Team FC Day #2

By McKenzie Osborn-

Today, our first full day in Haiti has been so incredible and it has been so fun getting to know the kids better and getting to experience more of the Haitian culture. Early this morning we got up and Pastor Francois drove us to Hinche – the closest large town – to get building supplies for the bunk beds for the orphanage. The drive was approximately an hour over completely unpaved roads with many, many bumps and many, many potholes – it was quite the ride! Denny, Grant, Emil and Jeff road in the back of the truck the entire way! Once we were in Hinche we went to a local hardware store that reminded us a lot of Home Depot, just smaller! Denny, Grant and Pastor Francois discussed with the storeowners how much lumber was needed for the bunk beds. After paying, we walked around Hinche while they loaded the lumber to our car. It was incredible to see the different businesses and markets throughout the town. After the lumber was all loaded, Pastor took us to the local market place where he bought food. It was interesting to see all the different types of food there and how the majority of them were very similar to American foods. Before we headed back to Pignon we picked up Pastor and Madam’s cousin, Taina, who is staying here with us. She was supposed to return back to Florida at the beginning of next week, but she was able to get her flight changed and will be staying with us until July 30^th! So cool! She is from West Palm Beach, Florida, but is originally from Haiti so she is fluent in both Creole and English so it’s nice to have someone to translate for us – especially for VBS! Once we were back to Pastor and Madam’s we had lunch and then went and played with the kids for awhile! We took some cookies (bon bons) that Denny had bought for them in Hinche and they were SO excited for them! We also played with a soccer ball and a four square ball that we had brought with us! We taught them how to play four square- they caught on pretty quickly – and they are VERY good soccer players! They were also fascinated with our cell phones and loved taking pictures and videos of themselves and can operate an iPhone very well! Within 3 hours we had another meal – Pastor has been feeding us  A LOT – and then went to the nightly church service! Even though the pastor was speaking in Creole, it was incredible to watch him speak because of the passion that he had for what he was saying! It was almost as if I was able to follow along with him! After church we went back and played with the kids! We all learned new hand-clapping games and got to jump rope with them! It is incredible to see how much the kids long for touch and attention and simply holding their hand or letting them play with your hair makes them smile! It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to be able to hold them and play with them!