You may be asking what a typical day looks like for us now that we are settling in Haiti. Although each day may look a little different, depending on the needs and events, here is what the typical day looks like (or is supposed to look like), right now from Monday through Friday . . .
8am - Lee, Tina, Daniel, and Josiah attend devotions at the RMI office. While we are gone, Nathan and Isaac work on some of their chores which includes washing dishes (there is no dishwasher here:), cleaning their room, cleaning up the yard and driveway (it is amazing the mess that is made in a day from almond, avocado, coconut, breadfruit trees, and the others in our yard).
9am - Lee, Tina, Daniel, and Josiah meet our Creole teacher, Pastor Jean Clod Mesye at the house
on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings for our two hour lessons. Tuesday and Thursdays we set the mornings aside for studying as well. During this time, we try to share some of our Creole words and lessons with Nathan and Isaac, but they often spend this time playing with some of their new friends. During this time, Madame Lala and Emilye are also here to do the preparations for lunch (this is the main meal of the day) and work on our laundry and cleaning of the house.
12:30pm - Lunch is ready and we sit down with the house ladies for a delicious meal. Usually rather quiet since we are not communicating too well in Creole, yet. But I have to say that there is more attempted conversation everyday. These ladies are great teachers, too, they are so patient with us, correct our pronunciation, and help us with new words. We are so blessed to have them as a part of our family.
1:30pm - Lee, Daniel, and Josiah usually head to the RMI office to get acquainted with what is going on there and work on projects that they are involved with there. Sometimes, that has meant trimming trees for better internet reception, working on computers that are in need of repair, fixing an ice machine, building a shelf or cleaning out the depot. During this time, Tina has continued to work on organizing things at the house, gaining a better understanding of the money we use here and keeping track of expenses, shopping at the grocery stores in Les Cayes, preparing for the new school year that is quickly approaching, or catching up on some Creole study time. Nathan and Isaac are usually spending time around the mission center with their friends, again. Nathan has even gone on a few long bike rides with his friends around the mission center and the local communities.
4:00pm on Tuesday - Tina goes to Ladies Tea at one of the missionaries’ homes for some fellowship with the other ladies. It isn’t unusual for the younger boys to at least drop by there for a treat.
6pm-6:30pm - Our family gathers for our evening meal which often consists of leftovers or something simple (grilled cheese, egg sandwiches, boxed macaroni and cheese, or something similar). We certainly don’t need a big meal after the lunch that Madam Lala prepares for us.
6:30pm on Wednesday - Church service with the other missionaries from our area of Haiti. This is a great time to get to know the other missionaries here and to be able to worship in English.
8:30-9:30pm - This is usually a time for us to wind down from the days events and prepare for bed.
Now, this has been our schedule for the last month, or something similar, since there have been no teams here to minister with RMI during this time. This schedule will be changing in the next couple weeks as school schedules begin and teams begin to join us here. We hope that this gives you a little glimpse into what our schedules look like here in Haiti.
What a blessing it was to meet with the Pastor and to see how God is using him to reach the community and teach the children in his care that attend the church. Every Friday, during the school year the church brings in an agriculturalist to teach the children about gardening. They have turned their church yard into a huge garden, filled with peppers, corn, grapefruit, pineapples, sour oranges, mangoes, yams, sweet potatoes and a whole bunch of other items (I can’t remember or have no idea what they were :)
What a joy it was for the Pastor to show us what God is doing on his hill and through his ministry. To top it all off, he blessed us with a fresh pineapple, straight from his garden.
It has been such a joy for me to be able to meet new people, to sit with them, talk with them, encourage them and pray with them. (through an interpreter of course). Thanks to each of you who go with me in Spirit and get to join in on what God is doing!
After a brief rest and a refreshing drink of juice, it was time to return home. Upon returning to our house late this afternoon, I came to find out that the rest of my family had an adventure of their own. Some of the electric wires feeding our house had been rubbed through by some branches. When the sparks began, they fell to our very dry grass and started a fire. When my wife instinctively went for the hose and began dragging it out, the main water line feeding our house snapped! So. . . using the bubbling spring coming from the yard, basins, and a shovel, eventually the fire was put out.
Here’s the best part. . . Another missionary serving with RMI, Joel Sutton, was already here when we arrived and was rounding up all the pieces needed to fix the water line, was working on fixing the electric lines and trimming the branches. It is great to be a part of the family of God!
Haiti with us will, no doubt, remember this great spot of beauty. The Thompson family, Joanna (a friend of Tessa Thompson), and our family left Friday afternoon for the trip. Zanglais is a forty-five minute ride from where we live, so we loaded a twelve passenger van full of twelve people, two dogs, and all the things that we needed for the weekend. This was no small feat, for sure!!! Especially since the dogs were not initially to happy with one another; Tobi is just a little intimidating for anyone bigger than him, let alone for Jersey, a dog half his size. Both dogs were excited, however, to be able to join their families on this trip. Tobi sat right up front between Lee and Rob the whole trip, amazing passersby with his size. One Haitian phrase that we have learned very well over the past two weeks is “chen gwo”, which means “big dog”. It was fun for all of us to see the responses of people as we drove by. We arrived at the retreat center with no problems and while Becky and I took some quiet time for reading and preparing for dinner; the guys took the kids and the dogs to the beach for some fun. Tobi was in his glory since he grew up near the beach and had been able to visit the beach daily until he came to live with us almost two weeks ago. He enjoyed jumping the waves and playing with anyone who wasn’t intimidated by his size, but he also did a good job of standing guard to protect his family, as well. 
Saturday morning, we packed lunches, loaded up all of our beach equipment, and tied the dogs up at the retreat center (which did not make them one bit happy), and headed to the beach where we met two men with their boats. We loaded up and headed to an island which we can see from Zanglais beach, called “Gwo Kay”, meaning “Big House”. We had a half hour or so boat ride to the nice little beach cove where we set up for the day and began playing in the blue water. Rob, Lee, and the older boys all decided to go for a hike, while the younger four children, Becky, and I stayed at our beach spot for some nice reading and play time. The guy’s one and a half hour hike turned into a three hour hike, but everyone came back safe and sound with only a few scratches and blisters to show for all the hard work that they did on their adventure. It was a beautiful day of fun in the sun and many of us look like we spent a day in the sun . . . lots of red cheeks and shoulders in this clan. 
Sunday morning we had breakfast, visited with some new friends, had a little informal church service
of our own, and then packed up and headed back down to Zanglais beach for some more fun in the sun. This time, Jersey and Tobi were more than happy to join us for the fun. Tobi, again, took his position of guard dog and playmate . . . he had a great time running and playing in the waves with everyone, but all the time making sure that everyone was safe, as well. He even helped with the building of some sandcastles and digging of holes . . . or at least he thought he was helping. 
I guess it is about time for us to update those of you who are not following us on Facebook. Tomorrow we will have been in Haiti for a total of three weeks. It is feeling like home and we are growing accustomed to the hot, sticky weather and everything that comes with life here. We moved into our house on July 24 with some help from several of our RMI teammates and our cook, Madam Lala. We are so thankful for the sacrifices of each of them in helping us to settle in and begin to understand the language and the culture. 
This past week, two other wonderful ladies started working alongside of us. Emilye works as
our housekeeper during the week and Madam TiJean comes on Friday afternoon to pick up our market shopping list so that she can do the shopping on Saturday and bring the fresh produce back to the house for us. Some of you may remember Madam TiJean as the cook who made all of our wonderful meals when we were down for short term missions trips. She still works for RMI in that capacity, but has also offered to do our market shopping for us. We are so thankful for these ladies and all of their hard work, which enables us to focus on learning our Creole and adjusting to the life and work that we have here now. Did I mention what wonderful teachers they are for us, as they help us in our language study and better understanding their life and country? They are such an incredible blessing to us!!! 
We have been encouraged to do some sightseeing as we grow accustomed to life here, so we have been taking some time on the weekends
to do just that with our RMI teammates and other missionaries at the center. Our first weekend, we went to the beach in Port Salut for the day and took some time during that day to meet a dog in need of a home, since his missionary family is moving back to the states. That meeting went well and Tobi has moved to our home and become a part of our family. Last Saturday, we went for a hike along the Glas (Ice) River. No, there was no ice in the river . . . but we enjoyed some of God’s beautiful handiwork!!! Then on Sunday afternoon, we took a cycle/four-wheeler ride to some nearby points to experience the beauty and wonder of Haiti. We rode to a two different spots to enjoy the views from some great lookout points and then hiked down to a little fishing village to experience a glimpse into life there.
This weekend, we have opted to stick around the mission center since Haiti has elections today (Sunday) for a number of government officials. We were told by some of RMI’s Haitian staff, as well as, missionaries, that it may be good to not make any big plans this weekend since life is a little stressful here with the political climate. We enjoyed visiting with Tobi’s “foster mom” as she came to see how he is doing at his new home and last evening we enjoyed watching a movie on the big outdoor screen at our field director’s home with several other missionaries and their families.