80° a clear bright night in Haiti. Entertaining ourselves watching the rats do a tight rope act on the power lines. Actually one one rat, one show per night.
More seriously, it has been another beautiful day for a mission trip, but then isn't every day a good day to serve Jesus?
Everyone was well and working today. Thank god. Many many conversations. Many, many new friends made.
We were back at village of Hope today. Projects included more plowing... Remember no matter what anyone tells you Ken is "ballast" not "dead weight."
We also assembld (actually fabricated) a loft for one of the houses belonging to a man named Saint Louis and his family. He was chosen because he is a model leader in the community. Kind of a reward or incentive. The problem was... Well we don't know what the problem was, but we got it up. It. Covers 1/2 the house at 7 feet high. Intended for storage not sleeping. We don't know how this one will be used. There are not very many houses that have these. I wish I would have taken a picture of St. Louis and his family with this phone camera so I could served it to you. You'll have to wait. You can see the loft, though.
You will see a picture of a foot bridge. (Yes, wives, we did walk on it!) We wanted to replace the missing decking (that is why we went there) but it turned out that materials are not available to do that. The interesting thing is, however that we got to see the dump truck being loaded look in the back ground (yes one shovel at a time) those men get about $3 for loading that truck. They delivered to the hotel in the morning, the village in the afternoon and back to the hotel with logs in the evening. (did they make more trips between there? Perhaps) We were in awe of those men. Don't tell me that the economic problems here are caused by laziness. Until we have shoveled 2-4 dump truck loads of large rocks (picture baked potato size) and loaded a truck full of Logs,... And Then be able get up to do it all over again tomorrow, we should keep our pampered mouths closed.
Sure there is a culture of begging, and expecting charity, but that does not at all represent what We have seen in our new friends. They work circles around us for very little pay, doing whatever they can to support their families.
House #50 has the roof on and #51 has a foundation. Tomorrow will be the last day working at the village. We will return to worship with then on Sunday. I have the opportunity to preach! (the rumc people thought they were getting something better this we weekend... Sorry.)
We are making plans for our work at the orphanage (Consolation center) for the remainder of the time. We will do a variety of things including renting a bus to take the girls to the beach on Saturday. Not your normal. Mission trip project. We will all enjoy it, but it is requiring an unexpected opportunity to give. (It is not Cheap) God is good, though, and we have it figured out.
One of the highlights of the day was our free "garage sale." Kim organized all the things we personally brought to donate. This included underwear, clothes, especially hats and t shirts, wooden cars (from my dad) tabby blankets, coloring books, crayons, necklaces and more. (most of the personal care items except underwear are on their way via Ken DeYoung who will be here in the next days. They will be distributed then.)
The children sang to us and everyone thanked us. But the real thanks came with the distribution. I sat mesmerized as each family came to the door of the house and Jasmine handed things out as she thought they needed.
I passed out toy cars to little boys, necklaces to girls, tabby blankets to babies, and coloring books and crayons. Did we think we had enough? Not a chance... When we saw e everyone together I was embarrassed at the paltry offering we had. (just a couple of loaves and a few fish) But we saw two things.
1. When we handed out the last of the little toy things, Wasson came in to say that this was the last of the families from the village. Does God provide or what? You know when God provided mana in the wilderness there was no extra. Everything that was not needed, rotted. Sometimes God provides JUST enough with no leftovers. We are so used to excessive bounty. We could use a lesson on DAILY bread. (not weekly bread) Just enough is still enough!
2. We saw true thanks giving. Faces beamed smiles from ear to ear. A Hat for a teenage young man. A car for a 4 year old. A new tshirt for mom. The thing is that each and every one knew that we brought it, but knew who REALLY sent it. It is God who provides all things.
Don't have "anything" to wear... Stop.
Don't have the newest video game console... Stop.
Don't have enough time to go to the gym... Stop.
Look at the gifts God has given you since before you were born! Look at the bounty good has spread before you today! Do you really think God will let you down tomorrow? "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good! His steadfast love endures forever " God is good all the time... All the time good is good.
blessings,
terry
sent from my s3
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