Monday

Monday morning work projects begin. The girls find out that for the first two days we were going to be painting the old MoH warehouse that is going to be turned into a kind of trades school to provide additional learning opportunities for post-secondary students. Secretly we were all a little disappointed initially, painting didn't seem like a very important job, it didn't seem like hard work, or necessary with all the other needs abounding in Haiti. But we all put our best foot forward, and then we found out a few things. 1) Painting is in fact hard work, especially when you're painting concrete the texture of stucco, especially when your paint rollers suck, especially when you're using Haitian paint, especially when the wall wall is over 20 feet high. 2) Mission of Hope is kind of like an oasis in Haiti, and it represents what the rest of Haiti could look like someday. 3) (we wouldn't fully grasp this until Wednesday): Paint, and colour is a point of pride in Haiti. It's an expression of ownership and completion. The colourful buildings represent beauty.

So we got to work



That afternoon we also got a chance to connect with our two designated translators named Smith and Villarson. Villarson also goes by the name SOG (Son of God), and he liked to just occasionally shout out his nickname to no one in particular. We bit of an SOG pep talk about evangelizing and showing Christ through our actions, and standing firm in the faith. Very cool guy, gave us a lot to think about as we compared attitudes towards Christianity in Haiti vs. North America.



After we finished work for the day we decided to visit the orphanage on the base. Visitors are only allowed in the nursery (so kids under 5ish), but that was alright with us. Adorable kids, and we learned that certain things are universal - kids like being tossed into the air :)



That night we spent some more quality time on the roof, saw some shooting stars, and looked out over Port au Prince in the distance.