Days 3 and 4

Greetings from Sunny Haiti!

It’s great to be back here at OLTCH – it really feels like a second home. The kids are as cute as ever. There are some new faces, and I am missing some old ones. (A few of the girls went back to their previous families. We’re not sure if this is a good situation or not…please pray for them: Geraldine, Shalin, and Nina.) It’s also fun hanging out with Jasmine’s 15-year-old son, Nick. (He was in the states last time we were here.)

Here’s what we’ve been up to the past couple days:

Yesterday the girls and I were able to make the new kitchen building feel a little homier by painting the inner plywood a pleasant cream color. That took up much of the day, and the other parts were filled with loving on babies and playing with kids. Meanwhile the fellows tore down an old barbed wire fence and dug a trench in its place to set up some piping for a kitchen sink (which was installed today). They also played basketball and football with the little boys.

Today we intended to paint the rest of the kitchen, but we were drafted to help prepare lunch instead. We have a newfound respect for the cook here – wow! We cleaned, peeled, and chopped enough vegetables to feed a small army, and it almost took us all morning. The other ladies who work here came and helped us toward the end, presumably because they saw how slow we inexperienced ladies were with peeling odd vegetables without a peeler, just a large-ish knife. We chopped potatoes, carrots, and onions without much difficulty, but there were a few vegetables we were unfamiliar with. I believe taro was one, and maybe some variety of monster radish? We’re still not quite sure, but the veggies were certainly yummy after the cook had her way with them!

After lunch, the girls joined the boys and Nick to dig an enormous hole for a septic system. I believe it is supposed to be something like 8 ft all the way around, and we got pretty far. We took turns shoveling and wheelbarrowing the dirt over to the other end of the orphanage to build up the rapidly eroding driveway. The little boys had fun helping us flatten the dirt as we spread it across the drive way (mini feet make light work!). I am quite impressed by the buffness in this crowd, particularly the ladies.  We also loved on some babies and played with the kids throughout the day. They’re so precious J.

Kate got her hair done in cornrows today! I admire her bravery – you’ve  gotta be tough to endure that kind of intensity. I’m not sure I could handle it!

Well, my friends, it is bed time. Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Please continue to pray for our health, safety, energy levels, and that God’s will would be done here in Haiti both during our time here and afterward. Please also pray for this odd bug bite I just got… kind of an itchy-stingy sensation. Thank you!!!

Love you all, and goodnight!

Sarah

Days 1 and 2

Hello from Haiti!

First of all, thank you all for your prayers, and please keep it up! :)

It feels great to be back in Haiti! Everything is so completely foreign, and yet somewhat familiar from being here before.  I just want to say really quick that our new team members, April, Brooke and Kate, are doing great and I am so proud of them! Haiti can be overwhelming at times, and they all seem to be handling it very well.

So, I'm going to try to give you a quick summary of our trip so far, before I fall asleep...

We flew from Ft. Lauderdale straight to Port-au-Prince.  Customs was quick and painless - much less crowded than last time. And we actually got all of our luggage! :)  Greg and Jasmine sent a bus to pick us up from the airport, which was really nice, since we each got our own row to stretch out on.  Driving down along the coast for most of the trip, we reached the orphanage with no problems and very little traffic.  Being in a bus really helped, since the biggest vehicle usually rules the road. 

Greg and Jasmine were elated to see us, and we were excited to see them too. It was also wonderful to see some familiar faces amoung the children and be able to hug them once again. 

We arrived just in time for dinner, and then we joined their evening worship time before having our own Bible study time.  Josh has put together some daily scripture readings and questions to think through, and they are all about the characteristics of godly love. Yesterday we looked at patience. 

Soon after that, we headed to our tents, got situated, journaled for a little while, and then went to sleep. 

Since today is Sunday, we had church this morning.  Most of us went and got babies to hold during the service.  I got to hold a precious little one named Josiah, and I am definitely in love.  He's almost 3 months old, but he's so tiny.  Jasmine said that they just got him a couple of weeks ago, so they have been trying to feed him enough that he puts on some weight. 

Now back to church... It was held in one half of the classroom building.  (There is a building for pretty much everything now, except for us, of course.  We get the cool tents again. :) I like tents. Can you tell?)  One of the ladies who work here led the worship time and Jasmine did the teaching. 

After chuch, Sarah and I spent some time with the toddlers.  They are an energetic bunch, and so cute.  Some of the other girls went over to spend more time with the babies, and the guys worked on trying to move some new beds into the girls' building.

Then we had lunch, and afterwards the guys got to work on digging a trench to put in a drainage pipe.  We girls brought some of the little girls into the dining room to do some coloring.  When they had finished, we went and took showers.  We worked on our Bible study and rested for a little bit until dinner.  April, Kate, and Brooke went and helped the ladies in the baby room, bravely facing the prospect of changing lots of diapers, all for the sake of love. :)

Dinner was great: lots of rice with some veggie sauce to put over it. Somebody had told Jasmine that today was my birthday, so the kids sang happy birthday to me while we were all in the dining room. And Jasmine, whose kindness and generousity continues to amaze me, gave me a very sweet gift.  Evening worship time was right after that.  Later this evening, we gave Greg and Jasmine the supplies we brought for them and then we had our discussion time.

That brings us up until the present time, and now I think I'll head off to bed.

Here are some things you can be praying for:

• Deep, restful sleep for all of us - most of us came into this trip feeling exhausted from midterms
• Rest for Jasmine, who has been feeling completely worn out today
• General strength, endurance, focus, patience, joy, and a godly love for our teammates, the Martinsons, and the kids

Thank you all for all of your prayers! It is a great encouragement to us to know that you all are standing behind us and going before us in prayer. 

For the Haiti team,
Hannah



p.s.  To my family: thank you for all of the cards! :) I love you guys so much!!!  And, Bekah, your comic card was absolutely hilarious, and I had to share it with the team! :)

Haiti 2011

Dear friends and family,

The time is almost here! In just a few hours, we will be on the ground in Haiti. We are very excited to begin this adventure and can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

This members of this year's team are as follows:

Donnie Durm
David Farrell
Josh Harris
April Mullery
Sarah Reichel
Hannah Rigel
Kate Walter
Brooke Wonderly

We are not sure exactly what we will be doing at the orphanage this trip, but we do know there will be no shortage of things to be done. Our goal is simply to encourage and assist Greg, Jasmine, and the children in whatever ways we can.

The dates of our trip are March 5th - March 12th. Please remember to pray for us during our time in Haiti. It is a very dark country spiritually and is still in a very chaotic state in the wake of the devastating earthquake last year as well as the recent cholera outbreak. Prayer is the most powerful support you can give us!

We will try to post an update or two, but due to a very slow and unreliable internet connection at the orphanage, we may or may not be able to post anything while in Haiti.

Thank you for your prayers, and we look forward to sharing with you when we return!

For the team,

David Farrell

Day 8 (August 17th) - Knips!

Today...or close to this day...

The girls worked on painting Jasmine and Greg's house.  Courtney spent time with the babies.  A few guys from local mission groups came and helped Jasmine and Greg, along with the guys on the team, to begin building a house for the boys to stay in.  The 11 boys there have been living in a tent since the earthquake.  Regina ran around with a video camera that morning and started doing some interviews.

The house-building began with laying cinderblocks and making a frame for the floorboards.  Then frames for the walls, covered with plywood sheets.  Holes were cut out for the windows.  The building was finished the next day, with a tin roof and completing the sides.  The girls carried the bunk beds over from the boys tent and put them in the building.  Girls also covered the windows in with screen.  The house was completed in 2 days. (Tuesday to Wednesday).  We used blocks of wood and plywood sheets to make one big shutter outside the window.  We run around in the rain to close the shutters...unless you can close them beforehand.  The workers were shocked that the building was completed so fast, because it usually takes a week.  But there were many hands involved.. =)

The evening group meeting was wrapped up with a video Jasmine wanted us to watch called Indescribable by Louie Giglio.   It's about how big the universe is (how big God is) and how small we are!  Jasmine has been reading a book he wrote called "I am not but I Know I AM" which really encouraged her here in Haiti.  The title really says it all!

Fun foods:  Towards the end of the trip, we had some fish from Haiti, which only a few people ate (it was bony, but yum!).  We also had true fruit, a big round fruit, kind of pale yellow inside.   It was tasty fried and boiled.  We also had something called knips.  ("k - nips").  It comes on a stalk with a bunch of green fruit balls attached.  You break it open the shell with your teeth, put it in your mouth, and suck on sweet redish inside, then spit out a big seed.  Yum and fun!

Regina

Day 5 (August 14th) - Not Just Working...Walking

The day, for me (Shane Burgett), started off amazingly!  Not only was it the first night I slept in CLEAN cloths do to the fact we had just gotten our luggage the day before, but I woke up early that morning to simply have some “slow” time.  Once a typical day got started there was always something that could be done.  Sure, there were times throughout the day that we sat down and took a much needed break, but it seemed our breaks consisted of water, shade, and thinking about all that still needed to get done.  I wanted to have some time, where I did not have to think about what was coming next.

I woke up before the day had.  Most everyone was still asleep and there was literally nothing else to do, except take it slow and appreciate the present.  I went into the school and had some awesome time alone with my Savior.

At one point of enjoying my solitude, David walked in. The cool thing is that what was “my” solitude turned into “our” solitude.  We both sat there, bodies present, but our minds where beyond this world.  After a while, conversation struck and we started talking about what God has been doing in our hearts since this trip began.  What a blessing it was to sit there, and simply be the Body of Christ. I walked away from that time charged and excited to tackle that day’s challenges!

After breakfast, our morning basically consisted of spending time with the children.  This group seemed fluent in these kids’ universal language…playtime!  The girls played jump rope, blew bubbles, and colored, while the guys just did what guys do best…goof off!

Attempting to master the art of jumping rope.

I spent a good amount of the morning filming these different things.  At one point I was filming Josh playing with some kids.  I remember thinking about the time, earlier in the trip, Josh had mentioned how he missed playing with his son James.  As I was filming him, it hit me that he was loving these kids just like if they where James.  He honestly was loving these kids like if they where his own.  That made an impression on me.  At times I’m rather awkward with kids (might be due to my towering height) but I could see that Josh was simply showing them love and they understood.  God really showed me there that it was not about what I did with the kids, it was the heart I did it with.  These kids really did not care what you did with them. They just wanted love.  I knew I needed to get over this “awkwardness” and just love… and God would use me, like he was using Josh with those few boys.

Well, after lunch we gave the missionaries, Greg and Jasmine, the supplies we had packed into our luggage.  Prior to coming on this trip, we had found out that Kimberly Felix from Circle had actually been to this orphanage before!  She was able to fill us in with what the orphanage was really in need of and we made it a point to get as many supplies as we could.  Greg and Jasmine where quite surprised and blessed!  It’s amazing how so little can go so far when it’s truly needed.

Around 3pm we started hitting up the manual labor!  It’s funny, but everyday at 3pm the sky would fill up with clouds and we would have several hours of protection from the merciless sun.  The days prior we would work under the shining sun, and found our productivity to be quite disappointing due to the amount of heat and excess sun.  These few hours where very valuable because we could typically do at least four times the amount of work.  The guys hit up digging trenches and the girls started organizing the food tent.

Digging trenches as the afternoon clouds roll in.

During this trench digging, we guys ended up talking most of the time about chess.  You see, chess was the “thing” down there for most of the guys.  Due to it being ridiculously hot, we had no desire for playing any kind of sports, thus we still needed an outlet for our competitive natures.  We needed some sort of competition.  Well, now I understand why chess is considered a “sport”.  It can sure become a pretty intense sport!  It was just a fun time, because I remember being as a child, listening to Donnie share strategies, incites, and stories about chess.  You see, Donnie had really taken it seriously before Haiti, and had been part of clubs and even read a book on it.  Why that stands out, I’m not sure, but it was a blast and trench digging seemed to go much faster that day!

Donnie and Rigan locked in an intense game of chess.

The day wrapped up with dinner, worship, then Bible studying.  After Bible study the guys and girls started preparing for Sunday morning.  Both the guys and girls were going to do a skit or lesson for the children.  Besides that, nothing crazy really happened that day, which was actually a first!  It was nice to have a more predictable day, but yet it really wasn’t that predictable for me spiritually.  With God having been on my heart and mind before the day began, I remember actually feeling His presence throughout the day.  It was really the first day I felt like I was “walking” with Him and not just “working” for Him.  Throw that into any day, and it’s bound to be good!  So I think I can say with confidence, day five was a good day!

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