Pure Bliss...Waterfalls and Beach

Ok so for the longest time like maybe the last 4 years of my life I've had a dream. I have dreamt of being apart of villages and seeing the things and being apart of things you see in National Geographic of the cute little African Children. Something just stirs inside of me that craves that. Well, I feel so blessed to be in Haiti, because its not Africa like I always thought I would end up eventually, but its just as amazing and exceeds all my expectations. I could not be happier being here. i mean I truly feel such a love for these people. I love the little children in the streets. I love that when I drive by and wave it brings the biggest smile upon someones face. I am no one, but I made eye contact, smiled, and waved. For them that was big enough to make their faces light up! I love it!

Today was just a beyond fantastic day! Me and my 5 little awesome friends went on an awesome adventure! We left Port Au Prince at 8 in the morning. it was so nice to get out of the business and into a little more calm life. So, we decided we wanted to go explore this waterfall my friends had heard about. it was awesome! We drove about 14 miles through the mountains, which I have wanted to do since I got here. It looked so beautiful. I took pictures but it doesn't even show the beauty. I just can't capture it all! Plus I was going at a pretty fast speed. But it was awesome. It was fun to see the people living away from the craziness and living just a basic and simple life. They seemed happy to me. We drove past them all and they all get so excited. We drove through some awesome little villages and I was loving it, I would have been happy if thats all we did. But, then we drove up this little hill and stopped at where we were to find the waterfall. It was comical because there was a gate, which no one really stands at, but they saw me and Neil the two white people and went and stood by the gate. So, they tried to tell Margaret that because she was with white people it was $5 a person. She was in a fit and was like we are leaving, this is racist. So, anyway Patrick went to talk with them and we got away with 250 goudes, which is like 6 dollars. So, basically someone was trying to pull a big scam on us. Well, it was worth it because what we saw was amazing. We walked down these stairs and entered a tropical paradise. You know I really am developing in my motherly traits because i was just so happy to see my Haitian friends so happy and excited. They loved seeing the waterfall and loved swimming in it too! It was adorable. So, there was a little family down there. They insisted on helping me through the waterfall and climbing and what not. They must not know Im really a country girl and don't let my white skin fool ya. :) But it was cute they held my hand and led me through, making sure I didn't fall. Granted I was grateful for this since I almost did fall a few times. So, here are waterfall pictures...again, doesn't even capture the amazingness!!

 We saw a lot of this...Kids and adults packing up things into the Mountains! He was waving to me:)

The Countryside..isn't it awesome?

On our way to the Waterfall

I loved this church, I thought it was really beautiful!

One of the Two awesome Waterfalls

The group minus me at the waterfall

Bony Enjoying the Waterfall

Loving Life and all the Beauties of Gods Creations

In the Waterfall

This father and son led me along so I wouldn't fall

After we left the waterfall, we started our journey back to the beach! Again, we traveled through the countryside and it was magnificent! I was loving every second of it. The best part was when we came over the mountain where you could look out and see the ocean! It was breathtaking

Neil with the ocean view

When we got to the beach it was beautiful. The resort we went to was nice and it had this AWESOME beach trampoline which we had the best time on. When we first got there we all jumped on and were jumping around and laughing hysterically. Everyone knew we were having fun. It felt good to laugh that hard. After we got off many other people went on, realizing how fun it was. Later in the day we were agian playing on it and pushing eachother off and trying to do tricks. So, this guy from India was swimming by and he would just laugh, and his laugh was so funny it made me laugh. He was so giddy. It was awesome. So, finally he decided he was going to be brave and join us. He got on and was laughing so hard and just jumping around, but terrified all at the same time. It was definitley a highlight of the day for me. I couldn't stop laughing with him. So fun! The water here is also very beautiful. It is sooo blue. Neil rented a little Kayak and so we went Kayaking in the ocean. The water was just amazing! I was loving every second. I put my hand or feet in and you can see it clear as day. We spent our time at the beach maxin and relaxing. I think my little Haitian friends enjoyed the little break and were glad to just have some fun! I was to, it was really nice to be out of the hustle and bustle. All in all it was just such a nice day full of adventure and good times and good friends! I couldn't be more grateful for how much Heavenly Father has blessed me to be here in this country and having the experiences Im having. It is truly such a joy and hopefully something that will remain with me as far as changing my whole perspective on life! Here are some more beach photos

Our favorite Toy

Cute Jimmy...this also shows the clearness of the water

 Bony and Neil Jumping off hand in hand!

Enjoying our lunch together in the beautiful weather with beautiful surroundings

 Bony and Neil..Neil said he was not flexing..I say yeah right:)

Me and Bony with the two India Guys trying to get our balance to take a picture!

Group Photo and Im the only one looking

Awesoem Group photo  with all smiles!! LOve LOVe LOVe it!

Visits

A week ago I got to go back to Virginia to do a few housekeeping things and visit friends and family. It was so great to see people and spend time with my aunt and her family. I miss VA. It was really cool to because we got to go see the Cherry Blossoms. Also, we did a few service projects together as a family and friends to help a few deserving people in Haiti so it was awesome! Here are some pics from that.

 Me and Hannah with one of the beautiful cherry blossoms

Hannah Helping prepare Gift Bags!!

My sister came to visit me here in Haiti. She flys for free so she was able to just come for a quick weekend. It was really great to be able to share my experience with someone. I can show as many pictures as possible, but it just really doesn't do justice. I was able to deliver some things that some people in VA helped me put together and she was able to be apart of that. I love how even simple things here can bring happiness and smiles to the faces of these sweet children and people. Sometimes I look at this country and it overwhelms me. The tragedy, the trials, and pains of these people just consumes me and overwhelms me. One of the talks from Conference I thought was so great. President Eyring talked of how God has heard the prayers of those who have sought food, or clothes, or employment. He has heard them from the beginning of time. He has provided for his children and today that is why we have the church welfare program. Many have been blessed by this great and inspired program. For this, Im grateful. I am grateful for this wonderful gospel that encourages its members to serve and help others. I feel so blessed to be able to serve in some small way here. For surely it brings me the greatest blessings and the greatest happiness. These situations and these children are brining me such joy and such an appreciation for my blessed life. Here is some photos from my sisters visit. A short video will be shown later to show all the wonderful people who helped me get some things together for people here to see who they were able to help and make smile:)

My sister and I at this  nice Restaurant that overlooked PauP

Cute little boy with his goody Bag

Handing out Goody Bags

So cute..Her hands are quite full and she was quite interested by it all

I love how they always want their photo taken!

Look at the boy on the rights face..he is so exccited about the bubbles

My sister was loving being here, it is pretty special!

 I loved those popper things when I was a kid, and I still do!

I love this!! Bubbles even make older boys excited!

He loved the little nose spy glasses

Little STeve..He's cute

Em with the Glasses on

this little boy is sooo cute!

I love the back of the truck!

After much convincing I got Emily to join in and she loved it!

Us with two of my super awesome Haitian friends!!!