There will come a day.

I was sitting on my bed in front of my computer today, iTunes pulled up, listening to my worship playlist. I was having one of those rough “I miss my friends and family” moments, wishing I could see you and be with you all, even just for a short while. The song that came up on my playlist was a song about Heaven (We Will Dance- you Wheaton-folk know it well…), and I was completely overwhelmed by the fact that there will come a day when we will all (for those who know my precious Jesus) be together, worshiping Him unceasingly. The beauty of that picture brought me to tears. I may be separated from you all now, but one day we will be together, standing before the throne of our perfect Brother and King. And we’ll be joined by members of my wonderful new Haitian family. How I long for that day!

N.B. – I don’t pretend or assume that all of you who read this blog believe the same things or feel the same way I do about Jesus. I believe that He is the way to God the Father, and that each of us needs a relationship with Him. This belief shapes my life- what I do, how I act, the decisions I make. If you don’t believe this, or if you just don’t get it, I’d love to dialogue with you about it. I’m not going to fight with you, and I’m not going to try to shove it down your throat. But if you want to talk, let’s talk. Get in touch with me on facebook or email, or leave me a comment and I’ll get in touch with you.

For now, I see Heaven on these faces!

Sabbath Reflections.

I’ve been thinking hard lately about Sabbath rest. Coming into this adventure, I wanted to be really intentional about safeguarding my Sabbath- taking time for rest and being with my Lord. But when you’ve got 40ish hours of work to do in a week, along with laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, helping host short-term teams when they’re here, and you compound all that with the fact that we're not supposed to be out after dark taking care of errands and such…it makes finding a day for such rest tricky, if not virtually impossible.

Yet God commanded us to a Sabbath of rest. So I’m stuck, trying to figure out what exactly I’m going to do. In the States, it seems that everyone’s over-worked, over-stressed state of affairs is a product of pride and the need to be better and work harder than the Joneses. Here, it’s more an issue of simple math- there aren’t enough daylight hours in the day/week. And for many Haitians, who barely make enough money to eke by, any hour when they can be making money is an hour not to be wasted on frivolous things like rest.

It’s such an interesting paradox: Haiti is a slow culture, but often by necessity and not by choice- we don’t have the means to make things run more efficiently, so we resign ourselves to waiting for things to happen. Yet the culture of busyness that I know from life at home (always-working-never-stopping-advance-advance-advance) is alive and well. What to do?

I get frustrated with these things- both for my own life and on behalf of the Haitian people, particularly those that I know and care about. I see how hard they work and how often they work, and I tend to project my own weariness onto them. But in the midst of this, I am still struck daily by the beauty in this country. Everywhere we go, sweet children wave as we pass by (our whiteness makes us a novelty, and if we wave back, they are delighted). When we drive through the village where our school is located, the community kids who attend the Kids Alive school will run alongside our car, or wave and shout our names. Haitian friends will come over to our house after a 12+ hour workday to help us change a flat tire. We’ve been in Haiti long enough that hardly a day passes when we don’t see someone we know on the road, either driving or walking. Honking, waving, stopping the car in the middle of the street to have a chat or let a friend hop in- all of the above happens on a regular basis. And it boils down to the fact that I feel like I’m part of a family here- loved, accepted, welcomed. In this way, Haitians do the Kingdom of God much better than we North Americans. Would that we could take a page out of their book! 

A big part of what makes Haiti so wonderful. I mean, come on. Look at these faces!

Sniff, sniff, sniff...

Do you hear that noise? It's the crying and snuffling of my poor, sad, neglected little blog.

It’s been well over a month since I last wrote, and that wasn’t even a real post. Ouch. 

My apologies to you, dear blog and dear readers.

I was in conflict regarding whether to give you a “life in Haiti” post or a “what’s going on in my heart these days” post- because, believe me, there’s plenty to say in both departments. I think I’ve decided on a little blog-series over the next few days. Going from absentee blogger to over-enthusiastic blogger…how d’you like them apples? 

Today, we'll start with the news. (Coming to you live from Cap Haitien...)

The most recent “big news” is that I started teaching my English classes last week- with success, by God’s grace! It’s been affirming to really jump into the work that I came here to do and find that God has equipped me to do it! As usual, it’s one of those things I should have known, but I had no problems coming up with reasons to fret- what if the kids don’t understand my Creole, what if I can’t understand them, what if what if what if…

What if God really, actually has called me to Haiti to do a job for His glory and has equipped me to do it? (Well all right, then.)

Other big news for Kids Alive Haiti:

1. We got our bus painted! Before, it was plain-jane yellow, and now have a look at this beauty.

    Pretty cool, huh? I think it gives everyone in the ministry a sense of pride to have this sweet ride pull up to their house. (And, from a utilitarian standpoint, it’s a lot easier to know when it’s our bus coming and not one of the other fifty-thousand-million buses in Cap Haitien…though our rockstar bus driver, Tilou, usually honks the horn loud enough for you all to hear it on the other side of the ocean.)

  2. We’ve had several short-term teams here recently, and they’ve made fantastic progress on our Children’s Village site. For those who don’t know about our new Children’s Village: We’re in the process of constructing a compound that will house all of our ministry families, our director and his family, and several independence homes for our kids that finish high school and are preparing to transition out of Kids Alive. Currently we rent homes all over town, but when this project is complete, we will own the land and the homes, and will be able to control things like water and electricity. It is SO exciting to see this take shape, not only for me, but for our kids as well. We pass the site on the way to school, and our bus usually stops to drop off some of the construction workers. When the gate is open, the kids press their noses against the windows and ooh and aah over their soon-to-be new home.

one of our close-to-finished houses

a skeleton- our last team put up these panels in one day!

So there's your news update. Tune in again soon (I can't promise for tomorrow, but I'll try!) for more!

A prayer for the New Year

O God,
Thou hast taught me...
that it is my duty, out of a sense of emptiness,
to go to Christ, possess, enjoy his fullness as mine,
as if I had it in myself, because it is for me in him;
that when I do this I am full of the Spirit,
as a fish that has got from the shore to the sea
and has all fullness of waters to move in,
for when faith fills me, then I am full...
(from The Valley of Vision)

May this be true of me in 2012.

Merry New Year, y'all :).

This pretty much made my day.

How can you not love these kids? I love them so stinking much. And I get to hang out with them every day. I am a blessed girl indeed.

I hope this brings you some mid-week joy.

Always an Adventure!

Patience is an important thing to have when moving to Haiti. If you lack patience before you arrive, Haiti will give it to you- in spades.

This morning’s adventure was the most recent in an already long list of patience-increasing opportunities. I rose around 7:30 to a happy piece of news: our generator was running! I’d been in need of clean clothes for several days, but our power had been out for at least 48 hours. No power means no working washing machine. I happily sorted my clothes and took them to the machine. Now, have a gander at this little darling:

 Our Hyundai washing machine. Those clever Japanese people...

Have you ever seen a washing machine that looked like this? Didn’t think so. This was our first attempt at using it since my roommate/teammate purchased it in the DR. The Reader’s Digest version of how to work the thing is as follows:

1.     Fill a bucket with water and pour it into the wash/rinse tub on the left side. Add laundry soap and clothes. Pour another bucket of water on top.

2.     Select wash cycle and number of minutes; close lid.

3.     Come back in approximately 12 minutes, when wash cycle is done.

4.     Drain water from wash tub, transfer wet clothes to spin basket on right side. Close lid, select spin cycle.

5.     Come back in approximately 5 minutes, transfer clothes back into wash/rinse tub. Add water. Select cycle.

6.     Return in another 12 minutes to drain water from wash tub and transfer clothes back to spin basket.

7.     Select spin cycle, come back in 5 minutes, hang clothes to dry.

So doing a load of laundry, when the machine is working properly, is a minor feat. But a machine that works properly? What a silly idea. I got through Step 5 with no problems (with some help from a more-technologically-savvy roommate), but when I turned the knob from ‘Wash/Rinse’ to ‘Drain’, the machine started making awful noises and the water struggled to make its way up the drain spout. Teri (yes, the more-technologically-savvy roommate) came out to trouble-shoot with me. Between the two of us and a good half hour or so of trouble-shooting, we somehow managed to drain the water and complete a semi-acceptable spin cycle.

Just prior to this episode, I had been making oatmeal on the stove. I turned off the burner, covered the saucepan, and thought to myself, ‘I’ll be back in a minute after transferring my clothes, and this will be ready to eat. Perfect.’

Never assume, ladies and gentlemen, that life will go this way.

So. After fighting with the washer for thirty minutes or so, we pulled my clothes out of the spin basket to find that they were still rather wet. By this time, spirals of smoke were curling their way up from somewhere inside the accursed contraption (yikes!). We thought we’d better not press our luck by trying to spin them anymore, so I proceeded to hang my rather wet clothes, spacing them out so that their weight wouldn’t pull the line to the ground.

 My oddly-spaced-out clothes.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, several Haitian men appeared on our porch. I ignored them and came back inside to finish fixing my now-cold-and-gloppy oatmeal. Then they were at our door. Then they needed to look at one of our outlets, and of course it was the one next to the stove, which was where I was making my oatmeal. I moved out of the way, wielding my spoon and my saucepan of lumpy oats. Still wearing my pajamas, mind you.

Finally they leave and I scrape the remnants of burned oatmeal off the bottom of the pan. I am determined to enjoy my breakfast, regardless of its temperature or consistency. Thankfully, adding some cinnamon and sugar and a spoonful of peanut butter (you should try it- it’s super-delicious!) works wonders.

 Mmm...cold oatmeal. (It actually turned out pretty good, despite being cold.)

So that was our first adventure of the day- all before 9:30 AM. Who knows what other adventures the days will hold? :)

In all seriousness, though, such situations remind to me to pray:

·      For patience, as we deal with seemingly-constant challenges.

·      For protection against discouragement- Satan would love it if we became cynical and bitter about life here.

·      For Haitians, many of whom don’t have generators or washing machines or even filtered water to drink. We have so much, in a country full of people who have so little.

Will you join me in praying for these things?

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving! We have much to be thankful for.

Speaking a new language (on so many levels!)

Well, hello from Haiti! We’ve been in-country for about a week and are so far doing really well (thank you for your prayers, please keep them up!). We arrived last Friday and have spent the week getting settled in our new apartment, studying Creole, getting to know the children, and doing odd jobs at the school site.

One of the aspects of adjusting to Haiti that is hitting me full-force is my need to learn the language, and the sooner the better! Knowing French is a very helpful stepping stone on my way to speaking Creole, but I still have lots of learning to do. Phrases like “Bonjou” (good morning), “Koman ou ye?” (how are you?), and “Mwen kontan wè ou” (it’s nice to meet you) only take me so far. Praise the Lord for my teammate Teri (who speaks much better Creole than we other three) and kind, gracious Haitians who speak English or French and are more than willing to help us out.

Interestingly enough, Creole isn’t the only new “language” I’m learning here. Driving, for example, has its own complex communication system.  In the United States, if you’re honking your horn, it usually means “Watch out!” or “Get off the road, you idiot!” Does it mean that here? Sometimes. But it could also mean “I’m going to pass you now- don’t run into me!” It could be a friendly hello to someone you know on the street or in a passing car, or even a “Hey, jump in the bed of my truck and I’ll give you a ride!” It likely means other things too; I just haven't figured them out yet.

And time- “School starts at 8:00” generally means that school starts at 8:00. But “I’ll be there in twenty minutes” could mean “I’ll be there in an hour” or it could mean “I actually don’t plan on coming at all.” You just never know.

One of the things that was heavily emphasized at my training in Colorado was that, on the whole, different isn’t bad; it’s just different. And sometimes different, if we’re open to it, can be better than “my way” of doing things. What a foreign notion for us North Americans! It’s a good lesson for this type-A, slightly OCD, white girl to learn. :)

I’ve experienced the Gospel in some really unique and special ways this week- mostly moments of grace. My new Haitian friends have shown me grace upon grace as I have haltingly attempted to learn life here, and God has given me grace to begin to accept and even learn from differences that I cannot (should not) change. Lord have mercy, that I may continue to receive grace so that I might also give grace.

PS- Props if you made it through this long post. I imagine you’re eager for pictures- expect some soon!