day 5

before i even begin, let me express a special thanks for all of your comments yesterday. your thoughts, and the verses and quotes that you are sharing, are more helpful than you can know! we were in tears as we read them and are really looking forward to encouraging the rest of the group with your words.

our team was split up again today, in pretty much the same way as yesterday. one switch was that tracy stayed back at the village, and mike went to vbs. also, pastor steve went to the medical clinic to handle the pharmacy and kristen went with the vbs team. both the vbs and medical teams returned very excited and encouraged about their days. God really answered all of the prayers that we had after the previous day's experience.

medical

the medical team returned to the same location that they were in yesterday. it sounds like they maybe did not treat quite as many patients, but for those that they did see, they were able to care for them more completely. they even had time to pray with many of the patients. they saw some very serious cases again, but also had some wonderful encouragement: there were two girls who were brought to them yesterday and were almost as limp as dish rags in the arms of their caretakers. they were treated and given medicine, and returned today dressed in their sunday best and were skipping all around! the team was really blessed to see how God worked to restore their health so quickly. that was definitely one of the highlights for them. pastor steve also enjoyed some time to teach some of the children american football. to the left is a picture of sarah, our nurse practitioner, treating one of the patients. sarah has also done a great job attending to the medical needs of our team. nobody is terribly sick, but there are some small complications that she has been treating for us, or at least advising us on.

vbs

the vbs team also returned to the same location, darby's father's church. they did not have the same issues with controlling the children today. they had a slightly smaller group, maybe about 90 children. this is probably at least partly due to the fact that it was raining most of the day. they also had more effective translators, and the kids were better behaved. the skit that they did went great, and so did the craft. ryan and mike got a chance to play soccer with some of the kids outside. at one point after the gospel was shared, they asked for a show of hands if any children would like to pray to be saved. there was one child who seemed to at least show an interest, and there could possibly have been others just not brave enough to raise their hands. so, the team did lead them in a prayer to accept Christ. there won't really be an opportunity to follow up on that, but we are asking that God would have granted salvation to at least some in the group. to the left is a picture of mike playing soccer with some boys.

construction

the work at the village was a very similar pace to yesterday. the guys doing the block work on that second story room made a lot of progress. at the end of the day, they also were able to take down the wood framing around the concrete that we poured earlier in the week. to the left is a picture of the concrete team, and the haitian contractors that they have been working with all week.

matt b spent most of his day doing a variety of odd jobs. he fixed one of the vehicles that the village owns, and alsospent a lot of time working on some plumbing repairs at the guesthouse where we are staying (the creche). to the left is a picture of matt working on the truck.

dave p and allyson started working to create screens for the windows at the creche. several of the windows don't have any, so we were asked to build some to help with mosquito control... and to add a layer of rat screen as well. we took measurements and cut all the material fort he frames, and tomorrow we will probably finish up constructing and installing the screens.

because things were a little slow, especially in the morning, a few of the women on our team asked the haitian women to show us how to do the laundry. these women work all day scrubbing clothes, linens and towels, for about $10. it seemed like a good opportunity to get to interact with them.. but for those of us who tried it, i think we are all feeling very thankful for our washing machines back home! to the left is a picture of anna and allyson working with the laundry women.

last but not least, here is a picture of robin cleaning out some dishes in the village. robin serves us tirelessly with food prep, and we are so thankful for her. please be praying in particular for those serving at the village as they continue to try to serve with joy amidst some unexpected difficulties. for some people especially, it seems to be getting increasingly challenging as the week goes on, and so we are asking that God would change things just as He did for the vbs and medical teams, who both felt extremely challenged yesterday and really experienced God's grace today. please also pray for the health of the construction team. several of the guys have felt a little light-headed at various points. it is very hot and we are doing our best to stay hydrated and eat healthy snacks. we hear that the heat index issupposed to be near 140 tomorrow (wednesday) so we would really appreciate your prayers all the more.

as an interesting sidenote, a reporter arrived today who will be staying at the village for a few days. she was in haiti the day after the earthquake and is now following up on some stories. she works with an nbc affililate out of florida. who knows, perhaps we will be able to find some of her stories online after we return.

lastly, we loved getting our little care packages from the pastoral team last night. it was a great surprise and we all appreciate the thoughtfulness in finding out what each of our favorite snacks are. thank you so much!

to answer the question about child care at the village... some of the kids are the children of the women who live in the village, but most of them are orphans who live here. there are kids ages from probably about 4 months up to 6 years old. the women here will bathe the children and change diapers, but our team helps out in many other ways during the day: administering daily vitamins and some prescription antibiotics, watching out for the ones old enough to be running through the village, making sure babies get fed and just providing general stimulation.

tomorrow (wednesday) we will again have a team at the village, a medical clinic, and vbs. the vbs will be in a different locationwith a different group of kids. a few people are being swapped between teams, because there are some who would like to experience the areas they have not been involved in yet. we don't know yet what all of the changes will be, but we are as always praying for God's help in adjusting our attitudes and expecations, and having the humility to serve in whatever way is asked of us.

thanks again for all of your prayers and comments. we are happy to be here serving, but also missing our loved ones at home, so we really appreciate hearing from you all.