Team April

We have spent the past three days gearing up for Team April which will be arriving tomorrow, April 1st. Jeff and Jacques have been gathering supplies for the projects this team will be participating in, getting more mattresses, he's been checking in on the team vehicle (it has been at the fabricator for a few weeks now getting the finishing touches...supposed to be done Wednesday, now to be finished Friday morning). We've been meeting and planning. Vanessa and Viviane spent the morning cleaning the guest house today while I did school with my girls, then we made beds this afternoon and shopped for groceries. The guys at the deli counter know me by now, they know what kind of ham I like to get, they know to ask me if I want my cheese in a block or sliced, and they're quite amused when I am shopping for a team and I order 4 lbs of ham at one time. I think the people at the check out are also amused by the amount of bread and ground beef purchased at one time, today it was 20lbs. Tomorrow, Vanessa will finish up the cleaning in the guest house while I do school, Jeff will run around to several more places for supplies, and hopefully if the airlines are on time, the team will be arriving to the guest house around 5:00pm. Work we have planned: Sat - the guys will work on Jacques' home and the ladies will go to Freedom House Bethesda to do medical check ups on the girls Sun- church, soccer with Good Sam kids Mon-guys, work at Jacques' ladies, work at Good Sam girls home Tue, Wed, and Thur - Canaan for building project Friday - Good Sam girls home I say all this because this morning as I was doing my devotional time, God spoke to me about knowing who He is. I was listening to a song called "what do I know of holy". It is a great reminder of how big our God is and how little I understand his holiness. I then went on to read in Matthew. The story of Jesus walking on water and Peter asking Jesus to help him walk on water. Peter was fine while he was looking at Jesus, but then when he looked away and saw the wind and waves, he sunk, when he took his eyes off Jesus. The other disciples' reply to seeing all of this was "you really are the son of God!". After all the time they spent with Jesus, after all the miracles they had seen him perform, they still didn't really understand. For us, we can do all the planning and preparing we want, but circumstances around us could change or maybe we run into some kind of challenge that we don't anticipate. What then? will we keep our eyes on Christ? will we begin to sink then call out to God to save us? We have a great week planned for this team. We know the things we plan to do will honor God...but sometimes our hearts don't honor God. Sometimes God changes our plans or circumstances so we will see more how holy He really is. My challenge for this team this week is that we try to be open to what our holy God has in store for us and how He will change us. We just need to keep our eyes on Him! ~Deb

Funny in Haiti!

It has been a comical few days here. It started with the whole haircut conversation that led to shaving James Yutzy's head. Jeff posted on facebook that if 100 people clicked the like button on his status, I would give James a haircut. We ended up with about 128 or so. Monday morning began with THE HAIRCUT. We discussed giving him a mullet, afterall, he was at my mercy. Then there was the discussion over a mohawk. I decided to be nice and do the conservative pastor cut. We had a good laugh over it. Please see the before and after below.

We had a fun few days as the two pastors visited our ministry here.

Monday morning began at 5:30am as Vanessa and I prepared to go for a run. This was only our third time going out. I have been too chicken to go it alone up until now. We decided it would be better to run a more rural road up over a very large hill rather than on the busy road where there are no shoulders and drivers can pass on either side, running off the road if so desired. Our first trip on this route was uneventful.

Monday however, was a different story. Part of the road (path) runs through a field where several local haitians take their livestock to graze. About 1/4 mile into the run, we came upon a herd of cattle, bull included. Now, keep in mind, Haiti is hot and these cattle are not being fed the fattening grain they might get in the states and water may be a minimum so the energy level is very low. They move at a very slow pace. Every bull we have seen here has taken on this same level of energy, but I know what a bull is like in the states so it's hard to get that picture out of my mind. I'm getting out of there just in case he had an apple or something that morning...one never knows. Thank goodness neither of us wore red shirts (as a friend of mine so kindly pointed out...I'll be sure to NEVER wear a red shirt while on foot here)! We made it out of there a little faster and maybe a little sweatier.

We continued on our run and came through a small neighborhood where several street dogs live. Didn't see those the first time through there. As we past the first two stationary barking dogs, I decided to pick up a branch laying close by just in case. We then rounded a corner only to find three more dogs to the left of the road and one in the middle. It was like a scene out of a movie. As we tried to continue on, the one in front of us ran off (at the time I wasn't sure if he was running away or staging an attack around the next corner). The other three must have felt threatened by our "swift feet" and began chasing/barking/showing teeth. I'm just going to pause to describe the branch in my hand. The twig had a handle then many little tiny spindly pieces protruding in all directions, kind of like a hand made old time broom...no strenght what-so-ever! This branch/broom saved our ankles at least. As we continued to move in a forward direction, I used a sweeping motion behind us, thus keeping the dogs back and off our legs. I then turned forward to find Vanessa had moved from the position she had been in beside me to hiding in front of me. Turns out I was only protecting myself, Vanessa was in a great position to use me as her protection. The problem then was that Vanessa was too scared to be moving forward fast enough to get out of there, so now, I'm caught between rabid dogs, a branch, and a young lady ready to start screaming like a 3 year old(as she put it). I instructed Vanessa to infact continue moving forward at a faster rate (better known as "GO, GO, GO!!!"). Finally, we made it out of there with our legs/ankles still in tact. We rounded the next bend to find no dog waiting for us, he obviously saw the twig, but a few haitian men looking at the two white girls laughing uncontrollably carrying a branch/broom. Needless to say, I left the house today with protection...got quite a few stares as I carried the baton (2ft ceiling fan extention pole) for our relay. Vanessa informed me at the beginning of the run that it probably would not by wise to pass the baton as in a normal relay at any time during the run. You never know when a bull might have extra energy or a bunch of wild dogs feel like they rule the neighborhood.

Speaking of neighborhood, this leads to my third funny event.

Tuesday is gym class day at the Good Samaritan girls home. Vanessa and I and my kids drive there to be entertained by 22 girls (ages 7-20) who never had any kind of gym class, trying to do push ups, sit ups and some sort of dodge ball or competitive game. Jeff runs there to meet us. So driving through the neighborhood on the way, a lady carrying a very small child frantically ( hind-sight #1, she only became frantic...better known as dramatic...when she saw it was a white lady driving) knocked on the side of the car. On the verge of tears, she began speaking very quickly in kreyol, none of which I understood except "hospital". She then procedes to tell me in English...her baby is sick and she needs to take her to the hospital and has no money(hind-sight #2...she speaks some English, she's educated...should have at least some money). So, me, seeing the baby in her arms laying still under a blanket(hind-sight #3, baby was peacefully sleeping), reach into my wallet, pull out the largest bill (goude) I have and hand it to her. I drive off only to look into my rear view mirror to see her meet up with a man and they both begin laughing...which then leads to Vanessa laughing uncontrollably once again. Not that she used her nursing skills to offer any kind of help in assessing the situation or anything. Obviously we are both terrible when put on the spot.

I don't know what that means for the next time someone asks for money, but at least I came away from it not wondering if the baby was ok or if the mother was able to get help. How she used the money is between her and God anyway.

But, glad I could provide some entertainment for you Vanessa!

~Deb

Visit

Pastor Alan and Pastor James from our home church came to Haiti yesterday for a visit. We have been looking forward to this visit for a while, we so appreciate the support from our church in PA! They are here to just check out our lives for a few days. So far, they have experienced a birthday party with our Good Samaritan Orphanage kids, which we do once a month, they have worked in the sun and heat helping to get Jacques' house ready for the next phase of building for Team April coming April 1st, they have played soccer with a bunch of kids from Good Samaritan Orphange, and they've had the pleasure of a haitian meal prepared by Margarette! It's been a time also of just sharing our lives and what we've learned here so far. Tomorrow we are looking forward to church at Port-au-Prince Fellowship, visiting Viviane's home, and Canaan. A lot to take in, in just a few short days...
some where along the line, Pastor James agreed to me giving him a haircut if he gets 100 likes on Jeff's facebook status about it...let's see how many he gets and if James returns with short hair!!!

Canaan

I have mentioned the tent community, Canaan that we have been doing some work in a few times before. We had been there to visit in November, went back to paint some of the wooden shelters that were already there with 2 teams, we were there with another team to pray with some people, and just recently, we were there for what we thought would be a church service, but ended up being a wedding (Kylie asked if she could attend a wedding of her cousins' cousin when we are back in Pennsylvania and I had to explain to her that people don't normally go to a wedding they aren't invited to esp to a wedding of someone they don't know...that onlyhappens in Haiti, I wrote a previous post about this wedding).
Here is what we know about Canaan:
Not a single person/home existed on this beautiful piece of land that covers hundreds of acres at the base of a mountain before the earthquake. We know that every family that lives there now is there because of some of loss due to the devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010. The people living in Canaan have one of three types of housing; a tent constructed from very small tree trunks and tarps, an shelter built from tin sheeting, or a wooden shelter that resembles a small one room house. God has brought AWAKENHAITI to a specific smaller community within Canaan in order to walk alongside them and to support Pastor Nathan in his ministry there.
Pastor Nathan began ministrering to some of the church members from his church in Delmas who moved to Canaan after the quake. Slowly, he went from visiting and praying with people to preaching. Others began hearing and accepting Christ. Now, there are approximately 50 families attending church there. Pastor Nathan also saw a need for children to attend school. He gathered some teachers and children came. Now there are about 80 children ages 3 years-4th grade attending school there. The children are not being fed at the school currently. This is necessary for the children to concentrate, as well as culturally in order for it to be a reputable school. There is little money because families cannot pay school fees. This leads to a lack of supplies and unpaid teachers. Eventually the teachers will leave to find a good paying teaching position. Currently the church and school meet in tents. We see that it is vital to begin developing a church and well-functioning school in order for this community to grow and thrive.
The community has two small wells to draw water from, however, it is not drinkable. They have to buy drinkable water from a water truck that drives through daily. There is little opportunity in Canaan. No opportunity for work. People must travel to buy food and supplies and to look for work. There is no shelter from the sun. The wind can be very powerful as Canaan sits at the base of a mountain with nothing to slow it down. The temperatures in the tents easily reach well over 100 degrees during the daytime.

We have been in prayer over this community since we first visited. We have asked God to lead us, give us wisdom in how to help this area, give us discernment in whether we should even be doing anything there. After all, we can't save all of Haiti, we can't spread ourselves thin just throwing resources around for a day and not making a lasting impact...but, we continue to be drawn there.

Our prayers have led us back to the guiding principles we set when our team started this organization:

*continually seek God, his wisdom and his guidance

*Act boldly in obedience and trust the holy spirit for results

*focus on activities that will have significant and sustainable impact

AND our prayers have lead us to scripture that we have read over and over and over...

Isaiah 58 ... what has stood out to us most...

True worship is more than religious rituals; going to church every week, reading scripture regularly, fasting, etc. These things are good, but more, it is a relationship with God. We are saved by faith in Christ, but our faith is made real as we reach out to others...as we have compassion for the oppressed, the poor, the orphan, the helpless...as we love people the way Christ loved.

So it is by faith we move forward to reach out to those living in Canaan. This is a big project. This is a huge project. Team April will be the first phase in this, they have raised funds and will construct a building in which to store supplies for the church and school. The second phase will be a church/school/community gathering pavilion. This will start this summer. This is so vital to this community. Plans are being drawn up, but funds for this project are still needed. We are taking a step of faith in this knowing God is asking us to and knowing He will provide what is needed. Following the pavilion, homes for families within the church.

Did I mention this is a BIG project? But we serve a BIG God and a God who can do all things, who can provide all things.
We are ready to take this step, in faith!
~Deb

A Mixed Bag

Sometimes I have trouble thinking of things to write about because we are still in transition and building our base has to come first...those things can be a bit boring and frustrating. A mixed bag of things happening right now...
I still feel so anxious about going to get groceries, I put it off as long as possible. It seems everytime I go something uncomfortable happens. The credit card machine won't read my card...can't understand enough Kreyol to know why or maybe the clerk doesn't know why. The credit card machine doesn't work sometimes period. Some young man approaches me to tell me his life story and dreams for his future and asks if I can help with his plans to go to school. I looked up halfway through this conversation to see the security guard carrying the shotgun saw this and made his way close to me as the man talked. Two or three times now, a young man approached me or someone I was with to ask if we would buy milk for his baby. Last night I ordered 10- 5 gallon bottles of water in kreyol (galon dlo dis - same as I ordered before) and for some reason the clerk thought I wanted 40. Not sure how carant gets confused with dis...they sound nothing alike. I can understand how she first thought I wanted ice...kreyol for ice is glas...sounds a bit like dis, but carant??? so after saying no I don't want ice, she conferred with the clerk next to her and she confirmed I wanted the "galon dlo" so I thought we had it settled, I pay, go to the car, give my reciept to the attendant who takes it to the water guys who will begin to get the 10 bottles of water ready while I drive around. The attendant comes back and shows me the receipt, I paid for 40 (karant). How did that number every come into play? and how did dis not get heard after saying it 5 times. Maybe I should have spoken in English. Thankfully the attendant was honest enough to tell me and get me my change. I have no idea how I would have talked my way through that. I do love BelMart. I do know that in order for me to even be able to feel comfortable going to the grocery store, I need to learn this language better and I need to just keep going. Unfortunately after the night I had there last night, I still have to go back today.
Schooling has also been a big challenge for me and for the girls. They are begging to "go" to school...they just really need to be with other kids and be more challenged by being in a classroom with other students as well as a teacher other than mom. Vanessa has been a huge help to me a few times a week taking on one of the girls, but we are seeing that this is not the best set up for the girls or for us trying to do ministry. We can't send them out in the neighborhood to play with other kids, the only time they have with kids is at the orphanages with kids who only speak a little english. They are begging to be with other kids. We are looking into our options for next year and praying for guidance for choosing the best situation for our kids, for us, for the ministry. I only mention the girls because Colton is doing really well with school online. He likes the independence and he loves the flexibility so he can be very involved in what his dad is doing and in teams coming. He will be taking on a role of photographer/videographer for teams and making dvds of each trip. This gives him some big responsibility and he loves all the computer work.
I mentioned an orphanage visit a few weeks ago. We are still doing some research into the existing set up and seeking some direction through prayer and conversations with Max and Margarette. We can't simply dive right in and begin giving hand outs...as I was once inclined to do before becoming more involved here. That's not what AWAKENHAITI is about. We are about walking along side the Haitians, helping where help is needed for longevity, for sustainability, hearing their plans and visions, not just throwing our ways on them, but giving ownership to them, and ultimately honoring God in our efforts...seeking him in all things. This can't be done overnight, it takes time, especially in Haiti where everything takes time.
We are ready to begin to move into this next phase of ministy as we anticipate 8 teams over the next 8 months. Part of the reason we are here is to be a channel for people to come, to provide awareness, to assist us in the ministries we are doing here, and to hopefully help people to seek out if they are being asked to reach beyond themselves locally, nationally, or globally. We have some very big projects coming up and we are very excited about meeting many great people and seeing God work in and through them.
We have many things to be thankful for here. We are so blessed to be walking this journey. We have specific things to pray about/for as well as the things we can't yet see. We know God is at work in things and in people we aren't even aware of yet. We won't walk this alone.

~Deb

Purchase made!

Thank you for those who sent prayers for the vehicle search. We purchased our family vehicle last Saturday and have appreciated driving a reliable vehicle around PAP. The kids are loving it because it is a pickup and here they can ride in the back. With no seatbelt laws, they feel very free in the car:)

Also, the team vehicle was chosen and just picked up today! The truck comes complete without... the bed...something very different from what we would ever dream up in the states. The frame for the bed is there, but no bed. Turns out the bed is an additional charge. Again we have to stop comparing things here to how things are done in the states, but this is just comical. So thankfully Max has found a place that will do the bed and enclose the back for safety then it also allows us to have a rack on top for supplies to travel with teams for considerably less than the dealership.

God is good. He provides. He knows our needs before we ask. He knows the timing and works through circumstances and blesses. This is just another example of his faithfulness to us and to this ministry he has laid before us! We trust the truck complete WITH the bed and caging will be ready for Team April coming April 1st.

On a completely different note, we received an invitation to go to Canaan Thursday evening for a church service. We expected to be there for several hours as haitian church services go so we left our children in the care/company of Max and Berothie and Jacques. We found out Saturday afternoon that there would be a wedding as well. With no idea what to expect, we loaded up along with Vanessa and Randie (a great friend of mine visiting who has not been to Canaan yet) and Margarette (who also has not yet been to Canaan).

We pull into Canaan and meet Pastor Nathan so we could follow him back to the specific community we are working with (Canaan is acres and acres with many communities within) so we still don't know our way completely. So we start going and the next thing we know we're stopping to say hello to a family. Only we're not just stopping to say hello, we're picking up the bride and groom and the wedding party. Everyone piles into Pastor Nathan's car and the back of our truck. Keep in mind, Canaan is all dirt, dusty roads so now we have all these people dressed to the hilt riding in the back of our truck.

We arrive to the community, the wedding party unloads and gets set and the church service turned wedding soon gets under way.

It's no surprise that the lights and sound system in the tent where the ceremony is taking place are operated by the noisy generator outside occassionally go on and off.

I was surprised though by the decor inside the tent. Silky bedspreads had been strung all around the inside of the tent in order to turn this ordinary tent/school into a beautiful surrounding for a wedding, how creative and practical!

We were informed that at any time we were very welcome to walk UP FRONT to take pictures as our presence there was very important...ok, awkward. I quickly walked up took a few shots and returned to my standing spot at the very back where I could hold my special little girl Mai Mai.

Turns out haitian weddings at least weddings done by Pastor Nathan are very interactive. He asks many questions of the bride/groom, wedding party and people in the congregation. To top it all off, I couldn't figure out why all the sudden some people started standing and moving closer to the front near the bride & groom. Madame Gerald (Mai Mai's mother) and I were trying to see and I commented in kreyol, we're both too short so the next thing I know, she grabed my hand and pulled me and pushed her way to the front. The crowd started moving in closer and closer and cheering/chanting. And now I'm holding onto Nadej who is just about getting knocked over and trampled. All this to see the bride and groom's first kiss. The crowd goes wild, celebrating, cheering, clapping. Then it is all over and everyone walks out and I'm left standing there wondering what in the world just happened.

How cool. All for a couple had never seen before. Only in Haiti!

So after many many discussions and questions over vehicles...we are learning a valuable lesson; We have to stop comparing the cost of everything here to what we are used to in the states.

We have to stop looking at things the way we did in the states...we will get nowhere. We will buy nothing including milk and pickles. We have been so surprised at the cost of everything here. I couldn't bring myself to buy milk until last month. Same with pickles which is one of my kids' favorite snacks.

We are looking to purchase a ministry vehicle to transport teams when they are here to serve. We aren't asking for anything flashy, just something we can fit a lot of people in, a lot of supplies in, and will get us where we need to go reliably. We are also looking to purchase a vehicle for our family that will be more reliable than what we are driving now esp for trips outside Port-au-Prince.

Jeff has come home over and over after looking at vehicles, really stressed about the thought of what you get for your dollar here. So what do we do? how do we know what the right vehicle is here? how do we know what is even a reasonable amount of money to spend to get something reliable? how do we make a wise decision here?

We stop comparing. We just go to God and ask. So for the last few weeks, days, we've been asking.

We are trusting we'll see red flags when we need to. Trusting we'll know when God is telling us it's ok because I believe He cares even about these details when we ask.


Just after writing this some very special friends sent us this prayer:

Lord, you know the need. You know it before we do. Lord we ask that you would release favor and blessing in finding and the pricing of the vehicle. Release peace in the process, wisom and discernment.
Matthew 6:8 "...for your father knows what you need before you ask Him."
Phil. 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus"

~Thank you Bob and Donna we appreciate your words of encouragement and your prayers!