Wednesday, 3/14

Today a team went to two orphanages/schools and it was heartbreaking to see and experience. We were able to do our presentations and skits and afterwards at the first school we were able to hold and play with the orphans. We all wanted to take them home with us and they wanted us to take them home too. It was hard to leave, but we know that we can't take them back with us. The second school/orphanage was very poor and had around 30 children. The school had worn down concrete around parts of the building and tarps covered the ceiling and the walls. When we entered we were told not to touch the walls because they would fall down. The whole school was in this room and all of the children at one time. There was a girl laying down out back who had failing kidneys. She was skinny, sick, and had sores on her back. Spring (our leader) said that she looked much better than she did last time they visited. We prayed healing over her body. It was sad to see her secluded and sick behind the building, but that's all they can do.

The dental team saw over 50 people today and will continue to work throughout the week. They finished working on the students from the Lifeline school and have started working on students from other schools in the area. Dental care is needed over here, so the dental team is making a huge difference!

Josh Schaefer worked in construction today with Jeremiah (a construction guy who works for a separate missions organization, but is friends with Lifeline). They did work on dorms for another orphanage and got the drywall up.

In the afternoon we took a trip to the local market. We couldn't take many pictures, but our translator was able to get some. It was different, there was raw meat, fruits, and vegetables sitting out with flies and people cooking on the side of the street (their version of fast food). One vender was selling mud cookies. They are cookies made from mud and water and sold at the market. We were told that the pregnant women eat them because they believe it holds extra nutrients.At the end of the market we went up a hill and around the corner were tons of bags filled with charcoal. The ground was colored black and women were sitting in soot, picking out the large pieces of coal. To make charcoal they burn down their trees and cut them up because they use charcoal to cook and heat things and charcoal gets 3 burns out of it while burning trees only has 1 burn. It was sad to see and imagine that this is what these people do all day. The charcoal field was right on the water. The shore was filled with trash, but the water was gorgeous and sailboats filled the water. Our translator was able to get a picture of the team in front of the water.

When we returned from the market everyone went back to work. A team went to the warehouse and finished cleaning and organizing, which was a huge task. Jon and Tricia went back to teach another English class, Josh was still out working on the house, and the dental team had the afternoon off and were able to rest after 10 days of hard, hard work.

Our time here is very busy, but we are blessing the people and being God's hands and feet. We talked about 1 Corinthians 13 in devotions today and we are striving to be intentional about our love for each other, Lifeline, and the Haitian people.

Please pray for us as our week comes quickly to a close and that no time would be wasted as we preach God's word and minister to the people.

Blog written by: Tricia Gadomski
Pictures by: Joan Potempa