Haiti day 10...

This is Pastor Serimi, we went to his church on our 2nd Sunday in Haiti.  There was a guest preacher and he spoke English!  Bonus!

 My kids asked if I was on my knees in this picture, nope, he is just that big!  He had the cutest laugh and he would pump his fists when singing, reminded me of a big ol' teddy bear!

 There was rerod sticking up on many buildings including Pastor Serimi's church.  They said that they leave it when they run out of money and finish it later when they have the money.  Somehow I don't think this would fly here!

 This little guy was walking around bawling, until he got some chips, that made him a tad bit better!

 This KILLED me, that precious woman is sweeping the dirt!  Ugggh, why do people have to live like this?so.sad.lifes.not.fair...

 Our amazing driver Bob showed his mad parking skills when he eeked into this tight spot at Pastor Jorel's house!  Even he was amazed!

 The lovely little Grace...So cute!

 And the dapper Pastor Jorel!

 Inside Pastor Jorel's house he has boxes of books that his wife sells at the market.

 Praying over several of the guys and their wives.

 Love this little guy Estelle.  Such a sweetie and adorable too.

 Dinner at Pastors house was very good, we were allowed to eat everything this time, not just the beans & rice.  Beans & rice dinner #8!

Estelle came to me with a 3D puzzle, I HATE puzzles, but patiently tried to put the dumb thing together, {look at that sweet face!} finally Sylvia came over and figured it out for me!  Thanks Sylv!

 One of the girls gave Wilkenson a hymnal, and of course lots of singing ensued!

Once home, Jessica was helping Katool to learn some English grammar.  I noticed that he always carried a children's book in English with him and would read it any time he could.
Our last full day in Haiti was once again a great one.  I didn't get pictures so I almost forgot about all the people that would hear we were in town and stop by the house.  They usually had some sort of ailment that required attention so we would offer them a sandwich and glass of water and Bev would check them out.  We would always scurry around and make up a goody bag of things for them to take home and pray with them.  It was great when we could help in some small way, and they always were so thankful and sweet.  Just another memory I want to jot down from our trip.

Haiti day 9...

This was our sight seeing day. 

 We went up the mountain in a direction we had never gone before, we were excited to see another area of Haiti.

 Our first stop was this cute little touristy artisans market, and a beautiful look out area.

 Everyone is pointing to the huge mass grave site that was made after the earthquake, it is right next to a large stadium and was much bigger.  So.sad.

 You can see it below right in the middle of the picture there is a large area that is a little bit blueish, the stadium is on the right.

 the mountains on the left side of the picture beyond the water is where we were all of our big driving days.

We loaded up on the truck and the guys were still trying to sell us stuff!

 Funny story about that walking stick that the beautiful Masalee is holding...I bought 3 of these pod shaker thingys  {she has one in her other hand,} and was waiting for my change back when the guy gives me this stick instead.  Well, since I was only waiting for less than $2, I thought it was a good enough deal so I took it.  However, it occurred to me AFTER I bought it, that it was not going to fit in my carry on on the way home, and quite possibly not in any luggage we were bringing back! Oops!  I was greatly relieved to find that a few others fell for the stick change thing and we were in the same situation!  We got a laugh out of it and they did fit into our bag on the way home.

 We went up to the Baptist mission and ate lunch and shopped around there a bit too.

The scenery up there was amazing. You could see where they terrace farm on the mountainside.

 I found it funny that every time we ate with the Haitians they had chicken,{along with the beans and rice,} and guess what they ordered when we took them out to lunch?  Chicken!  They must really love it.

 Our group at the famous Hotel Montana.  We were there on the anniversary of the earthquake and there were lots of people there having a special memorial service.

 On the way home we saw this tree on fire.

We stopped at a market to buy food for the dinner we were hosting for the guys who helped us all week.  By the time we got home, it was time for them to arrive, and we hadn't one thing ready!  Here I am peeling carrots for the soup as the people are arriving!  We pulled it all off just fine and had a great night fellowshipping, and of course singing with everyone.

Haiti day 8...

This was our last conference, and by far our best.  Not sure if it was because we worked out all the kinks or they were just much more receptive, probably a combination of both.  During our teaching time, we did a hand washing demonstration with a black light and some 'fake germ' powder and had them wash their hands.  We also painted their nails with clear polish, we tried to do this at the 2nd conference but ran out of time, this time it went so smoothly.  It was fun. 

 Look at this little cutie!  Oh my, she was such a sweetie!  This trip was good for me because all of these babies had loving moms and dads so I didn't feel the need to take them all home with me!  This is a precious miracle baby of Isaiah and his wife.  Such an awesome family serving faithfully in Haiti.

 This cracked me up, clock, still in the box, but up on the wall, and running...

Wilkenson's darling kids.

 This is another one of my favorite memories from the trip, during the sewing class, the ladies made purses, and our guys decided to make one too.  I laughed when I saw them trying to make their tiny stitches, they were concentrating and working so hard! Dukas was proud of the one he made for his wife, but Bob ditched his and ran off!  

 After the conference we did the medical clinic and I got to do blood pressures the whole time.  I enjoyed doing this as I could smile and hold their hands and look them each in the eye. Without speaking their language, I felt this was one of the ways I could connect with them and almost always, I would get a huge smile in return!

 After the conference, we were invited to the pastors house across the street for beans and rice! Bean and rice dinner #7!
These people were amazing, they had several other people living with them and had adopted a few kids whose parents were killed in the earth quake and a couple more whose parents couldn't care for them for whatever reason.  Such vibrant and loving people being Jesus to those around them.

This is our ladies trying to be discreet and get money out of the hidden places!

 We had seen the sugar cane for sale all week, and finally tried some, I'm not a fan!  It was sweet enough, but it left splinters in my mouth, yuck!

 Since the last conference was nearby, we actually had a bit of down time at the house and Wilkenson and his family came over.  The kids were so much fun to watch, though hearing their laughter made me miss my kids.

 Several children's story bibles were donated by someone from our church and we gave them to Pastor Jorel for his Sunday school teachers.  He was really excited about them, and the kids started reading them right away.  They were in Haitian Creole, but one was in English, and the little guy could read them both!

It was another fun day in Haiti, the weather was hot, sunny and gorgeous and the company was great! It was pretty amazing to go with this many women and not have any issues, we all got along so well!