1/8/14

Greetings from Petit Goave church family and friends!  What a glorious day we have had with old friends and meeting new friends at our worksite, Methodist Church of Olivier.  This church was destroyed in the earthquake and you may recall that the mission teams from Annandale and Wesley Chapel UMCs worked at this church when our teams were here in April, 2013.  We were all very excited and inspired to see the continued progress to rebuild the church since we were last here.  When we left in April the concrete block walls at the site were several rows above the windows.  The floor remained rubble and there was no ceiling.  Now the walls have been completed, the concrete floor is poured and the church is under roof.  The walls of the outdoor, open air kitchen have been repaired and lunch was prepared for the hired workers on charcoal and a big cast iron pot.  The guest house prepared our Haitian lunch which included bannann fri (fried plantains), lam fri (fried bread fruit), marinad (spicy pie) and pikliz (a type of vegetable).

Today's work included building scaffolding in preparation to apply the parge coat on the exterior walls.  We enjoyed playing with the children and several team members even had their hair braided by the children...men too!!

After a wonderul dinner we celebrated Rudy's 83rd birthday with a cake prepared by the guest house staff along with homemade birthday cards and Happy birthday sung in Creole by the guest house staff and family (including sweet little three year old Eli - Pastor Jacob's son).

This awesome day ended with a hymn sing led by Rudy on the ukelele and Michelle on the guitar.  We sang at the top of our lungs and occasionally even in harmony!!!

We are off to bed now, thanking God for this wonderful opportunity to serve and looking forward to another glorious day.

Our awesome team leader, Mark, is feeling much better and we are all healthy and well.  Don't know if the boss would agree but I think our team has found our stride.  Full steam ahead!  We miss you all very much and look forward to seeing you in the very near future.

blessings to all!
In His Service
Pam Jones