This Thursday, before the Pinetta team left, some of Joan’s family arrived for a week-long visit. Joan’s mom, Rhoda Meister, and her sister, Beth Herman, have both been here before but her nephew, Justin Herman had not. We were really glad to see them – not just because they brought a bunch of chocolate though. :)

On Friday we hung around the house, Justin helped Tim with a small project, and the ladies worked on packing for a weekend camping trip. Saturday morning we loaded up in the van and drove an hour to Zanglais, where some other missionaries have a beach house there. Since there wasn’t much sleeping area inside the house, we spread out to tents and hammocks and mattresses out in the yard. The weather was really nice, not too hot, but a little rainy at times. As soon as we got set up, we went down to the beach. After lunch we saw some fishermen pulling in their net so we meandered over there to help them. I’m not sure how much help I was, taking pictures for this blog from time to time, but everyone else helped pull and when we finally got it in we were surprised at how much effort the Haitians go through for such a little catch! They even said it was a larger catch for them, and they’ve been doing it this way for ages and ages and they just don’t know any other way to be more efficient. So anyway, they started untangling the fish caught in the net and we noticed that they had caught something else too – a sea turtle! Sarah went over and held it still so it (it turned out to be a girl) wouldn’t bite through their net, and Beth deliberated over buying it from them and letting it go back into the ocean. She finally did, for about $20 American, and once we paid, Justin hauled it back to the waves and we helped it back into the water. It was really cool to see her suddenly shoot off into the water once she got in a little deeper, and Beth had done her good deed for the day!

Sunday we went to church at St. George, where we were joined by Brent, Ed & Julie, Shane Shaw, and the Christiansen family. Sean Christiansen had the message for the service and we went back to the beach house for lunch and then some snorkeling and just relaxing. Before dinner, Joan led us on a hike up the mountain behind the beach house, and what was promised to be a not-too-difficult hike turned out to be pretty interesting, through the sliding rocks and thorn bushes. But we all made it to the top alive, and though I  think I took enough pictures, they don’t do it justice. Every time we get to the top of a mountain and just stop to enjoy the view I am amazed at how small I am, and how big God is! And yet He cares so much more about me than I can even comprehend. I almost wanted to just camp up there on the hill overlooking the peninsula and the small islands we could see. Mostly for the view, but also I really didn’t want to go back down the same way we went up! One of the other missionary kids led us down the right way, and though it was a little longer, it was a lot easier than sliding down through the brush! We had a cookout and a good time of singing and fellowship around the fire. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have the love and support of a missionary family here in Haiti, and I know that the other missionaries feel the same way. Of course we miss our own families and friends, but it helps so much to have people here to encourage us.

Monday we left in carloads after breakfast, some of us going up to Bonne Fin, the rest of us going straight back home to Cayes. Joan had to translate for a meeting, and Rhoda and Beth got the tour while Sarah gave blood and we hung around waiting for the adults. Yes, you can give blood in Haiti and it is safe! She was so brave. :)

Tuesday we got ready to leave for the missionary retreat and early Wednesday morning we packed up to drive to Port. We didn’t go straight to the missionary retreat, but instead spent the night at HIS Orphanage in Port before taking Rhoda, Beth, and Justin to the airport in the morning. The kids were all so sweet, and practically every one of them was just waiting to be hugged or held and when we had to go we almost had to pry them off of us. The orphanage is run by an American woman and her husband who have lived here for 10 years and run this home and several other outreaches. It was great to see a couple so dedicated to serving the Lord in such a difficult place to work.

After dropping off the family at the airport, we drove to the retreat at Kaliko Beach Resort about an hour away from Port. We arrived there mid-morning and we weren’t allowed to check into our rooms yet so we headed right for the pool! If you recall my post about the Reinhard’s vacation in September, we spent a night at Kaliko during that week also.

By Thursday evening most of the missionaries had arrived and we met our speakers for the week. There were classes like VBS for the younger kids, a teen class (for the teens, imagine that!), and then the adult class. I can’t speak for the kids because I didn’t attend any of their classes, but I was encouraged so much this weekend. We were reminded that even though we have different missions, denominations, schedules, cultures, and histories, we are called to not only work together, but to love each other and treat each other with compassion and forgiveness! One of the missionaries brought up something one of his old classmates had asked him a long time ago about whether people go to the mission field because they want to get out of society. Well, we aren’t in our societies anymore, but that doesn’t mean we’ve run away from it. In America sometimes it’s easier to deal with difficult people because you don’t have to see them as often but here, we all live in the same place, we all use the same resources, and we see each other mostly every day so we can’t just avoid our problems when they come up.

We also had a lot of free time to relax and enjoy each others’ company. I am speaking for myself when I say this, because I don’t want anyone else’s family to get offended, but I felt like we missionaries were just one big family this weekend and it was hard to leave knowing we’ll have to wait til next year to do it all again! But now we’re back to normal life, if anything in Haiti can be normal, and looking forward to the Peoria team coming this Friday. We appreciate your prayers for that week, our relationships with each other here on the compound, and our relationships with the Haitian people.

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