Days 3 & 4

 Days 3 & 4

Focus on Luke and Gabe...

Luke and Gabe have been helping Nate to organize the storage room.  It is truly in need.  Luke feels quite proud of the three shelves that he and his cousin,Ty, built yesterday.  Today when I walked into the storage room, Nathan and Luke were organizing tools on the new shelves and Gabe was drilling the necessary holes in  the metal supports to be used on the next ones to go up.

Both guys accepted their lunch duty assignment with grace today.  The job had originally been Hope and Jenna's, but Nate said that he really needed them in the painting area and chose Luke and Gabe as their replacements at the feeding program.  As it turned out Jeff, Luke, Gabe and I served the food with the 6+ kitchen workers.  The 700 school children were having salmon, rice and beans.  Luke and Gabe were jealous.

After lunch Luke and Gabe passed out 500 bracelets to the students at the school before their dad came to pick them up.

In the evenings , both boys enjoyed playing sports with the locals till dinner and then played countless hours of cardgames with their cousins till bedtime. One night, Luke had the opportunity to share some of his computer skills with the computer teacher from the school.  Although creole is the language of Haiti, the man also spoke Spanish so Luke and he could discuss 3D design and image manipulation. A very cool opportunity for both of them!

Nathan and Paul...

These guys have been working very hard. Nate comes to dinner at night sweaty and covered in paint and still feeling like he should go back and work some more. There is much to be done.  Last night when we all went for a walk around the community, Paul opted not to join us in order to finish an electrical project.  They both have accomplished amazing amounts.

The other day Paul brought electricity to the front of the orphanage.  This part of the building had never, in the 10 years we have been coming, had working lights or outlets.  He has also added lights to various areas that had nothing before.

Nathan has had the difficult job of orchestrating all of us.  With a team of 13, there are plenty of folks to keep busy.  Nathan has also taken on the jobs that required more than some of our shorter workers could handle such as painting the 12 foot ceilings in Benite's bathroom.  Since there was no ladder everyone has applauded Nate's scaffolding made of a huge barely on top of a sink.  

Michele and Lily....

On top of the many projects like painting and Christmas decorating, Lily and Michele have also been leading a dance troupe of 3rd graders.  They will be performing Speak Life, by Toby Mac, for the community at church on Sunday.  I have appreciated Lily's constant positive attitude and her faith in the abilities of her 30 dancers.

I have also been super thankful to have Michele on the trip. She has lots of experience here and it shows.  I can always count on her.

More later...