Days 38 & 39 (10/22 – 10/23)

Saturday – This morning I watched another sunrise. The rain we got last night cooled things off a little and it was truly beautiful. Lou Lou always has coffee ready by 6:00. A beautiful morning and a great cup of coffee – it just doesn’t get better than that. Breakfast at 7:00 and working by 8:00 - the start of another busy day.

Our first project was to get the food prep counter built in the newly cleaned out area. Then we continued with our regular routine of moving blocks and mortar to the second story. The Haitian work crew only works a half day on Saturdays so we took advantage of the time off and   spent the afternoon exploring some of the village of Thomas. I’m glad that the team had the opportunity to see some typical rural Haitian homes and interact with some of the people. At one point a half dozen women came out to the road to show us their babies. The children are always very curious and want to interact with you. One boy was very intent on practicing his English with us. We also saw an authentic VooDoo temple – a first for me. Our after dinner devotional and discussion was full of our impressions of the afternoon.

Sunday – We all have been looking forward to attending church service with our Haitian friends. Sunday school starts at 7:00 AM and church service starts at 8:00. Of course, that’s Haitian time so we sat around for 20 minutes before the service actually started. I had told the team to expect a lot of singing and we were not disappointed. James Lazar led the service and did a great job. Our very own Pastor Allen hit a home run with his sermon that was full of his usual humor and innovative use of props. At the end of his sermon he invited our team up to sing “We are Walking in the Light of God” with the Creole lyrics Lou Lou had taught us. Lou Lou took charge and by end of the song the whole congregation was on its feet and literally dancing in the aisles. It was a service to be remembered.

The service ended at 10:00 and we changed clothes, had a quick lunch and squeezed into a rented tap tap to go up the coast for an afternoon of R & R at Club Indigo – an ex-Club Med. With our Haitian staff, there were 17 people crammed into the little tap tap for the 45 minute trip. After 5 days of camping out, Club Indigo was a real Shangri La – a beautiful beach, beautiful pool and a spectacular buffet. We even rented a room so everyone had an opportunity to take a real shower. On the beach at sunset, Pastor Allen conducted a truly memorable communion service. After dark we all piled into the tap tap and rode back to Thomas. What a great day!