Our Last Night In Haiti

While we are all sad that tonight is our last night in Haiti, we are feeling blessed and encouraged with all the work we got accomplished!  
After we got the Highview rock placed in the corner, we continued building the top part of the wall!
As you can see from the attached picture, the wall is coming along great. 
The Trinity team will continue working on the wall for the next two days before they head home.  The entire team took a break from working today and prayed a blessing on the wall and the property. It was a great moment to share with the team and to celebrate all that God is doing in Haiti!  
Tonight the kitchen staff baked a surprise cake to celebrate Matt and Starrs birthdays. Matt's birthday was today, and Starrs birthday was on May 3. It was great to celebrate both of their birthdays here in Haiti! 
Tomorrow morning we leave the compound at 7:30 am and start our journey back to the Dominican! This will be our last blog post for the 2014 Haiti Team! Our plane lands around 6:00 pm Friday evening! 
We thank you all for your support while we have been here! We couldn't have done it without you guys! Signing off for the last time.

Cornerstone

Good Morning Canada!
 
We are on the construction site, and we just got the Highview rock in the corner! It was a great moment for the whole team. We took some time and prayed, and we all feel encouraged knowing that a piece of Highview will be here for years to come!
 
This rock is a symbol for us to remember that Christ is our cornerstone.
 
We will send another update tonight about our day!

Almost There!

Today was a bit overcast, which was a nice change from the hot sun!
 
This morning, we worked on pouring the footings in the trench. It was great to see the team working together in an assembly line for moving buckets of concrete. As you can see in the picture, we had lots of concrete to pour, and we are glad to report that we finished that job today!
 
The second picture is of Matt standing next to the corner where the rock from the Highview basement is going to go! The corner is on the inside of the property, and the rock will be visible even when the wall is completed. We will report back tomorrow with another blog post about the Highview rock!
 
Tomorrow is our last work day before we leave Haiti! It has been an amazing trip so far, and we thank you all for your prayers and support!

Good morning everyone!

Yesterday was a great day here in Haiti! In the morning, the team all piled into one truck to bring us to the construction site.

Once there, we started the day with removing a large stump from the ground! As you can see from the picture, it took all of us to get it out. Some were pushing the stump from behind, while others pulled with rope! It was a great accomplishment for the team to be able work together and create a plan to remove the stump. 

Once the stump was removed, we were able to dig a trench so we can ‎start building the wall on the opposite side of the driveway. The trench took all day to dig, but by the end of the day, we were ready to pour the footings. Attached is a picture of the team working hard on the trench. 

It has been great being able to hear the encouragement coming from each team member. God is doing things in Haiti, and we pray that by us helping with the construction of this wall, that His work will continue to be done!

Good evening all!

We first want to apologize that we didn't get the blog posted last night! Between getting settled with the new team members, a massive down pour, and our truck breaking down this afternoon, this is the first chance we've had to sit down and write.

Yesterday was a very exciting day here in Haiti! The whole team got to start working together on the wall. It was great to see the collaboration between the Trinity and Highview teams, and the Haitian workers.

We took yesterday afternoon off and visited pastor Gasmagne. It was amazing to see all of the great work that God is doing here. When the team first started building his home, there was nothing else on his property. But now, he has planted corn in his yard and has a lovely gazebo and walking paths. You can see all of the blessings that his family has received since moving into their home. 

This morning we got up and traveled to Hinche for church with pastor Giordani. It was great to hear all the blessings that God is doing in their church. There were over 700 people at church, and 2 of them accepted Christ. ‎Pastor Giordani let us know that they baptised over 50 people in the last year!

We then went and visited a church in Sapate. The church is held in the same school building that our team built in 2008 and 2009! It was great to visit the church and hear the work God is doing there. Aside from being a church on Sundays, it is also a school for 475 students, which is over a 100 more students than in 2009. 

On our way home this afternoon, we burnt out the clutch on our truck. We thank God that he was looking out for us, and there was a van passing by that was able to take us all back to our compound. There was 19 of us packed into this van, and while it was not all of our favorite way of travelling, we all made it back safe and sound!

We have attached 4 pictures for you all to enjoy! Two of them are from our day yesterday working and visiting with pastor Gasmagne, and two are from today visiting with pastor Giordani and the church in Sapate. ‎Thank you all for your prayers and support!

 

Day 2

We have had a great second day building. Everyone seemed to be working a little bit slower from the heat, but we still got lots done! 

We are awaiting the arrival of the Trinity Church team here this evening. They should get here around 7pm. We welcome all of the help that we can get! 

Tomorrow is going to be another exciting day here for us! We are working until 2pm, and then we will be visiting pastor Gismagne's house. In 2011, our team helped contribute to the construction of his home. 

We moved to a different part of the wall and started working on the footings. The wall is really coming along great, and we appreciate all of the prayers and support from our Highview family!

It's a Hot One!

 The team is working hard at the construction site! There is a high of 32 degrees today, so it is a scorcher!  

Everyone is filling up on water and gatorade to keep from becoming dehydrated. As you can see from the pictures, we have made great progress today! ‎The pictures show the start of the day, and the end of the day. 

We have been able to start building great relationships with the local workers. They are providing us with great building instruction, and its been a pleasure working alongside them!

The food here in Haiti has been delicious! I think Keith and Colin both wish we ate this food all the time!

Everyone so far has been having a great trip. Matt has been a little bit sick, but seems to be on the upswing this afternoon. We appreciate all of your prayers for health and safety for the whole team!

Great day of travel to LaJeune. 3 hours by bus, 20 minutes in a small Cessna over the mountains. Not everyone's favorite part of the day. You'll have to guess who loved it and who, not so much!! Toured the site where we'll be working. Lots of prep work has already been done over the last couple weeks, so we're good to go tomorrow morning building the wall, block by block. 2000 blocks are on the site just waiting for us!!! The picture shows us at the site with blocks on one side and the footings for the wall on the other. Temperature is a wonderful work temperature of 32 degrees! We have lots of water! The team thanks God for the privilege of serving Him and the people of Haiti.