Haiti blog

I have started a new blog for Haiti stuff

www.erininhaiti.wordpress.com

ENJOY!!!

Newsletter

Pretty Cool Day

(Note: This was actually written yesterday June 25)

Bon Swa,
 
I just wanted to write today because there has been a lot that has happened today. At 9:00 I had my music class. We have been learning to read the notes which is interesting because they do not use note names here but the use solfege names (do-re-mi-etc..). That has taken some getting used to, but it has been going well. They are learning really fast. Today I passed out the intsruments and they got to hold them and put them together. It was so neat to see their faces as they figured out how to put the instruments together and what they were supposed to do with the certain parts! Wednesday I am working with only the woodwinds and then Friday the brass. It is getting exciting now!
 
The rest of my day I spent working with a physical therapist who is in. They partnered with Wheels for the World program which sends used wheelchairs to prisons to be restored and then send them with teams to different countries to be distributed. They donated 100 chairs to the mission. Only about 37 came in this first shipment on the boat, but they have been put to good use. They have repaired and given new chairs to the kids in our special needs program and now they are giving them out to people in the community that need them. I worked with them as they fit three people to new chairs. This is not just sitting them in a chair and letting them go. They measure the person, pick the right chair for their needs, see if they need to make and extra seat cushion or seatbelts or other straps anywhere. Then they get the person in the chair and pray with them and their family and give them a Creole Bible. It is so fun to see the smile on their faces as they realize they can get around now. There were two people brought in today in wheelbarrows but they went out in wheelchairs fitted specifically for them. The best story of the day though came later on when a gorup of people went out to some homes with one of the pastors. They went to visit a family whose home had burned to the ground earlier in the week. They started talking to them and asked if anyone had been hurt. The mother/grandmother had been in the house and been burned. Then they saw her... in one of the wheelchairs that has been given to her that morning at the mission. Later that day a lady here at the mission was looking at some letters from home and someone had sent some money and told her to use it for whatever cause she felt led to use it for. She had just been to this family's home so she immediately decided to give this family the money. We also sent the a bag of clothes and shoes and a bag of other things that they could use after the fire. This family has just lost everything and within one day they get two bags full of items, money to help find a new home and a wheelchair for their mother/grandmother. Isnt it cool how God works!!!
 
I just wanted to share that with you!!! Please pray for the following:
 
- the family mentioned above
- all families in the area tonight especially. There is a huge storm here and I know that there are families who will have flooded homes and have to stand up all night. Pray that in the next couple days we will be able to help some of those effected by this storm
- Pray for the mission and the leaders and the relationships between everyone
- Pray for my music class and that they will continue to learn be excited about this program
- Pray for all those recieveing wheelchairs in the next few days.
 
God bless,
 
Erin Tulenko

End of group 1

Bon Swa from Haiti

Well I have made it through my first group and it was not as hard as I had thought originally. The group was great to work with. There were a lot of high schoolers, but they were really willing to do whatever and were really flexible with things. It was pretty quiet around the mission while they were here though because most of their time was spent out in the Far West doing revivals at the new mission sites. God is doing amazing things out there. At the revivals there were 60 decisions made. 38 at Beauchamp and 22 at Augustine.
 
I went out to the Far West over the weekend that they were there. We went out with the four interns and the new full time missionaries. We met the group at the revival in Beauchamp and then started on our way back to Ms Pat's (missionary) house about 2 hours away. We were about 30 minutes from the revival site and hit a huge bump and pretty much went airborne. By the way, we are on a huge flat bed truck at this point with one side completely open. The truck came to a stop and them started rolling... the breaks were out. The driver made the decision to take the truck into the first tree to stop it before we picked up any more speed and had to go around any corners. No one was hurt at all. We just had pieces of tree all over us!!! That is not the end of the story though... we went into a clearing nearby and waited to see what would happen next. A dump truck ended up coming, and I mean a HUGE dump truck. We had to climb up the side of the truck and down the inside. All the girls sat in the back of the truck while we rode back to Ms. Pat's house. The next day we were down at the ocean baptizing those who had made decisions at the revivals and a huge storm came in. We got stuck in that and had to walk back to the house in pouring rain and 6 inches of "mud." Our small group eventually got to get back on the road and headed back to the mission in St. Louis du Nord. That has been the biggest adventure so far here!
 
My music class has started. I have about 25 students from the mission school in the 5th and 6th grades. We have met twice and will be meeting Mon, Wed, and Fri at 9:00. I have finally had a chance to sit down and write out some lessons, so this next week should be more smooth than the first couple classes. I will probably be distributing instruments at the end of this week.
 
Right now (2:00pm) I am sitting in Jody and Jose's house waiting for the next group to arrive....actually they just got here so I will end this update for now and write more later.
 
God Bless,
 
Erin Tulenko

I am here

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have arrived safely. I got in yesterday afternoon and have been pretty busy. This group is going to be gone to the new property for most of their trip starting Thursday so I may be able to start working on the music program after all!  Well that is my quick update for now. I will write more later.

ERIN