Mid-Week Report from One of the Texans

Overall, such a profound experience. It's very humbling to see the poverty and the hardships that face the Haitian people. Interestingly, the commute to and from the worksite is some of the most revealing and eye-opening times. My heart aches but then as we interact with the children at the worksite, my heart is lifted up. A highlight was going around the neighborhood with children, doing the hokey-pokey during lunch on Tuesday.

Evening devotionals have been meaningful for me as the team shares its thoughts and experiences. What a gift to share this with folks I didn't know before this trip but am getting to know so well in a short time and in a very different and foreign environment. We have that one bond that can never be broken - in Him.

As with other mission trips that I've experienced, there is more to the trip than the work. Yes, it's exciting to be at the beginning stages of rebuilding a church for the area of La Tremblay. But, the interaction with the team and Haitians is so much more meaningful. I find that there are so many thoughts and feelings that I'm experiencing, I'm glad to have a journal and pictures to record them.

Finally, it's a big bummer that I lost my cell phone today. Not sure how, but I'm trying to remind myself that it's only a material thing and can easily be replaced. Yes, I feel lost without it, but maybe that's just another way that God is reminding me to focus on Him (i.e. passport book experience - maybe I'll explain that at a later date). God is good as we trust in Him each day.

Good People Working Hard

Pictures of the New La Tremblay United Methodist Church (Plan)

1 March - Clean-Up on Aisle Everywhere

Whoooweee - we moved a LOT of rubble today!  It was a scorcher, too.  But smiles were more in evidence than drops of sweat.  Everybody is tired and dirty and happy.  It may not get any better than this.  The kids were all around to play with, and we did so.  Jon, Dawn, and Dee took their traveling Hokey-Pokey show to the very homes of several kids.

Almost all of the rubble is outside the church area now, but there may be 5% left for us to work on tomorrow.  We need to take down a small toilet structure in the back corner, too.  The site engineer visited today.  He said that on Thursday he is bringing wood to make the forms for the footings of the new church.

Dirty, dusty, sore - and delighted

As the picture from Paul shows, we successfully demolished the United Methodist Church in la Tremblay today.  Isn't that ironic, as Paul is a Baptist!  Many ferocious sledge-hammer blows were needed to get those walls down.  Paul was surprisingly enthusiastic in this process. And now, those walls are mostly in small pieces all over the floor of the destroyed church.  Our job over the next 4 days will be to move those millions of small pieces out to the roadside.  We already broke the spokes in one wheelbarrow, and have to hunt down and buy a new one tomorrow.
Our first project when the day started was to put up a tarp so we could escape the Haitian sun from time to time.  The gentle breeze caught that tarp like a big sail and pulled down the corner of the wall where it was attached.  That was unexpected, and we were fortunate that nobody got crushed under it.  But, our translator (Karen) had her backpack there where the wall fell.  And within the backpack was her laptop.  It has a broken screen.  We'll help her replace it with a new one.

Met some nice new Haitians today, including a muscular young man in a thick wool hat and a "Dallas" tank-top.  His name was Nixon.

Day 4 - And the Walls Came a Tumbling Down

With the help of a fun team from Houston and a young, strong and motivated crew of Haitians, we successfully (and safely) demolished the former Methodist Church in La Tremblay. After the wonderful experience of the moving service in the school on Sunday we are really excited about being part of the congregation moving into a new church.

Blog entry and photo by Paul.

The UM Church in La Tremblay - before we demolish it.