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.

A team of eight men arrived in Haiti on Tuesday, February 14.  Gary Nordeman and his son Shane, Gary Aikema, Dan Vanderveen, James Poort, Andrew Bosma, Dave Otten, and Kevin Eigenbrood.  They have a lot of big projects that they are going to be working on for 10 days.

Some of the work that they are doing is:
     1.  Building a new food depot.
     2.  Building a roof over the propane storage area.
     3.  Building two more storage cupboards.
     4.  Building a library.
     5.  Repositioning three walls so that we can have three bigger classrooms.
     6.  Building a playground.
     7.  Putting in a couple of washrooms.
     8.  Building awnings over the windows.
     9.  Building a new wheelchair ramp.
     10.  Putting razor wire above the gate.



A lot of the wood for building depots and shelves.



All the baggage that the team brought.



Our new Makita drill set.  Yeah team, thanks for bringing it.




Gary installing shade cloth for the playground.

 

Taking apart a platform for the new playground.



Father son combo, what a team!



Cutting pieces off, takes three.



Gary teaching the difference between a Robertson and a Philips

  

Drilling for tapcons.



Securing the food depot to the floor.



Daniel hard at work, loves the change of pace.

  

Kevin teaching Frankilin how to use a skill saw.



Trying to fix the welder!

 

The shade clothe is almost done.





The drive to school from Randy's house!

Moving Day

After six months in our house, the time came for us to move on.

When Mindy's father was visiting he helped Cornelius take the big furniture to the new house. They brought four loads in Randy's truck. Thanks Mr. B!

Wednesday and Thursday, Mindy packed up most of their worldly possessions. Cornelius assisted her with the packing and heavy lifting of boxes. Then, on Friday morning some of their friends came to help them move. They trucked everything over the new house...two blocks away. It only took four more vehicle loads. By 10am everything was unloaded, and scattered throughout the house. Kati, Karen, and Mindy began unpacking the boxes and suitcases right away. The gang stopped around noon for a short break and ate sandwiches from Epi'dor. Randy and Cornelius left to go and buy some beds for the house, while the women contined to unpack and organize the house. Around 2:00 the ladies were exhausted. So they sat on the couch the rest of the afternoon and watched a Barbie movie with the girls (and listened to the Beattles).

Cornelius and Chloe set up the beds when they arrived. Now Chloe has her own bed to sleep in!

Here are a few pictures from the adventure....all in a days work! 

I was big fan of the work Kati was doing, she blew me away!

Randy had a wheelly good time helping,
he didn't even get tired.

Everything made it safely!

Cool! They got all the food.

Keep on trucking Jason.

Hang in there Maia, we are almost done!

We had a ball of fun moving.

 

It was a cooking hot day, but thankfully we were done by noon.

 

At the end of the day we were all a bunch of basket cases, tired and exhausted, ready for a break.

 

Maia, you put that under where?



Bible Month at Adoration Christian Centre

Toute Écriture est inspirée de Dieu,
et utile pour enseigner, pour convaincre,
pour corriger, pour instruire dans la justice

All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness
                                                 2 Timothy 3: 16

Adoration Christian Centre has dedicated the month of February to studying the Word of God.   Throughout the month we are doing several activities all centred around studying the Word of God and knowing it more.  February is a month in Haiti where Carnaval and the things of Carnaval are filling peoples' minds and time.  We want to combat this, and instead fix our eyes and ears on God's Word and what He is telling us.  So we have come up with several activities that we will be busy with this month, to fill our minds with the things of God, and to know Him more.  Not only is the school participating in this but the church is also getting involved.   We have dedicated this Bible passage for the overall arching theme of the month. 

Josué 1:8
Que ce livre de la loi ne s'éloigne point de ta bouche; médite-le jour et nuit, pour agir fidèlement selon tout ce qui y est écrit; car c'est alors que tu auras du succès dans tes entreprises, c'est alors que tu réussiras.

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Here are a few of the activities we are doing:
1.  Reading of the Bible: We hope to read through the whole Bible this month.  We have posted every book of the Bible on a chart and each class is choosing a different book (or books) to read through during this month.  Individuals and families from the Church have also signed up, and secondary students have selected books to read through to.  Our goal is to try to read the whole Bible during this month.

2.  Explanation of the Bible: Pastor Octavius is also going to spend time with the Grades 3 - 6 classes and explain the overall arching themes of the Bible.  He is going to explain the relevence of each book of the Bible and connect it all together. 

For this he is going to use Luke 24: 27
Et, commençant par Moïse et par tous les prophètes, il leur expliqua dans toutes les Écritures ce qui le concernait.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

3.  Bible Trivia: At the end of  the month we will be having a Bible trivia within the school.  The school will be broken into 3 different levels.  Each group will be given a some questions pertaining to the subjects that have been given them and we will have a trivia challenge with this.  A winner from each section will receive a prize.

4. Bible memorization: The students will be memorizing different verses from the Bible and will be saying them to Pastor Octavius.  Which ever class has the most Bible passages memorized will receive a prize at the end of the month.

5. Morning Bible Reading: Every morning from 7:00 until 7:30 anyone from the community is invited to participate in the reading  from the book of Acts.  After the reading of the chapter is done, time is taken to share, explain or ask questions about the specific passage that has just been read.
Please pray for Adoration Christian Centre throughout the next month that the children may be introduced to new parts of the gospel that they have never seen before.  Pray that through the reading of the gospel the children may learn more about God and His holy will for them in their lives.  Pray for the leaders of this centre, the teachers, the director, the pastor and all those involved that God might use them to further his kingdom work.