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| This picture perfectly describes my love for Haiti. |
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SUTS Installation #1
in Arcahaie, Haiti |
Prayer Partners of the Day: Carrie Delisio & Carie Turner
When in Haiti, there is what I fondly refer to as "Haiti Standard Time." Americans tend to live in a monochromatic state. We are time-oriented, ready to complete tasks and move on to the next item on the list. Haitians, as well as Europeans and more, live by a polychromatic culture. They are focused on relationships and strolling through life. Shifting from a monochromatic lifestyle into a polychromatic culture takes me, on average, a couple of days, and the first days are often filled with personal frustration! My personality is ready to get up and go, and my hosts remind me to calm down and enjoy.
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| With the operator in Montrouis |
Before breakfast, we completed our first evaluation in Arcahaie. By 10:00am, we were on the road to Montrouis. This was the site of our
March 2012 installation, and the operator clearly had heard we were coming. The building was decorated with streamers and balloons, and she was so excited to see us! Records were in order, the building was clean, and not a piece was out of place. The drive to Gonaives was uneventful, and by mid-afternoon we were evaluating the system at the Episcopal Church in downtown.
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| Pastor Pudens, Tom, & Bibi |
While we were there, Pastor Pudens Innocent and his brother Bibi, met us. Pastor Pudens is the pastor of Philadelphia Evangelical Church, and he oversees
Village de Vie, the Global Orphan Project we will install a new system in March 2013! It was so nice to meet the Pastor in person, and his brother spoke English so well. This made for a wonderful first meeting, and off we went to complete the official survey of the site. The children were beautiful and loving, and the site is perfect for a solar-water system. The partnership between Village de Vie and
Green Valley United Methodist Church is well underway!
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| In Myan lining up for water. |
After a late lunch at Pere Max Accime's house, our team split up Chris, Tom & Ancy went north to Gros-Morne, and George and Ralph stuck with me for an additional survey. It was at this moment two "first's" happened to me in Haiti. First number one, I rode a tap-tap with my new Haitian friend Kerby. First number two, I rode a motorcycle in Haiti with my new friend Jake and Kerby. For anyone who's been to Haiti, these are monumental milestones in the life of a missionary! My faith in God that day became deeper than ever!
Jake, a
Coreluv International missionary, showed us to his future orphanage site in
Myan. After playing with the kids there and taking water samples, we drove around the area and found ourselves watching the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. (That says a lot, coming from a connoisseur of sunsets!) It may have been the reflection on the water. It may have been the magnificently painted sky. It may have been the children in my arms. All combined this may have been one of the best days I have ever spent in Haiti.
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| George, Jake, and Ralph in Myan, Haiti |
