Haiti Team #1: Day 5

We had much needed rain this morning. It down poured some overnight, into the morning, then stopped by the time we went to work. The women fed us breakfast and off to work we went. Tom and Odlin were back to building door frames and they are coming out nice. I think Odlin is learning a lot, maybe even how to cut a straight line- the first time he tried it, not so much. Dave and Darryl were back on putting the stucco on the side of the Merlet Center. The finished product is looking really good and they've almost finished one floor of the side of the building. Jaime and Ulrick painted a wall on the inside of the building then they came outside and painted. Every day you see improvement in the building and people are working hard to finish it up. 

HAPI has a very important meeting next week with LEVENO and United Methodist Communications and everyone wants the "WOW" factor to be here when they arrive. Our team decided to pay a guy to tile the floor in the artisans room and he is doing a great job. They tile very different than we do back home. By the end of the day everyone was worn out.

The ladies cooked another good dinner for us including, "turkey," rice, fried plantain, sauce, and beet and potato salad. The turkey didn't look like turkey but tasted real good. Everyone tried to go visit Angelica (missionary that visited our Church last summer) but she was not home so we will try again another day. We all hung out on the porch for awhile. Darryl got to talk to Melany on the phone, which was great. Then we went off to bed to get some rest for another productive day on the Merlet.

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A lady's (Jaime's) perspective:

Our team is wonderful. Dave has adjusted to "Haitian time" faster than Darryl can make a joke towards me. We are blessed with wifi available early in the morning so we all huddle around Paul's table on his porch with our phones.

This morning (Wednesday) I asked some of the guys what they're excited for and Tom said, "Saturday. Excited to see everyone in Les Cayes."

Darryl, "I am excited for you (Jaime) to finish up this blog so I can put it up. No..... This weekend. The whole sight-seeing, being back in Les Cayes, the baptisim."

Our team is traveling to Les Cayes this weekend to celebrate Allen's baptism. Allen is Odlin's nephew and Tom and I are proud godparents. Odlin is excited to see his family because he hasn't seen them in a month. He's also excited to make door frames and run the saw. Instead of "make door frames," Darryl heard, "make girlfriends." 

This, ladies and gents, is our team. We are weird, partially deaf, and blessed.