Unexpected Gifts

We all love getting unexpected gifts.  It seems like our family has received many of these in the past few months and we are thankful for God's provision as well as the love and support from our family and friends.  

Today, we received an unexpected gift from a chicken.  The chicken had been hanging around all day.  I chased it from our back patio twice and Mara chased it out of our depot (outside laundry room, storage, etc...) While it is not uncommon for chickens to be pickin' in the dirt in our yard, it was strange that this chicken was coming so close to the house.  This evening Mara went outside to find the chicken on our front porch.  It ran away when she came out, but she found a little surprise.

Yep, our new chicken friend had laid an egg and left it on the front porch as a house-warming gift.  I went out to pick it up and it was still warm.  How's that for freshly laid?!?


This little bit of comic relief was a great treat for us during an extremely busy time on the mountain.  We arrived back in Bonne Fin on January 4th after a typical long trip with flight cancellations, delays, etc...  We rested for about a day and then were off to the races with work at the hospital for Rick, back to school for the kids and helping with Ti Mache for me.  

Jami Hartzler and Norma Luginbuhl worked very hard and organized everything for the sale while I was gone and we had a great three days of Ti Mache for the hospital employees.  Ti Mache translates as Little Market.

Ti Mache is similar to a large garage sale where the hospital employees can purchase items at low cost.  There is a limit of items they can purchase for each department so that everyone gets a chance to find things they need.  The departments include clothing for women, men and children, shoes, housewares, linens, toiletries, suitcases, bags and purses.  The cost of the items purchased is deducted from the employees paycheck.  The items sold at Ti Mache were donated from churches and individuals in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.  The sale provides great items to the hospital employees and helps with labor costs.  We had many positive comments and hope to do more sales in the future.  Here are a few pictures.  

   

Quincy, Conrad and Selah modeling glasses at Ti Mache

The weekend following Ti Mache, we welcomed our first medical work team of 2014.  Also, Joni Meyer and three of her six children (Haylie, Aubrey & Cole) came to visit us.  They traveled with the team and were with us for about one week.  During this time, John and Cornelia Aberle led a work team that was doing work in Puit Sales.  This team took the time to drive two hours one way to spend some time in Bonne Fin and join us for an evening meal.  It was quite a treat to have 14 faces from home with us in our Haiti Home.

The week with the Meyers was especially fun for our children.  While they just enjoyed being together, some highlights included doing some fun school activities together, sledding on a banana leaf, visiting Jimmy's bee hives and going to the beach.  Here are a few pictures from our time together.

Sledding Fun

Krae said he felt like King Tut while being buried in the sand.

Krae & Cole

Mara & Aubrey

Krae, Cole, Aubrey, Selah & Mara on Sunday AM before church

We enjoyed having friends from home with us and it was hard to see them go.  Krae was so lost after having a bosom buddy for a whole week.  He found solace in completely his most difficult Lego project to date.  This project kept him busy for most of the day after the Meyers left.

Krae and his Lego Plane - it is even cooler in see in person!

I will also mention that the medical team that was here that week had a great week. They were able to conduct some remote clinics and provide screening to people that don't have access to regular care.  Also, the docs were able to see patients in the clinic. Both of these activities provided some much needed revenue for the hospital, not to mention some quality care for the Haitian people in the area.  

This first team left on a Saturday and another group came in on Monday.  This is a small team of docs (Dr. Belding, Dr. Rudy and another Haitian Doc whose name I don't know how to spell.) to see patients and perform some surgeries and a small electrical team to assess our power issues and make some recommendations.  We are very thankful for both of these teams and their commitments to helping Hospital Lumiere. Also with this group is Bob and Sue Beebe.  Bob serves as the executive director of the hospital and sits on the Hospital Lumiere Governance Board.  Sue made time this week to do some activities with our children - it was great for them to have some grandma-like time with her. This group is still here and will return to their homes on Wednesday.  

Meanwhile, a construction work team from Sardis Ohio arrived over the weekend.  This is a team of 12 and they plan to renovate the Gwo Depot (Large Storage) and convert this space to central supply for the hospital.  This will involve some construction as well as lots of inventory and organizing.  This team comes from Eric and Jami Hartzler's home church so it is a very special week for them.

Obviously, this is a very busy time here.  In the past, January could be long after the holidays.  It always seemed coldest in Kansas during the months of January and February. This year, I am not cold and this month has come and gone so quickly.  We are very busy, but we are thankful for people that use their resources to come and make a difference at Hospital Lumiere.  For those of you that aren't able to join us in country, we appreciate your prayers.

We still have many daily struggles with electricity and we ask for your prayers.  Specifically, that God's wisdom will reign as decisions are made to address the issues we have with power.  It is all too complex to explain in this medium; however, God knows the issues and God knows the best solutions.  We ask others to join us in praying that God's plan will be sought and we will follow His path to consistent Light!  Also, we are still abnormally dry.  It seems to rain all around us, but we have received very little rain in Bonne Fin.  Again, God knows the plan, but we continue to pray for rain.

Update:  I started this post early in the week, but because of issues with power and internet, I have not been able to publish it on the blog.  Since beginning this post, we have received another egg on our front porch.  I startled the poor hen while she was laying the egg so it might be our last, but it has been fun. 

Finally, we are excited to host a medical team from Sabetha soon.  They will begin their journey next week on Friday, Feb. 7th.  It will be a highlight for us to have more faces from home.  Two girls about Mara's age are coming with their mothers on this team, so Mara is especially excited to have some friends here again.

I will close with a fun picture of some of our missionary children.  They are enjoying a popcorn snack on our back patio.

White Christmas!

That was the true Light (Jesus), which lighteth every man that cometh into the world

John 1:9

Merry Christmas!

The above picture doesn't look like the typical picture for a family living in Haiti, but since we are in Kansas right now, I wanted to share this picture of the sun coming up over the snow covered plains of Kansas.  

We are enjoying a White Christmas in Kansas right now, but I will back up a couple of weeks share a picture from the Christmas program that was put on by the Bonne Fin Missionary School.  

Here we have the cast:

Narrator:  Mara Aberle

Joseph:  Chole Klopfenstein

Mary:  Leah Hartzler

Shephards:  Conrad Hartz ler, Krae Aberle

Sheep:  Quincy Hartzler

Wisemen:  Beth Klopfenstein, Bekah Klopfenstein, Krae Aberle

Angel that was heard on high:  Grace Hartzler

Ladder Spotter for the Angel on high:  Jared Klopfenstein

Special Music provided by Eric Hartzler on Guitar

Program Director:  Desma Klopfenstein

The children put on a beautiful re-enactment of the Christmas story through scripture and song.  It was a fun evening and really put us in the mood for Christmas.  Selah had the opportunity to be a sheep, but she was not about to let anyone stick cotton balls on her.  

The morning after the program, we loaded up and made the trip to Port Au Prince for our flight to the USA.  The trip started out a little rough with Selah vomiting when we were only about 1/4 of the way to Port.  After a change of clothes and roadside bath with water bottles, we were back on our way and she was fine the rest of the trip.  I think she must have been motion sick so we will have to watch her from now on.  I was hoping that none of our children would get motion sick like I do, but we might not be so fortunate.  

Our flights went well with only a few delays and a rough, thunderstorm landing in Dallas (I had the air sickness bag opened up and ready for me this time, but we landed before I needed to use it).  Once we landed in Dallas, we were ready for some American restaurant food.  Even though it was 9:30 AM, we had been up since about 5 AM and wanted something besides breakfast.  The kids saw Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and they were so excited that we let them have some even though it was still morning. We found a restaurant that would let us order off the lunch menu and I had a Seared Ahi Tuna with Wasabi slaw appetizer and Rick had Beef Tenderloin Bruschetta with a spicy pico de gallo.  For the ice cream, Krae had chocolate fish food ice cream in a waffle cone, Mara had Butter Pecan and Selah had Chocolate Chip.  YUM!!!

We arrived in Kansas to very cold temps, teens during the day and single digits at night, and falling snow.  Our first night in Kansas, about 7 inches of light fluffy snow fell on the ground.  Mara and Krae have been out to play in the snow almost every day since we arrived.  They are having a great time!!  Grandpa and Grandma don't seem to mind the cold.  Grandpa pulled them on the sled behind his ranger and Grandma made a snowman with them when the snow started to melt and would stick together.

Tonight (Sat. Dec. 28th), we will have the Aberle Christmas gathering at Roger and LaVonne's home.  I believe we will be a group of 19 this year.

On Monday, Rick and I will take a couple of days and escape to KC for some shopping, dining out and a stay in a new hotel that was built on the spot where I worked at the Kansas Machine Shed for most of the 90s.  It will be fun to see how the area has changed!

We plan to start the trip back to Haiti next Friday and hope to arrive back in Bonne Fin by Saturday afternoon/evening.  It is looking to be a very busy start to the new year with lots of visitors planning trips to Bonne Fin.  We are excited to host many of our friends in the New Year of 2014.

For those of you who have received the Aberle Annual Review for the last 12 years, we are not sending out a newsletter this year.  This blog contains the same information that we would put in the newsletter and at this time, it is a bit more difficult to send it out to our mailing list both physically and financially.  

This past year has been one of change and challenge for our family, but we continue to feel the light and peace of God guiding our path.  It has not been an easy year, it has not been a boring year either, but it has been a year of stretching us.  We continue to be amazed at the way that God provides for our physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  We have many things to be thankful for - things such as new relationships with other missionary families, new relationships with Haitian people, a wonderful schooling option for our children, a very comfortable home, etc...  All of these things make our life in the mission field easier.  

And then, we are most thankful for the gift of salvation that we have through Jesus Christ.  This year has been special in that we have been able to focus more clearly on the birth of Christ during the Christmas season.  Being outside of the US, we missed most of the busyness and frantic feel of the holidays - it was quite refreshing!

To you and your families, we hope you had a very merry Christmas and will enjoy a happy New Year.  

Jwaye Nwel ak Bon Ane!

Higher Ways and Higher Thoughts

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.        
                                                                       Isaiah 55:8-12

I have used this passage from scripture on the blog before, yet it is so appropriate for the mission we serve in Haiti and a wonderful reminder to me.  I have been preparing to sit down and post on the blog for a couple of weeks, but I haven't had the physical, spiritual or emotional energy to get it done.  Yesterday, we received a message from a sister in Christ and she included the last verse of the passage from Isaiah that I quoted above.  I love this verse and as I read it in context during my devotions, the Word comforted me.

I am so thankful that we can depend on God's thoughts and ways to guide us in this journey.  It seems that each day can bring new challenges and it is imperative that we follow God's plan and not seek our own.

For various reasons, it seems that the last few weeks have been rather stressful for us.  I will admit that I am in the bottom of the bell curve of new experiences right now and that probably doesn't help.  It would be easy to write about the positives and make it sound like life on the mission field is just peachy, but the reality is that it is hard.  I could give lots of reasons why, but it is hard to understand unless you have lived it day to day, week to week, month to month, etc...

We had a very emotional good-bye as the Pfister family made the decision to leave the mission field and return home.  The strain on their large family was becoming more than they wanted to bear in the field, so they returned to Indiana in mid November.  We all miss them very much, but we believe God was leading them back home and we trust in His plan for them.  With Rich Pfister in the states (he is still working remotely for a few months) and two other members of the missionary leadership team on furlough, Rick, Eric and Sheila have been feeling stretched a bit thin.  Dr. Lee and his family returned yesterday from furlough and we are thankful to have them back among us.

A big surprise for me is how much I have enjoyed homeschooling our children while Miss Desma was on furlough.  We have gotten along well and have found some things we especially like to do together.  While, grammar, spelling and math seem rather tedious, Krae and I have enjoyed working together on his reading/language arts program.  As well, Mara is doing a Writing Strands program and we have enjoyed some fun writing projects. Selah has been a bit challenging at times, but she loves to "do school" too.  We have tried to do a few things each day that are fun for her and to give her some "Mom" attention.  Below is a picture of the kids helping Selah with a tracing activity.

Miss Desma has returned now and the kids will start back at the missionary school in the next few days.  They are looking forward to being in the classroom again.  The Pfister family had four children in the classroom, so the classroom dynamics will change somewhat, but the kids LOVE Miss Desma and I know she will make it just as fun for them. They are planning a Christmas program for next week.

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving gathering with a large group of missionaries serving in Haiti. Rob and Becky Thompson host an annual Thanksgiving Dinner in their yard each year and I believe the count for this year was 104 people.  This picture shows the group; we are all smiling because our tummies were full with a wonderful dinner.

We also had a wonderful day of fellowship and remembrances of the blessings for which we are thankful to God.


A little over a week ago, a few of us (the missionaries that were here) loaded up in a couple of gators and when for a drive in the countryside.  It was good to see more of the mountain that we live on.  One of the places we went was to the reservoir that supplies water to our hydro electric generator.  I took a picture of this bovine for my nephew that received Grand Champion AND Reserve Champion for his market steers at the Nemaha County Fair last summer.  I don't think this critter would do too well at the fair - what do you think, Michael?

I have mentioned our household helpers several times and I thought everyone might enjoy seeing pictures of them.

Madam Elina (cleaning) and Madam Frantz (cooking)

Mackenson (yard man)

While it has taken some "getting used to", we do appreciate these people who help us in our home.  I will mention that Madam Elina's son, Jean Enoch, has been in the hospital for the last week.  He went in with extremely swollen glands in his neck and is being treated with antibiotics.  Jean Enoch is twelve years old and prayers for his healing are appreciated.

Another prayer request is for much needed rain on the mountain.  The reservoir I mentioned before is very low on water and we are having to turn off power at night to conserve.  When the hydro generator is off, the hospital is powered by a diesel generator, but many of the missionary homes and the community do not have power. October is usually a month of rain in Haiti, but this last October was quite dry.  

We receive many emails, cards, and care packages from home and we thank each of you for the love and support.  We are also very thankful for your prayers.  I am asked about specific prayer requests so I have mentioned some in this post.  As well, I would ask that you pray that we will go out with joy and be led forth in peace in this mission and that God can use us as vessels to give glory and honor to Him.  His thoughts and His ways are higher than our own and we must focus on His wisdom and guidance.  

Just keep swimming...

Yep - it has been a long time since my last post.  Some of you have sent me gentle reminders that you are out there and wanting to hear from us.  I cannot express how much we appreciate the support of all of our loved ones.  Each and every one of you is important to us and I apologize for not doing a better job of keeping you updated.

I could give a bunch of excuses, but it all comes down to our lives being busy.  For some reason, I had the notion that life in Haiti would be simpler, slower paced and I would have some more free time to do things like blogging.  Needless to say, that notion was a misconception as it seems our lives are busier than ever.  Most of the time, I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water and I have to keep telling myself to Just Keep Swimming!  

The past month was filled with many celebrations.  We have most of our birthdays and our anniversary in October and several of the other missionaries in Bonne Fin also celebrate birthdays and anniversaries too.  Our little Selah had her second birthday and is having a great time riding her new trike that she received as a gift.  Krae had his seventh birthday and was especially excited to receive a box with gifts from his school buddies back home.  (Thanks to the moms who put the box together for him!)

We hosted several work teams in the last month with the largest having about 20 people. The big team was a construction team from Rockville, CT.  This group has been coming for several years and they worked on renovating the hospital lab this year.  It looks like a new space and we are thankful for their labors.  A medical team left yesterday; they did some special training with the nursing staff and we also had an internet team here last week that installed a new satellite dish on the hospital.  Our internet has been fairly consistent recently; not all, but a big part of the reason why is a guy named Rick Aberle. I (and several others) are thankful for his IT knowledge and his make it work attitude.

Several of you have asked about how our household help is working out.  Madam Elina (pronounced as long A-Lee-Na) has been with us for a bit over one month and she continues to do a good job and has a beautiful, joyful spirit.  It is not uncommon to hear her singing hymns in Creole while she is working.  We hired a young man named Mackenson to be our gardener.  He is 22 years old and has aspirations to attend university.  Mackenson has finished school and speaks some English.  He is taking classes at an English school in Les Cayes.  He enjoys plants and wants to study agronomy.  He has been busy cleaning up debris and weeds in our yard and has planted new plants along our fence, in beds along the side of our house and in our back patio area.  So far, he has been a hard worker and very respectful.  For cooking, we hired a women named Suzette, but we call her Madam Frantz.  (Frantz being her husband's name; I am called Madam Rick).  This last week was her first week and it went well.  Madam Frantz is 29 years old and has one child with her husband.  Her little girl is about the same age as Selah, but she is rather afraid of white people.  She will cook Haitian food for us and our household help for the noon meal on Mondays and Fridays and she will go to the open air market for me on Wednesdays.  So all of our helpers work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This seems to be working well and I think I like it better than having others in our home every day except Sunday.  It appears that God has provided us with some wonderful, Christian people to work in our home.  I am thankful for this blessing and I thank each of you that prayed for us while we were hiring people.  Also, I will mention that I still do a lot of cooking and cleaning myself.  It seems that the floors constantly need to be swept and only two meals of the week are cooked by someone else.  

And then there is laundry! Since our power is sporadic and is often low (only 90 volts coming into the house is common) I always wait to run my washing machine until we have good power so we don't burn up the motor.  Madam Elina hangs clothes out for me when it is not raining, but I am running the machine to try and avoid ruining the motor.  Sometimes the simple task of doing laundry can be quite challenging.  Think about having to wait to start a load until you have enough electricity.  You are finally able to get a load washed and hung on the line and a rain cloud rolls in and it rains on the one load you were able to wash.  On the flip side, it is still faster than taking my clothes to the river and washing them by hand and laying them out on the rocks to dry in the sun. Just when I want to complain, I have to remember that compared to my neighbors, I have it easy!!

We are mostly settled into our home.  We still have several small projects to do like building shelves for our depot and then organizing the depot once we have shelves for things.  We also need to do a lot of touch up painting in our house and other various little jobs.  Below are a few pictures to give everyone an idea of where we live.

Living Room

Dining Area (open to kitchen)  I am still looking for a Haitian painting to hang in this area.

Kitchen

Overall, everyone seems to be adjusting.  There are days when I am discouraged and I just want to go home, but for the most part, we are doing well.  One of my biggest frustrations right now is not having the time I need to study the Creole language.  Rick has been working with a tutor, but I am still struggling to find the time.  I have learned just enough to be dangerous - in other words, I can usually communicate what I need to other people, but I am really struggling with understanding when others talk back to me. This is especially hard when my household helpers are talking to one another and I can't follow what they are saying.  I hope to get back into language study soon!

Our school teacher, Desma Klopfenstein, is on furlough right now so I am doing school with the children as well.  Jami Hartzler and I are working together to help with the load.  We trade off each week with one of us teaching for the week and the other one having toddler time with our little ones.  Miss Desma will return around the 10 of December and we will be glad to have her back.  Our kids are missing their classroom as well.  Even though we miss Miss Desma and the school, it has been good for me to work with the children on their schoolwork and realize that I can do it.  It is very likely that I will teach them myself at some point during our service in Haiti.

We are looking forward to a quick trip home in December.  A loving and generous couple from our home church in Sabetha is providing the funds for us to fly home for Christmas. This trip was not planned so we are very thankful for their generosity and the opportunity to be with family for the holidays.  We plan to leave Haiti on December 20th and will arrive in KC on the 21st.  We will return on January 3rd & 4th.  As many of you know, Rick has traveled back several times in the last few months, but this will be the first trip home since June 26th for the kids and me.

In closing, I will leave you with a poem that was given to me recently.  This poem really sums up life in Haiti.  Enjoy!

ANTS IN THE SUGAR BOWL 

By Elizabeth Givens 

So send I you 

 To ants in the sugar bowl, 

 To things that fly, creep and crawl into the house, 

 To uncertain water, sporadic electricity. 

 To long hours, sweltering heat, exhausting days, 

 To uncomfortable vehicles, crowded jeeps, smelly buses. 

 To noisy early, early mornings, 

 To rice, rice and more rice. 

 To poverty you didn’t believe existed, 

 To masses of people like you have never seen, 

 To know and work with people who have never known comfort, 

So send I you, and I expect you to adjust. 

 

So send I you 

 To people who will give to you from their poverty, 

 To friends who will embarrass you with their generosity, 

 To pastors who will entertain you from their lack, with beauty. 

 To hungry, receptive, questioning people who want to know God, 

 To study, to teach, to learn from your study and teaching, 

 To prove your own motives, values and beliefs, 

 To learn about yourself and the culture that has reared you, 

 To know God and to understand more deeply dependence on Him, 

So send I you.

 

Are you going? I’ll go with you all the way. 

Events

It seems like the last two weeks have been filled with events.  While we are still working on getting settled into our new home, we have also been busy with many events.  I will summarize and give a few pictures along the way.

Miss Norma (Norma Luginbuhl) has hosted two afternoon teas for the little missionary girls.  For the last tea, they were to bring a doll and be prepared to tell a story about their doll.  The story could be a story that came with the doll, such as the American Girl doll stories or it could be a made up story.  Mara took her look alike American Girl doll, she and her doll wore matching aprons and she made up a story to tell about her doll.  The teas are much anticipated by the girls and we appreciate how Daryl and Norma have fallen into the role of grandparents and have special relationships with the children.  For the next tea, the girls are to come as a Bible character.  Mara plans to go as Ruth.

Rick and his parents arrived on Tuesday, September 24th.  Also traveling with them were Bob & Sue Beebe and Ron Palitto.  Bob is the Executive Director of the Hospital Lumiere Governance Board (HLGB) and has also served as the Interim Administrator.  Ron is the Chairman of the HLGB.

On Wednesday, September 25th there was a ceremony at the hospital to thank Bob for his service as the Interim Administrator and to install Rick as the new Administrator.  Several speeches were given.  Below are pictures of Rick and Paste Etheard speaking at the ceremony.

       

On Friday, September 27th, the children from the Bonne Fin Missionary Co-op School put on a musical play entitled Let it Shine.  It was quite a production complete with a stringed quartet (Cello, Viola, Violin and Piano), lights, a stage curtain, and props.  The kids did a great job.

 Jared, Beth & Bekah Klopfenstein on strings

The missionary kids on stage during the play

We enjoyed a wonderful BBQ before the play and had a bonfire for roasting marshmallows and pudgie pies after the play.  It was a very fun evening for all.

On Saturday, September 28th, we celebrated Krae's 7th birthday.  Yes, this was a week early, but he wanted to be able to have a party while Grandpa & Grandma were here. We had everyone up to our home and hosted our first gathering since moving into it.  Another fun evening with gifts, snacks, banana cake with two types of frosting (peanut butter and Nutella buttercream) and lots of fellowship!  

On Sunday, we were planning to have a combined English church day with our brethren from Les Cayes.  In fact, we were expecting a large group with several other missionaries joining us for our worship service.  Unfortunately, the sky opened up and we had a drenching rain.  It was a bit too risky for the group from Cayes to come up the mountain, so we had to cancel our combined service, but we still had a nice service and potluck for those living in Bonne Fin.

On Monday, Amber Pfister (she did the driving) and I took Roger and LaVonne down to Les Cayes to see a few of the sights.  There were rumors of possible manifestations so we avoided the downtown area, but still had a nice day visiting the Centre Lumiere Domestic Center (where the linens for the Pumpkin Soup sales are made), seeing the apartment where we lived for the our first 9 weeks in Haiti and eating lunch at the Hot Spot.  On Tuesday, Rick's folks traveled back to the US.  They left our home at 4 AM and reached their door about 1 AM so it was a very long day of travel for them.  We are thankful they were able to come and spend time with us and for safe travels!!

Now, its been another week already!  We are starting to feel more settled in our home although there will always be little things that need to be done.  I did hire a lady for house cleaning and she started today.  It went very well.  I showed her what I wanted done and she jumped right in and did a great job.  I am going to appreciate Madam Elina's help!!  She seems to be a very joyful person with an easy smile.  I was quite humbled several times; I had to demonstrate how to flip the switch to turn off the ceiling fans to clean them, how to turn on the water faucets and how to flush the toilets.  Madam Elina is a very intelligent lady, but she was a bit mystified by the bathroom and uncomfortable with cleaning it.  It is obvious that she does not have running water or electricity in her own home.  It would be very easy for me to fall into feeling guilty, but I try to remember that God sent us here to serve, not to feel guilty for the blessings he has given to us. Madam Elina also had a beautiful prayer for our home and family before our noon meal (Rick was gone today).  I was touched by her willingness to minister to our needs, even though we have been blessed with more material things.  What a joy to see the evidence of the Holy Spirit within the actions of another person!

I am reminded of an old campfire song that I learned as a child.  The words say:

We are one in the Spirit

We are one in the Lord

  (Repeat)

And we pray that all unity may one day be restored

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by  our love

Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another.                                      John 13:34, 35

Mountain Road

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.  Psalm 39:4

This verse came to mind when I realized how fast the days are moving.  It has been a bit over two weeks since I posted; even though a lot of things have happened, it seems like I was just here typing away.  When I think about the measure of my days and realize that my mother died when she was about my age, I gain a fresh perspective to live each day as if it were my last.  As well, living in Haiti and seeing how difficult daily life can be, I gain a new appreciation for the life that God has given to me.  

I do want to thank everyone who offered up prayers for Rick and his parents while they were traveling.  All travel during the last few weeks went smoothly and the situation with bandits in Ti Goav (Petite Goave is the official French name) has settled down with an increased presence of UN forces and some Haitian Special Forces.  

I do want to tell everyone about how wonderful the mountain road up to Bonne Fin is right now.  Many of you have traveled here before and remember the treacherous conditions of the mountain road between Cavillion and Bonne Fin.  It is about 14 kilometers (8.5 miles) and took about 45 minutes to travel when we visited in September of last year.  When we came in June, workers were just starting to bring in dirt, gravel, a road grader and a roller.  The work started just outside Cavillion and continued up the road.  We have enjoyed seeing the progress as the huge (like across most of the road) potholes are filled in, the rain ruts are filled in and the road is widened and smoothed.  During the time that Rick was back in the states, the road crew was working just outside the gate to the hospital.   Rich Pfister had the idea to serve the workers a meal in appreciation for the work they are doing on the road.  The ladies put their heads together and had a meal for about 20 workers.  Since I was not very settled in our home yet, I didn't help with making the food, but Selah and I did go and help with set-up and serving.  Here are a couple of pictures:

        

The men seemed to appreciate the meal and there were many expressions of "Bondye Beni Ou" (God Bless You).  The meal consisted of Fried Chicken Legs, Rice & Beans with Bean Sauce, Cole Slaw, Fried Plantains and a bottle of Soda.  Yep - pretty typical for a meal in Haiti.

So, getting back to the condition of the road.  Those of you who know and remember the old, very bumpy road would be shocked.  It is still gravel and rocks, but it is much smoother and the huge potholes and ruts are gone.  Now, it takes about 20 minutes to get down to Cavillion.  The road has been a prayer request for many years and we continue to see God's hand working to improve conditions at Hopital Lumiere.  Of course, without maintenance, the road will be back to it's old condition after a few rainy seasons, but we are extremely thankful for the current condition of the road.  

Ministering Brother, Bob Beebe is here right now and in his sermon this evening, he quoted a verse from All the Way My Savior Leads that seems fitting to add to this post about the road as our winding path to Bonne Fin has been "cheered up".  The second verse says:

All the way my Saviour leads me, 

Cheers each winding path I tread;

Gives me grace for every trial, 

Feeds me with the living bread;

Tho' my weary steps may falter, 

And my soul a-thirst my be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! a spring of joy I see.

I will post more about the past weeks tomorrow or Friday as this piece about the road turned out a bit longer than I had planned.  

Hello Again...

I just took a quick look at the calendar and realized that it has been 3 weeks since my last post.  A lot has happened during the last three weeks and my absence as a Blogger is mostly due to not having an Internet connection that allowed me to get online.  I will try to give a brief recap of the last few weeks.


On August 28th we loaded up the belongings we had in Cayes and moved up to Bonne Fin.  Unfortunately, we were not able to move into our house yet.  The doors still needed to be hung on the cabinets and closets, the new windows still needed to be installed and Rick wanted to redo some of the tile work.  He wasn't satisfied with some of the tile work that was done by the Haitian Bos,so he cut out a few pieces and fixed it himself.  The tile does look much better and I guess Rick has experience laying tile now. 

The first few days up here were rather difficult for me.  We came up on a Thursday; Rick took off the next day for meetings in Port-Au-Prince and was gone until late on Saturday. The kids and I were staying in the Couple's Cottage and living out of suitcases and boxes without hot water or internet. I was hesitant to do to much unpacking because we planned to move into our house as soon as possible.  I know that Satan used this time and circumstance to discourage me. Even though work was progressing on our home, it appeared that so much still needed to be done and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and dirt.  The best word to describe my emotional state would be overwhelmed.  For those of you that like pictures, I wish I had taken some of the mess that was in our house, but I simply did not even think of it.

On that Sunday, Mara, Krae and I went to the beach with some of the other missionaries and had a much needed relaxing and fun afternoon.

The first week of September, things really started progressing.  The window Bos and his crew chipped out (the windows are set in the concrete walls) the old windows.  Imagine chunks of cement laying around below the window on the inside and outside of the house.  They worked quickly and had the new windows in by the end of the week, but they did not get screens in until the following Wednesday.  Rick and some of the other Haitian laborers worked very hard to get other details done so we could start cleaning up the mess.  There were several tense moments (the showers have been a continual issue), some blood (Rick bumped his head and put a nice little gouge in it) and just a few tears.

By Thursday, most of the dirty work was done and I was able to work with some day laborers on the cleaning process.  The dirt and dust was so thick, that we began with a dry wiping (so as not to make mud) of walls, fans, lights, windows and floors and then followed up with soap and water on Friday.  By the end of Friday, we were starting to unpack!  What a great feeling!!

During this week, Mara and Krae started school.  Their first day was September 5th and I did remember to snap a few pics of them in their classroom.

They are enjoying school with Miss Desma and the other missionary children.  Their classroom is varied by age and grade level, but Miss Desma and her teaching assistant, Beth, (Desma's 19 year old daughter who is studying education) seem to have a good system for working with all of the children and keeping them all busy.

On Saturday, September 7th we spent the first night in our new house.  We still had a living room of boxes to be unpacked, but the beds were set-up, the kitchen was unpacked and I found some towels for showers.

Unfortunately, I started feeling ill after church on Sunday and then spent the rest of Sunday and Monday in bed.  Rick was a hero; he took care of the kids, made meals and even did the laundry even though he had many projects that needed to be done on the house.  By Tuesday, I was feeling better and the unpacking commenced.

It is now a week later and we are mostly unpacked.  We are still missing some furniture that did not get put on the sea container that came in July.  Our living room furniture, piano, mattress for the master bedroom, and a few other miscellaneous items are on a container that is currently enroute and we are looking forward to its arrival.  

In closing this post, I do have a couple of prayer requests.

1.  First, Rick is planning to travel back to the states on Wednesday, Sept. 18th for a meeting with the HLGB.  There have been some violent protests and hijackings on the road to Port-Au-Prince between Petit Goave and Grand Goave.  Rick will have to travel this road to get to the airport in Port.  He plans to ride on a large bus and it appears that the bandits are targeting cars and vans that are transporting teams.  Rick feels he will be safe on the bus, but we would appreciate prayers for his travels.

Rick will return on Sept. 23rd with several of the HLGB members and his parents.  Again, they plan to travel out to southern Haiti on a large bus, but prayers are needed.

2.  Second, I will be hiring our household workers soon and I would appreciate prayers for God's direction.  The ladies we hire for cooking and cleaning will spend a lot of time in our home and I ask you to join me in praying that God will provide Christian women who have a heart to follow Jesus.

Living here, I could easily fall into the snare of fear.  When ever I start to feel fearful, this verse from Timothy gives me encouragement.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.     II Timothy 1:7


Here are a couple of fun pictures to wrap it up:

This rooster usually wakes us up in the morning.  Fortunately, he crows at about 6 AM instead of at 2:30 AM like the rooster who lives by the Couple's Cottage.  He likes to strut around our yard looking for bugs and such.  Mara refers to him as our "friendly neighborhood rooster".  

This tarantula used to live in the drain pipe under our back patio.  When I wash laundry and the washer drains, he usually comes scrambling out to get away from the water.  We've seen him a few times and were thinking of a name for him (Ted, Fuzzy, George).  Unfortunately, he met his demise today when Mr. Daryl stomped on him .  As long as he was outside, I was happy to let him hang out in the drain pipe and eat bugs. Daryl gave me the funniest look when I said, "Oh, we didn't even get to name him!"  :)