Merry post-Christmas!
In all of our holiday traveling, I forgot to post our Christmas letter. It's more of a photo-review than an actual letter, but I hope you enjoy it none-the-less.
If you have a moment, post a comment here with your best 2007 memory before you go.
Happy New Year!
click the image to see it full-size
News from New Orleans
from Matt & Jen DeGier and Chi Alpha Campus Ministries – June 2007
211 Cherokee St.
New Orleans LA 70118
Jen and I are rapidly approaching the three-decade threshold in our
lives, yet we still live on the American academic calendar, which means our summers take on a unique pace, including many different activities than the rest of the year.
Last week, we went to Woodworth, LA to join the Louisiana Assemblies of God Youth Camp. As campus missionaries, we want to
increase the fame of Jesus among those who do not yet
know him, and disciple young people who already name him Lord. Unfortunately, statistics say that too many Christian high school graduates walk away from faith during their college years; many of them never return to the faith of their youth.
There are many causes for this alarming statistic; one is the transition from the local youth group to a community of believers in the new college setting. We went to youth camp to spread the word about Chi Alpha to Christian teens, as well as to build relationships with youth group leaders, and pastors. It was a successful week.
Jen connected with Deanna, a senior from Slidell, LA who
is heading to college next year on a volleyball scholarship. Jen got to tell Deanna all about Chi Alpha, as well as pray with her during the evening worship services.
I met Alex playing soccer.
Alex just finished high school a year early, and plans to head to college in Texas this coming January. Alex is obviously a leader in his youth group. It’s my prayer that he won’t just survive in college, but truly thrive, making a powerful impact for Christ. We’ll help him connect with a Chi Alpha group in Texas so he can do just that.
Bonjou! Komon Ou Ye?
Hello! How are you? (Haitian Creole)
Our trip to Haiti was great. There were three main goals for our trip: 1) serve and bless those who lead
and work in the churches and schools and orphanages of Haiti, 2) get a general feeling for the way of life, and the general security of Haiti for potential trips with larger teams in the future, and 3) give God praise with our lives and service. With God’s help, some great hosts, and
hard work, I’d say we succeeded at all three goals, and I hope we will be returning again soon.
In this space, I’d like to share just a bit from our last day in the country. We had run out of work to do with Pastor Cange, our primary host. So we asked the couple we stayed with if they knew of anything we could help with as we spoke over dinner Wednesday night. (Bob and Carole work with many orphanages and churches all over Haiti, and host missions teams regularly.) They invited us to help with an urgent need: finish some ceiling construction on a new house for disabled orphans, and help move in children from
an orphanage that was closing that day.
Bill and I worked on the ceiling with Bob and two Haitian teens. It was hot, but we accomplished a lot. It was almost too rewarding to think that several children who had been discarded by society would rest securely under the ceiling we helped build.
I’ll let Laura share an experience she and Jen had that day:
The team traveled across town this morning with our host Bob to help at an orphanage for mentally and physically disabled children. While Matt and Bill helped with construction, Jen and I had a little free time to play with the kids. It was one of the hardest things I've had to do on this trip. Screaming and crying everywhere. Kids with an enormous variety of obstacles, without the constant supervision and attention they crave.
None of them could speak English, but in the midst of chaos and frustration in the struggle to communicate with the children, I experienced a single, beautiful moment. Nearby the swingset where a little boy and I were laughing and swinging together, I could hear a little girl repeat a phrase over and over to Jen. Jen politely smiled, not knowing what the girl was saying or how to respond, then a caretaker walked past with a little laugh and said, "She says 'I love you.'" Life and joy appeared on their faces as they finally understood this universally precious and sacred phrase. Jen pointed to herself and then her heart and then the little girl, and they sounded out together in English, "I Love You."
Most of our work was done around Pastor Cange's office. This office is the office for the Haitian Assemblies of God, Latin American Child Care, and Missionaries Bill and Dorothy Smith. Bill and Dorothy are currently state-side itinerating, and hope to be back in Haiti later this summer.
This particular room was a giant mess of storage junk. We really cleaned it up. It was dusty, but rewarding.
We spent a good chunk of the second week painting a couple rooms in the office building. What a difference a couple coats of paint can make! Pastor Cange was thrilled, which made us grateful -- our primary goal on this trip was to bless those leading and serving in Haiti.
Because of the concrete walls, the high humidity, and the inaccessibility of primer, we were forced to use oil based paint...a sticky situation
Here are a few pics of the happenings of our first 4 days in Haiti.
Laura and Matt take some time to reflect on their initial impressions of Haiti in the dining room of the guest house we all stayed in.
A couple shots of the view from the guest house balcony. Obviously, we stayed in one of the more well-to-do areas of town.
We visited a few schools that are connected to churches and are a part of the Latin American Child Care ministry that sponsors children to help them get an education. At this particular location, the younger children learn outside. However, a brand new building began construction for them the day we left.
We got to try some fresh coconut!
Pastor Cange, our host on the right treated us on our trip to the beach with his family, and many youth from churches around Port-au-Prince. Yum!
We had a great time in Haiti, and a splendid vacation in South Florida.
I will post pictures and stories soon.
Wow, the house is nearly complete! After several weeks of entertaining workmen in our home, while trying to work out of it at the same time, we are thankful to see them go :) The job foreman is the only one here today, as he does a little touch up paint, and prepares the rear exterior wall for its paint job. All the major repairs (hole in the wall, new roof, new siding, new windows and doors...) are complete! Let's pray for no more natural disasters in the neighborhood this year.
So, by the time we return from our trips on the 9th of June, our house should be 100% complete!
We leave tomorrow morning with Bill and Laura from Loyola for our 10 day missions excursion to Port-au-Prince Haiti. Please pray for us!
After that exciting trip, Jen and I will celebrate with a week of vacation on the beach in Florida--praise the Lord!
We'll post some pictures and stories of everything when we return.
The Nation of Haiti is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. It has a history of oppression, slave trading, racial violence, and is the home of the religious amalgamation known as voodoo.
It is located on the island known as Hispaniola, sharing this spot of land in the Caribbean Sea with the Dominican Republic. Hispaniola is south of the Bahamas and east of Cuba.
The nation has been wracked by political turmoil in recent years in response to years of gross exploitation by government leaders. The people have needs of all kinds.
Jen and I are getting ready to take a 9 day trip to this nation at the end of the month. We will be accompanied by two Loyola students, and we hope that this trip might be the first of several the Chi Alpha New Orleans will take in the future. In some ways, it's a scouting trip.
While we are there, we will likely be working with children in an orphanage, serving, and possibly teaching about Jesus at schools, serving those who serve the people of Haiti (pastors, missionaries, teachers, orphanage workers), and praying at the University in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
Please pray for us as we prepare for this spiritually intense trip. We need special grace with passport applications that have been delayed, especially.
