A Little Bit of Everything

To start off, I just want to thank everyone who supported the making of this basketball court! It has been used non-stop since the day Dad told them they could use it! 

I actually didn't even like basketball before this court. I have been practicing a lot with Ethan, and I can officially say I know how to throw the ball now :)

I feel like these past few months have been full of accomplishments! So much has been done from the basketball court, to the new computer lab, to the starting of the solar project! 

Now for a shout out to ANDREW!!! You've done a lot since coming here, from painting gates to putting up signs (and SO much more!).

You've really helped to lighten my Dad's load by mowing  the lawn, and helping landscape!

I have LOVED life at the seminary (if you didn't already know that!). I feel like we just keep growing  

spiritually, and maturing in our faith!     

I love Emmaus Sundays, when the students visit other churches and lead the services. 

I've been getting to know different students better and have really enjoyed hanging out with them. 

(Here I am riding in the back of the Ayars' truck with a bunch of students, which was a blast!)

As for Rosa, she is currently at her home in New Jersey with family! (Don't worry, she's coming back!) Before she left we visited Belony's church. (He's one of our staff members at Emmaus.)

Of course, wherever Rosa goes she magically finds a baby to hold!

After the service Belony asked the young women to stay back for a bit. We went to one of the classrooms and Rosa shared her story with them, and encouraged them. It was really nice to hear the girls ask Rosa different questions about her testimony.

The Ayars family have been wonderful neighbors and great friends. 

(And their girls are growing up SO fast!)

Nora gets cuter and cuter by the day, and she has grown close friends with Pepper!

A couple weeks ago Mom, Rosa and Ethan traveled to Port-au-Prince so Ethan could take his first shot at the ACT test! They got to meet up with Junior which was so nice!

While they were away Dad and I spent the weekend together, and we worked on preparing our garden! We tilled, shoveled, and planted seeds!

After they got back, we took a trip to the beach...

If you don't know my family well.... here is the picture that says it all :)

Andrew decided to reaffirm his faith by having Matt baptize him. He had already been baptized as a baby, but he wanted to show that it's his personal desire to follow Christ!

Thanks for reading this blog! 

Stay tuned for another blog about the end of the school year at Emmaus!

Spring at Emmaus!

We've had a wonderfully busy past couple of weeks here at Emmaus!

To start out, we had the Emmaus Board here to stay with us during meetings for a week!

We thoroughly enjoyed having them, they were so nice to be around and to have conversations with.

Rosa, Mom and I all work together to clean rooms and get them set up for teams and visitors, and we thought this room could use some flare. So thanks to Cindy Dutton for teaching me how to use a sewing machine (and bringing one to Haiti for me!), I was able to make these curtains for the room!

We had some problems with the generator recently, but due to the hard work of Dad and his amazing crew of helpers (and LOTS of prayers!), we got everything sorted out and haven't had problems since!

We also had another visitor here with us for a few days. He is so easy to be around and always kept us laughing! Dave (or Garth) helped Dad while he was here, and was just a blast. We also played lots of games, went to church in the pouring rain, took a ride into town and walked along the water, and just enjoyed his company!

As you may have heard, we have been working on a basketball court for the students at the seminary!

I am proud to announce that we are almost DONE!!! (I know you can't really see him here, but Don Hulmes came down for two weeks to help Dad, which was a HUGE blessing!)

So starting February 12th, a family friend named Andrew (we call him Turtle) has been working as an intern here at the seminary! He's been very helpful to Dad, helping out with whatever Dad needs him to do! He also eats dinners with our family each night and we have lots of fun playing games, watching movies and reminiscing about Delanco Camp! (The camp we attend each year- and absolutely LOVE!) He's staying until May 21st, and we're excited to have him around!

So another recent project the guys have been working on is the treehouse and swing set for Lily and Sofie! It's coming along well and should be done in the next couple of weeks! One of our Haitian friends is even working on an authentic woven palm leaf roof for the top!

On Monday, one of our beloved staff members, Mona, had her last day at the seminary. Since she's getting older, her daughter (who lives in the United States) told her she'd pay for her ticket if Mona came to live with her. We had a goodbye service for her where students and staff all said how much they cherished her presence, but they understood why she was leaving. We all put our hands on her and sang hymns and prayed over her. We all felt mixed emotions, sad to have her leave us, but happy that she will be with her daughter.

I thought it was so amazing how much our students care about our little old kitchen lady, Mona. 

How much we ALL care about her.

Next week is our annual Spring Break and we will be going to the Dominican for a few days to unwind and relax. (If dad doesn't go away he won't stop working!!) We also have a great friend Briana coming to visit for the week, which we are all VERY excited about!  

Thanks for reading... Be looking for another one soon!  

Happy Spring and Happy Easter from the Heckmans!

A New Fire

So I know this is kinda late but...

Recently while praying I asked God to give me a clean slate and a new start. I asked Him to kindle a new fire in heart so that I may be a light and a blessing to others. The day after I prayed this prayer my mom asked me about my thoughts on baptism. I said I wanted to be baptized soon, and in Haiti at Cormier beach. She then tells me that we were going to Cormier this Saturday (the 30th). I felt like God was telling me, "YES, be baptized this Saturday,".

What better a way to start this new fire in my heart than to be baptized? 

I was excited, and went to ask Ethan how he felt about being baptized. He told me he wanted to be baptized with me!

So that day we went to the beach with our lovely visiting professors, and had the wonderful privilege of being baptized by Matt!

Ethan went first...

This is when I confessed of faith...

I felt God's presence as I went under the water...

And I was filled with joy when I came up.

That day is one that I will always remember.

I almost cried when we prayed together,
but I kept it together :)

Please pray for Ethan and I as we start our new lives as young Christians!

The West Park UMC Team...

So I've finally gotten around to doing the blog for the team that was here last week from West Park UMC! 

Lily was super excited since they came on her birthday!

Even Nora had fun!

After church on the second day, we went to the beach, which is always a blast!

The guys with their dorky swimming gear :)

(and Lily too!)

The girls painted...

And the guys pretty much did every thing Dad needed them to do!

We took them to Kids Alive, where we played with the kids all afternoon after that morning of hard work....

Some of the colored with the younger kids!

We showed some of the kids how to hit a baseball, which they found both difficult and fun!

Mom and I with this lovely little girl!

Casey pushing the kids on the tire swing!

The guys played a big game of soccer with them too!

One of the nights we had our sweet Haitian friends make us a big Haitian meal for us, and it was SO good!

We went to the Citadel with the team too! The hike was very hot but I think it was worth it.

 The group holding the much-heavier-than-they-look cannon balls...

This team was so helpful and such a blessing to be with! 

So thankful they got to come!

Stay tuned for another blog soon!

The Year Is Coming To A Close...

It's crazy how quickly November flew by for us in Haiti. I absolutely love the end of the school year here at Emmaus! We have a talent show, soccer tournaments, relay races, and a big Christmas party together with our students and staff....

As you probably remember me saying in my other blog (if you read it of course),
I love this seminary. I love our staff. And I love our students.

 I'm rejoicing because God has blessed me with such a great family. Not just Mom, Dad, Rosa and Ethan, but our fellow missionaries, and everyone who is here at the seminary.

 I recently went on a one day missions trip with Rosa and the students to an orphanage for handicapped children.
It was a humbling, heart-wrenching, but truly amazing experience. I'm not gonna go into specifics with you, but if you want to know more about our experience there, visit Stacey's blog:
http://mshaiti.blogspot.com/2015/12/dirty-is-why-we-are-here.html
Here's a few pictures anyway (they might be on her blog as well)

Now back to the end of the year at the seminary....

To start off the soccer tournaments we had our staff vs. student match! Usually, since our staff are all older than our students, they lose pretty much every year. But this year, we had Rosa join the team (which everyone wasn't too sure about at first since girls don't play soccer in Haiti), and she scored the winning goal for the staff! 

My momma's cousin Anna came for a week for a visit, which we all enjoyed so much! 

We had our lovely staff Christmas party that I look forward to every year! Everyone loved the games
(as you can tell from the picture!)...

We played limbo again this year, and I won! Woohoo!

Here's the group...

And of course with Christmas time comes Christmas cookies! Had a blast making these with Rosa and Mom!

I absolutely loved our talent show this year,

and so did the students (as you can tell)...

We had one of the most amazing Christmas services ever (haha, in my opinion)...

We had several students read scripture passages and we sang a bunch of English Christmas songs with them. They loved it, and we loved it.

Every year we get new first year students, and they have to get "baptized" into the seminary by their fellow students, which means being teased for an entire day. It's a Haitian tradition and it's apparently very necessary to do for them to be accepted into the family... 

It was hilarious to watch them get squirted with water and get flour thrown on them :)

The best part was that the first years loved it too!

Had such a great year and I'm so excited for next year...

Hope you enjoyed this blog, be looking for the next one!