At 3 AM, the team house was fully awake and figures were moving this way and that, doing final packing, lining up suitcases, grabbing a quick breakfast, applying the last sprays of DEET. The Washingtonian contingent and Kester arose with us to say goodby. At 4 AM Bruce was at the door, and we loaded everything, plus two cases of MREs and a couple of tarps, for rain protetion. We took off quickly. Bruce stopped at Pastor Chrisbon's house to pick up some mail, and we received the news that Gonaive was half-flooded. Bruce took off like a scalded cat! Well, we got up to 20 MPH, anyway. In four-wheel drive, we bounced over the ruts, eased over rocks, and ocassionally travelled sideways through slick mud. At about 5 AM, the sun came up, and the puddles in the road mirrored the blue and pink of the sky and the clouds so perfectly that it looked like we were travelling on a thin crust of earth, with heaven above and below us.
We got to the river to find it was not too badly flooded to cross. We jumped out of the truck and, with luggage in hand, took off for the boats. Deborah and Sarah were carried into the first boat and all others got aboard safely. While they were in transit, a large truck headed toward our side of the river. The water was up over the engine, but the truck kept up speed, and to the cheers of crowds on both sides of the river, made it across, preceeded by a great bow wave, which caused us to scurry up the bank. The boat came back for the rest of us. Delores was supported as she went down to the boat, then it was my turn. I hit a slick spot in the mud and shot down the bank on my side and elbow -- no harm done, though. Jym followed me down, but I could not focus on him, as I was still picking my way along the dryer parts of the boat. Our trip across was uneventful. We hopped out of the boat, except one man decided to carry Jym ashore. As he lifted, he staggered sideways and we thought both would be in the river, but he recovered, and there was no further problem. Then for the half-mile hike to the airport. Made it! Deborah and Bruce handled the ticket transactions and to make a long story short, we caught the first plane out of Port de Paix -- sometimes the only plane to go. God truly blessed our trip. More to follow.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Day 8 - June 23 - Wednesday
I have put in much of the blog today. I am carefully monitoring Battery voltage, Amps in, Amps out, and bandwidth usage - God has blessed me with an abundance of these today, although Julie, one of the French "agrinomes" just came down to check the internet status. Their bandwidth requirements are heavy and their job is more important than this work.
The team is off to Foisson, except for Kester, Adam and Jordan, who left early this morning to do a cement pour on an 8-foot box culvert. I have loaded all the empty bottles I could find with water and put them in the refrigerator. They will be exhausted and burning up from that dry, dusty work. The others will be tired and thirsty, too. I am awaiting emails from people who know about radios and computers.
I think we will be adding more to the earlier blog entries, so please check back periodically. I know Deborah has written a lot, and we will try to post one picture from Sunday this evening, when we can find it.
That's all for today until the team returns. I have passed all that has shown up on the prayer chain to the team. We are keeping Carl, Liz, Dovie, the Manosos and others in our prayers.
It was a typical day on the work site. In Deborah's words, "As far as other events at the worksite at Foisson, we mostly did the same things each day. We continued to crush gravel, tie rebar, move dirt, dig in the holes, move boulders down from the hill. It was truly exciting to see the progress on the foundation. I was amazed at how hard the work was for the Haitians and our young adults who did the 'heavy lifting' work of digging out holes, rolling boulders, shoveling gravel, moving dirt, etc. The young adults really worked hard, as did the older adults. We all had our strengths and in the jobs we did, we all pitched in to help and support one another."
I managed to get in touch with the amateur radio operators in Kentucky who gave Bruce this radio, and thanked them for it. Conditions were not too good, with this tropical wave sitting over us. Later in the evening we tried to make contact on another frequency band, but the propagation was not there. The radio seemed to work really well, though. I will have to set up my dormant radio station when I return, but not in the month of July.
Today's subject is Mason, "ambassador to the world" as Bruce called him. Mason sang, played the guitar, translated and talked with everyone he met. He also showed his strength as he moved dirt, shoveled out the hole and moved boulders. Mason was our spirit of joy, friendliness and adventure. Mason is developing a deep spiritual side, too. His prayers are well-developed and a joy to hear. Thank God for Mason.
The team is off to Foisson, except for Kester, Adam and Jordan, who left early this morning to do a cement pour on an 8-foot box culvert. I have loaded all the empty bottles I could find with water and put them in the refrigerator. They will be exhausted and burning up from that dry, dusty work. The others will be tired and thirsty, too. I am awaiting emails from people who know about radios and computers.
I think we will be adding more to the earlier blog entries, so please check back periodically. I know Deborah has written a lot, and we will try to post one picture from Sunday this evening, when we can find it.
That's all for today until the team returns. I have passed all that has shown up on the prayer chain to the team. We are keeping Carl, Liz, Dovie, the Manosos and others in our prayers.
It was a typical day on the work site. In Deborah's words, "As far as other events at the worksite at Foisson, we mostly did the same things each day. We continued to crush gravel, tie rebar, move dirt, dig in the holes, move boulders down from the hill. It was truly exciting to see the progress on the foundation. I was amazed at how hard the work was for the Haitians and our young adults who did the 'heavy lifting' work of digging out holes, rolling boulders, shoveling gravel, moving dirt, etc. The young adults really worked hard, as did the older adults. We all had our strengths and in the jobs we did, we all pitched in to help and support one another."
I managed to get in touch with the amateur radio operators in Kentucky who gave Bruce this radio, and thanked them for it. Conditions were not too good, with this tropical wave sitting over us. Later in the evening we tried to make contact on another frequency band, but the propagation was not there. The radio seemed to work really well, though. I will have to set up my dormant radio station when I return, but not in the month of July.
Today's subject is Mason, "ambassador to the world" as Bruce called him. Mason sang, played the guitar, translated and talked with everyone he met. He also showed his strength as he moved dirt, shoveled out the hole and moved boulders. Mason was our spirit of joy, friendliness and adventure. Mason is developing a deep spiritual side, too. His prayers are well-developed and a joy to hear. Thank God for Mason.
Day 7 - June 22 - Tuesday
More work at Foison, moving dirt, cracking gravel, rolling rocks, tying rebar. There is not much to show for all this labor, it seems, but we know it is important. All this drudgery will contribute to the sturdiness of the final school building. Even the small pebbles we are making may save the life of a child if the column does not collapse because of its increased strength. Short day today.
Sarah, Delores, Deborah and Deb Robinson went to pray with Madam Vernix, the wife of one of the pastors as she was overdue in her pregnancy and would soon be traveling to Port de Paix to deliver her child. It was a special moment of praying for a first-time mother. I prayed in English, then Deb Robinson prayed in Creole.
Later most of the team stopped to sing and pray with a worker who had a fever. It seemed to bring him joy!
Bruce takes most of the team to view various projects. Back at the team house, we all eat lunch and do various tasks, mostly related to packing the tents back up. Rob and Dan assemble a basketball goal. About 3 PM it rains! It rains enough for Bruce to come pick us up for dinner in the truck. It is a light, refreshing and nourishing rain for the parched land -- enough to keep it green a while longer, enough to provide a little more food for humans and animals. We are a bit inconvenienced, for the humidity skyrockets after the rain, but who are we to complain about that? Praise God for life-giving rain!
Here is Deb Robinson's report on the day.
"The gang went to see projects today, will find out tonight where all that
was, guess they aren't tired yet of bouncing up and down on the roads! Bill
has been a huge help and stayed behind the past 2 days working on the ham
radio set up and antennae and computer work. P Chrisbon's computer is about
dead and we have a new laptop that was donated in March but I didn't feel
techy enough to transfer all the data from one to another and so Bill has
been doing that, some of it is rather complex. This job is almost complete
and I think he has some work on the radios. Mason has been playing the
'team' guitar and the kids have really enjoyed this at Foison.
"With all the computer work the past 2 days the team house exceeded the
allotted band width for the internet with needed downloads for P Chrisbon's
computer and survey work the interns are doing. You then have to wait 24
hours for it to be up to speed again, it will run but extremely slow and
thus difficult for lots of email. This computer work and the work the
office men do is really important and we are sorry there has not been an
ability for each one to communicate lots of info, please apologize for us.
This is just how it is here with our technology abilities.
"Thanks for prayers. Everyone has really enjoyed the mangos and the market
experience was good and educational yesterday for all. I was able to get
some grenadia or in English they are called passion fruit and made a nice
juice last night and that was our appetizer there were lots of oohhhs and
ahhs did you hear them?"
Today I am going to write about Sarah. We knew she had a helping and giving spirit from her work at the fund raisers. Here, she reminded me a lot of Maria King, although they are very different people: hard-working, easy going, full of love for the kids and with the love of God in her heart. Deborah summed it up with better words than I have. "Sarah was our heart. Sweet Sarah. Never complaining, always ready to do what needed to be done, showing love especially to the children. She was our comforter." Thank God for Sarah.
I will add Jym to today also, for I am running out of days. Jym had shopped for most of our provisions, to help us get ready. He prepared our breakfasts and our lunches, and masterminded the special meal for the Robinsons on Sunday. He organized us at the team house and kept us “watered” at the work site. He was also often our sense of humor, breaking tension and helping us laugh at ourselves. He was a great contributor to team cohesion. Jym came to Haiti 18 years ago. This place gets into your blood, into your soul. He, like others of us, had to come back. Thank God for Jym.
Sarah, Delores, Deborah and Deb Robinson went to pray with Madam Vernix, the wife of one of the pastors as she was overdue in her pregnancy and would soon be traveling to Port de Paix to deliver her child. It was a special moment of praying for a first-time mother. I prayed in English, then Deb Robinson prayed in Creole.
Later most of the team stopped to sing and pray with a worker who had a fever. It seemed to bring him joy!
Bruce takes most of the team to view various projects. Back at the team house, we all eat lunch and do various tasks, mostly related to packing the tents back up. Rob and Dan assemble a basketball goal. About 3 PM it rains! It rains enough for Bruce to come pick us up for dinner in the truck. It is a light, refreshing and nourishing rain for the parched land -- enough to keep it green a while longer, enough to provide a little more food for humans and animals. We are a bit inconvenienced, for the humidity skyrockets after the rain, but who are we to complain about that? Praise God for life-giving rain!
Here is Deb Robinson's report on the day.
"The gang went to see projects today, will find out tonight where all that
was, guess they aren't tired yet of bouncing up and down on the roads! Bill
has been a huge help and stayed behind the past 2 days working on the ham
radio set up and antennae and computer work. P Chrisbon's computer is about
dead and we have a new laptop that was donated in March but I didn't feel
techy enough to transfer all the data from one to another and so Bill has
been doing that, some of it is rather complex. This job is almost complete
and I think he has some work on the radios. Mason has been playing the
'team' guitar and the kids have really enjoyed this at Foison.
"With all the computer work the past 2 days the team house exceeded the
allotted band width for the internet with needed downloads for P Chrisbon's
computer and survey work the interns are doing. You then have to wait 24
hours for it to be up to speed again, it will run but extremely slow and
thus difficult for lots of email. This computer work and the work the
office men do is really important and we are sorry there has not been an
ability for each one to communicate lots of info, please apologize for us.
This is just how it is here with our technology abilities.
"Thanks for prayers. Everyone has really enjoyed the mangos and the market
experience was good and educational yesterday for all. I was able to get
some grenadia or in English they are called passion fruit and made a nice
juice last night and that was our appetizer there were lots of oohhhs and
ahhs did you hear them?"
Today I am going to write about Sarah. We knew she had a helping and giving spirit from her work at the fund raisers. Here, she reminded me a lot of Maria King, although they are very different people: hard-working, easy going, full of love for the kids and with the love of God in her heart. Deborah summed it up with better words than I have. "Sarah was our heart. Sweet Sarah. Never complaining, always ready to do what needed to be done, showing love especially to the children. She was our comforter." Thank God for Sarah.
I will add Jym to today also, for I am running out of days. Jym had shopped for most of our provisions, to help us get ready. He prepared our breakfasts and our lunches, and masterminded the special meal for the Robinsons on Sunday. He organized us at the team house and kept us “watered” at the work site. He was also often our sense of humor, breaking tension and helping us laugh at ourselves. He was a great contributor to team cohesion. Jym came to Haiti 18 years ago. This place gets into your blood, into your soul. He, like others of us, had to come back. Thank God for Jym.
Day 6 - June 21 - Monday
This morning we started by going to market. More beggars than last time, it seemed. There was a lot more food than last trip, but not many buying, it seemed. Then we walked up to the bakery.
Off to more work at Foison, moving dirt, cracking gravel, rolling rocks, tying rebar. There is not much to show for all this labor, it seems, but we know it is important. All this drudgery will contribute to the sturdiness of the final school building. Even the small pebbles we are making may save the life of a child if the column does not collapse because of its increased strength.
I stayed behind today to work on Pastor Chrisbon's new laptop. Somehow, with computers, nothing is simple. Fix a problem, find another, fiddle with it, fix it. Later in the afternoon, I started putting up a 133-foot long antenna. When Kester got back, he helped me by organizing teams to go up on the roof to work, and organized the Haitians to chop branches out of the trees to let the antenna be pulled up to its full height.
Jane Martin, your devotional booklet is an awesome labor of love, we are all reading it and we thank you for that. Sandi and Iris, our days do not seem to be synchronized, but that does not seem to detract from the power of your devotionals. We had daily devotions, most of the time near breakfast, but later if we were rushed. At each of these Deborah had assigned one of the young adults to prepare a devotional: scripture, prayer, a lesson, and sometimes music, and always the reading of the letters from home prepared by Sandi and Iris. This was always a beautiful and tender time.
Some other thoughts... Sandi, we have a powerful spiritual team down here, but we miss your presence deeply. The work you have done to support us is phenomenal, and words cannot express our gratitude.
Deborah notes, "I especially enjoyed our team 'family time' in the evenings. It was so much fun to play bananagrams, scrabble and cards. It was a joy to sing together and share our daily devotions. I was so impressed with each of our young adults who did our daily devotions."
I have not said this before, and I probably should have. We miss you all, and we send our love to family and friends. Sorry -- this is all very time compressed.
Off to more work at Foison, moving dirt, cracking gravel, rolling rocks, tying rebar. There is not much to show for all this labor, it seems, but we know it is important. All this drudgery will contribute to the sturdiness of the final school building. Even the small pebbles we are making may save the life of a child if the column does not collapse because of its increased strength.
I stayed behind today to work on Pastor Chrisbon's new laptop. Somehow, with computers, nothing is simple. Fix a problem, find another, fiddle with it, fix it. Later in the afternoon, I started putting up a 133-foot long antenna. When Kester got back, he helped me by organizing teams to go up on the roof to work, and organized the Haitians to chop branches out of the trees to let the antenna be pulled up to its full height.
Jane Martin, your devotional booklet is an awesome labor of love, we are all reading it and we thank you for that. Sandi and Iris, our days do not seem to be synchronized, but that does not seem to detract from the power of your devotionals. We had daily devotions, most of the time near breakfast, but later if we were rushed. At each of these Deborah had assigned one of the young adults to prepare a devotional: scripture, prayer, a lesson, and sometimes music, and always the reading of the letters from home prepared by Sandi and Iris. This was always a beautiful and tender time.
Some other thoughts... Sandi, we have a powerful spiritual team down here, but we miss your presence deeply. The work you have done to support us is phenomenal, and words cannot express our gratitude.
Deborah notes, "I especially enjoyed our team 'family time' in the evenings. It was so much fun to play bananagrams, scrabble and cards. It was a joy to sing together and share our daily devotions. I was so impressed with each of our young adults who did our daily devotions."
I have not said this before, and I probably should have. We miss you all, and we send our love to family and friends. Sorry -- this is all very time compressed.
Day 5 - June 20 - Sunday
Maybe God gave me yesterday to see the beauty of His day, as we worshipped in the church at Foison, where we are building the school. The house was SRO. The pastor held up a roll of the communion cups we brought, and noted they needed to get busy and bring in enough church members to use all of those cups! Scripture readings, prayer, some congregational hymns, duets & solo singing, and Bruce introduced us. We sang "How Great is Our God" robustly to Mason's guitar accompaniment. I said a few words based on Genesis 2 about the importance of names, in the sense of being called and responding. Deborah gave a beautiful and touching personal testimony. Pastor translated the cultural differences out of that and wrapped up the sermonizing deftly. His words were short but full. Then a young lady with a voice transfixing in its beauty sang, as did a very young boy who sang to guitar accompaniment. I felt privileged to experience this tender and inspiring worship. Thanks to God for his grace and his evident presence.
After handshakes and a few pictures, we went to Pastor Chrisbon's house for lunch. As before, it was a feast! Madam Chrisbon is amazing! I am not describing the food this time. You will have to come and experience it yourselves.
In the evening, Jym Newton, with the help of others, had concocted a meal and entertainment for Bruce and Deb, but we held back the entertainment because of the solemnity of the day, as you will read below. Jym did a delicious chicken pasta dish, and gave Deb a break from her cooking, but not from eating well!
Boss Aristide died today. He worked with the DPC team for a while two years ago, and with Kester some last year. Bruce, Kester, Adam and Jordan went to the wake right after dinner -- back late. He was a good man: young, kind and hard working, and his loss is deeply felt throughout the community. There is a good bit of joy that he is with the Lord -- the tears are for ourselves. His wife passed away earlier, and that may have been the beginning of the end for him.
Day 4 - June 19 - Saturday
Someone else will have to report the events of this day. I can only focus on the rocks. I am still too human, too critical, too limited. My soul is crushed today. Lead me out of this Lord. Smash the rocks -- it is all I can do.
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