were home safe

Well folks we are home and safe , we had a great trip and much was accomplished for the Lord . We want to thank all who contributed to this misson trip ,it would not have been possible without you , your prayers were so appreciated as well . Although we had some excitement along the way we were protected by Gods watchful eyes . I know there will be more to do in the future so we will let you know what the plans are . If anyone would like to sponsor a child at the school ,there are many children waiting and praying for someone to sponsor them so they too can to school with their friends . You can contact karen at karenhuxter@hotmail.com and I know she would be glad to set you up with a sponsored child for only $ 200.00 per year - that covers their uniform, books , tutition and some to pay teachers salary . The children are also fed while they are there , a huge blessing . well must go , God Bless you All Gerry

Ten Thousand Angels - Day 13

Dear loved ones and friends

The reason for the title is that I (Gerry) woke up this morning and felt impelled to ask God to surround our team today with the 10,000 angels. And I believe that God answered that prayer with what happened later in the morning.

We were at the job site, starting to run the cement for the roof when we ran out of gas for the cement mixer. Dickie, Karen, Ed and Cabano decided they would run for the fuel. As they were turning the corner to come unto the road to the compound a tap tap hit them in the rear passenger side just behind the rear wheel. Cabano flew unto the cab of the tap tap; Ed was knocked off the back of the truck and twisted his ankle - not real seriously - mostly sore. Inside the vehicle, Karen flew across the cab toward Dickie and suffered a knock to the head and possible cracked ribs. Dickie was knocked out and suffered a cut to his nose. When we reached the truck it was surrounded by forty to fifty Haitians and growing. There was a lot of yelling and screaming going on and our people were standing around in shock. The police did not arrive for almost an hour and a good part of the morning was taken up with settling the accident with the other driver and the Justice Department. We know that God was watching over and protecting them through this ordeal and we give Him all the honour and glory. Please pray that there is not too much stiffness and pain for all them.

Back to the job site - we poured cement until 2:30pm and then the job was finished. Everyone was so happy. We have had comments that maybe it wsas a bigger job than we thought when we came down - you're right - it was!!!

After we finished paying the men we invited the workers who had been with us for the whole two weeks to come over to the compound for a final good-bye and to give them some small gifts.

It was a great time of sharing.

Then after the workers left the children from the compound came to the meeting room for their good-byes. This was a very emotional time. The children took turns singing for us - in English. And then there were the hugs and kisses....

This is the last blog before we reach home. Thank you all for all your prayers and love - it has made all the difference.

Love and prayers

Haiti 2009 Team

We will leave you with some pics of the last day and some of the kids.

See you soon.

Praise the Lord Day 12

Yes, indeed friends and loved ones - Praise the Lord!!

We had a large crowd at church this morning; about 80 or so - and may I remind you church was to begin at 7am but by the time the most of the Haitians arrived it was really 7:45am - that's the way it works down here - time is not of the essence.

It was a great service and one of the highlights for me was when Luckner - who led the service asked if anyone wanted to pray and one little girl - Milande - wanted to pray- and did - for those who were in prison - dear child - God bless her - what an inspiration!!

I was privileged to be able to preach again and the message was well received. Praise and worship was awesome.

Another highlight was at the end of the service when we had a service of laying on of hands for Karen and Luckner and the work that is done here at HATS. Gerry led in this part of the service and challenged those present to be unified in Spirit and to work together to accomplish what God wanted done here. When he was finished he asked if they understood what he was saying - some said yes and some said no. It was good to see and hear their honesty - and Gerry took pains to explain what he meant again - It was real Spirit filled time.

The other Praise the Lord for the day - is that we finished all the form and metal work and we are ready to start pouring 6am tomorrow morning. After the work was finished we had a talk with the workers and they asked questions of us and we responded. One Haitian asked if we had confidence in the work that they did? I (Gerry) told them that when I first saw the forest of small poles, my confidence went down, but when all the iron work was finished my confidence went up again and the Haitians thought that was funny.

Another Praise the Lord Item - Alex who has some form of CP walked 8 feet on his own today. We are all praying that by this time next year he will be walking and running on his own - you pray to that end too, please.

We finished about 3pm, had a rest and now we are going over to Luckner's for a break. The ladies in the kitchen are making us some tuna sandwiches to take with us so that we won't have to rush back for supper.

Well we are back from Luckner's place and we had a great time. We went onto the roof of his house and had a picnic. We ate the sandwichs and had a soda and chatted with each other and some shared about their time in Haiti and Luckner shared his thoughts about our visit. We were truly blessed.

Here are some pics from the day

1. The main house on the compound 2. Almost finished the roof 3. Tent City where most of the guys live 4. Germaine cooking supper on the charcoal because we ran out of propane 5. Martha pounding garlic for lunch 6. Luckner - the Assostant Director of HATS 7. Enjoying the evening at Lucner's house - on his roof.

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Tomorrow will come sooner than usual. Word has it that we will be pouring concret at 6am. So good night and God bless. Please keep us in your prayers as tomorrow is our last day and we have a lot of work yet to accomplish.

Pastor Dennis

Man Was It Hot Day 11

Hi folks

Our expectations were that we were going to finish all the iron work and the form work today then pour concrete tomorrow afternoon. Well that isn't going to happen. We worked like dogs but there was much more involved in tying the rebar than we understood. We are learning but it is slow work and our time here is almost over. We had one funny thing happen today. Luckner called and ordered more steel posts for the uprights to hold the forms. When the man who owned the posts came and he saw all the "blancs" - white people- he was very angry. He had Luckner the Haitian price but when he saw the whites he wanted to charge the price for Blancs which is three times as much. We felt we won one that time.

The plan was to work late tonight and get it finished, but we changed our plans due to the fact that the men are just too tired and sick from the heat to push them any further. So tomorrow the plan is to finish the form work and pour the concrete Monday morning (which we were told would take about 4 hours but we don't believe that for a minute - time will tell).

Church is scheduled to start at 7am and then the men wil go to work around 8:30am if Pastor Dennis doesn't preach too long (Gerry's comment). How many of you will be up at 7am for church at 7:30???

Karen went to St Marc for supplies and on the way back one of the wheels on the truck broke 4 studs so Dickie was working on the side of the road trying to get the wheel off - bet he looked like a real Haitian. They made it back safe and sound which is good because they were also bringing the money to pay the Haitian workers.

Pastor Dennis is our spiritual leader on this trip. Although he likes to tell everyone that he doesn't do much while he's here, we want to tell you differently. He's been involved in just about every part of the projects we've been working on - over at the school site, here at the compound - helping to build cabinets, fix windows, inventory food for the school lunch program, helping with the ironwork for the school roof, etc. He's also the person responsible for consistently providing you with all these updates on the blog site (except for this one section). He preached last Sunday and he'll be preaching bright and early tomorrow morning. So don't believe him if he claims he just came down here for a holiday. We've really enjoyed having him on this trip and although he says it's his last, God has the final word on such things.

To close off, here are some images of Haiti we've captured over the past days.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you. We appreciate your prayer support and your comments and emails.

God bless

Working Thru Frustations Day 10

Hello family and loved ones,

Today was much like yesterday - starting and stopping due to lack of building supplies. We had an accident on the site yesterday. Hillel, one of the Haitian workers, had a 2x4 fall on his hand and was cut badly. We sent him to the hospital and they checked him over and sent him back to us. He was not able to do too much work today.

We all had frustations with the Haitian construction workers, especially the bosses. They do not seem to know how to plan ahead which makes it very difficult when you are trying to work on a schedule. We are constantly finding that we are running short of supplies which stops us ftom working to schedule.

Just when we thought that we were coming to a dead stop, Luckner came through with enough supplies to keep us going the rest of the day.

We are still planning to pour the concrete on Sunday if all goes well. The team had a new work experience today - tying together rebar to make the main supports for the ceiling/floor. I think we really gave the Haitians a run for their money on making these and we got all seven made today.

We thought that we like to show you some of the supports that we have been using on the building. We are amazed at them and a little fearful about how well they will work but we are putting our trust where it should be. BUT not one of us are going to go under it while it is being poured.

This evening we are going to speak about the bubbly one - our Sandra. She spends most of her year working with figures and finances - when she heads for Haiti she puts on some of her other hats. She takes care of Karen and Alex. We have seen her painting, painting, painting and painting some more. She has been organizing the gifts which we brought down for the children. She puts a lot of love into the children. Here she is getting a well deserved foot massage.

That's all for tonight folks - it's 8:20pm EST and most of us are ready for bed. It's been a long day as it started shortly after 5am. We keep you in our prayers.

Love and God bless

Pastor Dennis

We're Slowing Down Day 9

Hey family and friends,

I believe we are so blessed that we are able to keep in touch so easily. Just think - twenty years ago such communication was not possible.

Well, this has been another slow day. We have been slowed down by the fact that we had trouble getting the supplies we needed here on site. The poles that we described to you last evening are hard to come by. Today we finished puting the poles up in one classroom and parts of the other two. Luckner says that we will be pouring concrete on Sunday but it will be a miracle - of course we belive in miracles!!

Another ongoing problem - that I mentioned the other day - is the shortage of gas. And that is apparently a country wide problem. Can you imagine the effects of not having any gas - even for day?? For us it has created a problem in getting off the compound to get supplies.

A few of the gang have been slowed down today personally - Tim has been feeling low most of the day - he is on the upswing now; Bill headed for rest at mid-afternoon and got up just at suppertime; Jon has been sick to his stomach a half a dozen times - he came down for some crackers and decided to go lie down again.

Paul, on the other hand, is on the mend after having some slight allergy problem yesterday.

The highlight of the day for several of our team was the trip by mototaxi (a small motorcycle) to the hospital. The hospital is not quite up to Canadian standards. It is a very interesting place.

It was stated by a fellow who at 40 years of age went to medical school and became a doctor. He admired ALbert Schweitzer. Apparently he was fairly wealthy so he and his wife moved here to Haiti and built the hopsital and named it after Albert Schweitzer. For the last 50 years doctors from all over the world have been coming to volunteer here at the hospital. The doctor that our team members spoke to today was from Niagara on the Lake, Ontario.

A point of interest - it is because of the hospital that Karen is here in Haiti - her daughter Liette was working there and Karen came for a visit and never left.

When a patient goes to the hospital a family member is required to attend him/her. They are to supply food, sheets and to clean up after the sick or injured one.

Here is a couple of pics from the hospital.

Ed Rose is here for his third time. He finds real joy in coming and sharing enthusiastically with the children and the Haitian workers. Ed gives it his all. He works continuously and tirelessly. If there is a job to be done Ed is there to volunteer to do it. He goes above and beyond anything that is required. He has a great sense of humor and keeps us laughing. Ed is a very spiritual man and helps keep us on track spiritually.

We hear that there is a snow fall expected on Monday - we hope it is not in honor of our return. We shutter at the thought of snow. As hot as it is we do not want it to be cold at home - but ..... We think of you all often and keep you in our prayers. It is good to get your comments and know that you are praying for us as well. Keep those prayers coming.

We love you - God bless.

Pastor Dennis

Karen's Post

Good Morning to those of you who enjoy hearing from us here at the HATS-Haiti mission.
I had good 'intentions' of writing last night, but those were overridden by the fact that my head could not sit properly on my shoulders and my eye lids decided to close of their own accord. I remember someone, hopefully it was my giddy sister, walking me to my bedroom. Don't remember much for some time after that.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I was up before 4:00 a.m. and I saw an absolute ton of work completed. It was a day that I will remember always. I did the usual run, run, run around both compounds seeing that things were moving along and things were supplied as needed. I ran for plumbing supplies with Brian and Dickie and Dickie and I took one of our security agents and headed to St. Marc for plywood, propane, and to return the second cheaply made, but expensive to buy, water cooler. The store owner continued to tell me the problem was me, or my house/electricity, etc. Dickie and I knew it was not and I stood my ground. I said I was not leaving the store without a credit for the total cost. Got it and then used it all, and more, to pay for plywood, etc.

The school construction was more than busy all day long. Luckner knew it was important to get all of that stage of the construction, building and pouring the cement supports for the roof, finished yesterday so this morning the work could move forward. There was still a lot to be done at 3:00 p.m. so Luckner jumped in the truck and ran outside the compound looking for men who wanted to come and work hard and fast. He found seven new ones and the other regular workers kept on trucking, Haitian and Blan alike. When it got dark we ran with extension cords and two lamps from my house. All the 'blan yo' who were not pounding nails or mixing or pouring cement, held up flashlights so the work could continue.

It was an amazing few hours where the workers , chocolate and vanilla alike, ran around like ants trying to get to the honey jar. At 8:00 p.m. we were all very overtired but had an extreme sense of accomplishment. Luckner and I both really want to see the cement roof finished with the tremendous help of the team. We would like to be able to start pouring on Saturday, but that might more likely happen on Sunday. Oops, for those of you who have not been on a work project like this, sometimes Sunday, after church, must be a day of work.

Ed mixing cement

Sandra and Faith have been busy beavers bug painting and regular painting the big fantastic cupboard Dickie built for my bathroom. They are in the process of moving and organizing things there for me. They have been doing a lot of different things which includes an outstanding job with my precious little happy guy. Alex is soaking up the attention of the whole group but looks to Sandra and Faith for most things. Mama Karen keeps running around and does not have enough time for Alex. He wants time with his mama, but he is certainly not hard done by with these two taking care of him.

I got back at this early this morning but the work day started. School is in session and today a presentation of Creole Bibles was made by Gerry to all students in our grades 5 - 8 students. Several sponsored students received gifts from the workteam members today that had been sent down by their sponsors and photos were taken. Work on the school construction continued, a lot of odd jobs and running around was done, and now at 7:40 I am once again very tired.
If you enjoy reading about the escapades of the group, come on down.
Karen

Another Very Interesting Day Day 8

Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

Today was a different day. The construction site was busy but because the work is so labour intensive we did not see a lot of progress. The building of the roof is a very slow process but very interesting because of the way the the Haitians do their construction. It is very good and solid. One interesting thing is that they use tree saplings - 2 1/2 inches in diameter as the supports for holding up the roof - and there is hundreds of them that all have to be cut by hand.

One of Gerry's visions was to supply Bibles to all the students in our school in Grade 5 and above. This happened this morning and what a joy it was to see the excitemnet of the children as they received their Bible. Gerry had shared the vision with Pastor Bill Newell at Yarmouth North Baptist - he shared it with his people - and they supplied the money that purchased the Haitian Bibles. In the future we want to supply Grade 5 students with Bibles on a yearly basis. Next year we would like to do the staff as well. A special thanks to Pastor Bill and the Folk at Yarmouth North.

Bob Comeau is on his second trip here with us. He is our chief carpenter and translator. He works from dawn to dusk and we would not get near as much work done if he were not on the team. We are so grateful that he is on the team. He and his wife, Linda, are child sponsors. Here is a pic of him with his sponsor child.

We understand that you folks back home are having an ice storm and our thoughts and prayers are with you.

God Bless

Pastor Dennis

Work, Work, Work Day - Day 7

Hello family and friends,

Well if yesterday was a day of relaxation and rest - it was a good thing that we took it off - because today has been go, go, go and go some more. It is almost 8pm here and almost everyone is over at the school compound trying to get the last of the header forms put up and the cement poured. Let me try to explain this in terms that even I can understand. The walls are up. Now on top of the wall they build a header - this is made up of rebar - 3 steel rods tied together to hold the cement in place, then these had to be boarded up on either side to form a place for the cement to be poured. Then the cement had to be poured. That's as simple as I can get. When the forms are removed tomorrow that will be the base for the roof. If this had not gotten done tonight then we would lose a day while we waited for the concrete to dry tomorrow. What a sight! Lights of all fashion were taken to the site to provide enough light for the work to be finished. Here is a pic of what it looked like.

Praise the Lord! The men have just come in and said that it was finished!

There were many other jobs completed today as well.

We took stock of the school children's food supply. We fixed windows and screens, painted and a lot of other little but important jobs.

I am working backwards tonight - the day started at 7:30 with us joining the school children for devotions. This was a great time of worship. There was lots of singing. It was so moving to see all the kids praising God.

Another one of our new recruits for this trip is Tim Newell. Tim is a fantastic asset to us. He helps out wherever he can. He has been on the school site. He has helped take inventory of the food. He has worked at replacing screens. AND he's a computer expert that has kept Karen's computer going and updated - and he is working on Excel so that Karen's paperwork can be streamlined. Welcome Tim.

I am going to sign off now. Good night. BUT stay tuned - Karen has told me that she wants to post a blog so she will do that in a little while.

Pastor Dennis

Haiti Team Day Off - Day 6

Good evening friends and loved ones,

Today we took a day off before the hard part of building the school happens - that's the roof. We anticipate that will be a tough job. We had a little set back today but in Haiti that's not unusual. We had a fellow who was going to supply the forms for the roof but he ended up not having what we wanted and Luckner had to spend most of his day looking for replacement material. His biggest problem though was time. Today was the first day of school - he is the director and with registration and then having to teach - well let's say his day was not the best. Keep him in your prayers.

Today we are going to speak a little about the roads in Haiti. What we are about to tell you - you would not likely believe, so we will send a couple of pics to show you.

For the last two or three decades the roads in Haiti have not been maintained to the standard that they were in the early 60's and 70's. Because of hurricanes, heavy traffic and constructions the roads have been torn up and once they start to degrade they get bad very quickly. Pot holes are the norm but pot holes like we are used to in Canada. They are more like sink holes. They can be up to 2 feet deep and we have seen some deeper than that. This is one such place - here we had to get off the truck and let Dickie drive across this spot with only Alex in the truck with him.

One of the biggest problems with having a day off and taking a drive to the beach is that it takes about 1 1/2 hour over these kinds of roads. By the time we get back home we are just as dirty and exhausted as when we left; but we still enjoyed our day and were thankful to get to the beach.

You can see a couple of little pot holes here too. I mentioned that we were in the middle of a gas crunch. The situation has eased a little but notice the line up at the pumps in this picture.

Traffic jams in the villages and towns can be a problem too. I don't know how they manouver their way through these places without hitting each other. And the truth is that they do hit each other. I don't believe there is a vehicle in Haiti without a series of major dents in it.

One of the things that amazes us so greatly is how well our senior team workers thrive in this type of hot work climate. On our last trip John Fyfe showed what seniors can do. This year we have Paul and Bill with us - we have already mention Paul - and tonight we would like to talk about Bill.

Bill has been a pleasure to have with us on this team. He has a great sense of humour, is always smiling and is always willing to do whatever is needed. He is extremely interested in all that is going on around him. He loves the work and the kids. Here he is with Paul and they are sharing a laugh about something on top of the plateau where the fort was.

We hope that you had a good day today. -remember "this is the day that the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it." God bless you, have a great sleep and enjoy tomorrow. Pray for us as we face the difficult job of trying to put the roof on this building.

God Bless

Pastor Dennis

Enjoying God's Presence - Everywhere Day 5

Hello friends and loved ones,

It's Sunday night about 7pm in Haiti. This has been a great day.

Most of us managed to sleep in a little this morning - until about 6:30am. After the usual showers, breakfast and final special grooming we were off to church. Church was supposed to begin at 9am but it did not get under way until 9:35am because the folk are in no hurry to come - and in no hurry to leave.

Cecile (the children's house mother) lead the service and did a fine job. She called upon a number of people to help in the worship - both Haitian and the team. The "blanc" the "whites" sang Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. I was pleased to have the opportunity to bring the message at this morning's service. Pastor Luckner translated for me and it was a humbling experience.

After lunch we went on a tour of the Valley. It was a great trip. The Valley is the lushest part of Haiti.We saw Haiti at its best. Out in the country we saw people living as they have for decades. They bathe in the river, do their laundry there and wash their animals and their trucks in it as well. The roads that we travelled took us through the middle of the rice field belt. The rice and produce from the Artibonite Valley feed the most of Haiti.

Our first stop of the day was the irrigation dam. This controls the water flow into the Valley. That is the water that comes down from the mountains. It's a beautiful green when it starts down through the Valleey but by the time it reaches the sea it has been polluted terribly. It is sad to see people drinking this water.

We moved on to Ti Riviere where were heading up to the Haitian fort. We stopped at a house built by King Christopher in the 1700s. This house has 365 doors - one for each day of the year. Unfortunately the government has let it run down.

Here is a picture of the Valley from the fort.

For many the trip on the back of the truck was a new experience that they will never forget. Nine people crowded (and hung on for dear life) as Dickie drove over extremely rough and dusty roads. We had many many Haitians laughing and yelling at us. It was very funny for them to see 14 people - all but one white- riding in the style that they believed only Haitians used as their mode of transportation. We have to agree - we did look ridiculous - but we had a great time.

Dickie has been our "Mr.Fix-It" down here. He goes from job to job, working on Dickie's To Do List that Karen had written up long before he arrived. He's crossed most of her list off. He is wonderful with the children and is loved by them.

We hear that there was supposed to be a quite a storm in Yarmouth area today. We trust that you were abe to cope with it and had a great day praising God and worshipping for His greatness. We love you and think of you all continually. May God bless you

Pastor Dennis