Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Couple more pictures came in this AM

At the school site there is a faucet we use behind the toilets to wash up and even clean our clothes-- see picture of Wayne doing so below. Thank you Steve rosser and winter park baptist church who purchased these faucets. They are the new self closing facets and will help tremendously as sometimes people would leave the water faucet on and would train the water tank on top of the bathrooms. This will preserve the water!!

Sean and the Goats. It appears the Goats don't like to be out in the rain either!!


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Haiti in the final days

Sounds like the team is doing great. They are making great progress on the house and they are really enjoying themselves. Kevin said they were discussing before devotions tonight what they liked best about the trip and what they would do more of if they came back again. The woman said they would like to do more VBS possibly add a session in the morning and one in the afternoon. The men said that they would in a heartbeat build another rubble house. They said that they see building homes for the people of Haiti as a significant need and should be a priority. All the men said they would like to build another rubble house. Kevin also said that Isaiah, one of the group from Elmgrove Baptist, said he is going to go with the January team back to Grand Goave. I tell you people. If you go on one of these trips to Haiti-- you will be hooked. There is something about it that just draws you in-- the vast need- the hope the Haitians have- their amazingly strong faith- them as people. It just makes you realize what matters in life and within no time- you are hooked!!! If you want to go on a missions trip, please go to Haiti with one of our PFB teams. It will change you!!!


Our team-- working???? Maybe- maybe not... You can see the rubble filling up walls. Its pretty cool!!


Maxi, Sean and Jean Paul working on the corner connections



Working hard!! You can see the idea of the rubble house how the walls are kind of like baskets- they fill them with rubble then plaster the inside and outside of the walls.


Maxi working hard as always-- out little 12 year old man!!!



Maxi and Jean Paul working hard. These are Haitian kids that work just to work. They don't get paid, they just do it to help. They may get a meal out of the work but often they don't. Just amazing!!


Sunday, September 26, 2010

More Haiti!!

Kev and I have been writing and it seems like everything is going really well. They are making great progress on the house and VBS is going great as well. They have a ton of thundershowers and were unable to visit the beach today because of the storms. They have a lot of work to still do on the house so Kevin said they are gearing up for a hard working week!

Kevin with little Kevin- they met on the last trip and liked each other a lot. They played the slap-hands game last time and I guess it's still a hit!!


Kevin with Ramon's kids (Ramon is a worker at the school and we spent time with them last trip. If you remember the picture with me holding the tiny baby-- this is the tiny baby a few months later).


Madam Moise giving one of the Elmgrove woman new braids.



This is Maxxi's sister Janet. Many of you remember Maxxi-- he was one of our favorite kids there. He was only 12 but worked like a man. He was just an amazing kid with a great heart. This is his little sister. All of us wanted to take Maxxi home and would have if we could have :)



Ramon's daughter-- she is precious!!




Sean getting into the Tap Tap which is privately owned trucks that they use as Haiti's public transportation. They had, I think Kev said, 14 people shoved into this one.


The Elmgrove Baptist Group



Saturday, September 25, 2010

Haiti Team Days 3 to 7

Kevin was unable to connect to the Internet for a few days so he could not send me pictures. Yesterday he was able to connect and has been sending me pictures ever since. I have also got some update emails.

I guess they are having lots of storming with thunder and lightning!! They say they are having to take cover often but are still getting a lot of work done. Kevin says living in the volunteer house is great and they are able to gather on the porch each evening and debrief from the day of work and to have a Bible study. He said the team is really coming together well.

Here are some pictures with descriptions:

Wayne doing laundry in the sink behind the old bathroom and shower at the school site.


The team gets picked up at the volunteer house in the morning and are driven to the house site. The ladies are taken to the school site for VBS while the men work on the house. They then pick them up for lunch from the house site and take them to the school. They eat, relax and then are taken back to the house site. Then picked up later to go back to the school site and eat dinner. Then back to the volunteer house for bed. Lots of little trips here and there but they are all rolling with the program-- great group!!!


At the school site helping with the build



The Rubble House progress as of day 3 I think



The ladies preparing for VBS. The ladies are from the Elmgrove Baptist church in Batanrouge Louisiana




This is the actual family they are building the house for working on their own house-- too cool. The tent in the background is where the family is living for the time being while their house is being built.




This is the bathroom hole for the house. It is 8 feet deep and dug by hand-- crazy!!



Rubble House Jeremy (as we like to call him) working on the walls. I think this was about day 4. The basket walls are up and they then fill them with rubble. Jeremy lives in Atlanta and works for Conscience International and is the person that goes to Haiti and arranges the builds. He travels a lot back and forth from Haiti. Very cool guy!!

Digging




This is Destine who is an amazing translator. He actually works with Jeremy and is his right hand man. He speaks like 5 languages and is brilliant!! He has a wife and 2 kids but has to be where the work is so he often is Jeremy's driver, translator and multi purpose awesome guy. He was a teacher before.

That's about it for now. As soon as Kevin sends me more info I will post! They are doing great!! Please continue to pray for the team!!!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Haiti Team- Days 1 and 2

This is Christy, Kevin's wife posting for him. Unfortunately, the messages Kevin was sending were not going through and I just now got about 10 messages from him.


Kevin said they made it to Miami and met up with the team from Louisiana just fine. They then went onto Port A Prince and also made it just fine. The team met up with Jeremy (the guy who is working for Conscience International directing the rubble house builds) and then headed to Grand Goave. The team was supposed to meet up with a gentleman who was providing the team with a water filtration system but unfortunately he did not show. I guess they will be meeting up with him on Friday.

Once they made it to Grand Goave the team was met with hugs from all the Haitians. They remembered our team well and even remembered the guys names and asked how all of us who were not able to come this time were doing. Kevin said he was shocked at what an impact we had on these people-- much more than what he had thought. They then were taken to the Volunteer House where they will be living for the next 10 days. When we were there in June the Volunteer house was not quite done so we all stayed in tents- which was quite an experience in the heat. We looked at the beautiful Volunteer house and drooled at what a nice place that would be to stay an our team was fortunate enough to get to stay in it this trip. Kevin said it is very nice but very hot. It has an indoor bathroom and running water. They are impressed with how nice it is and how wonderful it was that they built such a nice home for the volunteers to live in while in Haiti-- they are very thankful!!

Kevin said today was a hard day at work. They dug the footings for the house and filled it with rubble and then began to construct the walls of the home. He said his hands feel like they are going to fall off! He said they are all tired out and will be in bed early tonight.


FYI, while in Haiti, you really live by the sun. Up with the sun at about 5am and to bed around 8pm. It does not take you long to adjust to the new schedule because it is so darn hot in the morning that you have to get out of the house or tent and then you work so hard during the day that you are more than ready for bed by 8pm. Whatever the case, the team is working VERY hard and are thrilled everyone remembers them and are so happy they are back!!!
Kevin did not take too many pictures as he said they were too busy working. So, here is what he sent me for today:




This is a picture of the progress of the school. It is looking really good. If you remember some of the old picture-- scroll down-- there are lots on the blog-- this view is from where the tents use to be. The school was only one set of columns at the far back of the picture. The blue tarp is where we ate, where the woman cooked and where the clinic was located. They have made great progress!!

Another view. The blue tarp is the bathroom and showers and if you remember from the last trip, the school was no where close to the bathroom-- again, they have made great progress!!!


And my favorite picture-- Earnst and Daniel!!!! Earnst and Daniel were our translators and Kevin and I have been emailing both of them and we have a special relationship. We are thrilled they are a part of our lives and Daniel has even taken up to calling me Mom and Kevin Dad. It is very cute and really an honor. Daniel (in white shirt) will be attending Dental School in Port A Prince starting in November. Many people from our church are supporting his education through financial donations. This will not only change Daniel's life and his families future but will also help Grand Goave as he will return to serve his people!!!

HAITI Team 3 September 21 to October 1 2010

Haiti Team 3 (Kevin, Chip, Sean & Wayne) left on Monday night and arrived safely into Miami International Airport connecting with the remaining members of the team from Elm Grove Baptist Church (Isiah, DeMarcquanaee, & Cherlyn). The team arrived safely into Port Au Prince & are safely in Grand Goave