Work Hard, Jwe Hard!

It's amazing when you realize you're apart of something so huge, and you're just at the beginning of even slightly understanding what that thing is. In the United States, it's so easy to get lost in your own little corner. If you want to be individual and keep to yourself, you have plenty of space to do so. Living and working in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, does not allow for isolation, and why would you ever want to do such a thing here?!



Oscar takes on Leogane!

 This last week I've been much more rooted in my homebase versus the constant travelling over the mountains and down the hill to other locations. It's been very key in establishing meaningful relationships, and I'm definitely feeling at "home" now. Last week we had 2 new mentors come down from the Entrust Mentoring Group in Florida. This was Oscar's first solo-trip guiding the mentors to Leogane, so I played the worriesome mother, packing him a first-aid kit complete with hand sanitizer, band-aids, flashlight, emergency contacts, mosquito-repellant, pepto-bismol, etc. Other than having to forefeit a small 'fee' to the police at the car-rental in the airport to put the license plates back on the car, and buying a new car-battery once they got to their destination because the rental place just didn't think that sort of thing was necessary, I'm confident it was a success! I'd like to paint a picture of the inefficiencies that just naturally exist here, but please keep an open mind about the insanity in it. We've actually tipped men on the street for not breaking into the car while we were dining in a nearby restaurant. We still have to tip the servers at restaurants, even though "customer service" virtually doesn't exist... A "drive thru" trip to the bank is usually a 2-hour time committment at the least.... and I'm not even sure what the need is for that other than the fact that the bank severely dislikes having to dole out it's precious cash to account holders. Intersections have no meaning other than that's where drivers duel it out to see who can get to the other side faster. This is most disturbing when there is a 2 year old riding in the backseat of the car with you... minus a carseat....or seatbelt for that matter. You begin to build a natural tolerance for chaos and tough life, and rely totally on faith in the Lord to get you through to the end of the day...when you might lay in bed listening to the mosquitos dancing across your ears at night.



Jenny & Cadence

 Yet I really do love this place even as my perception changes on a daily basis, and am still incredibly intrigued by what God has in store for me everyday. Last week I was blessed with the friendship of an American missionary who's been working with the  Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC)  for at least 8 years, her name is Jenny. I reached out to her last wednesday to see about joining in a small bible study from the church. She picked me up, along with 6 others from various NGOs, and we shared dinner and stories before we went to the study. It was at the campus of the Nazarene, actually a small house located on the compound home to a very sweet family from Tennessee, Michael, Karen, and their 7 year old daughter, Cadence. It was strange, yet so comforting to be in their company, and they were quick to welcome me as part of the extended family. In fact Karen was very pregnant at the time, and we got news today that she just gave birth to Elijah. The bible study was focused around the book of Nahum. A book so distraught with prophetic taunting of war, blood, and absolute destruction, that I was astonished to learn that "Nahum" literally translates to mean "comfort". Seeing as how it was one couple's last evening at the study before they depart for a new mission in Bolivia, we ended the night with brownies, angel food cake and ice cream.

Since the bible study, Jenny has let me tag along to the market (she is quite popular among the sweet little ladies selling their produce on the side of the street). I'm learning how to discern the difference between bananas and plantains, unfortunately there is a whole array of produce that I've never seen or heard of! Jenny even got me to join in a game of Ultimate Frisbee in the neighborhood at the Quisqueya Christian school, along with other mission workers about my age. I've been eating a healthy abundance of Haitian food (also chinese food, pizza, seafood, cake, etc.) for the last 3 weeks...so I was definitely the weakest link on my super-competitive team!



Happy Birthday Emma!

 Work is getting intense. I finished compiling my 5-page work plan, and yet the tasks keep piling on! I suppose it's a good thing that my room is smack dab in the middle of the office, but this just means that there is never an "end time" to the work day. We're getting wrapped up in planning a conference, trying to figure out how to launch a website and marketing plan for an initiative aimed at connecting huge NGOs and local businesses in order to promote commerce and wealth-creation- 100,000 Jobs for Haiti. It's been a lot of fun working with Emmanuella, Daniel's office manager/cousin. She does not speak english, so we've been finding very creative ways of communication, and it's actually easier than I thought. Last week I figured out it was her birthday, just based on the number of phone calls that made her soooo excited and happy. Today, I drew a picture of a hamburger to explain what it is I wanted for lunch. Although I'm getting verry good at reading people's body language and facial expressions, i'm relieved to start lessons with a Creole tutor on Monday, so I can start chattin it up with everyone in no time!

Alcindor

Yesterday I got the chance to meet up with Alcindor, from Wings of Hope. It was tough for Daniel to have to play the fatherly role... I think he even sent a spy to watch and make sure I was safe, even after meeting Alcindor. We went to Epidor, a restaurant I've gotten to know very well for it's McDonalds-esque atmosphere of a chain restaurant. If you've never been, it can be a rough experience, determining how to order, what to order, where to pick it up... and to my amazement, Alcindor had never been before. So this was the first step in me feeling like I was a "local" here. Loved it! It was great to catch up since I last saw him, and share stories about life. Turns out, we're not much different, even though our backgrounds are absolutely 2 different worlds. I have this weekend free because Daniel is travelling up north, so I'll be staying at Wings of Hope for a few days, catching up with the kids from my last mission trip. I'm sooooo excited I can hardly wait!  

I feel blessed for Skype, Facebook, Washington Post online, and all the other ways I've been able to keep in touch with my family at home. I can't say I'm homesick quite yet (I do kinda miss my cat- Boogie), but my heart is still in the U.S. as I pray for everyone's health and happiness!

Lara