Saturday, August 18, 2007

Got up today thinking I was going to be at the orphanage by like 10 but here we are 1:15 and I am still at the mission base. I wish I did not have any luggage because I would just catch a tap tap to the orphanage. Oh well, as it turns out being here today was a blessing for several reasons. First, since it is a weekend we have to fend for ourselves at meal time. Maureen has been the cook since I have been here so she did breakfast. However, as Elvis and I found out, she went to the far west to visit Ms. Pat for the day, so we had to try and cook for ourselves. It turned out to be ok though, we made hot dogs. After lunch I had the pleasure of helping out Pastor Pierre, a gentleman that works with the mission and preaches at the church. He got invited to attend a conference in South Korea but needs a transit Visa to travel through the USA. So he had me write a letter, that he dictated, to the US Ambassador requesting such a Visa. It was cool to see his desire to do whatever is needed to expand his knowledge of the faith. My ride to the orphanage finally showed up around 330ish. I opted to sit in the bed of the truck this time instead of up front with the driver because I wanted to video tape the ride for my website. That in and of itself was an interesting experience. When we arrived at the orphanage I was welcomed with big smiles and lots of phrases I did not understand. They took me to my room, which as it turns out is a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be. I even have my own bathroom and a refrigerator. I spent most of the evening getting my room organized and playing with some of the children. At 8 I sat in on a devotional with one of the families. It was really cool to hear all of them singing hymns in Creole. I was able to follow along with some of the songs. They even sang a few in English. Then one of the older boys read a Bible passage and they had a closing song. Wesley then said a few words to the kids and off to bed we all went. I met one of the security guards today. He speaks pretty good English and said he would work with me to start learning Creole. I think I am going to have a harder time than I thought with keeping everyone informed, because it doesn’t look like the internet is going to work in my room. This means that I will have to go to Heather and Janielle’s apartment during the day and do some online updating. That is ok I guess. If my connection would have worked in my room I would be able to connect at night after the children go to sleep and would not lose any time with them during the day. Who knows, maybe the LORD will strengthen my ability to connect. The power went out for almost a half hour tonight, which is ok because I have three flashlights, that came in handy quite nicely. Ok, that is all I have for today. Night.