We're Coming Home!

Our last day in Haiti was bittersweet. We loved every minute of our trip, but we are ready to start the New Year at our own homes in our own beds.

Yesterday, we didn't fly out of Haiti until 5:35pm so we decided to use our time to serve the church in Agape. They had their huge Anniversary Celebration today (Sunday) and they needed some help getting things setup. When we heard this we were happy to step in wherever we could.

When we got to the church, neither our Pastor or his wife were there. We quickly found someone who immediately put us to work.

First, we helped clean the church.  Because of the Bonne Anneè service on Thursday night, the church we pretty dirty. Each person who walks through the door brings a significant amount of dust in with them. Everything needed to be swept, dusted, and mopped, so that's what we did. Even the instruments on the stage needed to be wiped down (as well as the stage). This involves getting buckets of water from the cistern, not only to mop with but also to clean the mops with in between buckets. It's a pretty in depth job. 

Agape is a huge church with lots of chairs, so it took us quite a while to get what we needed done, but we finally finished our tasks. 

When we were done, we went to one of the stores to grab a sandwich for lunch. Once we got back, it was finally time for the baptism service to begin! Laurie Paul (our Pastor's 15 year old daughter) was getting baptized, as well as two of her cousins. The girls had been to countless classes to truly understand the meaning of baptism, so they were ready. They were baptized along with 25 others. It was such a special thing to see and definitely one of the highlights of the trip. To see a ministry that we partner with, living out Jesus' command to make disciples was truly breathtaking. 

As soon as the service was over, we booked it to the airport. We were running a little behind, but because of our frequent flyers, we were able to skip the lines and had about 20 minutes to kill before we boarded. 

We landed in Ft Lauderdale, waited for our hotel shuttle and ordered really gross pizza at 10pm. We woke up early and started our journey home at 6:30am. We are currently landing in Dallas and will be back home by 2:30.

Thank you so much for following along with what the Lord has done this week. When you see us, ask about it. There is only so much I can write in this blog and so much happened this week. Ask us out to coffee, invite us to share about the Lord's good works. We were humbled to be a part of what He's doing in Haiti and want to thank you for joining in with us.

What a way to start off the New Year... It's gonna be a great 2015! 

Good Endings

Our last full day in Haiti has been a sweet one. We went to the boys home this morning just to play and hang out.  We spent the first 20 minutes sorting supplies for our Vacation Bible Schools this summer. Aside from that, we didn't have any agenda.

 

We gave the boys the fun things that we brought them this trip. We had lots of footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, marbles and frisbees. 

As soon as we brought them out, all chaos ensued! 

We also brought huge coloring pages and some snacks for each of the kids. Never underestimate the power of a coloring sheet, for anyone of ANY age! They all had a blast coloring, as did we. 

We also brought s'mores! Now if you wanna see 35 boys get excited, bring out some marshmallows and a fire! We had a blast and the boys really enjoyed them. We bring stuff about once a year to make s'mores and they are ALWAYS a hit!

Yesterday was our day to eat pumpkin soup, but today was the boys' turn. A few of us were able to help serve this special treat to the boys. 

All in all it was a great day.  We are currently huddled around a Superman movie at the Paul home. 

Tomorrow we will pack up and head to Agape, the church where we were for Bonne Anneè, to help setup for the Anniversary Celebration on Sunday.  We will help decorate and prepare a meal for about 1,500 people. Laurie Paul, our Pastor Jean Alix's daughter and two of her cousins will be baptized tomorrow! We will stay for that and then head to the airport to start our journey back home. 

Pray for us as we head out tomorrow. Pray that we would be able to be a blessing to the Agape church. Pray for a safe flight and layover in Fort Lauderdale and then on to Austin on Sunday morning.

Bonne Anneè! (Happy New Year!)

Today has been a day full of rest and relaxation.

After a four hour Bonne Anneè (Happy New Year) celebration, we finally went to sleep around 1:30am.  The celebration was so much fun! We didn't have any clue what was going on, but we ushered in the New Year by singing, dancing, and celebrating the Lord's goodness. 

Today, we have celebrated with the traditional Haitian customs. New Year's Day is a huge celebration here in Haiti... it is like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all at once. We ate pumpkin soup with the Paul family, which is pumpkin with meat, cabbage, potatoes and leeks. We also had hot chocolate (with cinnamon and Haitian chocolate) and a giant bowl of fruit salad.  Everything was so delicious! 

After lunch, we hung out at the house. We helped some of the girls practice a dance for the church anniversary celebration on Sunday. Jeff and Tucker were replacements for two of the missing girls.

We headed to the boys home around 3 and shared a delicious meal with about 45 of our closest friends. We had so many things... Chicken legs, several pasta dishes, vegetables and multiple salads. A huge meal is a part of the New Years tradition. 

When we got to the boys home, it was all decorated for us. We had signs and balloons! Our time together was filled with lots of food, hangout time, singing and playing games. 

We're not sure what tomorrow holds for us yet, but it will be our last full day in Haiti.

Thank you for all of your faithful prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we end our time here. Pray for our unknown day tomorrow.  Pray that we'll be able to love our Haitian brothers and sisters well.

Ou revoir 2014!

Work Day #3 was an easy one. We only worked half a day because we were finishing all of the rooms today. We put the final touches on what we could and now every room that was ready to be painted was! 

It was another day of spending time with our Haitian friends. Our older boys helped out a ton today. Some would even just come and take the brush out of our hand... I am so thankful that they have been around this week. It's been so positive to see them learning different "trades". They have been measuring and cutting cabinets, doing masonry, concrete and tile work, and of course painting.  

During these days, they have been able to see how what they're learning in school actually translates into real world settings. It has given them a taste of what life could look like after they finish school and see what fits them better if university isn't in the cards for them. 

Once we finished our painting work, we helped sift sand to mix into the concrete for the ceilings and walls. It is a lot of work but is an important job. 

When we filled up one of the wheelbarrows, they brought out another one that didn't have legs or wheels. It quickly became a "taxi" for everyone. 

After lunch, we headed to the Baptist Mission for some souvenir shopping and ice cream.  We've been hanging out at our Pastor's home since. 

We are about to be on our way to a New Years Celebration service at the Agape church in Petionville. This is a 4 hour service that ends at midnight tonight, so we will be singing and dancing in the New Year! 

That being said:

Bonne Anne!! (HAPPY NEW YEAR!)

Green and Yellow and Orange OH MY!

Work Day #2 went very well today. We spent all of our day painting four rooms. We painted the two that we primed yesterday and primed and painted another two. They are starting to look really nice. The rooms are yellow, green and orange. They are all very bright, vibrant colors but they bring a lot of life to the place!

There were a lot of people around today. There are two Haitian teams working in the rooms adjacent to us doing the ceilings and cabinetry work. Because school is out on Christmas Break we have had lots of extra help. The older boys helped us paint and carried concrete for the ceilings. There were lots of little boys playing inside with Jude so there were also marbles and little cars everywhere! 

There were always kids coming in and out of the rooms we were in inspecting the progress. By the looks on their faces, you knew exactly who was going to be living in the room as they walked through. There was so much pride as they checked out their new bedroom. It's gonna be so great when it's finished! 

After our work was done for the day, we went down to the well with some of the younger boys to get some water for the home. Each of our people had some form of container from an empty 5 gallon water bottle to an old vinegar canister. We got to see and experience first hand what it's like to pump long enough to fill a small container.

 It's hard to imagine having to do that for every drop of water you use whether it's for drinking, cooking, showering, washing dishes or clothes, or small things like washing out paint brushes. It really made us think about how wasteful we are with this precious commodity.

We're exhausted after a full day that ended with a pretty great dance party. Looking forward to another full day tomorrow.

Here are some ways for you to pray for us:

- to have a productive work day

- safety while we work and travel

- continued conversations with our friends

- flexibility as we figure out the rest of our week with the new year holiday (Wed-Fri) break