Although the original trips involved work projects, the main purpose was relationship building. Hanson desired to work with an indigenous pastor—someone he could come alongside and with whom he could develop a close relationship.

On the third trip, Hanson met such a man, Pastor Diogene Pierre, who had a heart for Haiti, especially for his hometown, Tricotte, a village in the hills. Dio’s dream was to build a school. When Open Door became involved, they had a school and a road.  Open Door youth helped build a clinic.

With the building came relationship. On the 1989 trip, youth leader Tony Larson wrote, “The church of Tricotte held worship every night while we were there. During the first service, the team sat together in the last row, uneasy about the strangeness of the language and the style of singing. By the end of the week, our team was scattered throughout the congregation. Some had little Haitian children in their laps and others were worshipping as the Spirit led.”


Growing partnership
Hanson encouraged Open Door attendees to consider sponsoring a child, providing the funds for the child’s meals at school and exchanging letters and photos. This involved numerous people and helped everyone feel Tricotte was a personal investment.

One man wanted to make life easier for the women who had to walk uphill every day to bring water for their cooking and cleaning. He researched pumps to procure the water up from the river. Open Door raised the funds, and Haitian men and a team from Open Door did the physical labor. Everyone celebrated when the water first flowed.

But this was no one-way relationship. For years, Open Door had worshipped in the old Robbinsdale Senior High. When, in the late 1990s, the church decided to begin saving for its own building, the church that Pastor Dio led in Port au Prince sent $500. 

This was half of their annual budget—the Open Door people were overwhelmed. Peggy Lang, a member at Open Door, said, “It broke something in us. It opened our generosity.”

When, several years later, the church of Port au Prince needed a new building at the cost of $85,000, Open Door sent a gift of $50,000 without knowing that without it the Haitian church would have lost the chance to build.

Teams kept going to Haiti, year after year. But they no longer worked projects, except for painting.

“We’d just get in the way,” Hanson comments. “The Haitians know how to build. They need the jobs.”

Instead, many of the trips to Haiti involve visiting the Mother Teresa Home. While there, men and women hold babies—babies who are likely to die. They hold babies to demonstrate God’s love and have their own hearts broken.


Home for children with special needs
Dio’s wife had a dream of having a home for older children with special needs. Over a period of three years, Open Door raised funds for the Mephibosheth House. In mid-winter, people brought home banks for Project Mercy and collected coins while others wrote checks for thousands of dollars. 

Hanson enjoyed watching children put in their fifty-seven cents, one coin at a time, knowing they were learning about giving to the needy.

Now the Mephibosheth House is home to children and youth who used to spend their days lying on mats on dirt floors. Now some have walkers and all are being fed well and educated. Open Door teams still visit Mother Teresa’s and hold babies, but they also live with and get to know the Mephibosheth residents.

Team member Judy DeBoer described in her blog one afternoon from this fall’s trip: “The Special Olympics were a great hit. All the kids participated in at least one of the events, many participated in them all…the judging panel skewed the results to make sure every one of the 18 children received one of the first three places in one of the events.

“Kids who cannot walk without a walker were still able to throw bean bags or ‘kick’ the soccer ball with their hands. It was a joy to watch them…”

Another team member, Paul Pranghofer, who visited Mephibosheth House for the third time, said, “I’m very impressed. The kids are well cared for. The staff is fabulous and loving. My first trip was an eye-opener for me and them. It told them that there are possibilities.”

Pranghofer says this because he was born with no arms, one normal leg, and one leg that ends at his knee. Yet because he has had an active life, working and doing everything from mowing his lawn to driving a car, the children saw hope for themselves.

Pranghofer says the older boys, especially, follow him around and like to help.

“When I shave, there are always at least three of them hanging out, helping. I let them carry stuff for me. I accept the kids the way they are, and they accept me.”


ACTION BOX: Gifts to build a second story on the Mephibosheth House may be sent to:  Church of the Open Door, Project Mercy, 9060 Zanzibar Lane North, Maple Grove, MN 55311.