Thur.

Rachel and yo met Elove this morning. She is the child that Rachel has supported through Compassion for five years, and has to be one of the cutest kids in the world. All smiles and dimples. She is from northern tip of Haiti and this was a trip of firsts for her. First tap-tap ride, first plane trip, first time to the capital city, and using the swim suit we brought for her she and Rachel went into the pool here at the guest house so first time in water that was deeper than her knees. she was pretty overwelmed by it all. She and Rachel were able to exchange a little with Rachel speaking French and Elove speaking Creole, but most was through the interpreter. She came with a Compassion worker from her town. She goes to school with 400 other children and 230 of the are supported by compassion in her town. 55,000 compassion children in the country.

In the afternoon we worked on the murals on the first floor. All four of them are drawn and it should not take long to finish the painting tomorrow. Work progresses on the back yard and the wall. More materials were delivered today and moved to the back of the house. Half way through the afternoon it started to rain cats and dogs. The road outside the house became a river and it just kept comming and comming.

A Long Day

Today was a very long day, a good day, but a long day. We got most all of the painting done this afternoon with the generous help of the childrens house staff. We did the dinning room (which is very large), a hallway, the stairwell, the TV room and another hallway. They got a lot done in the back yard too evening things out and killed 3 more tarantuallas in the process. They've said that we can teach after all after lunch before the kids leave for school so were going to try that. That's about all for news, we're all exausted after today and probably headed to bed pretty quick. Keep praying for us!

Work day

We are all doing great, exhausted. Healthy, eating great. Swimming after each work day. The days are long and hard, but oh so fullfilling. We are so blessed to be able to beautify the home of God's children. In the city, everything is so dirty and garbage fills the side roads. Then to be able to give joy and beauty in their little corner of Haiti, is a true joy. Thank you for all your prayers, b/c God has been very good and gracious to us this day. Much work is being done b/c of our families, friends and church families have supported this trip. Thank you for allowing us to represent you, God Bless your day!

Work day!

Wow, what a wonderful day God provided! We decided to spend the extra money building the security wall, although it had nearly doubled in price. They already started bringing in the supplies today and we hauled buckets of gravel. More tarantula stories today, so much garbage and barb wire in the back yard of the orphanage. What is the last layer? It was very bad, no wonder the children did not play outside. Very dangerous. The boys helped shovel it into the bags. They were very excited to hear about the opportunity to play basketball and soccer. They were hard workers. Dillon shared hot wheels with a group of boys, who went wild with them. They have absolutley no toys, so they wanted to take off with them to their rooms. The VBS blankets are all over their rooms, on their beds. What joy it was to see them used! Painting was very productive today. We painted 5 rooms: blends of orange, yellow and green base coats. The stafff at the home were wonderful and all wanted to help.

I think our team increased the level of humidity with all the sweating that was going on. Very HOT
The boys singing their grace before lunch was just beuatiful and brought tears to my eyes. They had bowls full of beans, corn mush with tomatoe gravy. They do get 3 meals daily, this was their main meal. You should have seen them get ready for school. They were all bathing in the back yard together, then running around in towels to get dressed in their clean uniforms. The staff powder them and oil their hair. They take wonderful care of them.

Happy birthday Dawn

We had our first big day in Haiti for three of us, old hat for the other three. All is well inclding the food. Dillon and I are picky eaters but the food is great. (Sorry Mike, but they haven't kicked me out of the country for eating too much.) We washed walls, primed, and got started painting inside while Dillon, Yo and I along wih two staff guys whose nasmes Iam yet to get , worked outside. It was only in the 90's so it was "cool." We killed about 5 terantuals (ok Ican't spell ugly purple hairy spiders as big as my hand.) We knocked down a bunch of old sone and block walls and we could have realyy used a sledge hammer. We dumped all the debris in a hole, trying to make a more level and more safe place for the boys toplay. We got to stare at each other , but we have not made introductions yet. The coputer clock is off probably because the electrricity is not too dependable. I'm sure you will all want to come here yourselves. Dillon has been a great worker but we all got pretty tired and hot. We are sure this is where God wants us to be, but I'm not staying! - In God's love, Bob

We Made It!!

We got in fine, a little late so we had to deal with traffic but that was ok. It rained all evening so it wasn't too hot, only in the 80's or so. Hopefully this rain will help the humidity clear a bit. Tomorrow we go buy paint, repack the suitcases and look at what is to be done with the security wall. It doesn't look like we'll get to do much teaching this week because the boys will be too busy with school. We are going to leave the supplies and lesson notes though and they will do the lessons this summer after school is out when the boys have more time. Dinner was amazing and miricle of miricles, Dillon loved it. We got to meet the man in charge of the program sponsored by the methodist church that as far as I can tell does a little bit of everything there is to do. We also met a woman in charge of a health clinic (eyecare, dental, midwives, again a little bit of everything) a ways a away from here. Besides that there isn't much to report, hopefully we'll get started on the projects tomorrow. All our love to our Church Family and thank you for praying for us.

Getting ready

Traverse Bay United Methodist Church family has once again blessed another mission trip to Haiti. The Children's House Orphanage, in Petionvill, now has about 30 boys awaiting for our arrival. We packed 12 suitcases full of donations. They were filled with special birthday boxes(made by the Sunday school children),paint supplies, bed sheets and pillow cases, balls, art materials, games, vitamins and much needed financial support!!!We are truly blessed by God's disciples. Thank you TBUMC!
We especially thank the fifth grade children and staff of Westwoods Elementary school for donating 1 suitcase full of Legos and 1 suitcase full of hot wheel cars(200 cars). Dillon will be working hard at teaching the boys the wonderful fun of these toys! Great job Westwoods school!!!!
We will be departing on Monday May 28th. All 6 of us have started our malaria medications, have all our vaccinations and have all we can fit into our carry-on luggage for personal items. God has blessed our trip abundantly as usual, and His plans for us will unfold as we begin our travels in 1 week. It has been awesome to watch Him work in our lives as we prepared over the past year.
Tentatively we will be painting the inside of the orphanage, building the rest of the security wall surrounding the orphanage, painting a Christian mural, and teaching about Christ thru some innovative lessons. But, as you know, especially any of you that have traveled to a third world country, things always change and we may not do anything that we have intended to do. We know for sure that we will be used how God intended. Bless you all, and may you find the blog site insightful and informative. May you be blessed abundantly by our telling of the story of the people in Haiti.