My last few days in Haiti :(

So, I am in awe at how fast this summer has flown by! I cannot believe that in a few short days I will be leaving this beautiful country that I have called home for 10 weeks. I am grateful for the many prayers of safety and strength from my many friends and family. God has truly blessed me this summer!
Now that I have no teams to take care of I have all the time in the world to spend with my new deaf family in Leveque :]

Thursday:
I was able to go out to Leveque for an entire day. I spent most of the morning walking the community and visiting my friends in there homes. I had some time to go to each small business and take some video of each person explaining their businesses and showing me their work. Towards the end of the day I was able to stay out long enough and go to "Deaf church". Church was held as Matala's (Kyle's Haitian Mom) home. Pastor William S. did a great job explaining the crossing of the Red Sea.

Friday & Saturday:
I had a good, restful day off :] I also began packing my stuff :(

Sunday:
I went to my last church service in Leveque. I will miss seeing all my deaf family worshiping and praising the Lord together. After church we had a great surprise; Kyle, Mrs. Kathryn and myself had a meal made by Mrs. Berthide. It was delicious and the first meal to help start her restaurant. 

Monday:
Today was a day of fellowship. There were no activities to plan and no schedules to follow, it was all about being together. My entire day was spent with the my deaf family. We played some dominos, some cards and even watched a Haitian style haircut being given to one of the deaf leaders. This day could not have been more perfect. I have really enjoyed getting to know each deaf leader and some deaf families in the Leveque community!

Last team of the summer :(

This week is my last week with teams. This team is all from a church from Georgia. They are a young group made up of highschool students with a few parents.

 Saturday:
We started the week going out to LaPiste and had a Bible lesson and play time in the morning with the kids. We drove out to Leveque for the afternoon and had a short tour.

Sunday:
The team went to church out in Leveque. In the afternoon the team continued the building of the rock cross from the previous team. The cross is called the "Cross of Thanksgiving" and some deaf helped us make the cross thicker.

Monday:

I had the opportunity to go with some MOH staff to meet up with a news reporter from the New York times. The reporter was writing a story about Leveque and wanted an interview with one of the deaf leaders. We decided to have Pastor William S. have the interview and my role was to help interpret the conversation. He did a wonderful job explaining the parternship of MOH and 410 Bridge. I was so proud of him! In the afternoon we had the kids join the team under the pavilion for story and activity time. The team had an activity and drama about Jacob and Esau and the kids loved it.

Tuesday:
We spent the morning in Leveque working on coloring and painting with some kids and deaf adults while the strong men helped to start Mackenson's garden. In the afternoon we attended the weekly soccer game and the deaf leaders stomped the Americans 5 to 2.

Wednesday:

Today is the last full day for this team. We spent the morning in Leveque doing some more painting and visiting with the community. The team went out to Wahoo Bay for a nice relaxing afternoon before they fly home tomorrow.

5th Team

Saturday:
My fifth team arrived and they are from all over, this is an open team. One of my team members is Mrs. Margaret Spratlin who works for 410 Bridge. We spent the day in Leveque and had the team start with a tour of the community. In the afternoon the team played with some of the kids in the community. Mrs. Katherine, who is here for 5 weeks, continued to teach Pastor William S. some Bible stories. We have one deaf woman, Annie, who had some time to work with the older deaf adults who don’t have much schooling and they worked on basic signs. Annie had cards with different pictures on them and each deaf person would choose a card and tell the sign and fingerspell it. It was great practice and a good way to see where each older deaf person’s education level was.

Sunday:
We went to the church service in the small pavilion in Leveque. After the church service was over Pastor William S. asked all the deaf to stay after to discuss the sermon more in depth. We all watched as Pastor William S. explained the sermon on the deaf’s level, it was amazing and God has truly blessed William! After Pastor William S. was done explaining the sermon to the deaf, the team walked up to the church to see that the foundation was being made for the church. The team decided to write down verses and prayers on a piece of paper and put them in the foundation of the church. The deaf also wrote down some verses and one by one the team/deaf told which verse they chose and put in the in foundation. In the afternoon we had the team split up and work with the deaf adults and children again.
Here are some pictures of the verses/prayers going into the foundation of the church:

Monday:
The team spent another full day in Leveque and had a special project for today. The entire team and a few deaf make a giant cross from big rocks on the way up the hill to the new church area.

Tuesday:
The team went to Leveque for their last full day before they leave. In the morning the group walked around the community to buy some things from the small businesses that the deaf have. Many of the bead necklaces and small paintings were bought by the group. In the afternoon the team enjoyed watching the soccer game between the deaf and hearing. This week the game was a tie: 2 to 2.
Wednesday:
Today the team spent the morning in LaPiste, the old camp, with the deaf community. The team had a small VBS with the kids including a short lesson, craft time and games. The deaf adults gathered in the deaf meeting house to have a drama time where stories from the Bible were shared. Four of the older deaf woman accepted Christ into their hearts today, PRAISE THE LORD!

Attention: Couples in Christ class

I thought that this post should be especially for my favorite Frazer UMC Sunday school class.
Here are some pictures of your beautiful little girl Jeanna Pierre.

I have had the privilege to get to know and see little Jeanna almost every time that I go out to Leveque. She is still very shy and doesn't talk to me very much. But she will normally hold my hand while the group takes tours of the village. She is so precious and looks exactly like her sweet mother, Jasmine Pierre.

Athens, GA Church Team

Saturday:
We picked the group up from the airport and they are from Athens, Georgia and go to Athens Church. There are about 18 of them and the group is consists of college aged students and young couples. We went to the old camp for the afternoon. We started with a prayer walk/tour of the community. Solomon (deaf leader) taught a short sign language class to the group and they were able to hear some stories from the deaf leaders and community in LaPiste. We were able to go back with them to the 410 Bridge guest house in Cabaret and had a wonderful meal and short devotion time before we had to head back to MOH.
Sunday:
The group went to church in Leveque. When the church service was finished we were able to all gather in the new church area on top of the hill. We had a praise, worship and prayer time together with the team and some of the deaf people from the community. In the afternoon the entire team did a prayer walk around the community.
Monday:
This morning our team went to Bercy to help MOH with VBS. It was a little bit of a “goat rodeo” but it was fun! We had one deaf girl name Lileane who was twelve show up so Mary and I were able to interpret for her during VBS. In the afternoon we all went out to Leveque and half of the group had a sign language class while the other half of the group helped start someone’s garden in the community.
Tuesday:
This morning our team went out to Bercy again to go to VBS. Lileane was there again and we all had a great time! In the afternoon we went out to Leveque for the weekly Tuesday afternoon soccer game. Some MOH teams came out to play the deaf leaders but the deafies were the champs today—4 to 2.
Wednesday:
Today the team went out to the old camp in LaPiste with Alexis (deaf leader), William S. (deaf pastor) and Karlens (translator/hopefully interpreter for the deaf). The team did a great job of having a mini VBS for the kids in the community while the deaf adults had a Bible story time taught by Pastor William S. In
the afternoon the team continued with the mini VBS and two of the men on the team shared a lesson with some of the deaf adults from the community.
Thursday:
Today was the last full day out at Leveque for the team L  The team spent the morning doing another prayer walk and visiting some deaf families. They had the chance to sit down and watch Estras (deaf painter) paint some paintings and they also watched some of the deaf woman make their bead necklaces. Before leaving Leveque the entire team went on top of the hill to the church area where we all gathered for a special announcement from Pastor William S. One of the couples on the team was celebrating their 15^th wedding anniversary and Pastor William S. renewed their vows. It was the most precious thing I had ever seen. (It was a surprise to the wife so she loved it!)

*On another note here are the bios for the women who are making the bead necklaces & bracelets:Berthide Cius is a deaf leader who lives in house number 315 in Leveque, Haiti. She is thirty-five years old and has one daughter who is ten. With the money from the bead products she wants to support her coffee trade until she has enough finances to start her restaurant business.
Evlyne Phillipe is a deaf woman who lives in house number 310 in Leveque, Haiti. She is fifty years old and has two daughters—ages 24 and 25. With the money from the bead products she wants to start a cookie and coffee business to support her livelihood.
Roseline Prevaly is a deaf woman who lives in house number 329 in Leveque, Haiti. She is twenty-eight years old and currently has no children but hopes that God will bless her with a child soon. With the money from the bead products she would like to start her own rice business to help feed the people of Leveque.
Melonnie Milceus is a deaf woman who lives in house number 286 in Leveque, Haiti. She is fifty-five years old and has five children—one son and four daughters. With the money from the bead products she will support her cooking and crochet business. 

Celiane Exantus is a deaf woman who lives in house number 347 in Leveque, Haiti. She is thirty-six years old and is married to a leader of deaf community in Haiti. With the money from bead products she will help support her husband and her family.

Nadege Jon Louis is a deaf woman who lives in house number 332 in Leveque, Haiti. She is 30 years old and has two sons. With the money from the bead products she would like to buy a chicken and use the eggs to sell for income in addition to feeding her family. 

Suzette Augustin is a hearing woman who lives in house number 282 in Leveque, Haiti. She is 45 years old and has 3 daughters. With the money from the bead products she wants to start her own business selling shoes and clothes.

Matala Francois (also known as Kyle’s Haiti Mom) is a deaf woman who lives in house number 322 in Leveque, Haiti. She is 54 years old and has two daughters. With the money from the bead products she would like to buy the necessary supplies to start a business making and selling bread and peanut butter.

My beach day & some church progress :]

My day off at the beach on Friday was very relaxing and much needed.

Here are two pictures that I took today, Sunday, of the church.