What a day!

well, let's begin with asking everyone to pray for Troy Livesay, who apparently (again) has dengue fever. Troy is a missionary in Port, and he Tara and their 7 kids.....really.....need prayer that Troy recovers and no one else get's sick.

the day started early enough as late last night thunder and lightning rolled in..for at least an hour before it started raining. and it rained hard. and apparently it had rained hard in mountains before the rain got here. we got up early...minus Jessica who is sick...and headed to Mountrois. Gary and Caroline run a Bible class there. we picked up Kevin and Evesner, and another Haitian I don't know to take to the class. on the way I was dropped off at Canaan to visit and see Sister Gladys about getting Ismael to the states. as I was walking up the road to Canaan, I caught up with a Haitian who looked at me and kind of smiled. I smiled back and said "Canaan" and he said "Wi, Canaan" as he pointed back to himself. He then said several words to me and smiled, expecting a response. I answered "pale piti Creole", meaning I speak little Creole. He smiled and walked awhile before looking at me and asking "are you an American?" I looked back and said yes, Iwas and asked him if he "pale Anglais?" to which he replied "no". so we walked in silence for awhile before he pointed to me and make a questioning face. I said "Daniel" to which he pointed to him self and said "Corvan". so I met Corvan today. once we got to the top of the hill, Iaskedfor Sister Gladys and he went off to find her. I saw Pastor Henry and he came over and greeted me along with Pastor Joel. we smiled and talked and they offered me coffee which I accepted. they did some work as I sat with Corvan. Henry came back and we discussed the school,visa's and kids. saw the missionaries who are there currently and had a good conversation. then saw some of the kids. for those of you who have been there, I saw Wesch, who was this little tiny kid before. he is not big now, but he is a lot bigger. and for awhile Wesch had lost his smile. well, he has it back and it was wonderful to see. saw Tamara who is all grown up now, we hugged and she said she is going very well in school. overall a wonderful visit and I plan to go back soon.

the ride back was as bad as the ride there. the rains last night flooded the main road in many places and mud was a foot deep or more in places. more river and steam banks were washed out and more bridges are in more danger. I can't believe where Haiti is infrastructure wise. the bridge leaving St. Marc going south is being washed out. trucks are tipping over as the sides of the roads are washed out. more homes are gone. a tractor trailer that was upstream is sitting on the side of the road in one place. it is hard to not see more devastation if another hard rain comes before dry season. then the race is to see if there is enough time, money or planning to repair some of the damage before next year. we'll see.

as we returned Barb, Bev and Al took us to a restaraunt for dinner. it is the same one where Jen almost got run over by a taxi driver. had the goat and it was not bad today. :) really. so that has been my day so far. thunder and lightning, storms washing out more roads and homes. visiting Canaan and seeing old friends and seeing kids growing up before my eyes. topped off by a goat lunch. just can't beat a day like that, can you? If the day get's better, be sure I'll let you know! again please pray for Troy as from what I know dengue fever is very difficult to get thru. bye for now.

ps. I am going to beat Caroline into giving me pic's to post. she agreed in total fear of me...... well maybe she is just being nice!