Luxury (Krystle)

Hey everyone! The last couple of days have been good but different then what was originally planned. The second job grandpa had come to do looks like it might not be happening, but I don't know how he would've gotten it done anyways because there have been so many other things to do! Future jobs to check out, church measurements to take for the tent we are raising money for, sinks to unplug, generators to fix, church services to attend, people to meet with, my head is just spinning from the past weekend. lol! We are all well though tired.  However, in Haiti you always feel tired. I can tell that we're are all especially weary today, that tiredness where your sitting there and don't even know if you have the strength to open your water bottle. Not sick and weak feeling, just literally exhausted. I know people are going to be commenting to get some rest, take a nap, or whatever else, but there is no time to rest. I'm already getting that feeling that my time left here is short and there is so much I need to accomplish before I go home! Children to love, and memories to make, rest will just have to wait till I go home! This country is so hard it makes me wonder how these people do it. I know that I will come back to all of the luxuries of home but these people don't have that, not even the hope of someday having it! And I mean simple things like clean drinking water that never runs out, having three meals a day to eat, medical care even if you don't have money. Did you know that if you go to the hospital here and you don't have money to pay right there and then, they won't even let you in the door, even if you were dying? It is sad and makes me wonder how I can go home and leave these hurting people here to suffer alone. Don't get me wrong, I want to come home so bad it hurts, I have cried more then I would like to admit, and I am still counting down the days till the airplane to take me home lands on this dry, fowl smelling, desperate piece of land. As I get up every morning and feel I can't do this one more day, some child covered in dirt and grime runs up to give me a hug and a smile and tell me how much they love me, not because they are hoping I will give them something, it is simply because I love them. Or when a lady from the church sees me and comes running up to tell me how beautiful I look when my hair is a mess, my make-up is running and my clothes are wrinkled and sweaty, and yet I can tell she is being genuinely truthful when she says it. These things help me go one more day and keep pressing on. How can I feel so hopeless in this place and yet these people are so happy and joyful? I do not know, but I am learning so very much from them, and I can only try my best and pray that God will give me something to give to them as well! Kelly and I have felt the impending doom of grandpa leaving since we first picked him up, and it is drawing closer every minute, but we are doing okay. We will be sad to see him go but there is so much to do and finish in the next four weeks. I scheduled it all out according to Haiti time, we will see how that goes! Lol! We don't have to much to finish today but tomorrow is all booked up. Then Wednesday we are going to Port for grandpa to do some well work. We will spend the night in Port Au Prince and take grandpa to the airport early Thursday morning. Keep us all in your prayers and know you all back home are in ours! Love from Haiti! Krystle

Nightlife

Greetings everyone! To catch you up on the happenings with the well, they successfully fished the drill bit out yesterday morning! I wish you could have seen how excited they were! We went out to the delimart to celebrate then went right back to the job where the guys finished the well! I think it's pumping six and a half gallons a minute! They are all so happy and relieved! We got home at a good time last evening, scrubbed the layers of dirt off, had a bite to eat and watched some Beethoven with the family before heading off to bed. All three of us have been sleeping so well at night but around two this morning I woke up and sat straight up, my toe throbbing and swelling bigger by the second. First thing that comes to my mind is a spider might have been in my blanket because I had just unfolded it and pulled it over myself. So I crawl out of my bug tent, wake Kelly up and tell him what's happening and ask if he will shake my blanket outside. By this time my toe is HUGE and both Rob and Grandpa are up. I pull my blanket out of my tent and with the light of the lantern I see this big, old, fat mosquito that can barely fly, drift out of my bug tent! Haha so the mystery was solved and we all went back to bed, me miserable however. Leave it to Krystle to wake up the whole household over a mosquito bite! Lol, good times! That is one thing I'm looking forward to being done with when I go home! No more creepy crawlers! I have see so many spiders, Mosquito's, ants, cockroaches, mice, rats, lizards and one extremely large cricket that lives in Naromie's bedroom that they don't even freak me out anymore! I will be happy to get back to the cold Michigan weather where they can't live or at least keep themselves hidden! Lol!

We were up extra early this morning to be ready to leave. Our normal routine of getting around, picking up our bedding and eating breakfast together was done by 6:45. Grandpa, Kelly, Manius and I are back on the job while Rob and Arson are on their way to Port Au Prince to pick up some pipe. They will be back after lunch sometime I'm guessing. The guys are finishing up the last few things with the well, chlorinating it and hooking up some stuff that I have no idea what it is:D. This afternoon they are going to move the rig and all of the equipment to the next job. Everyone be praying that they can do the well quickly and have no problems! I know that is a lot to hope for in Haiti, I should know, but anything is possible with God! I'm sitting here watching a man use a hose to fill up tons of buckets and containers with water for all of the children here around the property, they are SO happy! We will see what else this new day has to bring in Haiti! Blessings to all!

Krystle

Bargaining

Good morning from Haiti! I laugh at myself when I look at the clock and it's only 9:00 and I have been up since 6:00 and think that back home I would easily sleep till now. And then I think, wow, it only takes me half an hour to get completely ready in the mornings. I don't know if all of this will carry over to when I get home, but it has definitely given me some perspective on what I use my time to do at home! We got to sit and have a nice breakfast of peaches and cream oatmeal with Grandpa this morning, I can't even explain how nice it is to have him here with us! We left the house at about 8:00 and went right over to order a big tanker truck of water to be taken out to the job. Grandpa needed a part for something today so we stopped downtown and Kelly and Rob ran out to see if they could find it. When they got back with the part Kelly asked me to come out and see something quick. So all four of us ended up hopping out of the car and into the hustle and bustle of everyone selling their wares and crossed the street to a certain ladies little "store" which consisted of a blanket and umbrella with all of her things to sell. I have been wanting another cooler because we have the one really big cooler and one really little cooler, I have needed something in between. This lady was selling one that was used but in fairly decent shape so we asked her the price. 400 hundred Haitian or about 50 dollars American! I was like there is no way! So I asked if she would take 200 Haitian which she said no. So we turned around and started walking away and I was thinking she wasn't going to budge but we hadn't taken five steps and she was calling us back agreeing to the price. Lol I guess I'm getting my bargaining skills on! Now I am the proud new owner of a dirty little igloo cooler! Yay! On our way back to the car I got a couple different offers that were a bit more strange then usual. A couple of ladies asked Rob if he would give me to them, and one lady even offered that I could marry her son! Haha! Don't worry to much, I think between my grandfather, brother and Robinson I won't be marrying a Haitian man any time soon or ever for that matter! We are now out to the job and the guys are busy working away. We will go back home for lunch, Naromie is making some fried chicken for me to serve with the boys sandwiches, then we will be back out here for the rest of the afternoon.

Something else little I have been thinking I should write about is Kelly. He just absolutely shines in the Haitian culture in anything he goes to do. He is so outgoing, especially with the language. Most of the time he ends up saying something completely different then what he meant to but the people just love him for it! I on the other hand am a lot more shy, a neighbor lady even came to Rob and asked if he was helping me with Creole at all because she never heard me say anything! I actually feel like I am getting a pretty decent handle on the language so I have gone to greater strides to try and use it with everyone:) Because of how amazing Kelly does with everything I have constantly found myself thinking, Krystle you need to be more like Kelly, more outgoing and talkative and whatever else. I was praying about it, for the Lord to show me if there were certain areas I needed to change and work harder at when it all of a sudden it became perfectly clear. I am not Kelly, I will never be quite like Kelly or anyone else, God wanted me to come here to this country to help as Krystle because He knew I have something to offer these people. Whether everyone understands who I am and what I am doing doesn't matter as long as it's what God wants me to be doing. Don't get me wrong, there are always things to keep working on and changing in yourself to make you a better person and I am constantly checking myself for those things but this goes right along with something I have learned all my growing up days. Be who you are, not anyone else because as cheesy as it may sound, God made us all special:) So keep praying that Kelly and I will do what God has sent us here to do! Have a blessed day!

Krystle

Grandpa

Greetings! First off I have to apologize for not writing the past several days. I was having some writers block last week and then our wifi router quit working. So I will just give everyone a quick look at what has happened this past week. Everyone has been getting ready for Mardi Gras since we have arrived in Haiti but last week they were in high gear setting up stages around town and throwing parties getting ready for it this week. Mardi Gras here is not a good thing, it's sad really. Lots of people die from drinking to much and people give all the children alcohol. Because of that the orphans got to stay home from school Thursday and Friday so we partied with them all weekend. We went out for ice cream Thursday and on Friday we got pizza, chicken wings and cookies from the deli mart and brought it home to have a movie party! We all had a blast and made some very great memories together! It was a good Sunday, I am usually busy with the kids most of the service. I really love the job of teaching the children on Sunday mornings, at first I was completely overwhelmed trying to figure out what to do, but I love them all so much and it has gotten much easier! Manius is my translator and I must say I think we make a pretty good team, our story for the last couple of weeks has been Joseph and this week it was six pages of me reading and Manius translating! After church we had to run back to the orphanage and pack up all our stuff to take to Rob and Naromies for while Grandpa is here. When we got to their house Naromie had a wonderful Sunday lunch ready for us, rice, bean sauce and tons of chicken (because of the rooster:) I don't know how they made it all week with that noisy, obnoxious thing! Anyways, we got to relax around the house the rest of the day and we had good intentions of getting to bed at a good time because we had to be up early to get to Port Au Prince to pick up Grandpa, but the neighbor lady had some kind of anxiety attack and Rob and Kelly had to rush her to the hospital. I didn't get to go because I was already in pajamas, so I stayed up with the family for a while but then we all went to bed and the guys finally got back around midnight. We were back up at 5:30 getting around and packing up the Toyota and left the house at seven. We stopped for some juices and Torro on the side of the road part way there and pulled into the airport quarter after nine. The police man was very nice and let Rob, Kelly and I go all the way up to the front gate where Grandpa would be coming out. We didn't have to wait long for him and instead of him being attacked by men who wanted to carry his bags he was tackled by Kelly and I! We were SO happy to see him! Before we left Port we stopped by Rob's uncles house because he was having a well problem. After an hour and a half there we were finally on our way back to Saint Marc. By the time we were back in town it was two and we were all very hungry because no one had anything for breakfast, so Grandpa took us to the Deli Mart. Back at the house we unpacked his three suitcases, talked for a while and then took naps or rested. Grandpa was exhausted and Kelly and I are fighting getting sick again so we just rested all evening except for when I got up to make spaghetti for the guys. We squished all our bug tents out onto the porch and everyone slept very well. We are already back out to the job and I'm praying that the guys can get everything done quickly and not have any problems! I will keep you posted on all the happenings! Dad sent us a new wifi router so we are connected to the world once again! We are sending all our love to everyone back home! Kelly and I couldn't be more excited for the team that is coming. After Grandpa leaves we have a lot to make happen before you all get here! Blessings from Haiti! Krystle  

Valentines Day (Krystle)

I can't believe we are now six weeks into this journey! At first the days were going so slow and the weeks were just dragging but now it seems like we wake up and blink and it's time for bed! Things are going so well right now. We had a great Sunday afternoon, Rob found some gas so we could have the generator going. He gave us permission to stay home from church to FaceTime some of you back home and because of that he let Thaina and Adelaine stay with us. We played with them up on the roof in the rain and then came back inside to have an evening of popcorn and girly movies! Kelly was a good sport and we had a very fun time with them. They are two very different girls and yet they get along so well! Thaina is very dramatic and always acting, dancing or singing. Adelaine is a bit more reserved in public but when you get her to yourself she is one of the spunkiest girls I have ever met! Yesterday someone brought Robinson a live rooster as a gift! Naromie says she's going to keep it till Sunday then kill it to have a big chicken dinner with Kelly and I! But it hadn't been there more than an hour and had managed to fly over the fence and run away! Thaina and Adelaine were out the gate chasing after it and came back a while later with huge smiles proudly holding the rooster who was loudly protesting, so to take care of that Adelaine started spanking the thing! Haha! It never gets boring with those two girls around! Kelly bought speakers for the familie's TV this past weekend so everyone has really enjoyed that. Before you couldn't hear it 8 ft away! We can even hook up our iPhones to play music, so last night we had a dance party with the family before we left for the orphanage. Boo boo is absolutely hilarious! He loves music so he was dancing and clapping and laughing hysterically for an hour while we all sang and danced around him! He is even learning "Allelujia" which if you have attended a Haitian church service you know what I'm talking about, if you haven't, it's where you put your hands up in the air and wave them back and forth as fast as you possibly can while shouting "Allelujia!". Its the cutest thing ever! Especially since he doesn't own a shirt that will stay down over his fat little belly! We were sad to leave last night but we will be going back Sunday. 
Kelly has noticed that some of the people like Robinson and Manius have been showing up in the evenings with white styrofoam cups with lids and straws but every time we asked what it was they would just say "juice". We asked Rob if we could try one but he said he would rather us not because they are just made up on the street. Since we have been eating so much of their food and not getting sick he surprised us and brought us two "juices". Well I took a big sip out of mine and almost spit it back out. It was slightly sweet but then it seriously tasted like potatoes! I asked what it was while trying to look like it was really good and he said, "it's bananas and potatoes!" While I tried not to gag I looked over at Kelly who had the same look on his face lol! Well I didn't want to be rude so I just kept sipping on it but in the end I actually enjoyed it, the taste has to grow on you but it's really not bad and it was nice to just have something cold! 
The kids were really surprised and happy to see us this morning as they were all sleeping when we got here last evening. We ran some errands around town today and then came back for some lunch. We had to get some more pops today, we don't drink nearly as many as we do on the team trips except I'm on a strict diet of at least two a day now because we found that's what was causing most of my headaches, low sugar... weird I know but it seems to have taken care of it. Rob let us get glass bottles though! He hasn't ever let the team get them before but it turns out they are a ton cheaper than the plastic because you keep the bottles and trade them for new ones and they just keep getting recycled. So Kelly and I are having fun with those! Oh the things that seem special when your in Haiti! Lol! I think we will lay low the rest of the day and hang out with the kids. We sent Rob off to go find flowers for his wife so he can spend the rest of the day with her and the family. Hope everyone is well! Happy Valentines Day from Haiti! Krystle

U-turn (Krystle)

I can't believe its already the weekend once again! It's been very busy in some ways and in other ways not but overall a very good week. I think Kelly's at a standstill with the well until grandpa gets here but that's really only a week away! Some guys from YWAM that are well drillers went out with him to see if they could help fish the drill bit out but it didn't work. Kelly and I are turning into regular Haitians! Naromie has been feeding us delicious food all week now. Lots of rice and beans with sauce and chicken, fried bananas, fried chicken, fried potatoes, fried bread and last night we even got goat soup with potatoes and bananas in it! I'm extremely surprised but I have loved everything so far! Naromie has been so pleased that we like her cooking! Apparently Rob has been telling her that we couldn't eat any of the food so as crazy as it sounds we have gotten a lot closer to Naromie I think because she feels accepted. Cooking is such a big part of the woman's  life because it takes so long and it's so much work that gI think she just feels very appreciated! Kelly and i also got another creole lesson this week! We are not great yet, but a lot more of the language is making sense. Our lesson was about a lot of different greetings and replies to those greetings, do you know what we learned? Half the time we have been here, team trips included we have been being out right rude! You are supposed to greet literally everyone you pass! Claudy said that is changing a little in city areas but he said in rural areas if you don't literally greet everyone that if you had a car problem pop up, he said you would get help from no one. I guess you learn something new every day! We ended up staying here at the house all week. We will go back to the orphanage Monday. I think we are going to start coming and going from the two places every other week. Both bring different schedules but the problem is if we just stay at one we don't see much of anyone at the other place, so we will see how it goes. 

The country is officially out of gas so we have been dealing with that most of the week, they said we would have gas yesterday but now they are saying the first of the week so who knows. Rob bought some gas from down the street for his motorcycle yesterday but while we were riding around doing things it just quit. Well come to find out they had mixed the gas with water and sold it for a higher price. I think he is going to go out looking for some more gas today. We are almost out of gas for the generator and completely out of gas for the Toyota, but we will be fine and hopefully some gas will be delivered on Monday. 

Last night at about 9:30 we went over to the church with Rob. They were getting ready for an all night service and Rob wanted to be there to make sure everything got started like it was supposed to. A little after 10:00 we went to leave on his motorcycle. There were three young people sitting outside the church gate. Rob took the two boys and told them to go have a seat inside the church because they couldn't just stand there. Then he went and brought a lady out of the church who turned out to be the other young persons grandmother. None of the three kids are very good kids but Rob said that the two boys were really bad. So after Rob had handled it we hopped onto his motorcycle, went down the hill and turned left heading for home. He only drove down the road a short ways and did a u-turn, he said "sorry guys!" and we drove back to the church. Well what I wasn't expecting to see were the three kids sitting back outside the gate. When they saw Rob had tricked them they got big sheepish grins on their faces. Rob told the girl to go home and the boys to get away from the church property, he waited to make sure everyone was headed in the right direction then we took off for home a second time. But we also turned around for a second time but this time we went past the church towards the orphanage. As we were driving along slowly Rob said " aha! See that?". Well sure enough we did see it, the boys were slowly following the young girl home and she had no idea. So Rob went zooming past the boys and we fit a fourth passenger (the girl) on our motorcycle and took her home. She actually lives with some very good ladies of the church and Robinson said that she is one of the smartest kids at her school but she is just not making good choices. It's a good reminder though of how just little things like that show people that you care and are trying to watch out for them. Who knows, maybe we can get her to come to church sometime! 

As you can see, there is always lots going on and lots to do! We are excited for Grandpa to come and are making plans to feed him well (I promise grandpa we won't feed you goat soup:D) and take good care of him! Hopefully we can say hi to a bunch of you tomorrow night on FaceTime at the movie! We love and miss you all! Take care and have blessed Sunday!

Krystle

Sleepover (Krystle)

It's the start of another week in Haiti! We have had a wonderful weekend over here at Rob and Naromie's. Rob picked Kelly and I up on Friday night with all of our stuff, and let me say that a sleepover in Haiti is a lot more complex then a sleepover in America! We have to bring our own mats to sleep on, sheets, pillows, bug tents, water, food, towels and not to mention all of our personal stuff! So by the time the Toyota was unloaded we felt like we were moving in here for our remaining two months! We get to sleep out on the porch where it is cooler, in fact Kelly actually said he wished he would have brought an extra blanket with him because it gets so chilly! We are already dreading the thought of coming home and waiting outside the Detroit airport for our shuttle bus to pick us up so we have decided we will stay inside and let the others come get us when it gets there:) I'm sure the team will understand! Lol! Kelly and Rob went out drilling on Saturday. I know things didn't go completely how they had planned but they are working it out. I got to stay here at the house with all of the ladies and Boo Boo, they braided my hair while hanging out and enjoying each others company.  We watched a movie and popped some popcorn for all of the family, it was a very nice evening. Church went well yesterday. Kelly did a fine job running the sound board and I taught the children again. I'm not gonna lie, the service was extremely long even though I am getting used to it! It was four hours! When I get home I will never complain about long services again! After church, Kelly and I picked up some hotdogs and chips to share with the family. When we got home though the girls had already made up some lunch for all of them. Rob told us we could have his and he would eat some hotdogs later because he had a funeral to attend. Now we haven't gotten to try much Haitian food yet because you don't really want to go ask them to share some of the little food they themselves have, so Kelly and I were very excited! And let me say I'm a picky eater and everyone knows it but, it was a wonderful meal! We got to stay home from church last night and talk to some of the people from the church back home via FaceTime! It's so wonderful to see familiar faces! Today has been pretty relaxed as well. Naromie provided us with another fabulous meal this afternoon, brown rice, beans, onions, peppers, carrots, chicken and a sauce that goes over the top of it! We could definitely get used to it for sure! We are getting small repairs and jobs at the house done such as fixing generators, sorting medicine, repairing a pew, some plumbing and other things like that. We are going to stay here at the house a couple extra days to try and finish that up. I'm having a party with the girls tonight, watching a movie, painting nails and having some snacks! It should be a great time! We love and miss everyone but I can feel the time just slipping by! In the beginning your keeping track of how many days or weeks you have been gone but now we are counting how many days we have left! Pray that we will continue to be a blessing while we are here! Also please keep me in your prayers, I have been struggling with headaches the last several nights which is something I deal with quite often at home but it seems harder to cope with here where there is not always somewhere nice to rest and it is hot and noisy, thank you! I will try and write something more soon, I know this isn't extremely profound or anything, but I want to make sure no one feels like we have forgotten and don't care! Take care and Blessings from Haiti! Krystle