DAY 6 PM: The L-Squad

Just getting ready to crash for another night here, thankful as ever for God’s gift of AC units.  One more great day.  Tomorrow, long pants for the whole day… so that should be fun!  And we’re responsible for making our own supper, so I’m kinda wishing I had sent the group with money to the market this morning to buy the cow head.  It would have made a nice soup…

LUKAS

I got to spend my day today working on the cement pour. This means I got to lift five gallon pails of cement and load them on to the bobcat over and over again. Despite all the hard work I did actually like doing it because I got to spend my day with some great people (editors note: this is a reference to Stephen, naturally) and having a good time doing it too.  All this work was worth it because we got to go to the beach as a reward.  It was a pretty good reward too, because in Saskatchewan we don’t get to may opportunities to go to a beach with ocean so it was just a good time to relax and have a good time with our group.

LORETTA

Today was another full day of work and pleasure. The pleasure came when we got to go to the market.    Shopping at Christmas time has nothing on this market as far as numbers go. It is so crowded, so many sounds, so many sights, so many smells, some good, some not so good! We had a rummage sale for the church people at the compound, much of the stuff that we brought along was in the sale, which went from 10 am to 12 noon, many people came through the doors. I also have had the pleasure of meeting friends made here in the past visits. It some far this has been an amazing experience. Thank you God for the experience!

DAY 6 AM: Wait… Is that right? It is Saturday, right??

“Zombies” would be the best way to describe the atmosphere in the guys room this morning.  Taking a little longer each morning to get cranked up, but the breakfast bell does wonders to wake people up!

Half the group (Loretta, Lisa, Jon, James, Tyson, Michelle, Alyssa, and Laura) went to the market this morning, while Hannah, Cheryl, Beth, and Shaquille helped set up for the rummage sale happening on the compound at 10AM.  We had the dining room FULL of clothes, shoes, toys, and misc. items that we had brought from home, and the line started early to get in to that!  Brad went back to his welding (he’s been trying to get the forms finished for the pillars for the fence so that they can make as many as they can put in the ground each day), while the rest of us–Mark, Mitchell, Lukas, and Stephen–headed over to the medical clinic to help with the concrete pour for the roof.

And it was a big pour.

We had 20 Haitians, the four of us, and four other Canadians who have been working here for awhile now.  Four Haitians filling the concrete bins, two mixing, and then the three of us (Mitchell was on the roof finishing) shoveling concrete into buckets, moving the buckets onto the bobcat, collecting buckets at the bottom of the building, repeat.  Repeat. Repeat. … Repeat.  It was a fairly large pour, a hot day.  At about 10, Lukas and I took  a quick break to see who could wring out more sweat from their shirt (I won).  The guys came back from market around 10:30, so it was nice to get some reinforcements, but we poured solid right through till 12, then a few of us stuck around to clean out buckets.  I’ve definitely worked that hard, but I don’t know that I’ve ever sweat that much in my life…  The bobcat had a spaz attack near the end so we ended hand-bombing the last few containers up the ladder.  After a looooong shower to try and get the concrete-mixed-with-sunscreen-that-had-turned-to-paste off (my leg hair is now in nice tiny little dreads), we had a quick bite to eat before taking off to the beach for the afternoon…

… where I fell asleep.  Apparently though, the water was nice!  Tyson, Shaquille, Laura, Loretta, and Lisa all bought fresh lobster that they BBQ’d right on the beach for them, and had a nice break for the afternoon.  Tonight we lay low, before gearing up for a day of sweaty church tomorrow–Long pants and dress shirts for everyone!

My clothes from today, however, are in the garbage.

DAY 5 PM: You Know When You Reach The Overtired Point Where Everything Is Funny? That Was Two Days Ago. Now It’s HILARIOUS!

We probably would looks like absolutely boneheads to any sane person, but for us, we’re having a blast!  Here’s tonight’s update:

ALYSSA:

Today, February 25, 2011, we started the day off packing rice. The bags were 55lbs each and we made about 5 bags that fit into those 55lb bags. That took us quite a while, but we had two groups that were helping so it didn’t take as long as it would have if there was only one group working on the rice. After the sorting of the rice, the ladies mostly had a labor-free morning. Some of us did a little bit of painting but that was pretty much it. No more of those concrete slabs!!!! Some of the guys went back to the wall to work. Then, lunch.

MICHELLE:

We finished our kids program today.  We had over 200 kids.  It was awesome.  It was so good to see them have a good time singing and doing crafts and games.  We learned a couple of songs from them and they learned some of ours.  We prayed a blessing on each child before they left today and gave them a sun visor as they left the property.  We set up for the rummage sale we are having tomorrow.  The last one was apparently a great success.  The people were really excited when Pastor Marc announced it in church on Tuesday.  Should be fun.  Tomorrow is beach/market day.  Pretty excited for that.  Its been a great week so far.

Michelle

DAY 4 PM Retrospective: Mark Dick doesn’t use the internet. The internet asks Him for permission to turn on.

Annnd we’re back!  Mark worked his magic, so it never had to come to Mitchell, which is probably best for all involved.  Here’s the blogs from last night… it’ll be a busy day around here (if we can stay connected!) as we’ll have another update late tonight after our debrief.

TYSON

This was probably the best day of the trip.  We got a lot of sections done on the wall and nobody fell off the scaffolding.  We had also had a lot more kids at VBS today.  It was kinda crazy but it all worked out.  The best part by far was the church service.  For about two hours we prayed and sang, except when they sing they sing with their entire body.  Everyone was dancing everywhere; in the aisles, in the pews, and they cover a lot of ground when they dance.  So that was our day.

HANNAH

What a day.  I had a great day working with all the girls testing the limits of my strength by carrying the concrete slabs and by shoveling so much dirt that my arms just about fell off.  But, after all that fun came VBS, which was a great part of my day.  When we sang songs with the kids they just gave it their all and were singing as loud as they could while doing actions.  And just when I thought that those kids went crazy during singing, I saw the adults sing during church.  I am not even quite sure how to explain that experience.  All I can say is don’t be surprised if a group of 18 or so people get up and dance and sing in the aisles during the next church service.  But, it was a pretty amazing experience, and I am very happy to be able to say that I experienced it.

Sometimes, The Internet Thiefs Win

Heyo!  Just wanted to let you all know where doing great.  For some reason, the office computer is the only one that will connect to the internet right now, so until I can get my tech guy (Mark) to take a look at my computer before I send it to my demolition guy (Mitchell), I begged my way into the office.  Partly selfishly, because I wanted to check and see how Melissa’s doctor appointment went yesterday, but also to let you guys know we are still blogging in Word Document form, and will post them all whenever (or if ever) we are able to get back online. 

If not, here’s the quick rundown:

- Finished kids camp today.  Super cool to pray a blessing for each of them, and send them off with a visor.  Also fun to see kids come in throughout the week with new Dawgs on that we had given them earlier in the week.

- Tomorrow morning half of us go to the market and the other half stay here to help with the concrete roof pour on the medical building (and yes Russ, I will be working on the pour). We will then have a “rummage sale” with the clothing and stuff we brought down for the community.  5 Gouds (20 cents US) per item.  The ladies went nuts at church on Tuesday when they found out. (Figures.)  Then the beach in the afternoon.

- Sunday is church, then off to Tapion for the church of Children, then rice distribution.

- Monday is back to the work projects and a community walk to pray for people and hand out food and hygiene/baby packs.

- Tuesday works projects again, then one last trip to the beach.

- Wednesday we are up at 4:30AM in order to get to the airport on time (which we WILL be on time for), then the long journey home, arriving back in Saskatoon 1AM Thursday morning (with plenty of time for kids to get some rest before school).

Hopefully we get the internet sorted out, but if not, that’s the snapshot.  Thanks for praying–If we don’t chat again, we will update the whole thing when we make it back to Ft. Lauderdale.

ST

DAY 4 AM: It’s Not REALLY Work Until Someone Draws Blood…

Annnnd that would be me.  Anyone who picked me in the office pool, you may cash in for your winnings now.  I backed into some rebar and managed a nice little scrape.  I’m gonna leave the blood though, cause I look waaay tougher than if I were to wash it off, and its just a tiny scratch.  It’s always important to look good while shoveling drenched in sweat.

This morning we’re back on the job sites–Mitchell is beloved by all down here, and he’s swallowed up pretty quick in the mornings to go run the medical center project.  Brad is currently teaching Shaquille how to weld, Lukas in on a roof somewhere, Tyson and the Sons of Thunder are back out at the wall, and I’m diggings footings for the technical school with the girls.  Twice.   In order to save an admittedly gorgeous mango tree, they’ve decided to move the building over a foot the other direction which would be totally fine … if we didn’t have the forms and holes already dug.  SO, we are making some adjustments and moving piles of dirt we had already moved.  I’m not sure my fingers will uncurl by the end of the day.  It’ll be like King David’s mighty men, and the hand freezing to the sword, except not nearly as cool.

Then, this afternoon, we’re back to the Kids Camp, then off to church at 5 before supper.

If you’re thinking about us, continue to pray for Marc and Lisa.  As I mentioned, they’ve had a rough and sometimes discouraging go for the last little bit.  Just talking with Lisa this morning, I discovered that the children’s village property was originally supposed to be 12 acres, which was then cut to 7 when the seller decided to give some to people who had been living on it for a long time.  And even still, as I mentioned yesterday, they are wrestling to get people to adjust.  It’s interesting to me–the people all know what the property is going to be, and yet they can’t see the big picture to see the long-term benefit to them and the community of what will happen there.  At this point, it just disrupts their current stage of life, and they don’t like it.  Not much different than us, really.

Cool thing from yesterday:  For the community visits I packed a bunch of bags of Dawgs shoes for people to take with them.  I just spent some time praying as I was packing, that they would be the right sizes and fit everybody and the groups came back empty.  They’d been perfect fits across the board, so that was fun to watch God work that way.

Continue to pray for energy–the sun is warm, and kids (and adults) get pretty worn out by the end of the day, especially through the middle of the week here when we have work projects everyday.  Half are getting over a cold, or are joining me in the acquiring of a cold, so an energy boost would be quite welcome.

Thanks for praying… time to play in the clay some more!

DAY 3 PM: Guest Blogger-Pa-Looza

SHAQUILLE:

Today was beautiful and hectic. A few of us started the day off by going to market, which was an experience I’ve never been blessed with before. It was amazing to be a part of the community in an activity they do on a daily basis. The crowd was a bit crazy and I am incredibly thankful for our guide and translator, because otherwise I’d have never even found the market in the first place! Today was also the first day of VBS for the kids, which was definitely a learning experience. The kids here are different than the kids I am used to on the playgrounds in Canada. Organized games are difficult because of the language barrier, however the majority are extremely content with being chased around a field. They’re incredibly affectionate. They want to be held constantly and if you don’t pick them up they will be hugging, clinging, climbing, or touching you. After the kids had all trickled out of the compound and were on their way home we had an opportunity to go on a community walk. We split into two groups, took backpacks full of shoes and hygiene packages, and walked into the community with our translator. We just walked up to families outside their homes and asked them if they knew Jesus, if they were Christian, if they wanted to know more about  Jesus, and they were so incredibly receptive which I found amazing. We were blessed with the opportunity to pray with them and let them know about Jesus’ love for them and the call to love others as we love ourselves in His name.

JON:

A highlight for me today was during a walk through the community. We had brought hygiene and baby packs to bless the people we came across. We prayed as a group for guidance and then came across a house and felt as if this is where we were to go. There was about 6 or 7 people there and I asked if I could talk to them about Jesus. I talked about how Jesus is the Life (John 14:6) and how when we believe on Him His life becomes our life (2 Cor 4:10-11). We talked about how there are different things in the world, things that bring life and things that lead to death. Jesus is Life. If they choose Jesus they choose Life. Any other choice is a choice that leads to death.

After this talk we asked if any of them needed prayer for healing. We prayed for each person. I prayed for a woman struggling with severe back pain and headaches. Lisa prayed for a little baby who needed healing in his stomach. Laura led a young man to the Lord, and the Heavens rejoiced. Then, Tyson led another young man to the Lord, and the Heavens rejoiced. Then Alyssa led another young man to the Lord, and the Heavens rejoiced. We gave the family hygiene and baby packs and then connected them with the local church here at Haiti Arise encouraging them to be there on Sunday.

We then left that family and a mother shouted at us to come and see her. She was holding a baby, 7 months old, who had fallen in November and now had a hole in his skull amongst other problems. Michelle prayed for this young child and we are believing for a miracle. Finally, a little girl desired prayer for her schooling. She wanted to get very good grades. She was in about Grade 2-3. Lindsay stepped in and prayed for her. This ministry walk was great on several fronts. For one, God will do a great work of healing in each person we prayed for (James 5:15, Matthew 14:14) and two, each person in our group stepped up and prayed for someone in Jesus’ name. It was a great time of growing up in faith and a great blessing to the people we came in contact with. A glorious day. Three new believers! And the Heavens rejoiced.

JAMES:

Prayer is powerful.  Sometimes I forget about how necessary it needs to be in a Christian’s life.  Right after we finished breakfast, Tyson and I set out to our work project, which is to build the wall for the Children’s village, and one of the missionaries, Chris, came with us.  My mind was just focused on going out and building this wall, but Chris stopped us and said we should pray about this project before we go out and work.  Prayer is often something that gets skipped when we get busy or are going out to work. I think about what the bible says in 1^st Thessalonians to “Pray continually” and how sometimes I save up my prayers for later in the day when I have time.  When I do it that way I am not doing it the way God’s will is for me, which is to pray continually.  I am challenging myself from now on to have constant communication with God and to make prayer a priority, because prayer is powerful.  While we were out at the work site, it was just me, Tyson, 4 or 5 Haitians, and a huge communication barrier because we can’t speak their language and they can hardly speak ours.  That being said, the communication barrier makes the work a lot slower, and Tyson and I find ourselves unsure what to do much of the time.  If we could communicate the work would go faster.  Applying this to my prayer life, if I don’t communicate with God it will be harder to know what work He wants me to do, and to even know what His will is for me.  Constant communication with God will increase the effectiveness of the work I do for God.  I would also like to challenge those who read this to increase prayer in your life too.

-James

DAY 3 AM: Saskatoon Farmer’s Market, Eat Your Heart Out…

I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t be called a “cold” if you can get it in plus 30 degree weather.  Argh.

Aside from the odd ache and pain, everyone is doing well!  The girls–Shaquille, Beth, Lindsay, Hannah, Laura, and Alyssa–have been leading the recess with the elementary school kids, and today they decided to pick up fewer kids.   Once you give one an “uppie”, you’ll be busy for the next 15 minutes.

It was fun to watch things progress yesterday.  Tyson, James, and John spent the whole day working on the wall at the children’s home (and are back there this morning).  They got 7 posts put in to place, and today and starting to insert the concrete slabs that fit in the grooves to make the “fence boards”.  It’s a good 10-15ft wall, so they’re using scaffolding to get the 70lb slabs high enough to slide down the grooves.  Good times!

Meanwhile, Loretta and Lisa have served notice that they know how to use a spade–they’ve been making short work of the digging for the technical school footings. It’s a sobering process digging for that, as you are slowed up considerably as you dig up rubble and broken concrete from the old building destroyed in the earthquake.

Half of us took off to market this morning, which was a unique experience to say the least! The other half will go Saturday morning, except for Mitchell.  He made an impassioned plea to be excused from “shopping”, so we let him stay and work!

The market is chaotic, to say the least.  People and huts everywhere, with barely discernible pathways, and everything you could imagine.  It’s different from your typical Tijuana, MX market, where it’s a bunch of trinkets and souvenirs.  This was survival.  Food, medication, fruits, charcoal (by the bagful), meat (I think–there was a table with legs and hooves and cuts of something on it!).  I think I even saw farmer sausage, which made me incredibly proud.  We stopped at a bakery to pick up some bread too, which was fantastic.  The best of that was when half the loaves fell off the tray when coming out of the oven and we discovered that Haiti also lives by the “5-second rule”. (A little dust never hurt anyone, right?)

The highlight of the market trip for me was once all the kids were back safe in the van (phew!) and I had to go buy snack for our Kids Camp starting today.  After crossing the street (easier said than done. You have NO rights as a pedestrian.  None. Zero.), I had to figure out, with the help of my “translator” (HA!), how much they needed, then figure out the conversation rate.  ME! With my horrible math skills!  If there was ever a reason to have my phone with me on the trip it would have been right then–a calculator would have been handy.  See if you can track with me:

1US Dollar is equivalent to 8 Haitian Dollars.  Easy enough, right?  Except that they don’t have Haitian Dollars.  They just talk in that way.  They have “Gouds”.  And 5 Gouds make a Haitian Dollar.  So the locals tell you how many Haitian dollars they want, which you then have to figure out in Gouds, and then re-figure out in your head what you just were asked to pay in US Dollars so you can make sure you’re not getting taken to the cleaners (cause we kinda, you know, stick out.  Easy marks, really!).  We figured it out, though, and I walked out with 400 packages of cookies for kids for the next few days.

There was no receipt either, so that’s gonna make for a fun requisition when I get back.

We also got to go check out the river bed, which, right now, is currently just a light trickle. Our translator explained that in the rainy season (read: Hurricane season) the river fills to the brim, and that back in 2004 it actually took out the bridge that spans it … which explains why we drove through the riverbed and river on the way to compound rather than taking the bridge that is still not fully repaired. (I couldn’t get a clear answer on how they cross in the rainy season.  That seems like it would be fun.)

This afternoon our kids program starts, so I need to take off to go prep some stuff for that and wake up the few people that are taking a nap before lunch.  Moms and Dads, you’d be terribly proud of your kids. They’ve been fantastic. They were great through the airports, worked hard without complaint, and are putting in effort like crazy!

If you’re praying, pray for Marc and Lisa.  There have been a lot of little disputes and frustrations with the wall for the children’s village that have all come to a head this week.  It is their property, but there are still some squatters living in FEMA tents that don’t want to move their tents because they think someone will still build them a house (even though they already have one elsewhere). They are making it difficult to finish the wall.  In addition to all of that, somebody pulled up outside their house last night with a mic and speaker and “preached” against Haiti Arise and them personally (although not by “name”) from 3 till 6 in the morning.  Good times.

Otherwise, back to work!

DAY 2 PM: I Don’t Know What They We’re Singing, But It Was Louder Than Us…

Hey all who are following this, this is Cheryl blogging for the night.  Well, our day was great, as Stephen already commented on.  When 4:00pm rolled around (our time to quit for the day) you didn’t have to ask me twice, I pretty much ran to the shower.  That cold water takes a little getting used to, but it felt really good after a day in the hot sun!  Church was at 5:00pm and it is always a treat to worship in Haiti.  Hannah and Laura had children fall asleep on them, which will usually happen here.  Supper was later tonight because of church, but again, the food has been awesome.  We ate around 7:00pm, and as I type this, Lukas, Tyson, and James are on dish duty and I know that I feel really great about that!  My son is doing the dishes and I didn’t have to tell him and I didn’t have to help.  Life is definitely good, I love Haiti, and I am looking forward to tomorrow. Have a good night all!

DAY 2 AM: Blisters Are A Good Sign…

Mom and dad, your child was asleep by 8.30PM last night.  I checked.  Crazy, I know!

We spent some time on the roof last night doing a debrief, and talking about the difference between Lukewarm People, and those who are in love with Jesus.  Came from Francis Chan’s book, “Crazy Love”, which is well worth the read…  if you’re prepared to be pushed and challenged.

This morning, we were up at 7AM for breakfast (eggs and homemade english muffins), then off to work!  There are a bunch of ongoing projects that we are jumping into right now:

- The technical school, in the process of being rebuilt, and expanded. Were digging out for footings and foundation.  The girls did great on the spades.  It’s slow going, as we’re having to pick it all first to break it up, and hand bombing rocks and chunks of cement buried from the earthquake.

- We’ve also got people building the wall at the Children’s Village property, digging holes for 200lb poles (which are heavy when moving by hand!).  More spade and picking, with a bit of crowbar thrown in for fun.

- Brad is building some more forms so they can speed up production on the wall inserts and poles.  Mark is chanelling his inner farmboy and driving the bobcat around, while Mitch is off fixing and tinkering with the saws.

- Kevin and Linda, Tyson bought his Machete today   He wanted to use it clear brush at the village, but it’s safely in his suitcase, not to be seen again until we unload in Saskatoon!

- Sun is hot, but not unbearable… until you start working.  Then it gets a little warm.  I’ve discovered that I have possibly the most impressive deodorant in the world–my tshirt is soaked, except for little rings around my armpits.  Still not sure if that’s super healthy…  My non-sweating leg however, is stil non-sweating.

We’re back to the job sites this afternoon, then a church service tonight before debrief and bed.  All of the rooms now have air conditioners for night (sorry, Russ) so we actually woke up COLD in the middle of the night.  This is good, as we’ll be needing good sleep as we go.

It’s been fun to watch people try and cross the communication barrier.  Laura is doing fantastic, with her french immersion, I’m getting by (high school was a looong time ago), and the rest of us smile and nod.

The girls will be doing recess with the elementary school kids all week, so they are pretty excited about that, and Kids Camp starts tomorrow.

Time to head back out to work, and work on my wrist to elbow tan line. It’s gonna be a beaut by the time we get home!

« Previous Page — Next Page »