Blooper Reel

 

Uhm... Joe?

 

"...whaaa?"

 

That's cute Danni ;p

 

Seriously Rachael, what's up with your legs?

 

Polly wanna cracker?

 

This is his "cool kid" face...

 

 

Then there's Joe...

 

...there really aren't words...

 

Susan, is it windy?

 

Melissa thinks so!

 

There's a reason their family members didn't want to come with them...

 

Danni, showing your midriff is not appropriate for a mission trip - don't worry; Ed's got you!

 

If I'm going to embarrass everyone else, I gotta show ya'll this.

 

Seriously, Joe never stops.

 

This is how Daniel feels about us:

Danni gives him too many weird looks and I just snap at him too much.

 

Thanks everyone who kept up with the blog! And thanks to everyone who was actually on the trip. In one week, we really did become one big dysfunctional family! I love you all!

 

- Katie, Coming to You for the Last Time

Meet the Cast and Crew

July 10^th, 2014 – 9:40 am

 

 

The Macs

Kallie + Beth + Stan + MacKenzie

 

 

The Christies

Catherine + Chuck

 

 

The Shoemakers

Joe + Caitlin + Dan + Susan

The Dares

Henry + Susan + Rachael

 

 

The Caspers

Ruth + Noah

The Rebocks

Daniel + Colleen

The Gonzales’

GiGi + Dale + Antonio

 

The Demattios

Ryan + Seth + Melissa

 

The Emersons

Michael + Haley

The Loners

Dave VanEpps + Tami Verville + Danni Nowicki + Ed Wist

 

The Dudlets’

Emily + Katie ... looking ridiculous as always :p

 

The Journey Home

July 7^th, 2014 – 2:48 pm

 

Hey ya’ll! I’m sorry this post is coming so late. Saturday was just too long a day, and I passed out before I even thought about writing once I finally got home.

 

Basically, we all woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. By that, I literally mean 4:45. In the morning. Ugh. It was terrible. What was even worse was that the electricity went out soon after that, so we had to try to get all of our stuff together in the dark. It was ridiculous. We were told to get down to the main house by 5:25 and that we were to be on the road NO LATER than 5:45.

 

Of course, that didn’t happen. We waited outside for forever! And the worst part was that we didn’t put on bug spray because we were supposed to be at airports and on planes all day. But the mosquitoes were swarming that morning! So we sat, in the dark, snacking since we wouldn’t be around for breakfast, and waiting with impatience for the bus to arrive.

 

I honestly think it was a little after six that we finally heard the bus pulling up the hill. And then, when we all got on, I swear, the driver was trying to make up for lost time all the way to the airport. Seriously, I thought we were going to die on more than one occasion. Emily was literally praying while she was sitting next to me! It felt like we were going 90 miles an hour through the market that was buzzing with people and other vehicles. I swear, we whizzed like, inches – millimeters, even – away from other cars. It was absolutely terrifying. Luckily, we got to the airport in one piece, and we were off to Fort Lauderdale. It was great to finally be in the states again!

 

The sad part though, was splitting up into our two separate groups; some of us only had a four hour layover while the rest of us had seven hours to kill. The Caspers, Danni, the Gonzales family, Ed, the Emersons and the DeMattios were in the shorter layover group. We all parted, and said our goodbyes with sad faces and promises to see each other soon.

 

As I said goodbye to Danni though, she burst into tears! It was the cutest thing ever. Obviously, you can probably tell by the way I mention her a ton in the blogs, we became really close over the week. I love her to death!

 

Apparently that group ate in the airport at a little café. The bigger group with the longer layover, however, decided to take a little trip. We all got into a few vans and headed into a small, little town called Las Olas. It was very cute; lots of shops and restaurants. It was a good way to blow a few hours. We ended up sitting down for lunch at The Big City Tavern. They had the best lemonade ever and some delicious fries. It was awesome. A good first meal, even though I didn’t like my sandwich. The fries made up for it. Then we all went next door for some gelato.

 

Then we were back to the airport and onto our next plane to Detroit. It was really a great feeling, heading home.

 

So yeah, that was the end. It was a great trip, even with all its highs and lows. Thanks for keeping up with us everyoneJ

 

Katie, No Longer Coming to You from Haiti

Dead Puffs, Wacky Wipe Outs and Explosions

July 4^th, 2014 – 7:44 pm

So yesterday, I really wanted to mention this, but I totally forgot. One of our Village Champions is named Papitas, and he’s pretty much the head guy. I found out he’s on like some national soccer team. When we were all at the park yesterday, he was playing with us and the little kids on the field and he kicked a ball really hard and hit a kid in the face. Instead of apologizing, someone overheard him say, “I’m playing soccer, you need to watch yourself.” I don’t know about you, but I think that is absolutely hilarious. Haitians man. They are tough people.

Anyways! Today was our beach day for those of you who are wondering. And it was awesome. I think that since it’s my second time being here, I was a lot more relaxed this time. I wasn’t running around trying to figure out where everything was, or trying to do everything. It was really a great day.

As we were eating breakfast this morning, conversation started buzzing about how there are only so many beach chairs by the pool and how we needed to get on the first bus and get to Wahoo first (because there were two other groups going with us as well). Us teenagers piled onto the first bus in line so we could dominate like we always do. Well, most of us teenagers. Ten minutes later, the great majority of the group was on the bus and Colleen was screaming about how her son was nowhere to be found and she was going to kill him. Then the two buses behind us drove around us and pulled out. Then we found out we had to stop in the village to pick up a translator. Her screaming turned into panicked shrieks. Ryan went running off the bus to find him, before carrying him onto the bus. Literally, he was carrying him! It was hilarious. Then we yelled at the driver to take off so we could get there.

Of course, we got there last anyways, but by some miracle, we got all of the beach chairs. We think it’s because Kensington is magical and we dominate everything. Anywhere. All the time. No matter what.

This year, everything was basically the same. The mountains loomed in the background in all their majesty. The ocean stretched out, in gorgeous tropical blue, out to the horizon. Flowers and greenery speckled the entire resort. It was like seeing one of those tropical calendar pictures in person. It’s beautiful and amazing. I love it.
 

There were opportunities to go snorkeling, lay out on the beach, go swimming in the ocean, jump on a giant trampoline out in the middle of the ocean (a new feature), ride around on a paddleboard, canoe and a dozen other things. For those of us who wanted a day full of fun, there were endless possibilities. For the rest of us who wanted to sleep and relax, there were plenty of chairs. There were these new cabanas by the pool too. Emi, Danni and I claimed one immediately and it was perfect. It kept all of our stuff out of the sun while we swam in the ocean, jumped on the trampoline, fell off the trampoline, drank mango and banana smoothies in the pool and creeped on Papitas and his girlfriend being cute in the pool.

 

As we were heading to lunch, Emi pointed out to Danni and I that we were getting a bit red in the leg area, and I freaked out about how I might be picking up a ridiculous tan due to my one piece. So for the rest of the day, Danni and I chilled in our little cabana until we actually fell asleep. It was beautiful.
 

Prior to this though, many of us spent the majority in the day in the ocean, mostly around the trampoline. Noah was the only one of us that had goggles, and they were quickly passed around when he alerted us all of the school of pufferfish that were floating around under the trampoline. Apparently Noah and Dave found a dead one. Thus, the “dead puff” part of the title.

As for the second part, there was this long, yellow waterslide-like section attached to the trampoline. People would run off the trampoline and try to run as far down this blow-up slide as possible before they slipped off the side. If you’ve ever seen commercials for the show Wipe Out, it was basically like watching ten of those in a row. Adults were doing it, kids were doing it, people were trying to push each other off. It was very entertaining to watch. And I mean it. I watched. I ain’t about getting salt water in my sinuses. I just ain’t about that life. But I watched lots of people fall embarrassingly. It was great.

 

For those of you who care about our dietary habits over here, lunch was awesome. For me. Not for Danni. But for me, it was a good day. It was the typical Haitian meal: questionable-looking chicken, fried plantains, rice and beans and coleslaw. All with a strange red sauce that makes my taste buds do a happy dance. Danni is way too picky and I basically ate all of my rice and beans as well as hers. My belly role thanks her. Plus we had the ability to get drinks anytime we wanted, so we had mango smoothies and banana smoothies. I didn’t find out until later that there were more flavors that I think I would have enjoyed more…. Ugh.
 

Once we got back to Main Campus, it was a rush to the showers. Everyone was covered in salt and chlorine and we were gross. Plus for anyone who spent any time on the beach itself, there was enough sand in my bathing suit to make a whole new beach. It was gross and uncomfortable. Luckily, a few of us ladies made a pact to keep a waiting list for the shower. I was first, Emi was second, Danni third and Gigi fourth. Then everyone else either went to the public showers or waited for the four of us to finish.

We finished out the day with our last team time in Haiti. We went through our last member introductions and I’m not gunna lie, I was terrified to talk in front of the whole group. Haley introduced me, I introduced her; Danni introduced Rachel and vice versa; Colleen and Kallie did the same; Dan and Noah introduced each other; AshLee and Caitlin finished us off. It was really cool to all share with each other for the last time. After we prayed, we ran to the open side of the rooftop to take a group photo. After that, I decided to take pictures of each individual family. It was awesome.

For those of you who are devoted readers, I promise, I will actually give you something to look at when I get home. I’ll be adding pictures to the previous posts and adding new ones chocked full of photographs from the week. I’m actually really excited about it, and I hope you are too!

Our American holiday came to a conclusion with fireworks. I think the interns and staff were setting them off from their residence, and it was really exciting. The first one that went off scared all of us though, because it sounded like a shotgun. We were all thinking that one of the guards finally took someone out.

Other than that, nothing really is going on here. People are playing cards, eating Pringles that we’ve all been craving, and just generally hanging out with each other on our last night. We have to be downstairs with all of our stuff ready at 5:25 in the morning, so that’ll be interesting. Gotta love early international flights! I personally plan on either just pulling an all-nighter, because like, really, what’s the point? Otherwise I get in an hour or two. I can’t wait to be home.

Just because our trip is ending doesn’t mean you can’t send me messages still! And just think, tomorrow you will be able to talk to your friends and family again, and will hear their personal stories and the pointless comments from Katie will cease. How lucky are you!

Until the pictures are ready…

Katie Coming to You from Haiti (for the last time)

French Fries and Mangified

July 3^rd, 2014 – 10:41 pm

Alright, I’m sorry this is so late, but I was catching up on last night’s leftover recounting. Today was at least more productive than yesterday. This morning, we had breakfast first, and most of us didn’t trust the eggs, so I’m basically living on granola bars like every morning. Then we had a very laid back devotion meeting in our small groups. We were on the cantor at eight and pulled into the depot for supplies for this morning’s task. We picked up shovels, pick axes and metal stakes. Then we headed into Source Matelas and pulled into the small area on the side of the road next to the main church in the area. There we picked up ten little trees and buckets of dirt. Can you guess what we did all morning?  

Eventually we parked the cantor at the edge of a very spread out area of Source Matelas, where the goats were flourishing and the sun was scorching over desert-like lands. Literally, it was very questionable looking. But we broke up into our groups from the airport again, so I was with the Dares, the Hansingers, Dave and Emi. We were with Jeffney and he took us up the hill so we could plant our first tree. There was a man living in a house at the top of the hill, and he had his daughter living there with a few other little girls. I believe they were her children. We dug an overly large hole in the front of the yard and plopped our little mango tree right in. We covered the roots with the dirt we brought in the buckets, and then one of the women living in the house brought us a bucket full of water. Interestingly, we didn’t fill the hole all of the way, so there was a little bit of a bowl surrounding the trunk. This, Jeffney told us, was too hold water when it rained. It was actually pretty smart since the area was obviously extremely dry.

Then we were on to the next house, where a small woman was all alone. Her kids had gone across town for the day to visit family. This time, the planting was definitely harder, because as soon as the shovel hit the ground, the sound of metal on rock rung through the air. So, as you can see, it was a bit difficult. The boys kind of took over and we sat in the shade, trying to communicate with the woman since Jeffney was overseeing the digging. We prayed over her after we had gotten the almond tree planted, just like we had at the previous house. Then we headed back down the hill toward the cantor, where we met up with the other groups. Then there was a mix of things going on.

Some people were playing soccer with children in a few yards, others were outside holding babies, and others still were praying with people. Then Ed brought out the music and it was all over. Tami and I were talking to one of the translators about what kind of music he likes. Faby (that’s the translators name in case you couldn’t figure it out) apparently likes Justin Bieber and One Direction. I mean, he’s like a young adult who loves girls’ idols. Kind of hilarious. But anyways, a big group of us were dancing to random music, and Noah was taking pictures of individual children with a polaroid camera so that they could all have a picture of themselves. It was actually pretty cool, because unless us, these people don’t have many opportunities to see what they look like. They totally loved it. They were all running around, waving the pictures frantically and showing everyone in excited, high pitched voices.

Then we had to come back for lunch, which was some pretty tasty noodles. I actually got seconds. That doesn’t happen often here for me. After lunch, we had to get in a bus, because there was another group coming with us and the King of the Roads couldn’t accommodate all of us. Interestingly enough, we didn’t all fit in the bus either. Standing room only by the end of it! We were all squished and on top of each other and it was grossly hot.

The bus eventually pulled into a park area we had been to last year that was all created by Cina, the cement company in Haiti. It’s probably the biggest legitimate business in the country. The other group got off the bus and was off to the side and Papitas led us with the other translators deeper into the village. We trekked through the “back roads” of the village for a while until we reached this open space with a really sketchy looking bench that wrapped around in a big square. We all sat on it, but Papitas wanted to show us all around the back of a house where there was another, smaller, open space where the latrine we were supposed to build was going to go. Some of the money we raised for our trip actually went into the funding to make that happen and we were supposed to do that this week (and we could have too, with all the downtime we had), but we never got to it I guess. So apparently the group that comes in this coming week will be doing it. Personally, I’m glad we’re not, because that would have been an awful long walk with the materials…

 

After he showed us the space and talked about the benefits of having a bathroom (like, we’ve all gone before, I think we know), we all gathered back at the square benches and chilled for some time. I took a lot of pictures and most of us tried to cool down and stay in the shade. Seth kept trying to climb up this huge mango tree, and some of the translators decided they should get us some mangoes. A woman that lived in the closest house came around the corner with a hook attached to the top of a very long stick. It was probably 12 feet or so. They were standing on things, jumping and reaching, but nothing was working. Leon decided to jump up on Ocean’s shoulders and reach, but apparently he was too small. Another, larger translator came up and they finally yanked us down some mangoes. I have never seen anyone treasure a mango as much as Noah though. Pretty hilarious. He like, wouldn’t let Danni hold it. Too funny. And I think he was the one who came up with the word mangified to describe his feeling about mangoes...

After our time there was over, we were led back through the forest, past a GIANT black pig and the funniest looking goat I have ever seen (he was like beige and had a long white tuff of hair coming out of the top of his head and one coming out of his chin). He was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen and I seriously couldn’t help but laugh when I saw him. We got back to the park area and it didn’t take much to get the majority of our group and a bunch of Haitian kids (including Papitas) onto the soccer field. Personally, I don’t understand how they could do any sort of physical exertion, but they did. And I sat in the shade with my camera.

 

Noah did the camera thing again, with Ruth standing proudly and protectively off to his side. Melissa was getting covered in bubble juice, as a young lady was blowing bubbles behind her to entertain some young boys. They were so cute – they had so much excitement on their faces each time she would blow through the wand and they chased the bubbles wherever they would go until they gleefully popped them. Bubbles and Cheerios. If you have those two things, you can babysit a very young child with no problem whatsoever. Danni did a weird arm swinging challenge with a Haitian boy who was trying to get his polaroid picture to dry. AshLee held one of the cutest little boys ever. Caitlin got hurt and got a black eye courtesy of our lovely Daniel. Nice guy. Kicked a ball right in her face. Antonio also sustained an injury – his knee got a bit scratched up. And Dave and Tami got us these little weird Haitian fruits. I forgot what they’re called, but they grow in bunches like grapes. I think they are like grapes in many ways, but you have to pull the tough skin off around the edge and then you suck this gooey strange substance off the pit in the middle. I think they’re really good because they’re so sweet, but a lot of people couldn’t get over the texture. A little too slimy for most.

 

 

Speaking of questionable things… I’m pretty sure I drank bull sperm today without knowing it. Instead of Red Bull, they have an energy drink in Haiti called Toro. It’s illegal in the US because it has such high levels of taurine. This is what we were told by Jeremy anyways, and he wasn’t let anyone drink it unless they got a parents’ permission, so I’m assuming it’s pretty legit. I only had a sip or two, but it was so good! It literally tasted like the liquid version of sweet tarts. So yeah, it’s gross, but it’s so good… I don’t really know what to think about it.

The time with the kids didn’t last very long. We headed back to Main Campus pretty quickly, and everyone was disgusting. I was sweating and I had barely moved. All the men and kids that had been playing either basketball or soccer were totally soaked. All I was thinking was ‘Stay away from me!’ Danni commented that we should make a divide on the bus, so that the sweaty, stinky people would stay on one side and we would be on the other. That didn’t happen, but hey, I survived.

For dinner tonight, we had fried chicken, French fries and corn! It was awesome. I only wish I had gotten more of the corn and fries… I could’ve eaten a lot more of them, trust me. Then we had a big group meeting at the top of the roof. I got there late with Danni because Tami was still braiding my hair when it started. It was the first time we were late to anything here. Shameful. All Tami’s fault obviously! People shared stories again, there were more songs, a few words and prayer. This time, our group had to stay after because we needed to be informed about tomorrow’s beach day and what and what not to do when we’re at the resort. We were also encouraged to support the MOH financially. I kind of want to sponsor a child here, not going to lie.

After that, everyone was off doing their own thing. I know a few people who met up to go over their interviews with their partners in anticipation for their introduction speeches. That was me. Most of the group members were playing card games on the tables. The last of them just came back to the rooms at it’s 12:30 in the morning. But that’s life here in Haiti. Every night is game night here!

Enjoy your day tomorrow (or today, rather) doing what it is that you do. I’ll be sipping fruity frozen drinks while I’m sitting on the sand with my toes in the water. I WIN!  

Katie Coming to You from Haiti

If You See a Turkey, Scrub It Cont.

July 3^rd, 2014 – 8:48 pm

Sorry about the delay guys! I was just having too much fun with all the kids last night to fulfill my duties. But I promise to make it up to you. And before I forget, thanks to all of you who have commented! It’s really awesome for me to show my trip buddies messages from their friends and family and well… I love all the complements… Keep ‘em coming – if you must (she says in a jokingly humble voice).

So continuing on from last night’s post:

We came back to Main Campus for lunch before heading back into the village. We were told originally that we would be going to see Leon (who is a former MOH Village Champion) and spend the entire afternoon helping out with his children’s club. In other words, we were supposed to be playing with the adorable Haitian kids for hours. You know how when there’s a kid who’s like, too nice, and all the other kids take advantage of him? That’s what became of Kensington yesterday afternoon. Instead of doing that, our leaders decided that we were such a selfless and flexible group that we would sit in the cantor for about two hours. Literally. I mean, we did do something, but it wasn’t what any of us had expected.

We picked up a bunch of boxes full of rice and beans in little packages that weighed 33 pounds each from the depot on Main Campus. This was after the cantor drove us all the way down the mountain, we turned around, and came back up to the depot. We then drove to the Bercy campus, which is a twenty-five minute drive, and dropped off the greater part of the shipment. The food is going to be used next week when MOH holds VBS for a ton of kids. We were there for a good fifteen minutes. After that, we had to drop off the rest of the boxes in Leveque, another fifteen minutes away. When we got there, we were all a little tired of being in the cantor and a lot kid-deprived. The kids swarmed our bus as we pulled into the school grounds, and we were told to just get the boxes off the bus, into the building, not play with the kids and get back into the bus as soon as the job was done. By this point, we were all getting irritated. Literally, we were all completely on the bus by 1 in the afternoon. We didn’t get to the Kid’s Club in Source Matelas until after three, and we needed to be back at Main Campus by four. So basically, we had thirty minutes with the kids we were supposed to spend the entire afternoon with.

The kids in our group (haha, I got out of it because I’m a legal adult!) had to put on four different skits in front of the children which were then translated to the Haitian kids. On involved sucking at sports, one was about getting a bad grade on a test, one about being lonely and another about being hungry and thirsty. Daniel played Jesus in all four skits, pretending to pray with them, talk to them, hug them and carry them to the finish line. They were really hilarious and very fun to watch.

Before that happened, a few of us adults got pulled into a small shack to make the kid’s snacks for the day. They were basically really ridiculous hot dogs, with giant, misshaped buns and “hot dog meat” that looked like snake in the way that it was skinny and twisted at the ends. Basically, they looked really unappetizing. Danni and I cut through the buns (and Danni with great difficultly due to using the equivalent of a butter knife), Dale put the meat in the buns, Evan sauced the buns with ketchup using another knife and Melissa and Dave wrapped the end product in napkins and put them into a bowl. It was hot and stuffy and awful. Then we ran out of meat, and Danni and I were out.

The really awesome thing that happened though was that I saw someone I recognized from last year leaning against a fence in the very back of the Kid’s Club. It was Stanley! Last year we met him on the day that we were picking up trash in the village. He was one of the older kids who told the young guys to stop chasing us with the tarantula and had a dance-off with Ed in the middle of the street. And the absolute best thing about him is that he speaks English! So there’s no awkward pauses and gazes as we try to communicate alone or use a translator. He told me how happy he was to see me, how excited he was that we were all in Haiti and he would take a few moments out of our conversation to separate some little boys who were fighting. A true gentleman. He even asked me to take a picture with him! I was really excited about that one. I mean, how many girls my age can say they got a personal picture with a Haitian?? I think it’s pretty cool anyway. He’s a sweetheart.

 

Unfortunately, we had like, ten minutes, and then it was time to leave. Bad planning. It seriously ruined my day and killed my vibe man. Not cool, not cool.

When we got back to the campus, a group of us decided to go down to Madame Cheap Cheap's. Emi and I bought the coolest presents for all our family members. Plus, she got a machete and I got a really cool painting that was made by a guy with no arms or legs. And it's beautiful. Unfortunately, we don't have the bargaining skills that our stepdad used last year, so we spent like, way too much money on everything. But it's ok. I like what we got!

Then we had dinner and guess what! We had a lot more free time. Like always. Danni and I went to watch our group play soccer with some of the Haitian kids that live on campus, and then we moved over to watch a 2v2 basketball game. And then we somehow missed the time where our group was cleaning up the kitchen. Which honestly, did not bother me. Eventually, we headed up to the rooftop for the larger group time, where all of the groups staying on campus share stories from their day, there’s a little praise and worship, and then there’s like a few words and some prayer. However, we were supposed to wait for Russell, who works at MOH and I have no idea what he does – but he does have some very cute kids that run around here. Anyways, he was like, running late from the same presentation at a different campus, so we were stalled.

I’m going to be honest, Jeremy had annoyed me all day. Until this point. He was the staller for the evening. He got up in front of all of us and introduced us to “Order Up” which is really just a different form of Simon Says. It was absolutely hilarious and awesome. We played two different rounds. The first round, Dave won. Kensington erupted into cheers. The second round, Joe won. Kensington erupted into even louder cheers. Basically, we dominated, and we wanted everyone else to know too. I think that’s why Jeremy moved on. This time, it was a “Repeat-After-Me-Song.” And this is how it went:

“I went down to the river

To take a little walk

Meet some turkeys

Had a little talk

Then I scrubbed the turkeys

And threw them on the line

Now we can have turkeys

Any old time!”

Yeah, if you thought that was weird, you should’ve been here to experience it! Jeremy actually came up with it himself and it was hilarious. Each time we repeated it, he would play with a different volume. And then there was some animalistic screaming, and then there was just screaming. And I was crying because I was laughing a wee bit too hard. And it was just the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

…you had to be there I guess.

Then we had team time and yeah. We played a lot of games and the kids hung out all night. It was really fun! We’ve quickly become a family in the last few days and I know it’s going to be really hard to part ways in a few days.

Be sure to comment!

Katie Coming to You from Haiti

If You See a Turkey, Scrub It

July 2nd, 2014 – 9:39 pm

Did you know I look like Nicki Minaj? Because, apparently Haitian boys think that… I don’t know whether to be offended, or…. Like, I’m a white girl. Maybe it’s because I have a big butt. But it’s not that big… Like, offensive.

This morning started off hot and groggy. We had early morning devotions in our small groups and then had breakfast, which was some weird, Haitian version of pancakes. Then a fly decided to take a swim in my syrup, and breakfast became a granola bar.

After breakfast, we were off to Source Matelas for more village time. Basically, we were ordered to go house to house in small groups and evangelize to the Haitian people on the doorstep. So, I’ve got a lot of interesting stories about this, so get some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the reading…

I honestly thought that this was going to be terrible – like, last time, it was awkward because no one in my group wanted to step up and talk, and we were in the same situation again. But today turned around so quickly. Jeremy gave us a few pointers on how to transition from asking them about their lives to asking them about their relationship with Christ, and it seemed like it was very helpful for everyone! My group was comprised of myself, Emily, Susan Dare, Rachel, Henry, AshLee, Evan and Collin.

It would take pages and pages to get through everything we experienced, so I’ll try to keep it short. We prayed for an older gentleman who turned out to be a pastor; we prayed for another woman who already knew Jesus well. We walked for a long time before we really got to the hotspot of the area. We turned a corner and there was a bunch of kids all playing and chilling in the shade. At first, I will admit, there was a little bit of awkwardness. The kids were kind of shy, and we didn’t know what to say to so many people at once. But somehow, we hung out long enough, and before we knew it, kids were laughing, smiling and hanging off of us. There was even an albino kid! He ran around the corner, and I just saw his legs at first, and I was like, “Look! It’s a white boy!” Someone whispered that he was albino and I was immediately taken by him! He was adorable. He was obviously struggling with a lot of medical problems (he had scabs on his head, was having trouble seeing and was drooling uncontrollably) but he was so unbelievably happy. He had a constant grin on his face and he just tried to keep up with the other kids. I laughed so hard when his grandmother walked around the corner and smiled hugely at us saying something loudly in creole that was followed by a lot of laughter from the children. Apparently she said, “Ah, look! We finally found someone your color!” His smile got wider and he came and held his arm up to ours.

Those little kids followed us everywhere we went from then on. We went to their grandmother’s house, because she really wanted us to pray for her, and she told us her story. She told us how she had once gotten an injury where something was wrong with her ribs, and the hospital had decided to transfer her to get surgery to another hospital. During the time between the two hospitals, she had prayed to God that she would be healed, and when she went to the next hospital, they couldn’t find anything wrong with her. She had been healed! So that was pretty cool. But forreal though, she was the most excited, energetic, sweet and happy woman I had ever met. She was amazing, and I doubt I will ever forget her.

After that, we visited a bunch of different women, and they were all very sweet and welcoming to us. We had a ton of good conversations and the little kids never left our side. It was so amazing. At one point, we were walking next to a beautiful river. And by next to, I mean up a very, insanely steep cliff, and by walking, I mean carefully tiptoeing along the edge on a foot-long sized path. It was terribly scary. The adorable little kids that we were walking with sensed our fear of the long drop down, so they would grab us from behind, one hand reaching up to our shoulder, the other holding our hand as they held us stable. Literally, they were walking along the cliff side. It was crazy impressive. And once they’d gotten one of us across, they would run back to the next person in line and hold them steady too. They are so sweet.

The hardest part of the day was a total shocker though. We walked into this one-room house behind the translator (who was also one of the Village Champions – Airlo) and I really wasn’t prepared for what I saw. An elderly man was splayed out on a thin mat on the concrete floor, completely naked. When he realized we were all coming in, he covered himself with a small rag. A rope with a loop at the end hung above him, apparently used to help get him up. The skin on his shoulders and arms seemed to be stretched over his skin, but his legs, feet and hands were swollen. He was apparently in the late stages of cancer and had been laying there without the ability to walk for over a year. It was absolutely awful and heart wrenching. We weren’t even in the room for long, and Susan was trying to ask him questions, but the translator was apparently uncomfortable, and actually rushed us to pray and we left pretty quickly. It was sad and awful, but it was definitely an eye-opener. On a lighter note, when we were praying for him, I was staring at the ground, and the little girl that was hanging on me whispered something to me. I didn’t understand what see was saying but she motioned what she was saying. Hah, she was telling me to close my eyes when we were praying! She did that to me twice! Which is really hilarious.

Alright, I know that only covers this morning, but I started this late, and everyone’s become friends, so there are many distractions… I’ll finish the afternoon in the morning… Until then!

Katie Coming to You from Haiti

You Know What to Do with Those Big Man Thighs

July 1^st, 2014 – 9:05 pm

I forgot to mention a bunch of things yesterday, so I’m taking the opportunity to mention them now. First off, Rachel poured the contents of her water bottle onto our driver. You see, when water gets left in the bottle for too long, it actually gets really ridiculously hot, so we all pour it out after a while if it’s too warm. She didn’t look before she dumped. Hilarious. Also, I got a huge bruise trying to open our stupid door. Good stuff. Also, Ed decided to sing along (as loud as humanly possible) to Frozen’s “Let It Go” on one of the bus rides yesterday. Uhm, grown men shouldn’t have that on their iPod to begin with, but the fact that he knew all the words and could belt it out in front of all of us was just downright weird. Weird, but entertaining. Gotta love Ed. And the last thing I forgot was about the third house we went into yesterday. With the old man. I was the one that prayed for him, and oh my goodness, he was so thankful for that. It was so cute. He gave me the tightest handshake and actually held my hand as he walked me out the door and said goodbye and thank you. It was so heartwarming. So on to today…

Seriously, it took three days, but the trip finally became really fun – at least for me and Emi. It was surprisingly cooler today and we finally got kid time. This morning started off with French toast. An obvious sign of a great day. Then we got back on the King of the Roads and went to Source Matelas to paint a house. It seemed like we drove forever before we got there. We actually made it all the way to the ocean, where there were beautiful vines full of pink flowers and all of the houses seemed put together and there were no babies running around without clothes.

The house had four rooms – which in Haiti is pretty darn amazing. It was definitely considered big when contrasted with the shacks people live in all along the roads. Uhm, we painted the walls and the outside a deep green and everything else was cream. We literally painted the entire house in two and a half hours, which is apparently like record breaking time. Kensington wins. Whaddup. Too cool.

Nothing really interesting happened besides music playing and one particular Haitian man dancing and singing in a really high-pitched voice. He was extremely entertaining. I kept trying to paint in his area so I could watch and listen. OH! And Emi walked up a hill holding a little boy and when she put him down, I happened to notice that one side of her chest was all wet. We made jokes and finally decided that it must have been the child’s sweat. Later however, she was complaining that she thought she smelled of urine… Tami has been quoted saying that you haven’t really been to Haiti “until you’ve gotten peed on.” Well, Emily has officially been to Haiti! After that, we packed everything up and went back to Main Campus for lunch.

Lunch consisted of nasty little hot dog pieces (Collin selflessly offered to eat all of mine) and lots of plantains. They were really hot and tasted awesome. After lunch, we headed back to Source Matelas for more painting. This time the house was brand new and was a Mission of Hope project.

We painted the walls pink and the trim white and finally, things started getting more interesting. Of course, all the teenagers quickly deserted their painting duties when the kids appeared. There were at least five of the children. Two girls and three or four boys. They were the cutest things I have ever seen.

One little girl took to me and was literally copying everything I was doing and she was acting like the biggest diva ever, I loved it! She was throwing her head to the side and making ridiculous noises and sticking her tongue out. So much sass, it was so funny! Later she even looked me in the eye and started speaking creole to me – must’ve thought I understood or something. I kind of understood the word baby. Like, she said it in creole, but it really sounded similar to something and I guess I put it together. She ran over to a nearby house and grabbed a baby girl by her hand. It was her little sister and she wanted her to meet me too! It was like, the cutest thing ever, and I played with the both of them for a while before I got called over for another group picture. When I came back after, she jumped onto my arm, wrapped her legs around my wrist and started swinging. Somehow I became her own personal swing and I was flinging my arms around as she smiled and laughed the entire time. It was awesome.

There was also this boy, who was 11 years old, and I believe his name was Valence. It was either Valence or Valdez. No one can understand the Haitian accent… He was adorable, very talkative and knew a little English. He counted to twenty with us, taught us how to do the same in creole and then asked us how old we were. He like, made this hilarious shocked face when we told him we were 18 and 19. It was adorable. He did the same with Emily – apparently she looks much older for her age.

Another little boy sat with me for like fifteen minutes doing magic tricks. He was adorable too. He had my trying to figure out which hand he held a rock in after hiding it behind his back; he ‘magically’ made it difficult for me to pull two rocks apart and he put the rocks in crazy positions between his fingers. I loved him too, and kept trying to make him laugh.

This is why I came back to Haiti. The kids make it all worth it.

Emily and Beth taught Valence how to play ninja. He also had a mini dance party against Ed, who showed off his weird ligament-less shoulder blade dancing. Joe (who is my new friend crush) actually slipped into a well, and then like three different people actually dismembered the spout…

Then we drove back to Main Campus after a very distressful goodbye. Dinner was rice and random different sauces and cake, which was perfect, because it was Susan Shoemaker’s birthday!

After dinner we had down time until church service at six, which was just Haitian praise and worship for an hour and ten minutes. Haitians were dancing, singing at the top of their lungs, Villarson was playing the recorder just like last year, and one was even bowed down on his knees with his forehead against the ground in surrender. Haitian church is pretty amazing, even though you can’t understand anything.

Then we had team time at 8, meaning we had some more down time. A group of us kids were chilling on the roof before that and I’ve never laughed so hard. Joe became my friend crush, meaning that I want him to be my friend, because he’s hilarious and absolutely awesome. Which, by the way, is where this title came from. We were talking about how we lost the soccer game (sorry, hopefully you knew that already) and complaining about how weird it is that the players get their legs massaged, and their thighs jiggle, and then AshLee freaked out about how gross it is. Yeah, so that’s that.

During team time, we shared stories from the day. Catherine apparently got to know a kid on a really personal level yesterday and she saw him today at church. Dale was impressed with the way the Haitians were so free with their praise. And we finally started our group introductions.

A day or two ago, Tami gave us the homework to meet up with another member of the group (that she paired you up with) and get to know them so that you can introduce them to the group. Ryan and Daniel presented each other; Collin and Dale did the same; and so did Susan Dare and Makenzie. It was really cool to hear everyone’s stories told from the perspective of a different member.

Anyways, it’s really late. I love you all, and I’d love to tell you more detail… but it’s late. I need sleep.

Katie Coming to You from Haiti

Update on the Animal Game

July 1st, 2014 – 4:48 pm

Noah is Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Daniel has been changed – he is now a toy poodle.

Caitlin is a giraffe.

Henry is a gazelle.

Danni has been said to look like a mouse.

Rachel looks like a lemur.

Antonio looks like a bear. And Catherine has officially dubbed herself a golden retriever.

I Don’t Want to ‘On,’ I Want to ‘Delay’

June 30^th, 2014 – 9:20 pm

Get it? Like ondele … I honestly don’t know how to spell that, so I apologize. Just deal with it. You know what I mean. Like, let’s go kind of …

ANYWAYS. This morning, all of us met on the rooftop before breakfast to have our devotions groups. We got into our groups and got to know each other a little better. But you know, it’s early in the morning, and I’m in a group of teenage girls… So you can guess how that went.

After that we had breakfast we all hopped on THE KING OF THE ROADS. For anyone who read last year, or has family members who went, you know how exciting that is. Literally, it’s a cantor bus that just makes life worth living. It’s all open and you get a breeze and people have to stand and it’s just… fun! Jeremy and Courtney (our interns) took us to meet up with our translators and Village Champions, and we were off to Source Matelas. I found out – and I honestly don’t remember if I knew this last year or not – but the name of the village stands for water mattress, because when Haitians originally settled there, water came up everywhere they tried to build, so they were like, sleeping on water. It was something like that at least.

We took the bus all the way up the side of a small mountain (and this time, we did NOT get stuck!) and parked on the top with the most beautiful view. The pictures we all got are sure to astound! We took a bunch of group pictures and had fun, enjoying both the view and the breeze! But the heat got a little overwhelming for some of us and we went back to the bus for shade and water. Basically the translators explained a bunch of stuff about Haiti, and more specifically their village and wanted everyone to ask questions. I think we were all dying from heat though, so Papitas didn’t really receive all the questions he was expecting.

 

After that, they took us back down the mountain and we toured Source Matelas just to see all of the water sources. It’s crazy how awkward the whole situation really is if you think about it. I mean, you’ve got thirty white people walking into a village and watching random Haitians bathe, and then going to the next place, watching more people bathe… Like, it’s weird. But they don’t seem to mind. It’s also kind of sad, because all you see is large groups of people getting drinking water, bathing and washing their clothes all from the same pool of water. It’s disgusting and rather sad. I don’t know how people live like that. But as Papitas pointed out, God must really be watching over all these people, because it’s a shock that they’re all alive. It seems like they would get sick and die out by now, but they haven’t. And thank God too, because they’re some really awesome people!

So, I don’t know if like, the village kids are over all the American people after all these years or what, because this year has seemed very different from last time. I swear, less kids are coming out to play, and those who are out are barely interested in us. It’s kind of sad when they’re basically the best part of the entire trip.

When we were at the final water source today, it was very slippery. Susan Dare actually slipped and fell! She got a rear end covered in mud. All the Haitians LOVED it. They clapped and laughed when she got back up. I swear, they love seeing us mess up or do something ridiculous. It’s like we’re entertainment.

Then we came back for lunch, which was some kind of corn mash. That’s not really what it was, but that’s kind of the idea. It was really questionable looking, but it was surprisingly good. There was also this sauce with potatoes and carrots that literally tasted like my dad’s cooking according to my sister (I didn’t have any on account of an upset stomach). Props to the cooks ‘cause my dad makes some gooood potatoes!

So, I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t know whether this next thing happened today or yesterday. Everything is kind of blurring together and I can’t keep anything straight. When you’re in a place like Haiti, teenagers find really strange ways of entertaining themselves. Thus, “What Animal Do You Look Like?” was initiated. Here’s what it comes down to:

I look like a llama.

Haley and Mike look like sloths.

Ed actually looks like Sid the Sloth from Ice Age. Minus the waddle.

Emily looks like a monkey.

The three Mac sisters look little monkeys. Like capuchins.

AshLee looks like a parrot. Probably because of the colorful eye shadow.

Evan looks like a hedgehog.

Collin looks like a turtle.

GiGi looks like panther.

Daniel for some reason got moose.

Joe looks like a chipmunk.

Seth looks like a prairie dog.

Yeah, that’s what we did for a good half hour. Likely longer.

After lunch, we went back to Source Matelas, this time breaking into smaller groups so that we could each take at least one translator and go into peoples’ houses to speak with them. Sorry for those of you who weren’t in my group… I can mostly speak for myself, although I promise to poorly share the stories I overheard.

The first house we went into, there was an adorable old woman. Well, it wasn’t really a house, it was more of a store. She sold soda and water and shoes and clothes. She was the sweetest thing ever, and it was really ironic that we went in there to evangelize to her, because she’s been a follower of Jesus for like, forty years. We actually sung happy birthday to her, stumbling over the name part – Haitian names man, impossible – because her 54^th birthday is on Thursday. She was actually very passionate, and when we went to pray for her, she actually got on her knees as we all put our hands on her. Dave prayed aloud over her as Jeffney translated. She thanked us all for coming and we were on to the next house.

The next Haitian was a very similar case. She was also an older woman, and she invited us into her house so kindly, telling us about how she also follows Jesus. This time, Susan Dare prayed for the woman, and then we were off again!

The final house we went into was the house of an elderly gentleman who was actually a tailor. He went on and on and on about his story. It was rather hilarious. He apparently came from a different country, his father kicked him out when he was 17, he came here and somehow learned how to make and fix clothes and made a name for himself. He literally made a life for himself from nothing. It was incredible. What’s even more incredible is that he has like seven kids, and some of them are in Canada and in the US!

Ok, now for other stories that I overheard. Basically some people had conversations in homes where the people promised to be at church the next day. That’s pretty cool! And another group actually went into the home of someone we all recognized from Sunday’s service. He had been singing and dancing passionately with his baby daughter in his arms. He was obviously hard to forget. But they saw him and he actually recognized a bunch of them since we had all sat around him, which was really cool. Basically, it was a cool experience for everyone. Well, cool isn’t really the right word. Nothing is ‘cool’ in Haiti.

Just like last year, today seemed to be the day people dropped like flies. People were not feeling well. I think it’s at least partially because of the insane heat. Haley, Joe, Caitlyn, Mike, Emily all stayed at ‘home’ at least once and Colleen was on a medical program all day.

Everyone kind of reconvened around dinner time which was awesome: spaghetti noodles! Loved it! After dinner, we all went up for group time. Basically all the groups that are staying on this campus got together for a little praise and worship time and different groups shared their stories from the day. One group actually reenacted their reenactment of the David and Goliath story. Apparently all the Haitian kids had loved it as the translators translated the story. Pretty amazing stuff!  

Then we got into our group of like, 34 I believe and we had our own group time. We talked about our stories from the day. Catherine told us how she was holding a little boy in one of the homes and she decided to ignore the language barrier and whispered into his ear, “God loves you.” He broke into a huge smile and she thinks he actually understood what she said. She also told us how she was missing her mother and Papitas actually lent her his iPod for the night so she could log into Facebook and get in touch with her. Ryan commented on how amazing the translators and village champions actually are for taking the first step. Sure, we get to leave in a few days, so it really doesn’t matter what they think of us, or our message, but they actually live there and will have to deal with the rewards and consequences of every encounter we have. Think about it: Would you walk around your neighborhood, knocking on the door just to talk about their life and their relationship with Jesus? Scary, isn’t it?

The teens also got some praise tonight. Ruth commended Kenzie for her prayer today at one of the houses. Apparently it was amazing, and I wish I would have been there to witness it. Melissa also pointed out Daniel about how proud she was that he decided to support a Haitian child and put them through school with his own money. Ed jumped into the conversation saying that he could barely commit to a gym membership at his age.

 

And to add to that, little Noah actually walked by Tami all day to help her walk, since her ankle is so messed up. She just held onto his shoulder. I don't think she would have made it if it wasn't for his small but very needed act of kindness.

Tami basically held a little service for us during team time as well, focusing on how we need to stop and pay attention to what God is telling us, reflect and get involved with others to hold us all accountable.

After team time, I found my soul sister. Everyone, I love Danni. She is literally the blond version of me. It’s crazy how similar we are, and I love it. It seemed like we talked forever. Random bit of info, but this is kind of my journal, and I want to be able to look back and remember! Plus I know her mom will appreciate that… Hi Kathie!

But basically everyone did what we do everyone night. We bonded, hung out, played games with each other … And best of all, we didn’t have power for like forever. I was actually terrified that we might not have it all night. I couldn’t connect to the internet, I couldn’t charge anything, there was no light and NO FANS. AGH. The terror!

Anyways. I’m done for the day guys. It was a really hot, exhausting day. Leave comments! Group members keep asking if they got new messages. Hah! Goodnight ya’ll!

Katie Coming to You from Haiti