53

Day two is quickly coming to a close. The weather has spared us extremely high temperatures so far. But it is still brutal! We worked to get everything organized today. We tore apart the sound system, did a thorough cleaning, mounted the speakers, and ran some new cords. It’s working much better now. We packed all the bags for our children's service tomorrow. It was amazing as we went to the property tonight to do our work we found the tent three quarters full of children! We hadn’t even announced we were having a service and they came anyway. It’s a struggle to have children show up for anything in our culture that doesn’t involve pretty spectacular announcements and pretty decent media, but armed with only a ‘hope’ of something happening these children came. We grabbed some of our extra candy and gave them each a sucker, told them to invite a friend and come back tomorrow. I can guarantee you one thing; we will have children for our service come tomorrow afternoon. Everyone on the team is adapting well, it takes a few hours to acclimate ones body, but spirit’s are high, and the team is getting along great. Devante took on some Haitian ‘football’ (soccer) up around the corner from the property. He is making friends and having a great time. Bob and Ray are working on the benches for the children's tent; we ordered five more today and that will give us a total of ten benches for the kids. Kelly worked on fixing several things on the rig. He is really anxious to do some drilling. We had the rig running for a few minutes and it draws a crowd really quickly. Supper is brewing and it’s about time to eat. The electricity came on for 53 minutes tonight. Just enough time to test out my work on the sound system! So much for catching showers with light. We are thankful that we are able to be here again. As I sit here typing this post on the front porch of Rob’s house, 7 children sit watching me, hoping for some food and a few extra hugs. Their smiles are heart warming, and I wonder what will become of their lives. It’s great to know that at least a couple of them are in school that our supporters are sponsoring. They are the hope of Haiti, I agree with Rob on that one, one thing that has not been taken from this county is their lack of knowledge. Poverty has a way of doing that, stripping all means of education is perhaps it’s deadliest tentacle. The demand is great, and poverty wrestles to destroy any opponent that threatens its choke-hold on this society. May we have the patience to persist, may we fight to the finish. Here’s to the long haul and a steady heart. Blessings to all again.

P.S. The scene in the photo is of the mass grave. It’s difficult to see in the photo, but between the center cactus, on the far hill is a very big cross, and a sign at the edge of the road reads: Thanks to the victims, January 12, 2010.