Building Relationships is More Important than Building Stuff

It was hot today, really hot.  And there was only a trace of a breeze, not the gentle cooling winds that we’ve enjoyed for the past 2 days.  Fortunately, we didn’t have to work too long and hard in that blistering sun, because we have finished removing all the rubble that was once the La Tremblay United Methodist Church.  

Tomorrow a delivery truck is supposed to arrive with building materials, and we have rumors that we will start assembling the forms for the new concrete footings.  It will be nice to construct something instead of just deconstructing.  When this truck arrives, we need to fill a ditch with rubble (piled haphazardly nearby for the occasion) into a ditch along the road so the truck can drive onto the work site.  After the truck leaves, we need to open that ditch back up again.  Curiously, the ditch was dry as a bone on Monday and Tuesday, but was full of flowing water today.  The flow ended by early afternoon, but if there is water running in it when the delivery truck arrives, things will get interesting.

Of course, as my team apparently understands very well, it is much more important that we build relationships than that we build stuff.  The “stuff” will get old and eventually fall apart and require replacements.  The relationships will endure, grow, and possibly change the world as much as they change our perceptions and character.  Let there be no doubt, the Haitian people are good people. It’s very easy to like them, very easy to sense their struggles and wish for their prosperity and happiness.  The children are truly delightful, and this team that YOU sent to Haiti is showing them every day just how special and important they are.  Their innocence, unrestrained laughter, and literal jumping for joy when we play with them is so rewarding to witness, and so purely splendid.  It’s easy to see why Jesus loved children.

We brought peanut butter and purchased 4 bags of fresh bread on the way to La Tremblay this morning.  This we shared with the children at lunchtime, and it was so nice to have something to give them.  We sat together under a modest acacia tree, more or less in the shade, and ate with laughter and joy all around us.  It was easy to see that they liked the bread and peanut butter, just as it was easy to see that they absolutely loved the Trail Mix with its peanuts, cashews, and M&M’s.

After work we stopped at the La Tremblay school, and confirmed plans to visit there tomorrow morning.  We also created a fair amount of laughter as we took turns pumping water into 5 gallon buckets from the well.  Dawn even tried to carry a full one up on her head.  She didn’t get too far, but the old ladies sure enjoyed her attempt.  Dawn then switched to carrying a big pan full of smaller pans on her head.  Those tired, dirty ladies had a great laugh – and relationships grew.  This was followed by yet another round of the Hokey-Pokey, which is evidently the most popular dance to ever hit Haiti.  Although he tried, it was discovered that Gregg W doesn’t know how to do the Hokey-Pokey!  In the future, I clearly need to be more selective on who becomes a mission team member.