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

Haiti Day 4: A Hurtling Battery, Barbie, & Team Determination

Haiti Mission Trip Day 4 (Tuesday)

After such a productive Monday, the CHC team was ready to get back at it on Tuesday morning.  Before I move on to the happenings of Tuesday, though, I wanted to share something funny that Josh overhead Monday night.  He was in the team room and heard a Haitian neighbor shouting, “Scoo-by! Scoo-by!”  Before he had much of a chance to process what that could possibly mean in Haitian Kriol, he heard the man whistle and call Scooby again.  I guess he didn’t know that to call Scooby, he should have shouted, “Hey, Scooby, where are you?!?” (“RRRover heeerrrre!”)  Sorry for the digression, but I have a nine-year-old at home who could talk in Scooby-Doo voice all day every day if no one told him to stop, so I thought the Haitian Scooby was particularly funny (he HE he he he).

If Monday was the most productive day of our trip, Tuesday was the most frustrating.  Because we were such a task-oriented team, we saw a lot more that we could have done on Tuesday, and we wanted to accomplish as much as we could in the short time that we would be in Haiti.  The roof team went back to work and encountered to most meticulous part of the roof – lots of measuring and cutting along the valley of the roof.  The paint team went to work on the dining room and kitchen walls and ceiling, only to run out of paint an hour-and-a-half into the day; part of that can be attributed to how efficiently everyone worked.  More paint arrived late in the day, but we spent much of the day waiting and looking for something to do.  (The old construction axiom of “out of work, grab a broom” didn’t work either as there was only one broom, and its handle had been broken in two.)

The work may have been tough, but you couldn't beat the view!

Tedious work

 

Teamwork

Tough part today to prepare for a productive tomorrow.

Better part of a day spent in this valley.

The painting begins

Robbie getting the hard-to-roll places.

Progress!

So much of the day was spent waiting.  But there is much to learn on a mission trip during such slow times.  We had fun getting to know one another and laughing together.  We watched the unfolding story of Andre’s tutelage of Ethan to befriend the goats.  We also adjusted as a team when one of our team members had a . . . uh. . . wardrobe malfunction.  After some clothes-swapping and making use of the resources at our disposal (Remember the blue towels?), as well as separating into male and female painting areas, the work was able to continue with everyone’s dignity intact.

Ethan making new friends.

Andre in a safe place...for a moment.

This little girl loved her new Barbie doll.

Robbie & Jodie posing for the CrossFit crowd.

This whole overhead squat thing was Josh's idea.  Inside story...just sayin'.

Ethan just wants to pet you, pal...

During work times or down times, there was always time to enjoy the incredible views.

A Hurtling Battery

During one moment of down time, I was sitting on the dining room floor with Andre, showing him photos on my phone.  From the roof we heard a loud clatter and looked up to see what was the matter.  No, it wasn’t Santa.  Instead, a drill battery somehow came unclasped, crashed onto the floor, and came hurtling down the stairs just a foot or so from our heads.  I looked at Andre, and Andre looked at me as if to ask, “Did that really just happen?”  I was quickly reminded of the chorus of Chris Tomlin's "Whom Shall I Fear" (as I was on Friday night during the scary part of our drive into Jacmel) that was part of my Haiti soundtrack:

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side.

THE Most Precious Moment

On the way down the mountain from the construction site, we had an extra Barbie doll to give away.  The whole team was on the lookout for a little girl who wasn't surrounded by others; we didn't want to cause a ruckus.  About halfway down, someone spotted a little girl standing outside with some adults.  Dusty gave the doll a heave, and the little girl let out a squeal of joy that words simply will not describe as she raced to pick it up.  I wish we had a photo or video of that moment, but there are some moments that neither photos nor videos would do justice.

Team Determination

One thing that stood out to me on this day was how each team member encouraged the others.  When the roofing team came down at the end of the day and didn’t see much distance from where they had left off on Monday, other team members pointed out how they had done the hard part now and had set themselves up to make much progress the next day.  Fenel would later dub our team “Team Determination.”  That was true in our work but also in our attitudes; I would want to go on another mission trip with any of the members of this team!

Another positive of this day, like all our other days at the construction site, was that after a quick trip to the beach to cool off, there would be 13 amazing boys and girls at the House of Abraham ready to welcome us “home” and make the most of their time with us.

Saintemine -- so stinkin' cute!

Sharing candy with the neighborhood kids over the back wall.

Richarson -- always posing.

Always captivating to see what Widly will do next.

Christalla & Heather

Dusty & Clyphode

Plan of salvation in Kriol on the back of this frisbee; Richarson sharing with Dusty.

Robbie & Tchi

Josh in Widly World

Taking David ("Bubba") for a ride.

 Jodie & Tchi & belly laughs

I'm going to be taking a few days off the blog for Easter weekend ("He is risen, just as He said.").  I will pick up next week on our last couple of days in Haiti, some summary thoughts, and a photo slideshow of the trip.

Catch up on or re-read previous days' blogs here:

Day 1: The Team's Unexpected Challenge  (Updated: Link corrected)
Day 2: Boaz, Super Ninja. Who Knew?

Day 3: Accomplishment! (and the Return of Josh's Man Card)

Sponsor one of the House of Abraham kids here.

Thanks for reading.  Celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus at church wherever you are this Sunday!

4theVoiceless,

Al

Day 2: Boaz. Super Ninja. Who Knew?

Day 2: Sunday, March 17

Day 2 of the Colonial Hills mission trip to Jacmel, Haiti, began with an (extra) early wake-up call so that we would be up and ready for the 6:00 a.m. worship service.  No air conditioning and a very full sanctuary make the early service the preferable one for many.

I always love trying to recognize songs that people are worshiping to in another language.  This time, I recognized "Agnus Dei," small parts of Paul Baloche's "Hosanna," and "Power in the Blood."  The pastor preached passionately from Ruth 2:1-16.  The message was in Haitian Kriol, so we didn't understand much, but several of us thought we heard him say, "Boaz, super ninja."  I don't know how that translates into English, but I have even greater respect for Boaz now and will heretofore give him the super ninja credit that he evidently deserves.

Ethan spending some time in Widly World.

Josh & Clyphode

We got to spend the afternoon playing with the kids and doing some of the things that we had planned to do with them.  The ladies spent time with the girls playing with Barbies, and the guys spent time with the boys doing a race car craft.  Perhaps you are familiar with Home Depot's Kids' Workshops, where kids can go and do a project on a Saturday morning.  Well, our local Home Depot had donated race car craft kits, including stickers, and aprons for each of the boys.  After putting the cars together, we found a piece of wood to put on the steps as a ramp and drew a finish line.  We were in the midst of discussing how to explain how to the kids how to start a race when Roberson put his car at the top of the ramp and yelled, "1-2-3-Go!"  Ha, so much for the need to interpret!

Roberson and Tchikovsky figuring out what goes where.

"Grandpa Gary" giving excellent instruction.  Richardon, second from left, seems either fascinated or amused.

Hands-on fun!

Robbie, Heather, & Jodie making the fun happen for the girls (including Maude from the kitchen).

Busy at work.  Not sure what was more fun, making the cars or playing with them...

Tchi testing out his new ride.

Jean Jean connecting with the girls.  Anadine seems confident she will get her doll back.  Seems to be some kind of (hopefully equitable) swap going on in the background.

Jodie checking out the girls' new dolls.

1-2-3-Go!!!

First order of business with the new dolls: new hairstyles!

Sunday was a very satisfying day.  Worshiping with brothers and sisters who are passionate about their worship of the same Lord that we serve.  So much hope, not in circumstances but in Jesus; as we say here in the South, "That'll preach!"  Playing and singing and having a blast with kids that we love and went to serve.

 David ("Bubba," playing with his car in his own unique way)

 

Wow, do these kids love to sing!

As rewarding as Sunday was, this was a team full of task-oriented people, and we couldn't wait to get to work on the new House of Abraham on Monday.  And get to work we would.  Day 2 was in the books with its super ninja, race cars, and Barbie dolls.  Check back tomorrow for a recap of our first work day.

A look back at previous day's posts:

Day 1: The Team's Unexpected Challenge

Want to make an ongoing difference in the lives of these precious children?  Sponsor one of them; I do.  Click here to find out how.

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al