Wall Update:

Well here we are on the wall; so far the section that the chapel had money for is almost complete! The workers have done a great job, and finished that part of the wall in about two weeks! In those two weeks we were able to raise (we think, and have not totalled it all up yet) enough to start on the next part! Praise the Lord :) However that leaves us with just a couple more weeks to raise more money to keep going! How cool would it be to raise enough money these next couple weeks to keep going on the wall?!?! That is my prayer!

Here are the workers laying the blocks for the new wall!

The new wall!

On the left is the new wall.

On the right is the old wall that they will soon break down.

This is the view from the street.

What has been accomplished so far! Praise the Lord!!

The construction on the walls around our neighborhood has been going well! The workers are working diligently and have almost finished the wall next to our house. That means that they will probably start on our wall next week. Thank you for those who have been praying about this! We have had no problems with unwanted guests, and the Lord has kept us safe!

The wall next to our house (our house is not the castle looking one in this picture, it is to the right of the wall shown). They did a great job!

School

Yesterday Luke and I needed to go to the market. On our way back we were stopped at a red light when Luke saw a lady who was selling corn (cattle corn is what we call it) on the side of the street on her little coal grill. Luke turned to me and wondered if he should buy on. "Are you serious?" I asked him and before I knew it he was in his wallet getting money out to buy one. We called the lady over to our car, and with her she brought four of these cobs. Luke talked to her and found out how much it was, but our light turned green and we needed to get going. Do not worry though we managed to get three of these delicious looking corn on the cobs! It tastes like popcorn, but burnt and it is on a cob. It was a fun experience. Now that I have eaten off the street (which we do not so because of risk, but some things are ok), Luke is going to try to get me to get a chicken dinner.....the answer is already no! Luke ate all his corn, we gave the other to the guy at the gas station, and this is what I ate of mine....then I gave it to the cows. They loved me :)

Today was my first day teaching English. I had done some small lessons earlier, but mostly read books and worked on reading comprehension. I started the morning with the 6th graders. It was so fun because I worked with most of these guys last summer. They have grown so much and are so smart!!! I am so proud of them! We worked on some grammar and vocabulary. At the end we played pictionary....I gave them vocab words to draw and the team had to guess which word it was. It was a lot of fun, and these guys really get into it :)

My next class is the fourth graders. These guys need a lot of help with their English. They have a lot of vocab words and can spell anything! They just need a little more work on verbs and putting sentences together. I am having so much fun with them! Today we focused on writing what they were going to do this afternoon and what their favorite animals is and why. Their paragraphs were well written! When we were coloring our pictures we were just talking and I was getting to know them more. They have all heard about Michael Jackson and asked me why he was black when he was little, but when he grew up he was white? That one was a hard one to answer! We managed to get away from the topic, and I had a blast laughing with them, and listening to them quiz me in creole :). I cannot wait for tomorrow!

"it's gone"

Our guard Milo came to me this morning and asked if he could run home because he got a call saying that the bulldozers are in his neighborhood. He just got back a few minutes ago. He looked at me as I pulled thought the gate and with tears said: "Yo craze li net" (they destroyed it). Milo has a wife and two kids and with no warning is now homeless because the government wants to make a road. Please pray for him. He has a friend he can stay with for now, but it's temporary.

Pray also for the Chapel that it can raise the funds it needs to complete the wall before the bulldozers come down this road.

UPDATE: Milo's wife was able to get a couple of suitcases out of the house before the bulldozers took it down. They still lost most of their clothes, all of their furniture, their fridge, etc. He thinks what probably happened was someone working with the dozers stole the fridge. So for now He is staying with a friend and his wife and kids are staying with another. He'll start looking for a new place tomorrow and this weekend. Hopefully he can find something decent. He's also hoping the landlord will work with him and refund his rent. In Haiti many landlords require people to pay their rent for the whole year up front, Milo did this in December. Unfortunately there is probably not a "if the government knocks down the house and steals my stuff" clause, so he's probably at the mercy of the landlord.

Sherrie Fausey gave us some clothes for his kids yesterday and we have some who should be able to help with relocation. We're praying right now that the landlord will do what is right and that Milo can find a decent new place.

the way it's supposed to be

It was an interesting and exciting sight this morning at the Chapel during the first worship set. Leading us in song was a Haitian at the piano, a Cuban (flew in just a few days ago) alternating between the flute and the sax, a helicopter pilot with the Chilean army (here with the UN) at the keyboard, a Guatemalan (also here with the UN) at the drums, another Cuban on bass, an American as lead vocal and four Haitians as backup vocals. In the congregation was a general from the Dominican army (who would be preaching at the spanish service that resumed today) and people from the US, Canada, Europe and South America representing several evangelical denominations, missions and organizations. As I was standing there singing, I looked up at our worship team that was caught up in what they were singing and then around at the congregation who was also caught up in the music - it was amazing. No one was concerned with the incredible cultural differences that were present this morning, we were all united around the one thing that transcends nationality, profession, economic status, and every other division that man has constructed - the Almighty God who has revealed Himself and made Himself accessible to us through His Son. It wasn't perfect this morning, but it was definitely a taste of what Church is supposed to be. What a privilege it was to preach Ephesians 1 to a congregation like that this morning.

And the walls came tumbling down.........

Well this is not a Bible lesson on what happened to Jericho, but there are lots of walls coming down in Haiti. In March (I believe) the Mayor went around and marked on some walls letting the owners know that they needed to move their wall back however many meters was painted on their walls. Now this is great because the purpose is to widen the roads and pave them, and there is a lot of work for the Haitians. Good news, however, it also raises a lot of concern because the point of the walls is for security reasons. If you take down your wall before building another one you are exposed! Now some people are building the new wall first and then knocking down the old wall, but their are others (like the ones on our street) who are just knocking down the old wall to reuse the rocks for their new wall. So, as you can see there is a lot going on here!

Paint on the wall telling how much the wall needs to move back

Getting things in place to mix the cement and start building!



Here the workers first broke down the old wall using sledge hammers and now using the rocks to build the new wall

The Chapel wall is one of those walls that need to be moved back. I do not remember how long the wall is, but trust me it is super long! To move the wall back 2 meters is going to cost $38,000.00!! That is a ton of money that they do not have right now. If the wall does not get done then the Mayor will come and bulldozer it down! Please pray that they will get the money they need.

One side of the chapel wall

The other side of the chapel wall

We are ended our second week here in Haiti! We brought Karl and Ann to the airport on Tuesday, and they have arrived in the states safe and sound. Luke is working hard preparing for church on Sunday and I am gearing up to teach this coming week!

This is Luke working really hard on his sermon for Sunday :)
(We staged this, he really wasn't sleeping.....atleast when I was in his office) :)

There have been lots of baby goats roaming the street and this little guy just made himself home under our car....he is so cute, I just had to show you :)

Week 1

We are ending out first week in Haiti. Luke has been working with Pastor Karl with things at the chapel as well as the house. I have been getting things settled and unpacked while spending time with Ann. Pastor Karl and Ann will be leaving Tuesday and heading to the states for furlough. Please pray for safe traveling.

Friday I went with Pastor Karl and Luke to Sherry's house to talk with her about what I can help her with this summer. It looks like helping with summer school, and working with the children from the orphanage that have recently come to stay with her. The children were out in the country side, but after the hurricanes destroyed their home, and they were left without food for about two weeks; Sherry had them moved to her house. They are so cute :) After my meeting with Sherry, Luke and Pastor Karl were expecting some Haitian Pastor's to come over for an introductory class. Pastor Karl will Begin classes with these guys when he gets back from the states, and wanted to meet with them before he left. Luke got to tag along and meet them. At the end they closed with prayer.

Here is Luke closing the class with prayer

Sherry and the Haitian Pastor's praying

So you may be asking yourself; "well I wonder what Becca was doing while Luke was meeting with the Pastor's?" well let me show you :)

I was busy playing with the children from the orphanage :) They are so much fun, and loved the chance to practice their English! I cannot wait to get back over there!

On our way home we needed to stop and get some more water. While Pastor Karl and Luke were getting the bottles changed I spotted a lady selling vegetables walking down the road..... I am not sure I could ever do this! She is talented!

We are excited to be here and cannot wait to see what our second week has in store!

Rain

I went over to Erik's house this afternoon to bring him a calculator and thought since I was so close I would swing by AFCA and say hello to Vivian. It began raining lightly as I pulled through the gate going into AFCA but I didn't think to much of it and continued up the hill to Vivian's house. After a very brief visit I decided to leave because it was beginning to downpour. I got into the car, put it into reverse and gently let the clutch out - the car went sideways. I knew this was not going to be fun. Fast forward 10 minutes and I had about 6 guys in their skivvies (they didn't want to get their clothes wet) helping push me out of the mud. Finally after we all got drenched and covered in mud, the vehicle was free. I gave them each some money, threw my muddy self into the drivers seat and started heading home. Traffic, as I expected, was a nightmare. I thought I would try taking Rue Faustin because I knew Delmas would be a parking lot because of the rain. When I got up to Faustin though I immediately had to made a u-turn because it had literally turned into a river. I saw one guy trying to make it up but the water was up over the top of his wheels and he was going nowhere. I had no choice, I had to make my way out to Delmas and take the paved roads. So after sitting in traffic forreevveerr I finally made it back to the Chapel. My pants were caked with a layer of mud and my shirt and face were splattered with it. I was completely soaked. I hope the rest of my driving this summer doesn't turn out to be as adventurous.