Island Tour and Braids!

Hey Guys,

I got braids done! Kezia from the base did them for me they turned out really well! At least I think so! We also went on a tour of the island and I put in a few pictures to show the beauty of the coast. It's amazing because on the Atlantic coast the waves are huge and crazy, but on the Caribbean coast, they are so tame and calm. It's amazing what an amazing imagination God had to create our world and each country just so beautifully. I also have a picture in there of sugar cane, the crop that is grown in the area that I'm in. The sugar down here is awesome as I hear the rum is as well, but I haven't tassted it!

Anyways, tomorrow I am leaving for Guyana. Home to the Amazon Jungle which we will be living in! We will be in Parika for three weeks and the interior for one. It should definitely be an adventure of a lifetime. I don't think I'll have much communication until the Bahamas at the end of May, but if I'm lucky and get a chance, I'll send out an email and let you all know how it's going.

Miss you all!

April

Sean Paul Concert on the Beach in Barbados!

Hey Guys,

Well, last Sunday we had a wonderful time on the beach at a Sean Paul concert! We were chilling at the beach listening to the Dj's and whatnot until Sean Paul came on. At this time we were trying to figure out a way we may be able to sneak in. We didn't have the money to buy a ticket and figured it could be fun. We had no luck though so we decided we'd just hang on the beach and dance to the music. We were however trying to get pictures with our cameras through cracks in the tent where the concert was being held. It was really crazy though because Erin, Catherine and I were the only white girls on the entire beach with all the Bajan's smoking up and drinking. All the tourists were inside the tent watching the concert because they bought the tickets. Anyways, Maxi Priest was the first band on and during their performance the people outside, right by us cut a tear in the tent to see through. They also started pulling down the walls and stuff to peek over. Every time the police came by though, they'd quickly put the tent wall back up. Anyways, once Sean Paul came on though, there was no stopping it, everyone went crazy, tore down the tent all and trampled their way into the concert. Of course, we joined them. It was a good time. I mean, I'm not super crazy about Sean Paul or anything, I like his Reggae music, but just watching him on the beach in Barbados was super cool!

Cya!

Treasure Chest Kids Camp

Hey guys,

Here are some pictures from the kids camp. The kids are cute, but 20 of them doing crafts or trying to get them to pay attention to your devotional can be very trying. We also did a lot of decorating of the barn which you can see. Anyways, I gotta get back to my class right now for our craft time. Cya!

Cricket World Cup

Hey,

Here are a few pictures from the Cricket Stadium. We got in free for the last hour or so before doing some street evangelism as the spectators were leaving. It was a really neat experience. I still don't understand the game, but it seems to be very interesting and the fans are really intense. Good times!

My 24 bday!

So I had my 24th bday on April 11. To tell you the truth it pretty much sucked, I wished I had been home, but by the end of the day I was in a much happier mood and it turned out alright. It was a bit of a stressful day because we had to prepare for the kids camp for the next week all evening and couldn't go out. All I really wanted to do was go for ice cream and we couldn't and everyone was really tired and frustrated because we had a really long day. BUT...the night became really good when Johanne brought out her Danish candy and I got a bunch of phone calls from my loved ones at home! Thanks guys! I miss everyone so much! Enjoy the pics, the one with the cake was a pretend to blow out the candles one because we couldn't get them lit!

Saturday a bunch of us girls went out SALSA dancing! Yeah, it was a lot of fun, but nothing like dancing at home. We had barely any space and practically no one knew how to dance, but we had a good time anyways. We went to the Gap which is the really busy night life street. After the salsa dancing at the Irish Pub we went to an oldies place and got our groove on a bit there. It was a really busy night because the Wrold Cricket Cup is going on here in Barbados so there are tons of tourists from Australia and Ireland.

Take care!

Town and beaches

Hey Guys,

So here are some pictures of the city which has the tower and also the really white sand beach. The other beach is about a 25 min walk or a 13 min run from the base, the waves at times can be kinda rough, but I'm getting used to them and more brave and started swimming in it this week! The reason I'm mostly so fearful is just my total hate of having sand in my bathingsuit! Then on Easter Sunday everyone seemed to be at the part flying kites and whatnot, it was really nice.

Barbados

Hi guys,

Well, I cannot believe I have been in Barbados for almost 3 weeks already. I'm gonna try to give you a little Barbados update with pictures etc.

Our first week we were on outreach and actually we mostly stayed on the base doing work around the base preparing for the kids camp called Treasure chest we had in two weeks and also because they are short staffed right now on the base. We also went to visit and pray for people in the hospital which was really good.

On the weekend it was Easter and we had Good Friday off and we went to the beach in the afternoon for a campout. We got to sleep kinda under a rock overhang/cave type thing. I have pictures here of the beach and where we slept and what not. It was a virgin beach so no bathrooms or anything, but it was a really good time. I had to deal with all the sand in all my stuff and sleeping bag, but it was worth it. The ocean waves were kinda violent, so I didn't swim all that much cuz I hate it when sand gets in my bathing suit. I did however go in for awhile and of course the waves did take push me into shore and I did get COVERED in sand! Unforgetable moments forsure as I felt like I gave birth to Catherine because her head was jammed into me. Ouch! jajajaja Good times! God's creation is so amazing and beautiful!

Blissful nite in Miami

Hey,

We were truly blessed when we found out we missed our flight from Miami to Barbados and would (after many hours waiting in the airport) get to stay overnight in a beautiful French hotel called Sofitel. We got meal vouchers, warm showers, feather duvet beds, slippers, a work out gym, a pool and excellent service for free!!!!! It was a true blessing. I especially loved the beds and the warm baths. Only after the second bath was I able to get almost all of the dirt off my feet! jajaja Anyways, we got all cleaned up and took some nice pictures in the hotel before leaving. There is also a picture of me with my greek salad that didn't have any lettuce in it. I thought it quite odd, but it was loaded with bell peppers of every color and a grilled chicken breast! On Sunday our flight was delayed by 2 hours, but we did make it to Barbados! PTL!

Modes of Transportation

Hey guys,

Here are some of the modes of transportation we used in Haiti. The one van was pretty hip eh? It was hilarious. We also rode in the back and on top of trucks and whatnot. We rode on motorcycles which was cool too, but one day I saw a woman who got hit by 2 men on the taxi motorcycle. Not a pretty picture. No one in our group had any problems though. Life is always an adventure here, that's for sure.

St. Marc

Hey,

Here are some pictures of St. Marc, Haiti. You will notice all the garbage all over the place, especially along the beach and river. Also you can see that there are pigs and goats running all over the place. At least they don't have too many dogs running all around, but they sure do have a lot of livestock. There are also some market pictures.

We ate a lot of goat and supposedly the, what I call "vegetable mush" had pigs feet, beef and who knows what else in it. It was super good though! We ate a lot of bean mush as well which I enjoyed. Then we had plain rice or rice and peas and a soupy sauce that had crab and other stuff in it. One time I found a shrimp. What else... we had turkey off the bones like chicken, but the bones were way larger. Haiti was interesting in deed. Everyday for lunch we had peanut butter and buns, I thought I would get so sick of it, but actually I sarted craving it by the time lunch came around. Oh, sometimes I went for a pate which I bought off the street. It was a deep fried dough pocket thing with a hard boiled egg and some other red stuff inside topped with a carrot hot sauce. Very greasy, but yummy. We ate a lot of mango (which I grew to like) and chadeque which is similar to grapefruit, but not quite as sour. We also at watermelon, bananas, and oranges. I have really learned to like new fruits on this trip. So yeah, that's kinda the type of food we had in Haiti, oh yeah, how can I forget the spaghetti with weiners. That was definitely not my favorite meal and we had it A LOT! So thats just a brief rundown of the type of food we had in Haiti.

Cya

Bug Bites and Garbage

Hey guys

Well here are some pictures of the bug bites that I got all over my face as I was sleeping! It totally sucked. At least they didn't swell or were itchy. There is also a picture of the garbage bins that we painted on behalf of YWAM and placed around town. As you can see in the background they usually use the street or the river or wherever they want to chuck their garbage. It's crazy the city is covered in garbage. Terry Snow the St. Marc base director started garbage collection and goes out every morning to collect garbage from the streets and stuff. People at first used to laugh at him, but now they are pitching in and helping him out and even making small donations to the cause! It's still a city full of garbage, but at least the people are starting to change the city a little! There is also a picture of me sunbathing against a rock because the beach that I was at had too much garbage on the beach to lay on. The water in this beach area was actually really clean though (comparatively speaking).

Gonaives

Hey,

We spent a week in Gonaives doing outreach and actually we ended up doing a lot of waiting around so I got a lot of reading done which was nice. If you know me though, you will realize that I'm not actually a reader and that staying in one place for me is quite difficult. We were not allowed to leave the house without the group becuase of a riot was going on, but we were safe. One night some of the group heard gun shots, but we never saw anything of it. I also got some beautiful sky pictures. Most days it rained which is unusual for this time of year, but it seems where ever we go we get rain, even now in Barbados. In Gonaives though, when it rains the whole city floods and we had to be so careful not to get any of the water on the streets on us becaue it's full of crap. Literally. I also got a pile of bites on my arms which are shown on the elbow picture.