21Mar11

21Mar11

Time to try and put some though into a blog post again. Sorry it

has been a while.

I thought being back in Grand Goave and at the beach property

would spring deeper reflections on life again, but I was still

too busy, or at least too distracted.

Now, I’m sitting at the MIA guest house in Les Cayes. Power is

out, and the batteries for the inverter have been exhausted for

the day. The sun has set, and it is getting dark.
I am left alone with my thoughts. The only other person at the

house that speaks english is Jazmin, and he typically doesn’t say

much.

Guess it’s for the best.

Today, my plans changed for picking up josh and the team. They

will get notice soon that they will be picked up by Franz Denis,

a trusted driver with good english who typically picks up the

Hands and Feet Project teams.
I am in Les Cayes, with Jude, to pick up the solar panels and

tools tomorrow morning, then we will rendezvous with Franz and

the guys in Grand Goave around lunch time tomorrow.
It is a good plan, made possible by Pastor Lex offering his Rav4

for me to use to get to Les Cayes today. Overall, it saves us

from a horrific day tomorrow that would have included picking up

the guys (9am), driving to Les Cayes (9-2), packing up (2-3),and

driving to Jacmel (3-8), in what is likely to be an overcrowded

car. Plus it probably saved us about $200.

Again, a simple chance to say, Jehovah-Jireh. I am thankful that

God has put people like Pastor Lex in my life that also

understand last minute changes of plans and limited resources.

Tomorrow will be a sweet day. I am pretty excited to get some

friends in here to work with me, though I am pretty uncertain

what this install will hold for us. Honestly, I haven’t been this

uncertain about an installation since the first one I planned, in

Grand Goave last May. That one went pretty well, and I’ve learned

a lot since then, so we should be good to go.

It looks like we will be working a little bit over at the HAF-

Cyvadier site si Bondye vle to weld together some solar panel

racks, but I probably have to plan for contingencies now and take

a welder with me since I haven’t heard back on that plan yet. It

will all work out though.

I have been realizing more and more that I have been here a while

and begun to acclimate. Some recent examples are:
-Last Sunday, I went to take a nap in my hammock at the beach. I

couldn’t, cause I was cold. It was 80 or so with a good breeze.
-Today, I picked up Jude’s girlfriend to give her a ride into

town and was able to say “mwen pale Kreyol come youn ti moun” (I

speak Kreyol like a child”. It’s a statement that honestly works

well. It lets people know that I am learning the language, but

still only at basic levels. I can communicate, but I can be

confused easily. 🙂

I’m also realizing my dependence on others still. Right now, my

phone has a dead battery, and I have no charger, and even if I

did, the power is out. Also, I am out of minutes on my phone,

which I could recharge if I had internet, if I had power. 🙂

meh, everything will work out.

hopefully josh and the crew are doing ok in miami, cause I can’t

communicate with them right now at all. we’ll see.
my contact in miami had originally said i could get discounts,

but didn’t get any, so we’ll see how that goes on the final

receipt.
i would also like to give josh and them a heads up that if

customs give them any problems, just insist that it is a donation

for an orphanage and they should be fine. worst case i’ve had to

pay about $20 to get an inverter through customs before, so it

shouldn’t be too bad.
they will also be getting picked up by a tall, skinny,bald

haitian man named “Franz Denis” holding up a sign for “Joshua”.

Franz is well known, so even the other porters/taxi drivers

probably know him, and he speaks very good english.