Hi friends,

How do these weeks go so fast? Okay, could it be because I had so much to do last week, I wondered how it would all get done? Could be huh? When I was in college, my grandmother was 80 and I went to college close enough to her apartment to walk to her place for lunch once a week. I remember once I told her that my morning had gone soooooo slooooowwwww. She laughed and said "Wait until you are my age, the days go so fast, and I get nothing done and wonder what happened to the day!" I think of my grandma often these days when I wonder where the day went and what in the world I even got done!

I really didn't wonder what I got done last week, it went fast because I was doing so much and had so much to do! I told you about the medical team in the journal last week. They did 4 days of clinic and by the third day I was talking 1/2 Kreyol and 1/2 English to everyone! Too much of too many languages...but it was fun. They figured they saw close to 300 people a day, for 4 days, this was including of course the children that came in with parents. But, that is still a lot of people with only 3 doctors! Not many dull moments. It was great, but I was glad when it was over. The lady that leads the teams, Barbara and her friend Shirlee came over to the house with the 2 men that came with them (after the team left) and had coffee on Sat. afternoon. It was nice to sit quietly and talk for awhile, plus they brought over a whole bunch of medicine that I can use to give out to people while they are gone. What a blessing they have been to the people of Marfranc and also to us! They brought down 2 bags of cat food for our cats and some meds that we needed! A huge thank you to them, plus they blessed us by just visiting with us, it was nice. We just didn't get to see them much, hopefully there will be many more clinics in the future and they can spend more time on our porch!

This weekend was crazy and fun with two different Youth activities for the Marfranc Baptist Youth in the Marfranc District (6 different churches). On Saturday, they had a Youth Day, at the Baptist camp next to us. It was a one day event, with 2 different speakers (Pastor Plaisir and a man who teaches agriculture) lots of music, singing and praying and a great lunch (cooked by 2 ladies from the Marfranc church) and then fun time before they went home. There were 40 young people at the event and they had a great time. They were from the Marfranc, Moron and Chameau as well as Faith of the Apostles church. They paid $10 H for the day ($1.25 US) and because I had some money left over from the Youth Camp this summer, they were able to have a great lunch, with plenty of food! It is because of the generosity of many of you that we can continue to help the young people of this District and ville do the activities that they do! They had so much fun that they want to organize another 3 day camp during Mardi Gras. Traditionally they churches will have Church Youth Camps during Mardi Gras time so that they have Christian activities to go to instead of the drinking/dancing parties during that time of year. Marfranc has not been able to do it for many, many years and the kids are so excited. I think I still have enough money to do this last event, it is such a blessing for them to be able to be together, enjoying the company of each other in a Christian activity! Plus they are very grateful for the help that we are all able to give them. If you are interested in contributing to youth activities, donations are always welcome, they can be sent to NLH with a note saying Youth activities!

Then on Sunday.....the youth decided that they wanted to go to Azile (the old folks home in Marfranc) and have a singing worship service for them. What I thought was going to be a small, maybe 15 youth going and singing and praying with the people of Azile....turned out to be quite the event! Marfranc Baptist church youth, Faith of the Apostles Youth and the Church of God Youth (Marfranc) all came with choral groups and their pastors and Pastor Plaisir invited the entire church, on Sunday morning, to come and worship with the youth at Azile. Vilex started recorded Praise and Worship music for the residents at 2:30.......I brought cookies and lemonade for everyone and at 3:00 as the youth started to arrive, I had them pass out cookies and drinks to the residents. Then at 3:30 we started the service, which included, lots of singing by everyone (hymns and praise music), special music from the 3 youth groups, some prayers and more praise music.....we finally stopped at 5:00, which wasn't too bad! The residents had a great time, some were standing up and dancing while we were all singing, they clapped, held their hands up in praise and sang and sang and sang! The youth got a kick out of watching everyone have a great time and it was a blessing for everyone there. For me, it was especially wonderful because in the Haitian culture the elderly are not always respected by the youth and I think that is because they aren't taught how to do it. The youth had no idea how to make these people happy and it was so easy and they had fun doing it! I hope that they will continue to want to do this every couple of months, it was nice.

I'm including a video...not sure it will upload to Brian who does the web page, and if it does....there is no sound! Not sure why, except that when I got home, there wasn't any sound...I don't think I have a speaker on my camera...anyway, the music and clapping was 1/2 of the fun of the video, but thought I'd send it just in case anyone wanted to see it! If only you could have heard the singing!

Last night it rained...really, really hard, for a long, long time! There was major lightning and thunder. I just couldn't wake up enough to sit on the front porch, but I bet it would have been spectacular! This morning, our yard looked like a lake! Okay, not quite, but was pretty flooded. I took some pictures, so take a look! Steve needs to do some walls and drainage ditches up on the hill behind the house, we have a river that comes down the hill...runs into the front, then we have another one that comes in from the side by the depot.....together they do a great job of filling up the yard! Yuck! The back behind the house doesn't hold water...just turns into a red mud sink hole...can't walk anywhere without sinking into the mud!

The work guys are finishing the dorm rooms and bathrooms this week, I'll send you some pictures next week of the progress.....it is quieter so far this week, I'm looking forward to getting more things done on the house...like emptying a few more boxes, and hanging a few more pictures! Will keep you updated.....

As always, we covet your prayers, thank you for praying for us and for the Haitian people that we so love. God is good and we feel His loving presence each and every day!

May God continue to bless each and every one of you!

Ke Bon Dieu beni ou.

Joline