Bonswa from Marfranc,

As I write this on the eve of our last day in Marfranc, it is with a sense that we have accomplished all that we set out to do. Today we did some touch up painting to the Primary school and put primer on the chalkboards. We took a walk around Marfranc to meet some of the towns folks and see the sights. On the way back from Marfranc to Jeremie (where we stay each night until Kay Bo Rivye is completed), we stopped at a shallow of the Grande Anse and washed the truck. In the afternoon we took a walk into downtown Jeremie and went to the outdoor market.

Our tasks were to start the foundations for the secondary school; paint the primary school; rough in the plumbing in the River House; meet with our Kokomo, IN friends to review the work plans for the clinic; and continue to build relationships with the people of Marfranc. We've done all this. I feel particularly confident of the latter as many of our Marfranc friends remember those of us that were here in September by our names and faces. Even five year old Widley asked about his friends Jeff (who was with us in September). I was particularly gratified when I stopped to say hello and enquire directions from a group of young men (twentysomethings). They were friendly and thanked us for coming to Marfranc and helping their community. This may seem a small thing, but I think it huge, as I've felt this would be the hardest group to befriend.

Tomorrow we all sleep in our own beds (hopefully) with much to reflect upon and be thankful for. God's creation is huge and diverse and with each trip to this beautiful and intriguing country, I feel so blessed for my place in it.

Thom McCluskey

Hi LifeSpring! It's Laurie, just here to update you on the continuing adventure. Today is Sunday. Last evening, we girls sat around in the gathering room and chatted as we put together the goodie bags for the kids at church today. You remember, all that wonderful stuff that Jen and her family and friends donated that was then heaped onto Vito to drag through three airports. This morning, it was hurry, hurry, hurry then we all piled into the big Dodge truck at 7:15 am and headed off to Pastor Plaisir's church where we sang our hearts out as best we could from the Creole songbooks. Prior to the service, was Sunday school for the children. Joline read about Noah and the ark, while Jen meandered through the 56 kids with colorful pictures of the story. When the story was finished, it was time to pass out the goody bags. The children responded with squeals of delight and beautiful smiling faces. After church, Thom took the group on a little walking tour of Marfranc, while Steve and Joline met with the Pastor. As we walked, the children in the neighborhood would run up to us, grab our hands, and come along on our tour. One little girl, named Wanya, could be heard shouting, “Jennifer! Jennifer!” as she raced to catch up to us. We are getting to know many of the children and adults here and they seem to take such pride in remembering each of our names. Needless to say, we are struggling a bit more with our memory retention, but all the same, making many new friends. At the tours' conclusion, we all gathered once again in the church sanctuary where Rick presented a slide show of the previous team's visit. Many of the children recognized themselves as the “stars of the show”. This was followed by “the Jesus film” (in Creole, of course). The pews were full and there were many people crowded at the open door and every open window. Soon the center aisle began to fill and I thought, “He's still attracting huge crowds.” I'm not sure if anyone gave their heart away to Christ today, but I know many, many seeds were planted and He will water them until they begin to grow. We returned to our temporary home in Haiti about 5:15 pm. It was a long, hot day but a very, very beautiful day as well. This is one I won't soon forget!

Hey everyone, this is Dave with today's update.

The guys had another day working on the plumbing at the river house. After picking up additional supplies in Jeremie yesterday afternoon, we were able to complete the plumbing on our compound! Our Haitian co-workers immediately covered it up with fill and began re-filling the holes that were cut in the foundation. The ladies spent another day painting at the school, They were joined this morning by Barbara and Shirley from the church in Kokomo that will be partnering with us on the clinic. There will be a little more painting to complete on Monday, but the school looks just great. The Haitian workers are continuing to work on the foundation for the secondary school.

We returned to Jeremie for lunch this afternoon and then decided we needed a little time at the beach. The water was beautiful blue, clear, and very refreshing. This evening, as is the Saturday tradition, we ate out at the local restaurant. We had beef, goat, fish, chicken, and lame (seafood). This evening we are preparing bags of gifts for the children at Sunday School tomorrow morning, as well as a movie program for them in the afternoon.

Hello everyone,

It's Gary Snider and Jen Petrielli with today's entry. Work continued on both sites today, with the ladies staying at the school to finish up the painting (and have some fun with the kids), Rick working with the digging crew on the foundation for the new school building, and the rest of the guys heading back down to “Kay Bo Rivye” (The Riverside House) to continue with the plumbing. I (Gary) will fill you in on our day at the house, and Jen will let you know what happened over at the school.

It was great to go down to the house for our second day of work and be recognized and greeted by many of the same faces (both adults and kids) we met on day one. As you can hopefully see in the photos, progress continues on the house. With Vito Petrielli at the helm, the troops (a few of us and a host of Haitians) worked so hard that we actually ran out of materials by about lunch time. With the rest of our supplies in tow, we will return tomorrow to finish up the plumbing so that the crews can finish backfilling the foundation.

When we returned to the school to join the rest of the group for lunch, we got to see the fruits of their morning's work, and the tail end of some activities they had arranged for the kids at the school. I'll let Jen pick it up from here...

Hey all!! Some of you may have been in church when I shared that hundreds of items for the kids had been donated by friends and family of mine to take with us. We were all looking so forward passing out 'the good stuff' and having some play time (after lots and lots of work of course!). Boy was I in for an eye opening experience! It sounds kind of weird but I saw that the kids here don't really know how to 'play'. This is something I did not anticipate. As a teacher and a mother, I have always assumed that play is an innate behavior. Something that comes natural, not a learned behavior. Well today I saw a bunch of kids who saw these brand new things (balls, Frisbees, etc) and just wanted to “get” them and hold on to them and certainly not let them go!! These children have such a primal, survival response that they saw these toys as more of a trophy than an activity. It took several minutes for Joline to explain that if they threw the ball or Frisbee some one would REALLY send it back! They really just wanted to touch, hold and own the objects, regardless of what they were for or what you could do with them. With some gentle guidance (and lots of patience) from Joline we did get the games organized and had lots of fun!! Hope you enjoy the pics.

It's Rick Clements. I have the privilege of writing today's blog from our trip. Today was an awesome day and we were able to drive progress with the primary school at the church and work on the plumbing at the mission river house. We all worked together to paint the base coat on the primary school and the ladies of our group finished the job with a final coat of paint. The fellas went on to the mission house to install the drains for the toilets. From our debrief of the day, our thoughts are that New Life for Haiti is really starting to make a difference in Marfranc. While, we may take two steps forward and one back we are still changing peoples' lives in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Even from our first trips, things seem to be just a little better. Attached are some pictures of our progress.

Thanks,

Rick