Chelsie here, Today was jam packed with many different things. This morning we went and looked at the school here in our village (it is the primary school) the kids were so cute and there were six or seven classes all for different grades, each class we went in to to say hi they sang us a song! It was really cute. Then we went to go see the clinic, which we decided we want to transform into the secondary school because the kids that can go to secondary school have to walk a long way to get there, down and then back up the hugeee mountian…everyday. So we decided one of our upcoming projects will be creating them a secondary school. We will be working with Rick Davis who wants to build another building similar to the school we built, using the building in a box. So we decided to use the ‘clinic’ as the school and the building we are going to build as the clinic instead. We came back to the house and had a meeting with the church board and gave out the solar lights. My pretend husband was there (we all have one) his name is Mackenson hes so sweet. We went back to the school when the kids had recess and played games with them, I am going to miss them very much. I showed them the secret wave from ‘The Little Rascals’- the under your chin wave, accomponied by me making the tooting noise out of my mouth with my tounge followed by an Indian owowowowow sound and they loveeeddd it. That is how we greet and say good bye now. It is so cool how language barriers can actuaclly bring you together- we dont ever say anything with lots of meaning but we all give gestures, like blowing kisses or huging or holding hands or even my stupid friend signals that they love. Its very cool. The word for gum is “chicklay” here and so we all laugh and say I am the chicklay queen cause I always have the bubble gum to give the kids, Joni gives the stickers, Meghan gives her camera haha. They also say my name very funny it got to the point we would all look at each other and say “did they just say Chelsie or sea shells?” so now I am also sea shells barbie lol. After hanging out with the kids and watching Ben climb a tree we came back and had ‘dinner’ which we eat at like 2 or 3 pm. Then we went into Port Au Prince. We first drove for what seemed like forever to find “Eco Depot” which is basically a smaller version of Home Depot, seriously its kinda scary. They had armed guards at the doors and make you put your stuff in lockers (just like most large stores…not that there are many). After looking around the store to see what they had that we could buy here next trip instead of transporting it with us, we left to go see the orphans. The orphans that Father actuaclly has full custody over- apparently that is not uncommon and Priests can adopt numerous amounts of children here. We went to where they are living and visited awhile, there was a little girl named Chealsea there and I wanted to bring her home with me. I am making this promise to the future Hatian baby that I will adopt you someday when I have a good job and have a dad for you, Ill be back I promise. After leaving the house, where I taught them my new friend greeting/goodbye that I did with the kids from the village this morning (apparently they all like it which makes me sooo happy, they think its funny, probably cause I look redicous lol). We were on our way back and I saw this little boy. And the whole two hours back I was thinking and Im going to try and put it down into words. Rebecca said something the first day that we were here and Ive rememberd it almost like its embedded in my mind. She said: When you are born its a game of luck and chance, being born an American is like winning the game. In a place like Haiti, you pretty much were delt a terrible hand…  We continued talking and I remember saying something like yeah, and so its our JOB as the lucky ones with all the resources to help the people who cant help themselves. Well I thought that I understood that when we got here. But looking back, I really had no idea. Who can really have an idea until they have seen some of the things that we were witnessed to in just this one week? There is sooooo much more terrible things going on that we do not see, so shouldnt the things we see that are so terrible be enough? Being here and looking onto the faces of children that have survived more in their few amount of years and have done more back breaking long labor days of hard work than I will probably ever know in my life. The same children that BEG to go to school, or to have a bed, to have a LIGHT, to have a family that loves them. Through all of this Haiti is religious, they have kept their faith in God. When speaking to a normal Hatian looking back on a day that they just had, speaking of all of the terrible things that they endued…they will shock you and say something like, but hey it rained for 10 minutes last night oh how God loves us. How truely wonderful. Father at dinner tonight was telling us how he became a priest and I tell you it sent shivers down my spine. I do not think I have heard some one be so natural speaking of how great God is as if everyone knows already, yet is still humbed to the point of accounting God for all of the wonderful things that have happened to him to help others, not for one second saying that It was because he worked very hard. I am just sitting here tonight on my cot, extremely baffeled. I feel like all of the things I worry about mean nothing. I am healthy, no where near starving, I have people who love me completely and unconditionally, and I have people that I love that are safe and live in a land of opportunity. So today I thank God. I thank him for directing me and showing me what was missing, even though I was unaware there was something that was not filled. I will be praying for the flashes of faces that I see when I close my eyes, and for the days when the streets of Haiti are clean and all children can go to school. If you pray you are doing something. Pray for the little babies that are dying at the nuns home we went to, or the little boy on the street I saw and cried for today. That is all for tonight. I appreciate you taking time to listen. Tomorrow is our last day, and I am sad. Until tomorrow <3