First Week Home
Alexis, A. Jay and I returned to Haiti last Sunday evening. I apologize for not getting an update posted, but I am back in the swing of things now. Seven weeks of never fully knowing what to expect tomorrow makes me even more grateful for my little office here that I come to each day. It has been so good to be lovingly greeted by so many whom I missed while in the US. During our last trip to Walmart, the kids and I began picking out gifts to bring back for some of our staff. Each person we picked something out for brought 3 or 4 others to mind that we wanted to get something for. Unfortunately, we had limited luggage space and limited money to spend, so we had to choose who we’d buy for.
Pastor Edon dons his new tie
It was fun to give the gifts out when we got home… Marie Ange loves to sport a hat. We found a purple one with a big bow that just shouted out her name to us. Renord had the rattiest wallet, so we picked out a snazzy, red, leather one for him. He was thanking Jesus as soon as he saw it, siting that he’d been praying for a new wallet. Nenenn, whom Len Gengel (Be Like Brit) refers to as Aunt B from Mayberry, received the wildest pocketbook we could find: pink, zebra-striped! Since she is such a conservative, short, little grandma, we knew she would laugh about it. She brought it to church this morning, proud as a peacock. Pastor Edon got a very “pastoral” tie. He giggled and did a little jig as he immediately put it on. It just happened to go perfectly with the clothes he was wearing Monday morning and he hadn’t put on a tie. Each gift we gave was appreciated and I think each person felt a little more special, because of it.
This is NOT New England Sweet Corn. This is “Mayi Boukane” or grilled corn here in Haiti. It’s tough and not very sweet, but this one was pretty good compared to the alternatives. 🙂
I wish we could have bought something for everyone on our list (which would have been in the hundreds!), but I’m grateful we were able to reach out like this to some. When I look back at the beginning of the mission and see how things are today, I am so grateful for a staff that exudes ownership of this mission. They are making decisions on a daily basis that are good for the whole organization, not just themselves or their own little group of friends. They are walking more and more in the light of God’s Word and living by the Golden Rule.
One of the reasons we were looking forward to going back to America was for the sweet corn. There’s just nothing quite like New England sweet corn! Lennie and Amy Engman, our hosts while we were in Massachusetts, made sure that we had plenty of it. Yummy! Thank you Lennie and Amy!
..
Tragedy in Haiti – All Too Often
Hurricane Sandy, Grand-Goave, Haiti
October 23-26, 2012
What seemed like a mild storm, was in fact not. Sandy dumped rain on Haiti for four days straight, resulting in wide-spread flooding, stench, destruction and death. Architect, Paul Fallon, shared some interesting musings in the midst of the storm on Friday in his blog, Death Comes to Grand-Goave.
Fifth grade MOHI student, Olguine Ceromain, her mom and three siblings were victim to this storm. As the five of them slept in one bed in their makeshift home (USAID tarps over some wooden poles), the hillside behind them let loose. The mudslide buried them under the tarp and mud, suffocating them while the world around them slept. Once discovered, word spread quickly throughout the city and people normally terrified of getting wet in the rain, left their homes to see what had happened. One child was still moving as their neighbors dug to free them from the mud, but it was too late for all of them to survive in this life. We hope to see them all one day in eternity.
Good Sunday Morning!
Pastor Lex
Although I enjoyed being with everyone in the different churches we ministered at in America, it is sooooo nice to be back in our home church! Somehow I just move more to the music and amen louder to the preaching.
My husband was full of really cool tidbits this morning. Towards the end of his message, he told us that we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). I never thought much about ambassadors when I lived in America, but here in Haiti the American ambassador is on many people’s minds. If someone wants to go to America (90% of this country, I would say – AND with good reason, I might add!) they have to go to the embassy in search of a visa. The ambassador (usually through his agent) is the one to give the visa. As Christians, we have the privilege of helping people to obtain “visas” to deliverance and life eternal. The whole point of his message was to stop thinking about ourselves, our own needs/desires, “Oh God, bless ME” and start looking around to see how YOU can be a blessing to those around you. Good stuff!
Construction Update
Finish plaster starts to take shape
We only got a few days of work in this week, before Sandy sent us all running for shelter. We are working on the finish plaster, which is a very time consuming and detailed job. We have some good masons working on it though and they’re doing a great job.
We’re working on collecting donations for the electrical installation now. We hope to ship all donations by this time next month. If you would like to be a part of this, please contact me and I will send you a list of the needed supplies. Maybe you own a business or know of one that might like to donate some of the wires, lighting fixtures, outlets, etc. We can provide donors with a tax receipt for any such donations. I hope to hear from you this week. Thank you!
World Race – Au Revoir
World Race Good Times!
It was a blessing all around to have two World Race teams with us for almost a month. They endured Hurricane Sandy and left us Saturday morning. These teams worked hard every day. They helped with school construction, painting the preschool classroom, medical clinic, village ministry and more, without a word of complaining. Do you have any idea how amazing that is??? Most of us start complaining as soon as the sun comes up and it gets uncomfortably warm. We wish them well as they continue their journey throughout the world for the next nine months!
Schools
Fun! Fun! Fun!
School was up and running very well, although this week was cut short by the hurricane. The kids are getting really excited about their new school building. We hope to have the classrooms ready for them when they get back from Christmas vacation. Please pray together with us all that the Lord would bring it all together.