Saturday we arrived in the chaotic airplane hangar that has served as the arrival terminal since the earthquake. It was an intense experience for the children but we finally gathered our checked baggage and made it to Heartline’s guesthouse (http://heartlineministries.org/).
The next day we met up with Elise and the GFBC team and rode to Petite Rivierre. The GFBC team had several projects going on while they were here and we all were able to jump in and help.
The team brought over 500 pairs of shoes for the kids at Holy Bible School. They sized and washed each child’s feet, prayed over them, and put a new pair of shoes on them. Kandy, Sam, and Olivia were all able to lovingly wash feet and put shoes on the children. Olivia also worked very hard picking the correct size shoes out of the inventory for each child.
One of the senior team members (or veteran if you prefer), Richard Bradley, headed up a project to build a new classroom for the school. Sam was also able to help with this project cutting rebar, hammering nails, and fetching supplies.
Each night, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we hosted pastoral training at the Holy Bible Church. We used the same 2nd Timothy curriculum that we taught in PNG in March. I taught this study via video conference to some guys from GFBC in April and May. Three of them came on this trip and did most of the teaching. The first night over 50 people were in attendance. Some of those were just curious, but there were still about 30 in attendance by the last night. It was very encouraging to see them break into groups and work through Scripture together. This was a new way of studying the Bible for them but by the third night they were doing some very good work. Josh, John, and Grant did a superb job teaching as well.
The kids have adjusted to being down here pretty well. Everett was a little shy at first but by Tuesday he made some friends and has been wide open since then. Olivia makes a new best friend every 30 seconds so she of course has been great. Sam was able to re-connect with friends from his first trip to Haiti and has been playing soccer and basketball with them.
The next few weeks will be very low-key in comparison to the busyness of the last few days. We will hopefully settle into a routine: cooking meals, hand washing clothes, and filtering water. The kids will have lots of time to play with new friends, read, and relax. The busyness of our summer has caught up with all of us so this will be a welcome respite.
Please continue to pray for us over the next few weeks. Pray that we will stay healthy and be a blessing to those around us. We will be praying for all of you as well.
PS – We can’t post pictures from Petite Rivierre so those will have to wait until we return.
Sanders Party of Five 