Day 4 (August 13th) - Luggage: It once was lost but now is found!

Michelle :)

The luggage came today!! Praise the Lord!! Some of it is wet (!?), but it’s all here!! Now we don’t have to do laundry constantly, and we can finally give them the supplies we brought! Hurray!

Breakfast was sweet cornmeal. I really like that stuff! All the food here has been really good. I attempted to feed Michelle. She has such a tiny mouth, and she loves to charm, chat, and socialize with anyone passing by, so it was a challenge for sure!



Hannah and I did laundry this morning.
It's pretty intense. Here, you fill a tub with water, add some super concentrated army soap, and you scrub and ring clothes until your arms burst with buffness. It definitely makes you appreciate your washer and dryer! Here WE are the washers and dryers! :)

Wilby!

The fan was nice :)

    Later, Hannah, Courtney, and I let some boys come into the classroom and color. Wilby looked me in the eye and colored on the table. I escorted him right out. The other boys played nicely. They kept saying "Finished!" and we'd say "Okay, then you can go." And they'd laugh and say "No finished!" and keep coloring. They really like the classroom. It's a special treat for them, and it's always nice to be indoors when it's so hot out.

While we were doing that, Regina sorted the MRE tent like a mad woman. :) Meanwhile, Josh, David, Greg, and Jasmine went to town in hopes of getting our  luggage (which we still weren’t sure we’d get).

For lunch, we got to pick out whichever MRE appealed to us. Hannah, Donnie, and I swapped around our Mac ’N’ Cheese, Beef Stew, and Chicken Cannelloni selections. I really don’t know how they do it, but the food actually tastes pretty good! Yay for food scientists!

The MRE Tent
O_O

Rigan!

It rained pretty heavily while we ate. Shane and I were sitting toward the middle of the food tent, so our chairs were submerged in about 2 ½ inches of water. After lunch, the boys and Rigan (an awesome nurse who helps out at OLTCH) dug trenches to channel the rain flow away from the dining area and tents.

After lunch (and some R and R in the form of cards) we brought supplies into the classroom and sorted them there. Pretty nice, cool (with the fan), and efficient. We were able to get a lot done.

 Some of the boys got in trouble today. We told Jasmine about the culprits when she returned, and she was truly thankful that we told her. She said most of the visitors let the boys get away with things, so she was glad the boys were able to see that others see what they do and that their behavior will not be tolerated. It made me sad to tell on them, but I know their behavior will hurt them and their country if it isn’t curbed now at a young age. Jasmine said the boys that have been there for a while are beginning to understand, and they don’t cause trouble anymore. She hopes the others will do the same.

Miracle! David said cars were being stopped and checked for insurance on the way back home. Their car has faulty insurance because of how slow and complicated it is to get any sort of paperwork through in Haiti, so the car, now containing our luggage and a bunch of fresh groceries, would have been impounded on the spot. They prayed, and they didn’t get inspected! Woot! Yay God! The inspector flagged them on and they were able to make it back safe and sound.

Gideon with paper fan :)

Gideon

For dinner we had rice, beef, and veggies with bread and German butter from a tube! Pretty fabulous. After dinner, we played with the kids. We didn’t have worship with the kids tonight, but they did break out into worship songs during the day. Especially Gideon. He led the boys in a long and rousing chorus of Amazing Gwace. SO cute!


When I went back to my tent, I noticed that the boys had dropped off my luggage. Hurray! I felt like a kid at Christmas! Clothes and all manner of wonderful liquids: lotions, sunscreen, bug spray, perfume, shampoo and conditioner, and more! There
was an extra flashlight and more clean socks than a woman could ever ask for!

(Side note: Special thanks to Christina Metcalf for suggesting that we bring one spare pair of clothes in our carry-ons!! I’m pretty sure that was divine inspiration!)

They say you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone. Well I say you never appreciate something so much until you have it, lose it, and get it back again!! I feel like God used this to show us that He will provide for us no matter what, but loved us enough to reunite us with our stuff once again. If it had never come, He would have still provided everything we needed (and He had been through Jasmine and Greg while we were luggageless) but we’re so very glad to have the luggage again! :)

Before bed, we made our shower runs. I’m getting pretty fast! You have no idea how refreshing a shower is after a day in Haiti’s heat and dirt! (Side note: Americans, you live like kings! You have your own showers with hot and cold CLEAN water that costs you pennies. Be thankful!)

After that, we had some team time. We prayed and had some good discussion on the upper room discourse.

Soon after, we went to our tents, and I, for one, slept like a rock next to my once lost but now found luggage. Ah, sweet slumber! God is so good!

Sarah

Day 3 (August 12th) – Trying to fit into a new culture (and a small pair of clothes)

So cool!

This is Day 3 in Haiti, and we have definitely had an adventure so far. We still don’t have our luggage. Maybe our hosts could smell us, because today Jasmine gave us guys some fresh clothes to wear. Keep in mind, this is an orphanage, and the oldest male child is around 11, so guess what size clothes we wore! It’s a good thing we’re all pretty skinny. It was funny to see Josh wearing short shorts, a sweat band, and a sleeveless muscle shirt while walking a goat. Classic. These are some of the tightest clothes I’ve ever worn, but we are definitely blessed to have them! God continues to provide for us.

The boys helping us dig

For breakfast we had bread with honey and hardboiled eggs. The eggs provided us some much-needed protein which helped us dig trenches today in Haiti’s blazing heat. We hit rocks, so we had to break out the pickaxes. The little boys helped us out some, but Jasmine didn’t think that was such a good idea. We didn’t get as much done today as I would have liked. I think the heat kind of slowed us down. Tomorrow I want to wait until after the rain when it’s cooler outside so we can get a whole lot done all at once.

Sarah and Hannah painting

While we did that, the girls did a great job painting the classroom. Jasmine said they did such a good job that she wants them to paint her house too.

Thank God for the Canadians who brought OLTCH so many palates of water! The guys and I went through quite a few bottles of water today; it’s easy to get dehydrated here. Jasmine gave us a whole box of electrolyte drink packets in different flavors. I think I tried all the flavors today. The lemon-lime is my favorite.  

Lizard on the water palates 

MREs for lunch. The ones with “chicken” in them kind of frighten me. They’re well-seasoned, but the texture… hmm… not exactly natural. I poured mine over some rice and it was pretty good.

The girls were so kind as to do our laundry for us today. Unfortunately, a heavy rain came around 3pm and soaked all of the clothes just when they were starting to get dry. After that, the humidity pretty much kept them wet through the evening. Hopefully they will dry by tomorrow morning.

We had rice and beans for dinner. It was really well seasoned! I hope we have it again soon.

Gideon, Wilby, and me

After dinner, we sang worship songs with the kids. We all gathered in front of the girls’ building. Jasmine and some of the ladies who work there led the group in several songs, mostly in Creole. Some of it was in English. It’s really neat to worship with a group of people who don’t speak your language but still worship the same God with all their heart. It’s especially encouraging to hear the children sing and worship God. I’m not sure how much they really understand, but I pray that they will all be saved someday.

Later, we met as a team in the classroom and had our Bible study on John and the upper room discourse. We talked about the day and prayed that our luggage would come. I really hope it does. These clothes are quite tight. But God still provides, and I, for one, am really blessed to be here!

Donnie