Saturday - 28 June - Homecoming

Today we complete our trip.

Our shuttle driver this morning was from Peru. He had been here 16 years, and spoke excellent English. We had an extended conversation all the way to the airport. When we tried to tip him, he refused several times. Finally he said that we had paid him in advance by our work in Haiti.

At the ticket counter, there was a college student in front of us whose bag exceeded the size limit by one inch. His mother had traveled with it many times without problems. It is a different time, and the ticket agent said he had been reprimanded for letting people slip by, so he could no longer do that. Now the young man was stuck with stiff overage fees, a flight leaving in less than an hour, and no money to pay the fees. Someone on our team covered his fees. The ticket agent was delighted and thanked us for being Good Samaritans.

TSA continued their record of confused performance - one guard telling me to take my notebook through the metal detector with me - the next guard sending me back to leave my notebook with the first guard. The third guard made Fred prove that his cigarette lighter worked, and then confiscated it as unallowable. Bear in mind this lighter has been seen in 3 other US and 6 Haitian security checks this trip.

Please pray for the Department of Homeland Security. Our safety lies in the hands of under-trained and disgruntled people. So today before we took off, God has showed us the face of love and the need to spread his love.

Finally we arrived in Newport News. Now THAT seemed surreal! The first people to greet us home were Jane and Bill Martin! They had scheduling changes, evidently, and were headed out as we were coming in (we thought they might have greeted us in Atlanta, but this was a great surprise anyway). Outside we were greeted by Bob and Iris Lewis - Iris had bags full of breakfast on ice, bless her! Deb Vollmer was there, Hiromi O'Keefe, John and Delores Fleming, Dick Gray, Dan Little's girlfriend, Andrea, Mr. Little, Ann Meyers... Please forgive me if I left anyone out...it was like a whirlwind to me. After we got our bags, we gathered around for a prayer of Thanksgiving, and then we went home!

We came, we served, we loved in Christ's name. We are done here for now and we are returning to our church - the people we love. Our mission is not done... there are Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. They all need to experience the love of Christ. What did you do today to spread the Good News?

Bondye beni ou (God Bless You!)

Friday - 27 June - Departure

Thursday night we had "the last supper:" spaghetti, green beans, Haitian bread, and peaches for dessert. We tried to eat sparingly, since we had not worn ourselves out for the past two days. We spoke of what had been done, and what we had to do on our return. We gave Bruce and Deb messages from Iris and Deborah. We heard the story of Bruce and Deb's romance and marriage. It was hard to leave this table of friendship and service. We returned to pack and assemble our leavings (lots of leavings!)
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Oh, by the way, Pat got his glasses back Thursday evening. Neva, one of Bruce's men, asked around and found someone on a "tap-tap" (jitney) had stopped and picked them up. He tracked the tap-tap to its village and started asking questions, and a mother came forward with the glasses her boy had brought home. God works in his ways!
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Bruce showed up early this morning (he usually does) but we were almost done with breakfast. Soon we were packed and underway. On the way we saw many of the sights we had seen from disconnected viewpoints - now they unrolled before us in a different, united perspective. As Ruben, our driver, drove us through the big river and into Port de Paix, the places I saw as squalid poverty on the way in looked bright and thriving - the streets were even tarred.

At the airport Pastor Chrisbon helped us and stayed with us until we got on our flight. "It's a dirt strip," Pat mused, almost as if he had forgotten our landing. We had passed through this airport so quickly this airport had seemed like a blur. The plane seemed newer and more spacious than the one we rode out on, and after two weeks of bouncing around in Bruce's truck, the bouncing around in the air seemed much less violent. We landed in Port au Prince and clung to our bags as we surged through the gauntlet of porters this time -- almost lost one, but Maria was hot on its tail and got it back. We waited and waited and waited. There are five chairs in the Port au Prince airport for travelers. Inside a frosted glass cubicle there are several other chairs for the guards. The floor was fairly clean on this side.

Finally, at 4 PM, we were allowed to check our bags and get our tickets for Air France. We went upstairs and prowled through the duty-free area for a while. Eventually we moseyed to the gate and took off. We landed in Miami at 10:30. Maria called Deborah to let her know we had arrived safely, and I sent an e-mail to Bruce, as he had requested. At half past midnight - to bed!

Day 10 - Thursday - 26 June

Today is our last full day in Haiti. Sad to leave - glad to return.

Elaine Minch mentioned she though this place would be a lot like the Philippines (PI). On the first day, as we drove outside of Port de Paix, I mentioned to Bruce that I thought I had seen poverty in the PI, but this was much worse. He said, "This is the relatively well off section of town. It got worse. Eventually we saw areas of arid scrub where people lived, but I am not sure how.

Wednesday we finished the blackboards. The adults dropped out one by one as it became clear the younger ones were doing quite well at both problem solving and doing the work.

In the afternoon, we went to see an irrigation dam and a sedimentation dam on the Mosquito River. We had hiked almost half a mile through banana and corn fields, but to proceed we decided to follow a goat path up a near vertical escarpment and intercept Bruce and the Land Rover as they bounced by on the road. We drove and walked along the river further upstream to see the site of a planned 30-foot dam. Then we drove past the spring that feeds Passe Catabois "aqueduct" then into the hills where we hiked about 3/4 mile to the spring for the pipes that feed Mayette, and go nearly to the ocean. We passed cows, pigs, goats, and a bass and soprano sheep duet, all tethered in the shade along the river to forage.

We forded the Mosquito a couple of times on rocks and pushed through a small stand of thorns to get to the spring house that provides 160 gallons per minute to the many "fountains" below. The spring was putting abut 200 gpm out at the time we were there, and the overflow was led to the river via a small canal. The spring is evidently located on a fault, which allows the underlying aquifer to bubble up through a crack in the shale.

(My writing was interrupted here by my son, who insisted I accompany him to the nearest dam, to see some truly awesome views. There was a beautiful little box canyon, with the river snaking around the edge, and a dam in one corner. Then the kids tried to drag us a couple miles further and after some near-falls on the precipitous trails, we came back. They do not have switchbacks in Haiti, for the most part.)

The vista of mountain and valley were awesome. Kester described it as "surreal." What a beautiful world God has entrusted to us. Bruce described some aspects of the integrated water management plan to us. This is an encouragement, bringing rainfall, surface water, and underground resources into play with dams, wells, and drainage, together in concert to feed his sheep, while the men who are building also provide spiritual nourishment to the people.

It has been suggested to me that I do not provide such details of the dinners, lest people sign up just for the meals. I must say, though, it was again great and vanished before us.

We played Catch Phrase and Bananagram until 10 and retired for an early morning.

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This morning we are up early to go to the beach. We had a misunderstanding of the time, but we got underway and drove past the salt flats and fertile Mosquito River plain. We spent some time relaxing on the beach of Mosquito Bay. Christopher Columbus spent Christmas Day 1492 anchored here. He named it Conception Bay.

That is all for today - power is going.

Day 9 - Wednesday - June 25

The pictures I am putting up now are from the early days, and you may have to click on "older entries" near the bottom of the page to go to them. I have been able to push a couple more up today, but the satellite and the ground transmission station have not been cooperative here. I have made the pictures very small, but to little avail. Also, I have finally posted the input for Sunday. I had tried and tried to get this posted, but circuits work much more poorly here than they do in the states. I thank God for what I have been able to do. I will be patient as I complete this - some may have to wait until our return.

I get another day of maintenance, because Bruce is too sick to work the bulldozer, so we will not have dirt to tamp at the river church. He is up and about, but wisely taking it easy. We are finishing blackboards this morning, and going to visit the dam this afternoon. I was looking forward to another workout...

The baby girl we asked you to pray for is now taking her mother's milk. The doctor was hopeful, since girl babies tend to be stronger than boys, that her survival chances are pretty fair. Only God knows, of course, so we continue to pray.

There was a malaria mosquito inside my netting last night, but I got her before she got me. The medicine evidently just suppresses the symptoms, rather than cure the disease. We are all very careful about armoring ourselves with DEET.

Dinner last night was absolutely ambrosial! Deb called it Yankee Tacos -- basically homemade chili over corn muffins (build to taste). It was the best chili I ever tasted. There were no leftovers (not my fault!).

Day 8 - Tuesday - 24 June

This morning is rather slow. Kester left with the surveying crew at 6 AM. Yes, mother he was on the truck at six! Pretty incredible, I know. It is a civil engineering thing. Bruce is spending the day in bed. We will be known as the team that wore Boss Bruce out, I suppose, but it was a very smart thing for him to do. The rest of us poked around until Deb came up and laid out the specifics of how Bruce wanted us to paint the blackboards. There is limited space to work, so I get to play catch-up here. I think in the cooler part of the afternoon, we may be going to paint the portico at Bruce and Deb's -- we would like to do that, anyway.

If you look back, you will see I am starting to get some pictures posted. It is very slow work, but I will continue, except when I have to shut down because of low power, like when the freezer is running.

More later.

Day 7 - Monday - 23 June

I will recover yesterday's stuff when I can. I wanted to put up something for today then let others check their emails.

This morning we spent a couple of hours walking through the market. Then we stopped by the hospital, where we prayed for a little girl that was born at 3AM this morning. She is not more than 7 months toward term. The baby is about 1.5 kg, and looks as small as a kitten. We prayed, as heartfelt as I think we have ever prayed. The baby moved a bit while we were praying, but the mother, Ann Rose, was still as a stone. We then went to the clinic and met the Dutch doctor, Ann Maria. You should have seen the look of delight on her face when Becky started speaking to her in Dutch! She took a moment to look at Pat's rash. It is just some vegetation reaction, evidently.

Bruce seems to be having some bad reaction to the car air conditioning - some of us are coughing because of it. We went to La Bousse, where we started painting originally. We finished up a couple walls there, we painted the church, and we hung two doors. Then we came home. Pat had lost his hat and glasses on the way and did not want to be a bother, so said nothing till our arrival. I think he may be exhausted by the heat - his instructions to Kester while he was trying to hang the door were nearly incomprehensible. I helped Kester finish the doors in the broiling afternoon sun. Then I thought I was going to be sick by the time we finished. I am still exhausted, so going to get a cold shower and rest. Bless Sandi and Becki for fixing cold lemonade for us on arrival, and please - pray for the little girl - she does not even have a name yet. How can a country so beautiful, and a people so beautiful, be so messed up? (We know why, and will tell you on our return.)

After supper, we came back and chatted for a while. Sandi, Pat and I were the last to leave Bruce & Deb's compound. By the time we got to the end of the driveway, we were immersed in a tar bucket! We were clearly not on the road. We had depended on the moonlight on previous nights. I had to stumble back to Bruce's and borrow a flashlight. Bruce said, "Just look up and use the stars," but that does not help much with foot placement amongst the loose rocks and donkey droppings! I do not think I have every seen it so dark.

Later most of the team engaged in a game called Catch Phrase, which generated much hilarity. Becky noticed the doorknob moved when she started to go to the restroom -- if you have seen palmetto bugs, you will have some understanding of how big these roaches are. One of the guys stunned the roach. Then a medium-sized banana spider (about two inches across) was discovered near the computer. Since the roach was still moving slightly, it was decided to feed the spider. The roach was placed about a foot away from the spider, and the spider immediately spread its front legs in preparation for attack. After about ten minutes of inactivity, Dan flicked the roach toward the spider, who leaped into the air and grappled with the roach. Nature took its course from that point until Fred said, "I wonder how it reacts to light." He shined his flashlight on the spider, who snatched up his prey and departed, in a flash, so to speak. Someone has pictures of this encounter, which I will post later.

Day 6 - Sunday - 22 June

Good Sunday morning, all. I have not completed the entries for yesterday, but thought I would go ahead and start today's entries. We are going to worship at Mayette today, and participate in a Haitian meal afterwards. Hopefully I will have time to catch up this afternoon. It is the Sabbath, but I find that writing this is very inspirational to me (sort of like an "examen"), and Jesus showed us it was ok to be about our Father's work on the Sabbath.

Debbie Ames, I hope you did not worry too much about the pavilions, because it didn't matter anyway! I appreciate your work!
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More later.

5:52 PM Ha! Two hours of update - gone!!! It is getting too dark now.
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Today we worshipped at Mayette, the church that DPC has supported for quite some time. This is the church where we added steps and the pad yesterday. The church is located in a cornfield, which is visible through the windows on three sides of the church. This is a real praise, since the corn is not usually so tall or so green in June. Sunday School was held in the sanctuary, then after a two-minute pause, the church service started at ten.

Bruce introduced us, and we sang "Lord, We Lift Your Name on High." There was a quartet of girls who sang two songs. While two of the hymns were in Creole and had unfamiliar tunes, we got to join in on "Praise the Lord (Let the People Rejoice)" in French at the end of the service. This hymnal starts over again at Hymn 1 about 18 times, so finding the right number 76 was not always easy. Bruce was kind enough to translate the sermon for us. This ministry could use a lot of prayer. Most of the men have gone off to the Dominican Republic to try to find work. There are a lot of trials for this minister and his congregation. Oh, yes, the service lasted one and one half hours. No more complaining!

After the service we shook everyone's hands and took a couple of pictures. Then we were off to Pastor Chrisbon's house for lunch. Madam Chrisbon is a saint -- well, I guess we all are, but there should be an extra star in her crown for the meals she puts together for mission teams and for Bruce for many years starting back in his single days. We had: Fried smushed plantains (like bananas), onion rings (the best I have ever tasted - no grease), a spicy bean and pepper salad, arrowhead root cassarole ("Yum, yum," Fred says), scalloped potatoes (with cheese and onions), a simmered beef dish, tender and lightly marinated in a slightly spicy sauce, and dark rice and beans (which we had already sampled at DPC). This last had a beef-based sauce to pour over it. To drink we had Coca Cola, Pepsi, or Teem from glass bottles. I always think Coke tastes best out of a glass bottle. My bottle was from Trinidad.

After our bodies were nourished, we heard Pastor Chrisbon's story. He has been preaching here for 27 years. He was very pleased because this past week at the evangelism conference, there were several people who came to Christ. Today a witch doctor who practiced in Port de Paix accepted Christ as her savior. Tomorrow she will be turning in her equipment, including two meteorites and a double-edged dagger, "powerful" tools.

Speaking of witch doctors, they are all around. A barber-pole shows you where you can get a haircut. In a similar fashion, witch doctors can be recognized by the multi-colored flags they fly on 20-30 foot poles at the corners of their yard or compound. As we passed through one market, we could see six witchdoctors' houses. There are others throughout the countryside.

When we got back to our compound, the kids went to a soccer game, and I worked on the blog, without success. Supper was popcorn and lemonade. Deb got a well-deserved break. We talked more of Pastor Chrisbon and of the early days of this mission. God has truly led these people forward.

Note: Those of you who question the term "smushed" have just never seen a plantain smusher. Ask Sandy or Becky!