Todd is here for a visit. And we are pretty excited about it!!  He actually came to Haiti almost a year ago, when we were living in Port de Paix. He helped to install the kitchen and all the electrical when we worked for OTB, and he sure did a lot of work. He came last June, when we had just moved into our new place, and had to rough it. Since we had just moved in, we didn’t have constant power, our stove didn’t work, and he even put together his own bed. But, he is such a good sport, and so fun to be around, that he didn’t care about any of that stuff. In fact, in spite of all that, he loved Haiti and the whole experience of it. He loved helping to set up the kitchen for OTB, and to be a part of what was going on in the ministry.

When we were home last month, we ran into him at church. We updated him on Living Water and what was going on. When he found out that we were moving into a new place, and needed some help fixing it up, specifically with all the electrical stuff, he told us he wanted to come and help out. And wouldn’t you know it, that was barely over a month ago, and he is here now!! He had to finish up a few jobs at home, and get everything worked out and squared away with his family… and within just barely three weeks he booked his tickets here! And he arrived last Monday and will be here for almost two weeks. YA! We are so thankful for the help, and the good company!!

Later in the week I took him to the two indoor, very small grocery stores that we have. But when he said he wanted to see the markets, that was’t what he had in mind… he wanted to see the outdoor market. The crazy outdoor market-not like the simple and pretty outdoor farmers market in Southern California-and so we went. He loved every minute of it. We to where all the food is, and of course Todd wanted to see the meat. The meat section is my very least favorite part, in fact, it makes me want to go back to my vegetarian days. It is awful, with piles of body parts all over the place, juices running everywhere, and flies like you wouldn’t believe. So, I waited in the corner by the veggies while Todd made his way all through the stalls. He was a happy camper.

We all met in Port au Prince. The CEO-Mike- and the VP-Sam, our new boss over Haiti and the Americas-Wisley, and the Program Excellence Director-Brad, and Jim and Jody-who used to oversee all operations in Haiti-all flew in from the states.  Plus each couple/person from each region was there too. We came down from Cap Haitian, there is a couple living and working right here in Port au Prince, Dennis and Jennifer, and then Albert and Jack who work in Leagone.  We were all there to discuss Living Water and the strategy we want to implement for Haiti. Living Water has a great five year strategy, and as we continue to work in Haiti, we have all been wanting to know how to break that strategy down into bit size pieces. We were together three days, with non-stop meeting and talking. In the end, everyone felt more directed and even more excited about the future plans for LWI in Haiti. It was a good time of coming together and fellowship.

 

 

 

 

 

I never thought I’d be driving up and down the streets of Cap Haitian looking for heavy machinery. As we have noticed in our short tenure in Haiti, there are very few tractors, large equipment, cranes, etc here. You don’t notice until you need to, and then you just can’t seem to find one. We have only seen two here, and both times we pulled over immediately to talk with the operators. I know, strange. But we had seven containers(full of supplies we need to repair pumps)  that needed to be moved from the house we are in now, to the new place.

Plan A? Get a crane. Crane ’em up, load ’em onto a semi truck, drive to the next place. Repeat. Perhaps one day, maybe two.

Plan B? Find a semi truck. Then unload all contents from the containers, and watch in agonizing pain as the semi attempts to lift and scrape the empty container onto his truck (don’t ask me how, cause I can’t even imagine how this would have been done!) Then drive to new house, unload contents in the middle of the yard. Then get a truck and make several trips with all the stuff to the new house, then load that back into the container. A nightmare right? Yes.

Thankfully, the Lord provided. He hooked us up with a nice Haitian who has one of the only two cranes in all of Cap Haitian. We called him endlessly and he finally relented and agreed to help us out. Of course we were paying him, but still he is so busy-being the only guy with such a machine-he had a waiting list.

We busted it out in one day. I started the venture off by recoding and taking photos-until I about had a heart attack-so I went inside the house. The first container he lifted went fine, until he went to set it down and I looked at the crane and it was about 8 inches off the ground. I turned to Brandon to confirm that this in fact was not normal, and his face told me-no it was not normal. And this was the lightest container we had!!

Another huge hurdle was getting the semi’s in and out of the houses. The first semi truck driver couldn’t do it at the first house, so the second semi did it for him. At the new house was similar, not as bad, but we did take out our neighbors cactus fences. Oh they didn’t mind one bit, just asked for some money and they replanted them the next day!

 

 

Only ten hours, but we both aged a few days. We are so thankful it’s over. God provided the men, the trucks, the resources, and kept everyone safe during the process. I’d call that a success.