Summertime in Haiti

1. It is hot!
2. It is rainy!
3. It is humid!!
4. Mosquitos love to come out after the rain!!!
5. Mosquitos love me!!!!!  But the feeling is not mutual.  I think they wait on me at my front door each morning.  Whoever said that taking garlic pills helps ward off mosquitos is wrong when it comes to this lady.  One day I walked with Robert to pick a few mangos and in the time it took me to walk to the far tree and back to the front (probably less than a minute) I got bit 13 times and had two ant bites.  I am not sure why they love me so much.  If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to comment. 

Work Days

Robert has been working in Gressier, which is about 30 minutes from base.  A few of the things he has been up to:

Built roads to a school

Built a soccer field

Repaired a canal that was flooding a house

Repaired roads

Hauled in rocks to repair base's fence (the fence is getting washed out by the river anytime we get heavy rain)

I have been working in finance.  I know what you are thinking.  The most exciting volunteering in the world.  And you are right.  There is a position open in the finance department and I have applied.  I am in the process of turning in all my paperwork.  They have offered me an MOU, so this is exciting.  I am not sure what that means for us as far as how long we will be here.  Only Jesus knows!

Movie Time

We showed another movie to the beach kids on Friday.  Nacho Libre.  The kids enjoyed this, but still prefer Beethoven.  Go figure.  They never see big dogs here, so that may be it. Before the movie started Robert read the story of David and Goliath in Creole.  None of them had heard of the story, so it was awesome to share this with them.  The scripture sharing was Steve and Jody's idea and I think it is a great addition to movie night.  We will read a scripture that can be tied to the movie.  I pray that God uses this to reach these children (and some parents that are coming now).

Kokoye Beach

On Saturday we went to Kokoye (coconut) beach. It was Andrea's last weekend, so we went in honor of her.  It is about an hour drive and an hour hike to the beach.  On the way it is all downhill, which is hard on the knees.  You are greeted by a beautiful beach.  White sand, clear water, and palm trees.  It looks like a picture from a travel magazine. We relaxed on the beach, floated in the water, searched for seashells and did a little swimming.  A very chill and restful time.

        The hike out was not the most fun hike I have been on.  Notice how high the picture looks.  One person in our group had to ride a donkey back to the top because they had so much trouble on the way down; they knew that they could not go back up.  As I am about 3/4 of the way to the top I am thinking that the donkey was not a bad idea.  Robert and I decide to take the straight up the ridge route instead of the slightly easier winding route.  We were in the sun the whole time and I thought my head was going to pop off from overheating.  It took us 48 minutes of hard hiking to get to the top.  Most people took an hour +.  Paul only took 30 minutes.  Taking all that into consideration this is definitely the most beautiful beach in Haiti that I have been to.  I would definitely do it again.

     

Run!
There is a group of us that has been running in the morning about twice a week.  I can't talk anyone into running more.  This is so much nicer because it is about 10 to 15 degrees cooler at 5:45 am than at 5:45 pm.  And the sun is not beating down on you.  At this time of the morning it is really quite in the community.  It is a very peaceful time to run.  Got to work off all this rice we have been eating!