We arrived in Haiti only 8 hours ago and have been greeted by the Praying Pelican Missions staff members at the airport and by several Pastors and Deacons of the church in Gressier. The ride out here was a little overwhelming as we drove through downtown and out the other side to our quiet little community. We have learned so much, but one thing that we have really learned is that the hospitality of the people here is amazing. Haiti and its people really do greet you! It is a blessing! And we have only just arrived. We are looking forward to a good night of rest tonight in this peaceful place.

So here we are--greeting you from Haiti--and looking forward to a wonderful week of ministry.

Today we had the privilege to worship our "God so good" alongside our Haitian brothers and sisters at "Eglise de Dieu la Porte Etoite" which means church of God the narrow gate. It was neat to see how everyone was heartedly devoted to worship God, how the Holy Spirit was the leader of the service and how 3+hours did not matter and how they hold dear the last super that the Lord has left for us to continue doing as a reminder of His death, His resurrection and His glorious coming. We were welcomed as kings and queens and the front seats were reserved for us. A group of us sang a song and Derek shared his salvation story. We loved it and we treasure everything that God taught us and reminded us of as we witness His Holy presence here in Haiti.

After church, we had a couple of hours of down time to relax, then we showered and was ready for our VBS session at 3:00. After a plentiful lunch, we started gathering our vbs supplies while being entertained by a couple of kids that were there early. From 3 to 4ish, we had at least 80 and more had shown up towards the end. We told them the story of Noah which they loved. After the story, we had them sit and gave them crafts to color, bubbles....then we sang with them and played a variety of games with them. We had so much fun!

We are excited to jump in some different types of ministry tomorrow and can't wait to see the kids again.

This morning, we were ready to jump into our service project and we did work! While some of us hauled water from the well down the hill, others of us gathered and passed rocks that would be used for the wall, and still others passed bucket after bucket of mortar to two different places and passed the empty ones back to be filled again. That is multitasking. Wow. There was a lot of progress made today and we found it fun to work with each other and with our Haitian friends. We made sure to drink plenty of water as it is hot down here!

No matter where you are, kids are the same--the have a lot of energy, they have a lot of life. These kids have life! Today, we gathered them at the church for a time of teaching, crafts, games, and singing. They learned about Jonah and the big fish! They were amused when Jonah went flying as the fish spit him out. They enjoyed playing Jonah, Jonah, Jonah, WHALE, and "Simon Di" (Simons Says) and making a big fish out of plates--all of them wanted extra eyes. Our time with them came to a close and some of them walked with us for a while. May God truly bless these kids!

We started with our medical ministry this morning. Our doctors had their tables set by 8 this morning after the construction crew left. Our kid's doctor checked on over 20 kids and teenagers. We praise God because most of them were OK.

On the other hand was Mike, the adult doctor. With smile, love and kindness, he checked on over 20 adults and teenagers as well. It's been a great day!

This morning, our clinic time continued with those on the waiting list coming back and us seeing lots of patience. There were over 50 people seen this morning and it was such a blessing for us to be able to make a difference this way. This afternoon we visited a local pharmacy to help purchase some of the prescriptions that needed to be filled. It has been such an amazing experience!

Today at the work site we had a lot of little helpers all around. So, while we were carrying buckets of water, buckets of mortar, or rocks, these kids were always wanting to help us with whatever task we were doing. This was a blessing, but we had to be careful. The wall is coming right along and a couple of us even are learning how to make this beautiful wall of rocks. The workers are getting to know us well and we are loving getting to know them.

The kids--especially the boys--today were full of energy when we started our VBS time. Today we told the story of David and Goliath and then all the kids got to color a picture of when Goliath fell and got to make their own crown. Each day the kids ask when we will start the next day and when we will see each other again. Many of us have learned the phrase "Nap we demen" which means "We be seeing each other tomorrow". It's fun that we are learning new phrases and are able to communicate more!

Just like Monday and yesterday, we were ready to get started with our medical ministry at 8 this morning. People started showing up a little earlier today since they knew that today was our last day of ministry. We were able to see a lot of people until 11 and deliver medications that we bought from a local drug store to some adults that we have seen on the first two days. Praise God for giving the opportunity to help his children in Haiti.

It's Wednesday! It's the hard day :( Just like the two precedent days, we started our VBS at 2:30 today. A lot of kids were already there hanging out and playing a variety of games. After having them sit, we told them the story of of our Savior, His birth, His growth, His tremendous Miracles, His sacrifice, His resurrection and His plan for our lives. That did not sound like a brand new story in their ears--We praise God that those little kids know their Savior. Then we split them up, boys on one side and girls on another side so they could start doing crafts, salvation bracelets and stand glass window. They did such a good job. After the crafts, we put them together and sang songs and danced with them. Then it was time to say goodbye to them, which was not fun. We can't describe how much we loved being with those kids for three day. Our prayer for them is that God continue to work in their lives and bring them closer and closer to Him. God loves the children!!!!!!!!!

The project we have been working on this week is much bigger than us. It was started before we got here and it will be continued after we leave. All the buckets we passed and rocks we have moved and water we have hauled was all for the glory of God! We know we have finished our part at this point, but God will continue this work through our brothers and sisters here. He is so good to let us be part of this international body of Christ! It is wonderful to know that these friends will continue His work here while we pray for them from the states and hopefully we will be able to come back someday.

Tomorrow, we will be doing a different kind of ministry that doesn't involve buckets or rocks, but we are going to be seeing the beauty of the creation God made here in Haiti, enjoying the fellowship of each other, and representing Christ throughout the day. We are sad that our part in building this time is done, but we are excited to see what God has in store for us tomorrow.

Today was our cultural day--recreation day. We left our lodging facility 8:30 and headed southeast Haiti to a city called Jacmel. Al And Cassie had told us that we were going to love the ride and we did. Jacmel is about 30 miles away from where we have been staying. We had to go about 7000ft up and dropped down to the city. The ride was super fun! we felt like we were on a roller coaster. The view of the mountains is outstandingly gorgeous. We were just blown away by the beautiful creation of our Lord. We arrived in jacmel at 10:30, stopped at a snack bar for lunch and continued our way to the beach. Then we arrived at the beach. The water looked really nice and we enjoyed swimming, body surfing, playing frisbee...that was an amazing experience and a great time of fellowship for us.

We made it back from Jacmel at 6. After we showered and changed from salty to sweet, we ate pumpkin soup which is the traditional meal that Haitians have every new year, celebrating their independence. The soup is like a stew with tons of ingredients in it, such as cabbage, potatoes, beef, carrots....it was delicious.

We were also surprised by the presence of a group of 6 guys that are the leadership committee of the church, all dressed up, that came to thank us. They gave us a nicely made plaque that says "certificate of gratefulness". We felt really special by the way they treated and honored us. We also thanked them for letting us being a part of what they are doing for the kingdom. To God be all the glory!

Today was also David's birthday. Before our meeting, the cooks, all dressed up, set a table with 4 beautiful and yummy looking cakes---we all sang happy birthday to David and enjoyed a little party with everyone. We praise God for all He has done for us in a little amount of time.

We are sad to leave Gressier and Haiti but we are excited to see the ones we love back home and we can't wait to share our experience with them. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!