A Little Bit of Everything and Some News from the Thedes

Its Tuesday morning and Kath and I feel settled back into Fauche. We started our English classes again last night that went well. We talked about the difference of fancy and casual, family, step-family, we read the beginning of James 2, and worked on the pronunciation of oo in food, pool, etc. It was a good class that went pretty quickly. Kath and I have found teaching together very encouraging and helpful. Whenever I am feeling sluggish my wife is there to take up the slack and keep the class moving and visa versa when she's not feeling it. It is great to teach together and we have become a pretty awesome team! Last night was our first class in three weeks. We had Pastor Emmanuel (our English speaking neighbor) come to class and translate for us as we told our class that we will be missing another two weeks starting Monday. Why? Yesterday morning we got a call from Joy Irvine and she asked us to come and work in the guest house in Port-au-Prince again! Kathleen and I didn't really want to go, but we just prayed that if we were supposed to go then things would go smoothly and everything would be arranged. We were just feeling settled and we were worried about our classes and the relationships that we have with people here. We just got started again! But someone needs to be in PAP to receive teams and feed them. So we will be going on the first of March. We have a team here that is working on the clinic and campus so we need to be here until Monday and we will be leaving at the same time as them. Bill and Elaine will be coming with us to help out. It should be a good time of meeting new people and being a good host/hostess. We are sad to be separated from our classes again but last night they took the news very well, and understood that the earthquake disrupted everything, including our little English class 100 miles away.

The team here for this week is from north of Grand Rapids, MI and have been working away. Todd, Alan, Mike, Paul, and Mickenson (a Haitian guy from LaGonave that knows Todd and met them up here to help translate-very helpful! and work) have been a pleasure to have and very easy to take care of. Right now they are working on tiling countertops in the clinic (below), rewiring messy areas, putting in light sockets/light switches (Below: Bill and Mike looking at a fuse that needs replaced) repairing broken sewage pipes, hooking up water to the clinic, tiling countertops in the Thede's house, making fun of each other, laughing, and sharing stories with us. It has been a great time and they have done a great job. We are excited to see what they can get done this week.
Sunday afternoon Kathleen and I spent some time apart (it was agonizing!!!!). I went to the children's program at the church and she stayed and made Haitian food with a Madh-Jenny (sounds like Myjenny). They made a white rice and then a chicken sauce to go over it. Kath kept just a little and we gave the rest to Madh-Jenny's family. It was very good...Good job honey! When we get back we will have to make Haitian food when we have guests.
I talked to Cory today. He had some crazy news. Yesterday the clinic set a record of seeing 600 patients in this little outdoor clinic! He told me that they were working until 7 o'clock handing out medications and seeing patients. Kris has been very helpful in doing triage (picking importance of who gets seen) and keeping order in the masses of people wanting to be seen. Her knowledge of Kreole and Haitians is very useful in this type of situation. She and the rest of the medical workers are all working outdoors under these tarps. Not having rain is very important. Cory has been working in the pharmacy (below) stocking drugs in the morning and handing drugs to patients after they have been seen explaining to them how often and how much they should be taken. With 600 patients it is a real blessing to have 2 knowledgeable missionaries there! Anna is even keeping busy playing as usual and even translating some. The whole family is staying in a tent together at night 100 feet below the clinic. 200 feet below them is the ocean. Cory told me that everything seemed well organized and going very well in spite of being so busy. The medical team doesn't seem to have any hotheads and the Haitians are willing to wait for their free medical care. It is amazing how it has been working. We just learned the other day that this clinic should be closing down in the next 30 days because the Red Cross is going to rebuild the hospital there. That would be phenomenal, but until then the Wesleyan Clinic is THE health care provider for Petit Guave.
Well that is a lot of typing, but I had a lot to say ;) Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts.