Sunday, July 04, 2010

Blan! Blaaaannn! (Team Haiti)

More "blans" (White people) are here! And our team of engineers has more than doubled. Jeff made it here safely, along with another familiar face, Josh Kennedy, Reed a high school student from Georgia and Michael a physics major from Whitworth in Spokane.

Our first day with everyone here, we went out to a new job site to do some surveying. This particular place has a huge pumped water system that supplies irrigation water for 700 people. For those that may not know, surveying is basically taking digital data points with some cool instruments and using them to make a 3D map of an area. From that data, we can then design a solution to the problem. The existing system was washed out by hurricanes a few years back and now it's totally out of service. Our task was to survey the area and exiting pump system to 1) design a newer, better system, and 2) determine whether the existing equipment could still be used. It was a long day out in the sun, but we got everything we needed. We then had a nice lunch of MREs (Army food), picked up the bags from the airport that came late, and headed home for an awesome dinner with the Robinsons. After dinner, we had a great devo lead by Bruce and Deb, and then went home and had some time to hang out, play cards, make gatorade, etc...

Today, we went to Pastor Chribon's church again. It was really hot out, but church here is awesome. Every Sunday the pastors ask if there is anyone in the congregation who is new and wants to accept Jesus as savior. This time there were a few new believers there, which is amazing to see. Haitians also love to sing. There is always a lot of variety in the worship music. Some songs are done in Creole, some in French, some songs are sung by choirs, some are solos, some are duets. You can definitely hear an African influence on the musical style. It's very interesting for us to try and sing in a different language and still be in rhythm. And of course, Sunday means lunch made by Madame Chrisbon. Sooo good! New favorite items on the menu were breaded, fried cheese balls, and pasta salad.

Also this week, We worked on building a basketball court, pouring cement at Bruce and Deb's house, tying more rebar. Adam and I also got the priveledge of going deeper into the mountains than Bruce has ever gone before to find a new spring. It was quite the adventure, but we found the spring. We had to do a lot of off roading in the Land Cruiser, hike through a jungle, and climb halfway up a mountain to get there. We also took a little time to climb farther up the mountain. We reached a peak, and the view was amazing. We could see all of northwest Haiti. What an incredible experience!

We're all doing really well. Thank you all for prayer and support. Hope all is well with the other teams and at home.

God's Grace,
JJ&A




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