Second day...not a second too late...

So for the second day of our journey...we started out with a nice breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs made by Joe and Tammy, our local missionaries from Georgia. Once we ate, we headed out to our different projects. Bryan, Chad, Olin, Angie, Andrea, and I headed out to build a cinder block house for a widow and her five children while our teachers Sarah, Julia & Heidi gathered their supplies for school. After getting their supplies together, they came out to where we were building the house. The house & the school are close to one another in Jubilee. Lala, or Laura Lynn (another missionary & teacher), gathered the younger kids around to play games out in front of the house we were building. After they had played games for a bit, Lala, Heidi, Sarah, & Julia took the older children (4th & 5th graders) to the school to teach them basic English vocabulary. These were the kids who couldn't continue going to the local school for one reason or another. While our teachers were off teaching, the rest of the team helped build the house for the widow. It was rough having only basic tools at our disposal, but it was good to have a practical way to serve & make a difference. The best part though was the break time where we got to hang out with the kids in the shade, play soccer with the boys, and and learn to spin tops, too. We also got to meet the widow and play with her five children. By late afternoon we had helped the Haitian work crew led by Adison & Dieukiby (pronounced Jackie-bye) put up four walls of the house. We also cleaned up the yard around the house with the help of the kids that were around. Going into the evening, we had supper and then devotion time. During that time, the situation regarding Youvendjy, the little boy mentioned in the previous post, really started to hit home. The mother showed up with the police to take back her child. Lala had been taking care of him because he was malnourished & sick and because the mother wasn't going to take care of him & had actually threatened to harm him. This little boy has been on our hearts, so please be praying with us for the health and welfare of Youvendjy. Tomorrow Lala goes to court to appeal for this child's well-being. If the appeal fails, he will stay with his mom and could die of malnutrition, pnenomia, or potentially by the neglect & abuse of his mother. Please continue to pray for this situation and for the rest of the work going on here in Haiti.

Daniel

P.S. Sorry that I didn't get a chance to post this blog last night. The situation that developed with Youvendjy lasted late into the night. Also, the Internet has been slow & intermittent at best during the day...