Time's running out

I'm very tired tonight. I can't believe there's only one more full day. SAD! It was a long day of buying materials for tomorrow's project (building 10 bunk beds). Looking out the window as we drove around Port au Prince today, I was again amazed at how hard-working the Haitian people are. I talking brutal, exhausting, physical labor that pays pennies a day. I think I'm slowly falling in love with these people - to a deeper level.

Here's some pics.


There's a water canal under all that trash. And you think recycling in the United States is just an environmental whacko agenda? I appreciate a clean country!



Daily dose of adorable girl pictures. I miss you Maija!



This is what our truck looks like wth 20 sheets of plywood and 46 2x4x16 foot boards. Not bad until you consider Miguel has to navigate streets about the width of a sidewalk in your neighborhood. We even had a police car back up for 1/2 a block so we could continue through the street.



This was a good road - although by the angle of the dashboard, you can see it's not so even.

Bonus post!

I woke up pretty early today so I thought it'd be fun to post a few random photos from the first full week in Haiti. Today we're taking the Witchita team into Port au Prince to a church run by Pastor Absalom. They're going to do a one day VBS for the children and teenagers of his church. After I get them set up, Miguel and I are going to buy enough material to build 22 bunk beds. We'll deliver the material to Pastor Moise's church in PaP so the team can start building tomorrow morning.

Here's some random photos from the last week...

This is at the Samaritan's Purse compound. Yeah...if you know someone who says "I roughed it in a tent with Samaritan's Purse down in Haiti" - Don't believe them. These things are air conditioned mansions.

There's also a lot of beauty in Haiti. It's mango season right now. This is the tree right outside our gate.

This building has been considers "structurally sound" by the inspector. Maxo's has three of the classrooms for his school meeting here. If there's ever a tremor during the night, Maxo cancels class because the parents won't let their kids go to school if they have to meet in these rooms.



This is one of two buildings we recently built for Maxo's school. They're still temporary, but better than nothing. Each building holds two classrooms.

Climbing wall Wes built at the Haitian Queen (our team base house)

My quarters -  an upgrade from 2 years ago - this time I get the luxury of a staff room on the newly completed 2nd floor. 

Josiah...I hung up the picture you sent with me. I think of you every day.

This is the feast Madaam Christian laid out for us two days ago. Haitian hospitality is amazing - even in an orphanage that sruggles to find enough food for daily needs.

This is a piece of land Maxo is considering buying for a permanent school. Ashley (left) is the E-free missionary in residence at the Haitian Queen. Donna (right) is a woman of all hats. Here - she's working to help Maxo finance the purchase of this land (about US $20,000)



Donna and Maxo on the future site of his school.

This is God's gig!

I hate being a short term missionary. What I mean is...I want to be in a place for awhile. I want to plug into the community and develop relationships that mean something and grow deeper as we journey together. So...sometimes it's frustrating to be a short termer. When you're only here for 3-4 weeks in the space of two years, it means saying goodbye to people you've quickly fallen in love with. It means you have no idea if the little seeds you tried to plant in 10 days will grow into anything.

God whispered a little encouragement in my ear today. He gently said, "Tim...this is my gig. It's not all up to you, and you can be sure I have a plan - I've got it covered!"

Here's how it happened. After a long day of working, driving, buying, crying, sweating, and any other ...ing you can think of - I took a sunset walk up the hill with Donna Tente. Amazing woman of vission and passion, and hard work. So, we're walking down the road and we approach a group of 10-15 year old boys and girls. They immediately get big smiles and Donna calls out some of their names. It's pretty clear she knows these kids and they know her.

You see, God put a Donna in place for the last two years. Someone that returns to this community over and over - shining the love of Christ and becoming one with these people. When these short term teams come to Haiti and plant seeds of love with children, or with 40 year old women who run orphanages, or with a pastor who's trying to keep it all together - it's all part of God's gig. He'll make sure the little seeds they plant are watered, cared for, and bear long-lasting scrumptious fruit.

It's his gig!

Here's some pictures from the day.



This is one of the reasons we're in Haiti



School is rising - Jordan, you wanna stop flexing and carry some rocks?



Tim's side trip to meet Miguel's family and see what's left of his home. Miguel has been the main driver for Touch Global since I was here two years ago. His house was destroyed and he's still living in a tent. His daughter is just one year older than Maija. They are a beautiful family!



The completed girl's dorm. we raised it off the ground so the rainwater will flow under the structure. Madaam Christian is the short lady in the middle of the picture. She runs New Horizon's orphanage.

The completed school room and the crew that did the work. Go Witchita team!



Inside the school room. Still needs a wall to divide it into two rooms - and hopefully someday...a concrete floor.

Some more reason's we're in Haiti.



And another reason!

How did you sleep last night?

How did you sleep last night? I slept like a rock. I slept so good that I woke up at 5am - well rested and ready for the day!

Fourteen boys at the Madaam Christian's New Horizon's orphanage slept here. No, not in that 12x12 room - They slept huddled in a 14person group in this corner - just on the top bunk. That was the only place where they weren't soaked in the rains. Every morning, at least since I arrived last Wednesday, the boys have woken up to water on the floor, on their mattresses, and on all their clothing. One more night huddling in the corner with your 14 orphan siblings.   

 How many days have your kids woken up to ask, "Mom, Dad, do we have to string up all our clothes to dry again?"

I slept pretty good last night, in fact I've slept pretty good every night I've been in Haiti. Lord...isn't it bad enough that 17 boys have to sleep in a 12x12 room wtih 8 bunks? Does it have to rain and push them all into that tiny corner? At least the three smallest ones got taken to a dryer place in the middle of the night. I guess youth has it's advantages.

"Donna, what do you think? I spent all day yesterday buying wood to build a classroom here? I don't know what to do about this problem. Can we do anything? Notice the soaked and rotting wod on the base of the bunk bed. This has been happening for awhile. You see, whoever built a shelter for these people a year ago made the room with almost no pitch to it. The water just backs up...and the boys huddle for one more night. "This is just my little corner of the world."

The girls didn't fare much better. There's less of them, but they still had to double up and stay off the lower bunks to avoid six inches of water. The director, Madaam Christian and her husband sleep in the double bed you see. Every night sleeping just a few feet away from a roomful of girls. Last night, not even a few feet - they were right in the bed together.

There's a third living quarters - it's a relief tent...a temporary shelter that's starting it's third year since the earthquake. This temporary place shouldn't be housing little kids in an orphanage. There shouldn't be a young girl (hiding around the flap to the right) doing the morning chore of mopping 5 gallon buckets of water out of the sleeping quarters for the kids. It shouldn't be...but it is.

How do you deal with such a day of emotion - when God says, "I don't want these boys getting wet like that for one more night. You are here. You don't think you can do anything, but watch what I will do."

"How many loaves...and how many fish do you have?" Well, I built a deck a couple years ago, I know a little about building things. I have a team of college kids from Witchita. We have a little money available. "Lord, can you do anything with that?"

Because little boys and girls shouldn't have to lay out their clothes in the sun every day so they'll dry out just in time to get soaked again that night. Right now it's the start of the rainy season, so the daily rains come around 10pm. Later, the daily rains will come at 4pm every day.



Clothes and a mattress trying to dry in the sun.

Mattresses in the sun - Some of the boys checking them out.

These boys deserve better. I can't change all of Haiti, but I can change how tonight goes for these boys. So back to the store for some more wood. Back to the base house for some sawzalls, some more hurricane straps, and a fresh cooler of water. It'll have to be hot water, we used up our one ice block this morning.

A couple days ago we built these desks. Today we built the stud walls for the new classroom. The kids were kept entertained all day with games, songs, laughs, and lots of hugs.

And look what God did with a few loaves of bread and a couple smelly fish. Look what couple college kids and a broken down pastor from Nebraska were able to put together before the sun went down. (All the brown on the building is new). Take a sawzall...cut through the nails and hurricane straps on the front of the roof. Build a 12 inch stud wall. Call all  the college students to help you lift the roof so you can put in your new little wall. Now you have a roof with a steeper pitch. fill in the sides, cut a few tarps into window shades to keep out the rain....and here's praying it'll be dry tonight.

I know there's probably a hundred people within walking distance of this little project wtih stories that'll wrench your heart the same way. We all heard the downpours last night and we'll hear them again tonight. More children will huddle in a corner somewhere wondering if God really loves them or even notices that they're here. It can get a little overwhelming to realize that this little act of mercy today was a pitiful strike against evil and injustice.

But for 17 boys that share this little corner of the world, they won't have to huddle in the corner of the room tonight. I have to be OK with that!

Sunday in the Caribbean

Arriving for church at Jesus in Haiti Ministries

Remember my pictures from two years ago? Jesus in Haiti Ministries was meeting in a big tent - now they are in this permanant structure that seats about 1000



That's the tent they used to meet in

The worship service

We took the team out for lunch after church

My food as it came to the table. Tasty chicken, veggies, sauce, and a plantain on the side.

Inside the restaurant

This is my lunch with the rice added in

Add caption

A special treat - when we got back to the house, Rossita stopped by wtih her family. She cooks us dinner every night in the house. Her Husband is a pastor. Lovely woman, wth a lovely family.

First day with the Witchita team

So, this seems like a pretty good team to be working with this week. They jump right in and handle responsibilities in the Haitian Queen (our team base house). They came prepared with fun activities to do and supplies to distribute.

I dropped them off at OLTCH (Greg & Jasmine's orphanage), and spend the rest of the day on a trek into Port au Prince. A run into PaP should be about 25 minutes there and back. Reality dictates that we set aside an entire day if we're going to the airport or on a materials-buying trip. Today our goal was to buy all the materials for the schoolroom we'll be building starting Monday. That means I needed a bunch of 2x4's, 11 sheets of plywood, some tin roof tiles, and some screws. After leaving at 8am and returning at 4pm, we returned only with most of the 2x4's and the plywood. We also bought about 70 gallons of paint for OLTCH.

Rats...foiled again. I'll have to do another run somewhere on Monday, so the team can keep working.

Travelling with me today was Miguel (driving) and Donna Tente. I had an amazing day of conversation with her in the truck during the whole day. Let me tell you a few pieces of the story. Donna arrived in Haiti for the first time about a week after I left 2 years ago. God put her in place to carry on with those few contacts I made in 2 weeks. She instantly bonded with Jasmine and Greg, and said, "this orphanage needs help IMMEDIATELY" She told Jasmine, "I don't know what kind of help I can promise, but I will be back here."

That first visit turned into as of now, about 14 trips back and forth to Haiti. Through her contacts in the Rotary and many churches, Donna has done amazing things. She has raised huge amounts of money and raised up 100's of people to come help in Haiti. Two years ago, we started by building one lone building for Jasmine. Donna has involved people in giving and working to build a school, a kitchen/dining hall, boys and girls dormitories, staff living quarters, and walkways throughout the compound. These are all temporary, because their stay on the land is temporary. There's a lot more that I can't even begin to tell.

Donna is just a volunteer - giving of her time and money to work in Haiti about every 6-8 weeks. She is a gifted networker and fundraiser. Her passion is contageous, and again, I am humbled.

I'm more humbled by how God orchestrated all of us in unique ways so that we arrived on the scene in Haiti at just the right time carrying with us just the right skill set needed at the time. When you open up to say, "God, use me - in any way you choose"...He will!

Tomorrow we'll be taking everyone to Jesus in Haiti ministies for church and visiting.
 
Blessings...here's a few pictures from the day.


Starting the day at OLTCH - Lucas is one of the team leaders for the Witchita team. Jasmine in the middle and Jasmine's daughter Evie. These are a couple wheelchairs the team brought. The one on the right is an all-terrain, hand driven design by some guy marketing them on the internet.

Evie just woke up!

Playing, cuddling, and reading

Tim, Miguel, and Donna return after a day of purchasing in Port au Prince

this one's for you Majorins boys!





Random picture from earlier in the day - Boxes of paint (1 gallon cans) on the left, wood for the school building. I'm driving this truck across PaP to Jesus in Haiti ministries tomorow with the team in front and back.

You can set your clock by it

So far, right around 9 every night we get a torrential downpour. I guess that's what they mean when they call it the rainy season. I love the cleansing freshness those rains bring at the end of a hot, sweaty, tiring day. However, they also sometimes affect our internet here in the house. Sorry if you were looking for an update last night - the connection was terrible.

Steve left today, so Tim's on his own. Today was a lot of running around, keeping different projects supplied with the things they needed when they needed them. Our team from the East coast assembled 9 desks/benches for Madaam Christian's classrooms at the New Horizons orphanage. Our Witchita team arrived in the evening. Today, we'll get them busy playing with kids at Jasmine's orphanage. I'll be heading into Port au Prince to buy wood and paint - the wood for New Horizon's new classroom and the paint for Jasmine's orphanage.

Pray for Madaam Christian - she had to go into the clinic yesterday because her heart rate was high and she was feeling dizzy. She's not due until May. Donna, who took her to the clinic, found out she hasn't been taking the prenatal vitamins we gave her because she "doesn't want the baby to get too big." Donna did some education with her, but I'm not sure it sunk in.

Here's some photos of yesterday...

Assembling school desks

At New Horizons orphanage

Lunchtime

The kitchen at New Horizons

Washing the dishes

New Horizons - play area and assembling of desks