Vacation Week

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We were pleased to have Silke (from Munich, Germany) and a team from Be Like Brit staying with us this year.  


Silke came to us through Sturbridge Worship Center and is here for three months.  She is a hard worker and very independent.  She has done a lot of work in the pharmacy, has bandaged more than her share of injuries, is working with sponsored children, helping to build transitional shelters and organizing student records/photos.  She had trouble imagining celebrating Christmas without snow, but eventually she did get into the Christmas spirit.


Len Gengel, his son Bernie, nephew Ross and OUR nephew Gamaniel make up the Be Like Brit team that is staying with us right now.  They are in Grand-Goâve to celebrate Len's daughter Britany's life, by fulfilling her desire to build an orphanage in Haiti.  Brit was killed at the Hotel Montana during the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti.  They will begin working this week by fixing the road to their land.


I was chatting with a friend, who was telling me that this was their first Christmas without kids in the house on Christmas.  It occurred to me that I don't even associate Christmas with opening presents any more.  It has been 10 years since we've placed gifts under the Christmas tree and run to the tree Christmas morning with the kids to start opening the gifts.  It was a pleasant and enjoyable tradition, but I don't feel like we're missing out because we no longer use it.  


This Christmas I actually took some time to bake bread and hot fudge cake.  Silke and Alexis help by making chocolate chip cookies (I brought chocolate chips from America!)  Our construction foreman gave us a live turkey, which Makila slaughtered in the morning.  It was cooked Haitian style and, to me, it tasted like fish.  Good fish, but certainly not turkey.  We did have ham, also.  I had found it at the grocery store in Port-au-Prince.  THAT was delicious!


Yesterday, we had more food and fellowship, as we had other friends in church and then for lunch from Missionary Ventures and Mission E4.  The left over desserts from Christmas fed about 50 people!  It was fun to share them with everyone.  (Those of you who have visited us in Haiti KNOW that we don't do dessert very often, so it's a REAL treat!)  We brought the Missionary Ventures friends home to Petit-Goave on the boat.  It was...uh...an...uh...interesting trip.  We were back before it turned into a "three hour tour."  (Any Gilligan fans out there?)


Our school kids are all on vacation.  Silke is teaching Marie Yve how to make Challah bread.  I made some for Christmas and it was a hit, so I figured we should keep it coming.  I translated some more praise/worship songs into Kreyol.  Maestro is working with the musicians to learn them and will be working with the singers starting this afternoon.  I usually do these "song seminars" with Maestro, but I've been having to give up some of life's pleasures as other responsibilities grow.  It's all good though, because Alexis is thrilled to pick up where I left off.  I think it's very cool.  :-)


New Year's is a huge holiday in Haiti.  People are cleaning, cleaning, cleaning to welcome the new year.  Everyone usually stays up until dawn on New Year's Eve.  New Year's day is spent visiting family, friends and godparents.  All our workers want to be paid before the new year so that they have a couple of dollars to give to their godchildren and grandchildren and children when they visit on New Year's day.


Tomorrow we have a team of six coming from Pennsylvania.  They were recommended to us by Stacey, the team leader of the first World Race team we hosted.  On Friday a team from Sturbridge Worship Center will be coming with a LOAD of McDonald's Quarter Pounders from Joe & Lori Ruscito at the McDonald's Cafe in Winchendon, MA.  Each year this team puts on an American Style cookout for our church and the friends that they invite.  The church has a great time with people singing, putting on drama skits and telling jokes.  At the end they all eat hamburgers and french fries.  :-)


After New Year's comes our annual Christian Leadership Academy.  I'll tell you more about that soon.  Please continue to pray for Haiti.  God bless you!