Everyday life..

Things are going well here in Haiti. We are getting a lot of things done on the campus preparing for the arrival of team. Today I had a guy come and trim off the dead palm branches off the trees above some of the houses. He came with two ropes and a machete. As was amazed when I saw how he was going to climb the trees. He had full trust in his ropes. It took him about 30 minutes per tree, I don’t know how his legs and feet still had circulation. I’m always impressed with the way Haitians work. There is never a job that one of them can’t do. And they are some of the hardest working people I’ve ever been around. (not all of them of course)
Everyone in the family is doing well. Zacc has a couple of Haitian boys that he plays with everyday. Kishmee and Daniel, I can hear him speaking Creole words to them. It excites me that he is learning Creole. Ariel started an English class. She has four students. I see her writing on the chalkboard and having the kids remember poems. I’m not sure if she realizes but I think it is helping her learn Creole too. Miranda has been playing soccer and riding her bike a lot. She has really been helping us around the house. Theresa is busy home schooling and getting things unpacked. We do have a new member of the family it is a puppy named Zeus. Duckenson brought it for the kids. At first I wasn’t happy but he has really grown on us. I will post pictures later. Well that is all that is going on in our world right now. Nothing amazing just everyday life. We hope everyone is well and giving their best to God.

settling In

We made it to Haiti without any major problems. We traveled with 12 checked bags and 10 carry ons. We had a good person check us in curbside at Regan International. He told me some of my bags were heavy, which I knew. He said he would check us in too so we didn't have to pay extra. That saved us a lot of money, $100 per bag. The Port Au Prince airport was a little harder to get though. As I was getting our bags I had Ariel get in line for a cart. After I got all of our bags I looked and Ariel was next in line. I went over to her and she told me people kept cutting in front of her. In Haiti that happens a lot.
The next day was busy, Theresa home schooled the kids and unpacked our bags. I hooked up a well pump so we would have water from our new well. I have been also working to upgrade the power lines on the campus. We have a lot to do to get ready for the teams that start coming December 28. We are almost booked full until the end of March. We do have a week in January if anyone is interested. We had a team cancel.
The kids are adjusting great. Ariel and Zacc have been playing with the cooks kids. Miranda has been playing soccer and her DS game. We praise God for everything good. It is hard to believe we are here. It has been two years since we first started talking about it. God is good.

God at work

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging, but I promise I will try to keep everyone updated. This weekend we went to speak at a church in Manassas, Va. We spend Saturday with our friends Ryan and Karla touring the Smithsonian. Then this morning we spoke at their church.
As some of you know I wanted to put a solar pump on the well in Borel that supplies water to the town. I have been researching the cost and how they work. I'm currently waiting on a bid from a company so I know the end cost. I figured it will be around $3600. I wanted to order everything we needed this week so I was going to use our money with hopes of getting paid back later.
I have been praying that God would send the people to Manassas to help us pay for the solar pump. We got to church this morning ready to speak and Theresa said to me, I don't think we should show pictures today let's just speak. I gave her the deer in the headlights look because we are going to speak in 15 minutes and I'm prepared to show pictures not just speak. I knew she was right so we changed our presentation. We let God lead this morning and talked about what He wanted everyone to hear. I told the church about the solar pump and the cost. The church allowed us to put a basket out for donations. After the service I was counting the money hoping to have a couple hundred dollars, but thankful for any amount. Then I came to a check for $3600. I was shocked. I showed Ryan and he looked at the name on the check. He told me that today was the first time this individual had come to this church and the person asked the pastor how long we would be there because he wanted to run home and get his check book. Just think about that for a minute. I always say God can't surprise me any more. Then He does. God is always working in our lives. Are we willing to put faith and trust in Him? Our God has unlimited resources. God answered the prayer of a guy who wanted to put a solar pump to provide water to a town. I also think He answered a prayer of an individual who asked God where do you want me to give your money. Thank you God for all of your hard work!!!

Love

We have only been in Haiti for two days, but it feels like we never left. Everyone is having a great time. We brought Zacc’s bike so he has been riding all over the compound, Ariel has been playing domino’s and cards every night since we got here, and Miranda has been helping work in our house getting it ready to paint. We will be really glad to get into our house so we can unpack all of our things. We are staying in the guest house with the current team. They are a great group of people!
The team has the task of putting a roof on Watson’s house. On Monday we went to St. Marc to buy all of the supplies, that meant I would be driving the big truck. I really didn’t want to drive a stick through the busy streets of St. Marc, but it went well. It took most of the day to get the supplies needed. We had a truck full of lumber and sheet metal. I pulled the truck off the road by the path that leads to Watson’s house and we started to unload. As we carried the items back to his house more and more people started helping to carry the supplies. It was amazing to see how everyone just started helping. I watched a lady come up to the truck and grab a 16 foot 2x4 and carry it to the house. It made me think about the US, how often do we take the time to help out our neighbors? Are we willing to go and help without being asked? The more time I spend in Haiti the more I love the people. The Haitian people don’t have much, but they are HAPPY, They have a love for one another that is awesome and many have a greater love for Christ. Maybe Haitians focus so much on God and each other because they don’t have all the distractions that we have in our lives. We as Americans tend to focus our LOVE on things and not people or GOD. We are always thinking how things will make us happy, but the TRUTH is only GOD’S LOVE will make our hearts content.
I will try to post every other night. The internet has been slow so I will post pictures and video when I can. I have been uploading a video on youtube for the past hour and I still got 15 minutes to go. The video is of the worship service Watson had for the local children. I started it in the summer and told Watson he need to continue to teach the children about Jesus. It started that first Sunday with a hand full of children and on Sunday there was about 80 to 90 children. The video is at the beginning of the service, kids just kept coming. I ask that you keep this ministry in your prayers, these children are the future of the Church and of Haiti. It only takes a little spark to start a fire!