We finally got the internet connection back at Grace Village after being down for a few days.  So here’s an update from the team.

We made steady progress on our projects each day. The Depot team (Bruce, Dan, John, Owen & Eric) was busy building and hanging doors and windows all week along with hauling 4+ wheelbarrows of stuff and multiple sheets of 3/4″ plywood back and forth. Towards the end, we were trying to find ever last brass screw and scraps of wood to make everything. Some creative touches like door handles and a carved bathroom door were added. We finished up Saturday afternoon! We haven’t been able to hand the keys to building over Michael at Grace Village, but hope to do so this evening.

Team Sluggo (Meredith, Sarah, Lianne, Emily, Kristen, Tracy, Grant & Jeff) continued their work on the demolition of the guest house. Major highpoints were always when they broke through a section of the 2nd floor since that is what allowed the rest of the section to be demolished more easily.  The women decided a couple of days that they would work on the initial section break through and accomplished it both days to shouts and primal screams of joy.  Yesterday the women decided to use the largest sledge hammer for this task.  All of them taking turns using the 20 lb. sledge until their mission was accomplished.  One thing that each team member commented on was the joy of working alongside some of the Haitian men who joined in the demolition each day.

The last, but certainly not least, team were the women working on the Bean team (Kris & Judy) alongside the Haitian women who run the kitchen.  After lunch they were joined by some of team Sluggo women in serving the 400+ kids (and their families) who benefit from Grace Village’s feeding program each weekday.  It was heart warming to see how many kids were fed each day out of this kitchen, but heart breaking to know that this is probably the only meal many of these kids will get each day.

Saturday afternoon we were able to go to a beach about a half hour drive away.  It was nice for the team to relax and clean off in the warm salt water while trying not be stung by sea urchins or jelly fish.  I don’t think we realized how hard we’d been working until we had the time to relax until sunset.

This morning we headed into town for church at one of the 250+ churches that Bishop Joel Juene oversee.  It was a blessing to be worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ together!  Some of our team members were invited to speak to the congregation and our team turned into a choir as we sang a couple of worship songs to the church.  We also had the privilege of hearing Madam Doris Juene speak to us about Love from 1st Corinthians 13.

Some of the team are taking a well-earned nap before our debriefing later this afternoon.  We have appreciated your prayers this week despite our ability to communicate on a daily basis.  The team is healthy and tired, but all of us have worked together as a team all week and have seen the Lord working in and through us each day.  We look forward to seeing you in a day or two!