Holy Surrendered

I have been having quite the "problem" lately. Depending on how you look at it, it may or may not be a problem. The problem is this- every time God teaches me a truth from the Bible, I am forced to come to grips with that truth in my life. In other words, what I'm learning from the Bible is all very real in my life.


Take for instance last Friday: I don't have class on Fridays so I was just planning on relaxing. I had had a rough week. My first week teaching all 80 kids. Thankfully on Tuesday I had help from four ladies on a team that was here. But on Thursday I was by myself and one class I had was extremely challenging. (What am I supposed to do with 20 unruly children who won't listen to me?) Also, we didn't have much power that week. The food in the fridge was getting warm and a few times we didn't have hot water for showers. Those amenities we do not have when there is no power. Anyways, I woke up and slowly got ready. Around 9:30 I did devotions. I was thinking a lot about what complete surrender to Jesus looks like. I spent a lot of time after I did my devotions just thinking about that. 


I had a Skype date with my friend at 11:00am, so at 10:50 I closed my journal and decided to take a quick shower. I turned on the shower and there was no water pressure. My toilet was not flushing again at that point, so I figured there just wasn't any water pressure. I thought, I'll just take a bucket bath! No big deal. I had taken bucket baths everyday in Jacmel with cold water. At least I had hot water! I filled up my bucket, found a cup to use and poured a full cup of water over my head. I looked down into the bucket and lo and behold there were black chunks near the bottom of the bucket. I brought my face closer to the bucket and peered down inside to get a closer look. Greenish black flakes were floating around in my bucket. Not cool. I poured the water out and tried again, filling the bucket back up. Problem not solved...there were even more black chunks in the water. By this time I was all wet, with those chunks in my hair, and really wanted my shower. I had the brilliant idea to use the shower head again, despite what little water was coming out.  I have a screen over the inside of the shower head; at least that way there hopefully wouldn't be black flakes in my water this way. I somehow managed to get the shampoo and black flakes rinsed out of my hair with a trickle of water. It was so disgusting. Needless to say, I was only a half hour late for my Skype date. 

On any other day I probably would not have been bothered by this. However, with the way my week went, I didn't have the patience to deal with anything else. I was mad at first. Then I thought, "Ok, God...you really got me this time. Real funny! Complete surrender, hunhh? Even from the comforts of a nice shower? Ok, fine- you win. Thanks for that lesson." When I was telling the story to my friend, I just laughed. Because in reality, I don't have it that bad. A lot of my missionary friends don't have a hot water heater. And most Haitians take bucket baths. At least I have a shower with warm water!

At the cross you beckon me

You draw me gently to my knees

And I am lost for words

   so lost in love

I am sweetly broken

Holy Surrendered

~Jeremy Riddle Sweetly Broken

Wednesdays!

Wednesdays are my favorite days! I have the mornings off, to prepare for my classes. At noon I teach one class of creative first graders. Then right after that class gets done, I babysit three kids all afternoon! 

Levi and I

Last week we had lunch with the animals- we ate toy food!

All the animals were in attendance and they all had a place to sit.

The babies of course joined us too (when they weren't sleeping ;) 

Today we had a tea party/birthday party with the animals. This time we made the food out of play dough! Maia enjoyed eating the food too.

The animals and people on the way to the party. 

Pear and cookie...mmmmm. 

Chloe getting the food set up. 

Levi watched while he ate his lunch (he got to eat real food).

The poor you will always have with you... Mark 14:7

When I arrived in Port-au-Prince, in November, I arrived in a third world country for the first time. I was in awe of everything I saw. However, I was too busy adjusting to daily life here that I did not work through the poverty issue. And the longer I'm here, the more I see and the more confused I get. I don't know how to process everything and therefore I chose not to think about. I see the people living in poverty all around me and I am more aware of how I spend my money. But there are other things I see which I chose not to let affect me.


Today I was again reminded of the poverty in this country. I was in charge of a few ladies from the team that is here for the week and they helped me out in the schools, teaching art. We taught art at one school and then walked to the other school. This was my first time at the school; there are about 44 kids in attendance and two teachers for all of them. Now, in our American schools this is not really a problem because most of the kids are very well behaved. But at this school, for the orphan children, the kids are crazy! They act like, well, kids! This is to be expected...but when there is only two teachers helping with all of them it is a little hard for these two men to control them. 


I was sitting in one of the classrooms, with the other ladies, taking it all in. I wasn't sure what to expect at this school, so I didn't make any assumptions. Some of the kids were peering into the room, looking at us. The rest of them were outside and inside, running around playing. I looked over at one of the ladies from the team who was sitting next to me. She had tears in her eyes. I knew they weren't happy tears. Earlier in the day we had been told about how poor some of the people are in this country. When she saw all these orphan kids she began to cry, thinking about the situation they are in. I immediately began thinking, great...is there something wrong with me? Why have I not cried yet? Shouldn't I be more affected by this? I didn't really know what to say to her to comfort her. So I didn't say much of anything.


I will eventually have to work through the poverty issue. I cannot keep distancing myself from what I see. God and I will have a great discussion when the right time comes. For now I will continue to take it all in.


Some friends of ours that arrived in Haiti a few months before I did have been struggling with this issue too. They had a great blog post about it- click here to read it. The first picture on their post is a crippled lady who lays on the route between the house and the schools. I see her most days and today we saw here again. She was sitting on the side of the street, covered in dust. She sits on the street all day long.

Just Another Day in Paradise

After our epic vacation, we spent a day at the beach with friends. A very nice, relaxing day-
Tasha got this star fish out of the ocean. This was my first encounter with a starfish (besides at an aquarium). It was beautiful and so intricate!

Maia and Chloe looking at the starfish.

Early on in the day I learned how to snorkel! Jenny offered to teach me so I thought, "Why not learn now?" I jumped right in the water. The equipment I used was a little faulty and with me just learning it wasn't a good mix. I struggled to get my breathing right because you can only breathe out of your mouth when snorkeling. I soon picked up the rhythm but not after getting a very large mouthful of salt water- yuck! I soon realized that the snorkel tube took on water about every 45 seconds no matter what I did. So I had to stop and empty it out every so often. The mask also took on water and then I got salt water in my eyes. 

It was worth every bit of the hassle. The ocean life is incredible- I had only ever seen the ocean life in movies and on Planet Earth.  I saw other starfish, blue and yellow fish, Dory fish (like in Finding Nemo), a long skinny cream colored fish with a pointed nose, a big fat clear fish with multicolored stripes on its side, schools and schools of yellow and white fish gleaming in the water, and a lion fish with large fins (that Jenny later told us was poisonous). There is so much life under the water, and that was only a few feet from shore. I can only imagine how beautiful the reefs must be!

After snorkeling, I swam in the pool to get the saltwater off my body. I can't stand the feel of saltwater on my skin. Later, we ate lunch right on the beach. We ordered our lunch when we arrived in the morning and it was delivered right to us. 

In the afternoon I snorkeled again, collected a few shells, and sat with Levi by the edge of the ocean as he kept himself entertained, throwing rock after rock into the water and watching it splash. I also tried some coconut juice and meat for the first time, along with sugarcane. I didn't like any of those things.

The area where I snorkeled- a few feet away from the big white wall.

Taressa and I

I came home a little bit burned, sand still on my feet, and very tired- that, my friends, is a successful day at the beach!

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty!

Today began like any other day-


I woke up, got dressed, and then went over to the house to grab a quick bite to eat for breakfast. After breakfast Taressa, Natasha, and I got into the car and Ruth drove us over to one of the schools I am now teaching at. The streets were mostly empty of people and cars and we arrived at the school right on time. 


We walked past the guard, through the black gate and into the school yard. There were children starting to gather in the school yard. They were dressed in their dark blue shirts with the school logo written in white in the upper right corner, dark blue jeans and black shoes. Even though all the schools in Haiti were closed today, along with the stores and businesses, these children came to school to take part in a prayer walk. There were a few teachers there too and about ten other Americans from a work team. The principle of the school gave some instructions to the kids then had them line up two by two. 


The principle prayed and we all filed out of the gate. He proceeded the walk, followed by the children and teachers, then the people from the work team and us. Immediately the teachers lead the children in singing and they continued singing Creole songs the whole time we walked. We walked the streets of the neighborhood, stopping occasionally for prayer and scripture reading. 


One of the first places we walked was to a nearby tent city. We walked down the narrow paths, surrounded by white, blue, and grey tents on either side then gathered in a large meeting area inside the tent community. The kids sang a few other songs. One of the girls read a Psalm and one of the teachers prayed. I looked on and listened to the children sing. Gradually children, adults, and teens from the tent city came and gathered around. A few people joined in song with the children. As we left the area and continued on, the children started up the singing again. Some of the onlookers faces displayed hopeful smiles as we passed.


At first I wasn't sure quite how to act- somber or happy? It was surreal. Many many people had lost family members and friends on this day two years ago. And the earthquake damage was still evident in the rubble that we passed. Therefore I chose to go with somber. 


Yet, each place we stopped I grew more and more hopeful. As we walked a smile broke through my somber expression. Everywhere I looked I saw people- not just people but living, breathing testimony's of God's grace! Those two little children peering out from behind the iron door. Those men shoveling white rocks on the side of the road. That old lady sitting in her white plastic chair selling fruit. These people had been through such a tragedy two years ago. Since, they have been striving to put their city back together. Yes, some of them may live in tents. Yes, some of them are still scared of another quake. Yes, Port-au-Prince is not as beautiful as it once was...


But no, its people are not defeated. These are God's people, chosen for such a time as this. The whole time we were walking, the lyrics "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty" kept repeating in my head. I was suddenly aware of the fact that these people need Jesus in order to be fully liberated from their sorrows and fears. I also realized, about halfway through the walk, that the lyrics to the Creole song the children were repeatedly singing was, "Bezwen Jezi kounye a." It translates, "We need Jesus now." They sang this over and over and over again as we walked the dusty streets. How fitting! Eventually I caught on to at least that much of the song and sang it with them.  


At the last place we stopped, we stood in a large circle. The children sang some more; the last song was "Here I Am to Worship." After the kids sang it through once in Creole we sang it all together in English. Another girl read a Psalm and one of the other teachers prayed. Nearing the end of this stop, the principle spoke a few words. I didn't hear everything he said, but what I did hear made me smile. He reminded the kids that although today is a sad day of remembering those who died, it is also a day to be proud- proud of the life they have been given. Proud to live another year of the life God has blessed them with!


I decided that walking with a smile on my face was quite alright :)


2 Corinthians 3: 16-18 "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

It's that time again....

...senior picture time! I graciously accepted the opportunity to take Taressa's senior pictures. I enjoy taking pictures (although I'm not near as good at taking photos as Taressa is ;) These are a few of my favorites:

You know you're on vacation in Haiti when...

...you drive 5-15mph through the mountains, weaving back and forth from one side of the road clear to the other, to avoid the worst of the holes. Still, you drive over a fair amount of large pot-holes.

...you are climbing up through the mountains and you see lots of buses and large trucks at the top of a distant hill. You come to the top of this hill and lo and behold there is a bus traffic jam. The colorful green and blue buses are blocking the way because some of them are broken down. In order to pass and continue on you have to squeeze through the mass of buses.

There is a space just wide enough for your vehicle to pass through- except, oh wait, it's actually not! As the Haitian guy directing you forward beckons you to continue you hear a loud scraping noise. Your vehicle is most defiantly scratched now- bad news. Good news- you made it through the road block (if not for the little opening you could have waited hours or even until the next morning for the bus to be fixed and out of your way). Thank you LORD!

...while in the car you look out the window and see people washing their clothes in the streams of water flowing down the side of the mountain. Every so often you turn your gaze away because some of them are not wearing any clothes. You see colorful shirts, pants, and bedding lying on the side of the road to dry. Some of the clean clothes are drying in the open dirt areas.

...later on you see a soccer goal made out of bamboo poles and a fishing net. How creative!

...when you are almost to the guest house where you will be staying, you stop at a gas station for a bathroom break. On your way out of the gas station you stop and talk to a U.N. officer- a lady U.N. officer with pigtails! Anyways, she offers to lead your caravan of cars to the guest house, via the short cut! Thank you nice lady!

...you pull up to the side of the road, it's dark outside. You get out of the car and smell the ocean. You look over the edge of the sidewalk and sure enough, there is the ocean, waves splashing up. You walk across the street to an outdoor restaurant and while you are eating you hear a loud thud. Whad'ya know- coconuts are falling from the trees.

When you leave the restaurant you hop into the back of the pick-up truck with a few friends. On the drive back to the guest house you watch the stars and talk about life in a foreign country. A little motorcycle pulls up next to you with not one, not two, not three, but four people on it! The Haitians smile huge smiles when they see blans (white people) in the back of a truck. You smile back and say "Bonswa!" They get even bigger smiles on their faces when they realize you speak their language :)

...you climb to the top of a mountain, then get a guided tour of a giant military fortress. You think the tour is awesome because you see old cannons and tons of cannonballs from thousands of years earlier. And you can touch everything! But then the tour gets even better as you climb higher and higher to the top of the fortress. The building seems to go on and on. You climb stairs higher still until you get to the top of the big stone fortress. Now you feel like you're on the top of the world- so what do you do? Naturally you get as close to the edge as possible to look over.

You look down, down, down (130ft down to be exact) and then back up and out over the beautiful green mountains. You sit in awe and wonder, taking it all in. And you don't want to miss this opportunity to sing praises to the Creator of it all. So you sing "Awesome God" and "Mighty to Save" as you gaze out over the mountains!

The NEVER ENDING fireworks...

...also known as New Year's.

Around here, New Year's Day is a big holiday because it is also the celebration of Haiti's independence. People set off fireworks, lots and lots of fireworks. The big fireworks began, oh, about two weeks ago. And the cute little neighbor boys have tons of those little fireworks that pop. The popping is not a huge deal but because of all the concrete walls surrounding our houses, the sound echoes off of the walls and is really really loud. When we are not expecting it, we all jump a mile each time they let one off. They let them off at random times during the day. Sometime it's in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon and sometimes when it's dark out. They find these fireworks very very fascinating and entertaining. We, on the other hand, find them very loud and disrupting. But what can you do? Boys love to play with fire. So we have been listening to the popping for a few weeks now and we will continue to listen to it until they run out of fireworks. The neighbor boy's dad said that he didn't realize he had bought so many. He won't do that again!

Some folks set off the big colorful fireworks. I didn't actually see any of these this year but I heard them. Those are usually set off when it's dark outside. On New Year's Eve these fireworks started going off around 6pm when we were having dinner. They continued all night. I went asleep around 11pm to the sound of them (yes, I know- I didn't even stay up until midnight, but such is life). At midnight I woke up because lots of people had set off fireworks to ring in the New Year. I heard many many loud bangs along with the sound of people cheering. I thought "Hmm, it must be midnight... Happy New Year to Me!" Then I rolled over and fell back to sleep. I woke up the next morning at 6:30am. What do you think I heard as I opened my eyes to embrace the first day of the New Year? You probably guessed it- FIREWORKS! They continued throughout the day today too. Will they ever end?

*Now is a great time to introduce you to our vicious guard dog Max. Max is very big, brown and mean. He stays in the back of the house most of the day, behind the gates on each side of the house. My apartment entrance is right by one of those gates, so whenever Max hears me open my metal door he comes running over and barks at me. It used to scare me but not so much anymore cause I'm used to it. At night Max is let out from behind the house and he peruses the grounds. He will attack anyone that is not part of the immediate family. Or so I've been told. He was alert and ready to attack me from behind the gate during the first month or so after I arrived. Now we think he is warming up to me (or so I hope).

But, our ferocious guard dog is scared of fireworks! Cries like a baby and scratches on the door, wanting to be let in, each time there is a loud bang. We all have our fears- we won't hold it against him ;)

Good Friends and Food

Christmas morning we ate home-made cinnamon rolls for breakfast! I wanted to make something for us for breakfast so I found some recipes. Both of the recipes called for the tube of crescent rolls. Well, when we went shopping Saturday afternoon at the little corner grocery store they did not have crescent rolls (much to my dismay). This wasn't all bad though because instead Ruth and Natasha taught me how to make cinnamon rolls from scratch!! I had never made bread from scratch so I learned something new. After the bread dough was made Tasha showed me how to make it into cinnamon rolls. Saturday afternoon Natasha, Malieke and I also made chocolate covered brownie bites with M&Ms on top. Mmm mmm good!

After church we had some people over- 6 families and Jenny! 31 people total...which meant we had a lot to get ready. Everyone pitched in to help. Taressa and I made apple crisp while Howard carved the turkey. Natasha helped make the punch and Ruth made sure everything else got done. It was a success!

It was kind of like Thanksgiving (we didn't have a Thanksgiving this year because we were in the D.R.) We ate turkey for Christmas dinner, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and some salads.

The table set for dinner! So pretty!

Jenny, Joy and I

After dinner we sang some songs. We sang the 12 Days of Christmas- our own Haiti version. Ruth split us up into groups and we had to chose something new for each number. Then we wrote what we chose on a piece of paper and went around the circle singing the song. It was a lot of fun!

Later on in the night a few people stayed and we played Catch-a-Phrase for a few hours! It was a memorable Christmas.