Presents Schmesents.

It is the Christmas season!

YAY!!

I personally LOVE Christmas,

as most people do.

However, 

I feel my love of Christmas comes from a rather unique place,

it's not because of all the lights,

or festivals,

or parties,

or music,

or desserts,

it's because of the PRESENTS!

Please refrain from your immediate reaction of assessing my superficiality, 

and allow me a moment or two to fully explain. 

I 

LOVE LOVE LOVE 

giving presents. 

It's just a fact. 

Ask my friends and family, 

they know. 

I LOVE IT.

And so I love Christmas because,

Christmas gives me the opportunity to give a present to just about everyone I know. 

So to recap, 

I love Christmas because I love presents. 

Another and probably more significant reason why I love Christmas, 

is because I LOVE Jesus. 

And what is Christmas all about?

Why do we even have Christmas anyway?

Because of JESUS CHRIST.

So to recap again,

I love Christmas because I love presents, 

and because I love Jesus.

But the beautiful thing about my two loves of Christmas,

is that they go hand in hand. 

Allow me to elaborate. 

I give someone a present at Christmas for several reasons:

1. Because I love them. 

Simple. 

I give gifts to those I love.

I give gifts to those I want to show that I love. 

Because a present isn't just some random object,

or just useless junk. 

Oh no, 

a present is so much more. 

A present is an expression of my love for that person. 

A present says, 

"I love you. 

I found this for you because I knew you would like it.

I knew you would want it. 

I knew you would use it. 

And so I got it for you, 

and now every time you use it, 

every time you see it,

you are reminded of me. 

And you are reminded of how much I care about you.

And you are reminded of our relationship and what it means to you and to me.

I got you this present because I wanted you to feel important. 

I wanted you to feel special.

I wanted you to know that you matter to me, 

and I want to bless you with a gift that reflects that."

That is what presents are supposed to say.

But sadly I feel we say something more like,

"uhhh here, I would feel bad if I didn't get you anything,

so here's something seems like something you might like."

I hate to sound rude, 

but that's the absolute WRONG way to give someone a present. 

You might as well not even bother if that's what your attitude is. 

2. Because I love Jesus. 

Giving someone a present is a major task for me. 

It's not always easy.

It usually requires a significant amount of 

prayer, 

research, 

and time. 

I pray before I give someone a present,

simply because I don't always know what to give someone,

and I don't want to do it poorly.

So I pray and I ask the Lord to show me what to give,

and who to give it to. 

The Lord is involved in just about every gift I give. 

Because it's another way that I can trust Him. 

It's another way I can show Him that I love Him. 

When I give someone a present, I'm communicating something to God.

And it goes something like this:

"Lord, 

you have so graciously blessed me with this person in my life. 

You have given me this relationship,

and it's been a blessing. 

You have orchestrated everything about it,

and I want to thank you. 

I want to honor you by blessing this person with a gift, 

because you have blessed me with this person and the ability to give to them. 

Thank you Lord for this person in my life. 

I am going to show them how much I care about them through this present."

That is what giving gifts is supposed to communicate to God. 

I use it as a time to rejoice in how the Lord has blessed me.

I use it as a time to worship the Lord for all that He has done in my life! 

Giving other people presents demonstrates my love for my God. 

3. Because the Wise Men gave to Jesus first. 

The Bible lays out the foundation for gift-giving. 

Matthew 2:1-12 records the visit from the Magi, or Wise Men after the birth of Jesus. 

These Wise Men from the East, 

see the star above where Jesus was born and they follow it and come to worship him.

They don't come empty handed.

They come bearing gifts,

of gold, incense and myrrh. 

And since I'm not a Biblical scholar I will now cut and paste from someone who is.

This is an article from David Dewitt for helium.com

1.) Gold: The gift of gold was often reserved for royalty. The Magi told King Herod that they had come to see the one born King of the Jews. It is clear that they recognized Jesus as being royal but the question is why? The issue is the star of Bethlehem. The Magi had seen the star and they recognized the importance of the star in the sky as a sign of a spectacular birth. The Magi brought gold in some form, whether it was jewelry, coins, or just pieces, we are not told. The importance of the gift was that it represented the fact that Jesus was royal.

2.) Frankincense: The gift of frankincense is somewhat unusual. Frankincense was a highly valued commodity and somewhat rare. The Jewish people had a common use for frankincense that was directly connected to the worship of God. In the Temple, the Jews prayed before the Altar of Incense which was always kept burning. The substance burned on that altar was frankincense. When frankincense is burned it gives off a sweet smelling white smoke. The smoke rising from the altar of incense represented the prayers of the people rising to God in heaven. The only use of frankincense for Jews was at this altar and it was reserved for the worship of God. The Magi presenting this gift to Jesus represents the fact that He was indeed divine.

3.) Myrrh: The gift of myrrh seems the most odd of the gifts. Myrrh was extremely valuable and had a number of uses. The most common use was a perfume. Sometimes myrrh might be used in the homes of the wealthy to create a pleasant fragrance but was normally reserved for special instances. The major use of myrrh was for burials. Myrrh was placed on the cloths used to wrap bodies for burial to help prevent the smell of decay following death. The Magi presented this gift to Jesus as a representation that He would one day die. The gift almost seems to convey the fact that Jesus was born to die.

So you see these were highly significant gifts. 

The Wise Men didn't just bring gifts because they were expected to.

They brought them so that they could convey a message.

They said that this little baby was important to them,

and essentially declared that he was the Son of God,

the Messiah,

the King of the Jews. 

The Wise Men declared that Jesus was important.

The Wise Men declared that Jesus was special. 

This is why I give presents. 

Because I love them and because I love Jesus. 

It's not always easy, 

but it's always worth it. 

Peanuts to Peanut Butter.

Lately I've been really inspired to be frugal, 

but also be creative,

particularly in the kitchen. 

So thanks to the wonder that is, Pinterest I've been able to be both!

One of my first endeavors was

Homemade Peanut Butter! 

When I first saw it on Pinterest I was a little skeptical,

how can you make your own peanut butter?

That's got to be a super complicated and in-depth process,

right?

There's like all kinds of ingredients that don't even sound real, 

"...fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, mono and diglycerides..."

sounds complicated to me.

But I was pleasantly surprised when I actually looked at the recipe,

 and found it to about the simplest thing EVER!

Wanna know how to make peanut butter??

You take peanuts and grind em up!

That's it!!

Could it get any easier!

Here's a quick run down of my peanut butter making process.

1. I bought some honey roasted peanuts. 

You can use any brand you like, 

I got these because they were out of the store brand. 

But any will do! 

2. Get out your food processor,

and if you're like me,

call your friend Kyle to come rig it so that it will actually work.

It's a hand-me down,

don't judge. 

Next, you're going to pour your peanuts into the food processor. 

Mine is super tiny so I couldn't put much in there,

maybe about a 1/2 cup, 

you can do more depending on how big your machine is. 

3. Make sure everything is nice and secure, and then turn on your food processor.

And watch it go!

 It'll go through several different stages.

 I stopped it a few times to stir it around so it wouldn't stick in one place,

and I didn't want to overexert my machine. 

4. Get out your mason jar,

or a suitable substitute,

and get your peanut butter ready for storing, 

or EATING.

I keep mine in the fridge,

it should keep about a month or so if refrigerated, 

but mine barely makes it a week or two until I have to make more!

I left mine with a little bit of grit still in it,

partly because I like it chunky,

but also because I was afraid my food processor might explode. 

Don't worry,

it didn't.

5. Enjoy! 

I absolutely LOVED making this!

It's super easy,

super cheap,

and SUPER delicious! 

I don't know if I'll ever go back to store bought peanut butter AGAIN!

A New Perspective.

Hello ladies and gents!

I've been off my blogging game this school year, 

I do apologize. 

But I have be rather busy, 

quite a bit busier than I would normally like. 

But it's a good kind of busy.

The kind of busy where I have a lot to read and learn,

but I don't actually have to go anywhere or do anything. 

I'm taking a class at my church called Perspectives. 

It's so legit. 

It's a 15 week course about God's heart for the nations and His global glory. 

(here's the website if you want to read a bit more)

This class is serious business.

It requires more work than about any class I have EVER taken. 

Each week we have about 30-40 pages worth of articles, 

book excerpts,

 sermons, 

etc to read and answer questions about. 

It's proven to be somewhat of a challenge to get everything done on time, 

but I've managed to work out a system. 

And I'll tell you what,
 this class has rocked my world, 

and it's only WEEK FIVE!

Perspectives has opened my eyes to see God from a different point of view.

Up until now I've viewed God in terms of how I can understand Him.
Which is a very limited scope of understanding. 

So I basically viewed God as my own personal wishing well.

I had a problem, 

He fixed it.

I sinned, 

He forgave it. 

I was hurting, 

He comforted me.

I was alone, 

He was with me. 

Notice how many times I said "I" or "me"?

My image of God was so tainted by myself. 

So for me,
God existed to take care of me. 

That's what He's here for right?
WRONG.

I mean I would never have said,
"Uh yeah, isn't that what God's for anyhow,
to help a girl out?!"

I knew that God's purpose was His greater glory,
but I just never realized what,
"His greater glory,"
really meant.

But now I'm starting to understand.

Through this course I've learned that God is a global God.
That basically means that God's ultimate purpose is,
worship for Himself from a global community,
from every nation, tribe and tongue.

That doesn't mean the entire nation, tribe and tongue,
but it does mean a portion of every nation, tribe and tongue.

Think about the very scope of what that means,
every NATION, TRIBE AND TONGUE.

He's not talking about the political nations as we think of today,
it's more like people grouping.

So it's not just people who are the same race,
or nationality;
He's talking about every ethnicity,
people group,
culture,
subculture,
social class,
language,
dialect,
etc.

That really changes the way we look at verses that talk about "the nations,"
such as:

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples."
Psalm 96:3

"He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."
Daniel 7:14

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."
Matthew 28:19

"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."
Revelation 5:9

God wants to join people from every
culture,
tribe,
language,
people group,
ethnicity,
race,
 and nation,
to Himself through global worship.

That is God's purpose.
That is how God has chosen to reveal His ultimate glory.

So it stands to reason that Christ's purpose is also to reveal God's ultimate glory.
God chose to do that through global worship of Him,
and He chose to use Jesus Christ to do it.

So I can only conclude that,
it's not about me.

Christ did not come to the Earth to die for me.
He did not forgive us of our sins for us.
The salvation of mankind was not Christ's purpose,
God is.
God's glory is Christ's purpose.
And God chose to reveal that glory through the salvation of mankind.
God chose to use Jesus Christ for this.

It makes me think of that old saying,
"When He was on the cross, I was on His mind."
I'm sorry but I just find that to be a bit ridiculous!

Let's be real,
I have NO IDEA what was going through Christ's mind while He was on that cross.
But I highly doubt it was us,
me in particular.
I feel like Christ's thoughts were more than likely, focused on His Father,
and His Kingdom,
and His Glory.

Let's not get too conceited fellow humans,
we all know we're not that great.

This is something that I've really noticed lately.
We've got this almost subliminal messaging in the Christian church today,
and that message is that it's all about me.

If I hear one more song about how much God does for ME,
or another sermon solely on how much He loves ME,
I'm going to pull my hairs out.

We're getting things out of focus.
Does God love me?
Yes.
Does God care for me?
Yes.
Does He forgive, restore, redeem, renew me?
Yes.

Yes, He does all of these things and more!
And I am so glad that He does.

But we've got to remember that it's not about what He does,
but WHY He does it.
He does all of these things because they point directly to Him.
He loves us because He gets glory from that.
He redeems us because that's how He wants it.

It's not about us,
IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM.
He's the star of this show,
and the sooner we realize that,
the sooner His global glory will be revealed,
to every people,
tribe,
and tongue.

Home Improvements: Part III.

I realize I haven't blogged in WAY too long, 

I do apologize. 

I did try and blog some last week, 

but the website was on the fritz.

Crazy. 

Anyway, 

I wanted to share some more of my home improvement efforts.

Over the summer I inherited some old furniture from my parents,

who recently moved.

So I set out to refinish a chest of drawers and an end table. 

I had an idea of what I wanted to do,

but I wasn't really following any sort of plan;

I'm more of an "off the cuff" kinda gal. 

So here's a glimpse of the LONG refurbishing process.

Here's what I started with:

The chest of drawers. 

The end table. 

First,

 I sanded them down to get the shiny finish off,

so I could paint them.

I did the same to the end table. 

Next, 

came the first coat of paint!

I wanted the two pieces be able to go together if need be, 

but not necessarily match.

So I went with a base of navy blue for the chest of drawers, 

with off white for the handles. 

I decided to go with a base of off white for the end table. 

The next step proved to be the most time consuming...

Painting all THE DETAILS!

I do love details. 

After MANY hours spent in the garage working,

and MANY hours of watching Netflix while I painted,

this is what I came up with. 

The chest of drawers!

The end table!

I was so excited to get them to Ruston,

so I could get them into the house!! 

I ended up using the chest of drawers for extra storage in the bathroom!

And the end table became my much needed bedside table!

So that's the story of my furniture painting!! 

It was a lot of work, 

but it was well worth it!

I love how everything turned out! 

Home Improvements: Part II.

I wrote the first installment of my home improvements back in April,
with my new coffee table made from an old window.

Back in the spring we had our windows replaced at my house here in Ruston.
It was quite the endeavor, but it taught me a few things.
The main thing it taught me,
was that our mini blinds were DISGUSTING.
They were ALL broken,
dusty,
crooked,
and just plain nasty.
So we decided to forgo the blinds and replace them with curtains!

Only problem was...
we didn't have any curtains.

So my task over Easter break was to fix that!
I found some relatively inexpensive fabric at Wal-Mart and went to work!

With help from Mom,
(lots of help)
I started sewing curtains for our living and dining room.
They weren't too complicated,
just time consuming!

The edges of the fabric had a nice selvage,
so all I had to do was make two nice big seams at the top and bottom,
and there you go!!

The Before:

The After:

The living room

The dining room.

On my way home from Kamp, 

I stopped off here in Ruston to spend the night.

I found that our next door neighbors had cut down the 3 or 4 trees along our side fence,

leaving my room no longer hidden by lush foliage. 

So I was needing some better window coverage! 

So I set out again to make me some curtains!

I bought some discounted fabric at a local store in Lake Charles,

and to work I went. 

(With lots of help from Mom and MomBond)

We decided to make tabs out of ribbon to hang them, 

instead of the big seam like the other curtains. 

This material also had a nice selvage, 

so no side seams!!

Wahoo!!

We used hem tape to be able to make the bottom seam look larger without losing length. 

So a couple seams, and a few tabs later here's what we got!

I decided to use the new curtains I was making, 

and the ones I already had up, 

to make my room that much more private. 

So hopefully these do their job and keep what's inside in, 

and what's outside out! 

How Phoebe Got Her Fun Back.

I've officially been back in the "real world" for FOUR whole days now.
Wow,
I can't even believe it.
I already miss Kamp like crazy!

Allow me to explain why.
Kamp is basically just you,
living,
working,
hanging
with about 200 friends
24/7!
IT'S AWESOME!

That's what I miss about Kamp.
I don't miss living without air conditioning,
or sorting mail for 400 people everyday,
or answering the exact same question 30 times a day.
I miss hanging out with my 200 friends and acting goofy.

While at Kamp this summer I had a "revival" of sorts.


I GOT MY FUN BACK.


That's right everyone,
I'M FUN AGAIN!
Wahoo!

As some of you may know,
this past year was rough for me.
There were a lot of difficult and painful situations,
most of which were beyond my control.
I will admit that there were a few times where I unintentionally made my own life suck.
My bad.

And because of all this junk,
I lost my fun.
I had been so down for so long,
I had forgotten what it was like to be up,
to just have fun,
to be goofy and enjoy myself.

So many times last year I prayed for peace,
I prayed for joy,
I prayed for FUN.
And it seemed like I would always get a little taste,
but it never really lasted.
I had given up.
I had just accepted that this was what I was going to be like from now on.
Hi, I'm Phoebe and I'm no fun.
LAME!

But,
I didn't get joy then because I wasn't ready for it.
I didn't get peace then because it wasn't time for peace yet.
I didn't get fun because God wouldn't have been fully glorified in it yet.
I'm not 100% sure why this was given to me when it was,
but I don't really think I need to know that.

 I do need to know that the Lord is faithful.
That the Lord heard my prayers.
That the Lord listened to ME.
He heard me ask for these things;
and He knew I wanted them;
He knew I needed them,
but He also knew when to give them to me.

He knew that if He had blessed me with these things any sooner,
I wouldn't have been able to fully accept them.
I might not have had the support group around me to encourage me.
I might not have been able to see the blessings.
Who knows??
Not me.

But what I do know is that the Lord has finally restored me.
He never left me.
He never neglected me.
He always listened to me.
He was preparing me,
so that one night upstairs in my cabin,
I could look back on a day of fun and silliness,
and proudly proclaim, "I'M FUN AGAIN!"
(Yes, I really did shout this aloud with my fists raised in triumph.)

And ya know what?
Fun feels really good!
I love it.
It's stinking AWESOME.

So thank you to all of you who put up with me while I was trying to find my fun.
Your patience is very much noticed and appreciated;
I do realize just how very "un-fun" I was,
and I apologize.
Thanks for sticking with me.
And don't worry,
CAUSE THE FUN IS HERE TO STAY!

Kanakuk Bound.

Well folks, I am off yet again!

I am returning to Kamp! 

Wahoo!!

I work at Kanakuk Kamps,

more specifically I work at K-West, 

Kanakuk's middle school kamp.

Yayyyyyy.

(Don't worry...I work in the office)

So this means that I will be removed from all distractions and thrown into a big Jesus bubble. 

Which I kinda like.

It's refreshing to be in such an uplifting and encouraging environment 24/7.

But this means I will be without internet,

phone,

and air-conditioner yet again.

The good news is that I will still have access to good old fashioned snail mail! 

Which I've found to be quite enjoyable!

So ya know...write a girl!!

Phoebe Thomas

793 K-West Dr. 

Lampe MO, 65681

Haiti Wrap Up.

I just wanted to share a little bit more about my time in Haiti.

I wanted to share a little bit more about what I learned and how I saw God work.

It's hard to narrow down all the different ways I saw God while I was in Haiti.

One way I saw Him was in the Haitian people.

The Haitians that were taking care of us did such an incredible job, 

and it was because of their deep love for the Lord. 

They knew and understood that we had left our homes, 

and families, 

and comforts, 

to come and serve them.

And they knew that we came to serve them because of our love for the Lord. 

Because we love Jesus, 

and the Haitians also love Jesus,

we were able to love each other. 

We didn't love each other because we knew each other, 

or because we had lots of things in common,

the only thing we had in common was Jesus.

But that was more than enough! 

God showed Himself through His people.

Another way I saw God was in His creation. 

We were out in villages,

so we were constantly surrounded by the Lord's creation.

Pure, untouched, unblemished beauty.

We were constantly encountering new things, 

new smells,

new plants,

new animals,

new sounds,

and they were all pointing back to Him.

One thing in particular was the wind. 

I felt like God was always in the wind.

It always seemed to blow at the perfect moment,

right when the sun was at its hottest,

or when I was the most tired,

or the most frustrated. 

I have no doubt that God was in the wind every time it blew. 

It kinda made me think of the movie Pocahontas,

and the scenes where the wind would blow and all the colorful leaves would come and surround her,

like they were meant for her.

That's kinda what the wind felt like in Haiti,

except it wasn't colorful animated leaves that surrounded me,

but rather the presence of the Lord. 

Those are just a few of the ways I saw and felt God while in Haiti.

I know there are many, many more,

far too many for me to name or even realize.

I do want to say thank you to everyone who supported me while on this trip.

Thank you for all the prayers, dollars, thoughts and encouragement. 

This trip would not have been possible without you.

Haiti: Week Four.

Alright, here is the fourth and final week of Haiti!

Day 22 - June 10

Our final Sunday in Haiti.

Thankfully this week, 

we stayed and went to church in Boucan la Marre, 

instead of driving all the way to L'Anse a Galets. 

So we had church, 

lunch, 

and good ole chill time. 

There was the typical afternoon walk,

a touch a prank pulling,

but mostly just relaxing. 

That night started a week long revival at the church in Boucan la Marre. 

Some of the church members from Point Sable came for it. 

(Over a four hour hike through the mountains)

It was an unexpected surprise to get to see them again.

The revival was...interesting. 

Mostly it was just the young man who was preaching that night, 

he was only about 21, 

and he still has a lot to learn. 

After church was rather...eventful. 

Basically we saw a GIANT TARANTULA. 

And I had a hissy fit. 

(so did everyone else)

Kaiti was able to capture this moment on video,
hopefully it fully displays what we were feeling at this difficult time. 

Day 23 - June 11

This started our last full week in Haiti. 

Surreal. 

We started the day with the usual,

a few work,

and the rest try to find work. 

Some sifted sand, 

some carried water, 

some cleaned starfish, 

etc. 

Then we played with the kids at school. 

At the school I tended to sit along the wall and just kinda chill, 

I wasn't really down for playing soccer with 50 Haitians boys.

So I typically became the target of the little girls' favorite game,

"I dare you to touch the white person!"

That was always amusing!

She was my favorite, because she was the sweetest.

She would just sit there and rub my non hairy legs,

(they really surprised her, everyone is hairy there).

Day 24 - June 12

The day started out as usual. 

Work.

Sort of work.

Play.

Rest. 

Eat.

Rest.

Walk.

Eat.

Rest.

It would typically end with sleep,

except that this day did not end with sleep.

It ended with rain. 

Our first experience in the tents with a nice HARD rain. 

They held up for a little while, 

but not super long. 

The boys abandoned their tent pretty early,

(it was kinda sketch from the beginning).

And then the rest of us followed suit. 

One of the girls' tents held up pretty well,

(thanks to Kyle Johnson)

there wasn't any water in there and they slept in it all night. 

The other sleepers however, 

had to get creative. 

The boys went and joined Kefin (the guard) in his room,

and the girls (except Jill and Allie) commandeered the kitchen in Pastor Pierre's house. 

Day 25 - June 13

Well the night made for an interesting morning. 

Around 4 a.m. Jill came in and said she had a fever, 

she took Sarah's place in the house and Sarah went out to the tent. 

The next morning we went to survey the wreckage. 

I was surprised to find that it really wasn't that bad,

our tent had a few puddles, 

but nothing a mop couldn't handle. 

Nothing essential got wet, 

mostly just dirty clothes and a book or two. 

We didn't work in the morning. 

The rain had filled all the water drums,

and the sand was too wet to sift. 

So no work for us. 

Which was a good thing because everyone was exhausted.

But here's some pictures of what our carrying and sifting helped to accomplish over the two weeks there.

 These walls were all just cinderblock when we arrived.

Now they're smooth and ready for paint!

This room had no floor or interior walls.

Kevin, Jon and I did go and hang out during recess. 

I don't know what was going on that day,

but it was pure craziness. 

These two boys got into a fight about a soccer ball, 

and for whatever reason that lead to fights breaking out all across the schoolyard.

I felt like I was watching a prison riot, 

except I wasn't in a prison,

I was in a Haitian elementary school. 

It was crazy. 

Day 26 - June 14

We didn't work this morning either. 

There wasn't much for us to do and we only had a day or so until we left,

so we just took it easy.

I think everyone was still recovering from the rainy night too.

So we hung out.

We did take some bets,

(all in good fun),

Pastor Alfonso arrived today from the States,

and we took bets on what time he was going to get here,

(I won, I said 3:45 p.m. and he pulled in at 3:43 p.m. HOLLA)

and also on how many bags of alcohol wipes he would bring,

(I was way off, I said 4 and he showed up with 11!).

Later that afternoon, 

while Pastor Alfonso was resting,

we decided to pull another prank.

We took the dead tarantula from the other night, 

and placed it on his shoes.

He didn't react quite like we had hoped, 

but hey, it was still pretty good. 

Day 27 - June 15

Our last day in Boucan la Marre. 

Excuse me, WHAT?!?!

So our day was spent packing, 

sorting, 

resting, 

etc. 

We did make it interesting. 

We all voted on who was the weirdest.

We ranked everyone from weirdest to most normal,

9 being the weirdest, 

and 1 the most normal.

Here's how it went:

9. Hailey

8. Jillian

7. Kevin

6. Jonathan

5. Sarah

4. Chase

3. Allie

2. Me

1. Kaiti

That afternoon we also took our last hike around the mountain,

and went to all of our favorite spots.

Guillaume even joined us. 

We also spent some time with some of the church members. 

Day 28 - June 16

It was an early start at 4 a.m. 

We got up and packed up and started to head down the mountain. 

The taxi was supposed to meet us at 3 a.m., but he never showed, 

so we all had to pack it in the one truck,

in true Haitian fashion. 

The taxi eventually met us on the mountain, 

he was having truck trouble,

the trouble being that his truck didn't work.

We headed on down to L'Anse a Galets to catch a boat over to the mainland, 

where we would spend the next two nights at a resort. 

The boat ride was different from our past experiences,

it wasn't the slow pirate ship type, 

it was more of the fast treacherous type.

I don't know if I can fully describe it, 

but I would liken it to riding a mechanical bull,

while on a speedboat,

while people threw buckets of saltwater on me from all directions. 

We were able to document our experience with a short video

But we made it to the hotel where we were going to be staying, 

we all felt like feral children trying to be civilized. 

We all ate a delicious meal and went to our BEDS and slept. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent sleeping,

eating, 

or laying on the beach. 

It was awesome!

Day 29 - June 17

We got up and had some breakfast,

and we prepared to go into Port au Prince to do a little souvenir shopping.

It's not very safe for Americans to be in Port au Prince,

but we were in very capable hands,

Pastor Pierre had some friends on the police force. 

They were our ride into the city, 

the driver also called in some backup,

so there was a plethora of armed guards watching over us at the market. 

Legit, huh?

Day 30 - June 18

We got up nice and early and we went back to AMERICA!

It was sad to be leaving,

but it was also really nice to be going home! 

There really isn't any place quite like home.