The Cockroach!

Sunday afternoon

 

Hey Love,

I plan on writing you an extended message tonight. Church was good today, and we played basketball afternoon (competitive games! But fun). I'm off to dinner right now. Tomorrow we'll already be back in the States! I think the next two days will fly by! Can't wait to see you!!!

At the Pool

Jean Pierre

This is a very nice kid named Jean Pierre (John Peter). He's 16 years old, and he's one of the kids who helps translate when other kids or leaders cannot speak english. He's a very good soccer player. "I want to be your friend" and "Please do not forget me" are two of the most common phrases these kids say to visitors.

The Soccer Field

This is really their soccer field! It's right by the orphanage trash pile (there's no city garbage collection). There are rats throughout the garbage, and some of these kids play barefoot. If the ball goes into the garbage, sometimes they race in there to get it! It's crazy!

Video

This video is about EBAC's playground. It's in pretty bad shape. The video below is from the plane ride. If you can't here, I said something about helping to fly the plane with the pilots. I was in the cockpit at the time. Sorry the videos are so short. It already takes forever for them to load... so the longer they are, the less likely they'll upload correctly (or it will take ALL NIGHT). Plus, the power goes out fairly often here. When it does, I have to start all over again.

Video and Update

Hey Love,

Turns out this the easiest way for you to get videos. It's not working via email. Hopefully you'll see these Thursday morning :)... Today was a good day. We're getting more familiar with the grounds and some of the kids. We spent the morning repairing tearing apart the playground - it was an absolute mess when we got here! Then, we got to see the new orphanage that's being built. There are already some young children there, and it is beautiful. It is nice by American standards, let alone Haitian standards! We'll be going out there throughout the week to give the family who's running it a break. They haven't slept well nor shared a meal together in weeks. They're raising nine 2 year olds plus a baby and their own young kids. I can't even imagine. But they kept saying that this is what the Lord was calling them to do, so they're doing it and praying for the strength to get by.

Back on the original site (EBAC) we played another intense game of soccer). It's mind boggling: some of these kids don't have shoes on, some have broken flip flops on or old tennis shoes... but you'd think we were playing a world cup team. They're amazing! I've been getting schooled over and over again. It's embarrassing - and they love every minute of it. They are all very nice, though, and very respectful.

The days are not hectic like other trips we've done. We can do whatever we want on site... as long as we're spending time with kids. We can take breaks when we're tired. It's more of a go-with-the-flow type atmosphere. Nothing like Adventures In Missions, that's for sure.

I've not showered since I've been here. Hee hee. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. The days and nights have been surprisingly cool, and somewhat rainy. That's much better than what we were expecting. I'm sure HOT weather will be here before too long.

I've been thinking about you and the kids alot. I miss you. I love it here (and I think you'd love it here, too - many of the kids need help with speaking and reading english, hint hint), but I really miss being home with you guys. I hope that everything is going well for you there. Sometimes I can't my email to load. I'm doing my best with what I've got. I will probably call Thursday night to speak to you, but if I cannot I will try to keep this site updated just for you!

I love you, Lindsay. Please give Isaiah and Caleb my love!!!

Feel free to send any parts of this message along to family again. Thanks, Love!