A family update!

It has been a little while since we have had a family update on this blog.  As you can see we have been busy with a team.  Four members of the team stayed here for 10 days.  It was a blessing to have them in our house.  We enjoyed catching up with friends and making new friends.  We enjoyed the fellowship, the worship and the companionship.  What we, as a family, loved most about this team was the how well they interacted with our secondary students when they were working with them.  They took the time to teach and to mentor.  A lot of time was spent in communication.  Lots of talking, lots of laughter and having a good time.  Each team member got to know the people they were working with.  This was a joy to see happen on a daily basis.

Before the team arrived we had the mom and dad Beintema in town.  We loved having them here.  They got to see where we lived, we were are living now, the work that we do, the church we attend, the roads we drive on, where we shop and the list goes on and on.  It was a pleasure showing them around, it was a pleasure having them here.  We will miss them and look forward to seeing them when we return in March and May.  When we took them to the beach it was much needed break for our family.  We spent two whole days on the beach with very little people to share it with.  Nice and quiet and peaceful.

Before we had the Beintemas in we had some pastors from the OPC and PCA churches staying at our house.  We also had the director of Word and Deed over for about three days.

So all in all we have had a lot of company in the past month.  It has been nice to have lots of people visit and spoil Chloe.  It is nice to have people to chat with for long hours of the night.  But it is also nice to have personal space back.  We are getting back into a routine.  We are settlling down.  Chloe was excited to go back to school and see her teachers.  (She just had a week off for spring break.)  The baby continues to grow inside of Mindy, we can see the progress happening.  It is such a blessing.  Adoration Christian Centre continues to be a place of business.  People coming and going.  Teachers teaching, students learning, ministers preaching, doctors helping, students cleaning and the list goes on and on.  It is a blessing to see all this activity happening.  But at the same time there is so much need.  People continue to get sick, some people even pass away.  The Lodders and ourselves are called to minister, to help, to talk and to make some tough decisions.  Please pray for us as we continue with our work.  Pray for patience, for gentleness, for direction in making the right decisions.  Please pray for God to guide and lead us and to put our trust in Him alone.  Please pray that we may do our work to His honour and glory, to do it for Him and not for ourselves.

Finished Products!

Throughout the 10 days that the work team from Ontario was here a lot of different projects were completed.  A couple blogs ago I posted a list of projects that we wanted to be finished before the team went back to their loved ones.  (An aside:  Thank you loved ones for allowing the team to be here for ten days, we really enjoyed the time they spent here.)

     1.  Building a new food depot. FINISHED
     2.  Building a roof over the propane storage area.  FINISHED
     3.  Building two more storage cupboards.  FINISHED
     4.  Building a library.  FINISHED
     5.  Repositioning three walls so that we can have three bigger classrooms.  FINISHED
     6.  Building a playground.  FINISHED
     7.  Putting in a couple of washrooms.  FINISHED
     8.  Building awnings over the windows.  Materials all cut and ready for welding
     9.  Building a new wheelchair ramp.  Work in progress
     10.  Putting razor wire above the gate.  FINISHED

Here are some pictures of the finished products:

But the thing that we enjoyed the most from this group was the was the way they interacted with the Secondary Students.  Throughout the days spent working, time was taken to demonstrate and explain how to use the hand and power tools.  They took the time to show the students how to use a skill saw, a chalk line, a drill, a hammer drill, a welder, a grinder, a sander, a level, a chisel, a hammer and many others I don't even know the names to.  Not only did the men explain the uses of the tools but they also took the time to explain how to make the projects.  They explained why things were built the way they were.  Extra time was taken to make sure the students learned the correct way of doing things. 

It was nice to sit back and watch the Canadians mentor the Secondary Students, all the leadership and the teaching that took place.  We are thankful for the work that was accomplished, it will definetly make our week seeing those men working with the students.  We got to see first hand patience, leadership, gentleness, guidance but above all, genuine love for the students.  Men we would like to thank you for everything you have done.  These students will have memories for many years to come.



The entire work team from Canada!  Thanks guys!!

Our entire team!  Great work done by all, thank you so much!

Tuesday!

What a good day at Adoration Christian Centre.  Everybody worked hard.  We even had some extra help today to get the painting done.  Thank you Tarak for helping with the floor, hopefully third time is a charm.  Thank you Natasha and Kati for helping with the painting.  We really appreciated that help that was volunteered to us today. 

Throughout the day we could see many projected completed.  There are many pictures down below to show all the work that was finished.  Altogether we had over 30 people working at the school again.  What a blessing it was to see many people working side by side.  We could also see the hand of God at work again today.  Not a single person had a serious accident.  God has allowed us to work hard and work together as brothers and sisters. 

Monday, What a day!

A lot got accomplished on Monday.  The men worked hard!  We had over 25 people working at the school today.  It was a good day.  There are more pictures at randyandkarenlodder.blogspot.com.

Family Day!

This morning the boys received a lovely surprise from their loved ones back home in Ontario.  They each received a care package from some family members.  In this care package were mostly letters and pictures.  One person even received some chocolate.  We got to sit back and enjoy the smiles as they appeared on their faces when the packages were opened.  It was a treat for us to see.  Thank you so much for those that organized this, it was appreciated by all.

 

 

On the town with the men!

Today we spent the day touring through a large part of Port au Prince.  We left early in the morning to make it downtown before most of the traffic hit.  We saw the Palace that is still in ruins and the four major parks that are still full of tent cities.


Preparing to walk through the downtown core.

 

The eternal flame that Aristide build that was never lit.

A gentleman trying to sell water.

 

A famous statue in the middle of a tent city, the "free slave" blowing the conch to call the Haitians
to the war for independence, a machete in his hand and a broken chain on his ankle.

After we spent some time downtown we went to the Basketshop.  This is a place where people can buy souvenirs for those they love at a good price without bartering.  The men spent a lot of time buying for those that they love back at home in Canada.  As Karen put it, "They shopped like girls!"  We spent at least an hour in the shop.  So expect something good, loved ones.

After that we went to the lookout point.  This over looks a huge part of the city of Port au Prince.  There we took pictures and had a good time hanging out with some UN soldiers from Jordan. 

Part of Port au Prince



The guys getting some pictures

Maia and Chloe showing some love.



Cornelius with some UN soldiers from Jordan

After we finished our time at the lookout point we went up to the Baptist Mission where we had a delicious lunch.  Going to the Baptist Mission one must spend some time at the petting zoo or else three children would not be so happy.  We then went to Fort Jacques.  This fort was built to help protect the Haitians in case the French decided to come back and attack them.

This was a good day.  We really enjoyed the time that was spent travelling throughout Port au Prince.  The guys got to see the sights, the sounds and the smells of Haiti.  Praise God for safe travels and good company.