.  These comments are just one of the many reasons I love being involved with Medical Ambassadors Haiti. 

Comments from Petit Goave Vision Seminar, May 2012:

“I really enjoyed this seminar. It pushed me to figure out how to work together in my community so that things will work well. It made me understand the importance of the Kingdom of God. It gave me a vision for how this program could change the people in my community through the Word of God.”

“I would like another training like this because I'm already thirsty for more.”

“Come back again now, you hear?”

“The lesson 'How God Sees Human Beings' is very valuable.”

“In this training, what was good was the way it was organized – when we debated a subject or a topic we did it as a group. And the lessons were very practical, too. We got to know one another.”

“I would like this program to continue because it is a good program that will teach people how they can live well with God in all different aspects of life.”

“I appreciated the way that Brother Metellus and Dr. Fleming Elizabeth gave all of themselves to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ, during this seminar. We ate, we drank, we played, we laughed together.”

“The lessons that we most important for me was when we follow how God sees the community and the good examples we found about how to show people how to get out of a bad situation.”

“May God cover you with blessings.”

“We thank you for the great things that are being spread throughout the country, because this is something that is very valuable for a community. We do not have enough words with which to thank the trainers.”

“I found many things for my life and for the society in which I live. This training was good, through and through.”

“We found many good techniques for evangelism.”

“I appreciated the way the trainers facilitated the lessons because they made them both theoretical and practical so that everyone was edified.”

“I would like to implement all of these methods in the entire Petit Goave regional area.”

“Starting the very first day this training has been remarkable. By that I mean that the subjects are very interesting and the explanations were very good.”

“All the lessons were important, but the one that really affected me was the one on the Kingdom of God.”

Thanks again to Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City for sponsoring this training!

Vision Seminar in Petit Goave

The beautiful Bay of Petit Goave, southern Haiti

Last month I traveled to southern Haiti to facilitate a three-day vision seminar in the large town of Petit Goave, three hours west of Port-au-Prince.  Church of the Resurrection, a Methodist church in Kansas City, has committed to support the expansion of the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) tools into this part of the country.  We are excited to be asked to accompany them!

Church of the Resurrection contacted the League of Pastors of Petit Goave to gauge their interest in learning about the CHE tools.  The league is composed of several pastoral associations.  In all, 58 pastors and lay leaders came to the seminar, representing 24 different churches and several denominations!

In our trainings we like to have everyone sit in a circle -- this was impossible with such a large group.

Improvisation:  the back wall was too hard to write on, since you had to step up onto dirt to reach it.  So someone rigged this easel-on-folding-chair-supported-by-cinder-block system.  It worked!  Here we were talking about the concept of Shalom:  harmony with God, our neighbor, ourselves, and the environment.

It was a beautiful location -- we met outside under the shade of some large trees.  Here we are on a break with the Bay of Petit Goave in the background.

The man on the right is Lucson, one of our volunteer trainers.  He and I co-facilitated the seminar.

Here I am facilitating a lesson.

 One of the aspects of our ministry in Haiti that I really appreciate is the even mix of men and women among our volunteer trainers, committee members, and community health evangelists.  However, we only had one woman participant on the first day of this vision seminar!

Several spiritual lessons were done each day:  The Great Commission and the Great Commandment, What is Good Health?, How God Sees People and Community, and The Importance of the Kingdom of God for Jesus.  The pastors particularly remarked that they loved our method of Bible study:  participatory and thorough.  They were very appreciative of the questioning, contextual way we approached key verses to get a fuller conception of what is meant and what it means for us personally:  Who wrote the verses?  Who were they writing to?  What do the surrounding verses talk about?  What happened before and after?

We are already planning a Training of Trainers for the first week of July.  This week-long seminar will train volunteer trainers from different churches so that they can begin to implement CHE in their communities.  

A special thanks to Kathy Naugle, from the Church of the Resurrection, who took all of the beautiful photos in this post.  I love this last one with a little girl playing with a puppy.