Ultra blog 5000

This man has no home. He is pretty excited about this home provided by our donors and Mountain Top, but as we began to dig today, almost as soon as we started, came a 3 hour yelling debate and a LOT of people. For the entire 3 hours we had no clue what was going on. Specifically, because people who speak Creole speak incredibly quickly, and we are ignorant to their language except for a few key words. Like Bonjour, Bonsoir, and Bonnuit. Except, we never have to tell the locals good night because we're never out at night. Safety first :). Anyways, we prayed during their dispute, without making it look like we were gathered to do so. We didn't really know what boundaries to be cautious of. The people were yelling down at us in what I perceived to be threats. I kept watching as more and more people were walking over to be a part of this dispute, and I kept getting a bit nervous. Nothing violent ever happened. I'm glad for that. We just sat there. Stood there. Walked around scratching our heads. Then we started to give some of our snacks to the kids. They were very grateful. And incredibly generous with one another. This was no mad dash.

We did a lot of walking and playing with the kids and walking around Mountain Top Ministries. The place is incredible, by the way. The locals really take ownership of this place. The owner, Willem, made a small fortune translating for CNN during Haiti's civil war. He invested wisely, and has used his money to give back amazing things to the people of Haiti. He has a lot of respect around these parts. He's an incredibly wise man. I only have this against you Mountain Top Ministries, why do you have to be so high up on the mountain? What an amazingly terrifying truck ride. I'll be honest, I positioned myself to jump off the back of the truck in the event we went over the mountain. On our drive to Chicago, I was asked if I was nervous at all. I said something like "Not really, I'll be totally fine as long as there's none of those crazy mountain rides where you are almost falling off the side of the mountain the entire way up." I was serious, and assuming the fear I overcame in California would not have to be matched and raised. I was wrong. It was a death defying stunt. A doctor, not knowing my fear, said "There was a truck that went over earlier this year. Such a shame. A ten year old boy lost his life." It is a shame. And I don't want to keep making this drive. But I'm going to. Tomorrow is church, and a day of rest. So we make the drive up the mountain tomorrow. It's incredibly steep. I'll probably position myself like a coward again, standing and ready to jump off the side.