Sept 20 2nd day dental work

hello all. today we started the day with devotions and then we had a yummy breakfast of pancakes and bananas. we got work around the same time as yesterday. i have to tell you that i love this team like family. we have all worked hard and had fun together. we worked like we had been partners for a long time. I hope to keep in touch with them after we leave. by the way i want a machete but i dont think that the us will let me bring one back. I have presents for grandma. yeay. well the dentists saw 41 patients today which is 1 more than yesterday but the pace seemed to be slower however some of the extractions were a bit difficult. the haitian people have strong bones. when it takes two doctors several tries to remove one tooth and you can see thier frustration thinking we may have to send him home without removing it you really feel for them and the patient. they did get it out though and it was the largest tooth i have ever seen in my life. lanae kept it because it was so big. for lunch we had a yummy soup that had cabbage and carrots and chicken and beef and plantains (ewwww) and dough bites in it and as always the yummy bread. after lunch back to work. i love having worship on all day long and we were singing to it too and the haitians were watching us with bright eyes and the love of god in thier hearts. so many thank yous and god bless yous. i learbed how to ask are you ok in creole today. amazing who would have thought i would learn another language. i am seriously considering coming back next year. i left early to ride with some of the others to the orphanage to look at karen’s kids teeth. out of all her 17 kids only one had any work that needed to be done. this will be done tomorrow afternoon. thye are a wonderful family and all the kids thanked us is a chant that was louder each time. you have never seen so many wonderfully behaved and happy children. we could learn a lot from them. i told karen i loved her beautiful children. i have a pamphlet for her mission/ministry for us to look at. it is something to consider donating to. today we gave her the $100 love donation and she was tickled. I brought the shoes to mariah that i promised her and she tried them on and dont you know a perfect fit. i was so happy because she was so happy of a pair of dress shoes and a pair of flip flops. i am blessed because she is blessed by such a small gesture. it amazes me because we wear the same shoe size and she is shorter than me. can you believe it? tell em that isnt god. so i forgot to mention on sunday we did hear some drums during the day but they didnt last long. thants right god is here and he doesnt like it when the glory isnt to him. i stopped spraying the nasty bug spray cause they were eating me anyway. i wasnt as sweaty today so it was a great day. i laughed cause tim was working the truck and everytime you look he has about 10 haitian men right there leaning over him wanting to help and watch what he was doing and apparently the hen with chicks was roosting under the truck and she tried to attack tim when he went to the truck to work on it. imagine a big man backing away from a chicken. hysterical right? so when we came back we packed up the supplies and put them away for tomorrow and then hung out and listened to the kids play. there was a lady giving massages so some of the guys got one. they seemed very relaxed when done lol. i would be too. we went and ate dinner. it was rice with bean sauce and the the creole sauce and some like pickle (which is like onions and peppers very hot but good) and the rolls also there was fried drumsticks. all the food has been amazing. except the plantains which i dont like but everyone seems to like. it was almost dark when we left from dinner. the kids were playing in the yard and so was i chasing noah and abe and some of the local children. i was shinning the flash light on them saying i see you and then cutting it off and saying where did they go. we had a blast.one of the local children was fascinated with my tattoo. she was touching and smiling. also one the cooks rosalyne laughs at me and pats my belly when i thank her for the food. ha ha it is funny cause she isnt being mean or rude st thier way. i think she likes me. then we came in a did devontions and chrsitina sang a worship sone then we sang one together (as a group). we did some hands on prayer for the younger dentist adam. lanae and tim and i played a game called clr. i won all but two games. yeah i rock lol. i laughed a lot today cause there are goats toed up all over and they baa and bleat all day long. one of them seems to talk more when ben is around and we tease him and tell him his friend is looking for him and when the goat bleats it almost sounds like is is saying ben. it is raining again and it rained most of the day so we were a lot cooler than yesterday. it was almost cold with the wind blowing in. i loved it. and it has been raining for a few hours now so the bugs are crazy. im a walking itchy spot but its ok. my allergies have hardly bothered me i can breath out of both sides of my nose and it is great. these bugs think i am candy though. i fint them in my shirt when i undress at night. i always knew i was sweet as sugar. they do have soda and it is made with real cane sugar in these tall skinny bottles. i can hear a cow mooing somewhere close by outside the compound. so many sights and smells and sounds. i am loving it. well the bugs are attacking my screen so i am gonna close it and go to bed. i miss you all terribly and i miss my wednesday night bible study but we do devotions in the am and the pm. oh and he/she who prays before the meal gets to eat first. oh yeah i am a praying fool lol. power has goe out a few time while they are working on the inverters and the generators. it happened during dinner and the best part is the conversation didnt stop. i love it here and will miss everyone when i leave but i miss my family so much right now. i know eleyna would love it here and have fun playing with all the children. love you all and miss you all so much. good night.

Sept 19th 1st day Dental Work

Ok first let me tell you that it is hot very hot.although the ladies say this isn’t as hot as last year. lol thank you god. I knew I was gonna struggle with the heat but it rained last night and then again tonight. The breeze is fabulous. I had a hard time yesterday with my emotions. I was so hot and since I quite smoking ust before this trip I had a bit of a kirk out but I took some benadryl and went to sleep. I think I needed to make up for lost sleep the night before and everyone was really nice about it and didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. The whole team is amazing and I told them I would like to keep in touch after we leave. For breakfast we had corn flakes and bananas and hard boiled eggs. There are the rolls they are so good and they are form a local bakery in town. Let me tell you that everyone around here loves peanut butter and smuckers (at every meal). So we had breakfast and then we got started on the dental work. some of the dental team had already done most of the set up (wait till you see the pictures) we had chairs on center blocks and were seatin them four at a time. I lead prayer this morning before we started (I have been in charge of devotional time) and then we leapt in and got to work 30 min early. We all work very hard and the total patients seen from 7:30 am to 4:15 we took care of 40 people with two dentists and two dental assisstants.Donna Binkley who is a nurse sutured a womans wound today. The woman and her brother got into a fight and he cut her with some sort of tool like a shovel or a pick axe and apparently it was a nasty meaty open wound. I don’t know if we are allowed to do that but Donna did a wonderful thing. The haitian people are an amazing and beautiful people. Not once did a single one of them cry out or scream or hollar and they were in pain. They may have winced but wouldnt allow any outward noise. What a strong people. The children were so good and sat so still and didnt make a peep. American children could learn a lot from these people. Watson and Lovelan and Ben translated for us today as well as Donna Binkley. It was amazing to watch all that was going on amidst sterilization of the tools. We worked our butts off and everything went so smooth it was like we had all worked with each other before. Isn’t god amazing. They worship leader of the church across the street came over and had the haitians singing and it was beautiful to hear during breakfast. W went and had lunch around 12-1 ish and we had ham and cheese sammiches with pineapple bits and the yummy rolls. We went and got those rolls before dinner. It was so hot in the building where the bread furnaces were. we got yelled and and call white in creole all over the plac. it was funny Lovelan was given crap by a guy for being with us when we to get the bread. A lot of the children and people ust waved and yelled bonswa (spelled frenetically). The women that cook are so funny Rosalyn likes purple like me as we discovered when i mentioned that i liked her purple dress. She patted my rump yesterday (oh and christina’s too) and today she patted my tummy when i asked her if her mouth was doing okay after her dental work. I don’t think she understands me but she is sweet and friendly. After every meal we carry the dishes and the leftovers into the kitchen and thank them for a bon meal. I cant remember it now but i learned to say thank you and swish and rinse in creole. Everyday someone comes onto the compound to sell us their goods. Lovely Jewellry or paintings or machetes or woods items of all kind. the one lady was here well after dark but it was nice to hear the kids out in the yard playing in the dark. it sounded like they were having a great time. Oh and hunter and Bronson i told Abe & Noah i would say hi to you for them and that they miss you. I love those boys to death. they are so cute and clean their plates. they say they know a piti piti amount of creole. We rested after dinner and chatted about tomorrow. We had devotions after that and we prayed and the worked on a game plan for tomorrow. This has been one for the most amazing experiences of my life and so far I am contemplating coming back next year. oh karla watson told me today that i was funny. when we left to go into town we saw a bunch of the kids playing in the outer courtyard but like most of the people around here they stopped to look and the blanc people. it is so funny. I will say one thing….god loves me cause so far it has rained the last two evenings and it is helping me to sleep. im sorry now for the confusing timeline it is a lot to remember and to share but they playing a movie about esus in creole for the patients waiting today and it was great they really seemed to like it. we brought a woman and her son intot the room to wait for next chair and we took mom then the boy was waiting but he was trying to peer around the corner to see the movie so we told him he could watch and we would come get him. one woman was crying she was so moved so she was wiping her eyes with her dress and some of the people were freaking out until ben told them that she was crying because of esus and not mouth pain. If you have never woken up and taken a low pressure cold shower then you dont know how refreshing it is. i know this is a lot to read but i want you all to be here with me and see this with me and feel what i have felt. i have never been so moved as i have been while here. well im gonna kill this bug and then curl up on my bunk and go to sleep listening to the sound of the raindrops. Oh when we went to karens yesterday and met all those lovely children she calls her own it made my heart swell to know that this was not an orphanage that she loves these children and she will house and feed them until they are older. that these children she considers her children. they all came in and hugged each one of us not knowing who we were and we talked with them and held them and played with them. they were so cute. we are giving her a love donation instead of going to the beach. her haitian grandaughter was there helping out and she has worn out all her shoes and her flip flops broke while we were there and do you know that we were the same shoe size so i am giving her my flip flops and my new dress shoes which gave me horrible blisters. i am sending these with adam when he goes to loom at thier teeth tomorrow. I am glad that she will get use out of them for i know i will not wear them again. how amazing that someone shorter than me wears the same shoe size and i happened to have extra shoes. god is really working here. i have had so much fun and loved paying with the young ones and talking to the staff including the guards who got work done on their teeth today. so i wanted to tell you that watching a grown man and two small boys chase after a hen and her 9 chicks was the funniest thing ever. ok starting to get sleepy so good night for now. i am sure ill remember more adventures for you tomorrow. love you all and miss you all.

Sunday

Well know that grandma has been patiently waiting for word on whats going on. Well we did’t have any problems on either of the plains. The plain was small I was definately afraid I was gonna loose my lunch every time we ascended or descended. On the Plain from Miami to Port Au Prince we met a very nice Haitian man who was here on business but was gonna visit his homeland. we couldn’t see much of the topography because the wing was in the way but  we chatted with this gentleman.  Once we got through the pap airport it was a very long ride. If you have ever complained about our roads at home don’t here they dont have pot holes they have craters in the road. There really is no speedlimit or control on the road. On the ride to piere piel we saw everything from huge tent cities to naked children in the streets or swimming in the water chanels on the sides of the road. we saw lol policeman pushing thier truck up the road. They use thier horns a warning system. The horns are a constant background noise. The tent cities were exstensive  and all over. The amount of homeless people was staggering. The children and people begging for any kind of hand out was sad. The music that welcomed us at the airport was pretty and fun to wiggle to (sorry i know this is all scrambled but i am trying to fill you in on everything i can remember). The streets are narrow in some places and pretty much nothing but gravel and huge rocks in others. edgar picked us up from the airport and nicely answered our tons of questions. We arrived and settled in the room. us four ladies in one room and the gents in the other. the rest of the team is awesome. they are so friendly and boy were we glad to see them at the airport. We have all formed a fast bond with the team members. there is the dentist who are d and adam and there is also tim & lanae (father and daughter) and donna binkley (who speaks to the Haitians for us some) she is a surgical nurse. When we got her we stopped at the piere piel compound and then continued on to the borel compound. We me betty and ken who are living here and waiting for their house to be completed on the compound. The team leader michael wheeler. We have a very nice young lady who is helping to translate and answer questions her name is lovelan and she is 15 and adorable. the couple from proect water are here. their two boys are so cute. i love them already and i think they like us too. abe and noah (who is the oldest) we chatted and watched them ride their bikes and speak piti piti creole. it was amazing. the mountains are spectacular and the beach was lovely. we got her and settled in then had spaghetti haitian styl. it was so good. the rolls we have with every meal are sooooo good. I have noticed they like peanut butter and schmuckers a lot around her. fresh watermelon too. we had devotionals in the evening and got to know each other a little better. it is so hot that i had trouble sleeping and when the dogs and roosters were making a ruckus in the wee hours i was awake wishing i could sleep. finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning when it cooled down. got up around 6 something and took a very slow cold shower it was invigorating. we had breakfast at 7am of oatmeal ( i didn’t have any) and the most amazing small bananas and watermelon and those rolls. after that we went back to the house and separated the meds for tomorrows procedures and set up the are to be worked on. the people watch us closely but they are friendly. met Watson and Ben at dinner Saturday night. when it gets dark it gets dark. we set for tomorrow and then we went to a local orphanage run buy a Canadian woman (who has been here for 17yrs) however its more like a home for these children. they are Karen babies and she loves everyone of them the smallest one thought i was fascinating and checked out my necklace and my glasses. she thought i was amazing. i cant wait for you guys to see the pictures i took at the compound today. oh sorry we had break fast and then went to church across the street. this church was the most amazing display of worship i have ever seen. i dnt know what they were saying but i got chills and almost cried a few times. i feel the holy spirit mving through the building. it was beautiful to see and hear the haitians all dressed up and singing their hearts out. it was one of the most moving things i have ever experienced. after that we worked on the meds for the dental stuff for tomorrow morning again. but after the orphanage we went for a walk around the compound which is huge by the way and there are rice patties all around the backside. so far i have seen horses and donkies and dogs. no cats and chickens and goats everywhere. i mean not one visible cat anywhere. then we came back to relax and rest. it started to rain and the breeze was amazing. when we were having devotionals tonight the wind was blowing the curtains about straight out and then there was a huge lightning bolt followed by thunder. it felt wonderful god loves me. im still struggling with the no smoking but its going well. for lunch today we had tuna penne pasta with salad (lettuce cucumber and fresh avocado. it was so good. and then for dinner we had a Haitian treat of rice with a bean cause (yum) and on the side was some vegetable stew like thing that was ot of this world good and i of course had a second helping. the ladies in the kitchen are friendly we dont understand each other but i know that one of the kitchen ladies likes the color purple (kindred spirits). after that we had devotional. ok getting really tired gonna go for now however this is all p to speed untill tomorrow. talk to you guys later. loved you all and miss you all. oh karla btw abe and noah miss hunter and bronson soo much they wanted us to tell you. love you all cant wait to come home and share my experience with you. chat later. love you all bye bye.