De

First, I apologize for any spelling errors in my previous post. It's been a long two days.
Second, the title of my post "De" is "two" in Haitian creole, if anyone was wondering. 

Alright, here goes my second novel of the evening.
After heading to bed rather early (for me at least) the rest of the group was woke up around 4am because of a very loud rooster.  I assume they all went back to sleep but I wouldn't really know because I didn't wake up until Jan shook my foot around 6:45 or so.  Shoutout to my mom for reminding me to pack ear plugs.  We set out for church around 8, about the time that the service was supposed to start.  We arrived in time and the service started shortly after we got there.  Luckily we got there when we did because the seats filled up rapidly. After it was over we found out that there were 405 people in attendance.  I don't think I have ever attended a church service with that many people, besides when I went to the National Youth Gatherings.  That number blew my mind. Not many of these people have the luxury of hopping in their cars and driving to church, but they get there.  That in itself was amazing. It was confirmation Sunday, but I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the fact that the service was 3 hours long...but I can say that although I really can't understand a word Pastor is saying, I found myself simply watching the congregation.  The best part of the service by far is the singing.  There are two girls (last night) and the same two, plus one more who led a majority of the songs.  Sophie's cousin Nathan plays the piano, very well I might add with no sheet music in front of him, and also sings/leads songs.  Sophie has another cousin, Alex, who is the president of the congregation who participates a lot throughout the services in terms of singing and reading. All of these people have beautiful voices along with the rest of the members.  They sing with incredible enthusiasm and passion, more than I've seen in any church before.  The songs are beautiful and some of them are familiar hymns that we were able to recognize after a verse or two.  We were able to participate in communion.  It was an honor to be able to witness the confirmands first communion and then to be invited to partake as well.  I caught the eye of a round-faced little girl who never stopped smiling at me; this was and is very common of the children in Haiti.  They smile and wave when they see you.  Towards the end of the service, two little girls came to sit by me, which was a nice surprise.  The pastor introduced our entire group in front of the congregation and afterwards we shook hands with several people, some of which we had met the night before.  I was approached by a woman who introduced herself as the mother of one of the girls who sat next to me.  The other little girl was her niece.  We chatted for a while and took some pictures.  Then she asked for my email, but I guess changed her mind and decided to give me hers because the next thing I know her baby daughter was in my arms while she whipped out a pen and paper.  More pictures were snapped (my dad has become quite the paparazzi, mom you would be proud).  The baby girl was definitely the calmest baby I have ever held and truthfully I wanted to take her home with me, but sadly Sophie rounded us all back and I decided against kidnapping the child and instead traded her back for her mother's email address.  We left and came back to the clinic to eat some lunch and rest until 3.  Sophie and our driver (his name is Jimi, not sure if that is the correct spelling, but it's pronounced like jeemee) picked us up and we headed to a tent city.  We stopped first in a smaller tent community on the road to the other one that we were visiting.  I'm not sure if we stopped for Sophie's purposes (she met up with her god-daughter and the baby's mother and gave her a few outfits that Jan had brought), but we were able to pass out some candy and take a look inside a small, one-room house that had been constructed for a woman. I stepped out of the bus to find myself surrounded by kids. It seemes as if they simply wanted to touch our hands.  They were very excited and the crowd grew as we stood there.  After about 10 minutes we hopped back on the bus and drove farther down the road to a tent city made up of about 192 tents, I believe.  These "tents" had a solid concrete foundation and a short wall on each side, with an opening for a door.  The rest of the tent was obviously tent material and were about 12ft by 12ft.  We were split into groups and were paired with a "guide" each of which were a member of the community's security, if you will. They led us around the rows of tents and spoke to the people who lived there.  We handed out sheets, pencils, and some groups had candy as well.  The people were very grateful.  Sidney (the pastor's wife) brought all of the sheets to the site.  She said that the church visits often and distributes materials to those living there.  They also come every Sunday and pick up anyone who wants to go to church. It was an amazing experience and definitely something that stays in your thoughts.  I can't sit here and pretend that I wasn't overwhelmed with sadness for those who live there but they were so kind and thanked you and smiled at you, which was definitely heart-warming.  Once again the kids were excited to see us and as we were leaving one little girl grabbed my hand and started walking with me.  Almost immediately another girl saw what she did and ran to grab my other hand.  As we walked the just looked up at me and smiled and laughed and once again I had an overwhelming urge to kidnap them but I decided against it.  After that we went up the road a little bit and were able to check out our work site.  We'll be building houses made from cement blocks.  The foundations and portions of the walls have already been constructed.  Our goal is to finish one house this week.  Sidney and Pastor Marqui (again, I have no idea how his name is spelled but it is pronounced Markee, so I'm just attempting to channel my inner french/Haitian creole-ness and guess how his name is spelled) took us to a 15 house community a little distance behind the church.  The houses that are there are what we are going to be building.  Most are 1 bedroom with a small porch in the front and back and a kitchen/eating area.  There is also a bathroom that is a part of the house but you enter from the outside.  Pastor then brought us towards the church and showed us all of their property.  There are the beginnings of a guest house (somewhere where we could all stay in the future) and also the area where they are planning on building their church.  Pastor said that they are planning to build a church big enough to fit about 1200 people because their church is continuing to grow (they currently have 800 members). There is also a small clinic (about the size of a trailor) that is in the back of the church and another clinic is eventually being moved from Port au Prince to Jacmel to go behind the church as well.  After that we headed back home where we enjoyed a delicious meal of fried chicken and rice and beans. Now, I'm not much of a bean girl but I don't think I could have moved that food into my mouth quicker than I did. 

Tomorrow we start working at 8am.  I can't speak for everyone but I am definitely excited to get my hands dirty.  We will be working side by side with a handful of Haitians. I'm itching with anticipation and for the first time in my life probably I can say that I am looking forward to waking up early and doing some manual labor, but don't hold that against me in the future.

Hope you guys are enjoying.

Megan