Weds Update

 

 

Welcome from Haiti!  We miss and appreciate you all.  Today we saw desperation, laughter,and hope.  And we saw some of that in the Haitians too - ha ha.  We went to De'geance School, up in the mountains.  It's a beautiful setting - you can see the ocean in the distance.  We are a novelty there - some of the children even seemed a little afraid of us.  Gale, Tom, Shelby, and Tracy passed out Operation Priceless packets to the kids.  Today there were 285 kids in school and guess how many packets we had?  You got it - 285 exactly!  Believe me - it's not like you can pass the packets out to part of a class - it would cause great upset.  Darren, Scott, Shelby,Tracy, and Pam did their abstinence and women's hygiene classes at the school.  The rest of us worked on distributing packets and taking photos.  Tom managed to fall asleep on the great tree in the school courtyard.

 

We trekked back down the mountain which was much easier because we had distributed about 200 pounds of hygiene and school packets, and also it was, well, downhill.  We returned to MPCA where we presented more classes and took more photos.  A highlight was when the nursing students sang a song of thanks to Scott and and the others who had lead discussions. 

 

At our devotion time watching the sun set over the ocean Pam expressed her optimisim for Haiti that those eager nursing students represent.  Then Lindsay expressed her fear (via a shriek) that a rat was climbing around overhead.  Another day of hope, sweat, and joy in Haiti - Blessings!

Day 3 Chardene



Today we spent the entire day at the Chardene school taking pictures and teaching. It was a very long day, but the students cooperated so well.  The students got lined up and stood exactly where they were suppose to, making it easy on the picture team. Those who were teaching were also very encouraged when over half the students that they spoke to about abstinence, came up choosing to commit to purity until marriage.  God really blessed our day! Continue to pray for our teams health though as some are still feeling ill. Miss you all!

 

-Darren and Scott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2- Dupin & MPCA

Today was a very busy day going into the schools for abstinence talks, womans health talks, and picture taking. So much was accomplished by the whole team pitching in and getting the job done wherever they were needed. We personally loved every minute of the hike up Dupin. It was so awesome to see God's creation in so many ways. We learned today that many of the children make that hike by themselves everyday. Some even from an hour, or further away.  We can't imagine those young children making that hike everyday. 

All of the children at the schools were so precious. The abstinence talks for the girls, which we lead, were so great. Especially with the older girls that had a lot of really great questions.  We enjoyed praying with them and connecting with them in that way. When the day was done we were hot and tired, but so blessed by the schools and children we encountered.

Shelby and Tracy

Day 1 Sunday

 

One day, at the name of Jesus  people from every tribe and nation will bow.  What a sweet taste of that we had today as we worshiped with the church at St. Marc. The sweet welcome that the people give is something that only sisters and brothers in Christ can begin to understand.

 

We spent some time sorting and going through supplies and medications to get things set for our week ahead.  Scott and Heather started their classes that they taught to the nursing students.

 

Thanks for continuing to pray for us.  Tomorrow will be busy as pictures are taken, classes are taught

and we trust Herve as he goes in and out of traffic beeping his horn.  "Watch out for the cows!"  :)

 

                                 

We arrived at the hotel safely.  All our luggage arrived with us.  We thank you for praying for us.  The food is good and the rooms are nice.  The weather is beautiful.  We are exhausted so we will post more tomorrow.

Lindsay  

Construction:   When we arrived at the construction site on Monday morning we started digging more trenches.  This lasted for two days trenches and footings, and then we started putting stones in the base of the footings about eight inches deep.  The footings are about five feet deep and five wide.  And then all the dirt that was removed had to be moved to the outside of the walled area.  Our team consisted of seven Americans and seven Creole church members.  Much fellowship and relationship built along with many cupfuls of sweat.  Thurs.  - Re-bar columns started to be erected.



Thursday:   Pastor Moise wanted to give us a tour of the island, and take us to the Haitian border.  We had a enjoyable day with adventure, sunshine, and a little bit of the beach.

Day 4 - Abstinence/ Construction

Hello friends and family!

Yesterday was our 4th day here in the Dominican Republic. After breakfast, our taxi driver, Flaco, took all of us to the school. We watched as the children all lined up for their daily morning routine. After, all the men, except for Darren, went off to work at the construction site. Once the students were in their classrooms Tracy and us went in to speak to the girls about abstinence. Darren was in a different room to speak to the boys. None of us really knew what to expect or how they would react. However, it went so well! They girls were very responsive and even asked really great questions. We both got to share a few things from our own perspective. We explained the importance of finding a guy with a strong relationship with God and why it is important to wait until marriage for sex. At the end, we asked the girls to make a commitment to abstain from sex until marriage, and those who commit, to stand up. We were so happy to see every girl in the room stand and commit to waiting.

We all met together at the hotel for lunch. After lunch, the men, plus the group that was at the school, changed into work clothes and headed off to the construction site. It was great to see everyone working so hard to get this church built! We helped by taking rocks from around the site and filling the bottom layer of the holes that were dug. Then, once those were filled, we started relocating dirt that was dug out of the trenches and holes. We went home absolutely filthy, but happy with the work we were able to get done. After dinner, a few of us gathered around the tables for a couple rounds of euchre. Which, we both found to be a tad challenging...but we'll be great by the end of the week!

Love you all and we can't wait to tell everyone about all of our amazing experiences this week!

Mackenzie and Shelby