The last Few Days

Here's a short video of my lunch outing with Junior-The guy with the great smile and that is his real name. The food was really good. He said they have been there for about 40 yrs and the restaurant is now run by the daughter. They only had a very few tables- it was more of a hallway than a room, but the people were as usual all very friendly.

The music was an almost in tune banjo and one of those drum-boxes(?). But it was a good time with good food. We had some chicken that was falling off the bone and in some amazing sauce with fried plantains, and a kind of 'oniony' garnish and a bowl of rice. Usually they mix some black beans or peas or both with the rice. Very yummy!

Unlike we hear in the states everyone isn't starving and there actually are plenty of trees around here and very beautiful areas. Altho it is a fact that there are severely denuded forest areas and of course there are hungry people. Haiti is the poorest nation in this hemisphere and I think it has been listed within the 3 poorest in the world. But we at home mostly see the request for aid which of course should and does focus on the severe needs, yet tends to give us a partial unreal view of all of Haiti. The haitian men that help here don't really like that the world thinks that all of Haiti is in these conditions. Like anyone else they love and have a pride for their country and want people to have a more positive view also.

Junior and I had a good part of a day just driving around just so I could experience Haiti - and because I have been so busy here that I haven't had much of a chance to do that.. seeing some sights. We went to the Museum here too, and for a tip I had a personal tour of the small museum with an english speaking tour guide. It was very interesting -and also very saddening about the slave history here. The haitians were the first and I think only slave nation to revolt and succesfully get their independence from France in 1804. The picture of the Presidential Palace shows a rebelling slave  calling to arms on the conch shell.

Below you can see what happened to the Palce after the earthquake-a whole story has collapsed and disappeared in the rubble.  Still nothing has been done to repair it.

 Center and right side of palace

Center and left side of the palace

 This is a monument to the 200 yr anniversary of their independence. You can see the tent city in the park below it. All around the palace in the public parks and  other areas such as around the museum there are still large tent cities.

The time here is getting very short. I come home next Tues and this is Saturday night. Tommorrow we'll use about 1/2 a day at church, so it really only leaves that 1/2 day on Sunday and Monday to work. The time has really gone by-and there is still alot to do. But there are other teams coming that can help and Eric also said that they are running very low on funds to get any more materials for fixing and doing construction around here. (hint-hint)

I'll probably just finish doing some shelves and a little cabinet work in the rented bldg they will house the orphans in and that will be about it.
Today I did a little of that but I also was able to teach the Bible one more time to a few men. When we started there was just my translator, Jon  and one of the men I've been working with here. But we were talking about how important the word was so we just had the study for our sakes and then after a little while some more men came and altho it was not large, it was a very good time in the word with good interest and interaction from those godly Haitian men.

I was 'appointed' sign painter while I was here. I also painted a "danger sign pass quickly" because the kids going to the school in the back have to pass right by this severely damaged orphanage bldg. That danger along with -just needing it cleared -so they can rebuild is why they so much want this building demolished.

Below Eric (pres of 3 Angels) and Alex (school headmaster and manager down here) are praying and asking God to help them to demolish this building.

Please join them in this prayer and for the many other needs to get everything back and running here. Cash wouldn't hurt either!! But prayer is always number one with all of us. This is a work of God's-of His mercy and love for these people. To those who are willing to help and give of themselves-however that could be- they can know that as Jesus said,"Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matt 25:40

Blessings !!!  Bob

Sweet Bible study

This video shows a very sweet little Bible study  that a fellow visiting missionary (Steve) and I were very priveledged to attend. Steve had given some fundamentals of the Bible teachings at 3 Angels and one of the students asked for some Bibles for his bible study he was having. So steve asked if he could come and see it(some people ask for things and we must be careful and discerning) since it was the next night. He asked me to go with him and I'm so glad I did! We went way up the street that 3 Angels is on and turned down a small side street, and then turned onto  an even smaller dirt and rubble path which meandered very narrowly between  various earthquake damaged bulidings . It was very dark by now too, so all we could go by was fashlight. Eventually we came down a hill into what appeared to be, in the dark, a small gully in which a few damaged partial walls of concrete block were standing. Above these they had strung a canvas tarp of some kind and under that we could see a light as we came down to it. Then we heard the singing! As we struggled and slipped to get down this steep path we couldnde see that under that very rough "structure" about 25 people-adults and some children- were having such a sweet time of worship. As the night progressed more showed up. One was hanging off of the wall where it dropped off into the study area. Another came with some type of scratching instrument you'll here and was sitting in an opening in the wall that used to be a window? So this is what this video partly shows. Steve and I were so blessed to have witnessed the power and the faith of this humble gathering in such a place. The greatest "mega-church" had some big competition that lovely night. I hope this little bit on this video can help you share with us this sweet time in the Lord. 3 Angels needs Bibles too!

Blessings!!

Here's some more stuff for ya

Here's an interesting picrture for you! The piece of tree is actually still holding there and about to be pulled down. What's really amazing is that the man chopped this whole very large tree down with a machete in his bare feet and wit no safety ropes! We saw him bringing rope up thinking he was going to use that for himself but it was just to lower the large branches he would cut through. He was amazing. The amount of hrd wacks he took with the machete was beyond beleif! If I did what he was doing for a couple of hours even I think I'd need some time inthe intensive care unit! THe cuts were very smooth too, because he was mostly kind of shaving them. You can see how smooth in the v shaped opening in the picture. He would sing alot and rythmically with his chopping and I noticed one song was obviously a praise song to 'Jezu" (pronounced 'Jayzee') or to Jesus. I said to him, "oh Jezu, yes and pointed to the sky and smiling and he said "woui" and pointed smiling to the sky too. I think he is a friend of Alex's.

This is James Manzo and I building a shade structure on the roof to raise the small breadfruit trees for the Haitian people to be able to plant and have a source of food or income from them. Breadfruit can be used in many ways -boiled, fried, dried and ground into flour. 3 Angels is working with Trees That Feed. What's great to is Eric and Christine Helgemo couldn't have more experience with raising trees as they previously owned and operated a large tree nursery business in the L.A. area.

These cuty pies are part of a few classes that meet outside because there isn't enough classroom space. That is why they are chopping down the tree (the chalkboard is leaning on) because it was right in the middle of this area and eventually when they get the funds (hint!  hint!)they want to build at least a kind of patio cover to start for them and then enclose it into rooms as funds come in. 

This is Alex. Please keep him in your prayers -he does so much here running the ministry and the school and helping his own church to grow also. He's standing in front of an area outside the damaged orphanage bldg.

 This is also where we have a time of prayer and worship everery morning.

Madam Valet leads the worship time. She is in charge of the women staff who cook and clean for the school, the grounds, and the missionaries lodging house-where I'm staying. She is so full of the joy of the Lord! It's amazing -the picture of her standing in front of this earthquake damaged bldg and poor in material things by our standards yet so rich in the Spirit and praising the Lord like you wouldn't beleive! She is a widow with 3 children and lives in a very small one room home- that was just constructed for her by another team- I'm going to try to get a short video of this praise time for you all to be blessed by.

Blessings Ya'all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!       Bob

God's Awesome Work Cont's!

Here's a sweet video to start off with. This is the beloved Alex the school master with his school. He trys every friday to have a time of singing and praise with them before the class day. Not a bad voice either!

Alex also is a worship leader at his church and he gives messages also. Obviously a gifted elder in his church.

The kids are soooo cute. I know! I've said that before! That's how cute they are! We had hooked up water to their bathroom and because they had just been flushing the toilets with buckets of water the toilets were in some disrepair to say the least. Well the water was turned on and nothing was noticed at first but overnight the a couple of toilets leaked enough to flood the classrooms! So the next morning I dove in---not into the toilets!!--into the work on those toilets!- and finally got them all fixed up. In Haiti it can even take longer than normal because sometimes you even have to fix the new parts your putting in to fix the old. Any how to make a short story really long the next morning I go out where the school bathrooms are to see if there were any leaking problems and all was ok, but remember I started out with how cute the kids were? They are not only cute but very sweet and so loving. When I came around the corner to check the bathrtooms, about 5 of these little ones who were there early for school swarmed me and just all started hugging me and grabbing my hands to hold them. It made my day to say the least.

Awesome view of Port Au Prince from our roof. This is a great place to pray in the mornings. It's also cooler and breezier there of course.

This is a "Tap tap"--it is the main type of transportation here. They call it that because you tap on it when you want to get off. If you notice it is a small truck with a camper shell that was extended higher so that people could sit up in it. Almost all of them are built like this. There are some bigger trucks but most are like this.

This is a short post but I'll do another quickly tomake up for it. Blessings, Bob