Update on Team and Thede's Weekend.

Team leaves and I skip blogging for two days-I know you'd think I needed a vacation or something.

Saturday we rose at 4 a.m. to prepare breakfast for the team before their 5 a.m. departure.

 Because we have a visitor coming on Wed. to stay in the Dearest House for two weeks I did grab the sheets from there and started the first load of laundry between the good byes / team leaving and going back to bed.

They loaded into two pick-up trucks and were off. No delays or road protests on the way to the airport.

Team made it back safe to their homes yesterday.

We enjoyed their visit!

I hung the first load of wash before sunrise and filled the drying rack with clean dishes.

Eli and Anna impressed me by working a while organizing the House of Hope and cleaned the Dearest House.

We completed 3 loads of wash.


I did work on paring down my in-box and worked on a few E-mails.

And cleaned a bit of my house but I've been fighting a head cold which periodically throughout the night forces me to wake up and mouth breath so it was easy to convince myself to take it easy.

I worked on some blog posts in the afternoon while Anna and I watched movies.

Saturday night during a rain storm that dumped 3.5 inches of rain on us and caused heavy flooding in Cap Haitian we heard a large crash.

No wind at the time so it surprised us to see in the morning that our grapefruit tree fell over having cracked off at the base.

Rotten roots Cory reports.

The positive side of loosing the tree? Cory will have a spot to plant something else.

Church crowd nearly filled all the pews and the singing filled the air with wonderful enthusiasm.

For any team members who thought that last week's couple hours made the seat hard-this week's service lasted over 2.5 and then members shared communion after that.

A nice Sunday with time to rest and reflect.

Today will try to get back into the swing of school [I've had papers to grade since before the team came.] The grapefruit tree will be cut up. Office work and projects will be worked on.

KCC's Team Last Haiti Day

We finished with a bang!! But let me back up and start at the beginning of the day.

Other than a long, loud barking stretch last night with most of the guest house occupants getting up and debating who had a flashlight walking around outside the guest house in the middle of the night it was relatively calm.

Once they woke up Anna who stayed down there for the week she assured them it was likely Jenner the night watchman from the clinic coming up to see what set off the dog.

Following breakfast we enjoyed a bit of a chat until we went down to see Compassion's Child Survivor Program.

Few children who made it to school were released early because of the protests further down the road from us toward Port Margot over the road conditions.

Brother Onix the CSP director spend a few minutes talking about the project and answering questions.

We then visited the dinning hall where the afternoon Kid's club was held due to a meeting in the church.




Part of the team completed the painting in the school rooms while others put together the colored beads for the afternoon.

Lunch.

The John Pierre and Dieucel shared with the team about school, Kid's club and volleyball programs.



Kid's Club crowd only reached about 50 as many children live in the area with the protests.

For the skit Cory translated for Lori, his little sister and then Anna translated for cousin Lyric for the umbrella skit.

We reviewed the colored beads, sang songs, did introductions, prayed a couple of times....and then headed to the big finish.

Craft time consisted of a foam sun visor to be decorated with stickers.

 The small crowd lulled us into thinking we could control the crowd if they stayed in their seats and we tried to distribute the items all at once.



Well because of some sneaky children the distribution became uneven with some children getting a few while others ended up with a handful of stickers.

I saw at least a few hats that were flipped over to show their lack of stickers when in reality the underside already boasted many stickers.

I hope no one felt totally left out. The staff and team realize that working with the kids takes a lot of prayer, patience and energy.


As today shows the work is not yet done. Lessons still need to be learned by both them and us.

But thankful that the Lord loves each of us and lets us grow.

Tomorrow morning the team will eat a bit before heading out at 5 a.m. to reach the airport at 7.

They should be leaving Haiti shortly after 9 a.m.




We enjoyed the  team very much and know that the Lord will bless them and the work they did here will continue to have a positive impact for weeks and months to come.

Pastors share, garden tour and home visits.

Supper smells fill the house as the cooks work on the second batch of coconut candy, moringa, chaya and left overs.

Last night the team experienced the steady sound of rain on a tin roof as we received at least 6 inches last night.

The rain noise helped cover the barking dogs and roosters.

Kody, our cat pointed out a large centipede on the breaker box this morning which Cory captured to show the team.

Breakfast the team tried Haitian hot chocolate, cornmeal mush, and fresh mango.

Then Pastor Jonas shared with the group and answered questions for a short time.

We ended with prayer for him.

Then Cory took them on a garden tour around campus.

A bit muddy so some only walked part of the tour while other's hiked through the lower garden.

Pastor Rigo then talked for almost an hour to the group and answered questions as well help the team to  understand more about the medical ministry and the youth work of the district.

P. Rigo

Home visit.

We prayed for him before lunch.

The new food for the team to try at lunch was Haitian spaghetti and a new type of fried cooking banana.

Then the team had a chance to look at a few Haitian paintings that were for sale.

After rest time we split into two groups and headed out for home visits to houses of Kid's club children.

Mme. John Pierre

The original list needed to be cut down because part of the homes were too close to the protest the condition of the road and others were in areas just to muddy to walk to easily.

We hear that the UN is involved and tear gas, firing in the air....

Prayers appreciated for the team as they will be traveling to the airport early on Saturday morning and then Cory will need to return home.

The home visits my group did went very well.

Cory's group also watched the making of the flat cassava bread.

Eli lent out two more books for the Book Herder project.

Clouds rolling in so I'll sign off and try to add some pictures before our connection grows weak.

Cory showing vanilla pollination. 

Wednesday: market, bakery, dentist, beach and burning tires.

Supper last night the team tried fresh coconut from the donated ones and coconut water, coconut candy, chocolate pod pulp, and fresh coarse ground Haitian coco along chicken rice.

This morning following breakfast Cory and John Pierre showed them the market.

Some purchased tin lamps or machettes. Cory bought vegetables and cooking bananas.

They then visited the bakery. Fresh bread!

Anna, Eli and I stayed home to fit in a bit of school.

Dr. Winick talked a bit before lunch about the dental program and his dreams before we prayed with him.

Following lunch we headed down to the coast for some beach time along with a fair number of our neighbors.

Visited one church and saw another before arriving to the beach.

Right after arriving a phone call let us know that the road near Port Margot would be likely blocked so we should not stay long.

Folks unhappy with the road conditions around town started burning tires in protest after road repairs started further down the road.

We had passed the road crew and two policeman who were on location on the way to the beach.

We enjoyed our time at the beach.

Praise the Lord we did not find the road blocked or angry protesters on our way home.

Showers before supper.

I learned when I turned on the computer to update the blog that a friend of ours, who served in Haiti for 26 years, went to be with the Lord this morning.

 Please pray for Keith Flanagan's family.
 Memorial Information.

Prayer walk, Children's Club and Book Herder.

Tuesday's afternoon's sun is almost sunk behind the mountains.

Another full, busy day making me really pray that tomorrow afternoon the weather cooperates for us to visit the beach.

The morning started out with our visits to pray for the sick and elderly.

I think we visited 10 different homes and in a couple homes we prayed for two people.

Most of the homes I had visited with the Warsaw team.

One house I met a young man who the Warsaw/MI team prayed for but did not met.

 His sister was present for both visits.

 He received news in Port-au-Prince that he has 'cancer in the blood' and needs to go to the Dominican Republic or USA for treatment.

A few houses later much better news awaited when the mother of young girls who attend Kid's Club reported that 8 days ago she accepted the Lord as her Savior.

This couple later gave us 14 coconuts!

During our visit with the first team she told them she wasn't ready yet but allowed us to pray with her. I remembered to bring along a Creole tract this time to give her as well.

The 92 year old lady from the first visit was not home as she was healthy enough to be out visiting neighbors.

Once back to campus the team did a bit of shopping before lunch.

Many interesting items made in Haiti brought for their viewing and buying pleasure by John Pierre's brother.


This gives our teams a low pressure chance to buy some souvenirs.

At two the team, Cory and Anna loaded into the big rented truck to visit Limbeè. Pastor Denord asked the team to hold a children's program to encourage the pastor who's attempting to start a regular children's program.

The team spent last night putting together the colored beads so today they passed those out without having the children put them together.

Lyric again talked about how sins block our blessings from the Lord. The children enjoyed the balloon passing, popping game prior to learning the verse.

[The skit scrip had been left behind so they skipped that part which helped them return to campus close to on time.]



Eli and I remained home to prepare for the Grand Opening of the Book Herder Library.

We started signing books out while we waited for the team to arrive. Pastor Diecel planned the opening ceremony.

Eli learned at noon he would be expected to make a speech!


We sang, had a small devotional, prayed, reviewed the rules, took questions, listened to Eli's speech and then he declared the library open.

Twenty books were checked out.

The library will be open twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Supper and devotions.

Only Monday?!?

Wow it feels like the team's been here longer than just a couple of days, as we've all bonded and done a lot!

We started out with breakfast and then I shared a bit about our thoughts of focusing on relationships, being flexible, seeing what lessons the Lord may have for us to learn and the power of prayer.

We then prepared to visit the clinic and dentist. While folks got bug spray on for the short walk and a couple finished hanging up the wet clothes on the line a couple of school age boys came to the door asking for the soccer ball to be pumped up.....


With the realization that once again a holiday week extended into the next with no school happening we decided to 'be flexible' and change up the plans.


So while Cory and his men prepared paint supplies and waited for the classrooms to be unlocked I took the team to see the clinic/hospital.

Dr. Winick and Dr. Pierre already seeing patients so will talk later about the work. P. Rigo will speak to the team on Thursday as well.

Cory fit in a few minutes of banana information while we waited for the rooms to be unlocked.

Then the team cleaned down the walls and started painting the classrooms.

Much easier with an empty school yard than it would of been with hundreds of cute, curious, dare I say mischievous children coming to check on the work.

They completed 2/3 the paint job before lunch despite a late start.

Eli, Anna and I snuck in a bit of school work during the painting.

After lunch the team met P. Philip and looked over the basket items he had for sale.

Most pastors work a second job to help with expenses and P. Philip makes nice baskets and hot plate holders.

At three we headed to Port Margot for another Kid's Club. The same skit but a bit hard to hear as power tool sounds echoed just behind the church.

But one of the leaders reviewed the story making sure everyone understood the Lord's resurrection and what it means to us.

We sang songs, Lyrics shared again, we did introductions and a couple new things.

First a craft with putting colored beads on a string to pin on your shirt or hair. Silver stood for living life separated from God. Red- Jesus's blood. White-forgiveness and cleansing Green-spiritual growth. Yellow-heaven.

The leader reviewed this as well practicing until the children could name what each color symbolized.

Then he took it a step farther and explained how they could use this as a tool to share with their families what they had learned as well as to introduced children to Jesus.

The team had cut up a short verse into 4 parts, placing each piece of paper into a ballon.

 The children were to pass the balloons down the rows while singing.

 Anna led and when the singing stopped the 4 children holding balloons were to bring them up front.

After tweaking things a bit it worked quite well.

The four children up front then sat on their ballon to get the verse out.

This everyone found very funny. Then they learned the verse.

Back at Fauche we discussed tomorrow and made some tentative plans.

We're told that school will happen so plan to make our first prayer walk, a children's program in Limbeè and then hurry back to join Eli and I for the first afternoon of the Book Herder Library program.

Supper. Devotions. Bed!!

Happy Easter.

Not sure what time the guest house crew made it to bed last night but our house the lights turned off about 8:30 p.m.

Our family of four plus Lyric our niece headed up the mountain to hold our own small sunrise service shortly after 7 a.m.

 Thanks to a small low cloud we did make it in time to see the sunrise.

Anna led the songs, Eli and Lyric prayed, Cory read the scriptures and I a short devotional. 

We enjoyed the bird singing and beautiful view.

Breakfast of oatmeal muffins, sweet rolls, bananas and hard boiled eggs.

We walked down to church shortly after 9. 

The team enjoyed the singing and Pastor Jonas shared about how we need to have Christ in our lives as He is life! 

And He provides us the victory over death and the gift of Eternal Life when we ask Him into our lives and give Him our hearts.

For a special lunch we tried a meal that the missionaries used to share on LaGonave years ago...commonly known as 'snow on the mountain'. 

And we finished up with coconut cream or banana cream pie.

We visited a combine group of two Port Margot Kid's Clubs. 

On the way we passed through a rara group of the local Voodoo followers. 

After a few minutes they let us pass without any problems.

The children sang with lots of energy. The team shared a skit of the Resurrection. We sang together. 

Lyric talked about how sins [like lies, stealing, disrespecting people or making enemies] can prevent us from receiving the Lord's blessings.

They also shared the Easter story using plastic eggs with symbols of the season.

Prayers, thank yous and then passing out stickers ended our visit.

Supper of beef pot pie and left over pizza. 

We're looking forward to an evening of hearing people's thoughts and team devotions.