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.

The Rat Round-Up

Today I'm going to talk about an animal that everyone I know hates!!! It is the rat. As many people know there hasn't been a full time missionary at the Borel compound for a couple of years. So there hasn't been anyone here to keep up with that furry four legged creature that we all hate. That is now my job. There isn't any rats in the house we are staying in because Steve has it completely rat proof. There is one house on the compound that the rat's chewed a couple of holes in the wood near the roof, so they could get into the ceiling. So last week we put poison in the ceiling and other places in the house that I knew the rats would be. So far we have found five big rats dead.
This morning Ben was looking in a toat in our shop when he came running out and said Andy there is a big rat in the shop come see. Ben is afraid of all little creatures. Even cute little frogs. So I go into the shop with him and he said it was in the toat. I grabbed a machete and a hammer and was ready for battle. Ben looked at me like I was crazy so I thought about it and decided to put the lid on it and take it outside, because we had a better chance of killing it in a wide open space. So picture this. There is about five Haitians armed with numerous items, A hammer, a couple of machetes, and two shovels. Also myself and another guy had our boots ready.
We lift off the lid and here comes the rat. Everyone is chasing it and swinging their weapon. The rat made it about one min. before someone made a fatal blow. We then went to the toat and dumped it out, there was three little one in there too. We killed them also. I hate to sound so violent, but the only good rat is a dead one in my book!
Now don't let this change your mind about visiting us. I'm in the process of building bait stations around the compound, but away from the house's. They will be locked so the children can't get into them but the rats can. This will eventually kill all the rats on the compound. I promise if you come and see a rat in your living quarters, your next weeks visit will be on the house.

Football (Soccer to Americians)

Soccer is the sport of choice in Haiti. As some of you know the world cup is going on right now. Most Haitians are Cheering for Brazil. Everywhere you go you see Brazil shirts. Ben and Watson (work for project help) came to me the other day and asked if they could hook a TV up so people could come and watch the games. I thought that would be a way to reach out to the community, so I yes. There must have been two hundred people all huddled around the TV’s. They ended up hooking up two TV’s because so many people came. We as Americans take so much for granite. Since being in Haiti I relies all the little things that I took for granite. One thing that I miss the most is being able to get into my car and run up to the store to get something, be it anything. Here we have to drive 45 min into St Marc to get most of our supplies. The grocery store consists of two food isles. It is a little bigger that a convince store. We can get something’s at market but that isn’t easy for me to do. I have to send a Haitian to get it for us because we will pay a lot more because we are white. I like to see what I am buying.
The family is doing okay. The kids are doing well. Today was Theresa's bad day. People just kept showing up outside our door. They just hang out and watch us through our screened in porch. That porch is the same place we eat. When we eat that is the hardest time for us. We always hear "mwen Grangou" I'm hungry, that is so hard for us knowing that a lot of them don't have money for food. Theresa didn't even want to walk outside, she said she would use the back door to hang her laundry outside. I told everyone before we came that the third week was going to be the hardest for all of us. It is a combination of the Heat, lack of good sleep, and being overwhelmed by the Haitians. Tomorrow will be a better day for her. We will continue to listen to God and pray that his WILL will be done. Thanks for all the prayers.

Good Day's and Bad Day's

Yesterday we went to the beach at St Marc. It was quite a drive, we had to climb up over this hill side. It was like I was going four-wheeling. We drove for about 5 miles and came out at a hotel. It was in the process of being built. The crazy thing was they were open, we paid $15 Haitian which is about $2 US and then walked down to the beach. We had a great time. The kids really enjoyed themselves, they needed to get off the compound for a little while. After we left we were driving through St Marc we noticed a truck that had goats riding on top of a bunch of bags of charcoal. It is funny to see how they transport animals. Yesterday was a good day.
Today was a hard day for me. Zacc woke us up at 6 am he said he wanting to eat breakfast. We staled him for a while, but ended up getting up around 6:30. We decided not to go to church today, because it is hard for the kids to sit through the service when they can't understand anything thing that is going on, so we had church at home. Theresa did a great job giving the message.
Satan was really tempting me today, he was telling me that we couldn't do this. He was telling me how nice the AC felt at home, and how easy it would be for me to say "I Quit!" I knew there would be days like this, but today was the first. Our friend Josue has been staying with us for a couple days, and I felt like I should talk with him about how I was feeling. We sat and talk for a long time. He encouraged me so much. I know God has him in our lives for a reason. He is such a faithful servant of God. After talking with him I felt so much better. I know God wants us here! Satan is hard at work here in Haiti. We definitly need your prayers. Thank you so much!