Back in the USA

Our 'Hurry Up and Wait' Friday followed plan A. Although all 3 of our flights left later than the original departure time we managed to arrive in Grand Rapids, Michigan slightly ahead of schedule.

My folks picked us up and then we stopped in at Cory's folks for hugs, a late night snack of strawberry short cake, and to pick up a car. We thankfully fell into beds shortly after 1 a.m.

Yesterday we sorted mail, enjoyed some T.V. and started to think about next week. Today will enjoy hearing from the Haiti 13. I get to start the sharing with 2 minutes...so need to talk fast.

Cory gave John Pierre a call yesterday to let them know we arrived without any problems. Please remember to keep Haiti, Fauche and the people in your prayers. July 21-23 is the big evangelical campaign with the goal that every Haitian will hear the good news of the Gospel [by TV, radio or video] Earlier I mistakenly said this would occur in June not July...thanks for those of you who prayed, now keep it up! Three more weeks.

Last Day. More Good byes.

Last day of June and last full day for us at home before this year's trip to the USA.

This morning we hugged Chris and Kathleen good bye. This one harder than yesterday's to the Haiti 13 team as while we expect to worship with the team on Sunday in Michigan we do not know when once again we will be able to sit and chat with the 'Big Kids' in person. A great visit and many more memories added to our collection.

The rest of the day: LAUNDRY!! The last load again drying in the house but now the machine can enjoy a well earned break. Before the team it started to make strange squeaky noises that caused me to picture having to hand wash for 19 people!! Thank you Lord.

Packing. Getting the clean linens and towels for the House of Hope back in their place. Cleaning. This filled most of our day.

Heard that Todd's family returned home today..and one other family due in tonight. Chris and Kathleen's flight left shortly after noon. Lord willing we leave home around 5 am and should be on our first flight at 9 am. We have layovers in Ft. Lauderdale and Atlanta. If all goes according to Plan A by 11 pm we will be on the ground in Grand Rapids heading to Kris's folks.

Twice this afternoon we stopped to receive two different groups who came to send us off with singing, verses and prayers. I feel very privileged to live and work here with great people. As we discussed this morning there will be no more sad good byes in heaven. I'm looking forward to feeling 100% at home and no longer being feeling torn between locations and people.

Thanks for the prayers.

GLACC Team [Haiti 13] Travel Day

Today started early with the team set to leave at 5 a.m. Anna and Cory escorted them to the airport and kept them company until they saw the plane leave. Eli and I spent the morning cleaning the House of Hope [sorting donated clothes, sweeping, putting items in their place, washing out the cooler...] as well as keeping the washing machine humming.

I'm very thankful for my washer which ran continually almost 11 hours today. Thankfully the sun shone enough today that by the time 3 lines were completely full, the first loads were dry therefore could be removed to make space for the wet stuff.

The last load now hangs on the inside line. A few loads of wash remain for tomorrow and then the washer can enjoy it's vacation for the weeks we will be in the USA.

Chris and Kathleen started painting the second side of the sign shortly after the team left therefore finished by mid-morning. They then spent the afternoon packing up for their travel tomorrow morning and spending a few last minutes with our kids.

I see by Facebook that the Haiti 13 arrived OK to Florida but missed their flight to Michigan. Therefore 4 have seats on a different flight, 3 going to GR remain on standby as do Todd's family and one other team member. Looking forward to worshiping with them on Sunday in Michigan and thanking their families for letting them come and visit us.

Tomorrow need to finish the laundry, pack for the USA, pack up the house, make sure the staff know what to do for the next 7 weeks and say our good-byes. We will be leaving about 5 a.m. on Friday morning.

Team's Last Day June 28th.

Today per normal last day of a team consisted of packing, laundry, cleaning, a bit more work, good-byes and last pictures.

The team packed early on, continued to clean clothes, and put items away. This afternoon the cleaning and organization continued. Eli lead a group to donate more Moringa trees to the local folks.

We also started to exchange pictures. I'm thankful that the team came right before our home ministry time as it motivated me and provided plenty of opportunities to take pictures of the Haitian people. Up to now I've taken mostly pictures of children but I added some nice shots of older people in the last couple of weeks.

A group of children from the Kid's club came up this afternoon to circle the team and pray for them.

Chris and Kathleen continue to paint on the clinic sign...it looks much better than before. I pray the paint holds for a very long time.

Monday June 27. Happy Anniversary to Chris and Kathleen

Main projects today included getting up some of the classroom partitions and painting the middles with chalk board paint. As they draw on all available surfaces anyway we may as well paint the dividers with dark paint to make the chalk more visible.

The school bench tops received a bright coat of blue-green paint as well.

Chris and Kathleen spent part of their second wedding anniversary stenciling and painting the clinic sign by the road.

After helping Chris see a man suffering from alcoholism, hepatitis and a urinary tract infection I packed up my clinic room. Will return my stuff when we return the end of August.

Cory drove part of the team up to the cell tower so they could enjoy a bird's eye view of both our valley and the Limbé valley.

Pastor Rigo already met with the team expressing his appreciation to them of their hard work, good servant attitudes and requesting that they pray for him and his work.

We met with representatives of the Wesleyan church. They spoke of their great appreciation of the team, gave very nice gifts and provided a cake and pop.

Tomorrow the Northern District will be meeting on campus so additional pastors will meet and thank the team. The team in turn voiced their appreciation and gave them some ties.

Last Sunday in Haiti for Haiti 13 + 6

Today we all enjoyed a slower start. The team decided that rather than visit a second church they would return a second week to the Fauche church.

Anna, Eli and Todd's kids attended children's church. Haiti celebrates Father's Day so the men received special recognition in church this morning.

All church members received the invitation to come tomorrow to carry water for the church construction. So we anticipate a lot of work being done on campus tomorrow.

This afternoon the air again rang with children enjoying the songs, games and fun of Kid's Club.

The team's puppet show was well received.

John Pierre talked to the children about what a puppet is made of and how a person works it because some of the children still are afraid because they do not understand that the puppets are not real. After club some of the children were able to touch and play with the puppets.

Steve helped the leadership out by sharing a bag of candy that he bought at market yesterday.

One of the new school benches did not hold up to the folks sitting on it wiggling from side to side.

John Pierre requested that the children return on Tuesday afternoon to form a chain of prayer to pray for the team before they return to the USA.

Please continue to pray for the team. A few have cold symptoms and Eli spiked a low fever today.

The team will be leaving Fauche close to dawn on Wednesday, Sloans on Thursday morning and us at dawn on Friday.

We plan to worship with the team in their church on July 3, Gull Lake Area Community Church at 9:30 and look forward hearing the team share with their church family what this trip was like for them.

Saturday Fun with the Team.

Another blog typed during a thunderstorm so will post when the weather clears and we can plug the internet in again.

Today some of the team went for the market and bakery tour. A few bought small Haitian lamps made of small tin cans, some candy, a few roasted peanuts for Todd and three kinds of bread at the bakery [normal, ginger, and molasses]. Those who remained behind finished painting the medical records room, laundry, painted the sign by the road.

I finished coping some Creole medical protocols and put them into binders for the clinic staff.

Classroom partitions, hooks for the partition, hospital room screens, the classroom roof also received work.

This afternoon three groups of team members headed out with Kid's club leaders and made home visits. The teams visited about 15 homes a piece. We took pictures of the children [after obtaining permission], talked about club and the monkey, then prayed. Shortly after returning to the compound the storm decided to cool things off again.

At one house we received a hand of banana's that grew on a banana plant donated by Cory. This same yard contained a few Moringa trees..the largest just had the top fall out of it. The mom reported they often eat the Moringa leaves. One little kid did not want to have his picture taken-so we tried to tell the mom that it was OK we could take a picture tomorrow at Club but as we left it sounded like she punished him.

Tomorrow the team decided to remain here to again attend the Fauche church. In the afternoon is Kid's Club and a puppet show. Should be interesting.

Friday June 24

The day again finds us winding down with much acomplished in the last 12 hours.

A few of the guys started work at 6 a.m. to beat the heat while working on the classroom roof [no shade trees in the area] The team's part of this project was finished before lunch. Now the Haitian crew will put the tin on.

The ladies continued to clean up the hospital rooms and also started to paint words of encouragement in the rooms: Victory. Deliverance. Courage. Joy. Then Pastor Rigo, hospital administer asked if the medical records area could also receive a coat of paint. Within hours the first coat of white covered both the ceilings and walls.

Five school benches received some sanding and a treatment that should discourage the ever hungry termites that live in the area. The classroom partitions continue to be worked on as well. Chris and Kathleen continue to work on the hospital sign by the road.

Cory spent a few hours waiting at the Limbeé bank this morning and also shopped a little. Todd being the good brother that he is helped me this afternoon for a couple hours processing some fresh beef. [He tried to spoil the cat and the local dogs but as we return to the States next week-we figure that they will forget about hanging around the back door by the time we return home in late Aug.]

The children enrolled in Kid's Club met on campus this afternoon. Part of the meeting included receiving some dry fruit treats and gifts. The older children received health books.

June 23..

Another full day.

The team continued to work on school benches, putting on the classroom roof, painting hospital rooms and patient tables along with other tasks.

One nurse remarked that the patients will enjoy the beautiful rooms. Gerda sent some new curtains down for Eli's room with the team therefore we could use the his old green ones for our now light green hospital rooms. Only one will need to be changed for a horizontal window.

The ladies decided that to keep up with the laundry that some needed to be washed by hand. Then into the washer for a final spin and onto the line they went.

I enjoyed taking part of the team along on a visit to some of the local children's homes who live right next to us just across the path that runs behind our house. We did not get up to by our house but took many short pathways back into the yards passing out Moringa trees. Many of the children excitedly asked us to visit their house next.

The smallest household contained 5 and the largest 13. After handing them on average 10 small Moringa trees in a cup, a handout in Creole I then prayed with them-for blessings on the household, that the trees would live to grow and provide nutritional food for the family members to help them have good health and strength for this life.

As I write this it is 6 p.m. and a tropical storm blows rain in my window so I do not know when I'll get to post this blog. The temperature has already fallen in the last 5 minutes with the rain.

Team members remain scattered under the gazebo, the carport, the House of Hope, the dearest house and our own. Some will need to venture out in the rain to be on time for supper.

The storm passed and some team members may be using sheets for the first night of their trip. Thankful for a good team. Today a few tried sugar cane with mixed reviews.

Start to Team Week Two: June 22

Part of the team accompanied Cory and Anna to the Port Margot market today following breakfast.

They also toured the local bakery bringing us back hot ginger bread and regular Haitian bread. Following 2.5 inches of rain last night, the day remained muggy with a few clouds to soften the sunlight.

The roof project for the Child Survivor Program [CPS] started today. The guys worked hard to connect the lumber to the top of the cement walls. A few snags needed to be overcome [obstacles or challenges] like tools breaking.

Before returning to work after our noon break the director of the Fauche CPS program and the nurse came to speak to the team. Currently 50 mom's and children under the age of 3 attend the program and the waiting list quickly fills in any available positions. The children and moms each meet once a week. A second program exists for those age 3-19.

This program provides educational classes and a clinic for the members. Classes for the little kids involve playing with fun, bright toys. The older kids can learn music, art, cooking and more....sometimes skills that can earn them a bit of money. The mothers [and occasional father] can take parenting classes as well as health, spiritual training, cooking and more. The program is run by Compassion International.

We ran out of water, and at one point the power went out as well. Life here never becomes dull or boring. This afternoon the ladies put a coat of paint on the 4 hospital rooms again. The main challenge with this? Some may report avoiding the mosquitoes or the large wolf spiders but I vote for ever changing afternoon light which makes it hard not to miss painting some spots.

Chris and Kathleen tackled the sign by the road again this afternoon. Unfortunately the paint yesterday let some rust come though [thankfully before the lettering was painted on]. So they scraped it down.

School benches, class room partitions, cooking, cleaning, laundry, interactions, picture taking...and more filled up the rest of the day. Another good day. Day 8 of the the Haiti 13 team....and last night at devotions I heard at least twice the reference of the Haiti 13 + 6. So think we've been accepted !!

Photos from the 20-21