Haiti Trip Journal Entry Day 5
Thursday, June 5th
Another early morning but sooner than expected from the alarm clock as I awoke from the lack of the humming sound of the fans shutting off. We lost power at about 4 a.m. That means the solar panels didn't get enough juice from the overcast day yesterday. That's ok. I'll take the overcasts days for great days to paint! So no fans this morning which makes me sticky and super hot awfully fast. I tossed and turned a bit in bed until it was 5 a.m. and then it was time to get up anyway. Another awesome, God-sent day for painting!
My room-mate and I start the day with praying and listening to praise music on our phones. We have been drawn to the song "Write Your Story" and "Press On" as we know that God is writing each of our life story as we trust Him every step of the way. And when troubles and stumbles do come our way, we 'press on!'
Several second coats needed done today along with some touch-ups not to mention the entire mural section. Barb, Chuck, and I worked non-stop. The interns helped for a couple hours in the morning which was a huge help. They put on the templates of the birds, hands, and lizards, then touched up and second coated. Daniel helped do some leaves on the mural too. It was all important work in order to get this job done.
Barb and I put down a light wash for the base with wash cloths that we had packed with us. The brushes are horrible and stiff and the paint is like using Elmer's glue. All the more reason why it is a miracle of what this mural is going to turn out to look in any regards of the word "good."
We snacked for a quick lunch and then got right back to work. We worked straight through until 2:30 p.m. and at 2:30 we were to start the afternoon's Bible lessons. After a quick change of clothes and using baby wipes to clean our hands, we had 10 minutes to pack up and review our lesson before the Alex's House children would be back from their school day.
Today's lesson was a repeat of Tuesday's lesson that we had with the church community: Jesus Calms the Storm. Since we had a smaller group (about 80-90 kids) we could play more games and use the parachute with the beach balls that we had packed with us. The kids really enjoyed it and I tried to focus on their smiles and laughter because actually it got pretty hectic. The translators had slipped out of the room for a minute and so we had to ask the older boys to help us translate the directions for playing with the parachutes. We were simply trying to say "shake the parachute a little bit" and "shake it more and more" and then we could shake it strong and let all the balls pop around everywhere. The kids were so excited that they just went straight from one small shake to totally jumping those balls all over the place! Again, it got a little crazy, but I kept looking at their smiles.
Everything got settled down and we were able to sing a few more songs before passing out the waters and snacks to the village children as they left. I said "God bless you" to all the children on their way out as I knew I may never see them again and I truly wanted to send a prayer over them. I pray that they heard how much they are loved by Jesus and that today's message could stay in their hearts and minds.
Afterwards, the Alex's House kids were looking at the mural so I went down to watch them. Some of the older boys were most interested and just stood looking and looking at it. One of the boys, named Mickey, said, "It's beautiful." One boy was putting his hands on the painted hand-prints and I'm so glad I had walked down when I did. I'm also so glad I decided to paint the hand-prints brown and not white like the rest of the stencils' silhouettes.
I took a picture of his hand and my hand on the mural. It was a special moment. He looked at me with the sweetest brown eyes and said, "meci" witch means "thank you."
I brought some chalk for the sidewalk and passed it out to the little artists around me. They really liked it and some started to draw pictures while others just kept the chalk and held it. One boy drew a picture of a purple stick figure wearing a dress. I thought of him as not having a mother to draw her a picture.
Some of the children were gathered on the porch so I passed out coloring book pages to them and we all shared crayons. They sat on the floor of the porch to color where the cement was smooth. At the time of the dinner bell we said our goodbye's and I went next door to the guest house.
Dinner tonight was rice-a-roni for me and being it made a big portion I can use the rest for tomorrow night. That is the last of my cooking then here in Haiti.
We were all so tired out from the day but the interns wanted to go to the nearby beach resort. There is wifi there so I couldn't say no to getting in touch with my family!
It was about 8:15 p.m. and very dark. The driver took us in the pick-up-truck just a mile down the road to the resort. It was nice with garden shrubs and flowers. I was most amazed to see the green grass. It was so lovely and bright green. After seeing rocks and dirt roads and no color for four days, the grass was beautiful.
We sat by the pool and I was able to message Todd and the kids. My mom was at our home too so I was able to send a message to her as well. Back to the guest house, shower, bug spray up again for the tenth time in one day, then off to bed! What a day!
Thank you Lord for every beautiful thing that you have created. Children, all people, their talents, their smiles, the rocks, the sea, and even the green grass - you are an awesome artist Lord! You are the creator of love and laughter! Thank you that I can see that on the faces of your children in Haiti.
Thursday, June 5th
Another early morning but sooner than expected from the alarm clock as I awoke from the lack of the humming sound of the fans shutting off. We lost power at about 4 a.m. That means the solar panels didn't get enough juice from the overcast day yesterday. That's ok. I'll take the overcasts days for great days to paint! So no fans this morning which makes me sticky and super hot awfully fast. I tossed and turned a bit in bed until it was 5 a.m. and then it was time to get up anyway. Another awesome, God-sent day for painting!
My room-mate and I start the day with praying and listening to praise music on our phones. We have been drawn to the song "Write Your Story" and "Press On" as we know that God is writing each of our life story as we trust Him every step of the way. And when troubles and stumbles do come our way, we 'press on!'
Several second coats needed done today along with some touch-ups not to mention the entire mural section. Barb, Chuck, and I worked non-stop. The interns helped for a couple hours in the morning which was a huge help. They put on the templates of the birds, hands, and lizards, then touched up and second coated. Daniel helped do some leaves on the mural too. It was all important work in order to get this job done.
Barb and I put down a light wash for the base with wash cloths that we had packed with us. The brushes are horrible and stiff and the paint is like using Elmer's glue. All the more reason why it is a miracle of what this mural is going to turn out to look in any regards of the word "good."
We snacked for a quick lunch and then got right back to work. We worked straight through until 2:30 p.m. and at 2:30 we were to start the afternoon's Bible lessons. After a quick change of clothes and using baby wipes to clean our hands, we had 10 minutes to pack up and review our lesson before the Alex's House children would be back from their school day.
Today's lesson was a repeat of Tuesday's lesson that we had with the church community: Jesus Calms the Storm. Since we had a smaller group (about 80-90 kids) we could play more games and use the parachute with the beach balls that we had packed with us. The kids really enjoyed it and I tried to focus on their smiles and laughter because actually it got pretty hectic. The translators had slipped out of the room for a minute and so we had to ask the older boys to help us translate the directions for playing with the parachutes. We were simply trying to say "shake the parachute a little bit" and "shake it more and more" and then we could shake it strong and let all the balls pop around everywhere. The kids were so excited that they just went straight from one small shake to totally jumping those balls all over the place! Again, it got a little crazy, but I kept looking at their smiles.
Everything got settled down and we were able to sing a few more songs before passing out the waters and snacks to the village children as they left. I said "God bless you" to all the children on their way out as I knew I may never see them again and I truly wanted to send a prayer over them. I pray that they heard how much they are loved by Jesus and that today's message could stay in their hearts and minds.
Afterwards, the Alex's House kids were looking at the mural so I went down to watch them. Some of the older boys were most interested and just stood looking and looking at it. One of the boys, named Mickey, said, "It's beautiful." One boy was putting his hands on the painted hand-prints and I'm so glad I had walked down when I did. I'm also so glad I decided to paint the hand-prints brown and not white like the rest of the stencils' silhouettes.
I took a picture of his hand and my hand on the mural. It was a special moment. He looked at me with the sweetest brown eyes and said, "meci" witch means "thank you."
I brought some chalk for the sidewalk and passed it out to the little artists around me. They really liked it and some started to draw pictures while others just kept the chalk and held it. One boy drew a picture of a purple stick figure wearing a dress. I thought of him as not having a mother to draw her a picture.
Some of the children were gathered on the porch so I passed out coloring book pages to them and we all shared crayons. They sat on the floor of the porch to color where the cement was smooth. At the time of the dinner bell we said our goodbye's and I went next door to the guest house.
Dinner tonight was rice-a-roni for me and being it made a big portion I can use the rest for tomorrow night. That is the last of my cooking then here in Haiti.
We were all so tired out from the day but the interns wanted to go to the nearby beach resort. There is wifi there so I couldn't say no to getting in touch with my family!
It was about 8:15 p.m. and very dark. The driver took us in the pick-up-truck just a mile down the road to the resort. It was nice with garden shrubs and flowers. I was most amazed to see the green grass. It was so lovely and bright green. After seeing rocks and dirt roads and no color for four days, the grass was beautiful.
We sat by the pool and I was able to message Todd and the kids. My mom was at our home too so I was able to send a message to her as well. Back to the guest house, shower, bug spray up again for the tenth time in one day, then off to bed! What a day!
Thank you Lord for every beautiful thing that you have created. Children, all people, their talents, their smiles, the rocks, the sea, and even the green grass - you are an awesome artist Lord! You are the creator of love and laughter! Thank you that I can see that on the faces of your children in Haiti.
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