Easthaven Baptist contingent heads for Haiti to work with youngsters

When disaster struck Haiti in January, Easthaven Baptist Church turned its eyes south, watching and waiting for opportunities to help earthquake survivors.

They prayed for Haiti’s people. They gave money to relief efforts.

And in May, the church will send a team of young adults to Haiti to work with children displaced by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

“We’ve [prayed and given money], and we continue to do that. This is a chance to maybe be the answer to our own prayers,” said Joey Gardner, an associate pastor and leader of Easthaven’s college ministry.

Gardner’s wife, Debby, and five members of the church’s college group will spend from May 22 to June 5 working with Haitian children. Two organizations, Mission Serve and International Mission Board Students, have teamed up to create “kid zones” near the Dominican Republic border for children who lost their homes in the earthquake.

Kid zones will include crafts, games, music, tutoring and other activities designed to give children a sense of normalcy and structure. The missionaries also may help with building or other projects.

Andy Gross, 22, said that while he was looking forward to playing with the kids, he was eager to do whatever labor was necessary.

“I’m excited ... about actually using the abilities I’ve been given to actually help people,” he said.

His sister Sami, 21, said she has been called by God to go on missions. She has already gone to Uganda and British Columbia, and is excited to go to Haiti.

“To be able to put myself in their shoes ... to adapt to what they’re doing I think is important,” she said. Going to Haiti “is a way I can show people that I love them.”

Going to Haiti is important to the group members, who are trying to model their lives after Jesus’ example. While Jesus prayed for people, he also cared for their physical needs, 20-year-old Sarah Hazen said.

“For us to be Christlike, to be like Jesus, we need to go,” she said.

The group from Easthaven won’t be the only Montanans working in Haitian kid zones, Gardner said. In all, 18 people from Montana, mostly college students and young adults, will go to Haiti.

In addition to the Easthaven group, young missionaries from Montana Tech, the University of Montana and Montana State University have signed up to go, Gardner said.

“College-age students have a lot more flexibility than ... people who’ve kind of moved into a more established pattern in life,” he explained.

The groups will spend almost two full weeks in Haiti. The mission is set up so groups of 25 arrive every week, so there are always 50 people on hand to work with the children. That ensures there always is one experienced team available to train new arrivals and will help add to the sense of stability the kid zones are striving to create.

All the members of the Easthaven team have experience working with kids. Most have helped with youth groups at the church. Kathleen Reavis, 21, has helped with a summer day camp at The Summit for the last several years.

Reavis said she is looking forward to “just going somewhere that’s not Canada.”

“I’m really excited just to go to Haiti, to go somewhere and just to go on a mission,” she said.

Hazen said she was eager to experience a culture different from the one she’s known all her life.

“I know things about Haiti, but I don’t know it. I’m just excited to learn about the Haitian culture,” she said. “It’s completely different from what we do.”

That difference and the horrors the country has faced after the earthquake make 20-year-old Nikki Motley nervous and excited about their trip.

“I’m excited to be pushed outside of my comfort zone and have to put all of my trust in God,” she said. “I think it’s going to be really awesome and scary at the same time.”

The key to the trip will be an ability to roll with the punches, Gardner said.

“The biggest thing is to just be flexible,” he said, adding that flexibility is important both in working with kids and in mission work. “You go to be a servant; not to be served, but to serve others.”

To get to Haiti, each member of the Easthaven Baptist team needs to raise $1,700 to cover airfare and expenses. The church will host an as-yet-undetermined fundraiser April 18; for further information or to make a donation, call Gardner at 752-7021.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.