Nov. 17 Update

We started the week preparing newsletters with the idea that Cory would try to go to Port-au-Prince on a shopping trip. 

But due to rainy weather and the talk of stormy political protests we decided mid-week that he should wait until next week. If you would like to be added to our mailing list let us know-most email copies have already been sent but the hard copy versions will now need to wait another week to be mailed to the USA.

House sits behind Cory up the hill a bit. 

Three guys worked on flattening the ground where the plant nursery with shade cloth will go. They moved a lot of rocks and dirt in a few days, days shortened by afternoon rains.

Fritzlin and I worked on school-even some extra, but don’t tell him that, in preparation for our busy week to come.

We also worked on the guest room, organization, and a few more jobs around the house to prepare for our guests. 

Wednesday night heavy rain filled the cistern and had us mopping up in several rooms as the strong wind blew water under the door, around windows, through the walls and tin roof. 

Monday, our friend and veterinarian Dr. Kelly plans to come up with her team. They plan to vaccinate pigs on their way up the mountain, overnight with us, and then hold a full clinic on Tuesday for Délice, section 5, where we live. 

Then we will have a couple of ‘normal’ days which will include celebrating Thanksgiving. On Friday, Lord willing, we will travel early down the mountain to shop in Port before attending a leadership meeting between Global Partner’s missionaries and the leaders of the Wesleyan Church of Haiti.

Fence UP !!

The most exciting thing that happened this week occurred sometime last night.

The guys worked 4 days this week getting the fence in place and yesterday chased out most of the livestock, all but one black cow.

She left through the last small gap last night so after today's work the land inside the fence should be free from cows, horses, pigs and mules.

The guys will continue to work on making sure the fence keeps out animals while putting rocks in hollows where pigs could possibly push under the fence.

Very exciting as Cory's been planting avocado pits and although livestock doesn't eat macadamia or other trees we already planted, they could still be trampled. A nice rain last night should encourage growth.

Cory ordered one more roll of fence, when this arrives the guys will move a far part of the fence to cover more of a hill top where there is good soil.


This morning, Cory and I spread out the shade cloth and picked a good place for a nursery / hoop shelter to be built. The guys will start to flatten out the ground next week.

We also looked at the garden area. Cory started some seeds this week and ordered some more.

In non-plant news:

Our friend did make it up the mountain to work on the dog but sadly too late to vaccinate or see any livestock. We're planning to host her and some staff overnight on the 19th so that a full veterinary clinic can be held on the 20th.

Cory finished putting up (probably temporary) tin walls in our shower and a curtain.

Fritz and I completed 6 days and started the 7th of schoolwork.

We connected with our college kids and encouraged them.

Wires-fence and electrical.

Main focus this week has been working on getting the fence up and electrical wiring in the house.

Cory's guys don't work for us on Mondays, so he worked on the house wiring. After the first day we had a light working between the living room and dinning/kitching area.

Tuesday the guys started to put up the seven rolls of fence. This is very important now that the corn harvest is in and all the livestock have been let loose to forage.

Guy's lunch area. 

I'm looking forward to having less animals around the house as well.

Fritzlin and I had a good week of school, now using a few more books that came up in the dump truck with the fencing.

Another day Cory worked again on the house electricity, we now have most of the outlets working as well as light in our bedrooms and one bathroom!

Thursday was a Haitian holiday so the guys did not work on the fence but they are working today.

Lots of challenging places with the rocks and steep terrain.

Next week we hope to host a friend for lunch, she's a wonderful missionary veterinarian who will come up to spay our dog, vaccinate and worm local livestock, and see the area.

The college students remain busy with classes, as we count down the days to their visit!

Cows checking out the new fence

Praises...

Running water!

Nice to wash dishes without using a cup to scoop water.

Have hot and cold water in the shower. Need a hose for the toilet.

Cory had to set up the water pump after draining enough water out of the cistern so he could have his head above water to set up the pump and PVC pipes.

It was cold enough he had to come out and warm up a few times between parts of the job.

Friday night we had a steady light rain that replenished about half of the water we drained out.


Celebrated Fritzlin's birthday with video chat with Eli and Anna; presents; pizza and oatmeal cake.

Cory went down the mountain on Friday morning. He returned in the afternoon ahead of the dump truck. 

So Cory's fence is up the mountain along with a big load of our household stuff.

Thankful to get everything up the mountain. The driver drove farther than he was told to and got stuck on the narrow driveway near the fort, almost sliding off and would have rolled down the steep hill into a pit.


 We are very thankful for our prayer team and that a work group was able to widen the road enough with a rock foundation for the truck to continue to a place it could turn around, unload, and get back to the road.


Cory will start working with a few guys next week to put up the 2,300 feet of fence. Most folks finished harvesting their corn last week so lots of roaming horses, cows, and pigs.

Once the fence is up, Cory can seriously start looking at places to plant trees.

The last time we moved was before we started using literacy based school curriculum. We now have K-12 school books plus 3 levels of advanced science, advanced math, and other classes.

Add medical books, plant books, leadership and ministry books and just for fun books and you have a lot of boxes of books!!  I think of it as helping get those college scholerships.

One book I was missing was Fritz's history. I thought it may have been in the 3rd grade books but we'd lent those out.
Cory got those books back in May but I couldn't find them in the house.

Today when a bag of books came in [their box got distroyed during the move] the book cover I could read through the bag was the one we needed!

Still with a few things to come up and some remain in the north..but mostly moved.

Eli and Anna's final's scheduals allow for some classes to take tests early....finishing on Friday rather than the following Tuesday. So we're excited to book tickets for them to come home for Christmas break!

Trip to town

Storage room floor

Our travels down the mountain for meetings with the national church did not end up as planned.

Friday morning we were on the road just after 6 a.m. 

We grabbed some pates for breakfast. Dough wrapped around a bit of cabbage and spicy chicken and deep fried. I only eat the outer edges due to the spice but Cory and Fritzlin enjoyed them all.

Local corn harvest

Then we slowly made our way through traffic to the bank. 

Fritz and I waited almost an hour in the Toyota, while Cory waited inside to transfer payroll for the Port Margot employees and to receive the cashier’s check we need to renew our Haitian residential visas.

Then another hour or so inching our way through traffic until it thinned. At MFI Cory picked up our vehicle insurance that a mission employee had dropped off for us as he couldn’t continue to wait to meet us. We also checked for our mail which had not yet made it to Haiti.

On to the hardware store for some shopping. This stop ended up being much longer than anticipated.

 First delay was due to the checker at the door catching that we had been overcharged for an item. So Fritzlin and I walked with staff with our other items while Cory returned to get the money back. 

After a very hot wait, Cory came and told us that due to protests blocking Route National One from the north at Limbe, (near Port Margot) the meetings with the national church leaders had been canceled. 

Missionary kid fun

Then we attempted to load a large 250 gallon plastic water tank in the back…only to discover it was just an inch or so too big. So more waiting while Cory got that money back.

On to the grocery store, filled our new propane tank, and then we headed to a teammate’s house for an AMP meeting.

We decided to stay the night at the Ortlip guest house as we’d originally planned. This provided time to meet again about AMP, Cory to return to Port-au-Prince on Saturday for a water tank, turn in the visa paperwork, get a belt and wheel balance for the truck, and more supplies. 

Heading back up the mountain.

Fritzlin and I stayed at Ortlip. Fritz enjoyed swimming and playing with the other missionary kids while I had meetings and fellowshipped with different teammates. When Cory returned we loaded what we could of household items from storage and headed back up the mountain. 

This week’s projects include: installing some pipe, water pump, and tank for running water; sealing the house to improve dryness, electrical wiring, school, and hopefully getting the dump truck up with the fence and more household items.

Anna and Eli have academic advising this week so that they can sign up for their January term and spring classes.