When we arrived I was so relieved to see that most of the yard was shaded because I had been nervous about being in the direct sun in Haiti. The man who owned the home we were painting was very happy and thankful to have us. He was a good friend of our village champion. The only bad part of this day was that we had an intern and even she spoke Creole so not much was translated in the morning which was frustrating.
In addition to painting the outside of the house and one of two rooms inside we also painted the inside of his old tent house that was in the yard so that's where Jolie and I were. After a little while the translators came in to help and we had a good time chatting with them. They both told us they wanted to visit the U.S., one of them said he wanted to go to Oklahoma which we thought was hilarious, Jolie asked him if he wanted to be a cowboy! Luckily he also said he wanted to go to North Carolina so we told him to go there instead. Elphete stayed with us longer and raved to us about English and how he wanted to know everything in English. They seem to have a high view of the U.S. which is nice but I'm not sure they're entirely informed. All the kids in the street yell "Ay you!" which is charming but we told him that in the U.S. that is considered rude and we say "excuse me." (I have to say though that it was so cute I will always remember it and now when I hear people say it I won't be bothered I'll just think of the Haitian children.) Jolie asked Elphete to sing us some Micheal Jackson, he got very serious and told us he couldn't sing that because it wasn't christian music. I know there are people that have this view in the U.S. and I think they're nuts but his sincerity was sweet, as if he didn't want to do anything to offend God.
We got a lot done before lunch so we thought we wouldn't be there long after lunch, which was not at all the case but the owner of the home was SO appreciative (his sentiments were translated) and he was thanking God for sending us, it was a great day for him.
Tuesday is worship at church, another two hours, amazing! Again, the Haitians are so honestly enthusiastic it's inspiring. In my journal: When I was preparing to come to Haiti I thought when I got home I would hate my life because I have so much and they have so little but now I'm afraid to go back because we have so much distracting us from our faith when we should be considering God in everything we do. This is what I will pray for when I get home, to not be distracted. This, in addition to my experience at Sunday service are things that I just can't explain, I wish everyone could see it and I know I was blessed to witness it. And I will tell you time and again I am determined not to lose sight of these experiences and lessons.
After church Jolie and I had a really good time sitting on the roof talking and laughing with Jolie's friend Emily that she met at MOH last year. (#whiteinhaiti and other things that I won't embarrass our families by sharing with you but they know what they did)
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| As you can see this is the view from the yard of the house we painted Tuesday which Jolie pointed out would be a very expensive view in the U.S. |
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