Brandon’s parents are here for a visit! They have wanted to come since we moved here, and now they are here! We get them for almost two weeks, and are so excited to show them around. They flew in Monday, and we hit the ground running. The went out with us on a long bumpy ride to check on three wells that had been drilled. They were jostling around in the back, but loving seeing and experiencing Haiti first hand!

They also happened to have their anniversary the second day they were here! Thirty one years of marriage! And we got the celebrate with them! We made a yummy dinner and ate by candlelight. Romanic? Yes minus the fact that your kids are there! But definitely a unique anniversary experience!

 

 

We got a puppy!!!

We love dogs. We just do. Some people are cat people, others dog people. I don’t really understand you cat peeps-sorry I just don’t!-but we had to make a decision. It was cats or rats. So, we chose cats.  And while we  have a pet, she is no dog. Yes, she might follow us all around the house or even beg during meal time, but she is still a cat. And cats just don’t hold a place in our hearts the way a dogs do. Oh, except for the other day when I found a huge rat tail and the top of a rat on our doorway-she earned a quite few love points then.

Penelope nuzzled right into my heart from the beginning- the car ride. We had to drive to Port au Prince to get her. A friend of ours, Melissa, is working for a great organization down there, called Heartline. There is actually a link on your right, if you wanna check them out-click on women’s programs to find the part about making purses and jewelry.  This particular program is called Haitian Creations-crafting beauty, giving hope. And while we were down there, we grabbed a whole bag of purses and necklaces to sell at our house when we have teams. I’m SO pumped. I’ve already bought a bag and some earrings for myself! I just can’t help it-they are so cute and the proceeds go directly to them and to support that ministry and other ministries that Heartline offers!!! Talk about empowering.

Meet the Crossroads team from Loveland Colorado…

This is the school in the community of Pistere, and we hung out with them all week. It was a national school, which means it is funded by the government. They have very little resources. And since we were not drilling on church property this time, for many of the kids, these Bible stories were new to them. It was a great way for them to hear about Jesus, and come into the local church.

We visited a few houses in the community. We asked the pastor if there were a few families the we could visit, and pray with. We were able to visit two families per day, and it was so nice of them to welcome so many strangers into their homes. It was great to just visit with them, pray with them, and encourage them too.

Every afternoon we met on the soccer field to play with the kids form the community. The team brought soccer balls, jump ropes, bubbles, and frisbees. They loved it every minute of it. And the end of each day, we rounded up all the toys and brought them back the next day. In some places, those toys grow feet and wonder off. Then we have the game of hunting them down. I’m not going to lie, I get pretty moody when one of those toys disappear. But my newest strategy is locating the kasak, pastor, or man in charge and he always seems to hunt it down. But we didn’t have that happen here in Pistere. When it was time to go, they all lined up and put everything back in the bag and we returned again the next day.  They were so polite, and so happy to play with the toys, with the grown ups. At the end of the week, we left the bag with the pastor of the church and the director of the school.

So after just the very first morning, we were able to drill down 75 feet. We were so excited because we got so deep in such a short time. And on Tuesday we drilled the rest, reamed the hole out, and prepared it for the casing (the big white pipe that encloses the drop pipe) Wednesday we put the casing in and discovered there was indeed no water. The formations that we dug up indicated that we might, and the hard part with mud rotary drilling is that you don’t know if you have hit water until you put all the materials down and start pumping. (Because we drill with water, it does shoot up in the air like you’re imagining-that only happens with air rigs) So on Thursday, we started drilling a new hole, one that was deeper. And once we got to about 130 feet things really slowed down. We have hit some rock formations, and it’s taking almost an hour to go down 5 feet. It’s slow going. The team gave up their ‘cultural day’ in which they wanted to hike the citadel, in order to continue drilling. The Colorado team left on Saturday, and as they said, they are “disappointed but not discouraged”. I love that. It’s so true. It’s been so hard to not hit water, especially in a community like the one we are in.  The people here are so lovely, so welcoming, so sweet. We have to continue to trust in the Lord on this one. We have to know that He has plans for Pistere, and we don’t know what they are. Perhaps it doesn’t involved getting water, yet. We are trying to patiently wait for the Lord, and let Him guide and direct what happens.

And for now, we have continued to drill in Pistere. We’ve drilled there all last week, and just yesterday we were there all day, and only got down about another 15 feet. Now we are at about 170 feet. Please continue to pray with us. That God would be glorified whether we find water or not. That the people in Pistere would come to Jesus. There is one church pretty close to where we are drilling, and a few people from the community go there already. We’ll continue to pray for water for Pistere, but also that they would experience and know the Living Water.