Haiti Day 5: Puddles, Suncatchers, & Ethan Befriends a Goat

Haiti Mission Trip Day 5 (Wednesday)

Day five of the Colonial Hills Church mission trip to Jacmel, Haiti, brought an unexpected experience.  We awakened to find puddles in the yard.  Our planned trip up to the new House of Abraham work site would be delayed, but there was good news, too.  Because of a rotating Easter holiday in Haiti, all but four of the HoA kids were home that morning.

We spent the morning helping the kids color Easter suncatchers, watching as Fenel read from a Kriol children's Bible that we had brought, and singing round after round of the Zacchaeus song (complete with motions).  For the rest of our time in Haiti, we would hear the boys -- in the deepest, most masculine voices they could muster -- telling one another and us, "YOU COME DOWN!"

Rainy day -- shift in plans.

Suncatchers...on a rainy day.

Anadine focusing intently.

Yes, Jesus lives!

Roberson having a blast!

Richardson with his completed project.

Fenel reading Bible stories in the kids' own language.

Back to Work

The skies cleared during the morning, and we were able to return to the work site after lunch.  The paint team finished off most of the rest of the paint that we had available, completing a base coat on the kitchen, dining room and one of the bedrooms in the process.  The roof team made a great deal of progress, as well.  We stayed a little later in the day that normal to make up for some of the work time we had missed during the morning.  We felt like we made great progress on this day.

Jalen and me: Painters of the ceiling.

Heather and Jodie finishing up by the stairs...the last painting we would do on this trip.

Bedroom #1: Base coat completed.

Roof team: Out of the valley and moving toward the edges.

Almost the the corner!

Mission Accomplished!

All week, Ethan -- our 14-year-old team member -- had been moving closer and closer toward friendship with the seven goats who roam the property.  Andre, the Haitian kid whose dad tends the property, had been showing Ethan how to approach the goats.  Ethan had been inching closer throughout the week . . . until. . . 

Finally...a new friend!

Ethan learned much on this, his first mission trip.  He learned not to believe everything we told him (I'm still trying to convince him to check with his doctor about goat flu -- lesser known than bird flu or swine flu, perhaps, but still worth asking about . . .).  He learned how to paint . . . well, sort of.  He learned that he had set a new world's record for Pop Tarts consumed in a week-long mission trip (close to 30 at last count and certainly not because he didn't eat all the food that we were served during the week).  He also began to learn the heartbeat that his grandfather, Gary, has for missions as they experienced this trip together.  Ethan gave his life to Christ just a couple of months ago at our church's DiscipleNow weekend, and the Lord has already introduced him to the beauty of serving Christ with other brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.  What a blessing.

Back to the Kids

After a good day's work, we returned to a good afternoon of play with the kids at HoA.   They were in rare form, singing and laughing and playing with all their hearts.  We gave them each a Beanie Baby, which they loved, and just hung out and sang and laughed and played with them.

Christella

Bubba and his buffalo

Roberson acting crazy for what he thinks is a video; actually just a photo.

Jim and Lucien

Gary and his glasses in Widly World . . . or is Widly in Gary's World?

After another great meal of breadfruit casserole, we had another good team meeting on the roof.  Some of my favorite times throughout any mission trip are the conversations that I am able to have with all the others on that trip.  The conversations we had -- especially the late-night ones in my room with Josh and Dusty -- ranged from the absurdly hilarious to the gut-honest serious.  There just doesn't seem to be enough time for enough of those conversation back home.  Just sayin'.

That's all for today.  Back tomorrow with an eventful Thursday of our trip.

Up to Date on the Trip?

 A look back at previous day's posts:

Day 1: The Team's Unexpected Challenge
Day 2: Boaz, Super Ninja. Who Knew?
Day 3: Accomplishment! (and the Return of Josh's Man Card)
Day 4: A Hurtling Batter, Barbie, & Team Determination

Sponsor one of the House of Abraham kids here.

Thanks for reading.  Check back tomorrow for more mission trip adventures from our last full day Haiti.

 4theVoiceless,
Al