Haiti 2013: Friday, July 12

Mike

Well, today was “beach” day. I have to admit I’m still struggling with spending a day of our trip at the beach. I could see if we were here for a month or more it would be kind of nice to have a down day prior to departure or maybe at the halfway point but after a week…?

It was definitely nice and I was able to score some nice black coral for the one (on Earth) I love the most. It was definitely a nice day of relaxation after a hard week of work and a glimpse into the beautiful country that is Haiti. Transformation can happen. If we continue to work hard and focus our efforts on helping our Haitian brothers and sisters rebuild their country, broaden and strengthen their infrastructure and help them become self-sufficient through education and opportunity, God will make a way for these people who are His precious children.

Yesterday provided an incredible opportunity to “village-walk” and many of us went to Cabaret. We split up into two teams of six people with a translator, a student intern, and four mission team members. We were able to sit down and speak with four different families/people; it was difficult at first but we worked hard at building relationships as well as sharing the Gospel. The most impressive was speaking with a young, pregnant woman (9 months) and she told us about how her father – a pastor – had died and her mother had taken over leadership in his church. Also, her husband was a teacher. When we asked what we could pray for her about, she asked that we pray her family could find a new home in a safer neighborhood. One of our team members – Debbie – prayed that her heart would perhaps not be for moving but using her faith and the faith of her family to witness to the people in her community. Salt and light…

Paul

Like Mike, I enjoyed having a beach day, but would have preferred to have another work day and then just a half day at the beach tomorrow before our flight.

I was a different group from Mike during our village-walk in Cabaret. We ended up spending our afternoon with a family of Haitian believers and helped them hand wash their laundry. We weren’t the fastest at it, but I am hoping that we were more of a help than a hindrance to Julie and her family. While working on our second load of laundry, Deborah, Ashley, Micah, and I sang a few hymns around the washing bowl with Julie (“How Great Thou Art”, “It Is Well”, “Amazing Grace”, etc). We thought Julie didn’t like our singing because she moved away after the first few songs into the shade, but before we closed our visit with prayer, she asked us to a sing a few more. Singing praises to God with the other ministry partners and the Haitian family was an experience that I won’t soon forget.

Jonathan

It was a very productive day. After a nice breakfast of pineapple, sweet biscuits, and cereal it was time to head down to motor depot. The four-wheeler we had worked on Thursday was not idling exactly right, but was doing better and the boss took it away. The Polaris Ranger that we rebuilt the starter on had a few more issues to be taken care of. Some of the wiring was burned up and the ignition switch needed to be rebuilt which is a first for me. In the states we would just go to the parts house and buy a switch. Such is wrenching in Haiti. After the wiring was fixed it was time to attempt to fire it up. After cleaning the spark plug, once again no new plug was to be had, it purred like a kitten.  After a lunch of chicken salad and a beef stew with potatoes, carrots, and dumplings it was time to go back to the garage. Upon arrival there was a lawn mower that needed repair. The customer was a Haitian man that had been deported from the U.S. after getting in trouble with law enforcement. He was an army veteran that served in Grenada. After working on a forklift and a motorcycle I got to work with a great guy from Canada on a bus. It’s a pleasant night here I hope its blessed night wherever you may be.