Monday

Workday 1 is complete. It was a tiring day but productive. We spent the day in Terre Noire at an orphange there. The orphange functions mainly as a girls home although they do have plans to build a boys home as well. There are 11 girls that live there. They are there for different reasons but mainly because in one way or another their parents can not take care of them.  They will live there until 1) their parents can take care of them again or 2) they turn 18. None of these children are adoptable. I think that was definitely a hard reality but as it was discussed in our group time tonight not that different from the children's home that is in our own backyard. Definitely brought home our discussion last night of living missionally at home. The goal for the day was to sand and prime the walls in the common area as well as their playroom. As we went along we also realized much of the old paint especially on the ceilings needed to be scrapped as well. It was messy and hot work but we were very thankful to be working inside instead of in direct sunlight. It didn't hurt either that we were working to the sound of little voices singing Jesus Loves Me just outside the walls. Throughout the day we were also able to take turns playing with the girls. Coloring, piggyback rides, bubbles, and picture taking were all big hits and I think we all loved seeing how much joy this brought them. Even though we don't speak the same language these things were definitely universal! We were able to get the walls all sanded, and primed in the common area. The ceiling in the playroom seemed to be in pretty rough shape. I think we were able to get it mostly scraped but there may be more tomorrow still to do. We're working with pretty good supplies. They have lots of paintbrushes and rollers. The only thing we are missing and could definitely have used was a drop cloth. By the end of the day we were scrubbing the floors with rags trying to get up all the paint that had dripped and splattered with rags, thankfully it did come up pretty well. We stopped for water breaks throughout the day and we also breaked for lunchtime. Everyone brought their own lunch that they either bought from the store here or brought with them from home. We ended our day around 2:30 before the worst heat of the day as instructed by the Haiti Outreach Ministry workers. Our team spent the afternoon hanging out at the pool or taking a nap. Our nights are similar each day: downtime for late afternoon, dinner, team devotion and intense card games. It is a great time to wind down and spend time together. We are excited to go back tomorrow and finish the work we started. Continue to pray for our team, the people we encounter, the work we do and that we would continue to develop a heart for the nations!