Today we got a break from all of the construction that we have been doing over the last couple of days and got to work with kids in 2 different orphanages for VBS.

In the morning we went to a small orphanage that had about 25 kids. We sang some songs and told them the story of Nehemiah and rebuilding the wall. Then we broke out the coloring books and crayons and some paper plate fans for them to decorate. The kids had lots of fun with the crayons and there were some real artists in the group. We blew up some beach balls and played multiple games with them. We did some relay and keep away type games that the kids really seemed to enjoy. As we left we passed out some gifts to the children and left the girls with some necklaces and the boys with come little jars of playdough.

We came back to the camp for yet another wonderful lunch before heading back out to another orphanage. After lunch we went to an orphanage across the street from the camp. Here we worked with about 80 kids. We sang the same songs and did the same bible verse that we did in the morning. After the bible verse they were fed lunch by the staff at the orphanage so we prepped for face painting. As they finished up eating we started face painting, which was quite a chore to be able to keep that many kids under control while we took 3 or 4 at a time to a booth that we setup to paint their faces. The kids had decided that they would rather have their arms painted instead of their faces and almost all of them wanted a cross and the word Jesus on their arms. On our way out we handed out the necklaces to the girls and the playdough to the boys again.

We stopped by the market today and had Jessy barter for a mattress that we told him we needed for the camp and on the way back when we dropped him off we told him the mattress was his and it was our gift from the team seeing as he didn’t have one to sleep on in his house and we wanted to show him that we were thankful for all of his help over the last few days.

We spent the last few hours as a team chatting about the experiences that we have had this week in Haiti and the Haitian culture. It has been nice for Tim and I to share some of the differences between last year and this year with the other guys.

Tomorrow morning we have another orphanage to go to and do anther VBS. In the afternoon Dave and Beth are going to take us over the mountains to the beach to swim and enjoy a nice meal at a beach restaurant.

Thanks for all of the prayers and comments. This week has been amazing for all of us and we are looking forward to coming home and being able to share more with you.

3

Today was the last day of construction for us on the women’s and children’s center. We spent the day digging a giant trench for the sewage pipes. We didn’t quite get the trench finished but we got a large start on it for them. It was a long, hot, sweaty day working in the sun all day digging.

We handed out a few gifts today to some of the people we had gotten to know on the work site. There is a mom that lives on the center with a small child so we gave her a hygiene kit and hung a mosquito net over her bed so that the bugs wouldn’t bite her baby anymore when they were sleeping. We also got boxed lunches and cokes for all of the construction workers. Guy also had some hats that he handed out to some of the workers that didn’t have any.

During our lunch today we brought a couple of wheel barrows and shovels back with us so we could help Dave spread the rocks out around the camp so it would keep the dust down and he could have his parking spot back. They even made us mango banana smoothies for lunch, they were amazing.

After our work today we took yet another tour of Leogane to some areas we hadn’t seen yet. We had Jessy James with us who is a guy that lives in Leogane who has been helping us with some work and translating for the last couple of days. He was explaining some of the areas and different buildings as we drove along. He has also been helping us to better understand the Haitian culture.

We had a local seller come into the camp tonight and setup his souvenirs for us to shop through and buy.

We are setting up and getting ready for the VBS sessions tomorrow. We are suppose to be doing 2 sessions tomorrow and one session on Saturday.

4

The morning started out with an interesting experience, Dave got a small accident right outside of where we were staying with a tap tap (taxi) and dented in the whole passenger door of his truck. So we put Scott to work and had him show us his body shop skills.

Today was another day of construction on the women’s and children’s center. This morning we worked on finishing the foundation for the water run off. There was a lot of rocks to move and fill in before the cement could be laid over the top. There were more kids around today that wanted to play some hand games with us.

The Haitian workers started working on laying the cement over all of the rocks that we put down. There were quite a few more Haitian workers working around the center today. They were working on tiling the floors and finishing up the cement outside around the windows. There has been quite a bit of progress on the building over the last 2 days between us and the Haitian workers.

In the afternoon we started digging a trench for the sewage drain that we should be working on during the day for the next few days.

After we were working done working for the day Dave took us on another excursion to see some more parts of Leogane as we headed back to our camp. Once we got back we all had a chance to shower and enjoy what they called Holiday soup which was an amazing stew-like meal with turkey, potatoes and carrots. While eating dinner we discussed our plans for the rest of the week and it looks like we will be working around the women’s and children’s center for tomorrow and then Friday/Saturday we will be conducting VBS at some area schools. Sunday Thony will be taking us for a tour of Port-Au-Prince.

4

Today was the first full day in Haiti and we got a lot accomplished. This week we are going to be working on the women’s and children’s center this week with the Waters.

We started the day sanding the cement walls inside of the center and digging trenches on on the outside of the wall to start laying a cement foundation to keep the water away from the building.

There were a few children in the area that come by and wanted to play and try to “help” us move some of the rocks and rubble.

After lunch they Haitian workers had finished laying down the cement blocks for the foundation so we spent the afternoon filling up the foundation with rocks and clearing out all the remaining rubble from around the building.

After we finished working for the day Dave took us on a little tour of Leogane and down to the ocean. On our way back to our camp we kept stopping by any little children on the side of the road and giving them suckers.

Thanks for all of the prayers and comments we are reading them all and sharing them when we do team meetings.

7

We have made it safely to Haiti and are tuning in for the night after being up since 3am this morning and a long day of travel. More updates to come tomorrow.

4

The team has all joined together in Miami and are boarding the plane to head to Haiti. We will be arriving in in Haiti in a few hours. We will try to provide updates over the course of the week. Please pray for the team and the Haitian people we will come in contact this week.

2

We arrived home safely around 3:00 am this morning. Thanks for all your prayers!

Yesterday we were able to sleep in a little before going to a local church. It is the only church conducted in English. We went with Thony and David & Beth Watters. The service was excellent. The special music was by a family of 7 from Connecticut and they were good.
After church we changed clothes and drove to Tikini to the mission house that several of us stayed at last year. There were around 150 kids waiting when we arrived. From there we all marched up the hill about a mile to a tent and field where we could play games. While we marched we sang “We’re in the Lord’s Army”. What a beautiful sight it was!
After playing we did a lesson about Noah and then made bracelets. We then handed out art kits made by kids from Spearfish, South Dakota and sent to Daybreak before we left. For the older kids we handed out hygiene kits put together by Gail Westmaas. Amazingly we had enough for everyone. Last night Sue led devotions and we had a great time of praise, unity and laughing. We are all in good health and looking forward to returning.
There has been much progress in clean up and building here but there is much to do. Pray for a God-led leader to be elected next month.
See you all soon. Thanks again for your comments and prayers.