Lets try and forgive, maybe even forget that it has now been just over three weeks since my last post, because believe me, as each day goes by I've felt an increasing pressure to throw up something to update y'all, but with each day also comes additional weight, more stories, and thus a thinner explanation of the many misadventures experienced since we last met. Reading my last blog over, I can't believe how much has happened... Ugh...
The sunspring project has continued along nicely, we've now done a total of nine installs, and have four more waiting in port somewhere, and will install two of them in PAP, one in Jacmel, and another in La Calle, once they have been released. Jack, our main Sunspring guy and now good friend, left on wednesday leaving all the maintenance, training, and additional installs up to Tyler and I... at least until we leave in three weeks. More here as it comes...
The orphanage teaching gig has been pretty sweet. We continue to remain flexible, filling the gaps where needed. I've continued to teach a weekly beginning english class (surprisingly difficult), and for a while there we both were teaching a bible class three days a week, not to mention an hour and a half of rec time with the little ones three days a week as well while the orphanage runs their feeding program for kids in the neighborhood.
Esperanza work, well, our main involvement here has been to solidify their long-term relationship with sunspring. For everything else we've mostly found ourselves on the sidelines.. which has been good. They had their big pastor conference two weekends ago for over 300 community church leaders, with the goal of helping them to have a greater understanding of what the bible says with regards to disasters and disaster relief. According to our main man here Joel, it was a great success! Neither tyler or I could tell ya though, as we took off for the weekend on the bikes up the coast to Wahoo Bay the first night, then the second night we found ourselves at Club Indigo, a ridiculously nice hotel which had been bought out for the time being by yours truly, the US embassy. Anyway, we had by chance met a woman there with the power to give us a room for the night, through the embassy... anyway, words (at least right now) can't describe how nice this break was... pictures to come later.
As I scan through my journal, obviously there is so much between the lines, but like I said, I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't want to leave y'all with a novel.
Oh ya, tyler almost died on the ride back, nearly hitting a bus head on, fishtailing his rear tire back-n-forth to avoid it... well done tyler.. that definitely would have ruined my evening. kidding.. i love you.
Other blogworthy stories, I'm not sure. This trip will at its end be defined by all the little moments which have burned their way into my memory, and reshaped my heart. Lately tyler and I have made an effort to spend more time with the people. Not your typical day to day throw all the little orphans in the air for an hour type of time, but rather meeting them where they're at, going to their place of living, at unexpected and certainly unusual times. Twice now we've wandered into the tent city right outside the Capital, both times well after dark. The first time we journeyed, our apprehension was met with equal amounts of excitement for what we were experiencing. This time we stayed mainly on the outer parts, but were quickly met with eager locals looking to 'just be' with us, sing with us, have a drink with us... and so it was... and it was perfect.
Our next journey to this same tent city, I'm not sure I am able to rightly describe what we lived that night... ill do my best. Walking alongside the high gates bordering the crumbled capital, we found ourselves in a paradoxical environment like i've never before experienced. Capital building crushed on one side, its people on the other struggling to survive in shanty tents.. unreal. Anyway, we dove into the 'city' and soon found ourselves wandering through hallways allowing only inches on each side for travel, walking along with the occasional light of a candle, burning coal, or maybe even a hand wound flashlight. The smell, I can't place it now with words, but should I ever smell it again my mind and imagination will surely carry me once again back to this place. *I should mention this is after a long dinner, a few drinks, a fateful KU loss, and a more than entertaining drive back (with our driver of course) that should you wish to hear about, just ask me over a bottle of wine and the stories will surely flow!* Allora... where was I. Oh ya, wandering. Minutes later we found ourselves at what - by tent city standards - might be considered a club... a reggae club of course! I don't even know where to begin describing this, all you need to know now is we spent over two hours singing, dancing, screaming Bob Marley lyrics at the tops or our lungs with these people... lyrics like 'get up stand up, stand up for your right' -or- 'one love, one heart, lets get together and feel alright'... if you know bob, you may have an idea just how powerful this experience was with his Best Of album rockin all night... and for that short amount of time we were there, it seemed that we all weren't... no longer were we in the very center of a torn and destroyed nation, no longer were we homeless or helpers, haitians or americans, we were people enjoying people. Again... perfect.
A very brief telling of a seemingly indescribable evening that simply cannot be replicated.
I guess I'll leave you with that... a hopeful story. You need know that these people, while suffering on CNN, bleed more joy as a people than we who sink our feet in the soil of contentment will ever understand. There are some things that cannot be explained, o'er blog or in person, and this would be one of those.
We go now to say bye to a friend leaving tomorrow so I have to sign off... but if/when I have more time (soon I hope!) I might tell you more about our bike journeys and how we got pulled over the other day and had to bribe the cops (apparently they dont like it when you don't have plates and try to run away from them), or about one of my bible kids descriptions of heaven, "a place where there is lots of food, and we never grow thirsty".. hmm. I will most likely talk about my learnings and struggles with patience, among other things... where I need prayer. But He is good, and 'as the wind blows where it pleases... so it is with everyone born of the spirit'... so float on people.. jump into the wind and enjoy the ride!
Thank you all for your prayers which fill the silences, and for your kind messages that are nothing short of an adrenaline shot.
Shalom and love to you friends!
luke
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