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So today is a partially free day.  Saw team 2 off to the airport (I didn’t go with them) but will be leaving to pick up team 3 later today.  This week was a bit frustrating, though it had nothing to do with the team members.  I feel a bit underutilized.  I am trying to roll with things, but I hate sitting around.  Being sick didn’t help.  (I am feeling better though).  Ok, that’s all for now.  Talk to you later!

Hey everyone.  Sorry I have been slow posting.  And since I am here sick, I am making up for it.  I made the trek to Port Au Prince on Saturday to drop Team 1 off and pick up Team 2.  Got there around 9:45 to drop Team 1 off.  Team 2 was scheduled to land at 2:30.  Of course, they were delayed an hour .  But at least they all made it!  So at 3:30 when they landed, I went into the PAP Airport to find the team and coordinate luggage retrieval.  My translator, Walter, told me to go in by myself, and come get him if I needed him.  I was a little nervous about going in alone, but we made it out ok.  A fun surprise was seeing my friend, Melanie Colson, and her daughter Amanda.  They were arriving with a different group, just on the same flight.  I joked with her that we live in the same city, and it’s in haiti we run into each other.

Sunday was Easter.  Went to church here in Haiti.  Got asked to take a look at the sound system, as the levels were way off (I agree…).  Got things sounding better.  But it was definitely interesting, as their sound booth is next to the stage, so in order to hear, I had to keep running around the back of the building to the front to hear levels and adjust accordingly.  Made it through ok.  After church, we had an Easter dinner consisting of hot dogs.  Jealous, aren’t you?  After lunch, we loaded in Tap-taps and drove to the beach where some church members were baptized.  So awesome to be able to join them in their special day.  Easter.  The ocean.  It was about perfect!

Yesterday, we started working on the temporary school.  It was frustrating, to say the least.  As you may have remembered from the last post, Pastor and I had worked out how to do it.  Would have been inexpensive and taken 5-6 hours, tops.  However, the plan changed (unbeknownst to me, but knownst to Pastor) that we were now building it with a framed floor (filled with rocks), they had hired a Haitian crew to oversee it, and the price went way, way up.  Plus, we weren’t done by the end of the day.  During the day, I started feeling kinda lousy.  It was a stomach ailment.  I rested more than usual, but made it through.  I didn’t eat lunch or dinner yesterday while trying to get past it.  Just had some Sprite last night.  Woke up today feeling much better.  Still went with a light breakfast, just to make sure, and on the tap-tap to the job site, I just started feeling worse and worse.  I laid down at the site under some shade and gave direction when I could, but eventually had to come back here.  Took a motor bike, and Pastor had him stop at a pharmacy to pick up some antacid powder.  Hopefully it’ll do the trick.  Also got some 7 Up.

Giving you a quick update on the house we built for Pastor Rodrigue, the Haitian pastor at the church here.  It still needs considerable work. That got started on by half the team yesterday.  The issue is, this is where I am supposed to stay.  It still needs some concrete poured, the walls painted, tile laid, etc.  I am asking for prayer that it gets finished by May 1 (there are no Conduit teams here in May, so I can’t just crash in someone’s room at the hotel like I am right now) and am asking for donations (made through Conduit) as a contingency plan in case I need to rent a room at the hotel.  I will definitely get that house livable in May.

Also want to give a shout-out to Darren and the entire Conduit church team for the church officially launching, and also to my family at Family Room Franklin.  I got to skype in and say hi to them last night.  Saw J, Geronimo, Chris, Audj, Travis, and a surprise guest in Bria.  I miss you guys.  Love all of you.

Hey everybody!  So to catch you up on the last couple days.  Yesterday, I went with Pastor Lafleur to a site where we are going to put up temporary shelter for a school.  They currently aren’t able to meet, so we are going to put up tarps so they CAN meet.  We marked out the area.  There will be plenty of room, so I texted Theresa to get the supplies set up that we needed.  After that we went to the church, where I grabbed a plate of food and hopped on a tap-tap (a tap-tap is a truck with a cage to keep people from falling out the back.  it’s one of the 2 primary Haitian taxis.  It’s called a tap-tap, because when every one is in, you tap twice on the roof so they know to go).  I was the last one on and ended up sitting on top of the cage, holding on with one hand and eating with the other (sorry, Mom…).  Crazy times, indeed.  Anyway, we then went to a couple of tent cities.  The feeling was a) sorrow for them, and b) a feeling of intrusion, as we basically walked through their houses and did nothing else.  There needs to be a better way to do that.  I agree that it’s important we see them, but not in that way.  After that, we went and visited the home of a Haitian we met named Caleb (we were introduced to him by Caleb Thomas, with Mentor Leaders, on the ground already).  We sat and met his family, and just talked and enjoyed our time together.

Today was “fun day” for team 1.  A bunch of us went to a place called Baisson Bleu.  This is a series of waterfalls in the mountains.  And let me say it was GORGEOUS!  We jumped off the falls, swam, and had a great time.  Then we headed to the beach for lunch and more swimming.  So yeah, an awesome day.  We wrapped it up by heading to a church service.  Jemica, the little girl I sponsor, saw me, squealed “Ben” and ran up to me.  Kinda made me wish I had my own kid(s).  Especially when she told me (I had it translated) that she wished that “she could go home with me.”  I had to tell her no, of course, but she was thrilled when I said I was staying here for 3 months!  I also realize that since she talks (A LOT!!!) now I need to learn Creole, if nothing else, to be able to understand her more.  After the service, we had a goodbye dinner for Team 1.  We all got gifts from the staff at the church.  I got a necklace with the Haiti flag looking like a heart.  I absolutely love it.

Ok, well, that wraps up the first week.  Thirteen to go.  Getting up early to take the first team to Port Au Prince and pick the second team up.  Goodnight, everyone!

Hey everybody!  Sorry I didn’t post yesterday.  Time kept slipping, slipping, slipping into the future… Anyway, I had a couple of really interesting, labor-intensive days.  Yesterday, I tore down a house.  Completely.  Yeah, it was in bad shape.  It wasn’t actually done, which is good.  Had it been done, and someone WAS living there, they likely wouldn’t have survived the earthquake.  But it had to come down just because of another fine example of Haitian construction.  Beginning to sense a theme?  Good….  These walls were so unstable, I literally was able to just shove them over with my bare hands.  Pastor Lafleur wanted as many of the blocks saved as possible, as new concrete blocks were 60 cents each (US currency).  It broke my heart to have to tear it down (even though I admit it was fun), as this is an approximately 60 year old Haitian woman and she and her 14 year old granddaughter live in a makeshift tent that is basically big enough for them to sleep in right next to each other.  She has never owned a house and was sad we had to tear down what was up.  But we hope to rebuild asap (so if anyone has around $5K they want to donate to build the house, let me know.  Will get it up asap.  Anyway, was trying to save the blocks, but a) when I tried to remove them from the wall, the wall shook back and forth, and b) the mortar is stronger than the blocks, so when i tried chipping that away, as often as not, the block just crumbled.  We did save quite a few of the blocks, and I strongly recommended  that they mixed the used blocks into the new ones, to keep them as strong as possible.

Last night, we went to a church service.  Kinda fun being able to sing worship standards in English while they sing them in Creole!

Today was a very hard day.  Got up early and went and worked with the Salvation Army.  We went and helped clear rubble at a house that collapsed.  FYI, they don’t have power tools.  There were no jackhammers to break up concrete.  Nor were there sawzalls to cut up the rebar.  We used GBFH’s (great big freaking hammers-15 lb sledges) and hacksaws.  Needless to say, it was a great workout.  I hope to do that 2-3 times each week.  Will be great for building muscle.  I can come back to the States just ripped.  And hopefully, 30 pounds lighter.  Look out, ladies.  I’ll be the total package.  But I digress…  The realization hit me while I was doing the work that the shear amount of houses like the one we were working on means it will likely take years to clean up this country.  It was a heavy burden to bear.  I just pray that it will build a stronger nation in the long run.

One amusing tidbits from the work today.  Some Haitians found a clothes bin that was completely intact.  it was like Christmas for them, finding clothes.  Everyone came to see if they could find something that fit them.

After the work (we started early to end early before it got way too hot), we walked to the beach, just a bit up the road.  I had jeans on, but that didn’t stop me from jumping into the ocean!  The water felt GREAT.  After 15-20 minutes there, we walked to a place owned by a Miami native now living in Jacmel.  He owned a barbecue chicken place.  It was awesome!  After lunch, I showered and hung out here for a bit before we walked to one of the tent cities to play with kids and hand out toys.  I pretty much ended up being a “wall” to keep kids from mauling people as things were getting passed out.  they were so excited to get something, be it bubbles, a matchbox car, or a dum-dum sucker.

Well, this brings you up to speed on what’s going on here.  Very happy to be here doing the work.  Thanks to all of you for supporting me.  Ok, pics aren’t wanting to upload.  Internet here is hinky.  You can see more on my facebook.  I should add a link to that on the right.  I’l do just that.

I don’t quite know where to start today.  It was such an amazing day!  We started this morning by heading to the church.  They are building onto it, as there are so many people coming!  God is definitely moving in this community.  We helped carry concrete blocks and buckets of mortar for them.  We also talked a lot about their building techniques.  They don’t interlock the blocks so the walls are not strong.  The master builder at the site is Dominican, and over there they build things right.  He is frustrated he has to build the Haitian way.  Apparently there ARE building codes in Haiti, but they are way wrong.  We are trying to work to get it done the right way.  Their way just killed 1 Million Haitians, but they are very prideful people and it is a struggle to get them to see there are better, safer ways of doing things.

Next we got to see the land Conduit is purchasing for Restoration Ministries.  It is about perfect!  Plenty of room to grow, as Pastor says once they build, other people will want to sell them land.  Will be building a school, clinic, and feeding center for the 300 (!) kids they are feeding there.  Very excited to be building that this year!  We also got to assist in the feeding program today.  We brought food to the kids.  It amazes me how these kids wait for everyone to be served and Pastor to pray before they eat, even though it is likely the only food they will get that day.

Side note…Forgot that before we went to the church, we visited a local school.  Joy shared with the classes.  Ever the teacher…  Kids loved having heir picture taken and were fascinated by my iPhone.  Yep, it’s even cool in Haiti.

My favorite part of the day occurred at the church this morning.  I got to see the child I sponsor, Jemica.  When Pastor told her I was the one who sponsored her (made sure she got food and clothes and will get to go to school when she is older, she came up and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  I absolutely melted.  Made me so happy!  I know I am just one person, but I get to make a difference in her life.  If you want to know more about sponsoring a child, visit http://www.restorehaiti.com.  If I remember how, I’ll add a link to the right.

Ok, long day tomorrow.  I am tearing down a house that was damaged in the earthquake and isn’t safe.  Therefore, I should sleep.  I did add a new Pic of Jemica.  Hope you enjoy!