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Haiti Trip
March 12-13, 2011 - Pack, say good-byes and travel days.
The week went so fast, we bonded with each other, had great devotional times together, connected with Haitians and missionaries alike. It was hard to stop working, there is so much that needs to be done. It was hard to say good-bye such wonderful people and country. Travel went well but was tiring, we left Gressier at noon on Saturday and arrived at MSP 26 hours later with a short overnight in Ft. Lauderdale and a stop in Dallas.
Thanks to everyone who prayed and supported us. Please pray for Haiti. There is hope for this beautiful island nation. We saw progress since a year ago. We see some good permanent rebuilding being done. The church is alive. Please don't forget Haiti, please pray for Haiti, please consider going to Haiti and giving of yourself and your abundant resources to come along side them as they rebuild.
March 11, 2011 - Today completes the last full day for our team here in Haiti. Again we divided up and worked on three projects.
At the orphanage we started to replace some bad walkway boards. At the hole you can see the progress below. At the Victory church we did a discipleship seminar.
March 10, 2011 - You have been hearing about the hole all week. The hole has become Blair's personal project and he has gained the victory over it. It is now being lined with block and is almost done. Our team has been used by God to lay the first block at the new clinic here in Gressier. So either you can say you dug a hole or that we begin building a clinic. Thank you Lord. Here are a few pictures.
Setting the forms. Laying the first course.
Laying the blocks Almost done
March 9, 2011 - Hey thanks for checking back here are some pictures - click here! Today was full and tiring - the hole is complete thanks to two incredible Haitian men who threw as much dirt in six hours as 12 Americans did in two days and a backhoe brought in from another local ministry to help finish off the task. While they were flinging dirt, the hole team went back to Christianville where the materials for the project are stored and sifted sand for the cement and mortar, and Blair and Wes from TouchGlobal cut rebar grooves in concrete blocks so we can start to line the hole with block first thing in the morning. Ron was busy finishing plywood lock boxes for a local ministries flatbed truck with the help of Chris who wielded her paintbrush like a pro on the professional custom made boxes.
Jane and Nancy were able to go up to Petionville today with Steve Spellman, a Cross of Glory supported missionary, and visit God's Littlest Angels and many friends there that have been made over their last several trips to Haiti.
The other half our team was at an orphanage today. They had a great day playing games like limbo, baseball and soccer with Sean, crafts with Diane, Julie, and Shelby putting babies at ease and to sleep, as she does so well. They also got to pass out cupcakes and celebrate one of the orphan's birthdays. The boys, being boys, hid theirs under the table and tried to get a second cupcake. Kids everywhere love sugary cupcakes. Here are some pix by Shelby including some from their day there - click here!
March 7, 2011
The Hole
Three members had the job of digging an 8 foot hole for a latrine at the site of a new clinic. IT's a good idea to be prepared for the essentials before the actual clinic is bulilt! Blair, Dave and Betsy worked incredibly haard all day, and only only made it down about 3 feet. THe ground was so hard they had to use a pickaxe to break it up before the shovels were of any use. Several kids from the area came, and jumped right into the hole and started swinging those pickaxes! Betsy's mom instincts were definitely tested wihle these kids "helped."
The rest of the team drove to the next town, Leogane, to help with some construction in a church. The church was started before last year's earthquake, and the outer walls were still standing. We wera all construction newbies, and learned many new skills. Shelby is our new master of the sawzall. Allee made a great assistant, holding the iron rods and rebar steady. Shawn and Katie (from Philadelphia) secured the roof of the front porch with hurricane strapping. Shawn spent most of his day drilling holes into concrete. Several of us worked on making rebar frames. Jane and Julie separated sand from rock, until some Haitian teens took over. One oyung man said, "You shouldn't do that. We are Haitian, we should do it." Such a gentleman!
March 6, 2011
Ron got up at 6:30 and went in to PAP (Port Au Prince) to preach. A young man gave his life to Christ during the service - pray for him. He didn't get back until early afternoon. The rest of us went to a local Haitian church. Started at 9 and went for almost 3 hours. The main pastor gave two sermons. We appreciated being able to worship the same God in different languages.
We grabbed a self-service lunch and a few left-overs. It took a while to get the whole group going (12 people). Steve Scott took us on a walk/hike we climbed quite a substantial hill, but the vista of the ocean and land was worth it. You can see the beauty in the country, but also the sadness of deforestation. Any tree of a certain size gets cut down to provide firewood is what I understand. He showed us a local voodoo "temple" It looked innocuous in the daylight. We walked through a stream, which was pleasant (we all wore sandals). It was fun to see Haitians and talk with them and say Bonswa to everyone. We saw/met an older lady whose house pancaked. She was caught in it and her left leg is crippled because of it. Someone died in the house. The house almost looks like the earthquake happened yesterday. There was a boy, Lay Lay (phonetic spelling) who spoke English and rode his mountain bike and translated for us. He was super nice. Blair showed him how to carry his mountain bike on his shoulder through some of the steeper passes. We saw many of the blue samaritans purse shelters. We also saw some German houses. Even when Germans do relief they engineer it well. They were a little bigger and had a roof where the angles didn't meet at the top and was so ventilated. Made me smile.
Donna and her daughter Katie arrived today. Donna seems to be an organizer of the house and does a good job.
We relaxed and talked after supper. Had a good devotions where Blair and Dave shared a short testimony and we worked through some devotional material from Ron. Sounds like 9 of us will go into Leogane tomorrow to work on putting a roof on an entrance to a building and hurricane straps and building the forms for the doorway. 3 of us will help closer to the Touchglobal house, (The Haitian Queen) by digging a hole for a latrine.
The week of work will start soon.
It is a blessing to be hear. Thank you for sending us and praying for us.
March 5, 2011 - Arrival in Port Au Prince at about 12:30p in a large plane full of people most coming to Haiti to try to do some good. The trip from the airport took a couple of hours. We arrived in Gressier at the home of TouchGlobal and were warmly welcomed and settled in to our bunk houses. We are all thankful to be here and to enjoyed a tasty Haitian meal together with our hosts. It is very good to connect with Steve Spellman who will be with us all week. Sunday promises to be a full day of church, a cultural tour of the area, and time to prepare for our week of work.
Thank you Lord, we are here to serve you! Please have your will and your way in our lives in the coming days.
March 4, 2011 - Everyone arrived in Miami without significant incident.
