One Year Later

 Photo of Bonne Fin on October 10, 2016, 6 days after Hurricane Matthew blew through

Photo of Bonne Fin on October 10, 2017, 1 year later

As the photos above indicate, the past year has been a year of healing and regeneration.  Both were taken from the same location but 12 months apart.  It is amazing how the landscape can change in just 1 year.  God's work in the physical landscape is amazing and the His work in the spiritual landscape of our lives can fill us with awe.  How mighty are His acts!!

Praise Him for His mighty acts:  praise Him according to His excellent greatness.  Psalm 150:2

Fun Happenings in October

It has been so fun to watch Selah grow in Haiti.  She loves to be outside and easily finds things to do, even by herself.  Notice that her two front teeth are missing - the true sign of being in Kindergarten.

Mara is studying Space and Earth Science this year and she is thoroughly enjoying learning about the Heavens.  She is spending lots of time using the telescope that was left here by the Klopfenstein family.  We are very thankful to have it.  In the above picture, she is sharing some of what she has learned with the other students.

Our teacher, Kaitlin organized a "Chopped" cooking competition for some of the kids.  Alayna and Mara prepare their food dishes and Carrie, Anna and Kaitlin serve as judges.

Krae was very excited to receive a Lego Boost Robot kit for his birthday.

Since our family celebrates most of our birthdays in October, we planned a birthday beach day at Port Salut.  This fishing boat was just off the coast and Selah though it might be a pirate ship.  A bit small for a pirate ship, but fun to imagine anyway.

We enjoyed a delicious supper at a restaurant along the beach.  This was one of the few times in Haiti that everyone really enjoyed their food.  This restaurant is 1.5 hours from our home, but we will definitely go back again.  

We started a partial renovation of the Guest House in October.  The first phase was to add a concrete roof to the back kitchen area and finish off the room to be the full-time kitchen.  Here are some pictures of the work on the roof.  

A team from Rockville, CT came and completed the finish work inside the new kitchen at the end of October.  Here is a photo of the new kitchen area.  The ladies who cook at the Guest House are very pleased with the new space.  We have a few more items to complete, but it is a great improvement so far.   

Prayers

As some of you may have guessed, I started this post about 8 weeks ago.  I found it challenging to finish for several reasons.  Finding the time to sit down and blog continues to be difficult, but I also have been contemplating writing about a difficult situation on our campus.  After much prayer, thought and counsel with Rick, I have decided that sharing some of our difficulties is appropriate and will give our readers specific ways to pray for our mission.  Once I decided to write about this topic, I then spent a few more weeks thinking about how to start.  So, here goes...

One of the things that we hear about often in Haiti, but do not see as missionaries is community justice.  This is a common practice in most developing countries as well as impoverished areas in the USA.  We are learning that it happens in many places and more often than we know.  In October, we saw an example of it on the edge of our campus.

The story begins with a man from a nearby community that was suspected of stealing in Bonne Fin.  Several motorcycles and some other electronic items had been stolen from some Haitian families in Bonne Fin. On a Saturday night in early October, the man was in the act of stealing a motorcycle when he was caught by some men on the road in front of the Bonne Fin MEBSH church.  The group of men proceeded to physically beat the man until he was dead.  His body was left, beaten and naked, on the road in front of the church.  

On Sunday morning as the community was going to church, a crowd was attracted along with lots of talk of what had happened the night before.  The local police department did not make it up to scene until about 1 pm on Sunday, probably about 12-14 hours after the incident occurred.  

Of course, as Americans from middle class neighborhoods, our missionary family was shocked and saddened by these events.  As we  talked with Christians in the community as well as some of the hospital employees, the common feeling was that is was not Biblical to take the man's life; however, most would say this and then start to justify the actions of the community.  We heard them say how bad the man was and that it was the only way to stop the spree of thefts since the police cannot be counted on to take action.  We heard that the man was using Voudou to gain physical strength through evil spirits.  It was believed that he was able to steal the motorcycles by lifting them and carrying them on his shoulders so that the motors or crunch of the tires on the gravel could not be heard.  It was believed that he gained power from evil spirits to be able to enter homes quietly and steal items.  We heard people say that only God has the right to take human life, but this is the only way to keep order in the community.  As well, no one was talking to us or the police about who was involved in beating the man.  Simply, no one would admit to knowing who was involved.  

It is events such as this one that bring to mind how culturally different we see certain situations.  I want to make clear again that the concept of community justice is not limited to Haitian culture, but is seen all over the world.  This is just the first time that we have observed it so obviously on our campus.  

I share this account to give those who love and support us a glimpse of our realities as we serve in Haiti.  We need your love and prayers as we process these types of events and as we strive to be Godly examples to those around us.  The people in our community need your prayers as well.  Pray that they can understand the lessons of scripture and find other ways to keep their community peaceful.  Pray that they will strive to convert the lost souls among them instead of using violence to keep the peace.  Pray that we will grow in our cultural understanding, but still teach and observe the precepts of the Bible.  

Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you; 
And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for all men have not faith.  
But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil

II Thessalonians 3:1-3

In closing, thank you for your continued love, support and prayers.  Thank you for being patient with us when we do not do well with communication.  Thank you for walking in the light of Jesus with us and for serving in your own way where the Lord has called you.  
I hope to post more about the end of 2017 in a few days so check back for another update soon.  

Awesome August

August is typically one of the hottest months in Haiti and this year was no exception. Even with the heat, we had an exciting month with visitors, teams and projects.  We saw direct evidence of God working in several circumstances and we are thankful that He reminds us who is in control.  We know He always has a plan; it is encouraging when He reveals it to us!!

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.   Jeremiah 33:3

At the end of July and beginning of August we enjoyed a visit with the Klint and Kara Beyer family.  It was very hot while they were here so we enjoyed lots of water activities like water ballon wars, hiking down to the hydro and in the river, jumping off small cliffs into a water hole and going to the beach.  The boys did some tile work in a bathroom in staff housing and Kara helped with some cleaning and organization on campus and at the missionary school.  We had a great week and are thankful their whole family was able to come and experience a small piece of our life in Haiti.  

For most of July and August, the Haitian government has been financing work on the mountain road to Bonne Fin.  We enjoyed a smoother and faster journey after these big machines worked on the road.  Unfortunately, some areas are already gorged up by the recent heavy rains that we have received.  The road is still in better shape than it was last Spring and we are thankful for the work that has been accomplished so far. 

Our kids started school on August 14th.  Mara and Krae headed off to the missionary school for 8th and 5th grades and Selah is doing Kindergarten at home with me.  

There are 8 students in the missionary school this year and we are so thankful to have Kaitlin Klotzle as our teacher.  She has lots of knowledge, energy and fun!  The students do a great job of staying focused on their studies and they also know how to have some fun - the second picture below proves that we have a FUN group in the school!

On August 17th, Mara had her 14th birthday.  She doesn't really like cake and wanted to make her own birthday treats this year so we had Raspberry Cream Cheese Rolls and Scotcheroos for her birthday.  Yummy and so easy for Mom!!

If you have been to Haiti and visited our home, you know that our backyard is built into the side of the mountain.  We were getting a large amount of erosion with every rain and needed to put in a retaining wall.  Lucas suggested that we build an outdoor fireplace as part of the wall and Rick got excited.  So, Lucas drew up the plans, Rick purchased the rock and cement and the Haitian masons went to work.  I wasn't sold on the idea, but I trusted Rick to run with it.  The project got a bit bigger than originally planned and it has Haitian symmetry (that means very little symmetry), but it did turn out nicely. 

The masons who did the work were apprentices just a couple of years ago to the primary masons that did work around the hospital.  Those masons have moved on to bigger jobs and it is great to see the apprentices now working as the bosses.  They also put in some stairs from our house to our back gate that is up the hill.  The stairs turned out very nice and might be the best looking set of stairs on campus.

We had everyone over a couple of weeks ago for S'mores to try out the new fireplace. It was a fun evening and we anticipate many more casual evenings around the fireplace.  

I included this photo just because it is cute.  Selah was out in the backyard playing last week when a rain cloud rolled in quickly and started dumping rain on her.  I peeked out the back door to check on her and found her taking shelter under our stairs to the roof.  She was quite wet, but having fun pretending to be in a cave.

School for most of the Haitian children started on September 4th.  The weekend before school started, the MEBSH school handed out school kits that had been provided by HarvestCall. I believe the Apostolic Christian Churches in Wolcott, IN and Milford, IN assembled and provided the school kits that were handed out to the children in our community.  The school kits include school supplies that are packed into backpacks or drawstring bags.  The supplies are needed and appreciated, but the kids really get excited to have their own backpack or bag for school.  I love it that the kids are not picky about a boys color or a girls color.  I saw boys with fushia packs and girls with blue or green camo packs and they were thrilled.

If your church is looking for a great Sunday School or VBS project, the school kits are very much appreciated in Haiti.  The HarvestCall website has kit instructions and kits for Haiti are sent to the Bluffton Distribution Center.  To give some perspective, we have two schools on the hospital campus and they have over 400 students between the two schools.  We were able to provide over 300 school kits to the students at the MEBSH school and hope to receive more for the students at the smaller Gai Foyer school.

As I was returning from town, I saw several groups of children with their new backpacks and bags and I snapped a few pictures.  The little girl in the first picture just warms my heart.  She is going to Kindergarten this year.  What a sweetie!

Reservoir Liner Installation

This next group of photos shows some highlights from the reservoir liner installation that occurred in August.  We had two teams come down to do prep work and to lead the installation, but a crew of Haitian men did most of the physical work.  I drove out to the reservoir on a couple of occasions and snapped a few pictures, but they hardly capture how God was working to accomplish this huge task or how incredibly hard the Haitian men worked. 

The old liner in the reservoir had been in poor condition for many years, but the damage done by Hurricane Matthew finished it off.  We are thankful for resources being made available by HarvestCall and the church body to replace the liner so that our Hydro-Electric System has a good source of water.  

The first step was draining the reservoir and preparing the surface.  That meant removing big rocks and raking the surface until it was smooth.  This was done mostly with hand tools.  This photo belows shows the drained and mostly dry reservoir.

But, then it rained.  The men below are handing up 5 gallon buckets of water to "bail out" the reservoir to keep the bottom dry.  This happened at least a couple of times before the team arrived for the install.  While it seems that rain water in the dry reservoir would be quite frustrating, I am sure the men doing the work were thankful for another day of paid labor.  Some of the men that helped with this project do not have regular employment so the project provided needed funds for their families.  Many were especially thankful for the work right before school started for their children.  

The next few pictures will give you a general idea of the process of installing a roll of rubber liner without using large equipment.  I photographed the process of installing one roll. Nine rolls were installed and each one weighed about 1650 lbs.  The new liner covers 45,000 square feet and took over 1500 man hours of labor.  How's that for impressive!

The men in the next two photos are rolling one of the big rolls to the edge and then they let it roll down to the bottom on it's own.  I count about 18 men pushing on that 1650 lb roll.  

Once that roll reached the bottom, they unrolled and unfolded it.  Each roll was was 50 ft x 100 ft when unrolled.

This particular piece was cut down to fit in a smaller spot.  You can see the extra piece that was rolled up and placed to the side in the picture below.  This extra piece will be handy for patching and repairs in the future.  Now they are shaking the piece of liner to get air under it and stretching out the piece.  

Next, they start walking the piece into place.  Remember, this is a very heavy piece of rubber liner.

It is hard to see in the photo, but as they approached the slope, they use ropes to pull the piece of liner up the side of the reservoir.  

Almost there!

It is stretched out again and the seams are sealed later.  

Here is an aerial photo of the reservoir with the new liner completely installed.  

Some local ladies also had work that week preparing food for the crew.

Selah enjoyed playing with the children that live around the reservoir.

As I have been adding pictures and writing this post, Hurricane Irma has been barrelling past the north coast of Haiti.  We live on the southern peninsula and have not seen much from the storm.  We had a breezy day, lots of clouds and some rain from the outer bands of the storm.  We are thankful to God that our area was not hit again this year and we ask God to provide for those in the path of the storm.  

It appears that this week will make history with 3 powerful hurricanes in the Atlantic at the same time and a huge wildfire roaring through Los Angeles County.  These events remind me that even with all of our technology, machines, and knowledge, we are not in control of this world.  It is our belief, faith and trust in Almighty God that keeps us from total despair and looking at the Eastern sky for Jesus to return.  Come, Lord Jesus!

God gifted us with a dramatic sky last night and Kaitlin shared this photo she took from her roof.  This verse comes to mind...

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.       Revelation 1:8