Haiti: Our Final Day

  I took a little break there by accident, with this posts.  This one is just about our last day - Monday, Day 7.  I would have stayed, honestly.

  It was super hot Monday morning.  Possibly the hottest we'd experienced since being there.  We cleaned a bit, brought our bags down, and started saying our goodbyes.

  We had to get one more "family photo" :).

    Tom's boys came to see us off and drive us to the airport.  

  When we got to the airport, it was a flurry of commotion.  We didn't get the vehicle parked, so we had to rush to get our bags off it and out of the street.  We quickly hugged goodbye and waved as we walked along the sidewalk to the entrance of the airport.  

  We had a nice time of waiting for boarding as we ate some lunch and just sat together to think about all that had happened over the past week.  For those who have asked, our trip was from August 13th to August 19th.

  Our flights home were uneventful, praise the Lord!  The car ride was relatively quiet on the way back from the airport.  Back at the church, we all said our final goodbyes to each other.  After being together non-stop for one week, it was a bit weird to be apart!  My dad picked me up and when I got home, my mom and sister were waiting up for me.  They all stayed up with me till 2:00am hearing stories.  

  This trip was a life-changing one.  People have asked me if I'd go back.  Would I?  In a heartbeat!  People have also asked me if I'll have the opportunity.  My church is sending out another team in February to do some construction-type work with Nate and Kristi.  As I told a friend, if it's God's will for me to go...I'll be on that trip.  I wouldn't have dreamed I'd be on this trip even six weeks before.  We'll see where God has me in six months and what new experiences and opportunities I'll have!

In Christ,

   Sierra  

Haiti: Day 6

  As our thoughts were with our families back home who were gathering all together to worship our Lord, we headed into a new experience: church in Haiti.  It's hard to know what to expect in these situations.  But the experience we had was incredible.  So many people gathered, young and old, all worshiping: some were waving their hands, some were dancing.

  We also got to spend some with kids while at church.  I had two kids fall asleep on my lap on Sunday (not at one time, though!), which was so sweet.  And kind of funny. :)

  After church, we headed over to the Lighthouse again.  It was fun to see all those kiddos again!  We painted compact water bottles with them (thanks, Jean!), which is practical, fun, personal, and cute!

  Here is Jovens rocking at Bop-It.  Loved watching him!  He had learned to recognize the English words to the sound it was supposed to make and where it was located.

  Lauren, the girls loved the bracelets you made them!  Thank you for sending them with your mom!  

  It was hard at the end of the night when we had to say goodbye.  We definitely proved we were Minnesotans when we did the Minnesotan Goodbye. :)  We had such a great time.

  When we returned, we helped Kristi make dinner - delicious fajitas.

 Below is my pitiful attempt at creating a collage type thing.  I guess I have more learning to do.  Oh well, if you want to know how to eat a quenepa, Tanner and I demonstrated for you below. :)

 Love,
    Sierra

Haiti: Day 5

  It was Haitian Hustle day!  The Haitian Hustle is a 5K that our hometown, Becker, does to raise money for the boys and children at the Lighthouse.  There were people in Indiana, in Spain, in Haiti, and several places in Minnesota running/walking this 5K on Saturday, August 17th.

Minnesotans and Haitians who ran the Haitian Hustle (no. i didn't do it)

from right to left is first, second, and third place.

  After the Hustle was done, we went to the beach.  So perfect!  We all had a wonderful time cooling down in the water and stayed for a few hours just basking in the perfectly blue Caribbean Sea.  It was gorgeous!  A lot of laughs were had as well as a panic moment: Tanner got stung by a jellyfish.  We had such a great time bonding as a team, which is very important, as well as spending some time with Tom's boys.

  The combination of the Sea, mountains, palm trees, hot day, blue sky, and sweet fellowship with friends made this time all the more better.

  When we got to the Guest House, we got ready to head to the Lighthouse where we spent some wonderful time with the kids!  We did straw painting which was fun to do.  I loved seeing how different each child's creation was.  The little guy in the photo below touched many of our hearts.  He is blind and his story is both breaks your heart and shows just how amazing our God is!  He is very intelligent, is a pro at Bop-It, rides bike, plays basketball with the other boys, and is just one of the sweetest guys ever!

  Lynel and I got our fingernails painted by this beautiful young lady.  Lynel and I had blue, sparkly fingers for the next few days.  

  We had a marvelous time playing other games including Jenga, Uno, Bop-It, Impulse, Tick-Tick-Boom, and more with the kids on Saturday.  We started building relationships with them, so it was hard to think of leaving on Monday.  

 This was written on a column at the Lighthouse.  Loved it!

In Christ,

     Sierra