Day Two: And it Rained!

Day two started out with much more progress than the day before. We arrived at the work site and began the task of setting out our materials and tools. It didn't take too long before our Haitian friends started to show up as well.

Our progress was interrupted by a number of rain showers throughout the day. We would no more get going and getting into the rhythm of our tasks and the heavy clouds would start to roll in. Soon after, the skies would open up with torrents. They wouldn't typically last very long, but there were a few times that it was impossible to return to work for quite some time.  Never the less, we were able to get a long way with the progress. Our rafters are over the half way mark.

One of the fun aspects of today’s work was the teamwork with our partners in faith. Even the children were getting involved with the work. They were hammering nails and carrying fill dirt (or fill clay) with excitement and enthusiasm.

A little piece of humor that I will relate today was regarding one of our team members who kept saying Grenada. It turned out he thought that he was saying de nada, a Spanish term used in response to a thank you. By the end of the day, Jason was culturally educated. There were a number of other humorous events, one that included a toilet seat and an outhouse, but those tales will need to wait for another time.

Our ride home turned out to be the biggest adventure of the day. With all of the rain, the dirt road in front of the church was transformed into a lake of mud and muck. We loaded up during one of the more intense torrential downpours and off we went. We just didn't get very far. We soon ran across a dump truck that was stuck in the mud to the bumper. There was just no way around the obstacle. So we turned around to try to find another path back to the mission center. With perseverance and prayer we finally made it through and back onto hard surface roads. What an adventure!

In the evening, we all gather for devotions after our dinner. I will leave you all with these two questions that Ken posed to us at last night’s devotions. Why are people poor? Why would God in His sovereignty chose to make some people poor and some not?

Tomorrow we are looking forward to a church service at San Miguel, one of the congregations that Shalom helped with construction two years ago. In the afternoon we might look around some of the other areas of the city.

Thank you for your prayers and for the support you give. Just by following our progress, we are blessed.