New Life for Haiti-Joline's January 2010 Journal

WE are fine here, Vilex called his dad in Marfranc and he said the house across the street fell down and he heard that several others in Marfranc did as well. Pastor Alfred, in Jeremie says a few houses there have also fallen down. Digicel in Port is down, so can't call there. Alfred called on Voila and he reported that it was bad there, houses have fallen down and people have died. We'll look on line and see what we can find, if you hear where the epicenter is.....let us know!

Just wanted you all to know we are fine, just kind of shaken up!

We have gotten so many wonderful, supporting and great e-mails asking lots of questions, so thought I'd take time before going to bed to write a quick update!

First thank you for all of your prayers for us and for those here in Marfranc and especially for prayers for all of those in Port.

We have received news that all of Pastor Plaisir's children in Port are fine! We have heard of several American friends in Port that are fine, the Flanagan's, the team that arrived for Borel yesterday just minutes before the quake arrived in Borel with Steve Mossburg, they are safe, Karen Hull out in the Deschapelles area is fine. However, we still haven't heard about our adopted son, Stanio, so continue to pray that he is safe. Also friends from Pierre Payen, Sterman Toussaint, and Ronald Toussaint and his wife, we have not heard news of them either. We have heard many horrible reports about Port, thank you all for sending us news as we are not getting anything from Port itself.

Our phones are still not working at all...to anywhere, not even to Jeremie, 12 miles away. So we are still cut off from everyone here. We have bought a drum of diesel fuel for our generator and truck and will get some gasoline tomorrow as well. We are going into Jeremie tomorrow to make sure our friend Dave Stockeland is okay and deliver a message from his family to him as well. Plus get some rice and sugar by the sackful, if it is available. We are not sure if boats will be coming our way at all, so we may run out of food that comes from Port. As long as the Haitian's can get rice, most will be okay here in our area. They just don't grow rice, so if it isn't available, there will be problems!

We got pictures of some of the houses here in Marfranc today. Many, many houses had walls that had fallen down since most of them are made of rock and a mud called Teef. It gets hard, but isn't very sturdy or strong for stress. There are some pictures posted on the new life for Haiti website, http://newlifeforhaiti.org . They have also set up a relief fund to help the people of Marfranc get cement to put their houses back together. If you want to contribute to that go to the website or send checks to the office: P.O. Box 33, Plainfield, Illinois 60544, make sure you put a note saying it is for Earthquake relief. We are fortunate in this area that the damage was limited to homes, but some of the homes have huge holes in the walls, or walls are missing all together. We have had rain for the last week, with wind, so these people are getting wet and are cold. Most are staying in their homes because they are afraid that people will steal what little they have or are still afraid of aftershocks and that the church will fall down if they are there. However, Pastor Plaisir says that many people slept in the church last night and will continue to do so tonight because they have no where else to go.

Thank you for remembering all of us. Please help wherever you can however you can. If you don't donate to us, here in Marfranc, please help those in Port. Port is so crowded and without a good water source or electricity and with so many wounded people, it will be a horrible situation. Please continue to pray for everyone.

We send you love and will try to keep you posted on how things are. We have a newsletter ready to go out...you will be receiving that in a day or so!

Thursday night update!

Hope you don't mind that I update you every night for awhile. We appreciate all of your prayers and your support for us here and the people in Marfranc and in Haiti.

We know that your prayers are lifting up our brothers and sister's here that still have no word of their loved ones. Our phones are still out and not working and there is no way for people to get to Port to check on their families even if they wanted to. We have no boats coming to Jeremie and we hear that the road to Cayes across the mountains is ruined in several places and no vehicles can pass. This means that families can not get to Port to find out where their families are. This is very, very hard on everyone. A few have heard of deaths in their families and loved ones in Port. I heard today that about 65% of the families in this area have children or families in Port. Many of the people who work in Jeremie (the men especially) have families (wives and kids) in Port and work here because they have found jobs.

We drove into Jeremie today to see if we could find 200 sacks of cement to start working on rebuilding the houses that have had walls collapse and that have holes in their walls. Steve was able to get an order for those sacks and it will be delivered tomorrow. We will take some of it up to Pastor Plaisir's house and he will start distributing it to people at their homes. We have to do this in a quiet, orderly manner or he will be inundated with everyone wanting cement. He has a list of those he has visited and talked to and he will find them and give out the cement. He says there are about 6 homes that he knows of that have a desperate need for the cement. They have multiply walls inside and outside of their houses...that have nothing there at all. Some people will receive just a couple of sacks because they have cracks or partial walls out and do not need that much. But many will need several sacks or more to complete their walls. We will take pictures so that you can see what is going on. They will probably be posted on our NLH website. Later I can do a newsletter with more pictures and information.

When we were in Jeremie, everyone said that the boats that bring "everything" to Jeremie would not be coming. They normally come twice a week, totally loaded with people and provisions. We were told to buy things while we could, because no one knows when things will come in again. I bought 3 sacks of rice, 1 for us and 2 for the women's feeding program that we run. Also bought oil, spaghetti and some sugar for us. We were also told to remember that propane comes on the boat, so to stock up. We only have 4 small tanks and those won't last us more than probably 3 weeks. And 2 of them are currently being used and are partly empty. SO....if we can't get any more propane....we may not have a stove or refrigerator for very long. We can cook on charcoal outside, but no oven....and if we don't have a refrigerator...well! ha! Life will be interesting. With the road to Cayes not passable, we may not get any gasoline or diesel fuel....Steve bought 60 gal. of diesel, but we don't think there is any gasoline....so we can run the big generator at least part of the day and at night...until we run out. Candles??????

We will keep you all posted as to what happens here.

Our other concern is that we have tickets on AA for Monday the 25th. We have heard that the airport may be open on Sat....or maybe on Thursday? But who knows. We will just have to wait and see if AA flies by the 25th....and/or if Tortug air flies to get us to Port to catch the AA flight!!!! Again, will keep you posted on how things go.

We appreciate your prayers, and your support. If you go to the NLH website you will see where you can donate to help us buy sacks of cement to rebuild the houses here in Marfranc. We know that there is a huge need everywhere.....we appreciate your help no matter how you do it. Port is horrible, I am kind of glad I can't see it all on TV...I can imagine it well enough without the graphic pictures.

I need to tell you a story before I close.

This happened to me this morning and made me cry. I always go to the same guy at Brunel's (where we cash money). He knows what percentage we get and he is really nice and we joke a lot. He is about 35 or so....a really nice guy. Today, he wasn't at his desk...so I asked the next guy where I was supposed to go...he motioned me to another window down the room. Brunel wasn't in his office and if my friend isn't there, often no one will cash my check, I was sure I wasn't going to get any money exchanged today. Then I looked up and my friend walked in the door...looked at me and motioned to come his way. He went to his desk and took my checks. Seemed quiet, but he is pretty quiet. I asked him if his house had any problems, thinking Jeremie and no one had problems in Jeremie. He said...yes, it was totally destroyed. I said, what? Here in Jeremie? He said, no Port. I was astounded, I said totally destroyed? He said YES.. I said, oh no...your family? And he shook his head. Tears came to my eyes and I said, who? your wife? He nodded yes, and said, she is dead. I asked how many children, he said 3. I couldn't talk, or even ask him how old they were. They were all gone. I took his hand and said, I'm so sorry! He looked down, did my money, counted it out, saw that I was trying hard not to blubber in front of him. Said again, I was so sorry and left. As we were getting ready to drive away, he walked out of the office back down the street. I now know, that he saw and heard our truck, left where he was outside, came in and helped me...even through his suffering and pain....and then left after I was gone. Amazing!

So am I worried about not having rice? No, I'm blessed that I have my family and my health and those that I love and that I do not have family in Port.

Please pray for people that we know that we still haven't heard from...Stanio, our adopted son of 14 years and Toussaint family, a doctor and his brother and their families.

We love you all very much,

Just wanted to take the time to let everyone know that not much has changed here. We didn't get our cement today. Our phones were actually working locally for about 15 minutes and Steve was able to call and find out when the cement would be delivered, tomorrow they said. Steve spent time talking to Pastor Plaisir (our local Pastor) and they worked on how to distribute the cement. Seems there are a few more houses with many walls missing. Many have internal walls missing as well and that makes the whole structure unstable. There are still about 20 people sleeping in our church because they are afraid their houses will fall down. There are 2 other churches in town that also have about 20 people in each of their sanctuaries, sleeping. Vilex took more pictures of houses today, so that we could help assess the damage. We are now thinking that on some of the houses with more damage, we may be able to help with part of the cost to have a Bos Mason come and help them work on it. We will see what we can do. The rain has stopped, which is a blessing at least the people are not getting wet.

We have not heard any good news about supplies or boats coming from Port. A boat left early this morning from Jeremie and we have heard that it is coming back, however, it will only have people on it, no supplies or provisions. It seems that Jeremie area supplies much of the food for the Port area and much of the needed charcoal to cook with and water. I was surprised about the water, but apparently, they send water from Jeremie, good water to drink to Port. So the government (or aide agencies) have asked that the Jeremie boats bring back food, charcoal and water for Port people and in return, they have supplied fuel for the boats for free. So, the boat owners are giving free rides to people from Port to Jeremie. With all of the people arriving and fleeing Port, I'm really praying that they will also come with rice and things that we need to feed all of us here and the new arrivals.

We have heard that our road to Cayes is not passable....and so we are not sure how we will be able to get fuel or US food items. We are going to start rationing our gasoline and diesel fuel tomorrow for our house. I just wanted all of you to know that we will only be putting on our electricity for about 1 hour in the AM and another hour in the afternoon, then at night, in hopes that the fuel we have will last a lot longer. We may eventually go to just evening power (6 to 10 pm). I have a request, if you write back, please delete this message or extra messages below what you write. We have a limit on what we can send and receive and I don't need my own message back, so please write, we love getting your messages of hope and prayers, but please delete everything below it so that your message is shorter (byte wise) thanks!

Steve is having Vilex check tomorrow in Jeremie for propane. We have 2 large (100 lb) tanks that are empty and if we can get them filled, we can hold out longer with the refrigerator and stove. Pray that there are 2 tanks in town that we can trade so that we have propane. We are buying some kerosene for our lamps just in case! Steve was able to get 20 gallons of gasoline today, but that may be it for awhile. When and if we get more fuel, it will probably be an outrageous price. If anyone wants to donate to our personal support or wants to earmark money for Emergency fuel for our house, it would be appreciated and can be sent to New Life for Haiti. I'm sure all of the food, fuel and supplies that we will be getting from now on will be at least double if not tripled in price.

The hardest part right now is not being discouraged when I think of the fact that we probably won't be coming home in the next week or two. Port is so unstable and getting more violent by the day. The roads are not passable and it doesn’t look like the airport will open soon. Even if domestic flights were started up, we aren't sure if our small plane would be flying to get us to Port and IF we got to Port, we aren't sure it would even be safe to get to a guesthouse and back to the airport itself. Port may not be safe for awhile, so it is likely that we will have to cancel this trip and come home later, when it is more safe! We aren't sure if our teams will be able to come in March, so much is contingent on how Port does.

We still have not heard anything about our Haitian friends or son....please continue to pray. As time goes and and we hear nothing, we are concerned that they may be lost. Our gardener has a brother and family in Port. Lunch was somber at our house today. Our house help eats with us on Mon.-Wed.-Fri. Usually our table is pretty lively! Today it was not. Dis (our gardener) has not heard from his brother or family. Dis says they live on one of the many, many hills in Port....above a ravine. He is sure that they are dead and that their house is in the ravine.....but he still hopes because he has not heard anything! Mme. Asson (our cook) has several of her husband's brothers in Port as well as a sister...they have heard nothing. She says her mother-in-law can't eat....and only sits and cries! With so many stories like this....my cancelled trip home seems silly! Today at lunch we prayed for all of their families and our friends and then we thanked God for all he has given us....food on the table, homes to sleep in and good health. We have to remember to be thankful at a time when there is so much sorrow.

Thank you for your love, your support for those people we love. We could not be here and do this without you.....thank you for helping the Haitian people....no matter how you do it or who you do it with!

God bless you all......I'll keep you informed!

Had some great news from different places today, news that lifts our hearts during a sad time.

We went to visit Pastor Plasir this afternoon and was greeted by his wife with a big smile on her face. One of their daughters, Junia and her husband and 6 mo. old little boy had arrived from Port, safe and sound. They came by bus today...a very long journey over 14 hours. As I was holding the little guy (pictures later) I asked how they came by bus, if the road was demolished from Cayes to Jeremie. They said it wasn't. That there was only 1 place that the bus had any problems and that was before Cayes. Everyone had to get out of the bus, the bus slowly went over and around the bad part, then everyone climbed back in the bus and they were on their way. This was good news because that means, IF it is possible to get fuel or any food items to Jeremie....then it can happen. If the merchants can find any food...or if any food and provisions are made available, then they can travel over land to us.

Many, many people are fleeing Port. Junia and her family are just a small example. I asked Mme. Pastor if all of her children were going to come home. She smiled and said, "maybe"! They have no food in Port, so if they can make their way to Marfranc, I'm sure they will. Pastor has 11 children, 5 of which live here right now....so they may have a huge houseful at some point. Again, this brings up the question of how will everyone eat....when stock provisions are going to run out? What we have to remember is this.....there was a time, not too long ago, when stock provisions weren't even available...and they survived. There are other foods to eat beside rice, and we can probably get along without sugar! Everyone is so happy to be alive, that I'm sure they will eat anything available. This area is all farming, the grow beans of all types, yams (like potatoes) of all kinds, corn for corn meal and a multitude of vegetables and have fruit trees. So, as long as the farmers keep growing, everyone will eat. I am hoping that there will be some shipments of rice made available to everyone! We'll see.

Heard from our friends, Wilkins in Christianville. Their daughter reports that they received supplies today from the US Coast Guard that landed in their soccer field, they will bring more supplies to them tomorrow and air-vac out the visitors that have been staying with them and helping out. Good news. Also, a team of engineers came and lifted off the roof of their pharmacy that they couldn’t get in to and they were able to extract all of their medicine and supplies, so they have more to work with..>God is good, a great blessing!

So that was more good news. They are also hoping to get more supplies and medicine from their other daughter, who is a doctor in Kansas, sometime on Monday! Please pray that they will arrive safely with everything that is needed.

Also, got great news of helicopters that were able to take the wounded from Port to the town of Milot, which is in Northern Haiti, near Cap Haitian, where they are being seen in a hospital there and treated. God has provided so many organizations to work together to help those in Port that are wounded and hurt. Thank you to all services that are trying to make a dent in the chaos in Port. The American people are amazing and the response to the need in Haiti is overwhelming!

Thank you to everyone who has donated to help us buy cement for the people in Marfranc. We finally got our 200 bags of cement today and spent part of the day talking with Pastor Plaisir about how to distribute the cement. He has a list of 29 houses (so far) that are in need of help. Fourteen of those houses are severely damaged and we will be giving them more cement than others. He has visited and will visit the damaged houses to help us determine how much cement they will be given. The 14 that are the worst will also be given a small amount of money to help them pay someone to rebuild the worst of the walls. Of the 29 houses, 20 are members of the Baptist church that we attend. The other are neighbors and people that others know that are in need. We anticipate that the list will grow as people find out we have cement to help them with their houses. Steve will start taking cement to Pastor's house on Monday morning so that he can begin to give out the cement. We will also go back to Jeremie on Monday to see if we can get a little bit more cement, we aren't sure there will be any, but we want to try. I think we will look for rice and other things while we are there. Vilex tried to get propane for us today....none left in Jeremie...so what we have, is all there will be! Guess I won't be baking cookies for awhile, takes up too much propane! hmmmmm....choices! So, when the propane is out....no more refrigerator, no more stove and oven! Charcoal, haven't tried boiling water for coffee over charcoal yet, could be interesting! I think it's the no more refrigerator that is bothering me the most! We do have an electric refrigerator, but it takes a lot of power to keep it going and we don't have a lot of fuel....so that doesn't work. We have a small freezer that doesn't take as much electricity, so we might try keeping it cool enough with the power we run to charge the batteries and at night and see if it stays cool enough to act like a refrigerator instead of a freezer. Guess it's worth a try, better than nothing I'm hoping! Life is going to get very interesting!

Tomorrow at church I am going to invite the congregation to work together to help people get their houses done. Barn raising...or the concept of helping your neighbor is not done here. I hope to be able to get some of that started. Steve hopes I’m not too disappointed, ha! But I have to try! I pray that God will move them to help each other...to help their neighbor rebuild their house, or their brother and sister in Christ! I know that God will touch some of their hearts and open them up to a new idea to help each other. Pray that God gives me the right words to say! We'll see! I am ever hopeful!

There are still a very large number, around 15-20 people sleeping in the church at night as their houses are to crumbled to sleep in. Please pray for these people that we can help them move back home soon.

On the home front.....Vilex was able to find 20 more gallons of gasoline today. We will let our friend, Pastor Dave buy some of that from us, so that he has some to use as well. Vilex knows what we need and is great at helping us find things. He was able to find a dozen eggs today! yeah, and also got some potatoes and tomatoes before they were all gone. Oh, very important, got 5 rolls of TP..do not laugh. After he bought those 5, someone else behind him had 2 rolls and they made them put 1 back and said people were only allowed to get 1....he walked out quickly before someone realized he had 5! Those are things we have to think about....I'm just starting to realize what we might NOT have!

Okay, too long for tonight....we pray you have a blessed Sunday. We know you will hold us and everyone in Haiti up in your prayers tomorrow, just as you have been for the last 4 days!

We love you all and thank you so much for your donations, love and support!

So many things swirling around in my head and so many of your e-mails are wonderful and your comments on Facebook. Thank you everyone for your love and your outpouring of support for the people here and for us!

Today was awesome at church, not sure I can even explain it. There were so many people there with heavy hearts, but most of the service consisted of singing and praying, much more than usual. Some of you have been to church in Haiti and you know it is always long...well, long by US standards. Today was extra long because of all the praying and singing, but it was great. We were there for 2 1/2 hours...not so bad! Many people still haven't heard from their loved ones and some are assuming that they are dead.

On a happy note....we found Stanio. OR rather, he found us. He called this morning at 6:30 AM!!!!! I was so shocked and it was wonderful to hear his voice. He had managed to get from Port to his home in Deschapelles, about 3 hours North of Port. He said he was not hurt, but that things were horrible in Port. Part of his university had fallen down and he knows of at least 2 students (Friends) that died during the quake. He was in his last semester of school to get his degree in accounting so that he could go out and get a job. I can only imagine how devastated he is to have been so close.....and not get it before this tragedy!!!! However, he is alive and not hurt and we are so thankful for that.

We also heard news through others that the Toussaint family is okay. Sterman is a surgeon and working to help people. He is trying to get his wife out...to the states, she is pregnant and having contractions...early. She had a miscarriage last year and he is very worried about her. Pray that he gets her medical attention and can get her on a plane to the US quickly. Ronald and his family are fine! We are so thankful to hear that they are okay! Thank you for all of your prayers, I know that God held them all up! They are all wonderful Christian young people.....and have a huge faith in our God! We have been praising God all day for their safety!

Others have not been so lucky, there was a lot of crying in church today and we had a lot of people there. People are starting to arrive from Port. Pastor's daughter Junia, with her son and husband....along with several others that were in church. Vilex said this evening that several cars stopped in Marfranc to ask directions to different places further down the road, people from Port that have never been out here before, but have relatives here in this area. So we are just starting to get the influx of people fleeing Port!

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Some of the men from church are coming to the house at 7:30 AM to help Steve load up some cement to take to the church. Pastor Plaisir asked the congregation today to help their neighbors. Those that are able to carry rock, or carry sand were asked to do so, for others. They are meeting at the church in the morning and taking buckets down to the river and getting sand and bringing it back to the church yard, so that people who need it to rebuild their homes will have it to use. He asked that we all come together as a community to help each other. He said, "we may not have money, but we have our hands, to help each other." I am praying that everyone will rise to the occasion and help. He said we were helping with cement, but everyone needed to help build each others homes. We'll see how it works. The Haitian people in this community are so resilient! They have lost loved ones, their houses are falling down, they don't have enough to eat...but they love God and the singing and praising in church this morning was awesome. Pastor Plaisir said it was a "yon bel servis" A beautiful service! I stood up in church and told them they had a huge community of people praying for them all over the US.....and they do! They all said Amen! I know they appreciate your prayers as we do! Thank you for loving all of us.

Then we will be going back to Jeremie to see what else we can buy. I will try to cash some US checks to exchange into Haitian money so that we can buy things as we need to and also more cement if it is available. Steve will buy another batch of cement....IF we can find it and IF we can cash a check. We will also get more rice and other items if we can. I realized that I have about 9 rolls of TP...which seems like a lot...then I realized I had no idea when TP would be coming here again...and 9 rolls all the sudden didn't seem like too many. I'm looking for more tomorrow.

I wrote this to a friend today.....

We are okay, our biggest challenge will be if more fuel doesn't come this way and we start running out of gasoline and diesel. Steve assures me if we start to use generators only at night...for like 4 hours, we can go at least a month...maybe a little longer, so we may start rationing soon....so that we have enough. We laughed tonight, I told him, okay, I THINK....I can go without a refrigerator....I THINK I can even do without a stove and cook on charcoal......I MIGHT be able to go all day without any electricity and only have it for 4 hours at night....I'M PRETTY SURE, I can eat different things...and use our canned goods....But, I don't think I can go without talking to my family and friends on the internet...I have to have some connection with them each day....or we have to figure out a way to go home! ha! Guess I do have my limits! huh? .....it made him smile and he said he was glad to know where my end point was! ha!

We were kind of joking, but not really. Steve was serious. If we only use the generators for 4 hours at night, we can probably go a month with what we have...that is if we don’t have to put anything into the truck to go very many places and IF we go back to getting our water at the spring instead of pumping it out of the well here. The well in the pump here takes about 4 hours to fill the tanks....about 1 gal or more of fuel. If we go back to filling up the 350 gallon tank at the spring...and then pump it up to the house roof with the tiny little pump...it only takes 1/4 of a gal. SO hey, it takes more time, but we may go back to getting our water at the spring. If we can conserve enough gasoline....we'll have more electricity at the house.

No news on airports or commercial planes. If any of you hear that American Airlines is flying into Port let us know. We aren't very hopeful, but I'll be glad when we know one way or the other so we can have a plan. I hate indecision!

Heard today that they do have evacuation flights for people who need to leave the country. It goes through some of the islands and Nassau....guess it is free to Nassau, then you have to pay to get to the US!!! What a deal! It's never free I guess. The American's I know that are here in country aren't going anywhere, which is good!

I'll let you know more tomorrow after we start distributing the cement....and go to town to see what else there is to buy!

I'm really tired tonight, think all of this emotional roller coaster has caught up with me!

Our day started out hectic like most of our days here do.....things we think are going to happen don't...kind of makes your schedule go nuts.

Pastor Plaisir was supposed to send some men to load cement to take to the church at 7:30 AM, he knew we were going to Jeremie early, so we wanted to do the cement run early. At 8:15, no guys....so we decided to head to Jeremie and then do the cement later!

Our trip to Jeremie was kind of successful, no, really successful. We were able to exchange money, we got some extra US for ourselves, just in case...US money talks when other money doesn't, so we wanted to make sure we had some of that as well. We weren't sure we would be able to cash the amounts we wanted, we were asking for a bunch since we don't know when we can get more again and with the Earthquake relief money needed...had to get that as well. We were blessed with being able to get what we asked for! Will pray that we can continue to cash a check next week for more money for building houses. Your response to the people here is amazing and we are soooo blessed by you! Thank you for loving the people that we love...you are awesome!

Jeremie was interesting, to say the least. The places we get our big bags of flour, sugar and rice...were almost empty. The place I normally buy myself, was empty...nothing, so I went next door. They originally told me, nope...no rice left, then I saw several sacks sitting there. The husband said.....how many do you want, I said, just 1!!!! He said to his wife....sell her 1 and they did. Normally rice is $200 Haitian a sack (or about $25 US) for a 50 lb. sack......but today it was $230 H...so about $30+US....so a little higher...but that was all they had, so they wouldn't sell me more. I have 2 bags of rice now. Then I went into the outdoor market and bought whatever I could. You'll all be happy to know that I now have probably about 17 rolls of TP! ! YES! If we are careful.....it will last! ha! Thanks for all the offers of shipping TP to us....don't think we'd even get any of it, but the offer is great. You could all decide to use less TP for week in memory of us...but that is really stretching it, right? Seriously, I was able to buy more of everything we will need, I hope!

Our biggest adventure was for propane. We needed to return a tank that has a top we can't use...but he wasn't there. Last night our refrigerator ran out of propane, so Steve went to a new one on...and discovered, that with this one empty...we now had 2 empty out of 4....we forgot we couldn’t find any on Monday (before the quake) and now we were down to 1 full one (that he put on the refrigerator) and whatever was left in the one of the stove (probably 1/2 empty). I was not a happy camper...no tears (you should be proud of me), but definitely not happy! So we took the 2 empty tanks into Jeremie praying that we could find 2 full tanks. We found a place that said they had 2 with different tops that Steve could adapt, but couldn't find the owner of the store and the guy wouldn’t sell them until he arrived, so we went shopping for other things and returned. On returning.....found out that the price had gone up $30 H...(or about $4 US) and if that wasn't bad enough...Steve had to buy the entire tank...and the propane in it!!! They wouldn’t' trade our old tank for these new ones....great....so now each tank was costing us......$40 US instead of $20 US!!! Grrr...anyway, the good news is that we have 2 full tanks...so we are good for the refrigerator for another 10 days!!! YES!!!!!! So fantastic. See how easy it is to make me happy!

All in all, it was a good shopping day...this took us all morning, we returned to a great Haitian lunch, prepared by Mme. Asson! Yum.

This afternoon, Vilex arrived and we had him go ask his dad IF anyone was coming to load cement today!!! He came back and said, probably tomorrow. However, at 4:00 (yes, those that know us, know this is coffee/cookie time!) they arrived to load the cement! So 25 bags were taken up to the church this afternoon and I'm sure tomorrow more will be hauled up there. Bouki went along for the ride...supervising the loading and unloading of cement! He loves to go in the truck or anywhere with Steve! Pastor was happy to get it, pictures should be on the NLH website with this entry! (right Brian???) Can't wait for the work to be started and the houses to be repaired! Your donations are making this possible...thank you!

I'm looking forward to seeing people pick up cement tomorrow and take it and sand to their houses to start working! We'll be taking more pictures as we go along, so you can keep updated with what we are doing. News from Port is still not very good, although we hear that Dr's are arriving to help people. Dr. Belding from SC. has arrived at Bonne Fin (where we worked for 3 plus years) with a team of orthopedic surgeons, to do work there...Keep them in your prayers as there are many, many wounded! We praise God for bringing people to help! Your prayers are wonderful and so powerful. Thank you for all that you are doing for us, and for the Haitian people here where we work as well as in Port! We thank you sooo much for everything.

Will write more tomorrow!

WOW, you guys are so amazing.....not only are you awesome prayer warriors, but you are amazing at sending support and money and encouragement to all of us! There are no words, there truly aren't. We decided today that we will not try to come back to the states at this time. This was not an easy decision. Gotta love my Steve.....he said that if I needed to go home, if I felt like that was where I needed to be....he would find a way to get me to Port and get me home! We heard that American Airlines was "maybe" flying on Monday and as I said last night, we would have to have Tortug Air (our small plane) be flying from Jeremie to Port to be able to go...they would have to fly on Sunday Morning....then we would have to see if we could find a guesthouse that hadn't fallen down in the Quake...that still had transportation and gasoline to pick us up at the airport and take us back the next day.....then, we would have to fight our way into the airport in Port along with everyone else that wanted to leave on the first flight out of the country on AA and get our luggage on and make it through the airport. Frankly, it scares me to death!

Since we don't have to be home....I can't see why I would want to put ourselves into a dangerous situation and possible be stuck in Port in the middle of the chaos and violence. I told Steve thanks, but no thanks. I'll stay here in Marfranc, where it is still pretty normal, wonderfully quiet and we are surrounded by friends! Okay, so we probably can't go anywhere except by foot soon....we may not have a refrigeration in about 2 weeks, or a stove in about a month....or if we don't get any fuel at all...power in our house, now that might be a little too much! But, it sure beats going anywhere near Port. We feel better after this decision....it's nice to have made it and know what we are doing.

We told Pastor Plaisir today that we were going to stay and not go to the states. He smiled and said.....THANK YOU! Thank you for staying here with us and helping us when we need you. And you know what? That is the best reason to stay. He said he needs us here to help with the cement and things that all of you are donating too. He needs us here to be with the people that we love....to implement what you are donating too. What a great blessing he is to us.

Today, we hauled more cement up to the church. We were kind of discouraged this morning because Pastor had not given out any cement yet....and we were taking more up...so, we decided to really sit and talk to him about it. It's funny how even after 14 years, we are still soooo American. You see....they can't all live in their homes, but they are staying at Pastor's house, or in the church or at neighbors houses.....and they just aren't quite ready for the cement yet! ha! He said that we need to have a system...and the system is that we get the sand to everyone first....so the church community and actually the community that we are helping is getting the sand to the houses. They actually have days for each house to get sand....and they are helping each other do it. Today when we brought the cement, one of the church men came to get it and then unloaded it and the guy that fixes tires across from Pastor, came to unload it as well...because we are helping him with his house. It's the first I have seen of anything like this and I was so impressed. We now have 35 houses on our list and I'm sure there will be more. We started with church people, but very quickly the list grew to others that are in great need. They will be receiving cement and also a small gift of money to help them get a Boss Mason, to help them do the walls. Some of the people have small jobs, selling things in the market, or fixing tires, etc....but many of these people on the list are on our feeding program. They are widows and others that have no family members to help them with anything. These people will be getting additional help from us as well.

I also walked around the town a little bit and took pictures at several houses, there are many, many homes that have walls broken out!!! It amazed me to see it all! Took pictures, I think maybe Brian will be putting some on the website with these entries, not sure.

So we learned today, to be patient! ha! That there is a plan and that after the people get their sand, then they will start getting their cement, then when Pastor visits their houses and sees that they are going to start working will help them with payment for the masons. As American's we want the quick fix....we want to get it done...hurry and make it better. However here they take their time.....and it will get done. I heard a lot of thanks today.....thanks for helping with the cement, thank you for prayers, thank you for what others are doing in Port to help their families. Everyone wants you all to know how much the appreciate your help, love and support at this time. Guess we just need to learn to be more patient and they will get it done!

On the home front, we decided to start just running the generator for 4 hours until we hear that there will be more fuel! So, I will only be answering e-mails at night, just wanted you all to know! Also, Dis (our yard guy) was washing the truck and he hit the valve stem on a tire....and it went way flat. Steve had another valve stem...but not the stuff to put it in, so they changed to the spare we had and hopefully Monday we will go into Jeremie again and he can get it fixed. Hate driving on our spares......they are really, "spare". We hope on Monday that we can still get some more supplies...if I can find any rice at all, I'll buy some and get it to Pastor, he says that people are starting to ask him for food, they are hungry! So will see what I can find.

Again thank you to everyone for all of your e-mails of encouragement and good news for support! We appreciate it sooo much!

We send you all love and prayers of thanks!

Will keep you posted as to how things go....and when we will be home next, probably May/June! Please feel free to keep passing these on....we are happy to share our news.

PS: Several have asked about Bouki! He is great....10 months old...and a huge puppy!!!! He'll run out of dogfood in about 2 months, we were going to bring some back with us, but......however, he loves beans and rice, so he'll be fine!

Today started out with a shake! I'm sure you have all heard about the aftershock we had this morning that was 6.1. Our question is this? How large does an aftershock have to be, before it is considered it's own earthquake? I think this may be an earthquake because it's epicenter was in a different place, if I understand it right. It was about 5:00 AM here...and I didn't feel a thing, I slept all the way through it! None the wiser. Steve says that he woke up about that time...not sure why, didn't hear anything and went back to sleep. When Dis arrived this morning, he asked what we thought of the earthquake this morning. We said, what earthquake? He said that when it rumbled....everyone ran out of their houses into their yards, they were afraid their houses would fall down this time. But they didn't. We didn't hear of any additional damage in Marfranc! Praise God. It really scared all of the Haitian people though. I have a feeling we aren't done with these yet! It seems pretty unstable! Vilex said that he felt it, but was so sleepy he couldn't get his body to get out of bed! ha! He said everyone was outside of his door on the porch and in the yard making a lot of noise, and there was yelling everywhere because people were afraid, that is what woke him up! He must sleep really hard like me!

We are just thankful that no one else had damage to their houses.

We had a couple more people added to the list today, which is good. I'm sure that we will have more as the week progresses. Many, many houses were damaged and so we will continue to search out the people that need help. Vilex and I got the envelopes ready for the help with the Bos mason's.....so that is all ready to go. Steve has been trying to call Jeremie to the person we buy cement from, but can't get the phones to work yet. Vilex will go into Jeremie tomorrow on the motorcycle and order the cement to be brought out. We are just praying that there is more cement available. With no supplies coming from Port, it will run out at some point, so we want to buy more so that we have it on hand.

One family came late this afternoon, here to the house to get cement. There are 3 families that live right near our house and past it towards Jeremie. It is easier for them to get the cement from us than by going into Marfranc to get it and cart it all the way back here again. So, one of the families came and borrowed our wheelbarrow and got their cement. They were very, very grateful for it. They just want everyone to know how thankful they are for the help and gift of cement. Cement is very expensive for them, so it is a huge gift! Vilex had my camera at his house in Marfranc, so I couldn’t get a picture, I'll have more chances, and will try to do that tomorrow! Sorry, I know you all like to see what is going on, I'll do better, ha!

Three days a week, our house help eats lunch together with us. We always say a lot of prayers before we eat, but since the earthquake, we seem to be praying more. We are so grateful for the food that is on our table, and for our families safety and that we have a roof over our heads. They seem to be very, very aware of the tragedy in Port and the fact that so many people are homeless, and without food, water and medical attention. Their prayers are cries for help for those that are hurting and homeless. Thank you for praying for them also! Everyone at our church here knows that you are holding them and all of the people of Haiti up in prayer! Thank you.

It was interesting today talking to Vilex. He has such a different idea of supply and demand! He says that there is food out here in the country, but that the merchants are keeping it until the price goes up and they can sell it for more! He says that there will always be rice and flour etc....for those that can pay for it. He laughs and says...we (Steve and I) can always find rice, because we can pay for it. Most people, especially those out in the countryside, farmers and those without cash, will not be able to afford it, it will be way, way too expensive for them. So then I asked him, what they would do. He smiled and said, there is always food! Always, but you'd just get tired of eating the same thing day in and day out...day after day. He says there is always beans, yams and plantains! So people will not starve! I asked him what we would do when we couldn’t get any more money because they wouldn't cash any for us....how would we eat. He smiled and said..."don’t worry, everyone will feed you!" This is why we stay!

We want you to know that things are moving....sand is being delivered by buckets to houses, cement is being carried to houses and walls will be going up soon. Hopefully tomorrow, after Vilex goes to Jeremie, he will be able to get some pictures. I may walk to Pastor's house and see what I can get pictures of!

We love you lots! Keep praying, it is soooo powerful! Thank you for your support, it is so awesome!

I wonder where today went....some days are like that, they just fly by and at the end, I wonder what I did all day!

We started our day out pretty slow...I decided to take a walk, up our hill, and visit Erlande, who is the little girl that lost her mother when she was 1 mo. old and has been living with her adopted mother, someone from our church here. Erlande is now almost 10 mo. old and has been getting help for food and clothes and fun things from a couple in Illinois that fell in love with her. I'm her Godmother and I love to visit and I needed a walk, so decided to go and sit and visit awhile. Steve was asked to go and pick up some beans in large sacks that we will be loaning out for our bean program in the next week or so....so he gave me a ride (so much for the walk, huh?), which I couldn't resist!

Had a great visit with Erlande and her mom- Darline. Started to walk on the road into Marfranc, decided I'd go and visit Pastor Plaisir and sit on their porch awhile. It's like 1/2 mile, no big deal! About 1/2 way there, Steve came by with guys an a truckload of cement...to take to the church...so I took another ride. Okay, so I didn't do much walking today okay, but I had great intentions!

We went to the church, dropped off this load of cement and Pastor had just finished giving out the first 50 sacks of cement! Vilex had my camera and wasn't with me, so I didn't get any photos. I know, that is what everyone wants to see, but I didn't. I'll try harder tomorrow. Pastor decided he needed more than the 30 new sacks that Steve brought, so he went back to get another 40 sacks....for a total of 70 today...and 120 total so far. The list that Pastor has for help is growing and more people are coming to talk to him about getting help. As long as he gets a chance to see the houses and we can continue to find cement, we will do what we can for as many as we can. Your help with sending checks into NLH for the cement relief is awesome. We are doing all we an to get as much help to as many people as we can.

Vilex was able to go into Jeremie today with his motorcycle and took money in to buy 100 more sacks of cement. Our supplier had that many, so it will be delivered in the next day or so! So we will have more to give out! THANK YOU! However, Vilex was also trying to get more large sacks of rice and also Ble...which is a wheat grain that is cooked! He said there was none in Jeremie that he could find. We also heard from another missionary in Jeremie, he hadn't found any either. Fortunately, we had bought 2 sacks for our house and also 2 sacks for our elderly feeding program before the rush to buy hit...however, we used 1 sack already for the feeding program and we normally use 2 sacks a month...so only have enough for 1 time next month. We also have a sack of corn meal, which we can use instead, but looks like we will have to get creative as to what to give them next. Vilex was also able to get some tomato paste which we give away, but only enough for 1 month....so look like after the middle of February, unless we can find a supply of rice or other staples, our feeding program will have to get very creative. Vilex was able to get some fresh produce for us..tomatoes, eggplant, onions, carrots, which our cook was not able to get here in Marfranc. These items all come from Port and so we think these may be the last of those veggies that we see. Just glad to have them for now!

Vilex also reported that a boat came into the harbor while he was there and hundreds of people met it looking for their loved ones from Port. I have a feeling we will be getting thousands that are arriving from Port! Could get really crazy here, hope it doesn't trickle out this far into the country!

Still no sign of gasoline or diesel fuel...so we will go into Jeremie on Monday, but probably not go too many more times, unless we find fuel. We are going to Moron, a village about 10 miles further down the road tomorrow to deliver beans for the bean loaning program. The families from 2 of the churches live out that way and can not transport the beans to get them, so we will take them out tomorrow. Probably out last trip out that way until things get better. The other 2 churches across the river that participate will come to our house to get the beans next week some time.

Last night and tonight when it was almost dark....2 families came to get cement from our house. Their names are on our list and they live close to us....closer to us than the church. Vilex told them they could come to our house to get the cement....but we weren't real excited to have people see them carrying cement from our house. We would be inundated with requests for cement, so that is why we decided to have people go to the church. Anyway, they have promised not to tell others about the cement and they decided to come at dusk, so that less people are out and about! It was funny, they said it was a secret...and they wouldn't tell anyone! ha! This morning, when the family brought back the wheelbarrow that they had used to carry the cement, the lady hugged me and said, "thank you, thank you for what you have done for my family." I told her it wasn't me, it was all of your that made this possible and that God loved her and put her and her family in all of your hearts! She smiled and said to tell everyone thank you. So from our neighbor down the road....to all of you, THANK YOU for helping her family!

It's getting late, I'm tired.....I love you all and thank you for everyone here that is receiving your help.

Some people are asking how they can send money...I haven't been really good at leaving that information at the bottom of my notes, I'll do that tonight. I know that so many of you have already donated.....we really appreciate it.

You can either go to our website: newlifeforhaiti.org and you can use your credit card of PayPal to designate where you want your money to go.

you can send checks to: New Life For Haiti, P.O. Box 33, Plainfield, Illinois 60544. and you can put a note in it to designate what you want it to go for...earthquake relief, cement, supplies, support, what ever you want.

Thank you for praying for us, praying for the people in Port and praying for those that are suffering!

Almost the weekend. I never remember to ask you how your week has gone, hope that you are ready for the weekend and that you are doing something relaxing! Our weekends, tend to be just like our days of the week, except I make pancakes, so we can tell it's Saturday! ha! Things were really good today and I am feeling better about things.

People are getting their concrete, they are starting to make block for their walls and they are feeling good about working on their houses and they are so grateful for all that you are doing to help them start over! Thank you...that is what everyone is saying...thank you for caring about them and their homes. We are not giving them ALL that they need to finish their houses, but we are giving a lot of people a great start and that is what they need. They need hope, they need encouragement and help in doing what they can do for themselves!

I was surprised today to hear that people are having blocks made for some of their walls. Okay, now my first reaction is this, we aren't giving them enough to make block houses, so why are they doing that? Why aren't they using the cement to rebuild in rocks...so that they can do all of their walls. I was informed today, by Vilex and Pastor Plaisir, that they know we are only giving so many sacks of cement and some help for the Boss masons....but they can make about 45 blocks out of one bag of cement...because they are adding sand and teef to it. This doesn't make the blocks quite as strong, but much stronger than rock walls. So with 5 bags of cement, they can make a lot of blocks. So many of the people are opting to make blocks and make block walls to replace at least part of their outside walls. Actually, this is great. They are building better houses, that will last longer! I wasn't happy at first, but realized that this is what they want to do. They will get done what they need to get done and actually we have enough cement to give the ones with the worst damage a little bit more. So will continue to give you updates and pictures on how the houses are doing.

Vilex was really busy today and he did take some pictures, however, I realized tonight after he left that I couldn’t find my camera, so I don’t have any pictures, look for them tomorrow, sorry! He took pictures of a few more houses that have walls that are gone, as well as some blocks being made and houses that are starting to be repaired! This is great news. People are encouraged and feeling good about working on their houses!

We did several other things today beside Earthquake things! It felt good to be working on other programs as well. We have a bean loaning program that helps the farmers in the 6 churches that we work with get beans that they "borrow" to plant and when the growing season is over, they repay the load by giving back the same amount of beans with a few more beans of interest. It had a flew glitches last year, but we have been able to buy beans at a great price this year and we are hopeful that things will be better. Last year, we loaned to about 55 families and this year it is much higher than that. Everyone want to participate. We have been buying beans for a month, still have more to buy and just started delivering beans to be borrowed for this year. We have finished with 2 churches and have 4 more to go! So Steve droves us to Moron (about 10 miles further up the road) and we delivered the beans to be loaned out! It feels great to be doing some of our regular program again.

Then, we came home, ate lunch and went into Jeremie. Last Monday, we cashed some checks to buy cement and supplies and the place we go to exchange money made a mistake. He called us this morning and asked us to come back into Jeremie to fix it. I told him we needed to wait for money because we didn't have a lot of diesel for our truck. He said he would give us 5 gallons of diesel, if we would come in today! So we did, we use about 1 to 1 1/2 gal. to go to Jeremie...so it was a great deal. While we were there, we cashed a couple of checks so that we don’t have to go in early next week! Which will be nice. I wasn't able to find any rice in sacks at all. In fact, there wasn't anything in large bulk at all! However, I was able to get a few more essentials...don't laugh...2 more rolls of TP (yeah!), a large jar of PB (it only coast $10 US, I'm serious), some crackers, Mac & Cheese, spaghetti, some formula for Baby Erlande, 2 blocks of margarine, some mustard.......see it was a great shopping day! ha! Seriously, I was glad to get what I could, and every little bit will help! We cashed our checks and it was a good trip to town!

I am finding that God gives us what we need, little by little each and every day! Today at lunch with our house help and Vilex, we always remember to thank God for everything He gives us and always remember that there are so many less fortunate than we are. We have lots of food on our table, a roof over our head and our families are safe. We are so thankful!

Pastor Plaisir came over this afternoon and we talked more about the cement program. We have given 38 out of 34 families the initial cement amount and are just starting to give them the money for the Boss's. He has about another 12 more people on the list and when we are done with this original group, we'll start giving out more to others. People are coming to his gate everyday requesting cement and we know the need is great. We have given Pastor about 150 sacks of cement! We have another 150 left to give out, it is awesome! People are so grateful and it is wonderful to watch what they are doing. Thank you for all that you do for the people of the Marfranc area! They are very grateful to be able to help themselves with the cement that YOU are providing!

We love you very much.....thank you for loving us!

I'm still getting people that are asking how they can donate....go to http://newlifeforhaiti.org or http://newlifeforhaiti.org/MooreBlog.html if you want to give to a specific area or to use personally...you can designate what you want it to go for!

Blessings to you all,

Late tonight, so I'll be doing just a short note.

I have had several people ask about pictures. I'll try to send like 2 out tonight with this, but our satellite doesn't always like to upload those, so hopefully I won't have to take them off to get this to go out. However, I think some of my pictures are making it onto the NLH website under my journal entries (which right now are these updates) Brian Zurita has been taking some pictures that I send him and putting them in the updates when he posts them. IF you go to: http://newlifeforhaiti.org/MooreBlog.html you will see the last update that I wrote. However, if you go to the 2010 Calendar and click on January 2010....all of the updates that I have written will be there, if you scroll down, there are pictures in 3 or 4 of them...and you can see what I have been talking about. Hope you can find them, if you are interested. I do have a Facebook album, but haven't had time to post any Earthquake pictures to it...I'll get to that maybe next week. With us only putting on the generators at night, I just run out of time! It is on my list.

This morning at about 6:30-6:45, Vilex showed up saying that if we gave him money, he could get some drums filled up with fuel. Yesterday, we talked to the gas station manager here in Marfranc. He had been closed for almost a week and was going to start selling some fuel. Yesterday morning he was stopped by the time we saw him, but he said that if we brought our drums, he would see what he could do to fill them. Then, he asked if there was any way to get some cement for his mother's house. Her walls had fallen down. We told Vilex he needed to go and take some pictures first so we could see the damage, then we would let him know. Vilex took them yesterday afternoon and said it was about average damage and that they did need cement. So this morning bright and early...Vilex took the money and we were able to get a 60 gallon drum of diesel fuel and a 15 gal. drum full of gasoline! Praise God. This will probably last us for quite awhile. Then when Steve went to pick it up, he was able to get the truck full as well...so we are set! NOW...if we could only find propane! ha! Yeah, I know, one thing at a time.

Anyway, this evening at dusk....he came and got his cement!

Everyone is so grateful for the cement. I know that this guy could probably have afforded to buy his mom some cement for the house, but I don't think it is always about who can and who cannot afford it. It is about the goodwill and love that you show to people. It is about who "we are" and why we do what we do. It shouldn't be about status, or who you are, or what you have done, or what you can do. It's about a need and the ability to help. The cement is going out to all kinds of people. It is going out to the guy across from Pastor's house that fixes tires and isn't a Christian, it is going to the elderly at our church that have nothing and are also on our feeding program. It is going to families of those that have gardens and ways to feed their families and to other families that probably didn't have much of a house to start with. This earthquake didn't discriminate...it just knocked down houses and walls. So, this cement is helping whoever needs it and as long as it lasts and as long as we can buy it, we will continue to help build walls. Thank you for being a part of this! It really is awesome!

Tomorrow is another day of worship! We are looking forward to going to church. I'm praying that there will be even more people there since we have more people arriving from Port each day. Yesterday when we went into Jeremie, there is a place just outside of town, going towards Marfranc, where the buses and big trucks load to transport people. It was very crowded, more crowded than usual...and they were filling up huge trucks (like cattle trucks) full of people and suitcases and taking them further out into the countryside! I'm sure we will be seeing more of this.

Well, friends, I'm going to bed. We pray you will have a good, restful Sunday!

May God continue to bless you and keep you safe!

I missed you guys yesterday! Had a great morning at church, church went even longer than last week, if that's possible. We had about 10 people from Port that came and shared their stories of the earthquake and what they saw and where they were...so that added an additional 30 minutes onto church. There was a lot of praying and singing for people that are still in Port and can not make it home.

We have been having a lot more big camions go through town filled with people and a lot more people on the streets of Marfranc. We have heard a lot of stories or people coming home that families haven't seen in years. We understand there has been a new committee being formed that is supposed to collect information from the community about how many people have arrived from Port in their homes, their ages etc. And also what damages were done to their homes. I don't think any aid will come from this, but they want the information. No one seems to know who wants this information, or who is asking for it! If I find out, I'll share it with you. I just wonder what they will do with the information once they get it.

Today, like so many of our days here, was filled with unscheduled things! I went with Steve when he delivered 30 more sacks of cement to the school. This brought the total number of sacks delivered to 180. The first 150 sacks went to 36 houses. The first list is now complete...and Pastor is working on a second list with 20 more names on it. Vilex is busy taking pictures and got some pictures today of blocks being made and walls going up!!! It is very exciting! While I am still skeptical of the blocks being made instead of rock walls...no one else seems to be concerned, ha! In fact, everyone is very happy to be doing what they are doing! So.....we should all be happy as well. I'm sure there will be a third list as well, people continue to come and say that they need their houses worked on too. We just have to guard against people asking that don't really need the cement. To try to do that, Vilex is taking lots of pictures, so hopefully the cement will be going to those in need! It is so hard to give away things here, we are doing much better than we expected to do! Things are going very smoothly.

When we delivered the cement one of the people from the Baptist church in Plik came by. Plik is a very small community where one of our churches is located. To get to Plik, you have to cross the river that flows in front of Marfranc, then if you are going by vehicle, you have to drive about 45 minutes, up, up, up a mountain to a ville called Lori. At Lori, you park your vehicle and walk another 45 minutes up and down a mountain to get to Plik (sounds like Pleek). Now for you and I to walk, from Marfranc, it would probably take 5 hours, maybe 4....but they manage to do it in about 2 hours or less.....anyway, this man had walked to Pastor's house to get the beans for the bean loaning program that we are doing. His church had requested to borrow 63 mamits of beans ( or about 768 cups of beans). They were in 6 sacks, and they were very, very heavy! He was supposed to bring several donkeys to carry them back up to Plik....and instead, he came by himself. After much discussion, Steve said he would take him most the way up the mountain. He said he had a friend that would keep them at his house and then he'd come back with the donkey. When asked how far up the mountain he needed to go...he said, "not too far!" I know Fran is laughing when he reads this because this is an ongoing joke....."not too far" to a Haitian can be miles!! Their sense of distance is not what ours is. Anyway, we came back to the house, got the bags of beans for Plik and Steve and Vilex picked up the man from Plik and took off. They came back about 1 1/2 hours later and I asked Steve how far up the mountain he went....he rolled his eyes at me and said...oh, probably a mile short of Lori! In other words, pretty much all the way up the mountain! It kind of shot Steve's morning, as you can well imagine.

So, our day didn't go at all like what we thought it would, but that's okay, most of our days don't. Vilex was able to take a lot more pictures this afternoon and had a lot of people tell him how happy they are to be working on their houses. He also took a lot more pictures of houses that have great needs. So the work is a long way from being done. As long as we can continue to buy cement, we will continue to distribute it.

We continue to thank you all for what you are doing for the people in this small valley. Pastor Plaisir keeps saying that people are coming to him and saying thank you. They are saying that no one has cared about them before. People help Port or other large cities when there is a disaster, but no one cares for the smaller outlaying places and they are truly grateful for the help they are getting. So I want to pass that thanks on to you all! Thank you once again for loving the people here in Marfranc.....you are blessing them immensely!

Continue to lift everyone up in prayer, there are still so many people under the rubble in Port with so many families trying to get back on their feet!

May God bless you all and continue to keep you safe....

I have been debating not doing these so often anymore, then had a good friend tell me today that she was really enjoying them, so I'll try to do them every other day and see how it goes. I don't want to bore all of you with these, so at some point, will probably quit! I'll always do my journal page once a week, you'll just have to put it on your favorite list and check it out once a week to know what is going on with us!

Now what did you all miss in 2 days????

There is a lot of cement work going on in Marfranc! And it's all because of you guys and others that have donated to the relief work we are doing. People are so grateful for the sacks of cement that they are getting. Vilex went out this morning and got a few more pictures, but went to Jeremie again and so will spend tomorrow morning catching up with how things are going. I'm including a picture of one of the new walls. You an see that they don't put a ton of cement in between the layers of block, but it is so much better than what they had!

Pastor Plaisir is almost finished with his second list of houses, that will bring our count up to 60 houses (I think). We have given aid to 39 of those houses for Boss masons and so lots of work is getting done. We have taken 210 sacks of cement up to Pastor's house and he had very little left to distribute when I talked to him this afternoon. He keeps saying, "Everyone is so happy to have the cement" I think it is as much about hope as anything else. When you have people helping you to rebuild your home, people that don't even know you helping you, it gives you hope. Hope that you will have something better than you had and hope that things will be okay. We still have 90 sacks of cement in our depot and are going to go in on Friday and see about getting some more.

Pastor Plaisir is getting a lot of requests for more houses with problems. However, it has been hard on him because the cement is being delivered to his front door and the flow of people asking for cement and money has been constant...he has had no break. The houses with the biggest problems, those that were sleeping in the church have started to repair their homes, so we think that after Pastor is done with this second list of homes, we will take a break for a week and give him some down time and calm everyone down as well. Then next week sometime, we can make a new list and go at it again. Sometimes in Haiti, you need to slow things down, take a break and let everyone take a deep breathe. Some people are telling us about some bad news reports of how Haitians are acting about the relief they are getting and they are angry. I think anywhere when there is a disaster, there are people who are not very happy and will never be satisfied. It is sad that the news is picking up on those individuals that will never be happy with what they receive and are so loud about their unhappiness. We have had some of the same here. We tried to have a system by which we can give cement, or it would be chaos and the people with the biggest need would not be helped. And because of our system, some people are complaining. However, we have to remember that so many people are grateful and would have nothing if people didn't care about them and send money for cement! We need to remember those we are helping and focus on them, because they are truly grateful for what they are getting.

For those of you that don't know us very well....we have 3 people that work at our house here. Mme. Asson is our cook and Benit cleans the house and does laundry. They work three days a week, Mon., Wed., and Friday. Dis is our yard man and he works 6 days a week. On the days that the ladies work, we all eat lunch together and Vilex always joins us...so we have 6 at our table on those days. We always have very lively discussions at lunch and believe me our staff is very opinionated! It's fun. Today we talked about the cement and the relief program. They said hands down...everyone is grateful, even if they are only getting 2 sacks of cement, we have helped them rebuild their home, when it wasn't possible for them to do it themselves. They said everyone is grateful for whatever help they can get...they have not been forgotten! They said that the people that are making all the noise are very few and everyone is ignoring them! How great is that? I always feel better after we talk, they are really open and honest and we respect what they have to say, they know these people better than we do!

We heard today that there may be propane in Jeremie for sale!!! YES!!! We are on our last bottle of propane, ha! God is soooo good. We don't have a clue how much we will have to pay for it, but that's okay, right? We may be able to turn in our big 100 lb. tanks for propane, then we would be okay for awhile. We will be going in on Friday to find out and I'll let you know on Friday night. We are also hoping that we will be able to find some rice. If we can, we will probably buy some and if we can figure out a way to give some away. We were talking tonight about that. We know there are some families that could really use the rice, yet...we know we can not drive up in our truck and start handing it out...we would seriously get mugged. So, if we do this, I'll have to figure out a way to bag up a little at a time, and maybe walk to houses with it a bag or two at a time and go inside to talk, then give it to them. We'll see, if we can do this, it will really help! We are learning that giving away things is very difficult and we may have to be quiet about what we do. We'll see. We know that any help we can give, even if it's only to a few, will be a blessing! I’m not sure we can even find rice or corn meal...so we'll see! Again, will keep you posted.

Yesterday late afternoon we got a surprise visit from a neighbor down the street. Her name is Titi and several of you may have met her. She is 18 years old and I have known her since we started building here. Last year she started living in Port where her mother works as a domestic in a house there. She is in her 12th year of school and is doing very well. When we heard about the devastation in Port, we had no clue what happened to her and her mother. Her father, could not get them on the phone and for days we had no idea if they were dead or alive. Then after almost a week, her father came and said they were fine. Their house was totally gone, but they had gotten out. We were so happy to hear the news, but happier still to see Titi yesterday! She came to Jeremie on one of those boats with 1000 people on it. She said she waited for 3 days on the wharf, with thousands of people, to get on the free ride to Jeremie. After she managed to get on the boat, she said they stopped out in the ocean after going for about 2 hours....they stayed there for another night, she was afraid that they would turn around and go back to Port. She was never sure why they had to wait, but it took her almost 2 days to get here. During the trip she said 3 people died on the boat. She spent a lot of time talking to a young man that had lost his arm up at his shoulder. She said it was hardly bandaged and it smelled horrible and she was sure that he was still going to die because he had not gotten any good medical treatment. Her story was horrible and so sad. Most of the high school kids go to school in the afternoon, usually from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. This is why so many children have died in the schools that were destroyed, they were all in school. She didn't go to school that Tuesday. She isn't sure why, but she told her mom she wasn't going to go. Titi is a strong Christian and she has a beautiful voice and sings in church. She told us, she knew not to go to school that day and insisted that she stay home. She knows that God was protecting her. She lost hundreds of school friends that day...her school totally fell to the ground and all of her classmates died. I can not even imagine that. Titi is very grateful to God for her life and her mother's life.

Please continue to pray for the people in Port, I can not even imagine the devastation.

Thank you for all you have done, all of this would not be possible without the prayers and support everyone has sent! We are only able to buy gasoline, fuel, propane, food that we need because you have helped us out! Although you will never know the names of all the families you have helped and they in turn will not know yours, we just want you to know how wonderful this is! Thank you for caring! Walls are going up in Marfranc! YES!

Continue to keep Port in your prayers as we hear it is still very difficult there.

Much love to you all.....

Seems like I miss you guys when I don’t write every night, ha! Thank you for all of your great e-mails and words of encouragement. I pass those on to the community, to Pastor Plaisir and the people in our church here, they appreciate everything that you are doing for them and all of the prayers on their behalf.

Even amid all of the crisis from the earthquake, life here goes on pretty much like it always does. We are working on getting beans out to the farmers that have put their names on lists to "borrow" beans. We have 6 churches that have farmers in them that normally would have to buy the beans to plant in their gardens. We are "loaning" them beans and when they harvest, they will repay their loan plus another 2 cups of beans interest for each larger portion they borrowed. This enables them to plant their fields without using money that would feed their families. Had a couple of glitches in last years program, but this year it is going much more smoothly. Well, it did until the price of beans (that we are buying to loan out) started going up last week due to the price of everything going up! We still have beans to buy, so are hoping to get all we need this week before the prices really goes crazy! Steve went to pick up some of the beans this afternoon that we measured and will be giving out next week. They are stored in our kitchen depot...until they go out to the churches. We have 4 churches done, two to go!

Plus this afternoon during coffee....another load of 100 sacks of cement was delivered. Steve called in the order this morning and Vilex went into Jeremie for a class and paid for it. Steve had requested that it be brought out next week....but strangely enough it showed up at about 4:30 this afternoon. ha! I had just commented to Steve that it was a nice, quiet afternoon with no company or interruptions.....knew I shouldn't have said anything, ha! About 5 minutes later the big truck with the cement arrived, then at the same time the guy that bought the beans needed Steve to go to Marfranc with him and get the sacks he had bought this week....and....Erlande's mother (Darline) came by to say that she had to go to Port tomorrow and wanted me to know that Erlande would be staying with her sister. She didn't want me to wonder where she was or worry about her.....so it was kind of nuts at our house for awhile, and when we finally sat down, I said to Steve, "remind me not to say it is quiet again!" That is what it is like here, it goes from...quiet to crazy in a matter of minutes.

One of the things that is hard for me to get used to when we travel back and forth from the US to Haiti so many times is, is the fact that here in Haiti no one calls to say they are coming over or stopping by. People just show up. Sometimes, you might see someone earlier in the day and they say they might come by, but 99 percent of the time, people just show up. Doesn't matter what you are doing or what you are in the middle of....they just are at your front door. We get interrupted a lot. Then, when we go home to the states, I want to just pop in on everyone, ha! You can imagine how well that goes over, can't you? I wonder why people look at me so funny when I show up! Hmmmmm....I'm not used to calling ahead or using the phone to see if someone will be there. Takes some getting used to!

Pastor Plaisir is on his third list of people who want cement and he is starting a forth list....ha! We will be finishing up that third list today, I hope and then we will take a small, one week break to give Pastor time to just relax. He is inundated with so many people at his house, he needs some rest from that. You would think it would slow down some, but he says it is pretty constant. The houses that were the worst are starting to have walls. They will need a little bit more cement, but we are waiting to see how far they get before any more is given out. We have given Pastor about 260 sacks... a lot of cement. People really appreciate what NLH is doing for them, we have people say how great it is every day! Thank you for helping to restore their homes.

Mme. Asson has a prayer request. She has 5 boys...yeah, she has her hand way full! Her 15 yr. old son, Jackie, was on a motorcycle (being given a ride) and it crashed. He has a lot of abrasions, but no broken bones!!! She says he has a very large spot on his ankle that is really bad. She took him to a local nurse and got a shot of antibiotic...at least that is what I think she got for him. I gave her some antibacterial soap, hydrogen peroxide, gauze, tape, ointment, Tylenol and some band aids....told her the order to use them in and what to do....hopefully it will keep it from getting infected. She said it is really bad, but knows it will heal. She asks for prayers for it to heal and also to help her have patience with her 5 boys! Those of you with boys can understand that prayer request!

We went into Jeremie yesterday. Didn't need to do too much, so we took Bouki with us to visit our friend Pastor Dave. Dave and his son, Mark (and Marks' wife and son and now a new daughter) have a mission in Jeremie and we do a lot of things with them. Mark and his family are in the states, he has a new daughter (almost 1 mo. old) and they also have a dog named, Jabari, that is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Jabari and Bouki are great friends, so Bouki had a great time! We were able to get several sacks of Ble and we are going to try to give that out to some of the families that are now having people from Port stay with them. The expansion of these families will cause an even greater hardship for them. We are hoping to quietly give out some food to help them feed everyone. Ble is kind of like rice, but not. I'm really not sure what it is. I believe it's wheat germ? But it can be cooked like rice or can be creamed like breakfast cereal. I'm sure one of you knows what it is and will let me know, ha! Anyway, we couldn’t find any sacks of rice, but we did get to large sacks of Ble. Hopefully we will be able to get more next week. We were also able to exchange a little bit of money, but the exchange is going down, we aren't getting as much for our US dollar. We thought this would be happening, but what is so strange is that the value of the US dollar is going down, but the prices for everything is going up. So it's like a double whammy.....don’t get as much when we exchange money and have to pay more when we buy stuff! Ahhhhh...interesting huh?