BEING THANKFUL

Our internet services have not been plentiful and time has been in short supply so we haven’t been able to post on the blog, upload pictures or send a lot of e-mail.  For this we apologize. We do hope this little dispatch will arrive for Mar 25^th.

Last Sunday after everyone walked up the road to church we sat down for our own service.  The new puppy, Ella, which was given to Lily Ayars, our next door neighbour’s daughter, was pining so badly for her new family, we took pity on her and invited her into the house.  Dorothy picked her up, stroked her ears for a few minutes and she snuggled into the crook of her arms.  As we were reading our Bible and a Max Lucado piece it made us think of how gently our heavenly father takes us in His arms and cares for us even though we are so undeserving.  Lucado said, “We can imagine Him creating the world and suspending the stars.  We can envision Him as almighty, all-powerful, and in control.  We can fathom a God who knows us, who made us, and we can even fathom a God who hears us.  But a God who is in love with us?  A God who is crazy for us?  A God who cheers for us?”  We aren’t cute like a puppy; we don’t have floppy ears and a tail that wags with just a little touch.  Our Father doesn’t care.  He loves us no matter what and so unconditionally.

On Monday when Roselore came in to wash the floors she brought in a bag containing one plantain.  Plantain look like a banana, but there the similarity ends.  The taste is quite different, is used like a vegetable, and is a staple of the Haitian diet.  North Americans will take off the outer skin like a banana, then peel the inside like a potato and deep fry the peelings that curl like a potato chip.  Dorothy had given her some powder laundry soap the previous Thursday and this was her thank you.  Again, the story in the Bible of the widow’s gift came to mind.  Luke 21:1-4. “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury.  And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins.  And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.””   What a wonderful feeling of gratitude we had. 

Our group has dwindled to 3 men and 2 women.  Two of the men are on working on the second story of the men’s dorm tiling the washrooms while the two women and the third man are VP’s teaching at the seminary.  Pam, from England who was here last year, was sick for the first two weeks.  Another VP combined her class with his for two weeks and now she is teaching a course to a combined class of second and third year students. 

We are both starting to feel better, praise the Lord.  John is continuing with his puffer to help with his lung congestion and Dorothy is swallowing big antibiotic pills to take care of walking pneumonia. 

WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL HIS BLESSINGS. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

FORGOTTEN MESSAGE

 March 18, 2012

This message should have been posted for March 18th;  something must have happened and we forgot!!!

I guess it doesn’t pay to mention the word drought as I did last week because for the last three evenings starting on Saturday we have had a torrential downpour after the supper dishes are washed, dried and put away, about the time we are getting ready for bed.  The days are still quite tolerable and the nights are still cool enough for some of the missionaries and visiting professors to go looking for a blanket or comforter. 

The big news of the week isn’t political or anything such as that.  It’s that for the first time in recent memory Haiti has gone on Daylight Saving Time.  You think people weren’t confused!!!!  We are told that sometime earlier this month it was announced that this was to happen, but then nothing more was mentioned until sometime on Saturday, March 10^th, and of course, because not everyone has access to a radio, television, or a newspaper, compliance was rather sporadic particularly as it relates to church attendance.  Some people arrived on time, but then there was no pastor, or conversely, there was a pastor with only half his congregation.  Does it sound like St. Andrew’s when we revert from two services to one or vice versa?

I am not sure there is any other news except that this weekend the house guests change.  We lose 3 on Friday and gain 1, gain 3 more on Saturday, and then lose 3 on Monday morning.  For us it means a lot more laundering of bedding as the old leave and the new arrive, but little else changes other than the quantities that are cooked; however, after Monday we will be only serving 7.  And, of course, with the changing of the house guests this also means that we now have less than 3 weeks left until we too start for home.  It’s a good thing that we booked our stateside accommodation two months ago because I don’t think there is a hotel/motel/condo available for the week before Easter or the week after anywhere in south Florida.

Because neither of us has been feeling well lately, this week we had the opportunity to be seen by an American doctor from Erie, Pennsylvania.  Dorothy was diagnosed as having a mild case of walking pneumonia while John has a mild form of asthma.  Fortunately, the pharmacy at the Bethesda Medical Clinic had the medicines needed to treat both.  PTL we are so blessed to have access to doctors and medications because too many Haitians do not.

We were feeling a little hard done by this morning because of a lot of loud music being played last night , dogs barking, John and I both coughing for a considerable period through the night, the roosters crowing before we were ready to get out of bed, etc.,  but then started our devotions.  We must have needed a talking to because the first scripture we read was from Romans 5:1-5.  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.  And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.   

God sure has a way of hitting you over the head.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

ROSELORE, OUR CLEANER; NO PHOTOS BUT VIVID PICS TOLD IN WORDS

This week has been quite busy as we prepare for the arrival of our first visiting professors.  That is not to say that we have not had a guest because we have.  This past week we hosted the Director of the Emmaus Biblical Seminary, Dr. Brian Easley.  Brian lives near Greenwood, Indiana with his family and makes periodic trips to the seminary, this being one of them.

In terms of things exciting or unusual to report, we must admit that nothing much has happened this week, although as mentioned we did teach two English tutorials at the seminary to fill in for Stacey Ayars.  Dorothy had about 40 students for her intermediate level class while John only had about 10 students for his senior level class.  It is difficult to say who had more fun, the students or ourselves.  Either way we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  Dorothy taught from a piece by Max Lucado on the impact that we may have on others either directly or indirectly while John taught from a piece on Tommy Douglas, a Baptist minister and his role in the introduction of universal health care to Canada.

As we said, not much exciting happened this week so would like to share with you a blog entry of this past week from Matt & Stacey Ayars relating to Roselore who happens to be the lady that washes our floors twice a week.  (Some of you may have already read Stacey’s entry, so we apologize to you.)  Like Stacey, we knew that Roselore had four children and at times has difficulties making ends meet, but that is not unlike so many other Haitians.  What we did not realize was the magnitude of the issues facing her on a daily basis.  We, too, have given her money and/or food occasionally and we have done the same for almost every Haitian we have developed an ongoing relationship with, but usually it has more to do with money for school tuition than it has to do with buying food so their children do not starve.  I would like to think that Roselore’s story is atypical but I think it is only too true for the majority of Haitians and for that our heart truly aches.  Anyway, here is Stacey’s story of her trip to RoseLore’s home.  Read it and weep.

By Stacey Ayars:

“I guess I had assumed Roselore lived on our road, but while I see her a few days a week andedan (inside) and every Sunday in church, I'd never seen her house. As we were hustling past cactus fences and around mucky puddles, I caught a glimpse of Roselore's face out of the corner of my eye.

"Roselore!" I called, cutting off the road and climbing up the little hill to chat for a moment, pulling Lily along with me. "How are you?"

She was in a tank top and shorts, bent over a small cooking fire, black with history, piled next to a tiny stick home. Eyes red from the smoke, she grinned uneasily, seeming ashamed for me to see her in shorts and at her home.  Her four children were right around her, waiting for dinner, dirty, wearing torn clothing, light haired and all stick figures of the children they should be. It was hard to stop staring at them. They appeared that they should be unable to stand, and one of the twins still had remnant tears running down her face.

"What's wrong, chickie?" I asked her, trying to ignore the surroundings and make them all comfortable.

The only thing I've ever heard Roselore say about the twins was that she doesn't know why God did that to her. I always cringed to hear her say that, thinking of their two precious lives.

But when I saw them at home, both at five years-old still remarkably smaller than Lily, I understood. Their skin was sunk into their ribcages, their eyes appearing abnormally large in contrast with their shrunken faces, their hair, the color of dust from malnutrition.

I see a lot of very poor children in Haiti, a lot of ringworm, a lot of rat nibbled toes, a lot of runny noses, a lot of skin and bones.

But Roselore's children are starving.

It's not as if she has not told me so.  Almost weekly, she asks for 50 gourdes ($1.25 USD) to buy food for her children. I always give it to her, but mostly figuring that she just knows I'll say yes if she mentions kids and food.

After chatting for a few more moments, we headed back down the road to Noel's. But my mind was buzzing, and has been ever since.

How do I know Roselore, you ask? She works at the Seminary. She cleans empty missionary homes.

There are three homes at the seminary, two of which have been empty between 9-10 months of the year. Once a week, Roselore comes in and cleans those. (What if she DIDN'T have this job...like many others?)

I have been irritated at Roselore, because she keeps leaving the back doors open so that she can come back later and collect the bowls of rare and precious ice she has in the freezers. Let me say that another way: I have been mad that Roselore has been taking water. Talk about humbling.   

Week after week, she leaves her stick (and I mean sticks, split in half, woven into each other and hooked on four wood posts) house and her starving kids, and mops and dusts again huge, tiled, cream, clean houses that have been empty since she cleaned them last week.  

That five minutes in her dirt yard changed my perspective on everything. Lily, hopping off the couch with her bag of fruit snacks to get the key from Roselore when she's done. Roselore scrubbing toilets that have water in them...water that no one labored from the pump. Roselore, cleaning houses that are infinitely nicer, safer and cleaner than her own, and leaving them empty to go home to her shack in the dirt, wondering what to feed the four mouths she is alone responsible for.  

My mind flies back to eight weeks ago. The empty house next door had a tiny little bird stuck in it. Just a pretty itty bitty thing, Uncle Don had been unable to get the bird out. When Roselore brought me the key, she had a bag of ice in one hand and to my surprise she had that little bird tucked in her other hand, its eyes wild with fear. 

"Oh, look!" I said, kind of confused. "You caught the little bird! He's a pretty little thing."

I wanted to ask her what she was doing with it. Didn't know how. 

"I'm taking it for my kids" she said, and I thought, "that's weird. Like, to play with, or...? 

Nope. She took that tiny little bird home to feed her children.  

Her four are four of 100 in Saccanville. Saccanville is one of 5,000 in Haiti. Haiti is one of 10,000 in the world.  

Our Father, who promises He sees every bird that falls, is intimately aware and involved in ALL of this.  NO thanks.  

I can barely stand the brokenness intermingled with my daily life.” 

May the Lord bless you and keep you this week.

jdmhaiti.blogspot.com

THE SLOW BOAT TO HAITI - NOT CHINA

It took us two weeks but we finally arrived in Haiti on February 16^th.  We took the two weeks so we could acclimatize ourselves to the Haitian heat and humidity, at least that is what we are telling ourselves and those who ask.

Myrtle Beach

Took a very brief walking tour
of Charleston on way to
Hilton Head Island

We started our journey by stopping off in Myrtle Beach for five days, the first two of which were in the high seventies after which it felt more like the weather we had left back home.  The next two days we spent with John’s brother and sister-in-law on Hilton Head Island, went for a bike ride through the Sea Pines Plantation section of the island, but didn’t golf because it too wasn’t the best weather for golfing although some people were out there in windbreakers and sweaters. (And we didn’t take our clubs.) We then spent five days in Orlando, just down the road from Disneyworld and got ourselves organized for the last leg of our trip by buying the few things we still needed, the last leg being to drop off with Missionary Flights International in Fort Pierce our 7 plastic totes plus suitcases, carry-ons, computer, etc. for a total of 410 lbs. additional to the 100 lbs. that we are allowed.

On our arrival in Cap Haitien it had been our understanding that someone from the Emmaus Biblical Seminary would be there to pick us up.  When no one came, John quickly made a phone call and arranged for another young Haitian man who works for the Vaudreuil OMS compound to take us to the seminary.  He was there picking up mail and cargo. John rode in the back of the stake truck, along with totes and cargo, to the OMS compound and then a very, very bumpy ride to the EBS campus.  He still has the bruises on his arms to prove the bumps. There is nothing like being flexible.

This time we got a bit of a kiss from the Customs & Duty people in Cap Haitien when they only charged us $80 USD for the cargo we were bringing in.  Based on previous experiences John thought that it would cost us at least twice that amount.

This past week has been a busy one as we wake up, get up, clean up, launder up and fall back into bed most nights by about 8 PM.  We have got the main guest house (Penny Inn) almost ready and have now to start cleaning up the smaller guest house because we will have as many as eight or nine people at one time on various occasions over the next several weeks.  It’s going to be fun.

Waiting to be unpacked

Our first guest arrives this Saturday, our second, Caroline Laing, next Tuesday then another 4 on Friday, and another on Saturday.  The plan is for Caroline to split her time between helping us and spending time with the students at the seminary leading chapel, teaching a French tutorial, and hosting a workshop on prayer.  (When we wrote this piece for our church bulletin and to b on Feb 26th there is an update on Caroline.  She has been unable to come and needs to be lifted up in prayer.)  We, ourselves, are going to get our feet wet in the classroom teaching two English tutorials this Friday to help out Stacey Ayars who is going to be busy attending other meetings.  We will have to let you know how we make out. 

The weather has been gorgeous, the days not too hot and the nights cool enough to have you wanting to find another blanket to throw over you.  We have seen Pastor Vilmer from Heavenly Brightness church who tells us that everything is going great at his church and school.  The church/school had received $6,000 from Dorothy’s brother’s church in Sarnia to help with the ongoing construction of a second floor on the sanctuary to house the school.  They now have a block wall ready for the roof trusses when they have found enough money for the next phase of the construction.   We also spoke with Pastor Bruno from Faith church and likewise he indicated that everything was going well at his church and school.  And, we also had a meeting with the accountant, Evens Gabriel, who looks after the financial side of the St. Andrew’s Haiti mission, and we discussed how the money that was donated for food through the Christmas Gift Program would be shared among the schools.  It was decided that two schools, New Life at Grison Garde and Heavenly Brightness at Madeline, would be the recipients this year. 

As well, this week we had time to attend a prayer and devotion meeting on Wednesday late afternoon and had an opportunity to renew our friendships with a number of the other missionaries.

In our personal time, among other devotionals, we have been reading a Max Lucado book, And The Angels Were Silent.  At the end of today’s reading, “Of Calluses and Compassion,” Max talked about Holman Hunt’s painting of Jesus.  We know you have seen it.  It’s the pic of the stone archway with ivy-covered bricks and Jesus standing before a heavy wooden door.  Max pointed out something about the picture that most people don’t notice.  Do YOU know what it is?  No, there is not a donkey peaking around the archway.  There is no doorknob on the door.  It could only be opened from the inside.  The simple message – God comes to your house, steps up to the door, and knocks but it is up to you to let him in.

Blessing to all.

www.jdmhaiti.blogspot.com