Thank you World Servants

We have had a wonderful 2 weeks with the World Servants group.  The school is mostly completed and will be finished soon.
Here is a video sharing some of the highlights from the past 2 weeks.

Almost Finished the School and A Great Soccer Game

Things are continuing to go very well with the World Servants group.  They are diligently working today to finish the school and tomorrow they will have a dedication ceremony to turn the building over to the community.

On Saturday several members of the World Servants group played soccer against a team of men from Atrel.  It was a great game and several people from the community came to watch the game.  At the end of the game it was tied 1-1, so they went to penalty kicks.  In the end the Dutch team won, but everyone had a great time.

 The Atrel Team

 The Dutch Team

 There were a few injuries through out the game but thankfully the nurse was there :)

 Blocking the penalty kicks

We are Thankful

Today as many of our American friends and family are celebrating Thanksgiving, we are enjoying another day in Atrel with the World Servants group.  We truly are thankful for so many things.

We are thankful that everyone is still in great health from the team.
We are thankful that the community is eagerly working along side and helping in any way they can.
We are thankful for good food, especially in an area where many are hungry.

Yes it many not have been a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings, but it sure was delicious.  Our thanksgiving dinner was bulger (cracked wheat) with beans and sauce.

There have been many learning opportunities through out the past week and we praise God that we are all learning from each other and we trust that we are also being drawn closer to God through this experience.

Here are a few pictures from today.

Enjoying our time in Atrel with World Servants

On Thursday of last week we traveled to Atrel once again.  This time it required a significant amount of planning to prepare for a group of 30 people from Holland to come and help build the second floor of the high school building.  Thankfully all the travels went well and everyone arrived in Atrel by Friday afternoon.
It has been a wonderful time of interacting with the people of Atrel and also the World Servants group from Holland.

As many of you know, the area of Atrel is a very dry area of Haiti.  When you receive rain, you are very thankful.  Yesterday it was such a wonderful sound to hear rain falling into our cistern that was being collected off of the roof. 
This morning we took this picture.  It was not raining at our house, but it was raining hard at the school and there was this beautiful rainbow right beside the school.

 The buildings to the right of the rainbow is the church and school.

 Together with some local people and a group of masonry workers the building is coming along.

Each day in the afternoon the group is having a children's program for the children in the school.  The children are enjoying the Bible stories, songs and activities.

 We will be here in Atrel until wednesday of next week.  Please join us in praying that God would continue to help us build relationships with the people of Atrel and that things would continue to go well for the group as they build and get to know the people of Atrel.

Wonderful Week with Mom and Esther

My mom and sister, Esther arrived last Wednesday and spent an amazing week in Haiti.  We were able to spend a lot of girl time together and the kids loved having Grandma and Aunt Esther here.

 We introduced Esther is real oranges straight off the tree.

On Friday morning we went up to Atrel.  It was a fun ride and there were a few muddy sections.  On Saturday we had to transport a very sick deacon from the Atrel church to the nearest hospital about 2 1/2 hours away.  We found a lot more mud on that trip.

 Yes this is the "road"

 We tried the technique of keeping one wheel on the solid ground and one in the mud.  We were really leaning!

 Mom and Esther standing in our "house"

 Enjoying a dinner together in the team house where we currently stay when we are in Atrel.

 Reading the directions together on how to make a skirt for the girls.

 Mom helped hem a couple pairs of Kyrk's pants.  Thanks mom!

 Picnic lunch in the orange grove at the mission in Fermathe.

 Ice cream cones to finish our picnic.

Big thank you to Mom and Esther for coming to visit.  It is always such a huge encouragement to have family come and visit.  It was hard to say good bye to them today, but we are so thankful that they were able to spend the past week with us.

Supplies have arrived and the Cistern is dug!

The long anticipated and prayed for day has arrived!!!  Our container of supplies is here at the mission.

Yesterday we were told that our container of supplies to build our house may be arriving last night.  This was amazing news.  Typically large trucks are not allowed to come up the mountain until late at night.  This meant that we were expecting it to arrive after 9 pm and then have to unloaded it in the dark.  But the truck never came, so we then thought it would probably arrive late tonight.  To our surprise the truck pulled into the mission around 1:00 this afternoon.  This is a miracle.
We were able to unload it in the day light and also had several of our workers here to help unload the truck.

Many of you have been joining us in praying that there would be a way to get these supplies into country.  A few months ago this looked impossible, but God open the door and we were able to get them into country under the mission franchise, meaning that we didn't have to pay large customs fees on them.  God truly is amazing.

A full load of materials.  Most of the 2x4's were for the mission to use for roof trusses of schools, churches or houses that we build.

Unloading the steel studs

The other great news is that we were given the okay from the mission to continue the work on the cistern and the concrete floor of the basement.  This okay was given in faith that the funds will continue to come in to cover all the costs to build the cistern.

Today Kyrk took a trip to Atrel to check on the progress of the preparations of a school building.  He showed Boss Joubert what the next step will be with the cistern at our house.  We are hoping that while we are in Atrel Nov. 16- 28 we will be able to get most of the concrete work done hoping to have everything ready to build the structure in January.

This hole for our water cistern was dug by 20 local men.  We are so thankful for the help of the local people.

So..... the call is going out to anyone interested in helping build our house.  We are looking for people to come January, February or March (maybe April also, depending on how quickly things progress)
We are looking for skilled construction workers (preferably with some experience with steel stud construction).  As construction progresses we will need electricians, plumbers and general construction workers.

If you our your church is interested in partnering with us in this practical way email us: kydebaker@yahoo.com

Christmas Creations

Kouri Dèyè (the jewelry project) is now making Christmas ornaments!

Here are some pictures to let you see what the ladies are creating:

 

 The ornaments are made out of scrap-book like paper.

 

 

The beads are cut, rolled, glued, and varnished the same as our jewelry.

 

 

We have 4 main colors.  White & Gold,  Green & Gold, White & Red, Red & White.

 

Each ornament is $2.50.  BUT, if you buy today you can have a special discount of 2 ornaments for only $5!

 

 

In true Kouri Dèyè fashion we also have some ornaments made from cereal boxes:

 

These ornaments come in a variety of colors.  They are being sold 4 ornaments for $1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All orders can be sent to: kydebaker@yahoo.com (yes, that's me!)

 

Look forward to hearing from you and adding some Haitian decor to your Christmas tree this year.