Hello from Kaliko Beach Resort!

We took a much needed day of rest today as a family along with Melissa and a friend of ours. We have been working 6 days a week, sometimes 10+ hour days to make as much progress as we can before we leave in 6 weeks! Time is really flying!

Currently the workers are preparing to put the roof on the home by laying plywood and tying wire for the steel forms. Zacharie anticipates being able to lay the concrete in the less than 2 weeks. As you can imagine this will be a BIG project and a LONG day of work needing many hands to finish. The home has 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms so it will be a sight to see as they will work rapidly to finish the roof in one day. The foundation of the kitchen is almost finished and Zacharie hopes to have that completed before we leave as well. After the walls go up for the kitchen they will begin to smooth the interior and exterior walls of both buildings and possibly begin putting in doors and windows. Time will tell but it has been absolutely amazing to watch the progress over the last 10 weeks!

The depot is just about finished! The exterior is smoothed over and the ceramic is finished and it all looks so beautiful! We need to cover the septic hole before we can move in which should be this week so that means move in time is any day now! We are very excited. Zacharie bought me a stove this week, which was our first appliance purchase since we got married so naturally I was very excited. Zacharie made fun of me for pointing this out but hey I think it’s the prettiest stove I ever saw 😉

English School has been going very well! There was probably over 100 people in each class on the first day and even more on the second day! Melissa started by teaching them common greetings and has covered a lot in the last three weeks – Numbers, family members, time, the body, clothing, and more! We are so amazed at what the students are able to retain after just one day of learning each subject. Now the class sizes vary and we have roughly 30-50 kids and 40-60 adults every evening, Monday – Thursday. Many of the kids go to school in the morning and yet still come to class each evening while the adults work long days at the children’s home, in their gardens, or at market, etc and still never miss a class. It’s amazing to see as this willingness & eagerness to attend class is not very common for people in the states! We’re so proud of Melissa as she does not use a translator and with the creole she knows is able to teach without difficulty! It’s awesome!

Lately we have been feeling fatigued from the constant asking from people in the community. I personally get so angry sometimes and want to yell, “Do you think money grows on trees?!” Mostly people ask for just basic needs like a toothbrush or soap, and children for a toy car or even just my half drunken water bottle in my hand. Of course I want to give them everything as it’s easy to see how much everyone is in need but sometimes when you hear the words “give me” 100 times a day it’s hard to remain light hearted and humble. However today when we came to Kaliko, God opened my eyes to how richly I have been blessed in my life and how much I have. I have a bathing suit and sunglasses, which most Haitians that I know do not. I have two towels for everyone in my family and most Haitian families share one. I have a laptop, an Iphone, a car… the list goes on and on. I have so much and these people have so little. I need to remember that God has placed me here so that I can be a resource and hopefully bless the community as they have blessed me in too many ways to count. Many of my family and friends here would give me the shirt off their back if I asked for it. It brings me to tears when I think about all the things they have done for me. We have been paying a sweet friend named Vedna to do our laundry for our family and Melissa once a week. She is 23 years old and has a 5 year old son. This past week she told me she did not want paid, that it was a gift for us. I wanted to stuff the money in her pocket and not let her refuse but God told me no, let her bless us in this way. I was just so touched. What was even more awesome was the next day when we went past her house, there was a line of clothes & linens hanging on a line. She has started a little business by buying items in market and reselling to the community. God works in so many more ways than we are even aware of. I need to remember that yes people may ask a lot but they are in need. Though Vedna did not ask for the job, it was a still a way that God used something we gave to richly bless someone. So I want to remember that if we choose to listen to when God tells us to give, we will be blessed in return.

There are 2 teams coming in April! The first is a medical team and we will have 4 days of clinic in Charrier. This will be awesome for the community as we haven’t had clinic in almost 2 years! It’s always crazy as hundreds of people come for all different sorts of reasons, so please pray that everything goes smoothly! The second team is coming to do a VBS for the kids which is always a blast! My good friend Jill Zimmerman is coming with her daughter, Lauren and I am just so excited to share Haiti with them! Please pray that traveling goes well for both teams and they may experience God in a new way during their time here!

Thank You so much for your prayers for our family! As I’ve said before, we feel God moving in Charrier and we are so happy to be able to be here and serve! Will try to send another update before we leave! Blessings!