Our day started earlier than usual, at 7, we managed to get out of bed, change and have breakfast. We planned our Sunday school lesson, deciding on doing a skit of Jonah. Nic was Jonah, Micah was the big fish, Jordan was the king, Lizzy and Hannah was the bad storm, Dan was "God", Alinda was the narrator, and Cameron was the tree. We practiced singing a few songs before El Jeffe taught his sermon. We did the skit during the service, which the kids enjoyed.
After the service, we had some time to rest before getting ready to head for the Citadel. The drive there was pretty long, with tons of poverty-stricken towns and homes along the route.
When we got to the Citadel, tons of people gathered around the truck, either wanting us to buy something or to use their horse to bring up the rest of the way. After we finally managed to get onto our horses, we started up the trail there. A few of the names of the horses consisted of Nike, Taco, and Motorcycle. The trail we took felt somewhat steep, but they were able to scale it somewhat easily. When we reached the Citadel, we were greeted with tons of cannons and cannonballs. The tour guide showed us the "powder room" where they made the gunpowder for the cannons. We proceeded into the different rooms of the Citadel, some being the officers quarters, generals quarters, and the barracks. On top of the fort, we saw a huge chunk of the Island. The guide told us how it was built to protect themselves from the French, but they never returned for attack. The Citadel wasn't finished being built afterwards.
After the tour, we began heading down the mountain, which was steep and made the horses slip every so often, but they never fell. We were once again met with the people who tried selling us their stuff. Most of us didn't bring any money, so we couldn't even if we wanted to. The way back home felt somewhat quicker than the way there. As soon as we arrived back, a good portion of us passed out on our beds.
After supper, I (Nic) saw Fritz, one of the kids, bringing a couple jugs for water, so I decided to talk to him one more time before we left for home. He asked if I could carry him home; I did and seen some of the other kids who were about to watch a movie. I had to start heading back, so Fritz and I hugged one last time and I left.
During devotions, we talked about things that impacted us the most, some said the children at COTP, others talked the city, and then there was Tammy who talked about the bugs. We all seemed eager to head home, but also didn't feel like leaving any time soon.
Fin- SRYG group 2
-Nicholas, Jordan and El Jeffe
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Beach Day
Picturesque is one of the best ways to describe the beach we had the privilege to go to today. Deep, rich colors of blue spread out before you as you lay on comfortable hammocks underneath the swaying palm trees, Haitian music playing in the back ground overlapped with the comforting sound of waves breaking on the sand...just beautiful.
The ride to the beach, however, was not peaceful. I think that the best way to describe Haitian traffic and towns is an organized mess. Somehow, they make it all work. There will be people suddenly speed walking across the road right in front of a tap-tap (a Haitian transportation truck, kind of like a taxi) and motorcycles weaving in and out right in front of you and around you. A Haitian traffic jam is so much different than an American traffic jam. In America, people may not always be patient, but they will, for the most part, stay in their lane. In Haiti, the center of the road is often ignored and most drivers have zero patience and will pass you at the slightest opportunity.
Construction on some spots on the road though the mountain made the ride there extra interesting. At one spot we had to stop and back up to make room for a dump truck to tip dirt on the road almost directly in front of us. At another spot, we got into a slight problem with a motorcycle. For this incident, yet another dump truck was trying to back up, so we had to quickly stop and back up also. One of the motos coming up behind us managed to stop behind the truck with some room to spare, but the other was going too fast and crashed into the one that stopped, thus making it ram into us. The driver wasn't very happy to say the least. No one was hurt and I'm pretty sure the motorcycle worked again.
At the beach we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and warm water. The waves were perfect and many of us had fun diving and jumping under and over them. You could easily see where the sand ended and the reef began, and its a good thing we were careful to not step too near the reef! There were many, many sea urchins that would probably not be pleasant to step on.
I think most of us were missing America at lunch as, yet again, we, (all the teens) ordered a burger and fries. They were amazing. Not long after lunch, almost half the group and I, (Alinda) went snorkeling. Although nearly one of us drowned, (don't worry, he's fine) I think we all had a great time floating over the coral and seeing many cool fish. (Dory was definitely the best!) It was a humbling experience to be floating far from shore and all you can see around you are large waves and cliffs in the distance. It makes you see just how small you are, and just how amazing it is that a God who made all that, loves us.
After supper, I was went over to the Grace House to return some items a few of the kids wanted me to keep for the day, fully intending to only stay for a few mins, but I ended up staying for about 20 mins, just letting the kids "braid" my hair and listening to everything they wanted to tell me. I honestly think I enjoyed those 20 mins of just being in the middle of all those happy, beautiful kids, as much, or more, than I enjoyed the day at the beach. Every night at devotions Dan asks what we saw God in. Today I saw Him not only in the big things, like the wide expanse of open sea, but in the small things, like little kids just wanting to tell me what they did that day.
-Alinda :)
The ride to the beach, however, was not peaceful. I think that the best way to describe Haitian traffic and towns is an organized mess. Somehow, they make it all work. There will be people suddenly speed walking across the road right in front of a tap-tap (a Haitian transportation truck, kind of like a taxi) and motorcycles weaving in and out right in front of you and around you. A Haitian traffic jam is so much different than an American traffic jam. In America, people may not always be patient, but they will, for the most part, stay in their lane. In Haiti, the center of the road is often ignored and most drivers have zero patience and will pass you at the slightest opportunity.
Construction on some spots on the road though the mountain made the ride there extra interesting. At one spot we had to stop and back up to make room for a dump truck to tip dirt on the road almost directly in front of us. At another spot, we got into a slight problem with a motorcycle. For this incident, yet another dump truck was trying to back up, so we had to quickly stop and back up also. One of the motos coming up behind us managed to stop behind the truck with some room to spare, but the other was going too fast and crashed into the one that stopped, thus making it ram into us. The driver wasn't very happy to say the least. No one was hurt and I'm pretty sure the motorcycle worked again.At the beach we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and warm water. The waves were perfect and many of us had fun diving and jumping under and over them. You could easily see where the sand ended and the reef began, and its a good thing we were careful to not step too near the reef! There were many, many sea urchins that would probably not be pleasant to step on.
I think most of us were missing America at lunch as, yet again, we, (all the teens) ordered a burger and fries. They were amazing. Not long after lunch, almost half the group and I, (Alinda) went snorkeling. Although nearly one of us drowned, (don't worry, he's fine) I think we all had a great time floating over the coral and seeing many cool fish. (Dory was definitely the best!) It was a humbling experience to be floating far from shore and all you can see around you are large waves and cliffs in the distance. It makes you see just how small you are, and just how amazing it is that a God who made all that, loves us.After supper, I was went over to the Grace House to return some items a few of the kids wanted me to keep for the day, fully intending to only stay for a few mins, but I ended up staying for about 20 mins, just letting the kids "braid" my hair and listening to everything they wanted to tell me. I honestly think I enjoyed those 20 mins of just being in the middle of all those happy, beautiful kids, as much, or more, than I enjoyed the day at the beach. Every night at devotions Dan asks what we saw God in. Today I saw Him not only in the big things, like the wide expanse of open sea, but in the small things, like little kids just wanting to tell me what they did that day.
-Alinda :)
Friday, July 22, 2016
Day 5
We started the day off like normal. We had french toast and fruit for breakfast. Tammy could eat just fruit all day long, if we had enough of it. Then we just got ready for the day and for the carnival. We spent two hours this morning doing the carnival for the kids. I (Cassandra) was running the soak and wet (dunk tank) game. Some of the kids didn't want to get wet so I sat under it. It felt really good to just be wet. Some kids would yell at us that we were dirty but that really meant that we were wet. Most of us wanted to get wet from that game.
After dinner (for farm people)/lunch (for those city people) we went back to work on "our" wall. We finished scraping and painting it. While working on the wall Jordan and us girls took turns getting our hair done. The adults stayed working on the wall so that we could finish. Jordan, Hannah, Lizzy, and Nic then ran VBS while Cameron, Alinda, Micah, and I did the carnival again.
Now we are just taking showers and hanging out waiting to do tonight's devotions.
Cassandra Daugherty
After dinner (for farm people)/lunch (for those city people) we went back to work on "our" wall. We finished scraping and painting it. While working on the wall Jordan and us girls took turns getting our hair done. The adults stayed working on the wall so that we could finish. Jordan, Hannah, Lizzy, and Nic then ran VBS while Cameron, Alinda, Micah, and I did the carnival again.
Now we are just taking showers and hanging out waiting to do tonight's devotions.
Cassandra Daugherty
Thursday, July 21, 2016
May the fourth be with you
Hello!
Today's peculiar festivities started at breakfast... Spaghetti for breakfast. Although strange, we were pleasantly surprised by the taste. We ate quietly again today, for most of us- myself included- rolled out of bed just minutes before breakfast was served. We continued the morning with a good devotion focusing on God's unconditional love shown through the story of Hosea and his wife.
It was just another work day today, but our spirits were lifted as we were not only able to scrape paint off today, but we were allowed to actually put paint back on the wall! If only I could explain to you how satisfactory that was. Almost all of our group worked on scraping/painting the wall of the Life House, except for the select few that have been assigned special tasks for the week. Jordan worked on more technology today, helping fix computers around campus as needed. Jeff was in the workshop all day wrapping up a skee ball board he has been working on for a few days now. Dan gave us a goal for how far he wanted us to get painting on the wall by the end of the day, but we are happy to report we reached our goal by lunch time!
For lunch, we had my favorite Haitian meal. We had grand meatballs, fantastic fried cheesy bread wedges, and wonderful dirty rice. To top these great foods off, we had two sensational sauces. Every day we get a nice break just to sit and relax before going back to an afternoon of work.
Speaking of which, this afternoon was a rather easy afternoon of work, which was nice. Most of us really struggled with energy levels this afternoon, so it was great to just have to clean up as our work.
From three to five, we did our vbs with the kids again. It started raining, so the kids were pretty distracted during the lesson. Although distracted, I think we got our point across. After we finished our lesson, we had extra time, so we colored pictures with the kids and they seemed to enjoy that for the most part.
Straight after we brought the kids home from vbs, we headed into town, and the rain, to have supper at a restaurant. Let me just tell you, the food was delicious. About 90% of us ordered a cheeseburger and fries. It was nice to have a night off the COTP campus with lots of laughs and fellowship. (I feel the need to say Cameron ate his cheeseburger and fries in about five minutes. We were all really hungry.)
After supper we all got back in the van, with a little more energy. Hannah, Cameron, Jordan, and I (Lizzy) laughed almost the entire 20 minute drive back. If you asked us what we were laughing at, we wouldn't be able to begin to tell you; we'd probably just start laughing again.
We finished off the night with another good devotion and even more laughs. Our time here has been full of work, but also the right amount of fun. Also, we all definitely appreciated the letters from our families today. (Riley, I'm sorry. I didn't eat a mango for you...I have plenty of friends here who will though :p ) Thank you all for your continual support and prayers while we have been here! We all are thankful we are here and not in the weather you Minnesotans are experiencing...Take advantage of that AC! See you all soon,
Lizzy Gardner :)
Today's peculiar festivities started at breakfast... Spaghetti for breakfast. Although strange, we were pleasantly surprised by the taste. We ate quietly again today, for most of us- myself included- rolled out of bed just minutes before breakfast was served. We continued the morning with a good devotion focusing on God's unconditional love shown through the story of Hosea and his wife.
It was just another work day today, but our spirits were lifted as we were not only able to scrape paint off today, but we were allowed to actually put paint back on the wall! If only I could explain to you how satisfactory that was. Almost all of our group worked on scraping/painting the wall of the Life House, except for the select few that have been assigned special tasks for the week. Jordan worked on more technology today, helping fix computers around campus as needed. Jeff was in the workshop all day wrapping up a skee ball board he has been working on for a few days now. Dan gave us a goal for how far he wanted us to get painting on the wall by the end of the day, but we are happy to report we reached our goal by lunch time!
For lunch, we had my favorite Haitian meal. We had grand meatballs, fantastic fried cheesy bread wedges, and wonderful dirty rice. To top these great foods off, we had two sensational sauces. Every day we get a nice break just to sit and relax before going back to an afternoon of work.
Speaking of which, this afternoon was a rather easy afternoon of work, which was nice. Most of us really struggled with energy levels this afternoon, so it was great to just have to clean up as our work.
From three to five, we did our vbs with the kids again. It started raining, so the kids were pretty distracted during the lesson. Although distracted, I think we got our point across. After we finished our lesson, we had extra time, so we colored pictures with the kids and they seemed to enjoy that for the most part.
Straight after we brought the kids home from vbs, we headed into town, and the rain, to have supper at a restaurant. Let me just tell you, the food was delicious. About 90% of us ordered a cheeseburger and fries. It was nice to have a night off the COTP campus with lots of laughs and fellowship. (I feel the need to say Cameron ate his cheeseburger and fries in about five minutes. We were all really hungry.)
After supper we all got back in the van, with a little more energy. Hannah, Cameron, Jordan, and I (Lizzy) laughed almost the entire 20 minute drive back. If you asked us what we were laughing at, we wouldn't be able to begin to tell you; we'd probably just start laughing again.
We finished off the night with another good devotion and even more laughs. Our time here has been full of work, but also the right amount of fun. Also, we all definitely appreciated the letters from our families today. (Riley, I'm sorry. I didn't eat a mango for you...I have plenty of friends here who will though :p ) Thank you all for your continual support and prayers while we have been here! We all are thankful we are here and not in the weather you Minnesotans are experiencing...Take advantage of that AC! See you all soon,
Lizzy Gardner :)
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Day 3
Hello friends!
Today was filled with various activities, some being very monotonous, others in air conditioned offices, others rather enjoyable under the shade of a tree with some paint brushes. In any of these circumstances, we all served COTP and the Lord in some way.
The morning started off with a delicious breakfast of pancakes made by Maude, the cook for the volunteer house. Some people were up and did devotions before breakfast, others slept in until the last minute possible (cough, yours truly) and groggily ate breakfast and did devotions after. It's an enjoyable way to start your mornings.
After devotions and breakfast we started our jobs. Mom (Tammy), Lizzy, Micah, Nic, and Alinda all started off by pressure washing and scraping paint off the side of the Life House, a continuation of yesterday's job. Cassandra and Jordan were working on photocopying report cards in the offices for part of the morning, and Jordan continued to work on computer problems for the rest of the day while Cassandra switched out to scraping the wall. Dad (Jeff) worked on preparing for a bible study for the international staff and worked on building a game for the carnival this coming Friday. Dan came around and supervised everything and took pictures and worked on painting a little bit. From 3:30-5:30 we did a VBS with some kids from one of the baby houses.
Alrighty, I'm going to expand a little bit more on this because this is what I did for most of the day. Cameron and I started off the day by painting one of those boards with animals on it with the faces cut out so you can go behind and stick your face in it(see the picture below if that description made absolutely no sense :P) It was a lot of fun and we worked fairly fast and got all of it done today. I had an absolute blast working on it and the artistic side I didn't really realize I had came out. The picture below is about half way through the painting. A few more clouds were added along with some tree branches. We'll be using it for the kid's carnival on Friday.
I am thoroughly enjoying our time here in Haiti. I have a new appreciation for washing machines, for cold showers, for good paintbrushes, and air conditioning. I am loving the Haitian culture and their relaxed time schedules. Since we don't have access to social media/aren't really supposed to be on it, I have realized how much time it can really suck out of your day, and how much more you can connect with those around you when you're not worried about your Facebook friend you hardly know. It has been very refreshing.
We are excited for the rest of the week, and for me it is all together going by much too fast. Your continuous prayers would be appreciated, and I hope you are all having a lovely week back home :)
-Hannah Vanderhooft
Today was filled with various activities, some being very monotonous, others in air conditioned offices, others rather enjoyable under the shade of a tree with some paint brushes. In any of these circumstances, we all served COTP and the Lord in some way.
The morning started off with a delicious breakfast of pancakes made by Maude, the cook for the volunteer house. Some people were up and did devotions before breakfast, others slept in until the last minute possible (cough, yours truly) and groggily ate breakfast and did devotions after. It's an enjoyable way to start your mornings.
After devotions and breakfast we started our jobs. Mom (Tammy), Lizzy, Micah, Nic, and Alinda all started off by pressure washing and scraping paint off the side of the Life House, a continuation of yesterday's job. Cassandra and Jordan were working on photocopying report cards in the offices for part of the morning, and Jordan continued to work on computer problems for the rest of the day while Cassandra switched out to scraping the wall. Dad (Jeff) worked on preparing for a bible study for the international staff and worked on building a game for the carnival this coming Friday. Dan came around and supervised everything and took pictures and worked on painting a little bit. From 3:30-5:30 we did a VBS with some kids from one of the baby houses.
I am thoroughly enjoying our time here in Haiti. I have a new appreciation for washing machines, for cold showers, for good paintbrushes, and air conditioning. I am loving the Haitian culture and their relaxed time schedules. Since we don't have access to social media/aren't really supposed to be on it, I have realized how much time it can really suck out of your day, and how much more you can connect with those around you when you're not worried about your Facebook friend you hardly know. It has been very refreshing.
We are excited for the rest of the week, and for me it is all together going by much too fast. Your continuous prayers would be appreciated, and I hope you are all having a lovely week back home :)
-Hannah Vanderhooft
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Day two
Today was filled with many new things and experiences. In the morning we all had a time to do personal devotions. These devotions are nice because they are personal and have lots of meaning. Then right after we had our breakfast we grouped up to give out what was needed to be done. Today we cleaned,moved a bed, scraped the paint off the walls, painted carnival games, and had VBS with the Grace House kids.
Scraping the paint off the walls was a chore! On the Life House We had to pressure wash, then strip the walls of it's paint. To scrap the paint, we had a few people use scrapers, while others used their fingernails. It got to a point where we could pull off big strips of paint of the walls.
Painting the carnival games wasn't too hard, it just took a long time to paint two layers of paint.
VBS took place right outside of the Volunteer House on the deck. We talked with the kids from the Grace House about how God never leaves us. We made paper fans together, sang songs, watched a short clip, and spent some time hanging out with them. Then at the end, when Micah was asked to pray, a six year old boy offered to pray for us.
We were planing on moving a bed from the Adoptive House to the Promise House, but we couldn't figure out how to get it down from the roof. So later, Dan and Julian managed to get it down by hanging it off the side of the house and handing it off.
-Cameron Van Der Puy
Scraping the paint off the walls was a chore! On the Life House We had to pressure wash, then strip the walls of it's paint. To scrap the paint, we had a few people use scrapers, while others used their fingernails. It got to a point where we could pull off big strips of paint of the walls.
Painting the carnival games wasn't too hard, it just took a long time to paint two layers of paint.
VBS took place right outside of the Volunteer House on the deck. We talked with the kids from the Grace House about how God never leaves us. We made paper fans together, sang songs, watched a short clip, and spent some time hanging out with them. Then at the end, when Micah was asked to pray, a six year old boy offered to pray for us.
We were planing on moving a bed from the Adoptive House to the Promise House, but we couldn't figure out how to get it down from the roof. So later, Dan and Julian managed to get it down by hanging it off the side of the house and handing it off.
-Cameron Van Der Puy
Monday, July 18, 2016
Group 2, Day 1
The day started very early as we departed from Unity at 1 o'clock Monday morning. This caused many headaches on the car ride to the cities that were then worsened by a detour because of a car crash. Upon arrival at the airport everyone was very tired. After a long time waiting in security, caused by a couple unexpected bag checks, we boarded the plane headed to Miami, Florida. The flight seemed very long and had a good bit of turbulence that only added to the head aches caused by a lack of sleep. The second half of the flight was much smoother and we touched down in Miami. After we got to Miami we had to rush to the next flight because boarding began 30 minutes after we got off the first plane and it was a long walk between gates. Our second flight was much shorter and much smoother than the first flight, until we were very close to our destination and turbulence began. The turbulence was very short and we landed safely in Cap Haitian. In Cap Haitian airport we had trouble finding our bags and getting them checked to leave, but after a long inspection period we were allowed to leave the airport and go to the COTP campus. Upon arrival we were greeted and giving a brief explanation of what COPT strives to accomplish a tour of the campus. We have all settled into our rooms and are resting for tomorrow.
- Micah
ps. we tried to post pictures, but it won't work...
- Micah
ps. we tried to post pictures, but it won't work...
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