Friday June 11

Hello friends! Sorry that it's been a few days since the last update. I promise we all still love you and think of you often!

So where to begin? It's been a great week. busy but productive, and tiring but definitely rewarding. We've hammered hundreds of nails, stretched miles of blue tarps, played with kids, sung worship songs, eaten lots of rice and beans, learned a few words of Creole, swam in the ocean, developed a new appreciation for a nice breeze, started some sweet tan lines, and sweat more than we ever thought the human body was capable of sweating. haha! It's definitely hot here, but everyone has adjusted fairly well to the heat. Pepe, the project foreman, always tells us 'break! break!'... meaning if we continue working a second more, he's not going to leave us alone until we take a break and drink some water in the shade. It's good to know he's looking out for us 'blancs'! (white people). It's been great to work alongside some of the Haitian workers here as well. They work so hard, and are so kind to us.

I lost track of the number of houses we've built so far, but it's probably around 18 or 20. Mission of Hope has partnered with Samaritan's Purse, and our team [as well as the World Race team that is here with us] has been working from about 7am to mid-afternoon each day constructing them. Here's the process: the 4 walls are already pre-fabricated, so all we do is attach them to each other, and make sure it's square. then anchors are dug for each corner, a 2x4 with a metal strip attached, which is then buried about 18 in deep at each corner and the metal is nailed to the corner of the house. Metal strips and brackets also attach the roof framing to the walls, and the wall studs to the bottom frame. The roof is framed in, then tin sheets are screwed on top. Three bunk beds are built into the right side, wall to wall, and a larger flat bed platform is set on the ground inside on the left. A large, heavy-duty blue tarp is then stretched all the way around the entire house and nailed into all the studs. the key is to make it as tight and wrinkle-free as possible... and trust me, that's harder than it sounds! Our team has really started to hit a groove and everyone is working well together. It's exciting to me to see team members who are very much out of their comfort zone still working hard and doing well.

The goal is to eventually complete 1200 homes! Don't know that we'll quite be able to get all those done during our time here.... but we're working on it. :) The work sites where our team has been are in Thozin, very near to (right across the highway) from the orphanage/school/church site. It's been really fun to be in the same area each day, getting to meet some of the families that live there. There are kids running around constantly, and a few of them know all our names!

Despite the situation they are in, so many people here have so much joy. There was an older man today who had the biggest grin on his face as he watched some of our team finish building a home for him and five of his grandchildren. That's what this is all about. It's about blessing people because we as Christ followers are called to bring hope into darkness, and care for the 'least of these'. I speak for the team when I say that the people we are here serving have impacted us in so many ways as well; this is definitely not a one-sided thing of us serving them, because we have learned so much from them as well. Haitian people are gracious and kind, and it has been wonderful to come alongside of them.

We are truly blessed, and thank you for your prayers for us! Tomorrow is an 'off' day... and we're going on a trip to Jacmel, a town along the southern shore about 2 hours from here. Lunch on the beach is the plan I heard.... and we're all about that! It will be good to have a day to rest and spend time with each other when we're not swinging hammers. :)
Love you all.

to Him be the Glory!