Because of the huge storm on Friday (in the video that I posted), the Haitian electricity has been out. So, we have had to run the generator a lot more than normal. It uses a lot of fuel so Dorothy tries not to run it for very long, so most of the day and night we are without power. There is no telling when it will be fixed. The storm was actually comparable to a hurricane, and killed and injured several people in the tent city that is near our house. At church today, one missionary said his car was crushed by a tree. Praise God that we were safe in our house during the storm!! Dorothy just told me that there was a 4.7 earthquake here the day before I got here. She said it was during the night and she did not even notice it. There are many fault lines in this area. I'm not afraid though because I know God is always with us here...he blesses us so much, and I know he will take care of us.
Yesterday morning the boys and I worked in the yard cutting down the fallen banana trees (yes, with a machete). We carried them into our “garden” to decompose and help the soil. In late morning, two girls around my age came to stay for the day/night here at Dorothy's, Lala (LauraLynn) and Rachel. They live in Gonaieves and have started a school. They are in desperate need of teachers and were really trying to talk me into moving there after these three months at Dorothy's. I am open to wherever God will lead me after this. I would LOVE to be able to teach in a school here...so who knows? It was nice getting to spend time with them. Lala's Creole is great, and I hope that eventually I can speak it as well as her.
Dorothy spent most of the day trimming trees and bushes outside. She was exhausted at the end of the day and realized that she was supposed to teach Sunday school today. She asked me to cover for her. So, I spent some time last night planning a lesson for her 5th and 6th grade class. We ate sandwiches at a restaurant called Epi dor for dinner because we were all too worn out to throw something together here. We had lots of fun at dinner telling stories (or in my case listening) about life in Haiti. Dorothy has such a contagious laugh, and lots of funny stories to share. The water pump was still not working right yesterday, so we were without water for most of the day. Thankfully Lala was able to get it to work so that we could bathe. When I went to bed last night, my bed was infested with small red ants. Their bite is very painful and gives me red welts all over. Needless to say, I wasn't too keen on sleeping in there! I found that they were coming in through the broken electrical outlet beside my bed. Lala helped me to find some ant spray to take care of the problem. I just hope they don't come back!
Today I taught Sunday school for Dorothy and then we went to church. It is a nice English speaking church with around 300ish people from all over. After church, Dorothy and I had our lunch together and then she napped for the rest of the afternoon. I spent the afternoon with Claudine, Mich, Rosa, and Richardson. They LOVE spending time with me, and I enjoy it just as much. We played with bubbles outside, colored with sidewalk chalk, read books in the living room, drew on dry erase boards, played Candy Land, and threw a ball around. My favorite was reading with them. Mich and Chacha both speak English pretty well, but the girls are shy and don't speak English. While we were reading “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” I got the kids to say colors with me in both English and Creole and count in both English and Creole. They liked pointing out the caterpillar on each page when I asked, “Ki kote caterpiller?” (Where is the caterpillar?) I love learning Creole from them as I teach! They are each so precious in their own little ways.
Last night, I overheard Rachel and Lala talking to Mich. They were giving him some kind of a pep talk. Finally after ten minutes he came over and stood next to me. I saw him look over his shoulder to the girls and they gave him some encouragement and told him “Just tell her!”. Finally, he quickly said, “Mwen renmen ou, Miss Katie.” (I love you, Miss Katie) and then plopped on the couch and covered his face. It has been less than a week, and I'm so close to the kids already!
A quick prayer request is that I will stop tasting so good to the mosquitoes here. I'm literally being eaten alive! I haven't used perfume or lotion or anything! Mich seems to think its funny of course. He told me that he sent them into my room, ha! Also, please pray that we can figure out the problem with the water pump or find someone who can fix it, and that the Haitian electricity will soon be working again so we don't have to run the generator as much. Love and miss you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment