Day 4

 The things you see on the roads here.  This is a Hatian style cattle drive.  We are standing in front of the church compound and just to the right of the two signs, in the background you can see a piece of the "Big House" where we stay.  These roads are shared by many dumptrucks, pedestrians (some of which are carrying various objects on their heads,) cows, burros, goats and horses.

In some cases the animals are tied to a cinder-block, sometimes tied to a scrub-bush, or just lazily walking around grazing.  You seldom see any indication of who owns these things.

 This little dude right here is my favorite!  In creole they are called "Bourik", but when I was studying to learn the language before coming down, I had learned that "Bourik" meant monkey.  It is rather fun trying to learn more of this crazy mixed-up language.  Makile is always happy to help correct me.  That's him below with Yvette.  They were weeding the corn-patch, but stole a few moments to hunt for tarantulas.

As you can see, they were successful.  You see, what you do is you look for holes about 3/4" in diameter in the ground and then you pour water down them.  If they only peek-out at the surface a shovel may be required to encourage them to show their full beauty.  They're not harmful, but they sure look intimidating!

I actually didn't see these cute little buggers, but I do know that the hatians call spiders "arenyen"!  

I was working on the new guard tower.  What we're doing is adding 3/4" plywood to the outside.  Then they're going to put 3/4" plywood on the inside and then they're going to fill it up with sand.  It is hoped that it will be sufficient to stop bullets from any would-be intruders.  It's kind of like the wild-west out here and many established properties here have cinder-block walls topped with razor wire and some dude carrying around a pistol-grip shot-gun.  We do and it makes us feel safe, however we've never seen a hint of what we're being saved from.  Mike (one of our missions facilitators) was telling me that when the church here finally got their perimeter walls built and razor wired, they threw a big celebration.  This was a symbol that the Foursquare Church was here to stay, and an established property in the area.

I read on CNN.com that the government of India ordered an inventory of valuables being stored at a temple controlled by a former ruling family.  What they discovered were gold and silver coins, gold statues, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and all in vaults underneath this extremely well-embelished temple.  Some of the vaults hadn't been opened in 150 years.  The total value of their treasures?  Eleven billion dollars.  Yes, I said BILLION with a "B".  

Here in Haiti the church definitely doesn't have treasures stored away underground.  It takes a lot of help to make this a safe and comfortable place for the pastors, missionaries and those whom they serve.  As we did so much "McGivering" in Mexico in order to create what was needed with the scant materials supplied, so we do here.  The church here is focused on storing-up treasures in heaven, not earthly ones. 

Tomorrow we take our field-trip to Les Cayes ("La Kye" in French or "Oh-Kye" in Creole).  We'll let you know how it went when we return on Friday!  Thank you for all of your prayers and support.  We miss you all!