This week we hosted our third team from Campus Focus, at the University of Akron. This team was led by Kim Conrad, and joined by another Akron team, led by Joshua Putnam. We always look forward to these “kids” (I’m old enough now that I can call “twenty-somethings” kids) coming, because they are such hard workers and oh, so flexible. Those of you familiar with life in Haiti can appreciate the need for flexibility, if one is to remain sane in this country.
The teams arrived on Saturday and got settled in. Sunday, they attended church services and enjoyed the afternoon at the beach. Monday-Tuesday they went in search of the pretty rocks on the beach that we intend to use for flooring under the “choukoun” (large, round, grass-roofed pavilion). Tuesday evening they went to a church service and sang a song along with the young people at the church. Kim Conrad shared a short message with the congregation. As you can see in this picture, it’s not ALL work and no play! Joanna Putnam and Alexis were trying on wedding dresses while organizing a room. 🙂
These teams worked on transitional shelters Wed-Fri, putting up 11 in just 3 days. They are to be commended for the hard work they put into these homes. Many of the team-members spent time at the school and with the orphans. They enjoyed passing out lollipops and giving the children some new clothes, toys and children’s Bibles.
Our nephew, Gamaniel (who lived with us for the first 6 years of the mission’s existance) had a wonderful reunion with his wife, Angela, and their 2 year old son, Nathan. They came to spend a couple of weeks with Gama, who has been working in Haiti on the Be Like Brit orphanage project, since December. They had a wonderful time. Nathan adjusted to Haitian life so well and I’m sure will be looking forward to returning.
All our visitors went to the airport and left yesterday, just before today’s national elections. Although, as usual, many of the polling stations were short on supplies and the voter turnout seems to have been pretty low, the elections took place with very few abnormalities. Election day is a good day to stay home, so we spent much of our day at the mission house. We have a rule there that people should not throw rocks at the mangoes to make them fall. This is very common in Haiti, but can be dangerous and also made a mess of our lawn … back when we had one. For those who don’t know what happened to our lawn, we had dozens of tents set up on it for many, many months, which killed the grass. Now that we have dorms built, people don’t need to stay in tents any longer. Anyway, Pastor Lex LOVES mangoes, so this is how he gets them down – with a very long stick.
We are looking forward to picking up a group that flew in from Tampa today and will join us tomorrow. Hoola Hoopers and Little Feet (soccer and coffee – great combo!), soccer clinics and fun with kids are all coming up this week!!!