Haiti January 18, 2012

You would never guess what I did today. OK, you guessed it–I went back to Port. Simon and I have had to go to Port au Prince eight days in a row. That is a record, by far, but the good news is we got back today by 1:00. It was so nice to spend some time with the guys and do a little work.

We all worked a little on the serving table, but Ken and Joe have put the most time into it. Bryan really did a great job today sanding it down. We forgot to get wood putty for the nail holes, and there was no way I was going to go back to Port to buy it, so George and I mixed up some Gorilla glue and sawdust and made our own–it turned out fine. As you will see in the photos, the cabinet doors are on now, so all that’s left to do is varnish them and put the knobs on. It is really going to look nice.

Today was a big day because Karl, Bill and Bryan finished running the drain line outside the building so they could run the washer. They did two loads of laundry today–you will see the clothes hanging on the lines outside in the photo. Who would have ever thought we would have a washing machine?

After washing, Chuck had to get some boys to pump water into 5-gallon buckets to carry over and put into our 55-gallon drum, so that we could pump it up to our 300-gallon cistern. Each load in the washing machine goes through about 30 gallons of water. I know some of you are saying, you should have bought one that doesn’t use so much water. I thought that would be a good idea, too, until I saw that they were $1200 more–we can carry a lot of water for $1200.

After dinner Chuck, Ken, Simon and I went to Jerusalem IV and showed the ‘Jesus film.’ There were around 200 people there. You could have heard a pin drop in there if it wasn’t for the dirt floor; everyone was listening intently. Afterward I spoke to them about how Jesus came that we may have an abundant life, and how He died for us so that we could have an eternal life. When we were finished something happened to me that has never happened in the 12 years I have been coming to Haiti–I was given a turkey! You will see it in the photos. I guess we will have it for dinner tomorrow. I told them I didn’t want to get too attached to it, so I gave it to Simon and told him to take it to wherever they keep turkeys.

As I have said so many times, it is an adventure when you follow the Lord. You never know where you’re going, or who you’re going to meet, or what He has behind the next door . . . it could be a turkey!