Overview of the rest of our trip...

After struggling with the wifi connection i decided to set it aside and truly unplug for the rest of the time while there. It was so good for me. But, now that I'm home and have 600+ pix that I've gone through, i would love to share a few more highlights of our time building relationships and getting to know each other. Saturday, along with the OV staff, we planned the Purity Ball. Oh how fun it was. During the week, the boys and girls attended break outs where they were reminded  of how special God created each one of them. How God calls us to protect our body and minds from sexual impurity. Then we celebrated with a ball for the young men and women. Oh how they radiated! Each.One. 

Photo credit: Paolo(he took charge of my camera 95% of the time)

 Brother & Sister bowing at the beginning of the grand march

 Assisting Ms. Hannah down the steps...

 Momma T and her sponsor son Casimir....

 Team ready to head home. Fransisco and his sister(from Canada)

 Teaching to sew cinch sacks

 Picking out formal dresses and getting fitted. Each dress was altered to fit(if need be).

Lunch @ OV

I believe we brought down 120 donated prom dresses for each girl to look through and choose her favorite. Starting early in the am already their hair was being done when we arrived. Then they each had makeup done. Hair pretties/ jewelry. I think it's fair to say we all felt like princesses.;)

The young men also got new shirts/bow ties.

This handsome young chap is Elizer. Our sponsor son/brother. Such a pleasure to meet him.

We talked/reflected all week on the power of the Holy Spirit.  Who is God? Who am I in Him?  When we are saved, the Holy Spirit takes residence in our body and then over flows into our soul. When we hunger and thirst after righteousness, our body and soul is continuously sanctified here on earth.

James 4:17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. <<referring to our natural tendency to think our way away from God. Intellectual pride, rationalizations, and excuses all keep us from God.  Don't be surprised if people can't grasp the gospel. The gospel will seem foolish to those who forsake faith and rely on their own understanding.>> It is sin to know what to do and NOT do it.

We thank you again for the prayers offered on our behalf. God granted us spiritual growth, health, and traveling mercies along with numerous other blessings. The donations that were sent along with us will all be put to good use, and we are so thankful for each item!

In His service....

Day 3 in Haiti

(Sharing this now bc i had it typed but wifi would not allow me to upload.)

It is early am and still dark out here yet. Thursday am. Not going to lie, blogging when i was plum pooped held little appeal after our day came to an end.

Our travel went very smooth, nice dry roads leaving from Sioux Center and then through our
Altanta connection to  Haiti. Customs can make anyone's heart go pitter pat, but God answered our prayers there too. We were able to stay calm and even though they pulled our 32 bags of checked luggage aside, after checking a few, they let us continue on.

7:30 am beach devotions, breakfast and then on to One Vision. Bumping along pot hole filled gravel paths up to the hills where One Vision is located. We were almost there and a large dump truck was either stalled or the driver just left for a bit...blocking our path. Our entourage maneuvered  backwards and found a different route. Opening those gates was a sureal feeling for this first timer. There are the kidos. Jumping up and down, clapping and waving with excitment. My tears would not stay in my eyes. Kinda like a red carpet event, but our carpet was brown and dusty. Felt just right. Greetings were warm, our tour of the grounds and a bit of the history was intriguing.

 Kitchen @ One Vision. Women preparing lunch.

 Getting to know each other & then story time in the pavillion! Kids and adults alike ate this up with our animated reader Dave and Fransisco interpreting.

Argentine Final Day March 7

It was a chilly day today in Argentine.  The building in which we are working is still with out power as Kurt continues to work with the city to get it back on.  It will come on eventually, but like anything with governments, it takes time.  We worked on finishing up at the snack shack building.  We added a second coat of paint and button up our electrical and plumbing work.  After that was completed, we spent some time doing some deep cleaning.  The building we worked on had not seen cleaning tools in a long time, so we spent a few hours cleaning bathrooms, washing walls and windows and vacuuming.  Some group members went to the Franklin center to work on trimming windows.  If you remember, a group from Faith went a few years ago to replace windows at the same place.  The task today was to trim those windows.  After we were finished, we met back together at the snack shack building.  The group spent sometime in prayer with Kurt, Amber(she works with Kurt and Emily) and the president of Youthfront, thanking God for the work that was done and asking Him to bless the building and the City of Argentine.  We departed, enjoyed a meal at Applebees, played some more card games and departed to our rooms.

Tomorrow the group will go separate ways.  Some to family, some to leisure activities in the area and some will come back to Sioux Center.  We enjoyed our week in Argentine.  We thank the congregation for their prayers and financial support.  We are privileged to represent Faith CRC.  Above all we thank God for good health, strong muscles and safe travels.

Argentine-KC Tuesday 3-6-18

Tuesday was all about the paint!
It was a pretty blustery and a few flakes even fell, so it was a little chilly working in the storefront that does not have electricity yet, but no one came down with hypothermia :)
Most of the team painted the main room that will be used for the after-school program, a smaller maintenance room, and 2 bathrooms.The other part of the team continued to work on electrical and finished up plumbing.
The afternoon ended with general cleaning and spiffing up the place. We are hoping to finish the second coat on Wednesday and possibly move on to a new project or two.
We enjoyed BBQ at Roscoe's Kansas City (if you are in the area, be sure to check it out)!
The night ended with a rousing game of Pyramid and labeling 3,000 bags for Youthfront's Something to Eat program.

Argentine-KC Monday 3-5-18

Monday morning started with a team meeting at Snack Shack KC, where we would be doing our work.  Snack Shack KC was dreamed up and is operated by youth in the community. It is a hang out spot for the youth of Argentine; open after school daily. Our part of the puzzle was to “fix up” the attached store front for new, more structured programming.
Jobs at the worksite included: cleaning out all of the local library supplies, shelving, and more. There was deconstruction of a wall, plumbing, electrical, patching walls, cleaning furniture, window cleaning and more. A lot was accomplished! In the afternoon we were able to see the Snack Shack in operation. For our evening meal, Kurt’s neighbor Puesa cooked us a fine Mexican meal. The night was concluded with a rousing game of 5 Crowns.

Argentine- KC arrival day! 3-4-18

Hello from balmy 42 degree Argentine!
The group of Brad & Helen De Vries, Leon & Kathy Van Kley, Steve & Jan Meyers, Bruce & Jordan Mulder, Mike Hoekstra, Clark De Vries & Jill Miller took off for KC Sunday afternoon. We arrived in KC around 6:15, got settled and went out for BBQ! We met back for a team meeting to talk about the history of Argentine and discuss the projects. We ended the night with a rousing game of Dutch Blitz.