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Quarterly News. Q4, 2019
Every quarter we collect and share some of our favorite stories from our work in Pittsburgh and Cap Haitian. The end of the year offers a time to reflect, and as we celebrated the holiday season together, we felt an overwhelming sense of thankfulness. We’re thankful for the ways we continue to see God work in students’ lives here in Pittsburgh and Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
Every quarter we collect and share some of our favorite stories from our work in Pittsburgh and Cap Haitian. The end of the year offers a time to reflect, and as we celebrated the holiday season together, we felt an overwhelming sense of thankfulness. We’re thankful for the ways we continue to see God work in students’ lives here in Pittsburgh and Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
Alongside thankfulness, we are excitedly anticipating what 2020 will bring, and what we’ll be able to accomplish together.
CHIDA Turns 2
In November of 2019, we celebrated the second anniversary of the opening of Centre Hospitalier D’IDADEE (CHIDA). CHIDA is the hospital that the PKF Medical Director, Dr. Wislyn, oversees just down the street from the IDADEE campus. If you’ve had the chance to visit in person, you immediately see the difference that Dr. Wislyn and his staff are making in their patients’ lives. The campus bustles with activity: Pharmacists filling prescriptions, lab technicians running tests, the first cry of a newborn baby, doctors and nurses taking time to sit and pray with their patients. The emergency room is either just below or just above “maximum” capacity. (At CHIDA, there is always room to care for one more patient.)
It Takes HOW MANY Pieces of Pizza Hut to Pull Off Laurelville Mud Weekends?
It can feel disingenuous to say every year that the most recent season of camp was “the best ever,” but that’s just how it feels! This year, Thanksgiving was so late that we fit all four weekends of Laurelville in before the holidays officially started. At the end of November, we wrapped up the 56th year of Laurelville Mud Weekends. The entire month was full of crazy games, singing and dancing, football tournaments, too much pizza (3,964 slices to be precise), and MUD.
Over four weekends, we invited 1,496 students and leaders to have the best weekend of the year and learn about a God who loves them unconditionally.
In our leaders’ meetings, we talk a lot at about faithfulness and fruitfulness. God calls us to be faithful to Him but doesn’t promise that we’re going to see the fruit of our faithfulness. Even still, camps like Surf City and Laurelville continue to be moments where we recognize the fruit that comes from faithful ministry. At the final leaders meeting each weekend, leaders had the opportunity to share how they saw God move in their students’ lives over the weekend. They shared story after story of students accepting Christ for the first time or rededicating themselves to a life with Jesus.
Needless to say, we had ALOT to be thankful for as we went into Thanksgiving and Christmas.
What We Read in 2019
We asked our staff what their favorite books of 2019 were. It's been a long time since any of us have had to write a proper book report, so bear with us. Here are the PKF Staff's favorite books of 2019.
At the Players 4 Kids Gala this year, we launched our Someone Like You project. We set out to show that the students we serve in Pittsburgh and Cap Haitian have a lot in common. The food, language, and weather all change (what we’d give for a sunny Haitian day during this gloomy Pittsburgh winter), but in both Pittsburgh and Haiti, kids are pretty similar. They play the same sports and enjoy the same things. They either really enjoy school, or don’t find it all that interesting.
Most importantly, they share the same hopes and dreams for life. That’s the common thread in all of our work. Empowering and equipping students to live life to its fullest, in relationship with Jesus Christ.
We are in this adventure together,
PKF Staff
Surf City Haiti
Surf City Haiti is a week-long, high energy summer camp that focuses on fun, discipleship, and equipping kids at the three children’s homes to be leaders in their communities.
It has been a difficult few months for our friends in Haiti. In February, details came to light that lead to allegations of embezzlement against the Haitian government, namely president Jovenel Moise. Frustrated, many Haitian citizens protested. Unfortunately, when opposition and gang leaders got involved some of the protests became violent, especially in the capital, Port-au-Prince. In response, the U.S. Department of State issued a level four (the highest) travel advisory: do not travel.
Although most of the civil unrest was focused in Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitien experienced protest and unrest as well. By God’s grace, all of our friends and families in Haiti remained safe. It is truly a testament to the leadership and the environment of love and safety that they have built.
Since February we have been in very close contact with our friends in Haiti who have consistently advised us on whether or not it is safe for us to travel. By March, Cap had cooled down enough for us to travel. Cap remained calm as we neared June and Surf City Haiti.
Our goal for Surf City Haiti has always been that it would be a Haitian-lead camp and that as the girls and boys in the children’s homes grow up, they would step into leadership positions in camp. Due to the unrest, our team was a lot smaller, and we owe the success of Surf City Haiti to the older Haitian girls and boys in those leadership roles. From worship to programming camp, everyone stepped up in a big way and made this year of camp one of the best yet.
Meet The Staff: Alyssa
Alyssa served as the Staff Counselor on our Laurelville team. She led Bible studies and created intentional environments where our team could slow down and grow in their own relationships with God while serving at camp..
The staff experience at Laurelville can be summed up in one word. Busy. Alyssa served as the Staff Counselor on our Laurelville team. She led Bible studies and created intentional environments where our team could slow down and grow in their own relationships with God while serving at camp. Read about her Laurelville experience below.
My name is Alyssa Tyson, and I was on the PKF team for Laurelville. My role was to help create a healthy, God-centered, and unified staff culture. I thought this would be a way for me to pour into the staff, but I was so much more filled and poured into while being there. The joy and depth of every staff member were inspiring. We were able to laugh, pray, cry out, have fun, and rejoice with each other. So many people from different backgrounds and situations yet brought together as a family because we all have the same Father. The friendships and relationships that I’ve built are such blessings. Hearing from people even after camp is over has been so encouraging. Each person came into Laurelville with such specific gifts, and when paired with everyone else’s gifts, God was able to flow through his body of people and students came to know him. I saw the blessings of God on this camp, and I believe it is because his followers were obeying His call on their lives. I have been challenged by the staff, speakers, and students to live freely in the life God has given us and to trust that he will take our faithful obedience and will work miracles. I didn’t know where God was taking me next in my adult life journey, but after Laurelville, I’ve been reminded that I don’t need to know all the answers, I just need to follow the One who does have the answers. His promises go with me wherever I will go.