Yesterday and today were memorable days in Haiti. We have been splitting up in into small groups to get more accomplished and the days have been intense! Yesterday, Fr Edward Bentley arrived from Gallet-Chombon after two days of work. He had with him two missionaries and they had gathered all the materials needed for a big project. We will be building pews for the Immaculate Conception parish. At the moment the faithful at mass sit on the floor and on broken chairs. By January 9th, they will have nice wooden pews! Fr Edward and his team succeeded in buying all the lumber and transporting it to the church. They also designed and built the first pew to serve as a model for the missionaries in January. They had many adventures including donkey riding, coconut eating and a very long soccer tournament.
Another group went to the Home for the Dying in Carrefour, Haiti. There we helped serve the sick with the Missionaries of Charity. We brought some toys for the children and helped feed some of the weaker patients. Fr Michael gave last rites to an ailing woman and the doctor in our group took care of a lot of new patients that had arrived that morning. After two hours we said good bye and headed back to Port-au-Prince. On Friday we will return to help with the big Christmas clean-up and decoration.
Here is the winning soccer team. The soccer team Chicago Fire donated many soccer balls and t-shirts for the tent city. The boys were ecstatic about receiving them!
Another group went to the Children’s home and again passed out food to 500 people. The sisters had prepared a Christmas package for the poor. It was beautiful to be a part of it and the final link in the chain that reaches from many generous people across the world all the way to the hands of the poorest of the poor.
As well we also decorated the children’s home for Christmas. We pulled the boxes of decorations out of the sisters attic and proceeded to decorate the windows and door of the orphanage. We hung the lights and wreaths to the delight of all the children who sensed Christmas was fast approaching.
Another group had a Christmas party for the children at a poor school in Port-au-Prince. We brought over Christmas bags and filled them with candy, soap, toothpaste, clothes and toys. The children had a great time playing games and winning prizes and wearing their Christmas hats.
Today we built desks for the school and delivered a large shipment of soccer balls to the tent city. Grant, Jorge and Connor were hard at work on the desks all morning and finished them in record time.
Thanks for your prayers and support! We will be home on Saturday!
