These are some of the many vehicles and machines Nicky has to keep up and fix.

The kids are working and playing too.

Anything but bored

Today is Sunday,  what a relief to have some rest.  I mean some because we went to church this morning at 9:30,  we did have our choice of going to one that started at 6:30 or the one at 9:30.  I was disipointed in myself that I forgot to bring my camera to the service.  The worship was amazing, Everything was in creole but you could just feel God's presence there.  They started out with about an hour of praise and worship, I recognized some of the contemporary music we sing at our church.  Then they had preaching and was over at 11:00, I was told that since today was election day they cut the service short it normally goes to after noon.  but what a blessing to experience Haitians worshiping. 
   After church all the Global Outreach staff gathered for lunch since we had so much turkey and fixings left over from Thursday.  We don't get together very often, but we did get together last night for cake, Xander turned 7yrs yesterday. 
  We got settled into the house we are staying in.  We had a pretty restful night until about 4:30 when the roosters started to crow.  There are so many chickens just roaming around.  Yesterday I was hanging out some towels to dry and the kids were chasing a chicken and her chicks,  they caught about three of them.  They wanted to keep them and I had to make them give them back to their mother.  The things they do for entertainment.  Next Nicky will have them chasing the goats and trying to ride them..HaHaHa.  Neither the chickens or the goats belong to Global.  They somehow get through the fence even with necklaces made of sticks to try and keep them from getting out of their home fence.
  The kids are so excited about getting to hand out food again tomorrow morning.  It is hard to find time to homeschool.  There are always things that need to be done,  Items that have been donated need to be sorted out so they can get donated to the right people,  food trailers need to be cleaned and repaired to try to keep bugs and rats and mice out.  Who knew when I would see the day that I sifted the bugs (big and little) out of the cream of wheat and flour that I buy at the grocery store.  And lizards are all over the house, but they are good because they eat the mosquitoes and other bugs.  Which is great but they leave little presents on my counters in the kitchen.  This is all part of being in Haiti.  Xander got stung yesterday by a wasp of some sort,  the other missionaries down here say that is very common since they build nests everywhere and they are very hard to see until it is too late. He got to go play with his friend Josiah and that made it better.  He also got to go swimming on his birthday he loved it.  The kids are transitioning well, Nicky stays so busy working on all the machinery here, He says he will nver get caught up.  And me well I'm still trying to get settled, I hope it doesn't take the whole three months. 

Busy week

When we got to the compound they put us in an apartment above the volunteer quarters.  We thought this was going to be our home for this three months.  They are very nice apartments, king size bed, small refrigerator, one bathroom.  There are two apartments upstairs, one is able to get internet from the neighbors and the other one has a small window unit air conditioner in the bedroom.
   They told us we would be moving to a house on compound that is closer to the shop, where Nicky is working.  It doesn't have an airconditioner but has lots of trees surrounding it.  But it is near the road.  Praise the Lord we have nice places to stay.  It gets kind of hard getting used to no hot water especially in the shower and having to add clorox to your dish water.  We try to take our showers at the hottest part of the day so it feels refreshing. 
    We have had the volunteer quarters all to ourselves so it has not been so hectic.  Starting next Monday there will be teams starting to come in.  I will help cook for them.  We, all of us here with Global Outreach, are getting together for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.  Someone has donated turkeys for us to have. 
   The kids have loved being able to see the Samaritans purse helicopter take off from behind the apartment. It is pretty amazing how it can land so close to the buildings with heavy winds blowing.  I have been having trouble getting used to the grease they use to cook with.  I had my gall bladder out last December.  There are certains things that I shouldn't eat.  I'm praying that I get used to what I can and can't eat.  So I could use prayers for that.   We really do appreciate everyones support and prayers.  You can email us at nrunk16@gmail.com.

  I hope this blog doesn't sound scattered but I'm homeschooling the kids at the same time I write this.  Please be praying that I am able to teach the kids in a fun, loving way and not get too aggitated with them.  Xander seems to have a hard time concentrating and keeping his mind on his own work, he always blurts out the answers before Ellie can think about her work. 
   We had the great opportunity to hand out food to the senior citizens in the community yesterday.  Every Monday morning Judy and all the kids on the compound handed out enough rice, beans, garlic, pasta,spices and oil to last them the week.  It was awesome to see the kids interacting with the Haitian people.  Ellie told me a little later that "that was cool".  They are so excited to do it next Monday.

Haiti pics

A bit overwhelmed

We have been here for three days now and we have been reminded how slow things go here.  Nicky has been working on one truck where they got one thing fixed and found another thing that needs to be fixed.  After spending all day trying to find that part in Port, they decided to order it well to save the $250 to have it shipped in and pay customs.  They are trying to get it shipped to a team that is coming down in a week and a half so they can bring it in with them.  I think this part weighs a couple of ounces. 
  Nicky feels overwhelmed because at this rate nothing will get accomplished well at least as Nicky would like for them to. Please pray for us to not get discouraged. 
  We are all doing well. Nobody has gotten sick. Praise the Lord!  Its pretty easy going here.  You just can't get in a hurry, it won't do you any good. 

Arrived

We got up about 3:30 Monday morning to get ready to go to airport.  We needed to get to aiport by 5:50 to check in.  Our plane left at 7:20.  We had a long day going through the Charlotte and Miami airports before arriving in Port-Au-Prince.  We got through customs and got our luggage without any problems.  Praise the Lord!  Dave Heady picked us up from the airport and we took the ride to the Global compound.  That was very interesting.  They don't have traffic lights and lines on the roads like we do in the States, but we made it safely to the compound.  they had dinner ready when we got there and we got to meet and talk with the other missionaries on the compound.  Then it was bed time.  I don't remember ever getting in bed before 8pm.  But just being here was a relief and we slept so good.  Although the sun started coming up at 5:15.  We got an early start getting settled in the apartment we are going to be staying in.  I guess we will have to get ajusted to going to bed earlier and getting up earlier.  It's kind of hard getting wifi, I have to leave the apartment and get closer to one of the houses, but I will keep updating often.  Thanks again for all the continued prayer.