2:20 a.m. - Meet at Christ Lutheran Church to load boxes and luggage.

2:45 a.m. - Leave for airport.

4:10 a.m. - Check in at airport.

5:00 a.m. - Talk about getting donuts if they open before we board. Have metal detector go off, can't figure what set it off!!

5:20 a.m. - Boarded plane, Kim was able to get us donuts!

6:50 a.m. - Landed in St. Louis. It is really starting to sink in that I am finally going to Haiti.

11:35 a.m. - Arrive in Miami. Get checked in for next flight and head for terminal. I slept most of the flight to Miami. Feeling much better, I am still somewhat tired.

2:40 p.m. - Arrive in Haiti. Going to the church first to drop off boxes. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto! Driving from that airport, it is immediately apparent that the living conditions in Haiti are nothing like I have experienced before.

4 p.m. - Headed to the hotel to check in. Talk about rules of the road on the way - to the casual observer it is total chaos, to Haitians it is organized chaos!!

5 p.m. - Checked in. Boy! Does the room seem luxurious compared to what we have just seen! Head to pool to cool off.

7 p.m. - Dinner with group. The Hotel Kinam really seems like an oasis in a wasteland.

10 p.m. - Fall fast asleep. Room is cool, the bed is a double.

6 a.m. - Wake up and head down for breakfast. When putting on old jeans they ripped right in the crotch. Oh well, nothing exposed - they will still work. They will just have extra ventilation.

7 a.m. - Morning devotions.

7:45 a.m. - First group heads to the church. The rest of us talk at the hotel.

8:30 a.m. - Head to work site. Cram 10 of us into a car meant for 7 max. Mark W rode on Pastor W's lap in the front seat!

When we first got to the site we went around and looked at what had already been done. Walking on Haitian scaffolding is very much done at your own risk. When Ken was walking past one of the windows he braced himself on one of the walls and it fell over. Ken was fortunate that he was able to get out of the way. About 5 levels of brick, 1 1/2 bricks per level, fell over. So we had to rebuild the wall. Work went slowly due to communication difficulties with the Haitian workers.

12:30 p.m. - Lunch. Our group invites the Haitian workers to join us. During lunch Pastor W makes a speech about how there are two different groups of people trying to work on the same thing and therefore must work together, but it is hard when there are two different languages. At that time he introduced us to a younger man (James) who would act as our interpreter. The afternoon went much better. It was amazing how much we got done once the two groups were able to come together and explain what needed to be done and then work together.

4 p.m. - Headed back to the hotel. We had Leonard's cab this time, so there was a lot more room on the return trip.

6 p.m. - Dinner has been moved ahead to allow us more time after dinner.

7:15 p.m. - Devotions and announcements about going to Jacmel on Saturday. We also talked about the schedule on Sunday.

8 p.m. - Relax and talk by the pool.

10 p.m. - Go to bed!

6 a.m. - Got up and got breakfast.

6:45 a.m. - Left for the work site. On the way we passed a dead man in the road. We were not sure if he had been shot or run over. Very unusual sights even for Haiti in the daytime.

7 a.m. - Got to the work site. Did not experience any of the difficulties from the previous day. There was a lot more that could be done. Today I also helped a bit with the VBS. I played Samuel in the skit about listening to God. Back out on the work site I waited as the Haitians started getting stuff together to make concrete. Anyone who knows about concrete in the States would have a hard time with how Haitians make concrete. There were 6 wheelbarrows filled with aggregate of varying sizes (from fine sand to palm-sized rocks) added to 3 bags of concrete, then they added three more wheelbarrow loads of rocks. Once it was mixed, it was my job to carry it in a bucket around to the back of the building right next to the outhouse. They were putting in footings so that they could extend the second floor of the new building out over the old outhouse. The odor was almost over-powering, but after a while I did not notice it much anymore.

12:30 p.m. - Lunch - Haitian meat pies. They were very good. I have been really pleased with myself - I have tried everything and as yet have found little I did not like!!! J

1:15 p.m. - Back out to the site after a much-needed restroom break. I probably have drank a gallon or more of water just by myself. Took a tumble and ripped the knee off of my left pant leg. Only barely scratched my knee. I was carrying three cement bricks and caught my foot on a piece of rebar that was lying on the ground. I seem to be wearing the "holy" pants around here.

The afternoon kinda slowed down compared to the morning, kinda the reverse of yesterday. The workday ended with the arrival of Lyle, the last member to join our group. There are now 20 of us including those from Canada.

4 p.m. - Headed back to the hotel. Went swimming and Kim actually joined me. I really enjoyed that - it us usually almost impossible to get Kim into a swimsuit let alone the pool. While I was still in the pool it did start to rain. It only lasted about 10 minutes and was not very heavy at all - more of a sprinkle.

6 p.m. - Dinner.

7:30 p.m. - Devotions.

8 p.m. - Work on making bracelets for the kids on Friday. Sat around and talked.

10 p.m. - Go to bed!

Note: It was a long day but enjoyable. We got quite a bit done on the site and I watched Kim with the kids. She is really starting to get into it and looks to be really enjoying herself. I married a really wonderful woman!!!

6:15 a.m. - Breakfast. Another early morning at the site.

7 a.m. - Arrive on site and start hauling and shoveling aggregate for concrete. Once the concrete was made we started the bucket brigade, where we passed buckets full of concrete down a human chain and up to the top of the walls to form the pillars. This lasted most of the morning with periodic breaks when we ran out of concrete and had to mix more or get more aggregate. Also played David in the VBS skit.

12 p.m. - Break for lunch and devotions.

1 p.m. - Back out on the site with the bucket brigade.

2:20 p.m. - Stop working so I can change into shorts for the trip to the Baptist mission.

3:15 p.m. - Arrive at Lookout Point where we can see most of Port-au-Prince as well as the coast. It is a gorgeous view. All around this area are Haitians selling all sorts of stuff. We got a lot of our gifts here as well as a painting for Kim. It has tigers on it and cost $30 - the guy initially wanted $90. I still paid more for it than I really needed to, but this was my first time bartering. It was hard because you would have 5 or 6 guys around you all trying to sell you something, and they were very persistent. You just had to say NO and if that did not work (even though we would consider it rude) you would have to turn and walk away. After everyone had gotten what they wanted, we got back into the cars and left - prices went way down as we were trying to leave. Duory, our drive, was not feeling well but still decided to take us on to the Baptist mission. There were more people selling stuff outside and I ended up getting a drum for only $10. This was an awesome deal considering one of the others in our group (Beckie) got a smaller one from the same guy for $12. The view from here was also breathtaking.

5 p.m. - Head back to the hotel.

5:30 p.m. - Get back to the hotel and get ready for dinner.

6 p.m. - Dinner.

7:20 p.m. - Devotions. It started raining and rained fairly hard for at least 10-15 minutes, which made the devotions even more interesting as everyone who was not under one of the umbrellas got under cover. I was not quite able to get all the way out from under the rain and ended up with a wet behind.

7:45 p.m. - Change into swimsuit and head for the pool. There was another group there - they were just spending the one night here after about a week out in Haiti. They are a group from Ohio. Their church (we think they are Baptists) supported the building of a 100-bed orphanage. They had come to see how/what the building looked like and to help clean up around the orphanage. They fly home tomorrow.

8:45 p.m. - Back to the room for a shower. Kim and I decide to do some laundry so the task will not be so daunting later. Since Kim and I have decided that we would most definitely like to come back next year we want to hold on to our work clothes rather than donated them to the church here so we can use them again next year.

10 p.m. - Bedtime.

Note: It has been a long day, but so far I have felt the best and felt the most useful today. The trip today will be most memorable. What a way to buy souvenirs!!!

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