Pictures!!!

Well, if my internet cooperates, I will finally post some pictures!!:) This past week was really nice! Michelle Wyss and Jessica Waibel flew in with the Pfisters and Rich's mom. Janelle came up from Cayes for the week. The girls got here on Saturday. Then Sunday we went to a church in Simone (near Cayes). After church we ate at the Pastor's house, then visited a couple who is really good friends with Rich & Amber, then we went to the beach in Port Salute. It was beautiful and very relaxing!!!! It is a two hour drive home from the beach....and we sang the entire way home!!! :) Monday, I started getting into more of a schedule again with the Pfisters back. Tuesday afternoon Kate, Will, Seth, and I went on a long hike up a mountain. It was alot of fun and they had fun with my camera.:) Honestly, though, the view was amazing from the top!! Pictures can't do it justice. God is an amazing God and when I look at the mountains around me, or the ocean, or look down from the top of a mountain, and feel sooo small!!!!!!! Yet God knows and cares for each person! Wednesday after lunch, us girls hiked down to the hydro and then swam. It was beautiful and alot of fun!! Although....the hike back up from the hydro....was...slightly....slightly....brutal. But then once we got back on the road....the walk felt so easy!!! Thursday morning I did some Thanksgiving Day crafts with the Pfister and Hartzler kids. Then all of us loaded into two trucks and headed to Cayes. We had a big Thanksgiving meal with all the missionaries in the area. It was really nice and ate some tasty food!:) Early Friday morning the girls left for the airport. I had school with the kids as normal. Then in the afternoon I gave blood....well tried :(....I couldn't give enough!! Which is really strange, because normally I give really fast! She ended up trying my other arm too, but to no avail. Oh well, she said they would use it if there was an emergency. Then Heather & I went and played with some of the kids in the hospital. We brought colored pencils and a coloring book. It was soo much fun to color and talk with them!!

Now for Pictures!!!!

 

 

 My bedroom for right now(until Heather moves)

 

 

The couch pulls out for my bed:)

 

 

Coconut before

 

Coconut after...we won't show you the inbetween stages.....:)

 

 

Yah...and I use think USA gas was expensive...!!:)

 

Our American style pizza & breadsticks!!!:)

 

 

The fish was actually very good!! I did choose one with no eyeballs though....

 

 

One of our meals this week...chicken, beets & carrots, fried plantains, coleslaw(diff than american:))

 

 

Pecan drops.....our Christmas cookies:)

 

The must pulpy grapefruit I have ever eaten.  Seriously there was hardly any juice...it was more like crunch...crunch...crunch...

 

 

 

 

How they figured out my blood type.....A+ :) It was actually interesting!!

 

Woohoo!!!:)

 

 

My nurse:)

 

 

On the hike with Kate, Will, & Seth

 

Seth:)

 

Yes, pigs are on leashes here.  And yes...this one and another did charge us....haha:)

 

Kate & Seth

 

The kids we colored with!!!:)

 

 

 

The church in Simone we attended on Sunday

 

the young group singing a song

 

a solo by the pianist

 

men's singing group

 

Some of the cute kids at church:)

 

Beach at Port Salute (Sunday)

 

 

Yes, I had lobster!!:)

 

All of the girls

 

On the hike to the hydro

 

 

What the hike was like....except it got alot steeper than this.

 

 

 

The church I attend and to the right is the school.

 

Well I have way to many pics to post them all now....so I will save some for the next time:)  Thank you so much for all the love and prayers!!! Feel free to email me or comment anytime!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life in Haiti

Sorry for not posting in awhile! I feel like everytime I have time to post something, the internet isn't working or is really slow! This past weekend we got somewhere around 10 inches of rain. Heather & I were planning on going with a construction team Saturday - Tuesday.  But the rain left the Bon Fin road in a state where travel was not possible.  So we were stuck up in the mountain.  Which really isn't all that bad.:)  Sheila and I went down to Cayes yesterday afternoon and then spent this morning going to the bank and getting some shopping done.  She showed me around Cayes.  I am definitely starting to feel more comfortable with knowing my way around and knowing how things work!

I am slowly adding to my Creole knowledge!  I am hoping to take some lessons from one of our translators up at the hospital. Which will help alot! I am ready to be able to communicate with the Haitians!  Although...is some situations it is nice to just be like ...m pa koprann...(I don't understand). :)

Here are some interesting things I have learned, noticed, etc...about Haiti.
1. It is amazing how fast you lose trust in a toliet...after finding a spider & a frog inside(diff. times)
2.The first time you see ants in your food, you try to pick them out...after that...you just eat them w/o thinking.
3.  It is not uncommon to find hair of the goat or cow in your meal....or in Heather's most recent scenerio....a piece of hide.:)
4. EVERYONE carries around machetes....it is like the tool for everything!
5. The odd names of some businesses....ex. Modestly Nightclub...or Family Nightclub...
6. Driving: if there is room for you...shoot...go for it! :) There is seriously no structure to driving!!
7. Your popularity seems to triple if you are a white female....
8. Haitians don't have much of a sense for the future...they live in today and can't see much past that.
9. It is amazing how fast you can run/jump when a lizard is running towards you. (much to Heather & the Hartzler kid's amusement)

Anyway, there is alot...but those are just a few:)  One of these days, I will actually post some pictures....:)  Please keep the hospital in your prayers!! Along with all the missionaries down here! Thanks for all the prayers offered already!! God Bless!

Mwen yo te rive (I have arrived)

I arrived in Haiti Friday night!!  I am so thankful that I had the weekend to kind of settle in a little bit, before starting work! Thankfully, it has not been extrememly hot!! Well...for here anyway.:)  Saturday the Pfister's, Hartzler's, Heather, and I went to Rainbow beach and spent the afternoon relaxing.  Today was probably the hardest day, because of church.  It was very overwhelming not to be able to understand anything they were saying!!! I did catch a few words now and again...  After church, Heather & I made tacos (well with what we had...), then I listened to an streamed sermon (one I could actually understand:))  I definitely was feeling much better after that.  I went over to the Hartzler's for the rest of the afternoon and played guitar and violin with Eric and Amber. My newest instrument is the clarinet!!:) haha...I never would have thought I would ever be playing that!! But Heather randomly found two clarinets in a cupboard at the guest house, so I brought some reeds down and a book down and have been working on teaching ourselves to play!!:)  It has lead to several great laughs!:)

P.S. I saw my first tarantula on my first night here!!!:) Except I wasn't even that scared or grossed out!!....well maybe that has something to do with the fact that we specially looked for one and it was pointed out to me.:)

Bonswa!!