Monday June 14

Today is a good day. We tarped 7 - count them, 7! - houses today, plus we finished building the beds in an 8th one, so it will be ready for a tarp first thing tomorrow. We're working efficiently as teams now, and everyone is getting really good at their specific roles in the process. The last two work days with all of us here are going to be good ones... I can feel it!

We had a wonderful weekend of "rest"... some actual rest, and some fun activities :) Saturday we slept in a little [until 6:30-7ish] which was a nice break from the normal 5:15am! Mid-morning, we all piled in the back of a Diahatsu flatbed truck for a road trip to Jacmel, a city on the southern shore, about 2 hours over the mountains from Grand Goave. It was a fun ride, windy, curvy mountain highways, sunshine, wind in your hair... but we were all a little sore by the end of the day from bouncing around back there without too much padding! We stopped briefly at a hotel in Jacmel so Lex and Renee could take care of some arrangements for a wedding there on Thursday, and then drove another 20 minutes or so to the beach. This place was the definition of 'beachfront' restaurant - the tables and chairs were on the sand, right at the high tide line! We had conch, a whitefish of some kind, and lobster, fried plantains, and the standard rice and beans. It was delicious! After lunch, time for some bodysurfing and playing in the waves for a while, then back in the truck for the ride home. A great surprise from Lex and Renee on the way home - ice cream! Chocolate, and the best vanilla you've ever tasted. In conversations on the way home, David asked Olivia what her 'contentment level' was at that moment. I was at about a 10.8 [on a scale of 0 to 11]. It was a really good day. :D

Sunday morning was church, and Warren [one of the guys from the World Race team] taught while Pastor Lex translated. He talked about the necessity of biblical community, and especially having people in your life to rebuke you when you need correction, and to encourage you when you need encouragement. One thing about church in Haiti that I still find very interesting is that everyone - and I mean everyone - dresses up for church Sunday. They might live in the tent city across the street, but when they walk into church, they look their best. Nice dresses, dress shirts, suit pants... that's just what they do here. In a way, it's a kind of reverence that I think [at least our generation] has largely lost. Yes, the 'come as you are' method works well in churches today, but there's still something refreshing about dressing up for church.
[ I know, I know... who would have thought.... Kim Conrad enjoys wearing skirts sometimes.... we've all had our laugh, now we can move on. :) ]

The good morning at church was followed by a relaxing afternoon back at the beach property. card games were played, naps were taken, hair was braided... just a good day of rest to catch up from a week of working hard and a Saturday of playing hard. Today was a great day of work, and hopefully tomorrow and Wednesday continues that trend. Can't believe we're taking 9 people to the airport to fly home on Thursday! David has changed his ticket, and will be staying for the next 2 1/2 weeks with Caleb, Steph, Lauren, and myself. We're glad to have his help and mad French skills with us for a while longer. :)
Love you all!


To Him be the Glory!