Oscar 11/27/13

     The night before we decided that we weren't going to the village in the afternoon on Wednesday. As I said it was just so hot in the field where we played with the kids and because our translators were playing soccer we couldn't even really talk to the kids so we decided we would just go to the village in the morning. But what a full morning it was!
     Today we had a different village champion who looked like an MLB player and I'm pretty sure he wore a sports jersey every day we were with him. He was very passionate about his village and he seemed to be the person most aware of the state the village was in. I think he really likes children based on the places he took us. First we went to meet Oscar and visit the orphanage that he owns and operates. Oscar used to run the orphanage at MOH but he felt he needed to start his own orphanage in his own village. So he and his wife sold all their furniture and started to build the home. Every time he got more money he built a little more and he never gave up, it took him over five years to build the home and he continues to add on as he gets money. This building was pretty nice with a decent size main room with two large wooden tables, two girls bedrooms with six beds each and at least two other small rooms that we didn't see inside. There was also another building in the back which I think is where the boys sleep but there wasn't much translating at that point. There were about 25 kids living there and Oscar told us he wanted to build enough to have 80 kids and to build a home for them to stay in after they're 18 until they meet a good christian spouse so they don't get into trouble in the village. He also paid for all of them to go to school which is about $4,000 USD each year. Oscar was an amazing, driven and humble man who was working for God. I was honored to have met him and the children of the orphanage.
   We were at the orphanage for a good hour and the children sang and danced for us for a long time before Joel (one of the white American students) told the children the story of David and Goliath which was translated for them by one of our translators.

The man in white and brown shirt is Elphete

     When we left the orphanage we met a young couple who asked that we pray the Lord hold them like a dove and stay in their marriage so they won't fight which I thought was very sweet, they also wanted us to pray that their one year old baby would walk soon. Next we met Elphete's best friend who had actually lived in Florida for 20 years so he didn't have much of an accent. We talked to him for several minutes before praying that he find a nice women to marry that would help him in his walk with Jesus and keep him out of trouble, again too sweet.
     As I said this was a very eventful morning, next we went to another school, this is where I was relieved to realize that not all Haitian schools are in tents and realized that most children in Haiti have school uniforms because it is a high priority for them to look presentable for school. It also seemed that this school was structured into grades just like in the U.S. which may seem obvious but I wasn't sure because the government has no standards for their development. When we first arrived the kids were out for recess, many playing soccer. Our village champion wetn to find the school director and ask if it was ok that we meet with the children. He said it was good for us to address them but asked that we not take pictures of them. He asked that we tell them to treat each other well and not ruin each others uniforms haha. So a few of us addressed the children before we prayed for them and they went back to class.
     Before heading back to the village we saw two stores, a bank and a dentist office!

What a morning! It was plenty to process without going back out in the afternoon, plus since we stayed back I had a chance to take a nap which was the best sleep I got all week!

The school

We met Elphete's friend outside this restaurant, which actually looked more like a store with tables outside
"With Jesus all is well"

The main road in Titanyen: I believe that God created this beautiful land to remind the Haitians he was always present through their hardships that he knew they would endure from "the beginning"