Haiti in Review - Work Day 2

It's been a week since returning from Haiti so I'm long over due for a post describing and processing through my first international ministry opportunity. Here's day 1, Here's work day 1

The second work day started much like the first work day. Up early (thanks Floyd!), eat a great breakfast, and out the door to the job site. This morning we once again stopped by the school as James on our team had a friend give him hundred of toothbrushes and toothpaste to give away. Pastor said they could take them at the school so we stopped by and he gave them to the principle.

We were thankful to have gotten a working welder late in the day on Monday so some progress was made on putting the columns together. Tuesday started with much of the same work, but we also began laying out and cutting the steel for the trusses. Our resident construction manager, Tim Flacke naturally took leadership and began to get to work.

Tim's a leader in my community group. He and his wife Kara Dee are great people! They love people, care for them, and sacrificially give of themselves each and every day in St. Louis. Yet, I had never seen Tim "in his element." That is, until this trip. Tim naturally took leadership and became the unspoken foreman on the job site.

Each column will have four of these (whatever you call these things). We made one and used it as a template then taught the Haitian crew exactly what to do. Each member of our team was impressed by the Haitian's ability to learn quickly given the large language barrier. And, even more impressed by their extreme work ethic. Because of this, we began wondering what we were going to do with the rest of our time.

That night we stayed home from the church service. I think it might have rained, but I can't remember really since it's all a blur at this point. Since we weren't going anywhere and our team of hard working, blue collar guys hadn't had a cold beer in four days, we met our project manager at his guest house and walked up to a gas station to purchase some Haitian beer.

Walking the streets of Port-au-Prince is nearly more death defying than driving. Especially considering we don't understand where and when you are suppose to walk. You knew that if you stepped wrong or crossed at the wrong time a car wasn't going to stop for you. By God's grace we all arrived at the gas station. Mind you, there are really no laws in Haiti so after we purchased our beer the lady behind the counter simply opened them for us and we continued to sit on the gas station's step enjoying our fine brew.

After our adventure with Haitian culture, we headed back to the guest house where we sat on the front porch and heard each person's story. It's a little hard to believe, but our team really didn't know that much about each other. We had met briefly one Sunday morning and had traveled together the last few days, but we didn't know where they had grown up, how they got to St. Louis, or why they were on this trip. Taking this time was a great way to get to know each other and lay a foundation for the rest of our time together.