Thursday, July 16, 2015

Hi this is Josh Cornes and Ryan Haupt coming to you from Haiti on our 4th night, we think, and will be telling you about our journey today. First, like every day, we woke up at normal time. We had an unexpected surprise of French toast. As well as eggs, oatmeal, fruits, and freshly squashed juice by our wonderful Haitian kitchen staff. Soon after we got ready we piled into the tap tap which is our mode of transportation. For those who don't know, it’s pretty much a pickup truck with a cage and some seats, but a few people have to stand. It sounds different to American standards but it’s relatively safe. To start off our day we embarked on some elder visits, first lovely woman named Maria, who has denied the odds and reached the age of 105, which even for America is pretty impressive. Then after visiting her we visited two other men who were both blind and partially deaf, who were in their late 70s, which is still very old for Haiti. During our visits, we washed their hands and feet, rubbed lotion on them, gave them a hot meal and a variety of drinks. We also brought the guitar along and sang worship songs with them and prayed with and for them. We were inspired by their joy in the difficult situations they were in, whether it be family, health issues, and living conditions. After the elderly visits, we stayed in titanyen, and a tour of the grace village orphanage and school, which is run by Healing Haiti. There have been many improvements since my visit 2 years ago(Josh). They already had a fantastic lunch hall, which used to be the main church, with a big kitchen. They also already had a play area, a school with many classrooms, hydroponic agriculture system containing fresh crops and fish, and half the living spaces for the children. The new developments consist of more living spaces, a medical facility, and improvements on the kitchen, like a few giant stone ovens. We then made a quick ride in the tap tap to Shalom, a much smaller orphanage compared to grace village where we just visited. This had 10 children, 5 girls, 5 boys, and was also a school for the younger kids. We brought the guitar and did some more worship and singing which the children all sang along and enjoyed. We played with them, brought them toys, like bubbles and jump ropes etc and gave out Bibles. We also brought the parachute to play games with them. We then took the long 45 minute drive back to the guest house in Port au Prince, and arrived to the lovely smell of authentic Haitian food for dinner which was delicious!!! Some of us then went to play soccer with the neighborhood boys next to the guest in a dusty plot of land with make shift soccer goals. This was very fun but tiring because the local boys were all running circles around us. We then ended the day with devotions and worship joint with the other mission team staying in the other guest house, which was very moving and inspiring, and was a great way to end the day. Now Ryan and I are going to go bed now because we have to wake up at 5:30 for worship tomorrow morning, but we're not complaining.

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