Monday, March 21, 2012
Today was a very productive day – praise God!
Osmy took Tommie, Nichole, Brittany, Victoria, Delores,
Kathy and Ernie to an orphanage and school in Williamson. Getting there was quite an adventure as
they literally drove through a market, on a very narrow road and had vendors
yelling at their bus. They were
afraid that they were going to get onions and tomatoes thrown at them. At the orphanage they ministered to the
kids, did crafts with them, and Tommie got to know the Pastor, who is a
wonderful man of God.
For those of you who remember Pastor Louissainte, the pastor
down the road with the small poor orphanage who we have begun 2 buildings for,
God brought something disturbing to light…he is incorporating some very
ungodly, cultural, Voo-doo practices in his church. Pastor Bob had to tell him today that while we will not end
our relationship with him, we cannot support what he is doing because we don’t
agree with that stuff. That was a
difficult decision because of the children. However, Bob invited him to join the group going over to La
Gonave Island to the revival. The
revival has already been going on this week and hundreds of people have been
coming to the altar in repentance and revival, and there have already been a
couple of demon-possessed people delivered there. Louissainte will be staying with our team, so this should
be…interesting…pray, pray, pray for God to do a mighty work in him and break
him free from the bondage of these demonic activities and make him a true
Pastor of the Gospel of Jesus, especially for the sake of the children…and all
the oddly pregnant women in his church.
Gray Squirrel (Doug) rented a motorcycle for $6 and went a
little crazy driving and got side-ways (those that know him aren’t
surprised). Corey rode it too –
but don’t get any ideas people – I told them not to do that again!
A guy wanted to sell Ryan some land that he said was 20
acres so he and Bald Eagle Scout Corey went to survey it with Corey’s GPS. It ended up being more like 125 acres
with hills, cliffs, thorn bushes, they were holding on to trees to not fall of
cliffs. They came back all
scratched up and said the man who owns it and was walking them through it in
flip-flops with no shirt. They
said it is an amazing piece of property, with some of the best views in Haiti –
it goes all the way to the dam above La Digue. We are all going to be in prayer about it and just see what
God wants to do in the future. I
don’t see why we would need it, but Ryan says you never know, so just keep it
in prayer.
Corey filmed an exceptionally small, 80 year-old man with no
teeth, pudgy cheeks and skinny legs, who helps at the site, while he was
standing on the tail-gate dancing in a straw hat and singing, “I no work today,
but maybe tomorrow…” (Bob’s little
jingle lives on…) Apparently Ryan
was teaching him the cabbage patch dance moves and the song…wow, can’t believe
I missed that.
Kathy, Gary, Bob, Linda, Bill and Dee got all of the metal
frame walls up for the main orphanage building – praise the Lord! Brett, Greg, Steve, Larry got the walls
up on the guest house common area.
In addition to their expeditions, Corey and Doug put the roofs on all 7
little buildings. Larry & Joe
finished the electrical wiring in all 7 small buildings. Joe also brought his ipod and a big
speaker down to the site and blasted worship music, so that really kept
people’s spirits up, including the Haitian workers, when everyone was getting
tired and slowing down.
Bill & Dee rode back from the job site on a motorcycle
tap-tap with Dee sandwiched in between the driver and Bill – so that was pretty
exciting for them.
I saw a dead body on my way to Port-au-Prince today. It was sad. We were driving down the highway and came up to a bus
stopped in the road, with a motorcycle squished about 3 feet under the back,
and the body laying there, partially covered with a sheet. It was eerie, and there were no cones,
flares, police, ambulance, nothing – just a few people off on the side of the
road just standing there. Quite
solemn.
Candice and I did get a lot accomplished going to the city
today with Dav our translator and Jacques our driver. Ryan and I had to get our passport style pictures for our
residency taken in Cabaret and they dressed us up in suit jackets, a tie, a
scarf, fixed our hair and wouldn’t let us smile, lol. We got some work done with the government lady, Solane, who
wants us to partner with her on a nursing home ministry (something to pray
about), we got banking done, shopped for paint for the orphanage (that is very
limited…I’m looking for this one place I know that sells Sherwin Williams, so
we’ll see). Then we went on a
little adventure, searching for an artist’s house in Petionville (the one
wealthy area in Haiti), I had read about in a magazine. We finally found it and it was
amazing. When we went through the
gate it was like an oasis in a crazy city. This man is amazing. He is a visionary who is Haitian but was raised in
Mexico City. He asked if I spoke
Spanish so I said, “Poquito, donde esta el bano?” He laughed and said I had a strategic response and invited
us into his beautiful home, that was covered in artwork, to use what was the
nicest bathroom I have found in Haiti.
For those of you who have been in Port, you know it is not easy to find
a decent bathroom, so yes, I was strategic. He does not like how his country is so dependent on handouts
from others and believes they have the people and the products to use and should
be more self-sufficient. He goes
around collecting trash such as bottles and tires and makes beautiful things
out of them. He cuts the tires and
paints them bright colors, turning them into birds and fish, etc. that are
planters hanging from trees, chairs, swings, etc. He uses tires to build buildings with cement around them and
puts glass bottles inside that cast beautiful light through them. What I am really excited about is that
he has lots of ideas to use all of this to build a recycled, one-of-a-kind,
Haitian made, bright, beautiful and fun playground for our children at the
orphanage! He is going to start
emailing me ideas and we will negotiate prices and start working towards this,
if anyone has it on their heart to help support this project, let me know J. I love that we will be partnering with
a Haitian on a project like this, rather than depending on it to be American
made. They need people to believe
in them and work with them for their country to blossom, grow and get cleaned
up. Candice and I are really
excited about this.
Well, tomorrow is the last day for most of us here, and I
have to leave for Port at 6:30 am, so I will say goodnight. Thank you for the prayers – please
continue them, they are invaluable.
God is doing great things both in and through this team, and we are
eternally grateful to Him for allowing us to be His vessels.
Blessings,
Nikki
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