Great People

I'm sorry that it has been so long since I blogged. Two teams left the compound today. We had 3 awesome ladies from Canada, and a couple form VA. We had a great week. It started with us putting a tarp on Athensons and Alexs' roof. Then we went out and measured feet to give out tennis shoes. Theresa and Karla was in charge of this task. I told everyone that this wasn't my rodeo, and that I was the rodeo clown. I was there to make people smile and make sure noone got hit by the bull.
They left and are now home enjoying the AC.
We now have a new team. Some of them speak creole, because they were missionaries to Haiti. The first day of work went great. It was a slow start, but as we got the ball rolling a lot of things got done, and better than that the team has got to inner act with Haitians as they work. That is why I want teams to come to Haiti. Sure I like when we are able to complete project, but I feel the most important thing is that teams let Christ's love shine through them. I watched as different team members worked with the Haitian boys. The boys loved it. They started to take off the roof and started to paint the old part. I will try to keep up with our blog. I got up today at 4:30 so I could write. God is so amazing. He is so Alive. Each person that comes here has been sent from God. Last night I was in need of prayer. I just got done telling a team member about a prayer request, him and I walked out of the bedroom where we were putting up his mosquito net. We were talking in the hallway and another guy say he needs to talk with me. We go into the room and he said the spirit wants him to pray for me. It was my prayer request. Unreal! God is good. Well I got to go. Already being called, we are out of water.

Sunday Service

Well today was our "come as you are service". We got up at 6:15 because we were to have a 7am service. I know what people from our church are thinking, 7 am they are lucky to make 9:30 Sunday school on time. Anyways, 7 came and went no boys. Theresa told me don't get to upset if they don't come maybe they forgot. Then around 8 the guard from the outer compound came and was all fired up speaking creole fast. I went and got clona to translate. He said the boys tried to get in on the compound and the guard would let them in so one of the boys hit the guard with a rock. The reason the guard wouldn't let them in is because no one is allowed on the compound on Sunday. I didn't realise that or I would have told the guards last night.I asked the guard if the boys told him they were coming to church he said no. So I sent someone up to Rollands house to get the boys to come down. The guard wouldn't let them on the compound so we had to walk out to the front gate. The whole time I was praying for Gods wisdom to solve this situation. When the boys came I got their side of the story. They said they told the guard that they were coming to see me, but the guard told them he didn't work for the whites. And that they couldn't enter. There was a verbal altercation and the guard was pushing the boys. Asking them if they wanted to fight. Addison said he was scared and picked up a rock, and hit the guard on the shoulder. This took place outside of the gate. I talked with others who saw this and they told the same story. So I had to figure out how to resolve this conflict. I understand why everything happened, but hitting someone with a rock is unacceptable. I explained to the guard why they were coming in, I wanted them to hear about Jesus. He understood but was still very mad. I asked him if Addison could come in today for church and then he couldn't be on the compound for a week. He wanted three weeks. Through the work of Christ I was able to bring the guard to the compromise of one week. I really feel bad for Addison, because I know things just got out of hand and the guard overstepped his boundary too. It was such a touchy situation, but give glory to God all side are okay with the solution.
Around ten we were able to have service. It was funny, but what happened to Addison played right into what I was going to talk about. I was talking about how things happen to us that we don't understand, I told them that we see just a small piece of the puzzle but that God sees the whole picture. After I was done speaking I asked if there was any prayer requests, two of the boys opened up. It was powerful to here them speak. Addison said he could relate to struggles, he has dealt with them his whole life. He said he prays all the time that God will help him. God gives him that peace he needs to get through his struggles. He said when he comes to the compound and works, that takes his worries away. He said that is why he is always smiling, when he is here. Please pray for him. He is a great kid, he is 18 yrs old. He said his mother needs prayers too, they are living in another persons' house. They were told they could stay there for 5 years, well the five years are up and his mother feels guilty because they have no where to go. He asked for God to give them a place to go. He also understands Why I said he couldn't be on the compound for 1 week. He is sad though. I told him we will go and visit him.
The other kid Samuel told us his mother came to Christ when she was younger, she met a man and she told him if he wanted to become her husband he must come to know Jesus. The man did and they got married. The man became a pastor, and someone allowed them to build a church on their land, however after some time the owner of the land kicked them out and now they are holding service at a house. He was asking for prayers for his parents to be able to find some ground and build a church. So I ask you to keep this in your praayers.
I feel the service went really well! I wish things would have happened differently, but I only see a small piece of the picture. I pray that God's WILL will be done for all situations. I pray that we are able to be at peace with that. Whether WE feel His WILL is Good or Bad. Help us to understand that HIS WILL is ALWAYS GOOD.

Misc Stories

As most of you would agree whenever you drive somewhere in the US you are bound to run into road construction. Well the same is true for Haiti. They have been working on the road in a couple of places from Borel to St Marc. The big difference between here and the US is how you drive through the construction site. In Haiti they usually don't have a flagger, you just weave in and out of machines working on the road. While we were in St Marc they were working on the main road through town. I don't know how the workers could concentrate on their jobs. Cars and trucks were everywhere. The steam roller just kept going and the cars had to get out of his way. Since I have been driving I have come to learn that there is many rules to know when driving in Haiti. I thought at first that it was mass confusion, but I have learned that it is organized confusion. The horn is definitely an essential piece of equipment on your vehicle. I bet I honk my horn 50 times in one trip. In the US if you honk your horn it is because you see a friend or someone has mad you mad. Not here, you honk it to tell people or cars to get out of your way. The amazing thing about it is they get out of your way and they don't get mad.
As you can see in one of the pictures I have tied a dead tarantula on Ben's backpack. When he came back to the house to get his backpack he lifted it up and the tarantula swung around. He screamed like a little girl. Everyone enjoyed that. I'm not sure he is ready for my sense of humor.
Now back to every ones lest favorite subject, the rat. We went to the Delimart, which is the store we go to in St Marc. Above the store is a restaurant named Mac Epie. It is Haiti's version of McDonalds. From the restaurant you can look down on DeliMart. We were sitting there eating and Miranda said a rat just ran across the market floor. No one else saw it so we all kind of blew it off. Then we see the workers down below trying to catch (kill) it. As you can see in the picture they put crates in a line so they could herd the rat. It was fun to watch this take place. We then went down to get a couple of items from the store, Watson was standing next to a Delimart employee and I snuck up behind him and scratched his leg. I bet he jumped two feet off the ground. I'm not sure if they got that rat or not.
Everything is well here. The kids are doing great. I was able to pick a bike up for Ariel the other day so she is very happy. Miranda has been riding Bens bike. The Haitian boys push Zacc on Ariel's bike. Theresa is still having English class for two Haitian boys named Cleevens & Harrison. She also helps Watson in the evening. Sunday we are going to have a worship service here on the compound. The boys that we took to the beach, don't go to church, they say it is because they don't have the right clothes and shoes to wear. I guess the church will tell people that they don't have the right shoes or clothes. Clona wore sandals one day and they told her next time she needed to wear the right shoe. So we are going to have come as you are service. I will give the message, Clona is going to translate and lead the singing , she has a beautiful voice. I told the boys about it and they are very excited. I ask that you add this to your prayers. We pray that God will lead us in the service and that we will be able to reach people that feel they don't belong. We are starting at 7am Haiti time. 8 am Eastern time. I'm excited about this!!!

A day at the BEACH!

A day a the beach is always a great day. It is even better when you get to take friends along that don't ever get to go. That is what we did on Sat. I asked Theresa do we want to go sailing or do we want to ask the boys, that come on the compound and work hard for no pay, to go to the beach with us. She said "Go ask the boys" I first went up to Rolland. He is the hardest working 15 year old I have ever met. He comes to the compound every morning by 7 am. Right away he will ask me for a shovel or pick, and then he goes right to work. I paid him some money the first week because we had much rain that we had to dig ditches everywhere. The next week I told him I didn't have much money so there wasn't any work. He told me No problem and went to work. It is hard to watch people work so hard for free. That is why I felt they deserved to go to the beach. Later that day I told Alex, Atterson, and Lamar. I told them we would be leaving at 9 am the next morning. The next morning at 8 am they were here ready to go. We took a big cooler of water and stopped in St Marc and bought PB&J. When we got to the beach I got three items out of my back pack. The first was a Frisbee, no one grabbed it, Then I pulled out my football (again no one grabbed it) Then I took out our soccer ball, they all wanted that. So off they went to kick the ball around. There was some other people at the beach that came over and was kicking the ball with our guys. So they setup rocks for goals and was time to play soccer. They asked me if I wanted to play, I said no because I never played soccer before, but I told them Theresa would play because she loves soccer. She played for a little while then wiped out in the sand. So they called me up from the bullpen. Oh yeah that's baseball, well anyway they told me to play defense (it seems that everyone wants to play offense and they stick the new guy on defense) That was fine with me because I didn't have to run back and forth in the 100 deg heat on sand. Just running on defense was almost killing me. I did okay for my first time playing soccer. I really had fun, especially because we got to play with other people. I think the game was a tie, I'm not sure. But I do know this playing soccer on the beach in 100 deg temperature is not easy. My body feels it today. Yesterday was one of the best days I have had in Haiti. Not only did I get to spend it at the beach. We were able to spend it with some kids that deserved a break from their not so easy life. I wish I was able to write everything that I see and feel here. God is on the move here in Haiti. He has some great things planned. Please be in prayer for His will to be done. Some ideas that He has placed on my heart I wonder how is that possible, then the spirit tells me all things are possible for him who believes.

The Baker

There are a lot of food items we miss from home. However there are things here we get to enjoy everyday that we wouldn’t even be able to get at home. The first item is the mango. There are mango trees all around the compound. This is a favorite of Zacc. Another one is the fig. It is like a banana but smaller, they are so sweet. This is Theresa’s favorite. And then you got everyone's favorite, FRESH BAKED BREAD! We needed bread the other day so Watson took me to the local bakery. Now I know you have a picture of this bakery in your mind, but you need to erase that picture. Now picture this; we get inside and look around the floor is dirt and the oven is an old stone oven, and the fuel is wood. We watched the baker as he rolled out the dough, he had an automatic roller (two men on either side cranking a handle) He then cut the dough and put them on metal sheets and covered them with plastic, to let them rise. He told us it would be three or four hours until the bread would be ready.
So three and half hours later we are in the truck headed back to get our fresh baked bread. As we walked into the mud and board bakery we were overwhelmed by the smell of baking bread. The baker greeted us and removed a piece of sheet metal coving the hole to the oven. We looked inside and could see one sheet of rolls baking. He told us that he put them in special for us, and that they would be done soon. I asked him how long he had been baking and he said a long time, he said he started around the age of ten. We waited for about 30 min and then the bread was ready. They were very hot so he fanned them cool and we laid them on a bag and took them home. It took all we had not to eat them on the way home. As soon as we got in the door the feeding frenzy began. I made a PB&J everyone else just grabbed the bread and ate it. The bread is so amazing! Since it is cooked using wood you can taste the flavor of the smoke. This is one thing that we are thankful to have here. The cost of 24 rolls is 100 gourds. (About $2.50) The amount of work that the Haitians do amazes me. The temperature in that building was hot 100+. But the baker does that everyday. Some people think that Haitians are lazy, I would have to disagree. There just aren’t a lot of work opportunities here. The Haitians that have jobs work very hard.

Haitians Helpin Haitians

On Tuesday our friend Josue called me and told me he was coming to Borel, and asked if I could help him put up a tent. I said sure, but told him he could stay in our house while he was here. He said that the tent was going to be for a family who lived in Borel. Josue had met them in Jan when he was staying here with us. I agreed and on Thursday we went to the families house. The house they were living in was made of strips of wood and held together by mud. One of their walls was just some blankets hanging up. We also took a box of food and Hygiene products. The tent sleeps eight it was huge. They were so grateful. I told Josue to make sure that the family knew he was the one responsible for the tent not me. Josue was the one who went to Port and got it. He was the one who has been praying for this family. Do you know what he told me? I'm no the one responsible for this, This is the work of JESUS CHRIST. He is responsible for this family getting this tent. We are just the workers. How true is that! We are all servants of Jesus, He is the one who makes all things possible. But he needs people like Josue and others who are willing to do his will.