- Details
- Written by Tom Miles Tom Miles
- Created: June 11 2012 June 11 2012
We thought you'd enjoy hearing about what jobs we're working on today and tomorrow. To make it extra interesting, Sue suggested we relate each to a story from the Bible. Here are our best efforts. Remember, we've been working pretty hard in the Haiti heat!
Rebuilding the Walls
The largest team stayed here at the guest house to clean and paint the walls of our compound. In this neighborhood, and most of those we've seen off of the main city streets, each property is surrounded by a six foot or higher concrete block wall. The walls serve as property markers, like fences would back home, but no one builds with wood in Haiti. The termites chew though wood much too quickly. So, like the buildings and telephone poles and nearly every other thing built here, they are made of stone.
Like the Israelites before us, we “went to work repairing the walls.”
There's still some work to do, but the guest house is already looking great!
Multiplying the Fishes
A few of our women braved algae-infested* waters to rescue (and harvest) John's tilapia. We believe they thought it would be a nice cool project. Their first duty was to catch the fish in nets and buckets and put them in a special basin. Then, as the pool finished draining, they got down and scrubbed the walls.
As the pool refilled, they began putting the fish back in. And counting them. What seemed like just a handful of fish—maybe thirty or so?—ended up being 436 (at least)! Sound like a story you've heard before? Remember how Jesus fed the five thousand people in Mark 6:30-44? Five loaves and two fish became enough food to feed a huge crowd. Were the fish tilapia? We just don't know, but after today, it seems likely.
Hole in the Roof
A small crew went to repair the roof of the Harbor Center (a home for teen mothers). They've been having leaks, and we were reminded of what must have been the aftermath of the time when a group of people made a hole in a Galilee roof to get their friend, a paralyzed man, to Jesus (Luke 5:17-26). The owners of that house were probably left with a few leaks!
We did some concrete work on the roof—again, everything here is built of concrete!—and then went down to the main level to repaint the ceilings.
Two-By-Two
One last group spent the day buying lumber and building bunk beds. (Beds are one of the few exceptions to the "no wood" rule!) Like Noah, they spent the day following God's will by building arks—ok, beds—for pairs of animals—missionaries, in this case. Not many floods here in Haiti, but these beds are key in getting us through the nights.
Happy Birthday!
We sang to Jo this morning before breakfast (with a big card) and had cake and brownies after dinner tonight. Thank you for having a birthday and getting us some dessert!
*Our team microbiologist, RoxAnn, objects to us referring to algae as an "infestation"
“Hesed” is a Hebrew word that means “kindness”, “mercy”, “loyalty”, “loving-kindness” or “steadfastness.” It’s the way God intends us to live together—a “love your neighbor as yourself”, active, selfless, sacrificial, caring-for-one-another brand of living contradictory to our fallen natures. The “Heseders” are continually looking to work together to share some small measure of God’s extraordinary love. Won’t you join us?