New Post From Haiti

I got a new update from Kevin last night:

Today was more of the same, although, we did have the pleasure of having Ernst as our volunteer coordinator today. We sifted more river sand for the masons, took down the wood frames around the house, disasembled them, removed all the nails and stacked the wood at the volunteer house to be used on the next house. We were allowed to use Owen's favorite three wheel motorcycle/truck thing today so we buzzed around town moving the wood, bags of cement, bringing water from the pump back to the drum at the work site and of course moving the team back and forth to the work site. People on the side of the road really stare and turn their heads when a "blan" (white foreigner) is riding a Haitian vehicle around the streets. The looks I was getting were actually quite comical. Niecie had prepared some VBS materials for the trip so her, Owen, Lloyd and Isaiah headed over to Siloe School and had about 30 kids show up for the program. One of the things the kids received was a whistle and while we were eating dinner, we could hear whistles being blown in the distance from several different directions. The neighborhood kids are great and are always eager to participate in almost anything even if it's just throwing a ball around in the street. I can't believe tomorrow is our last day to work and it's only a half work day at that. Tomorrow afternoon may be another beach day but that has yet to be determined.

removing nails from lumber that was used for the wall frames

Marcelle and Niecie with some of the neighborhood girls 

sifting more sand for the masons

This is Kevin's new update:

This is a day late because our internet/wi-fi was out yesterday. Not much of a story to tell as it rained, rained and rained some more. We started work on the masonry part of the house and not long after found ourselves seeking shelter from the down pour in a nearby house that was under construction. We waited out the worst of it and made a dash back to the house. After lunch it stopped raining so we decided to try and work some more, however, the clouds did not comply and we were back at the house for the rest of the day. The power was off and on all evening and night. It rained throughout the night but we woke up to clear skies today. This morning we returned to the work site and made some good progress on finishing the walls. It is quite hot and very humid today so we are currently enjoying a needed lunch break. Since the internet is up, I decided to do a mid-day post in case it goes out tonight.

 

Lloyd and I mixing up some mortar

Owen, Niecie, Isaiah sifting sand

Marcelle, Isaiah and Niecie sifting more sand

making some progress on the house

New Haiti Updates!!

I'm sorry I am one day behind in posting but here are the pictures and emails from Kevin.


MONDAY:


Today was a little slower paced than we were expecting. We made some more wall baskets and then went to the site of a rubble home that we will be completing. It was put up and filled by the team before us. We sifted the sand for the crepisage (stucco) wall coating that is suppose to go on tomorrow. One thing you realize and have to come to terms with real quick while you are here is that you are now on "Haiti time" and things don't always happen on schedule and in fact may not happen at all. We also got rained out for most of the afternoon. We have heard about a tropical storm that may be headed our way but have not had any changes in the weather yet. We are rolling with the punches and in fact, the slower work pace and the extra down time gave us a chance to spend some time with friends and we made some new ones. Owen and I went out in the street in front of our place to throw the football around and before you know it, there were about six kids who joined in. Then more showed up on bikes and they let Owen ride too. Then the riding turned into racing up and down the street to see if anyone could beat Owen. (Owen was undefeated). It was a great time hanging out, talking and playing.


TUESDAY:


Today started with the team loading rubble from a pile in the street into a small dump truck. The rubble was then transported and dumped at the site of a rubble house to be used in filing the walls. It was tough work in itself (the rubble has been sitting for a while and is quite compacted) and today was hot so we made what seemed like slow progress. We broke for lunch and the rain started again. It rained off and on all afternoon/evening, in fact it is raining as I am typing this. We didn't do anymore work today but we did use breaks in the weather to visit the school site again, passed the football around, Niecie and Lloyd played jump rope with some of the neighboring kids. One of the boys that Owen had ridden bikes with yesterday showed up again. He was yelling "Owen" from way down the street as he was riding toward us. His bicycle was in desperate need of some repairs so I scrounged up whatever wrenches I could find at the house and gave his bike a quick tune-up. He was so grateful and excited that he didn't have to stop every few feet to put his chain back on anymore. He attends a Catholic school in Port au Prince and is in Grand Goave visiting his grand parents. He spoke proper French only and was so desperate to communicate with Owen. Daniel showed up and was able to translate for them. They were playing like they were old friends. He wanted his grand parents to meet Owen so we walked a few blocks to their house and introduced Owen. The two boys rode there bikes around for a while and Owen showed him how to jump over the piles of rubble in the street. All in all today was another good day, even if work is being somewhat delayed.

the team after breakfast in our outdoor dining room

-Owen sitting on the motorcycle/cart thing he is facinated  with. Alex let him ride it around and last night he actually drove some of us

-Me and Owen loading up some rubble to be transported to a home site.

Hurricane

Hi everyone. Shame wanted me to post about the hurricane that is off the coast of Haiti. Weather patterns indicate that the hurricane will not touch down in Haiti and is far from the Grand Goave area where our Haiti team from PFB and Elm Grove Baptist are currently. Just to give you peace of mind that all should be just fine. Kevin will probably send me an update email tonight and as soon as I get it I will post it.

Haiti Team Sunday August 22, 2011

Kevin wrote this evening and you would not belive it but Owen figured out how to make his I-touch text from Haiti for free!!! It was so much fun texting him tonight. Below is the email from Kevin and it sounds like they are loving it and all is well. I will let you read and look at the pictures but I, again, am thrilled they are doing so well!!!

Kevin's email:

Wow today went by fast, I thought I would have time this afternoon to get on here but we stayed late at the beach. We went to church and saw lots of old friends and hung out with them after for a while. Went back to the house, ate lunch and then loaded in the tap-tap for the ride to the beach. We went to a different area of the beach that was real nice with palapas to sit under and chairs. Everyone swam some and then Maxie and Dave (a guy from conscience) showed up with snorkeling stuff and a football. Owen, Maxie and Ernst were gone the rest of the day.... I had to walk way down the beach to get them out of the water when it was time to leave. They had a blast and I guess there is some decent snorkeling here too. The tap-tap driver was real cool and spoke decent english...he was asking Owen if he wanted to stay in Haiti and teasing him about being a fish. We rode back to the house, ate dinner, played some cards, did our devotional time, showered and thats a day. While we were playing cards, Ernst, Niecie and Owen were sitting on the roof of the house. Then Dave showed up on the little motorcycle/taxi thing they have here and took them all for a ride around the town. Owen thought that was so cool. He figured out how to text on his i-touch and I think he is texting you right now.


Tomorrow begins our six day week of hard work so I'm going to get in bed because our day starts at 5:30!!!

owen trying to balance a basket on his head



getting on the tap-tap for our trip to the beach





marcelle so happy to be on the beach in haiti





Lloyd enjoying the warm water




Marcell, Owen and Ernst enjoying themselves

Haiti Team Made It!!!!!

Hi all the PFB people. I am updating the blog while our Haiti team is in Haiti. My husband is sending me pictures and updates each day so I am sorry that the pictures and info has a lot about my husband and son, but I am just copying the info from my blog to this blog. So the following is taken directly from my blog www.tomiawithlove.blogspot.com.


YAAAAA!!!! They made it safely and the best part is the WIFI in the house they are staying in works!!! I am going to cut and past what Kevin said in his email but I am sitting here with the biggest smile on my face right now knowing they are doing so well, especially Owen. I am just thrilled to say the least!!! Here is the email from Kevin:


We made it here just fine, traffic out of port was insane and took a long time.....however, we were picked up in an AIR CONDITIONED van!!! no riding in the back of the truck!!! Owen was super tired but wide-eyed for most of the drive. He is loving it here, the food, the people, the sleeping arrangements, the house, the work, all of it. He took a bunch of pictures on the drive but they were all pretty bad except for a few (lots of blurry ones and lots of van door post pics).

We did a little work on wall baskets today in the vacant lot next to the CI house but Saturday is traditionally a half work day so we are relaxing now. We walked around a little yesterday and caught up with most everyone. Maxie was so excited to see me. He has been going to an English class taught by Nixon and he is excelling (of course). He is quite conversational now and we have very much enjoyed being able to talk to each other. He passed with straight A's last year and was very excited and thankful when I told him I brought money to pay for next year. He is going into 8th grade and has 5 more years to finish. He wants to be an engineer if he can get to college. The children and adults are so interested in Owen, everywhere we go they stare at him and some children come up, grab his hand and ask him to come play with them (Ernst translated that part). Owen doesn't seem to mind and no one has been aggressive or anything.

There is a girl named Sarah that is doing a 9 month internship here with CI. She is from Surrey, BC. She lives about a mile from where my house was in Delta!! too funny.



I will try and send some of the pictures now too,

A wonderful church from Louisiana has partnered with our church a few times and this time there are 3 people from their church- 2 of them have been there before with Kevin. Great group!!!!

Working hard

Cutting the baskets that make the walls of the rubble house. They basically make walls with that wire on the ground and then line it with chicken wire and then fill the baskets with rubble from the house that fell down. Totally cool homes-- you can read about them here-http://haitireplacementhomes.org/

Owen is my worker man!!! He is the hardest working kid around!!

Building the walls. They use to build the homes and had a difficult time attaching some pieces or something like that. Last trip down there Kevin was able to develop a way to bend the wire that GREATLY improved the way the homes were build. They named the wire the KEVWIRE and if you go onto he site I gave you the link for before, under terms, they have that wire listed as KEVWIRE and a brief explanation about Kevin-- too funny!!!

This is the bunk house where they are staying. It is in the back yard of the main home where they relax and eat meals.

The bunk house

Owen sitting in front of the rubble house that Kevin completed last October when they were there.



Taking a break-- It's crazy hot so you have to rest and drink a ton of water or you will have problems.

I love this picture. It is all the kids we grew to love when we were there. The first kid in the burgundy is Maxi who was the kid we just fell in love with. We sponsor him with my friend Laura through the church school there which is a way better school than what is available to him. Then there is Owen then little Kevin who my Kevin had a great relationship with (remember slap hands-- that's little Kevin) and then Jean Paul who we also fell in love with. I cant believe Owen is sitting and working with all of them-- too cool!!!!

Lining the walls with chicken wire.

I am so thankful they are doing so well. More updates to come soon. 

Cathedrals, Kids camp, & Crosses

On our way to Lithuania we had a long lay over in Frankfurt, Germany (about 7 hours). We were somewhat intimidated about leaving the airport to explore Franfurt, but we did anyway. We stumbled upon some really amazing historical sights including Bartholomew's Cathedral built in the 1300's. We paid 3 Euros each & climbed the 328 steps to the top.



Upon Arriving in Lithuania we slept off our jet lag as best we could and started into camp the next day. This was a church-wide family camp for city church. Laura & I oversaw the kids camp with the help of many hard-working Lithuanian teenagers. The schedule included games, singing, crafts, and story time in which we covered the story of Joseph during the four days of camp with a Gospel message at the end.

The kids answer questions for candy after story time

Playing 'amoeba' during game time

Craft time making crowns after hearing of Joseph's rise to the top in Egypt

Campers and leaders on the last day of camp. We had about 25-30 kids. Parents & the church expressed gratitude for the opportunity for their kids to have this experience, which we were told is huge in a culture that does not usually express such gratitude.

Garrett & Sophi Gilliland leading morning worship in Lithuanian. City church loves to spend this kind of time in worship.
These are some of the Lithuanian youth Garrett & Sophi minister to. Here they are celebrating 4th of July with the Americans.

After camp was over we spent the day sight-seeing with Garrett & Sophi. Here we are at the Hill of Crosses. The site celebrates Lithuanian resilience in the face of oppression from czars and soviet rule. Oppressors did not allow Lithuanians to bury their dead of put of these crosses, but they persisted and now there much be a billion crosses on this hill.

Our prayers are being answered that we would be an encouragement to the Gilliland family. This is a difficult place and culture to live in for any extended period of time with a lot of spiritual darkness. Our being able to spend this time with them is very valuable for them and us- and for the work of God's kingdom that they are participating in.

Lithuania Team Update

Sean and Laura McCarty arrived safely in Lithuania and promptly started work at a kids camp. The McCarty's are working with Garrett and Sophi Gilliland and the ministry of City Church in Klaipeda.

Team Haiti-June 29

Hello again world! We have internet for the second night in a row! However, we will not have it tomorrow because we are spending the night at the orphanage. Just a heads up. And I am unable to post pictures because of limited access.

Today was another work day at the rubble school in Daborne. The morning shift was spent gathering more rubble from the streets to take to the site and the second shift was spent putting up the wall cages for the rubble. We had to cut our work time early because Tiga wasn't feeling well. Please pray for him. He is constantly working and guiding new teams every week. He needs to be healthy.

The evening was spent being spoiled! For dinner we had BBQ goat (YUM!) and passion fruit juice. After dinner, a man named Tony came by to tell us about his ministry. He is amazing and has started a fair trade coffee business and uses the money to pay school teachers that do not otherwise get paid and to feed and educate Haitian children. Check out his website at morethancoffee.org and buy coffee. Then as if that wasn't enough, we got to spend time with a new 3 person team from Vermont that is going to pick up where we left off tomorrow and get Tiga-made smoothies together. We also got to spend time with a local nurse, Jenny, who moved here to Haiti from the states, and worship together. Please pray for her medicine ministry here as well.

Tomorrow, we go back to the house we built to dedicate it, pray over it, and share the gospel with the family that will be living in it. Please keep our health in your prayers. We are dealing with a lot of sore muscles and exhaustion and other heat related issues. Not a super big deal but we want our spirits up to spend lots of time with the kids at the orphanage tomorrow. We are sad to be saying goodbye to Grand Goave, but look forward to coming back again. Thank you for your prayer and support.

Much love from team Haiti!

Team Haiti-June 28

Hooray!! We have finally fixed the internet problem and can now post blogs! Sorry that you have not heard from us sooner.

We arrived safely on thursday and found our Guest Director, Tiga (aka the boss) and everything went smoothly. The plan was to visit the orphanage and spend time with the kids, but they were invited to city hall so they were not present. Then we took off for the place we are staying, (aka The Compound. aka Home.)and took it easy for the rest of the day. All of us instantly felt at home. We are loving it here! The devastation we witnessed on the ride to the compound was very evident and when we asked our Haitian helpers how much has changed since the quake, the answer was, "not much." If anything, it motivated us to work that much harder!

When we arrived at our work site on friday, technically day 3, the wall cages for the first three walls were almost completely in place. This marks the moment the team realized that we would be working harder on this trip than any of us had ever worked in our lives. Day 4 and 5 were spent filling the wall cages with rubble and by the end of the morning shift on day five, the first three walls were filled and the fourth cage put in place.


Sunday was our beautiful day of rest. I will spare details for fear of this post becoming a novel, but it was such a huge blessing. We attended church where Tiga, Melody, Andy and Amy sang a worship song for the congregation. The rest of the day was spent at the beach. It was amazingly beautiful and felt like paradise. Then on day 6 we filled the 4th and final wall of the house by the end of the morning shift, The plan was to start at a new work site for the second shift, but the truck never came (island life) so we spent time together and sang praises to Jesus in the compound.

Today, day 7, was one of our most intense days. It made us understand why God gave us a day and a half to rest. We started at a new worksite, a rubble SCHOOL! The drive to the location was about 45 minutes one way. Both the morning and afternoon shift was spent shoveling piles of rubble from the streets into the truck and hauling it to the school work site. We were all working so hard, and volunteered to stay an hour extra to finish our pile. This was a blessing because we had the opportunity to hire a few Haitians from the area to help us out and work along side us. We pray that we were able to show them Jesus through our interactions and gratitude. Now, we head to sleep in efforts to get rest and regain energy.

Everyone is happy and healthy and in love with this country. Please continue to pray for good health, energy, strength, patience, and opportunities to share Jesus and spend time with kids. Soon I plan to do another post of pictures to share with you. But for now, Good night and much love from Team Haiti!

Haiti Team Departs

PFB's Haiti Team on mission to build a "Rubble House" in Grand Goave Haiti departed at 10PM last night from LAX. The team was in high spirits as they checked in. Team leader Andy Shoemaker is acompanied by Melody Doo, Rebekka Evans, Amy Baergen, Aleece Diaz, Joe and Henry Anderson. The team will be visiting an orphanage on Thursday and will start work on the Rubble House on Friday.

Sunday service at Elm Grove Baptist Church

The trip was filled with wonderful moments including worship with the members of Elm Grove Baptist Church at their 8 AM and 12 noon services. Reverend Errol Domingue preaches twice at Elm Grove. Once at 8 AM then he hurries of to another church plant to preaches live and then back to Elm Grove at 12 noon. Each service at Elm Grove is a different worship & message.
Our main work was in New Orleans and that began on Monday as we started laying tiles at the new 2000 sq ft youth center at Lower Light Baptist church. While the work was difficult we had a good team as the PFB team joined with members of Elm Grove and Lower Light Baptist.

In Baton Rouge

After travelling over 1800 miles the team finally arrived in Baton Rouge. With God's help we made it safely with no major traffic issues.

We took off at 7 am from Fort Stockton and made it to San Antonio in time for lunch at Bill Miller's BBQ. It was a good taste of Texas cooking at a good price. We then headed out around 1 pm and reached Baton Rouge around 7:45 pm.

We were greeted by Reverend Errol Domingue who was at work in his study. Brother Walter Howard with whom we have worked with from our very first Hurricane Katrina recovery trip also met us and showed us where we would be staying for the night. A three bedroom house that once belonged to a wonderful woman of God who passed away at 105 years old. We had met her two years ago when our Hurricane Gustav recovery team came and helped clean out some fallen limbs from her yard. It was at her yard that two members of the team contacted poison oak and had a severe reaction for weeks.

The house is potentially one that the Nehemiah Society at Elm Grove Baptist will purchase with PFB Pomona assistance for a family that had to relocate because of Katrina.

We had a time of prayer for Jacob's daughter with brother Howard then headed of to the local Wal Mart to get some supplies for the team. We also had a quick meal at Taco Bell & headed back to our home for the next week. The key question on our minds was when will different team members be using the one bathroom that we have in the house.

The weather is quite pleasant and we look forward to our time here. We all plan to get a good night rest. The picture of the team was taken outside the La Quinta Hotel in Fort Stockton at 7 am.

Please pray for continued good relationships between team members. Some rest and for a wonderful time of worship with our brothers and sisters at Elm Grove. We will be attending the early service at 8 am.

Fort Stockton

After leaving Pomona at 4 am this morning our team finally arrived at our resting spot for the night, Fort Stockton. We arrived at 11:55 pm, quickly checked in to our rooms and are getting some rest after the almost 1100 miles of driving. God was with us as we travelled, very light traffic, no illness, and eyes of protection as we battled some wind and dust along the way.

Please pray for us as we finish out the drive to Baton Rouge. We hope to get in by 7 pm tomorrow. Pray for Jacob's daughter who is battling cancer. pray for the fellowship with our friends at Elm Grove on Sunday and for the work at the church in New Orleans, laying tiles and sharing with children in the neighborhood.

We had the most fun eating at a place called Chico's Tacos which we found out later is a chain. We were told by someone that this was the best taco in all of El Paso and we stopped at a place that was busy and had quick service. Unfortunately the food did not live up to the expectations of all six of us. We had a good laugh and moved on with the hope that Maria will make us some tacos sometime this week. The picture is of Ron & Georgia in front of Chico's Tacos in El Paso.

They're off to Louisiana!

The Louisiana team of Sham Rambaran, Ron and Georgia Hernandez, Matt Runge, Maria Orsonia and Jacob Battieste left Pomona this morning well before the sun rose. Sham called from Phoenix to let us know that they got underway with no problems and expect to hit Texas by nightfall.

The team will work side by side with our sister church Elm Grove Baptist in the continuing recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina. Additionally they will spend time with the children and families of Louisiana building friendships and sharing one another's burdens through games, songs, teaching, eating and caring.

Check back often for pictures and updates.

Back in Miami from Haiti

We were unable to update the blog the last couple days but it has been an incredible experience for all of us! Last night we were able to take the forms off the house and have a moving time of dedication of the home! We are now in Miami preparing to board our flight and we will be back home tonight. We have 1000's of photos to sort through and even more memories to share with you. For everyone at PFB--we will see you at church tomorrow!

Bonswa!

Dedication of Vaddy's new rubble home built by PFB team March 2011

Haiti 2011 - Too many still living in tents having lost all in last year's earthquake

Diayishka and Valandy anticipating their new home built by the March PFB team

Baptist School in Haiti 2011