The First Week in Haiti

The first week has been incredible. We have an amazing view of Mountain Top Ministries from our house. Yes, it is quite a walk basically straight up, but when you are up there, it is breathtaking. We are incredibly blessed to be here! Tomorrow Ron, David, and I will begin some form of a semi regular work week. David will begin getting his classroom ready for the school year. Ron will begin organizing the workshop and taking stock of what tools they have and what is missing. I will begin working on inventory so that we can get an order ready for the next medical team that is coming in.

We've made good progress on the house this week. We actually have mattresses now and we've bought some wood to make a table and bunk beds. Unfortunately some of the tools that would be helpful are back in Oregon and are incredibly expensive here in Haiti (if they're even available). Below is a picture of the parameter of our home. Notice the barbed wire across the top. It's something the kids remember and have commented on from their days in the orphanage. But...it is a very safe and secure location.  We feel incredibly blessed to have such an amazing home.

We've also had some downtime and been able to get out the parachute and have some fun. Some of you may remember this parachute from our days when we had Forest Grove Gymnastics. I'm glad we thought to bring it along. It just barely fits in our compound.

We're still waiting on our pump to be fixed in order to have running water. We do have our inverter system going and internet though. Regular power seems to be very inconsistent. Some evenings we will have power for an hour or two, but that's about it. We're learning to conserve energy in many ways. We do have bathrooms and feet though, so we walk a bucket of water upstairs in order to wash clothes, do dishes, and flush toilets. We're also boiling our water so that we have clean drinking water.

Our kitchen is amazing! We still cannot believe that we've come all the way to Haiti and now have a huge kitchen. We've seen some awfully big cockroaches though. I went in the kitchen in the evening and opened a drawer and saw quite a few of them scurry away. I think they mostly just come out in the dark, but they are creepy. Naomi does not care for them at all. Every once in a while we have seen one run across the floor. We have pretty much gotten a handle on the tiny little ants that were all over the place. We're being very careful with food. We did get some spray as well that seems to be helping.

Willem and Beth gave us this amazing welcome basket of food from the market. You would have thought it was Christmas at the Sheppard home. Everyone was dancing around in excitement about the food. For future reference: food is a very big deal in our home. If you want to get on anyone's good side in the family, just buy them some food and they will love you for life!

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and support! We love you! Above is a view at sunset from our home. Please consider coming to visit us in Haiti. We're seeking team members for a mission team this November (hint, hint). No specific skills are needed, just a willingness to serve. You can email me: haitimissionaries@gmail.com or you can even call us on our US Haiti phone for free: 503-648-5260.