Monday, September 8, 2008
Restavec
This was posted today on the DesiringGod.org website. I read a book about a year ago on the life of one particular restavec who eventually made it to the States (there was no happy ending to this book).
Infection
I was hoping that it would go away in a couple days, but it didn't. My eye started getting sore above and below about 4 days ago and has slowly gotten worse. My glands under my ear and chin are swollen. This isn't pretty, but I figured I would post a picture anyway (don't look up my nose):
I saw the doctor this morning because he wanted me to look at his car. He looked at my eye and said that he'll send a perscription my way today. So I'll get all drugged up and then hopefully I will be able to see better and feel better (my face on that side is sore and I am feeling more tired that usual).
It could be much worse, I'll take this anyday over many other things (like flood waters washing away everything that I own followed by not being able to find food or water for days - which is happening to a lot of people here).
I saw the doctor this morning because he wanted me to look at his car. He looked at my eye and said that he'll send a perscription my way today. So I'll get all drugged up and then hopefully I will be able to see better and feel better (my face on that side is sore and I am feeling more tired that usual).
It could be much worse, I'll take this anyday over many other things (like flood waters washing away everything that I own followed by not being able to find food or water for days - which is happening to a lot of people here).
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Ike's Affects
The eye of hurricane Ike is going north of Haiti and the whole island of Hispaniola, but the affects are still strong here. We live in the southern part of Haiti and we are still seeing high winds and heavy rains (it has been raining since about midnight). The areas of Haiti that have been flooded the most and that all of the news articles are focusing on are to the north. They are most certainly getting more rain becaue of Ike. Even though the eye isn't going over Haiti, the country is not getting better and drying out - it is getting worse. They need your prayers!
I don't have all the details yet, but the Baptist Haiti Mission seems to have been receiving high favor (especially lately) from other organizations that donate food and supplies - they are looking for our help to distribute donations to the Haitian people. This is great news and shows that the Mission is doing good work in Haiti and is trustworthy!
I don't have all the details yet, but the Baptist Haiti Mission seems to have been receiving high favor (especially lately) from other organizations that donate food and supplies - they are looking for our help to distribute donations to the Haitian people. This is great news and shows that the Mission is doing good work in Haiti and is trustworthy!
More News and Photos From the Flooding
Missionary Flights delivers our mail. They received photos from many of their missionaries in Haiti and updated their website.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Stuggling Haitians
The news regarding the flooding in Haiti is getting out. Some of the things that aren't mentioned include things like:
whole towns have lost their crops (rice, bananas, etc...)
clean water lines have been broke and there are no cisterns in some of those same areas
large quantities of people are affected when a road (which typically isn't that good to begin with) is destroyed
I just can't imagine not having food or water for days. I can't imagine having to fight to feed my children and myself so I could take care of my family. I can't imagine not being able to get a job to get money to buy food because there are no jobs to get. Talk about creativity - your life depends on you finding a way to get money for food and water or to find a way to get food and water. Try doing this without stealing. Try doing this without getting frustrated. Try doing this with little to no sleep because your one room mud house has been destroyed. (I am not justifying stealing or acting in frustration - I am just recognizing the struggle.)
whole towns have lost their crops (rice, bananas, etc...)
clean water lines have been broke and there are no cisterns in some of those same areas
large quantities of people are affected when a road (which typically isn't that good to begin with) is destroyed
I just can't imagine not having food or water for days. I can't imagine having to fight to feed my children and myself so I could take care of my family. I can't imagine not being able to get a job to get money to buy food because there are no jobs to get. Talk about creativity - your life depends on you finding a way to get money for food and water or to find a way to get food and water. Try doing this without stealing. Try doing this without getting frustrated. Try doing this with little to no sleep because your one room mud house has been destroyed. (I am not justifying stealing or acting in frustration - I am just recognizing the struggle.)
Friday, September 5, 2008
Lots of Rain - The Last Two Week's Total
Kyrk told me that since August 25th, we have had 19 inches of rain - almost 20. Yesterday was nice and sunny the whole day - a welcomed break. Ike looks to be heading more north of us which is a very good thing!
Yesterday was a decent day - I wasn't in that great of mood in spite of the clearest air and view we have ever seen here. It was because I had to work on some things that I wasn't looking forward to working on and I my body is still sore from sawing logs (not sleeping) and from still getting used to the manual labor instead of sitting at a desk all day (I am loving the manual labor!). It was so clear out yesterday that we could see an area by the camp we went to at the end of July 3 hours away. It's the white area in the picture and hard to see too (it was easier in person).
We ran out of LP today and Carter and Lou were helping me to light the pilot light for the stove.
Boring car stuff...
There is a tire changer here and I learned how to use it by trial and error yesterday on a damaged four-wheeler wheel. I am working on taking the good tires off the bad rims and putting them on the good rims. I got as far as taking the good tires off (one of the fronts needs to be patched on the sidewall) before I had to start working on other things. The four wheeler had chucks of metal in the oil, so I am thinking that I'll be rebuilding that very soon. I hope to have good engine parts in the one that went down the mountain. I know the motor mounts to the frame are broke.
Gerbin, the guy who is from Europe, is leaving in a week and is coming back with a team in October (he is part of World Servants). The team is working on building things for the Baptist Haiti Mission up north. He offered at one point to get some items for the four-wheeler and bring them back. I'll have to start a list and see what he can get for me.
Yesterday was a decent day - I wasn't in that great of mood in spite of the clearest air and view we have ever seen here. It was because I had to work on some things that I wasn't looking forward to working on and I my body is still sore from sawing logs (not sleeping) and from still getting used to the manual labor instead of sitting at a desk all day (I am loving the manual labor!). It was so clear out yesterday that we could see an area by the camp we went to at the end of July 3 hours away. It's the white area in the picture and hard to see too (it was easier in person).
We ran out of LP today and Carter and Lou were helping me to light the pilot light for the stove.
Boring car stuff...
There is a tire changer here and I learned how to use it by trial and error yesterday on a damaged four-wheeler wheel. I am working on taking the good tires off the bad rims and putting them on the good rims. I got as far as taking the good tires off (one of the fronts needs to be patched on the sidewall) before I had to start working on other things. The four wheeler had chucks of metal in the oil, so I am thinking that I'll be rebuilding that very soon. I hope to have good engine parts in the one that went down the mountain. I know the motor mounts to the frame are broke.
Gerbin, the guy who is from Europe, is leaving in a week and is coming back with a team in October (he is part of World Servants). The team is working on building things for the Baptist Haiti Mission up north. He offered at one point to get some items for the four-wheeler and bring them back. I'll have to start a list and see what he can get for me.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Back To Regular Work
The kids did great today in school! They got their stuff done before lunch. That makes a happy family (well, it's one of the things that make a happy family anyway). Lou is happy-giddy-gay-hysterical every time we get to the table to eat - he is nuts and crazy. Jabbering a way, he waits to eat.
What feels like normal lately, we have had rain half the day. There were a couple periods of massive downpours, too. I took this shot across the mountain - what a muddy waterfall (this was as clear as I could get it because it was cloudy):
Boring car stuff...
I started this morning thinking that I would have the two Pathfinders working in a matter of a couple hours, but I am not smart enough to realize that This Is Haiti. The tensioner on the alternator belt was missing a bolt and I snapped the bolt on the tensioner for the water pump and fan. Not only that, but one of the three new belts was too big. And I hadn't even made it to the other Pathfinder yet. The other one just had two belts that were too big - no broken or missing bolts. So, I had to send for new belts.
I checked those vehicles for functioning light bulbs and replaced a few and both need driver's side headlights. Once I was done with that, I took a break and started pulling good parts off the four-wheeler that went down the mountain. I went home for lunch (which is so nice to be able to do!) and then went back to the shop to work on the good four-wheeler (well...better four-wheeler). I got the oil changed again and changed the filter this time with the trashed four-wheeler, so hopefully it is all pretty clean.
Whenever I start working on the four-wheeler, I get tons of interruptions. While I was changing the oil on the four-wheeler, Chris came back from town with the Nativa. It was steaming and smoking something fierce from the engine bay and the coolant overflow bottle was boiling. I was going to wait until it cooled off, but he had to move it (and I didn't see where he put it) because at just about the same time, the Stakebed came to be under the cover of the shop are because it was full of school books. I don't yet know where these books came from or what they were for, but we struggled to keep them dry. So I just continued to work on the four-wheeler.
I got it running well and wired up (hot-wired because we don't have the key). I took the kids for spins around the grounds and found some new parts to check out and replace. Things seem to be pretty good on it. The frame is a little bent and it was welded once or twice. The top motor mount is not hooked up and appears to be a little off. I'll have to lift the motor if possible to get it to line up and fit. I noticed that the front wheel bearings seem bad too. It was a lot of fun to drive around. I have to get the front plastic on though because the mud sprayed me pretty good.
What feels like normal lately, we have had rain half the day. There were a couple periods of massive downpours, too. I took this shot across the mountain - what a muddy waterfall (this was as clear as I could get it because it was cloudy):
Boring car stuff...
I started this morning thinking that I would have the two Pathfinders working in a matter of a couple hours, but I am not smart enough to realize that This Is Haiti. The tensioner on the alternator belt was missing a bolt and I snapped the bolt on the tensioner for the water pump and fan. Not only that, but one of the three new belts was too big. And I hadn't even made it to the other Pathfinder yet. The other one just had two belts that were too big - no broken or missing bolts. So, I had to send for new belts.
I checked those vehicles for functioning light bulbs and replaced a few and both need driver's side headlights. Once I was done with that, I took a break and started pulling good parts off the four-wheeler that went down the mountain. I went home for lunch (which is so nice to be able to do!) and then went back to the shop to work on the good four-wheeler (well...better four-wheeler). I got the oil changed again and changed the filter this time with the trashed four-wheeler, so hopefully it is all pretty clean.
Whenever I start working on the four-wheeler, I get tons of interruptions. While I was changing the oil on the four-wheeler, Chris came back from town with the Nativa. It was steaming and smoking something fierce from the engine bay and the coolant overflow bottle was boiling. I was going to wait until it cooled off, but he had to move it (and I didn't see where he put it) because at just about the same time, the Stakebed came to be under the cover of the shop are because it was full of school books. I don't yet know where these books came from or what they were for, but we struggled to keep them dry. So I just continued to work on the four-wheeler.
I got it running well and wired up (hot-wired because we don't have the key). I took the kids for spins around the grounds and found some new parts to check out and replace. Things seem to be pretty good on it. The frame is a little bent and it was welded once or twice. The top motor mount is not hooked up and appears to be a little off. I'll have to lift the motor if possible to get it to line up and fit. I noticed that the front wheel bearings seem bad too. It was a lot of fun to drive around. I have to get the front plastic on though because the mud sprayed me pretty good.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
How Much Wood Would Ken Chuck If Ken Could Chuck Wood
LOTS! And yes, I am sore! We took care of our tree(s) first:
and then went looking for more (this is Gerbin - he comes to us from Europe (the Netherlands I think - I'll have to ask).
We found a number of trees down and many had taken the power lines with them. We worked from 8 until 1 when the Canter had a hole in the front tire (it was leaking slowly) and so we headed back to the mission.
As we were driving back, it started to rain. It poured by the time we got out of the truck and into my shop area. There were a number of guys that waited the heavy rain out. In about 20 mins, we got one inch of rain according to the gauge. The black bars over people's eyes are to protect the innocent...just kidding...this is my artistic perspective:
When I got back, we saw that someone caught a rat. I haven't seen any squirrels here, Dad, so this must be the next best thing to catch in a cage like this.
and then went looking for more (this is Gerbin - he comes to us from Europe (the Netherlands I think - I'll have to ask).
We found a number of trees down and many had taken the power lines with them. We worked from 8 until 1 when the Canter had a hole in the front tire (it was leaking slowly) and so we headed back to the mission.
As we were driving back, it started to rain. It poured by the time we got out of the truck and into my shop area. There were a number of guys that waited the heavy rain out. In about 20 mins, we got one inch of rain according to the gauge. The black bars over people's eyes are to protect the innocent...just kidding...this is my artistic perspective:
When I got back, we saw that someone caught a rat. I haven't seen any squirrels here, Dad, so this must be the next best thing to catch in a cage like this.
Hanna's Damage
Tina and I have learned a number of things through this storm. We praise God that he taught us these things through items like our louvred windows that let the rain and wind in even though they are closed. A storm like this, though the eye didn't pass over us, is very wearing and tiring. Although it was wearing and tiring, we were very safe and have the blessings of concrete walls and not being in a flood plain. When we lived in the US, we were so unaware of things outside of our immediate environment. We were led to believe in the US that things that happened in the US were such a disaster when, in reality and by comparison, things aren't as bad as it is in other places. We were arrogant and were without understanding. God has shown us so much.
Here in Haiti, there are no motorboats to rescue people from their roofs (if a roof remains). There are no helicopter rescues to make the 6 o'clock news. There is no Superdome to house the people without houses for a time. The roads are impassible, so help cannot get to you and you cannot leave. You are stuck to ride out the storm where ever you are with whatever you have. I am amazed that more people do not die. I am also reluctant to believe the small number of deaths as I do not believe they are complete.
The storm comes and it makes the news where it is, but the story lives on beyond the exact location of the storm. The people are left without homes, schools are destroyed, food sources have disappeared (many are substance farmers) - there is much left in the aftermath.
There was an article that I read this morning that mentioned a number of the places that I went through on my two trips up North (Saint Marc, Gonaives, L'Ester). Read more here.
Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and other countries in the path of this storm and the others to come. Please also pray for us as we (the Mission) help the Haitian people recover from the storm today and in the future. We will most likely be heading out in the near future to check things out (the Mission's schools and churches).
I will post the damage that we work on here at the Mission today later this afternoon. I will take pictures.
Here in Haiti, there are no motorboats to rescue people from their roofs (if a roof remains). There are no helicopter rescues to make the 6 o'clock news. There is no Superdome to house the people without houses for a time. The roads are impassible, so help cannot get to you and you cannot leave. You are stuck to ride out the storm where ever you are with whatever you have. I am amazed that more people do not die. I am also reluctant to believe the small number of deaths as I do not believe they are complete.
The storm comes and it makes the news where it is, but the story lives on beyond the exact location of the storm. The people are left without homes, schools are destroyed, food sources have disappeared (many are substance farmers) - there is much left in the aftermath.
There was an article that I read this morning that mentioned a number of the places that I went through on my two trips up North (Saint Marc, Gonaives, L'Ester). Read more here.
Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and other countries in the path of this storm and the others to come. Please also pray for us as we (the Mission) help the Haitian people recover from the storm today and in the future. We will most likely be heading out in the near future to check things out (the Mission's schools and churches).
I will post the damage that we work on here at the Mission today later this afternoon. I will take pictures.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Yet More Trees Down
We had a few more trees go down this afternoon. We are planning to work on them in the morning - hopefully I can get more sleep. We can see down the hill and we see a lot of trees down and people have lost their chateau d'lo (water containers) from their roof. We are taking a pretty heavy hit today. More to follow tomorrow...
More Trees Down
The wind is the worst that I have ever seen. There are trees down all over the place. It's hard to believe that the storm is worse north of here. This seems bad enough (little do I know...I am sure that I haven't seen anything yet). This was the first tree down today on Mission property:
This large branch fell on the power lines and so we shut off the generator and cut it down. There was a guy on the ladder when a huge gust of wind came - he manged to hang on and it was incredible!
It was especially windy on the roof. Kyrk and I went on the roof to cut down a broken and banging piece of gutter. It was three stories down to the pavement. Look at the palm tree in this picture - it had a number of broken branches.
I am sure that it is not over - the wind is still very strong.
This large branch fell on the power lines and so we shut off the generator and cut it down. There was a guy on the ladder when a huge gust of wind came - he manged to hang on and it was incredible!
It was especially windy on the roof. Kyrk and I went on the roof to cut down a broken and banging piece of gutter. It was three stories down to the pavement. Look at the palm tree in this picture - it had a number of broken branches.
I am sure that it is not over - the wind is still very strong.
Haitian Water Torture - Hurricane Hanna
Hurricane Hanna was supposed to miss us. The eye will most likely miss us, but the winds so far have been worse than Gustav. Perhaps that's because it is North of us instead of South of us (but I am just guessing). The rain last night was constant and there is a gutter that is not working correctly - it pours out on the concrete right by our bedroom window where the head of our bed is. The concrete is also right at our head level, so it couldn't be louder. I feel like I got very little sleep last night and am tired, but it is still raining and I wouldn't be able to sleep any more if I tried.
The wind is amazingly strong this morning. Part of that perception could be because we have windows that don't close all the way. They are like 4-5 inch long horizontal blinds. If a real hurricane comes right over us (Ike may be next) then I am not sure how these windows will respond - the rain might come right in. With the windows closed as completely as possible, the curtains still move out from the wall a good two feet when the winds hit. As I type this, part of the gutter system just got blown down. I think that there will be plenty to work on today (which reminds me that I should make sure that our chain saws are ready).
This shows Gustav at the US followed by Hanna over Haiti/DR followed by Ike in the Atlantic:
As much as I am concerned about how we'll do if a real hurricane hits us, I was thinking about how the Haitians without concrete walls and ceilings will do. They have mud, rock, and stick walls that wear away with the rain. Having windows that seal completely is a nice isolation from the noise of the wind (something that I have always taken for granted in the past). I couldn't imagine sleeping in their homes with the wind noise and water dripping through the roof.
It will be a struggle for me to not be crabby today I think. One of God's graces is that the four wheeler is now working, so that will keep my spirits up for a while. I will work on that every extra minute I have (which may be non-existant today).
The wind is amazingly strong this morning. Part of that perception could be because we have windows that don't close all the way. They are like 4-5 inch long horizontal blinds. If a real hurricane comes right over us (Ike may be next) then I am not sure how these windows will respond - the rain might come right in. With the windows closed as completely as possible, the curtains still move out from the wall a good two feet when the winds hit. As I type this, part of the gutter system just got blown down. I think that there will be plenty to work on today (which reminds me that I should make sure that our chain saws are ready).
This shows Gustav at the US followed by Hanna over Haiti/DR followed by Ike in the Atlantic:
As much as I am concerned about how we'll do if a real hurricane hits us, I was thinking about how the Haitians without concrete walls and ceilings will do. They have mud, rock, and stick walls that wear away with the rain. Having windows that seal completely is a nice isolation from the noise of the wind (something that I have always taken for granted in the past). I couldn't imagine sleeping in their homes with the wind noise and water dripping through the roof.
It will be a struggle for me to not be crabby today I think. One of God's graces is that the four wheeler is now working, so that will keep my spirits up for a while. I will work on that every extra minute I have (which may be non-existant today).
Monday, September 1, 2008
4-Wheelin
Lou is getting big and strong and is doing well. Kayla is doing great in school and today Carter did awesome. I made a deal with him that if he wanted to stay overnight last Friday that he would work hard and try all week. I think he is holding up his end of the bargain - I hope it continues all week!
Tina is doing great as well. There was a couple days where we were struggling as a family, but that has recently passed and all is well again. We appreciate your prayers!
I have been slacking on pictures lately and will try to pick that back up.
Boring car stuff...
I got the four wheeler running!! Once I knew the engine was good, I planned to start working on the rest of it. There were some metal shavings in the oil when I drained it and the oil looked like mud. So I changed the oil and ran it around a little. The brakes don't work much at all so I didn't go far. The next thing will be the fix the brakes.
The one that went down the mountain has enough good parts to have a decent one working. The brakes look like they'll be good to use and the oil filter from it looks brand new. I'll let the new oil slosh around there and the old filter pick up the junk, then I'll change the oil again and the filter. The only problem is that I had to bypass the key (because someone took it recently from a locked location), I am bypassing the starter relay, and I am using a car battery to start and run it.
The other BIG problem is that it does not belong to the Mission. It is a USAID vehicle. I plan to have someone (probably Kyrk) ask the USAID people if they want the vehicles back (all of them 4 cycles and 2 four wheelers). If they do, then I'll tell them what they need to do to get them working and if the do not, then we'll buy some parts. I hope to be able to keep it, but I am thinking that we won't be able to. :-( Big frown. If I didn't fix it, they wouldn't have ever come back for it - does that sound like a good excuse? If you can think of other good ones, let me know...
Tina is doing great as well. There was a couple days where we were struggling as a family, but that has recently passed and all is well again. We appreciate your prayers!
I have been slacking on pictures lately and will try to pick that back up.
Boring car stuff...
I got the four wheeler running!! Once I knew the engine was good, I planned to start working on the rest of it. There were some metal shavings in the oil when I drained it and the oil looked like mud. So I changed the oil and ran it around a little. The brakes don't work much at all so I didn't go far. The next thing will be the fix the brakes.
The one that went down the mountain has enough good parts to have a decent one working. The brakes look like they'll be good to use and the oil filter from it looks brand new. I'll let the new oil slosh around there and the old filter pick up the junk, then I'll change the oil again and the filter. The only problem is that I had to bypass the key (because someone took it recently from a locked location), I am bypassing the starter relay, and I am using a car battery to start and run it.
The other BIG problem is that it does not belong to the Mission. It is a USAID vehicle. I plan to have someone (probably Kyrk) ask the USAID people if they want the vehicles back (all of them 4 cycles and 2 four wheelers). If they do, then I'll tell them what they need to do to get them working and if the do not, then we'll buy some parts. I hope to be able to keep it, but I am thinking that we won't be able to. :-( Big frown. If I didn't fix it, they wouldn't have ever come back for it - does that sound like a good excuse? If you can think of other good ones, let me know...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Our First Shipment
Just a quick note to say that we got our first packages from the US. They were a few things that I ordered from eBay. We have not received any boxes yet that our parents sent or anyone else has sent. We are very thankful for www.missionaryflights.org!!
Working Unwillingly
We have been trying to create the routine of cleaning our place on Saturdays. Yesterday started out OK, but I had a Haitian driver for the Mission knock on the door about 8AM and ask about some car parts. So I had to go down to the shop and help him out. I really didn't want to do any car work at all yesterday. When I got down there I helped not only the guy that asked, but others came to ask me things as well. Kyrk mentioned that they wanted to take the Canter out on Monday and I had the drive shaft apart to work on the parking brake.
I gave in and quit working on the house and went to the shop. I worked on the Canter for most of the morning and then worked on it in the afternoon as well. After a big struggle with various things on that truck, I ended up not putting the brake parts on and only hooking up the drive shaft. The parking brake cable is frozen stuck, so it wouldn't matter if the parts were there. I had thought that it had enough movement in the cable but after hooking everything up, there wasn't. So now we have to order a new cable if we want the parking brake to work.
I got back to the house around 3PM and we spent a little family time for the rest of the evening. We watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie (on my laptop borrowing the DVD). We ate some cookies and cream ice cream, too (the last time I went to the grocery store, I bought it as a family treat to have once a week at most - for a half gallon it cost $10 USD - we have 2/3 of the container left).
I woke up at 3:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Kayla was sleeping in the living room, so I spent a bit of time reading in the quiet of the morning.
We'll be spending more family time today after going to church at 6:30AM this morning. We still struggle with going to church when we don't know what they are saying (yet) and we missionaries meet as a group on Sunday nights (basically a whole church service). The concept of going and participating sounds good and all, yet to do it week after week and to give tithes when you cannot understand if what is said is truly biblical and correct theologically is proving challenging to us. But, we'll go until we come to a definite conclusion on this.
I gave in and quit working on the house and went to the shop. I worked on the Canter for most of the morning and then worked on it in the afternoon as well. After a big struggle with various things on that truck, I ended up not putting the brake parts on and only hooking up the drive shaft. The parking brake cable is frozen stuck, so it wouldn't matter if the parts were there. I had thought that it had enough movement in the cable but after hooking everything up, there wasn't. So now we have to order a new cable if we want the parking brake to work.
I got back to the house around 3PM and we spent a little family time for the rest of the evening. We watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie (on my laptop borrowing the DVD). We ate some cookies and cream ice cream, too (the last time I went to the grocery store, I bought it as a family treat to have once a week at most - for a half gallon it cost $10 USD - we have 2/3 of the container left).
I woke up at 3:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Kayla was sleeping in the living room, so I spent a bit of time reading in the quiet of the morning.
We'll be spending more family time today after going to church at 6:30AM this morning. We still struggle with going to church when we don't know what they are saying (yet) and we missionaries meet as a group on Sunday nights (basically a whole church service). The concept of going and participating sounds good and all, yet to do it week after week and to give tithes when you cannot understand if what is said is truly biblical and correct theologically is proving challenging to us. But, we'll go until we come to a definite conclusion on this.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
A Day's Work
We have had a little bit of a personal family struggle the last couple days. It seemed to start with Carter not trying when doing his school work. The days usually end up with Carter sitting and doing schoolwork from about 8AM until 5:30PM. It is something that should only take 2-3 hours TOPS, but he rarely tries. When he tries, he can get it done easily. I take a lot of blame for the way he acts - I am too hard to please and have to work on that (among many other things).
This struggle, unfortunately and by our own fault, causes Tina and I to get a little cranky. It is our sin that we let his attitude and actions cause this reaction in us. Tina has also been struggling a little her personal direction and walk here. There is a lot to balance and it is not easy, but this is where the Lord has called us and He will give us the strength, tools and encouragement.
This morning at 5:30 AM there was a quiet knock at the door. I was just waking up anyway so I heard the knock and got up. Normally I would have been up for about an hour, but we got to bed late last night (Carter slept with Christopher upstairs and we had Abby sleeping with Kayla down here). It was a visiting missionary from another area in Haiti. Last night we pumped up a tire that had a slow leak (it took a week for it to get flat) and I told him to let me know if he had problems with it in the morning. He was going to drive home with it and fix it when he got home. Well, the tire was flat this morning and he was looking for help. We found the leak, put a plug in it, and he left this morning.
Yesterday, our friend Kris came and we showed her and other visiting families around the mission a little and brought her to our place. She brought the printer and goodies (Tina had her get me Jack Link's Beef Jerky (Teriyaki) and gloves and I had her get Tina some nice slippers). We went to pay her for the printer and she said that she and her husband decided that they would buy it for us. What a great blessing! We didn't expect this at all! Thank you so much Kris and family!
Boring car stuff...
The generator (#2) says it's running hot again. I am wondering if it isn't the gauge. The huge manual for the generator says that you should change oil first and then the only other thing to check is the gauge. After changing oil, it seemed to help but only for a couple days. Today #2 is running so I think I will check on it more frequently to see if the needle varies a lot - then I think the problem will be the gauge. If it is steady in one place or another...I am not sure. I might look into hooking up a secondary gauge to verify the first or switch the senders and/or gauges between the two generators.
The generator roof was leaking pretty good with all the rain from the hurricane. I got some seal coat and sealed the whole roof up yesterday, so the next time you look at Google earth at the Mission (after they take another picture), the most white looking roof is the generator room.
I have been doing a number of various things on the vehicles. The old caged Toyota has a few bolts on the front suspension that seem to keep loosening up. I put loctite on the biggest problem (I only have medium strength) and I tightened it as much as I could with it being on the ground and not over the pit. The Canter is over the pit right now waiting for a couple retainer pins for the parking brake. The parking brake is integrated with the rear drive shaft and is a drum brake. I also had to replace all the battery terminals on the Canter (I think I may have mentioned this already). I replaced the rear brakes yesterday in the Mitsubishi Nativa (they don't sell this in the US - it's an SUV).
If I type any more car stuff, it will get REALLY boring so I'll stop.
This struggle, unfortunately and by our own fault, causes Tina and I to get a little cranky. It is our sin that we let his attitude and actions cause this reaction in us. Tina has also been struggling a little her personal direction and walk here. There is a lot to balance and it is not easy, but this is where the Lord has called us and He will give us the strength, tools and encouragement.
This morning at 5:30 AM there was a quiet knock at the door. I was just waking up anyway so I heard the knock and got up. Normally I would have been up for about an hour, but we got to bed late last night (Carter slept with Christopher upstairs and we had Abby sleeping with Kayla down here). It was a visiting missionary from another area in Haiti. Last night we pumped up a tire that had a slow leak (it took a week for it to get flat) and I told him to let me know if he had problems with it in the morning. He was going to drive home with it and fix it when he got home. Well, the tire was flat this morning and he was looking for help. We found the leak, put a plug in it, and he left this morning.
Yesterday, our friend Kris came and we showed her and other visiting families around the mission a little and brought her to our place. She brought the printer and goodies (Tina had her get me Jack Link's Beef Jerky (Teriyaki) and gloves and I had her get Tina some nice slippers). We went to pay her for the printer and she said that she and her husband decided that they would buy it for us. What a great blessing! We didn't expect this at all! Thank you so much Kris and family!
Boring car stuff...
The generator (#2) says it's running hot again. I am wondering if it isn't the gauge. The huge manual for the generator says that you should change oil first and then the only other thing to check is the gauge. After changing oil, it seemed to help but only for a couple days. Today #2 is running so I think I will check on it more frequently to see if the needle varies a lot - then I think the problem will be the gauge. If it is steady in one place or another...I am not sure. I might look into hooking up a secondary gauge to verify the first or switch the senders and/or gauges between the two generators.
The generator roof was leaking pretty good with all the rain from the hurricane. I got some seal coat and sealed the whole roof up yesterday, so the next time you look at Google earth at the Mission (after they take another picture), the most white looking roof is the generator room.
I have been doing a number of various things on the vehicles. The old caged Toyota has a few bolts on the front suspension that seem to keep loosening up. I put loctite on the biggest problem (I only have medium strength) and I tightened it as much as I could with it being on the ground and not over the pit. The Canter is over the pit right now waiting for a couple retainer pins for the parking brake. The parking brake is integrated with the rear drive shaft and is a drum brake. I also had to replace all the battery terminals on the Canter (I think I may have mentioned this already). I replaced the rear brakes yesterday in the Mitsubishi Nativa (they don't sell this in the US - it's an SUV).
If I type any more car stuff, it will get REALLY boring so I'll stop.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tree, Airport Run, Friend
We had a little sun yesterday morning and then it rained lightly all day. There is sun again this morning and hopefully it will last. Our low temperature over the last week was 65 with a high of 80.
Tree
I wanted to mention a few things about the tree falling down early in the week. In the US, we would have chopped that tree up and lightly considered what was done with the wood. Here in Haiti, however, a tree like the one that fell is of significant value. The wood could be used for many months to cook with and some of it could be sold to purchase food. The owner of the property is really entitled to the remains of the tree. There were some people that apparently taking the large pieces of the main trunk and putting them in their vehicles (stealing the tree). The owner may not care, but the much higher value placed on a downed tree than I what I had normally understood is something that I came to realize through this event.
Airport Run
Yesterday morning I was called to drive Pastor Rob and his wife to the airport. Usually they would have a driver do this, but they couldn't reach him to tell him to come earlier after they decided that it would be best to leave early (the airport had been closed for two days because of the hurricane and it would be busy). We left at about 6:15 AM. I knew most of my way there with the exception of the last two turns (this was the first time I had been to the airport since we arrived two months ago). It was VERY BUSY.
One of the things that we had to do on this trip was to drop off a cooking burner/stove. We needed to get it to a person who would be going way up north to drop it off (to where I was last week). We were dropping it off in a pretty bad part of town. When we arrived to where we were dropping it off, the four Haitian guys in the vehicle were telling me that this is a real bad part of town and that they wanted to get out of there fairly quickly. They said that there were kidnappings, shootings, and misc. violence. They also told me that we should turn the air conditioning on and roll up the windows so we could lock the doors - so we did. We made it back with no problems - stopping at the grocery store on the way back so I could pick up some things for Tina and stopping by a street vendor to pick up some wicker baskets for her as well.
Friend
About a week ago we received an email from Kris. Kris is a person who works with the orphanage and adoption agency and she coordinated and attended our first trip to Haiti in June 2007. She is going to be in town today with another group of adopting parents and is going to be stopping by. She has graciously offered to bring some things for us. It took Tina and I a little while to figure out what we wanted to ask her for since we assumed that her space/weight would be limited. One thing that she offered to do is to pick something up for me to give to Tina and for Tina to give to me (keeping it a secret) - this is a great idea and a lot of fun!
Tina realized that getting a printer here would be a great help to her homeschooling and so at the very last minute we inquired if she had enough room and time to pick up a printer for us. I looked quickly on the web to find one that I liked as an example and sent it to here so she knew what we were looking for. She emailed back and said that she found the exact one that I listed and that after thinking they were maxed out on weight, she was able to fit it.
We are looking forward to reconnecting with her after 14 months!
Tree
I wanted to mention a few things about the tree falling down early in the week. In the US, we would have chopped that tree up and lightly considered what was done with the wood. Here in Haiti, however, a tree like the one that fell is of significant value. The wood could be used for many months to cook with and some of it could be sold to purchase food. The owner of the property is really entitled to the remains of the tree. There were some people that apparently taking the large pieces of the main trunk and putting them in their vehicles (stealing the tree). The owner may not care, but the much higher value placed on a downed tree than I what I had normally understood is something that I came to realize through this event.
Airport Run
Yesterday morning I was called to drive Pastor Rob and his wife to the airport. Usually they would have a driver do this, but they couldn't reach him to tell him to come earlier after they decided that it would be best to leave early (the airport had been closed for two days because of the hurricane and it would be busy). We left at about 6:15 AM. I knew most of my way there with the exception of the last two turns (this was the first time I had been to the airport since we arrived two months ago). It was VERY BUSY.
One of the things that we had to do on this trip was to drop off a cooking burner/stove. We needed to get it to a person who would be going way up north to drop it off (to where I was last week). We were dropping it off in a pretty bad part of town. When we arrived to where we were dropping it off, the four Haitian guys in the vehicle were telling me that this is a real bad part of town and that they wanted to get out of there fairly quickly. They said that there were kidnappings, shootings, and misc. violence. They also told me that we should turn the air conditioning on and roll up the windows so we could lock the doors - so we did. We made it back with no problems - stopping at the grocery store on the way back so I could pick up some things for Tina and stopping by a street vendor to pick up some wicker baskets for her as well.
Friend
About a week ago we received an email from Kris. Kris is a person who works with the orphanage and adoption agency and she coordinated and attended our first trip to Haiti in June 2007. She is going to be in town today with another group of adopting parents and is going to be stopping by. She has graciously offered to bring some things for us. It took Tina and I a little while to figure out what we wanted to ask her for since we assumed that her space/weight would be limited. One thing that she offered to do is to pick something up for me to give to Tina and for Tina to give to me (keeping it a secret) - this is a great idea and a lot of fun!
Tina realized that getting a printer here would be a great help to her homeschooling and so at the very last minute we inquired if she had enough room and time to pick up a printer for us. I looked quickly on the web to find one that I liked as an example and sent it to here so she knew what we were looking for. She emailed back and said that she found the exact one that I listed and that after thinking they were maxed out on weight, she was able to fit it.
We are looking forward to reconnecting with her after 14 months!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Aftermath So Far
Rain total according to Kyrk's rain gauge as of this morning (it is still raining hard): 8"
One thing that Kyrk mentioned today is the number of deaths that are NOT recorded as being caused by the hurricane that are related to hospital people (doctors and nurses) not being able to get to work. People rely heavily on the tap-taps to get around and there were very few in operation today - many of the Haitian Mission workers did not come to work today because of the tap-taps were not running.
Here is the intersection today (with the lines still down) after we cleared it yesterday:
Here is the vendor's store - you can see the tree stump just behind the store:
One thing that Kyrk mentioned today is the number of deaths that are NOT recorded as being caused by the hurricane that are related to hospital people (doctors and nurses) not being able to get to work. People rely heavily on the tap-taps to get around and there were very few in operation today - many of the Haitian Mission workers did not come to work today because of the tap-taps were not running.
Here is the intersection today (with the lines still down) after we cleared it yesterday:
Here is the vendor's store - you can see the tree stump just behind the store:
Water, Water Everywhere
Where to start...
The rain has been falling for just short of two days straight as of the time that I write this. And most of the time it is a pretty heavy rain - lots of water. There has got to be a lot of flooding that I just haven't heard about yet.
Around 3 PM I got a call from Kyrk saying that I should meet him up at the entrance to the mission. As I was going up, I got a call from Rob asking if I was going up. I was wondering what was going on. When we got there, there was no way out of the Mission. A very large tree had fell from the other side of the road right at the entrance and blocked both the road and the entrance. It took a bunch of power and misc. lines down with it - including the electrical pole right at the entrance to the Mission. We went back to get equipment and change clothes.
This picture is from the road looking down the road where if you follow the wall on the left, it "Ys" into the Mission parking lot. Notice the amount of water going down the road - it's been like that for two days. I need waterproof boots - mine are soaked!
We worked in the rain until about 6 PM and finally got traffic to go through. There were about 3-4 of us using two chainsaws and a few others using machete as axes (which they do a lot here in Haiti - they're fairly effective too which surprised me). Some Haitians we walking around, some sitting and waiting in their vehicles, some others were watching as if we were entertaining them (and we were entertaining at times - we were having fun) and still others were actually helping out. It was good to speak a little with and work with the Haitians in the neighborhood. Nothing like a storm to bring neighbors together. Mostly Mission workers were helping to clear the debris. The main trunk of the tree was more than two feet in diameter near the base.
One of the street vendors had his wood-frame store (about 4 foot by 4 foot) smashed by the tree. He had paintings, carvings and other items in there that he was trying to save. We tried our best to work around his stuff, but I would say about half of it was lost (including most of the structure). I would like to do something for this guy, but I am not sure what is going to happen. I'll mention it at our dinner tonight and see if we are going to do anything.
Chicken
We ordered a box of frozen chicken legs since it is cheaper by the box and you can't get breasts (the US doesn't send them here much apparently). Tina and I spent some time before the tree incident repacking the chicken since the box the chicken was in got destroyed by the rain and there was chicken blood all over the floor by the door where we brought the chicken in. This is the kind stuff that takes a lot of our time up randomly throughout the day - things that we didn't have to deal with in the US. There is talk about more food riots here so we are happy to have a supply.
I don't know why these pictures are not rotated correctly, they look fine on the file itself, but it's no big deal...
Boring car stuff...
Since it was raining so much, I decided to stay in and work on the Mechanic database in Access that I had started. Just as I was getting settled in, someone knocked on the door and said the battery in the white pathfinder was missing. It was last used Saturday and now the battery is gone from under the hood. I still haven't found out what happened to it.
Shortly after that, I got a call from Kyrk at the office here by the mechanic shop and he told me about the Canter which had a small electrical fire in the middle of the dash Monday. So I went to go take a look and they were push starting it because the batteries (2) were not hooked up well. I had seen that the terminals were messed up, but never had access to the vehicle when I was able to work on it. A common practice here (at least at the Mission) is to jam nails, screws, or pieces of solder in between the battery post and the terminals to get it tight. This is usually done because they don't have the right battery for the terminal connection. This causes the battery post to become disfigured and further exacerbating the problem. So I replaced three of the four terminals (I didn't have enough to do all four and we'll have to do something about the battery posts, but it is good for now.
The rain has been falling for just short of two days straight as of the time that I write this. And most of the time it is a pretty heavy rain - lots of water. There has got to be a lot of flooding that I just haven't heard about yet.
Around 3 PM I got a call from Kyrk saying that I should meet him up at the entrance to the mission. As I was going up, I got a call from Rob asking if I was going up. I was wondering what was going on. When we got there, there was no way out of the Mission. A very large tree had fell from the other side of the road right at the entrance and blocked both the road and the entrance. It took a bunch of power and misc. lines down with it - including the electrical pole right at the entrance to the Mission. We went back to get equipment and change clothes.
This picture is from the road looking down the road where if you follow the wall on the left, it "Ys" into the Mission parking lot. Notice the amount of water going down the road - it's been like that for two days. I need waterproof boots - mine are soaked!
We worked in the rain until about 6 PM and finally got traffic to go through. There were about 3-4 of us using two chainsaws and a few others using machete as axes (which they do a lot here in Haiti - they're fairly effective too which surprised me). Some Haitians we walking around, some sitting and waiting in their vehicles, some others were watching as if we were entertaining them (and we were entertaining at times - we were having fun) and still others were actually helping out. It was good to speak a little with and work with the Haitians in the neighborhood. Nothing like a storm to bring neighbors together. Mostly Mission workers were helping to clear the debris. The main trunk of the tree was more than two feet in diameter near the base.
One of the street vendors had his wood-frame store (about 4 foot by 4 foot) smashed by the tree. He had paintings, carvings and other items in there that he was trying to save. We tried our best to work around his stuff, but I would say about half of it was lost (including most of the structure). I would like to do something for this guy, but I am not sure what is going to happen. I'll mention it at our dinner tonight and see if we are going to do anything.
Chicken
We ordered a box of frozen chicken legs since it is cheaper by the box and you can't get breasts (the US doesn't send them here much apparently). Tina and I spent some time before the tree incident repacking the chicken since the box the chicken was in got destroyed by the rain and there was chicken blood all over the floor by the door where we brought the chicken in. This is the kind stuff that takes a lot of our time up randomly throughout the day - things that we didn't have to deal with in the US. There is talk about more food riots here so we are happy to have a supply.
I don't know why these pictures are not rotated correctly, they look fine on the file itself, but it's no big deal...
Boring car stuff...
Since it was raining so much, I decided to stay in and work on the Mechanic database in Access that I had started. Just as I was getting settled in, someone knocked on the door and said the battery in the white pathfinder was missing. It was last used Saturday and now the battery is gone from under the hood. I still haven't found out what happened to it.
Shortly after that, I got a call from Kyrk at the office here by the mechanic shop and he told me about the Canter which had a small electrical fire in the middle of the dash Monday. So I went to go take a look and they were push starting it because the batteries (2) were not hooked up well. I had seen that the terminals were messed up, but never had access to the vehicle when I was able to work on it. A common practice here (at least at the Mission) is to jam nails, screws, or pieces of solder in between the battery post and the terminals to get it tight. This is usually done because they don't have the right battery for the terminal connection. This causes the battery post to become disfigured and further exacerbating the problem. So I replaced three of the four terminals (I didn't have enough to do all four and we'll have to do something about the battery posts, but it is good for now.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Kid Update: Louinard - Gravity Dentistry
The potty training has taken a break for Lou. He hasn't been telling us when he has to go, so we will wait and try it again.
We had put Lou in a bed in Carter's room after switching where Kayla and Carter were, but last week he fell out twice on to the concrete (we even had a pillow on his side so he couldn't easily roll off). We didn't want that to happen again, so we brought the playpen back into our room for him to sleep. I would like to get him back into Carter's room, so we might try to put the playpen in there somehow. One of the times he fell out, it looks like he chipped a tooth. Now his teeth look more even because he already had one chipped.
Kayla is doing great in school. Carter is not doing very good in school. When he tries he does great, but he doesn't do that very often. This causes stress for everyone and makes mommy upset.
We had put Lou in a bed in Carter's room after switching where Kayla and Carter were, but last week he fell out twice on to the concrete (we even had a pillow on his side so he couldn't easily roll off). We didn't want that to happen again, so we brought the playpen back into our room for him to sleep. I would like to get him back into Carter's room, so we might try to put the playpen in there somehow. One of the times he fell out, it looks like he chipped a tooth. Now his teeth look more even because he already had one chipped.
Kayla is doing great in school. Carter is not doing very good in school. When he tries he does great, but he doesn't do that very often. This causes stress for everyone and makes mommy upset.
Hurricane Gustav
This will be our first hurricane since we came here to Haiti. It doesn't appear to be too bad, relatively speaking, but it's coming and should be over by the end of today.
Here is what the weather channel says:
Hurricane warnings are in effect from Barahona in the Dominican Republic west to Le Mole St. Nicholas in Haiti. Hurricane watches are in effect for Jamaica, southeastern Cuba (specifically, the provinces of Las Tunas, Granma, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo), and Haiti from Le Mole St. Nicholas northward to the northern border with the Dominican Republic. A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours, and a hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.
More information here.
Here is what the weather channel says:
Hurricane warnings are in effect from Barahona in the Dominican Republic west to Le Mole St. Nicholas in Haiti. Hurricane watches are in effect for Jamaica, southeastern Cuba (specifically, the provinces of Las Tunas, Granma, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo), and Haiti from Le Mole St. Nicholas northward to the northern border with the Dominican Republic. A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours, and a hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.
More information here.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Tropical Storm Gustav
It was nice and sunny around 3 PM today and I was soldering a teapot for one of the Haitian workers. All of a sudden it started to pour rain while it was sunny. Then the sun disappeared. I checked my news sources and found this heading our way:
Where we are, we are pretty safe. We're at the top of a hill on the mountain...well, the entrance of the Mission is at least. We're down the hill a little way, but are fairly well protected from rain and water runoff. When the rain hits, the water pours down the streets. There are very few (VERY FEW) storm drains or drains of any kind. In the few places that there are gutters, the rain is well controlled, but it has to go somewhere and that somewhere is where ever the gutter ends. The roads are not sloped in one particular direction or another, so the rain water collects and more gets added to it as goes down the road. This large amount of fast moving water washes very large rocks onto the roads, some are bowling ball sized or larger. These rocks then either block the way or the big trucks and cars smash them which breaks up the pavement under them. Some areas are much worse than others, but you can just see very easily how landslides start and homes get washed away.
I have internet access and I didn't know about it until the day before it is supposed to hit (tomorrow). How are Haitians supposed to hear about it and know it's coming. And even if they knew about it, what are they to do about it? Most in the flood prone areas don't have vehicles to get away quickly. They would have to find friends or family in a safer area and probably take a tap-tap (taxi-like service). Please pray for the people of Haiti as this tropical storm comes - and hopefully it stays a tropical storm and doesn't become a hurricane.
Where we are, we are pretty safe. We're at the top of a hill on the mountain...well, the entrance of the Mission is at least. We're down the hill a little way, but are fairly well protected from rain and water runoff. When the rain hits, the water pours down the streets. There are very few (VERY FEW) storm drains or drains of any kind. In the few places that there are gutters, the rain is well controlled, but it has to go somewhere and that somewhere is where ever the gutter ends. The roads are not sloped in one particular direction or another, so the rain water collects and more gets added to it as goes down the road. This large amount of fast moving water washes very large rocks onto the roads, some are bowling ball sized or larger. These rocks then either block the way or the big trucks and cars smash them which breaks up the pavement under them. Some areas are much worse than others, but you can just see very easily how landslides start and homes get washed away.
I have internet access and I didn't know about it until the day before it is supposed to hit (tomorrow). How are Haitians supposed to hear about it and know it's coming. And even if they knew about it, what are they to do about it? Most in the flood prone areas don't have vehicles to get away quickly. They would have to find friends or family in a safer area and probably take a tap-tap (taxi-like service). Please pray for the people of Haiti as this tropical storm comes - and hopefully it stays a tropical storm and doesn't become a hurricane.
Great Trip!
We had a great trip! We got to see a number of churches, different from the ones that I saw last trip. This seemed to be some sort of youth weekend and so Pastor Rob was asked to speak. This was his second time at this church.
A 100 miles into the trip we got a flat tire (moments like that make me thankful that I check the air pressure in the spare). It was another rough ride in the Ranger, but it made it there and back with no issues. It didn't even make the noise that it had during the last outing.
We stopped at a little (and I mean little) place to eat. It was like we were eating in their dining room and it was a small dining room (I didn't get a picture). We really trust God that the food we eat is good and we try not to think about what we are eating. There were so many flies around I couldn't count them all. We ate rice and beans with goat meat. One thing that I have to get used to is the fact that they do not use things like saws to cut up the meat which leaves you will one solid piece of bone to eat around. They use machetes and that chunks and chips up the bone which makes it difficult to eat around. I am still trying to get used to eating things that I either don't like or that don't look too good to eat.
On the way up we stopped to see at a couple churches. One was about a 20 minute hike to go visit. No one was there since it was a Saturday. The hike was steep down and steep up. Here is a look of the way to the church:
and on the way back:
There is no way the truck would have made that. We spent 20 minutes there looking around at the building to make sure that everything was OK and then hiked back. Pastor Rob and I helped a little girl stop her runaway donkey on our way there. It came trotting up to us and we held our hands out to stop it.
Here is another that is a school too - this one is brand new and was paid for by one person in the US:
Our trip to our final destination took a total of 8 hours (that's the time we were moving). We left at 6:10 AM on Saturday and arrived around 4-5 PM (the Total Time is wrong because the unit shut off when we were stopped). When we were moving, our average speed for that 8 hours was 20 MPH for a total of 165 miles (I am rounding if you are calculating). My neck was getting sore near the end.
We got there and we were showed around a bit and led to our place where we would sleep. Rob and I took one room and Darlin (the translator) took another room. Rob and I were in the room that looks like it was about to fall from the building. Mom and Dad, you would have loved this because the floor was slanted so much you wouldn't have to jack up the head of your bed (haha!). It had an outhouse with a BYOTP policy (Bring Your Own Toilet Paper).
The bed was comfortable and I got a decent amount of sleep (not great, but decent). Bugs were flying around my ears and keeping me awake, so I put my ipod headphones in to try to sleep better - it worked pretty good.
We got up the Sunday morning and ate buttered bread with hot chocolate for breakfast. You have not had sugary hot chocolate until you have had it hear. It was so thick that my spoon stood straight up (not really, but it tasted like it could have).
We went to church at 9 AM when the service started and Pastor Rob didn't start preaching until 11:15 AM.
By the time everything was done, it was 12:15. We ate with some of the other visiting pastors from the area and took off a little after 1 PM.
Pastor Rob started driving and about 30 minutes into the drive he asked me if I wanted to drive. I certainly did.
We drove thinking that we would be staying overnight at the Mission's Camp and then leave for home in the morning. I started out a little slow because I wanted to show that I could drive and then Pastor Rob said that we better move a little faster to try to make better time. This is where my fun really started. I jumped at the chance to speed it up. It is really hard and technical driving to hustle on those roads, but it sure is fun. (See, Mom and Dad, all those quarters playing car racing video games paid off!!). We made such good time that we decided to head all the way back.
It got dark when we were about 3 hours away. Dark is DARK out here - no street lights, people walking on the side of the road (lots of them), cars coming at you with no lights, with bright lights, cars in front of us with no tail lights, huge pot holes, sleeping policemen (aka speed bumps), goats, cows...you name it! It really was like playing a video game. On some corners (in the daylight) I hugged the apex and accelerated out of the corners bringing the back end around. I practiced a little trail braking as well. (Those last two sentences were for you Mr. Storm.)
We made it back to the mission at 9 PM without any incident. This included stopping for drinks once, potty on the side of the road once, and filling up the tire with air after we patched it Saturday (I handed out a few pieces of candy to some cute little girls who wanted to see what the white people were doing - that was fun!).
Time to go eat breakfast with my family. It sure was great to see them last night! Thank you for your prayers for a safe trip!
A 100 miles into the trip we got a flat tire (moments like that make me thankful that I check the air pressure in the spare). It was another rough ride in the Ranger, but it made it there and back with no issues. It didn't even make the noise that it had during the last outing.
We stopped at a little (and I mean little) place to eat. It was like we were eating in their dining room and it was a small dining room (I didn't get a picture). We really trust God that the food we eat is good and we try not to think about what we are eating. There were so many flies around I couldn't count them all. We ate rice and beans with goat meat. One thing that I have to get used to is the fact that they do not use things like saws to cut up the meat which leaves you will one solid piece of bone to eat around. They use machetes and that chunks and chips up the bone which makes it difficult to eat around. I am still trying to get used to eating things that I either don't like or that don't look too good to eat.
On the way up we stopped to see at a couple churches. One was about a 20 minute hike to go visit. No one was there since it was a Saturday. The hike was steep down and steep up. Here is a look of the way to the church:
and on the way back:
There is no way the truck would have made that. We spent 20 minutes there looking around at the building to make sure that everything was OK and then hiked back. Pastor Rob and I helped a little girl stop her runaway donkey on our way there. It came trotting up to us and we held our hands out to stop it.
Here is another that is a school too - this one is brand new and was paid for by one person in the US:
Our trip to our final destination took a total of 8 hours (that's the time we were moving). We left at 6:10 AM on Saturday and arrived around 4-5 PM (the Total Time is wrong because the unit shut off when we were stopped). When we were moving, our average speed for that 8 hours was 20 MPH for a total of 165 miles (I am rounding if you are calculating). My neck was getting sore near the end.
We got there and we were showed around a bit and led to our place where we would sleep. Rob and I took one room and Darlin (the translator) took another room. Rob and I were in the room that looks like it was about to fall from the building. Mom and Dad, you would have loved this because the floor was slanted so much you wouldn't have to jack up the head of your bed (haha!). It had an outhouse with a BYOTP policy (Bring Your Own Toilet Paper).
The bed was comfortable and I got a decent amount of sleep (not great, but decent). Bugs were flying around my ears and keeping me awake, so I put my ipod headphones in to try to sleep better - it worked pretty good.
We got up the Sunday morning and ate buttered bread with hot chocolate for breakfast. You have not had sugary hot chocolate until you have had it hear. It was so thick that my spoon stood straight up (not really, but it tasted like it could have).
We went to church at 9 AM when the service started and Pastor Rob didn't start preaching until 11:15 AM.
By the time everything was done, it was 12:15. We ate with some of the other visiting pastors from the area and took off a little after 1 PM.
Pastor Rob started driving and about 30 minutes into the drive he asked me if I wanted to drive. I certainly did.
We drove thinking that we would be staying overnight at the Mission's Camp and then leave for home in the morning. I started out a little slow because I wanted to show that I could drive and then Pastor Rob said that we better move a little faster to try to make better time. This is where my fun really started. I jumped at the chance to speed it up. It is really hard and technical driving to hustle on those roads, but it sure is fun. (See, Mom and Dad, all those quarters playing car racing video games paid off!!). We made such good time that we decided to head all the way back.
It got dark when we were about 3 hours away. Dark is DARK out here - no street lights, people walking on the side of the road (lots of them), cars coming at you with no lights, with bright lights, cars in front of us with no tail lights, huge pot holes, sleeping policemen (aka speed bumps), goats, cows...you name it! It really was like playing a video game. On some corners (in the daylight) I hugged the apex and accelerated out of the corners bringing the back end around. I practiced a little trail braking as well. (Those last two sentences were for you Mr. Storm.)
We made it back to the mission at 9 PM without any incident. This included stopping for drinks once, potty on the side of the road once, and filling up the tire with air after we patched it Saturday (I handed out a few pieces of candy to some cute little girls who wanted to see what the white people were doing - that was fun!).
Time to go eat breakfast with my family. It sure was great to see them last night! Thank you for your prayers for a safe trip!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Going...
Unbeknownst to most, I have been having a difficult time deciding whether or not to go up north tomorrow. I was feeling like I was just there (80% of the way at least) and that going again wouldn't be as beneficial as staying here. One thing that I really wanted to do and that had the most weight regarding my decision was the possibility of helping the Livesay's move. The plan was to borrow one of our Mission's trucks and help them move to a new place in Haiti.
After talking with Pastor Rob this morning about going up North, I think that it would be best if I went with him up north. I really regret not being able to help the Livesay's move. Early in the week, I thought that I would be helping them yesterday, but their plans were not final until more recently and they included moving on Saturday (which really didn't work out, but as I stated, I wasn't sure I wanted to go up north).
All that to say, I am leaving early tomorrow to go up north. We will be bringing about 1300 lbs of rice to various schools along the way. We hope to be at our final destination by dark. Sunday morning, Pastor Rob will be preaching and when we are done, we'll start our way back. We hope to make it part way back by dark, stay over night at the Mission's camp/beach house, and make our way back Monday morning. So...I'll post an update Monday afternoon/evening.
Boring car stuff...
I adjusted the torsion bars on the Ranger this morning. They were nearly at the bottom of their adjustment range. After making the adjustments, the front end now sits 3-4 inches higher. It was like a free suspension lift kit! The last time we drove that truck up north, it bottomed out a number of times up front and the driver's side tire hit the inside of the wheel well, too. I don't think that's a possibility now. It should give us a better ride. It would be nice to have more suspension travel and 33 inch tires, but the 31 inchers should do just fine.
After talking with Pastor Rob this morning about going up North, I think that it would be best if I went with him up north. I really regret not being able to help the Livesay's move. Early in the week, I thought that I would be helping them yesterday, but their plans were not final until more recently and they included moving on Saturday (which really didn't work out, but as I stated, I wasn't sure I wanted to go up north).
All that to say, I am leaving early tomorrow to go up north. We will be bringing about 1300 lbs of rice to various schools along the way. We hope to be at our final destination by dark. Sunday morning, Pastor Rob will be preaching and when we are done, we'll start our way back. We hope to make it part way back by dark, stay over night at the Mission's camp/beach house, and make our way back Monday morning. So...I'll post an update Monday afternoon/evening.
Boring car stuff...
I adjusted the torsion bars on the Ranger this morning. They were nearly at the bottom of their adjustment range. After making the adjustments, the front end now sits 3-4 inches higher. It was like a free suspension lift kit! The last time we drove that truck up north, it bottomed out a number of times up front and the driver's side tire hit the inside of the wheel well, too. I don't think that's a possibility now. It should give us a better ride. It would be nice to have more suspension travel and 33 inch tires, but the 31 inchers should do just fine.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
He Bought Me Corn
Thinking about money kept me up a bit last night and then consumed my thoughts again this morning. I want to clarify that I am not trying to condemn anyone or anything that anyone is doing - I am simply stating what is going through my head from my experiences in my life.
It's so hard to think about the difference in the way we used to live and the way we are living now. The things that we focus on and the things that we desire are so different. I have mentioned this before - that being here really makes me rely more on God and less on myself, other people, or other things.
Anyway - so many thoughts, so little ability to put it on the web.
Today I went with three other Mission workers to deliver food to one of our schools. We got about .5 miles from the Mission and the driver asked if I wanted to drive. Of course I said yes. We drove for about 1.5 hours averaging about 10 mph (guesstimate). We saw some amazing scenery, got the truck stuck, and had a flat tire on the way home - it was a great trip. I felt good to deliver food to the school because where we went, it appeared very poor. We delivered 6-7 bags of rice and a case of fish from Japan. The school is on the right and the church is on the left...
We drove to a spot where we couldn't drive any further (and barely made it to where we got - the truck was sliding at one point and I couldn't stop it). Then 2 of the 3 guys went with me down the mountain to talk to the principal of the school. It was an amazing hike down and my legs got sore as we went down (I can't imagine how the people who will carry the 110 lbs bags of rice will feel after the 20 minute hike down).
We stopped at 2-3 homes along the way and one of the guys who went with (a translator) brought a teddy bear with different colors to do a little teaching along the way. He talked with the children a little bit and then explained a little bit about Jesus using the bear and the different colors. The children listened so intently. He did a great job! After he told his story, he prayed for the children and we said good-bye.
It was so interesting to see how these people live and what they had. It looked like they had one set of clothes and they wore them for a week. Some children didn't have pants and some children didn't have shoes. Some homes had roofs that looked like they could keep the water out. This was up in the mountain and their plots of land to grow food were really steep. It's amazing that they could work their field.
On the way back, the guy who started driving bought some corn and he gave it to me to split with a specific missionary here. This again, brings up the money thing that has been hitting me so hard lately. He doesn't make much money and he just spent money to buy me corn. HE bought ME corn.
I am thankful for...
• A concrete floor (as opposed to dirt)
• A roof that doesn't leak
• Food
• Running water
• Electricity (and the internet)
Boring car stuff...
Changing the oil and filters solved the problem with the generator. The oil pressure when I turned it off was 60 psi instead of 120 psi.
This is the side-view mirror on the Ford Ranger. I could be wrong, but I think that it says "Objects in mirror are not American."
It's so hard to think about the difference in the way we used to live and the way we are living now. The things that we focus on and the things that we desire are so different. I have mentioned this before - that being here really makes me rely more on God and less on myself, other people, or other things.
Anyway - so many thoughts, so little ability to put it on the web.
Today I went with three other Mission workers to deliver food to one of our schools. We got about .5 miles from the Mission and the driver asked if I wanted to drive. Of course I said yes. We drove for about 1.5 hours averaging about 10 mph (guesstimate). We saw some amazing scenery, got the truck stuck, and had a flat tire on the way home - it was a great trip. I felt good to deliver food to the school because where we went, it appeared very poor. We delivered 6-7 bags of rice and a case of fish from Japan. The school is on the right and the church is on the left...
We drove to a spot where we couldn't drive any further (and barely made it to where we got - the truck was sliding at one point and I couldn't stop it). Then 2 of the 3 guys went with me down the mountain to talk to the principal of the school. It was an amazing hike down and my legs got sore as we went down (I can't imagine how the people who will carry the 110 lbs bags of rice will feel after the 20 minute hike down).
We stopped at 2-3 homes along the way and one of the guys who went with (a translator) brought a teddy bear with different colors to do a little teaching along the way. He talked with the children a little bit and then explained a little bit about Jesus using the bear and the different colors. The children listened so intently. He did a great job! After he told his story, he prayed for the children and we said good-bye.
It was so interesting to see how these people live and what they had. It looked like they had one set of clothes and they wore them for a week. Some children didn't have pants and some children didn't have shoes. Some homes had roofs that looked like they could keep the water out. This was up in the mountain and their plots of land to grow food were really steep. It's amazing that they could work their field.
On the way back, the guy who started driving bought some corn and he gave it to me to split with a specific missionary here. This again, brings up the money thing that has been hitting me so hard lately. He doesn't make much money and he just spent money to buy me corn. HE bought ME corn.
I am thankful for...
• A concrete floor (as opposed to dirt)
• A roof that doesn't leak
• Food
• Running water
• Electricity (and the internet)
Boring car stuff...
Changing the oil and filters solved the problem with the generator. The oil pressure when I turned it off was 60 psi instead of 120 psi.
This is the side-view mirror on the Ford Ranger. I could be wrong, but I think that it says "Objects in mirror are not American."
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