"Tet ansanm, chay pa lou" is a famous Haitian proverb which is very valuable to insert into Haitian conversation. They are short phrases that really pack a punch! This particular one is one of my favorites. Literally it says," Heads together, load not heavy". Many heads or hands together make the load light.
This week as we prepare for exams it is a perfect example of this put into practice. A few years ago when we started our first school at Carries I ended up typing all the exams in French and Creole, by myself. I didn't get much sleep, my family didn't see me for days, and I think I would have lost my husband if I ever tried to do it that way again. I guess I just want to share with you one of the quirky ways I calculate progress. This year we have a new director at our school, brother Petit Homme. He is an amazing asset to the team here. He is a Haitian, Christian man with morals which is next to impossible to find. He is from our church in Port-au-Prince, at LaSaline. He is solid, intelligent, organized, a good leader and guess what? He TYPES WELL! Yippee!
Okay, we also have Crash and Shaina, who also TYPE WELL!!! Even though they have to type in French and Creole without understanding, they are a big help. When they finish typing, Petit Homme and I edit. I don't think I can justly describe to you even half of what this means to me.
It is such a relief it is not even funny. For example, we told the teachers to have the tests prepared by a certain date and they did it. Now that, is progress. We had them almost two weeks in advance which meant we didn't have to kill ourselves to get it done. Again, that's progress. Having people other than myself to share the load with, now that, is progress.
Josiah has been teething and everything that goes with it. He's grouchy. Sometimes he has a fever. Sometimes he just wants his mommy. He wants to crawl everywhere and is trying to walk so he keeps us hopping. The past few days, Kelsey has had a fever. That takes all of a mom's time and energy day and night. I didn't get much sleep trying to give her medicine and cool her off with alcohol and cool rags. Yesterday we had to take her to the hospital to have tests rund to see what kind of fever. It came back negative for malaria and typhoid and we were thankful. However we spent the whole day at the hospital from 6:30 am to 11:30 am. The main thing was I did not have to panic or call off exams because I couldn't get them typed, because I knew I had a faithful crew working that would get the job done. Now that, is progress.
Tonight as we are putting the final touches on things, finishing grade cards to print and doing the final editing on the tests so they can be printed, I find myself humbled and very thankful for the help the Lord has sent our way. Now that, my friends, is progress. Thanks for Petit Homme, Crash and Shaina and the progress they are helping us make with our mission for His glory. Thanks gang.
Dee
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
It's been pretty crazy here in the wild, wild,West Indies! Internet service has been pretty sporadic lately. We just had guests for about two weeks. Our special guest and star of the show was none other than our special little Lonia.
She is two and a half now and very sharp. She sings the ABC song, Kumby ya my Lord, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Loves Me. Pretty amazing for a little girl that has been through so much.
She is doing well and is staying with Charlie and Teresa Bowen. They want to adopt Lonia. Please pray for them as they begin this process. This trip was just to get Lonia's paperwork renewed so that she could return with Charlie and Teresa for another six months. We were very thankful and relieved to get this paperwork so that Lonia could return to the states with them.
It was amazing how well Lonia remembered all of us. Her favorite line was, "Mdme Kiki, hold me." If the truth be known it was my favorite line too. It was amazing to see her so healthy and happy. Every time I see her I am bombarded with memories of our time together. Most of all, I am overwhelmed with emotion to know that God put us there at the exact moment in her life to orchestrate the miracle that saved her life. It is very humbling to have played such a special role in something so sacred. I thank God for the way Blessing Hearts International was able to bless this little girls life. We pray that she will live to continue blessing the lives of many for years to come, for His glory.
In His Service,
Dee
She is two and a half now and very sharp. She sings the ABC song, Kumby ya my Lord, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Loves Me. Pretty amazing for a little girl that has been through so much.
She is doing well and is staying with Charlie and Teresa Bowen. They want to adopt Lonia. Please pray for them as they begin this process. This trip was just to get Lonia's paperwork renewed so that she could return with Charlie and Teresa for another six months. We were very thankful and relieved to get this paperwork so that Lonia could return to the states with them.
It was amazing how well Lonia remembered all of us. Her favorite line was, "Mdme Kiki, hold me." If the truth be known it was my favorite line too. It was amazing to see her so healthy and happy. Every time I see her I am bombarded with memories of our time together. Most of all, I am overwhelmed with emotion to know that God put us there at the exact moment in her life to orchestrate the miracle that saved her life. It is very humbling to have played such a special role in something so sacred. I thank God for the way Blessing Hearts International was able to bless this little girls life. We pray that she will live to continue blessing the lives of many for years to come, for His glory.
In His Service,
Dee
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Where else in the world can you live with a grocery store under your bed, a bank under your table, an office behind your door, a movie theater on a card board box in front of your bed??? Haiti, gotta love it! Crash and Shaina were laughing about the grocery store under their bed because we came and took all the groceries out of boxes and put them in suitcases under their bed. There are three "aisles" if you will and it depends on what day it is who the grocer is. We also moved the safe into their room and put it under their table thus the bank under the table. We moved the filing cabinet from the office here and put it behind their door. They have discovered that some of the grocery boxes make a great movie table to put their computer on and watch a movie when I quit slave driving them enough.
They are excellent help and a great asset to the team here in Haiti. I have to remind myself that they are here to help and then remember to ask for it. Crash has done an excellent job preparing many helpful documents for school registration and so many other things. She has already had to type several things that the State is asking for. Recently she was preparing a list of those going to "Certificat", the official state test for all sixth graders. We have 15 students that will be taking this test in June 2010. They will be doing a lot of extra studying and preparation in order to pass this. It's a big deal!
Shaina has been doing an excellent job of teaching Ashley and Kelsey. She is a God send and a huge answer to prayer. We are so thankful for her and her dedication to the task. The girls are really enjoying Shaina and school. She is very creative and they do fun crafts and experiments which they love.
For instance, the other morning I had boiled eggs for breakfast. Ashley screamed and ran after Shaina. They came back with a glass juice bottle that was empty and Kelsey close on their heels. They were jabbering excitedly and looking for things to do their experiment. Shaina had a box of matches. They lit one and threw it in the bottle but it went out before hitting the bottom. After several vain attempts of this and sticking the egg over the top they were bewildered that it wasn't working. I looked and saw a piece of paper. I said, "Let's try using this so it will keep burning." We lit it, threw it in the jar, stuck the egg over the end and the heat sucked that egg into the bottle so fast it wasn't even funny and it made a huge noise to that scared Josiah to death. It sounded like a gun shot and it was over that quickly. Now the egg was inside the bottle and the amazing science experiment of the day was over and my childeren were elated. It was priceless!
Thank you for praying for us to work together as a team. We appreciate your continued prayers and support of our ministry.
dee
They are excellent help and a great asset to the team here in Haiti. I have to remind myself that they are here to help and then remember to ask for it. Crash has done an excellent job preparing many helpful documents for school registration and so many other things. She has already had to type several things that the State is asking for. Recently she was preparing a list of those going to "Certificat", the official state test for all sixth graders. We have 15 students that will be taking this test in June 2010. They will be doing a lot of extra studying and preparation in order to pass this. It's a big deal!
Shaina has been doing an excellent job of teaching Ashley and Kelsey. She is a God send and a huge answer to prayer. We are so thankful for her and her dedication to the task. The girls are really enjoying Shaina and school. She is very creative and they do fun crafts and experiments which they love.
For instance, the other morning I had boiled eggs for breakfast. Ashley screamed and ran after Shaina. They came back with a glass juice bottle that was empty and Kelsey close on their heels. They were jabbering excitedly and looking for things to do their experiment. Shaina had a box of matches. They lit one and threw it in the bottle but it went out before hitting the bottom. After several vain attempts of this and sticking the egg over the top they were bewildered that it wasn't working. I looked and saw a piece of paper. I said, "Let's try using this so it will keep burning." We lit it, threw it in the jar, stuck the egg over the end and the heat sucked that egg into the bottle so fast it wasn't even funny and it made a huge noise to that scared Josiah to death. It sounded like a gun shot and it was over that quickly. Now the egg was inside the bottle and the amazing science experiment of the day was over and my childeren were elated. It was priceless!
Thank you for praying for us to work together as a team. We appreciate your continued prayers and support of our ministry.
dee
Monday, November 2, 2009
Rome wasn't built in a day.....
Rome wasn't built in a day....never really truly understood that until passing a few years in Haiti. We started from scratch in town and built everything we needed from the ground up. We needed dorms, we built them. We needed outhouses/restroom/bathing facilities, we built them. Many times it was a very unpleasant procedure for three reasons. One, everything had to be dug by hand which meant anywhere from one to twenty men digging at a time. Two, this meant a hefty payroll that couldn't be avoided. Three, it took so long to dig it by hand it was ridiculous. We knew for sure they were making us pay more money by taking their sweet time to do the job so that they could make more money and there was nothing we could do about it. And finally, the conditions were so nasty while they were digging because it was on top of the garbage dump and there were dirty needles and many other things that would appear. It also would leave the nastiest looking and smelling water that I thought sure we would all die from some airborne sickness from it.
Coming to Carries we had to start everything from scratch all over again. Anything we needed we had to build it and are still building it. We have accomplished a lot in six years, building a home for Bioude and her girls. Building a clinic. Building a church/school which has never been totally completed. We have several foundations dug and laid in place. The problem is that it usually takes so much time, money and man power to physically dig the foundation through very rocky ground with pick and shovel, that we have spent a months income on just paying their salaries to keep digging and then put the foundation in place with rock and concrete before the rains can have a chance to ruin all the hard labor. We have been praying a long time for a back hoe loader because there is so much need for it. It's not just digging foundations but also removing garbage at all of our properties is very important. Recently we had sewage problems at the guest house. The guys spent a good 2 weeks just digging down to the sewage pipes and the septic tank. If we had had the bobcat with the backhoe attachment at that time, we could have dug it all in a day, bought the neccessary pipes and replaced them the next day and we would have had time to cover it all back up. It would have taken a total of three days to complete. As it is, the guys dug for 2 weeks, the plumber took a couple days to get the parts, a day to repair it. The guys have started throwing the dirt back in by hand at their leisure so it has been almost a month, my sewage problem is fixed and we still have an ugly yard with mounds of dirt piled everywhere. Please consider helping us with this project. Our construction is at a standstill because we don't have that kind of money to pay these guys, months at a time for digging the foundations of all the things that we still need to build. We need a larger school as the 2oo children we have have already out grown our facilities. We need to build a cafeteria where we can feed our students at least one warm meal a day. We need a decent office for all of our administration for the mission. We need employee housing so that we can hire good people from town and they can bring their families with them so that they can concentrate on our work. We need to dig fish ponds so that we can start raising our own fish to help feed all of our own people and the school children. If we continue doing all this with manual labor and picks and shovels we will be working until Jesus returns and never make any more progress. Please. the time is now. Won't you please consider our project and how you might be able to help us obtain this equipment? We are desparately in need of its services. Many things will be accomplished with it to help further God's kindom. Having the trailer will enable us to travel even to the remote areas where we have church/school buildings which need to be constructed as soon as possible. This project is an excellent investment for our ministry. Please prayerfully consider how you can help. There are more details below on this project. Thank you in advance.
In addition to your regular giving, we wanted to alert you to a unique opportunity to purchase Bobcat and Backhoe equipment for Dorce' Ministries and Berea Christian Schools. Through some incredible contacts and generosity of supporters in the St. Louis area, a Bobcat with Backhoe attachment and the trailer needed to transport the equipment is available at significantly reduced prices.This construction equipment would mean immeasurable improvements to what Dorce' Ministries can do for the mission and surrounding villages. What takes weeks or even months and dozens of laborers to accomplish by hand could literally be done in one day with this equipment.If you feel led to contribute to this cause and/or if you have a cell groupor SS class or other contacts who might be interested, please let us know.As you might imagine, the dealers can only hold this equipment for a limited time, so the need is immediate.
I will hold all the checks and donations until we see what equipment we are able to purchase and ship to Haiti. Here are the equipment details and address information: Backhoe: $5500; Bobcat: $12,000-15,000; Trailer: $2500-$4500. We are working on transportation costs, hoping to get much of it donated.
Send donations/address checks to : Blessing Hearts International
memo: Dorce' (backhoe project)
Chris Brennemann
5923 CR 324
Palmyra, MO 62361
Thank you for your continued support of and prayers for Dorce' Ministries.
Coming to Carries we had to start everything from scratch all over again. Anything we needed we had to build it and are still building it. We have accomplished a lot in six years, building a home for Bioude and her girls. Building a clinic. Building a church/school which has never been totally completed. We have several foundations dug and laid in place. The problem is that it usually takes so much time, money and man power to physically dig the foundation through very rocky ground with pick and shovel, that we have spent a months income on just paying their salaries to keep digging and then put the foundation in place with rock and concrete before the rains can have a chance to ruin all the hard labor. We have been praying a long time for a back hoe loader because there is so much need for it. It's not just digging foundations but also removing garbage at all of our properties is very important. Recently we had sewage problems at the guest house. The guys spent a good 2 weeks just digging down to the sewage pipes and the septic tank. If we had had the bobcat with the backhoe attachment at that time, we could have dug it all in a day, bought the neccessary pipes and replaced them the next day and we would have had time to cover it all back up. It would have taken a total of three days to complete. As it is, the guys dug for 2 weeks, the plumber took a couple days to get the parts, a day to repair it. The guys have started throwing the dirt back in by hand at their leisure so it has been almost a month, my sewage problem is fixed and we still have an ugly yard with mounds of dirt piled everywhere. Please consider helping us with this project. Our construction is at a standstill because we don't have that kind of money to pay these guys, months at a time for digging the foundations of all the things that we still need to build. We need a larger school as the 2oo children we have have already out grown our facilities. We need to build a cafeteria where we can feed our students at least one warm meal a day. We need a decent office for all of our administration for the mission. We need employee housing so that we can hire good people from town and they can bring their families with them so that they can concentrate on our work. We need to dig fish ponds so that we can start raising our own fish to help feed all of our own people and the school children. If we continue doing all this with manual labor and picks and shovels we will be working until Jesus returns and never make any more progress. Please. the time is now. Won't you please consider our project and how you might be able to help us obtain this equipment? We are desparately in need of its services. Many things will be accomplished with it to help further God's kindom. Having the trailer will enable us to travel even to the remote areas where we have church/school buildings which need to be constructed as soon as possible. This project is an excellent investment for our ministry. Please prayerfully consider how you can help. There are more details below on this project. Thank you in advance.
In addition to your regular giving, we wanted to alert you to a unique opportunity to purchase Bobcat and Backhoe equipment for Dorce' Ministries and Berea Christian Schools. Through some incredible contacts and generosity of supporters in the St. Louis area, a Bobcat with Backhoe attachment and the trailer needed to transport the equipment is available at significantly reduced prices.This construction equipment would mean immeasurable improvements to what Dorce' Ministries can do for the mission and surrounding villages. What takes weeks or even months and dozens of laborers to accomplish by hand could literally be done in one day with this equipment.If you feel led to contribute to this cause and/or if you have a cell groupor SS class or other contacts who might be interested, please let us know.As you might imagine, the dealers can only hold this equipment for a limited time, so the need is immediate.
I will hold all the checks and donations until we see what equipment we are able to purchase and ship to Haiti. Here are the equipment details and address information: Backhoe: $5500; Bobcat: $12,000-15,000; Trailer: $2500-$4500. We are working on transportation costs, hoping to get much of it donated.
Send donations/address checks to : Blessing Hearts International
memo: Dorce' (backhoe project)
Chris Brennemann
5923 CR 324
Palmyra, MO 62361
Thank you for your continued support of and prayers for Dorce' Ministries.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
You've Got to be Kidding!
You would think that after sixteen years in Haiti...MdmeKiki would know better. Grant it I did turn the big 40 this summer and I think my "friends" were telling me to beware that this would alter my state of mind. I didn't quite catch it though.
So when Pastor Jilmis kept begging us to make a trip to visit his church up in the mountains we finally said yes. Denne Duncan was coming from HLG to do some filming for a class project and new promotional material for Blessing Hearts International and Dorce Ministries. We thought this would be great to be able to capture how our ministry not only involves the community here at Carries but also how it reaches some untouched and forgotten areas of Haiti.
We were up and raring to go at 4:00 am on Monday morning after our amazing Sunday sharing with many who had come to visit from several of those mountain churches similar to the one we were to visit. We pushed it to leave the compound before 5:00 am. We drove on toward PAP stopping for a little typical Haitian breakfreast. We bought 5 pates which is a flour dough with cooked chicken and haitain pickles made with cabbage, onions, lime juice, maggi (chicken boullion), and hot peppers, all this inside and fried in some heavy oil. A great nutritious way to start your day, especially if you are 40 so the only way to top it off of course is with a Coke and a smile and so I did. In my great 40 year old/Haitian intuition/wisdom I also insisted they buy some bread and avacados. Yoka, bless her heart, was up way early trying to cook some rice to send with us which Marc, Elves and Pasteur Jilmis gladly polished off before our arrival to prepare for our next departure.
Now grant it, in Haiti, it's always a given to pack some food and carry extra water because you never know where you may end up or what might happen! Thankfully Denne, Crash, Shaina and I had stuck in some tortilla chips, M&M's and beef jerky that Denne had brought. Little did we know that these would be our rations for the day. Thank goodness I had a whole bag full of little individual bags of water, there's probably about 65 in a bag, that I had left over from our event at church.
Let's just clarify that I was told in advance that they would be bringing mules for us to ride because of the distance. Must have been that 40 thing again causing me not to pursue the actual, how far are we going and how long is it going to take thing!!!!! It's probably just my natural Haitian response to the fact that I would be told that it's not to far and I didn't figure it was a big deal. Judging from the little pot bellied preacher whom I've never actually seen do physical labor, you would have made the same honest mistake as I, that there's no way it could be very far. I did however tell those accompanying me that we would be riding mules.
We turn off at Tityen onto this wonderful, very wide new road that President Preval has built. We enjoyed the good road and the gorgeous scenery as we quickly climbed the mountain and the beautiful ocean faded away into the hills and valleys below. Finally we arrived at a make-shift open market about 7am. This is where we saw the last of our faithful old dump truck as they put her away in a safe place until our return.
Decked out in shorts covered with a flowered skirt as dresses and skirts are Haitian custom for women, even a top the perch of a mule. I had my floppy blue hat with chin string and my sunglasses. I was also wearing a lace up brace on my foot because in March I chipped the bone although not knowing how. I thought it would be a good safety measure depending on the walking we might have to do. So it was tucked snuggly down into my tennis shoe. I was ready to roll, but hopefully not clear off my mule. Everyone being so shy and all in our group, it fell my duty to be the first one to gracefully mount my poor faithful beast. Just letting you know it was nothing like mounting a horse, especially one with a saddle and stir-ups. On the back of the mule was a wooden saddle, to my dismay!!! It was triangle in shape in the front and back with two pieces of wood connecting the two triangle pieces. somehow they had a rope they kept cinching up but I'm not sure what it was keeping on. Over the top of this they non-chalantly threw a blanket. Then they walked around finding a rock high enough for me to stand on with the skirt on and my bung foot in a brace, so that I could mount my sturdy beast. My counterparts were roaring with laughter and the Haitians were having a good time with it themselves. You know me, always good for a laugh! I finally mounted less than gracefully after calling curtly to my sweet dear husband for help!
Elisten was the name of the good man who led my mule. He led me to a spot aside the market to wait for all the others to mount which you can imagine took a few good moments. In the mean time he tried to get my mule to stand still and wait but the Haitian proverb says, "Buik chaje pa kanpe!" The donkey that is loaded will not stand still. This is so true. The donkey/mule knows his job well and when he is loaded, he's ready to "get out of Dodge"! He kept prancing around and leading him in a circle as we waited. This was about 7am. The first part was nice and smooth and some of the most beautiful scenery in Haiti.
The other Haitian proverb I need you to be familiar with is this, "Gen mon deye mon!!!" This proverb says that BEHIND EVERY MOUNTAIN, THERE ARE MOOOORE MOUNTAINS!!! This was our day to truly learn the meaning of this. Mili-seconds turned into seconds, seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours as we plodded along, hour after hour after hour. Each time we would ask how much further, the response was the same,
"Nou preske rive, nou preske rive!" or We are almost there, we are almost there! I thought they were supposed to be Christians but they were out right liars!!!!
It's amazing the haze my mind was in through all of this. First, I was angry at Pasteur Jilmis for taking us on such an excursion and not preparing us for the treachery of it. Not allowing us to plan to accomodate everything better. I think this was at least into the second hour of riding on a mule with no stopping, no getting off to walk. Then I was mad at myself for not finding out where in the world we were going in the first place. It clicked for me and I finally stopped being so selfish and thinking about myself and how thirsty I was but the mule with the water was quite a ways back and how sore I was and how terrible that at 40 I would never be able to walk again!!! At least not in a proper manner! All of a sudden my focus turned to them as I began to praise God for our ministry in Haiti. Praise God for these blessed people who endure so many hardships in their lives. Their very existence is so difficult. How and where they have to get water every day to drink, wash, cook and bathe. How far they have to go to get something from the market. I saw pregnant women climbing through rocks and mud with bare feet. I saw women in their 60's and 70's walking this treacherous terrain barefoot. I saw children running across all of it barefoot like it was nothing. I was sure most of them had for sure had less than I had to eat before starting this trail. A cup of coffee and a hunk of bread at most! Wow! I began to once again appreciate what I have always loved about Haiti is the plain ablility of these people to endure hardship.
What do you have to do to get on the same page with these people spiritually? How can we reach them for Christ? It was interesting as we continued the climb of the mountain range called, "TERRIBLE MOUNTAIN" that these people had seen a lot of blan or white people before. The troubling thing was that many of them were headed to a place called Sodeaux. The white people go there to watch the ritual voodoo ceremonies in a mountain fed waterfall and stream. Watching attentively, taking photos and videos where allowed, of these people writhing in sin, wallowing in the mud, covering their body from head to toe until it is without recognition as they are one after the other, possessed by the evil spirits and they obey to the character of each lwa called upon. Djoumballa and others they call on searching for them to fill their lives with fame, glory and especially money and success for their business and family.
Someone asked, "Are they going to Sodeaux? I was never prouder in that moment of the God that I served as they replied, "No, they are missionaries coming to preach the gospel and to see how they can help us save our souls. The two ladies on the mules behind me struck up a conversation of how that was so important really taking me off guard. She said, "If you are a Christian you don't have to be scared of the Lougarou, or werewolf that supposibly eats little Haitian children. You don't have to even be afraid of death when someone promises to kill you because if you are a Christian you are safe in His protection. You don't have to worry about your loved ones dying without being sick and trying to find out who put the curse on them that killed them. These are profound truths that we are trying share on a daily basis as we live out our lives here among the Haitian people. It is so hard to get through that thick outer crust and get the truth to affect their heart of hearts. It's our task. God has put us here for it.
I feel embarassed to even mention the rest of the hardships of the trip. Okay riding a mule for four hours before you are finally let off to walk is a little much but we all lived through it. Starting the last trek of the journey just to get there and thinking there is no way we would arrive alive. Okay, so my mule got really hot by the time we got to the top of this mountain. We stopped for a moment waiting for the others to catch up. As we did, my mule proceeded to lie down with me still sitting on top of it. I did what any agile forty year old women of my stature would do, I screeched at my guide and lunged off toward him as my mule hit the ground and started to roll. Elisten said, "I guess his back was getting to hot!!!" How sweet is that that he didn't say I was getting too heavy for the donkey to carry! He took everything off the mule, let the mule roll and scratch his back. He then saddled him up again and we searched for a nice high rock where I could gracefully mount again and we continued on. None of us thought we would have the courage to mount and return. They walked quite a bit but I couldn't with my bad foot, at least not without slowing them down a lot. We were dazed as we rode out, headed for our sacred truck. The sky darkened as night set in but it also darkened with the rain that was about to cut loose. The last 45 minutes we traveled in darkness as it began to rain, okay, pour down rain. God held our hand and he led us safely through the day and all the way back through the rain and darkness. Okay He carried us, I am sure because there was no way to stand. I wonder if we really cling to our Savior the way I clung to my precious mule. Do we hold onto Jesus for dear life constantly or only when the way gets treacherous and impossible to manage? Clinging to Jesus has a whole new meaning for me.
Was it worth it this crazy trip to the outback and beyond???? I can't speak for others but the smiles of those precious children cut through my pain/soreness/stiffness like a knife through hot butter. Everything melted away as we were given chairs to sit among them as they gathered around us, young and old alike. Men, women and children, young, old and in between. They surrounded us. More people who need my Savior! Way out here in the middle of no where! The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few! Who will go? Who will answer the call? Who will leave their comfort zone and start reaching out to the lost where ever they are! Look around you people! You don't have to climb on the back of a mule and travel 9 hours to the outback, unknown parts of Haiti to find people who are lost to minister to. They are in your work place. They are in your family. They are in the grocery store. They are at Wal-Mart. Wake up people! God has given us a job to do, to seek and to save the lost. Quit feeling sorry for yourselves in your cushy little corner and start to share God's love for you with someone else.
I felt like I was going to die that day on many different occasions and I admit at times I wanted to (riding a mule for nine hours! You've got to be Kidding!!!!) But when the people we came to see and all those children entered into that church and they began to praise the Lord for all they were worth, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! There is nothing more amazing than whole hearted, soul felt worship and that is what we witnessed that day, a glimps of heaven, pure, sweet and undefiled. Makes me long for heaven! I am weary and I want to see Jesus! Keep the faith. DEE
So when Pastor Jilmis kept begging us to make a trip to visit his church up in the mountains we finally said yes. Denne Duncan was coming from HLG to do some filming for a class project and new promotional material for Blessing Hearts International and Dorce Ministries. We thought this would be great to be able to capture how our ministry not only involves the community here at Carries but also how it reaches some untouched and forgotten areas of Haiti.
We were up and raring to go at 4:00 am on Monday morning after our amazing Sunday sharing with many who had come to visit from several of those mountain churches similar to the one we were to visit. We pushed it to leave the compound before 5:00 am. We drove on toward PAP stopping for a little typical Haitian breakfreast. We bought 5 pates which is a flour dough with cooked chicken and haitain pickles made with cabbage, onions, lime juice, maggi (chicken boullion), and hot peppers, all this inside and fried in some heavy oil. A great nutritious way to start your day, especially if you are 40 so the only way to top it off of course is with a Coke and a smile and so I did. In my great 40 year old/Haitian intuition/wisdom I also insisted they buy some bread and avacados. Yoka, bless her heart, was up way early trying to cook some rice to send with us which Marc, Elves and Pasteur Jilmis gladly polished off before our arrival to prepare for our next departure.
Now grant it, in Haiti, it's always a given to pack some food and carry extra water because you never know where you may end up or what might happen! Thankfully Denne, Crash, Shaina and I had stuck in some tortilla chips, M&M's and beef jerky that Denne had brought. Little did we know that these would be our rations for the day. Thank goodness I had a whole bag full of little individual bags of water, there's probably about 65 in a bag, that I had left over from our event at church.
Let's just clarify that I was told in advance that they would be bringing mules for us to ride because of the distance. Must have been that 40 thing again causing me not to pursue the actual, how far are we going and how long is it going to take thing!!!!! It's probably just my natural Haitian response to the fact that I would be told that it's not to far and I didn't figure it was a big deal. Judging from the little pot bellied preacher whom I've never actually seen do physical labor, you would have made the same honest mistake as I, that there's no way it could be very far. I did however tell those accompanying me that we would be riding mules.
We turn off at Tityen onto this wonderful, very wide new road that President Preval has built. We enjoyed the good road and the gorgeous scenery as we quickly climbed the mountain and the beautiful ocean faded away into the hills and valleys below. Finally we arrived at a make-shift open market about 7am. This is where we saw the last of our faithful old dump truck as they put her away in a safe place until our return.
Decked out in shorts covered with a flowered skirt as dresses and skirts are Haitian custom for women, even a top the perch of a mule. I had my floppy blue hat with chin string and my sunglasses. I was also wearing a lace up brace on my foot because in March I chipped the bone although not knowing how. I thought it would be a good safety measure depending on the walking we might have to do. So it was tucked snuggly down into my tennis shoe. I was ready to roll, but hopefully not clear off my mule. Everyone being so shy and all in our group, it fell my duty to be the first one to gracefully mount my poor faithful beast. Just letting you know it was nothing like mounting a horse, especially one with a saddle and stir-ups. On the back of the mule was a wooden saddle, to my dismay!!! It was triangle in shape in the front and back with two pieces of wood connecting the two triangle pieces. somehow they had a rope they kept cinching up but I'm not sure what it was keeping on. Over the top of this they non-chalantly threw a blanket. Then they walked around finding a rock high enough for me to stand on with the skirt on and my bung foot in a brace, so that I could mount my sturdy beast. My counterparts were roaring with laughter and the Haitians were having a good time with it themselves. You know me, always good for a laugh! I finally mounted less than gracefully after calling curtly to my sweet dear husband for help!
Elisten was the name of the good man who led my mule. He led me to a spot aside the market to wait for all the others to mount which you can imagine took a few good moments. In the mean time he tried to get my mule to stand still and wait but the Haitian proverb says, "Buik chaje pa kanpe!" The donkey that is loaded will not stand still. This is so true. The donkey/mule knows his job well and when he is loaded, he's ready to "get out of Dodge"! He kept prancing around and leading him in a circle as we waited. This was about 7am. The first part was nice and smooth and some of the most beautiful scenery in Haiti.
The other Haitian proverb I need you to be familiar with is this, "Gen mon deye mon!!!" This proverb says that BEHIND EVERY MOUNTAIN, THERE ARE MOOOORE MOUNTAINS!!! This was our day to truly learn the meaning of this. Mili-seconds turned into seconds, seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours as we plodded along, hour after hour after hour. Each time we would ask how much further, the response was the same,
"Nou preske rive, nou preske rive!" or We are almost there, we are almost there! I thought they were supposed to be Christians but they were out right liars!!!!
It's amazing the haze my mind was in through all of this. First, I was angry at Pasteur Jilmis for taking us on such an excursion and not preparing us for the treachery of it. Not allowing us to plan to accomodate everything better. I think this was at least into the second hour of riding on a mule with no stopping, no getting off to walk. Then I was mad at myself for not finding out where in the world we were going in the first place. It clicked for me and I finally stopped being so selfish and thinking about myself and how thirsty I was but the mule with the water was quite a ways back and how sore I was and how terrible that at 40 I would never be able to walk again!!! At least not in a proper manner! All of a sudden my focus turned to them as I began to praise God for our ministry in Haiti. Praise God for these blessed people who endure so many hardships in their lives. Their very existence is so difficult. How and where they have to get water every day to drink, wash, cook and bathe. How far they have to go to get something from the market. I saw pregnant women climbing through rocks and mud with bare feet. I saw women in their 60's and 70's walking this treacherous terrain barefoot. I saw children running across all of it barefoot like it was nothing. I was sure most of them had for sure had less than I had to eat before starting this trail. A cup of coffee and a hunk of bread at most! Wow! I began to once again appreciate what I have always loved about Haiti is the plain ablility of these people to endure hardship.
What do you have to do to get on the same page with these people spiritually? How can we reach them for Christ? It was interesting as we continued the climb of the mountain range called, "TERRIBLE MOUNTAIN" that these people had seen a lot of blan or white people before. The troubling thing was that many of them were headed to a place called Sodeaux. The white people go there to watch the ritual voodoo ceremonies in a mountain fed waterfall and stream. Watching attentively, taking photos and videos where allowed, of these people writhing in sin, wallowing in the mud, covering their body from head to toe until it is without recognition as they are one after the other, possessed by the evil spirits and they obey to the character of each lwa called upon. Djoumballa and others they call on searching for them to fill their lives with fame, glory and especially money and success for their business and family.
Someone asked, "Are they going to Sodeaux? I was never prouder in that moment of the God that I served as they replied, "No, they are missionaries coming to preach the gospel and to see how they can help us save our souls. The two ladies on the mules behind me struck up a conversation of how that was so important really taking me off guard. She said, "If you are a Christian you don't have to be scared of the Lougarou, or werewolf that supposibly eats little Haitian children. You don't have to even be afraid of death when someone promises to kill you because if you are a Christian you are safe in His protection. You don't have to worry about your loved ones dying without being sick and trying to find out who put the curse on them that killed them. These are profound truths that we are trying share on a daily basis as we live out our lives here among the Haitian people. It is so hard to get through that thick outer crust and get the truth to affect their heart of hearts. It's our task. God has put us here for it.
I feel embarassed to even mention the rest of the hardships of the trip. Okay riding a mule for four hours before you are finally let off to walk is a little much but we all lived through it. Starting the last trek of the journey just to get there and thinking there is no way we would arrive alive. Okay, so my mule got really hot by the time we got to the top of this mountain. We stopped for a moment waiting for the others to catch up. As we did, my mule proceeded to lie down with me still sitting on top of it. I did what any agile forty year old women of my stature would do, I screeched at my guide and lunged off toward him as my mule hit the ground and started to roll. Elisten said, "I guess his back was getting to hot!!!" How sweet is that that he didn't say I was getting too heavy for the donkey to carry! He took everything off the mule, let the mule roll and scratch his back. He then saddled him up again and we searched for a nice high rock where I could gracefully mount again and we continued on. None of us thought we would have the courage to mount and return. They walked quite a bit but I couldn't with my bad foot, at least not without slowing them down a lot. We were dazed as we rode out, headed for our sacred truck. The sky darkened as night set in but it also darkened with the rain that was about to cut loose. The last 45 minutes we traveled in darkness as it began to rain, okay, pour down rain. God held our hand and he led us safely through the day and all the way back through the rain and darkness. Okay He carried us, I am sure because there was no way to stand. I wonder if we really cling to our Savior the way I clung to my precious mule. Do we hold onto Jesus for dear life constantly or only when the way gets treacherous and impossible to manage? Clinging to Jesus has a whole new meaning for me.
Was it worth it this crazy trip to the outback and beyond???? I can't speak for others but the smiles of those precious children cut through my pain/soreness/stiffness like a knife through hot butter. Everything melted away as we were given chairs to sit among them as they gathered around us, young and old alike. Men, women and children, young, old and in between. They surrounded us. More people who need my Savior! Way out here in the middle of no where! The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few! Who will go? Who will answer the call? Who will leave their comfort zone and start reaching out to the lost where ever they are! Look around you people! You don't have to climb on the back of a mule and travel 9 hours to the outback, unknown parts of Haiti to find people who are lost to minister to. They are in your work place. They are in your family. They are in the grocery store. They are at Wal-Mart. Wake up people! God has given us a job to do, to seek and to save the lost. Quit feeling sorry for yourselves in your cushy little corner and start to share God's love for you with someone else.
I felt like I was going to die that day on many different occasions and I admit at times I wanted to (riding a mule for nine hours! You've got to be Kidding!!!!) But when the people we came to see and all those children entered into that church and they began to praise the Lord for all they were worth, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! There is nothing more amazing than whole hearted, soul felt worship and that is what we witnessed that day, a glimps of heaven, pure, sweet and undefiled. Makes me long for heaven! I am weary and I want to see Jesus! Keep the faith. DEE
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
What it's all about!
If only I could explain to you what life and ministry here is all about. I am always at a loss for words to describe it. Especially being in a third world country like Haiti to begin with is a whole challenge by itself. I have had people who have been to countries all over the world tell me that they've never been to a place like Haiti. Haiti stands alone and is different in many ways. My opinion is that Haiti is like this because years ago, in celebration over victory, the people dedicated this island to the Satan in a special voodoo ceremony. It is to me the very reason that to this day it is so difficult for missionaries to work in this country. We have our work cut out for us but if you don't know this information it is difficult to ask you to pray for us, "for our struggle is not against flesh and blood enemies,but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12
We have been working here at Carries for six and a half years. Saturday and Sunday were busy here because we had a couple of things going on. Saturday was a teachers seminar for our school teachers. They came from our five different schools: Carries, Legend, Cupois, Kunol, and Nazon. There were 23 teachers in attendance. It was led by our new school director Petit Homme and the kindergarden section by Sister Yvrose from our chuch in Port-au-Prince at La Saline. It was a day of excellence. It was an all day event and they spent the night to participate in a special service on Sunday.
Sunday morning was a special service. It is our dream to one day have our own little mini convention to encourage the brothers and sisters in all of our participating churches. There are fifteen involved in our mission and many more wanting help. It is a big deal in Haiti to have an annual church celebration for the anniversary of the church. We had something similar to this on Sunday. We can't invite all fifteen churches yet because we don't have enough room to house them all. They come a long way and must spend the night
Sunday morning was excellent with 88 people visiting us from those churches. It was a time of sharing, praise, worship, encouragement, preaching, and just amazing fellowship. We had 120 students from the Carries school and many of their parents participated in all. We had around 400 people in attendance.
There was something amazing going on behind the scenes. The women were busy preparing a special meal to feed all of these people. It is very difficult to plan to feed a group like this because the last thing you want to do is run out of food and not be able to feed them. Bioude and I prepared and planned and prayed that there would be enough. I left her at the helm in the kitchen.
It was finally time to serve. The problem is, at this point there are several walk-ins that didn't attend services but are ready to share the meal. The object is to do this quickly, carefully and tactfully. You can't just say get out, you weren't here for church, that would be a bad situation. We embrace them and find them a seat. I tell them anyone getting out of their seat for whatever reason will not get a plate of food.
I must tell you that this gets the adrenalin flowing for me. Children do not have much value in Haiti. They are a lot of times looked at as work horses. Many of them have a lot of responsibilities at a very young age. Mdme Kiki, that's me, decided that it was kids day and that all children would be fed a plate of food befoe the adults would be served. This is unheard of and many adults did not like it but couldn't do anything about it because Mdme Kiki said that's how it was going to be. I started with all the children from the Carries school. Some of them so small they could hardly hold their plate of precious cargo but they clung to it for dear life. It was a huge, gigantic, enourmous helping of beans and rice, a whole chicken leg, beet salad, fried plantane and pickles. They also got a cup of soda to wash it down. It was worth it all to see their eyes get as big as saucers when they saw all the food, just for them and a whole chicken leg. Usually their mom would use one chicken leg to flavor the sauce for her rice because that is all she could afford. You can imagine what a treat this was to them. It was worth it all to see all my kids eating to their hearts content with a huge smile on their face. That's what it's all about for me. It's what keeps me going despite the hardships, inconveniences, and confrontations of the ministry. Thank you Lord for allowing me to be your servant in a place as special as Haiti. We were able to feed all but about thirty people with the food that had been prepared. I took these thirty people back to the kitchen, sent to buy more food and the ladies prepared it immediately and we were able to finish serving everyone. Praise the Lord! Thank you for giving to make it all possible. May God recieve all the glory and honor for it. Dee
We have been working here at Carries for six and a half years. Saturday and Sunday were busy here because we had a couple of things going on. Saturday was a teachers seminar for our school teachers. They came from our five different schools: Carries, Legend, Cupois, Kunol, and Nazon. There were 23 teachers in attendance. It was led by our new school director Petit Homme and the kindergarden section by Sister Yvrose from our chuch in Port-au-Prince at La Saline. It was a day of excellence. It was an all day event and they spent the night to participate in a special service on Sunday.
Sunday morning was a special service. It is our dream to one day have our own little mini convention to encourage the brothers and sisters in all of our participating churches. There are fifteen involved in our mission and many more wanting help. It is a big deal in Haiti to have an annual church celebration for the anniversary of the church. We had something similar to this on Sunday. We can't invite all fifteen churches yet because we don't have enough room to house them all. They come a long way and must spend the night
Sunday morning was excellent with 88 people visiting us from those churches. It was a time of sharing, praise, worship, encouragement, preaching, and just amazing fellowship. We had 120 students from the Carries school and many of their parents participated in all. We had around 400 people in attendance.
There was something amazing going on behind the scenes. The women were busy preparing a special meal to feed all of these people. It is very difficult to plan to feed a group like this because the last thing you want to do is run out of food and not be able to feed them. Bioude and I prepared and planned and prayed that there would be enough. I left her at the helm in the kitchen.
It was finally time to serve. The problem is, at this point there are several walk-ins that didn't attend services but are ready to share the meal. The object is to do this quickly, carefully and tactfully. You can't just say get out, you weren't here for church, that would be a bad situation. We embrace them and find them a seat. I tell them anyone getting out of their seat for whatever reason will not get a plate of food.
I must tell you that this gets the adrenalin flowing for me. Children do not have much value in Haiti. They are a lot of times looked at as work horses. Many of them have a lot of responsibilities at a very young age. Mdme Kiki, that's me, decided that it was kids day and that all children would be fed a plate of food befoe the adults would be served. This is unheard of and many adults did not like it but couldn't do anything about it because Mdme Kiki said that's how it was going to be. I started with all the children from the Carries school. Some of them so small they could hardly hold their plate of precious cargo but they clung to it for dear life. It was a huge, gigantic, enourmous helping of beans and rice, a whole chicken leg, beet salad, fried plantane and pickles. They also got a cup of soda to wash it down. It was worth it all to see their eyes get as big as saucers when they saw all the food, just for them and a whole chicken leg. Usually their mom would use one chicken leg to flavor the sauce for her rice because that is all she could afford. You can imagine what a treat this was to them. It was worth it all to see all my kids eating to their hearts content with a huge smile on their face. That's what it's all about for me. It's what keeps me going despite the hardships, inconveniences, and confrontations of the ministry. Thank you Lord for allowing me to be your servant in a place as special as Haiti. We were able to feed all but about thirty people with the food that had been prepared. I took these thirty people back to the kitchen, sent to buy more food and the ladies prepared it immediately and we were able to finish serving everyone. Praise the Lord! Thank you for giving to make it all possible. May God recieve all the glory and honor for it. Dee
Friday, October 23, 2009
Things have been pretty exciting here at Carries! School has been open for about two weeks. We have one hundred and fifteen students at this point. Many of them are new students and we are very excited about that. The numbers are down and we have been visiting with parents to see what the problem is or why they haven't sent their kids to school. Many of them have told us that times are hard and getting harder and they simply can't afford it. They are very proud people and refuse to send their children to school even for a few days in plain clothes. They will keep them home until they can buy material to have their uniform sewn and buy their books. The thing is, we need more sponsors! It is one thing for Mdme Kiki to say, "Go ahead and send your children without books, without a uniform and without paying and we will take care of it." It sounds like a great gesture but they would be insulted by the thought of it. We don't want to give them handouts either. Even our sponsored children are required to at least pay the entry fee which amounts to about six dollars U.S. This is to help them feel like they are not just given a hand out. They have a lot more appreciation for us and for what we are doing because of this approach.
If you interested in supporting one of these school children, you may, for $40 per month.
Make your check payable to: BLESSING HEARTS INTERNATIONAL memo:SPONSOR
Send to: BLESSING HEARTS INTERNATIONAL
C/O Chris Brennemann
5923 CR 324
Palmyra, MO 63461
We are excited to have a new director in our school this year at Carries. He comes to us from Port-au-Prince. His name is brother Petit Homme. He is really serious about his business and a blessing to us. Especially having only one vechicle makes it very difficult to be at the school and see how things are going. We, once again, have to step out on a limb to trust someone. This is always scary. Pray that he will be a blessed addition to our staff.
If you interested in supporting one of these school children, you may, for $40 per month.
Make your check payable to: BLESSING HEARTS INTERNATIONAL memo:SPONSOR
Send to: BLESSING HEARTS INTERNATIONAL
C/O Chris Brennemann
5923 CR 324
Palmyra, MO 63461
We are excited to have a new director in our school this year at Carries. He comes to us from Port-au-Prince. His name is brother Petit Homme. He is really serious about his business and a blessing to us. Especially having only one vechicle makes it very difficult to be at the school and see how things are going. We, once again, have to step out on a limb to trust someone. This is always scary. Pray that he will be a blessed addition to our staff.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Follow Along, Come join us!
If you have enjoyed following Another day in Haiti, I want to give you a way to follow us on our various adventures. Crash and Shaina are here with us from the mid-west. Crash is helping us in the administration department. Shaina is teaching Ashley and Kelsey. Ashley is ten years old, in the fifth grade and a missionary kids. Sometimes the little windows of insight she gives me are absolutely hilarious, truthful and eye-opening all at the same time. Today she asked, "Mom, can I have a blog spot too?" Shaina and I both thought this would be a great idea. Look for Ashley's up and coming blog spot addition. Somewhere in these you might find famous quotes by four year old Kelsey. For example: We were in the ocean swimming and Kelsey looks up and says, "Mom, does God know how to swim?" I said that I am sure that He can. She said, " Well, wouldn't He get stuck?" because she is aware that God is so big that even the ocean is too small to contain God as He takes a swim. I am excited that my four year old knows that we have such a great big God. I think there is a huge lesson there to be learned by some of us adults. Just how big is your God? You can be entertained by these ideas and more by checking out Crash's Blog Haiti, Shaina's Blog Haiti, or High Hill Haiti Blog at any time by clicking on them. They are linked to the bottom of my blog page. If that doesn't work for you, here are there blog spot addresses:
www.luke41819.blogspot.com Crash
www.shainainhaiti.blogspot.com Shaina
www.hhcchaiti.blogspot.com High Hill
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our ministry.
www.luke41819.blogspot.com Crash
www.shainainhaiti.blogspot.com Shaina
www.hhcchaiti.blogspot.com High Hill
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our ministry.
Don't ask why!
Hello from the "Wild, Wild West Indies!", as we have now dubbed our chosen field of service. Sometimes life here defies all logic. For example, this morning we got up with a program to return to Port-au-Prince to finish some mechanic work on the truck. A trip to town, however, is never wasted. There were plenty of errands to run. Money needed to be exchanged, groceries needed to be bought, Shaina, Crash and I needed some chocolate, we needed to check prices on uniform material, and books and of course several other things that we would remember when we got there or on the way. The plan came to a halt as our driver, El-ves showed up for work. He told us that he had a dream that he was in a terrible accident with the truck and therefore he would not be driving the truck anywhere today. Since Wilckly had other business to take care of here he couldn't drive us and so our plans will remain to be executed at a later date, remaining to be determined.
Fortunately, I was warned a long time ago by my very perceptive mentor, David Orr, how I could still live in the midst of this kind of craziness. The two tidbits he gave me that have carried me through sixteen years in Haiti without going crazy, are these: Don't ask why? and Everything takes longer than it takes.
He said don't ask why Dee, contrary to everything you've been taught. There will never be a logical explanation . You don't have time to waste trying to figure it out so if you just learn to accept it and go on you will be able to accomplish a lot more.
Don't be discouraged by things moving so slowly, just always remember that everything takes longer than it takes. This way you won't get quite as frustrated by it. For example: when you go to the store and you want to know the price of something. First,you ask the person who looks like they work there, the price of the item. They will look at it, get a number off of it and disappear. They return after some time with the price in Haitian gourdes which you have to translate into Haitian dollars. You then decide you would like three but they only have to on the shelf. Thirty minutes later you have finally secured the third one and you proceed to the counter to pay. You hand the item to the person with the money. They hand you back the money and collect information from the items. They keep the items and hand you a three-fold copy of the items and their prices. They send you to the next window where you then hand them the bill. They figure the total and ask you to pay. You then pay and they give you back two copies of the bill and you go to the next window. You hand the two papers which are stamped paid and they finally hand you one of the papers and the item you bought and you prepare to exit the store. A man stops you and asks to see your receipt and look at the items in the bag. He then makes a check mark on your receipt and you can finally be on your merry way! Patience is definitely a virtue in this country. I am embarrassed to even tell you how long all of that could take. All of this brought into perspective by the fact that, Everything takes longer than it takes.
Next time you are frustrated by that slow, fast food service; those poky people in the check out line;that traffic light that seems to take twenty minutes to change; and that crazy microwave that can't get the food cooked fast enough........slow down, take a deep breath and enjoy those conveniences and think of us, your missionary friends who need you to continue to pray for them to have patience, endurance and understanding to further God's kingdom here in Haiti.
Fortunately, I was warned a long time ago by my very perceptive mentor, David Orr, how I could still live in the midst of this kind of craziness. The two tidbits he gave me that have carried me through sixteen years in Haiti without going crazy, are these: Don't ask why? and Everything takes longer than it takes.
He said don't ask why Dee, contrary to everything you've been taught. There will never be a logical explanation . You don't have time to waste trying to figure it out so if you just learn to accept it and go on you will be able to accomplish a lot more.
Don't be discouraged by things moving so slowly, just always remember that everything takes longer than it takes. This way you won't get quite as frustrated by it. For example: when you go to the store and you want to know the price of something. First,you ask the person who looks like they work there, the price of the item. They will look at it, get a number off of it and disappear. They return after some time with the price in Haitian gourdes which you have to translate into Haitian dollars. You then decide you would like three but they only have to on the shelf. Thirty minutes later you have finally secured the third one and you proceed to the counter to pay. You hand the item to the person with the money. They hand you back the money and collect information from the items. They keep the items and hand you a three-fold copy of the items and their prices. They send you to the next window where you then hand them the bill. They figure the total and ask you to pay. You then pay and they give you back two copies of the bill and you go to the next window. You hand the two papers which are stamped paid and they finally hand you one of the papers and the item you bought and you prepare to exit the store. A man stops you and asks to see your receipt and look at the items in the bag. He then makes a check mark on your receipt and you can finally be on your merry way! Patience is definitely a virtue in this country. I am embarrassed to even tell you how long all of that could take. All of this brought into perspective by the fact that, Everything takes longer than it takes.
Next time you are frustrated by that slow, fast food service; those poky people in the check out line;that traffic light that seems to take twenty minutes to change; and that crazy microwave that can't get the food cooked fast enough........slow down, take a deep breath and enjoy those conveniences and think of us, your missionary friends who need you to continue to pray for them to have patience, endurance and understanding to further God's kingdom here in Haiti.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Tas Kafe Cho - A Cup Of Hot Coffee
What a Sunday! Today marked the 2nd anniversary of the 4a.m. prayer meeting, called Tas Kafe Cho which means a cup of hot coffee. This morning in particular, on this special occasion to celebrate such faithfulness and dedication to the task, earlier comers were served a cup of Haitian coffee with a little milk and a LOT of sugar and a piece of bread. This was a royal treat for everyone as well as a pleasant surprise.
Tas Kafe Cho was started by Bioude. Most of you know that she is my right hand everything. This woman stands about four feet two and a half inches tall. Don't let that fool you as she is a real powerhouse of love and dedication. She loves the Lord and she takes her task very seriously. The prayer meeting starts at 4a.m. and ends at 6a.m. If that is not dedication then you show me some. I am awed by it. I am humbled by everything about this woman. Chapo ba or Hats off to Bioude Dorce! Keep up the good work!
It has made a remarkable impact on Carries. Not only is there a great amount of dedication on her part to make sure the services continue, but she has crossed all boundaries from different denominations in the area to people known to be totally immersed in voodoo. After the service each morning, if there is anyone sick who has been attending, the whole group goes to visit them and pray for them. She goes prepared with ibuprofen and several home remedies. If they are really weak she may go home and make soup to take for them or buy whatever is necessary to gave them care. She would also, personally return to visit them again during the day to see how they are. The care and concern at this level can't be replaced by anything else. This is what our ministry is about. Pray for more people like Bioude who would join the team with that kind of dedication. Truly ready to deny themselves everything for the advancement of the gospel and the cause of Christ. Her dedication is to be commended.
These people made a gigantic, huge, enormous piece of progress. Bioude gave envelopes to everyone fully expecting their participation to make the party happen. The amazing thing is that they responded. I don't know how many envelopes were given but the results were unbelievable. They gave a total of $1,555.00 Haitian. It was a great day! This money was used to prepare a meal of fried chicken, rice and beans, beet salad, fried plantane from our garden and special Haitian picklees to top it all off. Everyone also had a nice ice cold coke. They made such an effort towards giving which made it a pleasure to add the money needed to complete the party. There were at least 150 people served. Praise the Lord! What an amazing day it was.
Please pray for these babes in Christ and many others who don't yet see a reason to have Jesus involved in their lives. It may seem very small and insignificant to you but is something as small as this that we look to for encouragement to continue the task. Usually they would not give anything or a very minimal amount, like $20 for 150 people, because they put in their mind that is the work of the mission and the mission has money so they shouldn't have to contribute. Rejoice with us in the little things!
Dee
Tas Kafe Cho was started by Bioude. Most of you know that she is my right hand everything. This woman stands about four feet two and a half inches tall. Don't let that fool you as she is a real powerhouse of love and dedication. She loves the Lord and she takes her task very seriously. The prayer meeting starts at 4a.m. and ends at 6a.m. If that is not dedication then you show me some. I am awed by it. I am humbled by everything about this woman. Chapo ba or Hats off to Bioude Dorce! Keep up the good work!
It has made a remarkable impact on Carries. Not only is there a great amount of dedication on her part to make sure the services continue, but she has crossed all boundaries from different denominations in the area to people known to be totally immersed in voodoo. After the service each morning, if there is anyone sick who has been attending, the whole group goes to visit them and pray for them. She goes prepared with ibuprofen and several home remedies. If they are really weak she may go home and make soup to take for them or buy whatever is necessary to gave them care. She would also, personally return to visit them again during the day to see how they are. The care and concern at this level can't be replaced by anything else. This is what our ministry is about. Pray for more people like Bioude who would join the team with that kind of dedication. Truly ready to deny themselves everything for the advancement of the gospel and the cause of Christ. Her dedication is to be commended.
These people made a gigantic, huge, enormous piece of progress. Bioude gave envelopes to everyone fully expecting their participation to make the party happen. The amazing thing is that they responded. I don't know how many envelopes were given but the results were unbelievable. They gave a total of $1,555.00 Haitian. It was a great day! This money was used to prepare a meal of fried chicken, rice and beans, beet salad, fried plantane from our garden and special Haitian picklees to top it all off. Everyone also had a nice ice cold coke. They made such an effort towards giving which made it a pleasure to add the money needed to complete the party. There were at least 150 people served. Praise the Lord! What an amazing day it was.
Please pray for these babes in Christ and many others who don't yet see a reason to have Jesus involved in their lives. It may seem very small and insignificant to you but is something as small as this that we look to for encouragement to continue the task. Usually they would not give anything or a very minimal amount, like $20 for 150 people, because they put in their mind that is the work of the mission and the mission has money so they shouldn't have to contribute. Rejoice with us in the little things!
Dee
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
God is concerned with the details.
I awoke at 4a.m. this morning to the sound of a preacher friend who had spent the night with us, praying his heart out in at a fairly loud volume. He had brought me some pumpkins for soup so who was I to say anything about praying so loudly at that hour. I do mean at that hour, for an hour. He was very detailed and as I listened to him I wondered if there wasn't a lesson to be learned instead of everyone just getting annoyed. God loves us so much that he is definitely concerned about the very minute details of our lives but how many times is it that we share those with him. How many times is it just the surface stuff or the things at hand? Too often for me and I would imagine maybe for you too.
If we, as Christians really embraced prayer and all of its power, Jesus would have already returned because the task of reaching the lost would have been accomplished long ago! Why are we like that? We have that much power at our disposal and we choose to do things the hard way so many times, on our own. Forgetting to even invite the Lord to help us with the task at hand. The one thing I appreciate about Haiti is that it has opened my eyes to the power of prayer. Haiti has taught me the meaning of pray without ceasing. In this land of darkness where there is constant spiritual warfare, prayer is a way of life. It has to be to stay alive spiritually and not throw the towel in and go elsewhere. Haiti was dedicated to satan in a special service by her ancestors. It is why to this day, I believe, there have been many missionaries who started here and finished here.
Imagine trusting someone for years with your most important things and one day you get up to find they took it all and went to the Dominican or their trying to get to the States. Imagine pouring hours of teaching, love, spiritual nourishment into children and adults to find their main goal is to get whatever they can from you. Imagine training excellent workers, putting hours of time, training and money into them to have them leave without notice to go work for someone else. Such is life in Haiti. How can we go through that without getting totally discouraged again and again and again? Well yesterday in the middle of all of those different scenarios, we had a visitor. Her name is Danita. We raised her from the time she was two years old. She shows up at my door, where I was gloved and digging deep into the thick dusty mess in our storage, with the most precious, adorable three month old baby girl I've ever seen. It was at that moment I reminded myself, as I cleaned up so I could hold this precious little one, that all my time and effort put int those people doesen't really matter if they can't see Jesus living and loving through my life. I held her for quite a while, praying silently all the while for her whole life. Praying that she might be the one that God would really use to change Haiti. Hope came flooding back into my veins with a rush. I was okay again, though worried about the very well being of this little one. How would she survive? This was totally out of my control but she could be the one to help make a difference in Haiti for Christ!
Please don't take prayer lightly. Pray for us that we would be strong physically and spiritually. Pray for opportunities to live out Christ's love for us on a daily basis. Pray for this precious little one that she might become a shining light in a land of darkness.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Expect the Unexpected
Two weeks before we returned to Haiti, everyone was asking me if it was hurricaine season and if that affected us. We usually get extra rain and maybe some wind but they haven't been as devastating to us as the places around us.....until now. There seemed to have been a tropical depreesion that dropped a lot of rain on Carries in a very short amount of time. This in turn caused a mud slide/rock avalanche. We have the property where the church is and about two miles away where we stay and house our guests. This devastation happened in the two mile radius between our two properties.
Four people were killed, three of them being young children. Several houses were totally demolished. The water carried all kinds of furniture and personal belongings from their homes. Our preacher at Carries, Pasteur Audal, escaped the flood waters and deluge with his wife but his home was flooded washing away all his belongings. He had a small shed beside his house called a depot. Besides preaching and teaching school, he would fill this little depot with things like rice, beans, oil, tomatoe paste, butter, spaghetti and spices. His wife would sell these things to bring in some extra income. All of it completely gone but their lives were spared.
Jocelyn, one of the boys we raised at Berea, was around the night of the flooding to help those who were trapped or who lost their home or everything in it. He took pictures on his phone. He showed me the children's bodies they retrieved from under the mud. He showed me a woman who was seven months pregnant who was buried alive, up to her armpits while holding her two year old baby above her head, saving the babies life.
Sunday we went to see the devastation. I was amazed at the enormously wide path the rocks and mud had taken, leveling houses to the ground. I mentioned as I looked around that I had seen pictures of the pregnant woman that they had dug out of the mud and pulled to safety. They said she's standing right over there. I got out of the truck and went over to meet her and hear her story. I asked her if she had accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. She said, "No". I asked her what she was waiting for, that there might not be a next time. She said she would have plenty of time to take care of that. I invited her to church anyway and said we would be waiting for her.
I got home from church and stuck my head out the gate to call someone. It was just enough time to let Locksen call me. He asked if he could come and talk to me and I said yes. He said that I had almost lost him because the flood/mudslide came so quickly that he was almost washed away. It took all of his belongings but not him personally and he was very thankful for that. Then he showed me his one pair of shoes he had left that weren't washed away. They were in shreds and he needed a pair and could I please help him. I asked how much some new ones would cost. He said he needed forty bucks to get the new ones and he reminded me that he had never asked me for money before. He said, by the way, I almost lost my sister too and she was seven months pregnant. She was buried in the mud, alive. I couldn't believe it was his sister that I had just talked to. Small world. I gave him the forty dollars to go buy his shoes and man was he ever grateful.
Came home realizing what an amazing life I have, thankful to be alive and praying for wisdom to somehow be able to dispense what things we have to those in need. Please pray for us, for God to bless us with a new source of food that will increase our ability to correspond with the need at hand.
Dee
Four people were killed, three of them being young children. Several houses were totally demolished. The water carried all kinds of furniture and personal belongings from their homes. Our preacher at Carries, Pasteur Audal, escaped the flood waters and deluge with his wife but his home was flooded washing away all his belongings. He had a small shed beside his house called a depot. Besides preaching and teaching school, he would fill this little depot with things like rice, beans, oil, tomatoe paste, butter, spaghetti and spices. His wife would sell these things to bring in some extra income. All of it completely gone but their lives were spared.
Jocelyn, one of the boys we raised at Berea, was around the night of the flooding to help those who were trapped or who lost their home or everything in it. He took pictures on his phone. He showed me the children's bodies they retrieved from under the mud. He showed me a woman who was seven months pregnant who was buried alive, up to her armpits while holding her two year old baby above her head, saving the babies life.
Sunday we went to see the devastation. I was amazed at the enormously wide path the rocks and mud had taken, leveling houses to the ground. I mentioned as I looked around that I had seen pictures of the pregnant woman that they had dug out of the mud and pulled to safety. They said she's standing right over there. I got out of the truck and went over to meet her and hear her story. I asked her if she had accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. She said, "No". I asked her what she was waiting for, that there might not be a next time. She said she would have plenty of time to take care of that. I invited her to church anyway and said we would be waiting for her.
I got home from church and stuck my head out the gate to call someone. It was just enough time to let Locksen call me. He asked if he could come and talk to me and I said yes. He said that I had almost lost him because the flood/mudslide came so quickly that he was almost washed away. It took all of his belongings but not him personally and he was very thankful for that. Then he showed me his one pair of shoes he had left that weren't washed away. They were in shreds and he needed a pair and could I please help him. I asked how much some new ones would cost. He said he needed forty bucks to get the new ones and he reminded me that he had never asked me for money before. He said, by the way, I almost lost my sister too and she was seven months pregnant. She was buried in the mud, alive. I couldn't believe it was his sister that I had just talked to. Small world. I gave him the forty dollars to go buy his shoes and man was he ever grateful.
Came home realizing what an amazing life I have, thankful to be alive and praying for wisdom to somehow be able to dispense what things we have to those in need. Please pray for us, for God to bless us with a new source of food that will increase our ability to correspond with the need at hand.
Dee
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday at Carries
We were all up and around pretty early on Sunday. I, especially, couldn't wait to be at church. There is a song I heard a long time ago, "I was so incredibly happy, when someone said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord!" This song was running through my mind as we went to services on Sunday morning to worship Haitian style. No offense to all of you in the States but to tell the truth, You know nothing about worship! If most of you were present on Sunday you would have been laughing or putting your hands over your ears or making fun of it in some way. Imagine the service beginning and the people are singing acapella. My husband pulls out his new accordian and starts to play along. He hasn't played or practiced for quite some time so needless to say, there was a noisy accordian and some people trying to sing around it. Then Jhemson decided to be the drummer for the day but Bioude thought she could do it better so she took over the big green and white drum. All the while I am singing and trying to carry some kind of tune I am chuckling to myself and thinking, I know God is being worshipped here this morning because that is all we wanted to do was to bring praise and honor and glory to Him. All of a sudden as we were singing, a more experienced accordian player came up unannounced and took the accordian from Wilckly and began playing it beautifully. Now I don't mean that "get down polka music" that you are thinking of. I mean beautiful hymns. Sounds that you wouldn't even believe could come out of an accordian. I let myself be lost in worship, as tears came to my eyes as they usually do, when I finally find myself back in Haiti and realize how much I wanted to ber right here where I am. It is in that moment I realize how much I love living in Haiti and serving here with the Haitian people. It is then that I realize how God allows me to block it out of my mind, the fact that I would really rather be here, for a few months to drive around doing camps and VBS so that I can return to the place that I love so much. Those of you who support our ministry I humbly thank you for letting us be your hands and feet here in Haiti. "I worship You Lord, I worship You. The reason I live is to worship You!
Dee
Dee
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Just like riding a bike....
Returning to Haiti is just like riding a bike.....you never forget how, you just have to get back on. There is no slow and easy transition into Haiti. It's all or nothing so I say bring it on. There is so much to catch up on.
Part of it has been really fun to catch up on and others not so much. They sometimes don't tell us things that we need to know over the phone because they are afraid of our reaction. The good news is that this time, although some of it was not pleasing, there didn't seem to be one huge major thing that happened.
It is really a blessing already to have Crash and Shaina along. Sometimes it gets crazy around here, just receiving people. Although Bioude is amazing with my children, she still has other things to take care of. Crash and Shaina have been great already helping with that.
Kelsey sticks like glue to Shaina. She's always has a million questions for anyone that will listen. It is great to have someone else to help answer or wonder about all of them.
Two days past before Wilckly, Crash, Shaina and I could actually sit and talk about our plan of action. Please pray for unity among us and with our Haitian workers so that we can accomplish the most for His glory.
Have a great day worshipping and praising our risen Lord and Saviour. He is amazing, mighty, all-powerful, all-knowing and He loves us all very much and in detail. My prayer is that we all seek to know him more. DEE
Part of it has been really fun to catch up on and others not so much. They sometimes don't tell us things that we need to know over the phone because they are afraid of our reaction. The good news is that this time, although some of it was not pleasing, there didn't seem to be one huge major thing that happened.
It is really a blessing already to have Crash and Shaina along. Sometimes it gets crazy around here, just receiving people. Although Bioude is amazing with my children, she still has other things to take care of. Crash and Shaina have been great already helping with that.
Kelsey sticks like glue to Shaina. She's always has a million questions for anyone that will listen. It is great to have someone else to help answer or wonder about all of them.
Two days past before Wilckly, Crash, Shaina and I could actually sit and talk about our plan of action. Please pray for unity among us and with our Haitian workers so that we can accomplish the most for His glory.
Have a great day worshipping and praising our risen Lord and Saviour. He is amazing, mighty, all-powerful, all-knowing and He loves us all very much and in detail. My prayer is that we all seek to know him more. DEE
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Headed Home
Counting down the final hours at last. We leave this morning, Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 6:20 heading back home to Haiti at last. I used to be the expert packer. I find that now I don't really care if I pack or if we take anything with us but the children. Raising support in the summer is an amazing adventure that is very rewarding and very tiring. I just want to go home at this point, home to Haiti. I know you are questioning my sanity at this point and well you should. Who in their right mind would be excited to go from 24 hour electricity to trying to find just one match box that even has a match AND a candle to light or some kerosine for the lamp? Who wouldn't jump at the chance to go from living out of the van for the summer to staying at the compound indefinitely without transportation? Oh yes, and water, forget turning the faucet on. Hopefully, Bioude and Marc have thought far enough ahead to have at least a few buckets of water on hand so we can "shower" when we get there.
I guess the amazing thing I always look forward to in this transition is somehow they will have made every attempt to welcome us home. Will it be hot? Yes. Will it be hard in some ways? Yes. Is that still where the Dorce Family wants to be? Yes. We count on your prayers for our health. We ask for prayer for Christine Stevens who will be returning with us. We also ask for prayer for Shaina Ascone who will be coming with us to teach Ashley (10) and Kelsey(4). Pray for unity for us and unity with our Haitian workers as well that we would continue to serve the Haitian people. Pray for the light of the gospel to shine in our lives as we live out Christ daily among the Haitian people. I encourage each of you as you face another day in your "busy" lives, to define where your mission field is. Who are the people you are ministering to? Pray for them daily and specifically. Challenge the Lord to give you an opportunity to be the example of His love for them. Believe me! It will be anything but boring. Have a great day for His glory. See ya in Haiti!
Dee
I guess the amazing thing I always look forward to in this transition is somehow they will have made every attempt to welcome us home. Will it be hot? Yes. Will it be hard in some ways? Yes. Is that still where the Dorce Family wants to be? Yes. We count on your prayers for our health. We ask for prayer for Christine Stevens who will be returning with us. We also ask for prayer for Shaina Ascone who will be coming with us to teach Ashley (10) and Kelsey(4). Pray for unity for us and unity with our Haitian workers as well that we would continue to serve the Haitian people. Pray for the light of the gospel to shine in our lives as we live out Christ daily among the Haitian people. I encourage each of you as you face another day in your "busy" lives, to define where your mission field is. Who are the people you are ministering to? Pray for them daily and specifically. Challenge the Lord to give you an opportunity to be the example of His love for them. Believe me! It will be anything but boring. Have a great day for His glory. See ya in Haiti!
Dee
Friday, July 3, 2009
On the Move
There's been no time to let the grass grow under our feet, we are on the move. We returned to Haiti in March with our group of ladies from Hannibal LaGrange College in Hannibal, Missouri. We had been gone from Haiti for nine months at that point. I have never been gone from Haiti that long in the sixteen years I have been in Haiti.We took care of a few things. Lonia had four successful surgeries. Ashley completed fourth grade. Kelsey turned four and had a great birthday party. Josiah was born. Wilckly was in jail on false charges,for thirteen days, in Port-au-Prince, before finally being released. Crash "survived" in Haiti until our return. She is amazing! Wow! We finally arrived in Haiti but we had trouble with our vehicles on the way home. The hour and half drive from the airport to Carries turned into a miserably tiring voyage BUT, when we finally arrived, what a reunion for everyone! Another typical day in Haiti...anything that can go wrong probably will at the least desirable moment.
Returning to Haiti, Lonia was able to meet her new brother Ezekiel. We were able to return to the mountains where she is from so that all of her grandparents, aunts and uncles could see her. They were all amazed and thrilled to see her alive. Thrilled enough to cook a special meal for us. Give us gifts such as produce from their garden and livestock on foot such as roosters and goats for us to eat.
Wilckly hired Lonia's dad to work for us when we left Haiti for all of Lonia's surgeries. He moved Lonia's mom and dad to Carries and gave them a house to live in. Wilckly knew that it was too complicated and delicate to just come back to Haiti and hand Lonia to her parents but he wanted to make sure they were near us so that I could continue to care for her. Indeed the situation was delicate. Her colostomy had been reversed and she had a new bottom but the heat didn't do us any favors. Her parents soon understood after seeing the amount of care that was needed and constant attention to keep her bottom from getting so irritated or getting infected.
Lonia's mom and dad are thrilled that she is alive. They are so thankful to see her walking and playing. They are even happy that she speaks English and doesn't really understand their Creole.
We don't know what the future holds for Lonia but we do know that God went out of His way to make a special plan for her life. We are thrilled to know that we could play a small part in that plan. We now have a three year multiple entry visa for Lonia. She has already traveled to a couple of camps with the kids and I this summer. Please keep her in your prayers. Lonia's birthday is coming up soon. She will be two years old on July 29th, 2009. Praise the Lord for our miracle girl! Praise Him that her parents didn't listen when they were told to leave their new born daughter by the steps on the way out because she was going to die! Praise you oh Lord, for our sweet little Lonia.
We continue to travel doing camps, VBS and speaking at our supporting churches and updating them on the work going on in Haiti.
June 28 - July 3 Dee at church camp at Shelby County, Clarence, MO
Crash in VBS at High Hill, MO
July 5 - July10 Dee at church camp at Shelby County, Clarence, MO
Crash at church camp at High Hill, MO
Charlie at VBS at New Market Church of Christ
July 11 - 18 Dee in Haiti, Bioude's daughter Tika getting married
July 18 Crash day camp at Lamoine
July 19 - 24 Dee at VBS at Palmyra, MO
Crash at VBS at Montezuma, IA
July 26 - 31 Dee at VBS at Liberal, MO
August 23 Dee at Oak Hill Christian Church, Houston, MO
Dee and Crash open in August to speak before returning to Haiti Sept. 2, 2009
If you would like to contact us call:
Dee 573-324-4040
Crash 660-341-1519
We would love to meet with you. Maybe it's been awhile since you've been supporting us and you want to send a team to see what is happening in Haiti. We're waiting to hear from you so give us a call.
Dee
Saturday, April 11, 2009
This Is Crash's Face...This Is Crash's Face on Mango Milk
The thing about Haiti is... well...you just never know what's going to happen next. For instance when Crash helped harvest the mangoes by being the mango catcher on the ground. The boys threw them from the tree and she caught them and put them in the box so we could put them in the depot to ripen. If we leave them on the tree, little animals make holes in them and they rot or two legged animals take them and we never get to eat them. Crash, being the helpful person that she is, was trying to help save the mangoes and feed people. She had the best of intentions. She has eaten mango many times and she has never been allergic to anything in her life, except mango milk, which unfortunately she did not know about. Mango milk is the sap that comes out of the end of the mango where it was hooked to a long string like stem, hanging from the tree. None of us thought about this until she got up in the morning and her face was bright, shiny, and red. Her eyes were swollen and she was looking out through little slits in her face. I guess she was surprised herself at how she must look when she asked if it looked like there was anything wrong with her face. She didn't even get the sentence out and she saw the look on my face. I said, "What in the world happened to you?" She had a red rash all over her chest and arms which itched like crazy. We found some Benedryl and sent Mdme Marc for some calimine lotion and more allergy medicine because we only had a couple Benedryl pills. Crash tried all of these but found no relief. Monday called for new and drastic measures because it was only getting worse. There is nothing like the heat of Haiti to cool your itching skin when you have a horrible reaction like this. We had to ride close together in the front of the big, blue, faithful, mission machine with the windows down trying to keep cool in the breeze since there is no air condition. The temperature in the shade lately has been 90, so use your imagination. Needless to say it was very uncomfortable for someone in Crash's condition. She was a trooper. It was kind of un-nerving though, this sealed look on her face that just said, "Yes, I am really annoyed and sick of it all and want to go home now!" I felt pretty helpless not to be able to accomadate. We arrived at the clinic and got in quickly. The doctor looked at our sack of meds and said we were giving her all the right things we just needed to wait. Then he must have saw me flinch as I almost lunged at him and he quickly recovered saying that there was a shot of a medication called promethizine that would help calm it all down. He asked me if I could give the shot. I said no. He said he had an American nurse who could help us. I thought he meant at the clinic, of course. All of the sudden he handed me the phone and I am talking to this lady. She doesn't know why she's talking to me and I don't know why I am talking to her but I explain our situation to her. She went off on this whole thing about having had a similar reaction recently and that there is no epinephrine available in this country but that all missionaries should have some on hand. She prayed with me right there on the phone to be able to find the promethizine. We exchanged phone numbers and headed for the clinic pharmacy which did not have promethizine. I then went across the road to the hospital and asked for it at their pharmacy. Well of course they didn't have change for my Haitian $50 bill, which is not unusual. I sent the man with me to buy a coke so I could have the change to pay for the medicine. In the mean time, I chatted with the nurse asking her about the hospital and telling her about Lonia. The man returned with my coke and change. As I was chugging it down, I heard the nurse say, "Oh no, I don't even have PROMETHIZINE!!!" I couldn't believe it but managed not to shower everyone with my mouthful of coke. Before I could respond, the nurse said, "However, I know we do have some in the operating room but I can't charge you for it." She took off after it when I gave her the "Mdme Kiki" look. She came back with it and I thanked her for it and paid her $2 Haitian for a syringe and I was on my way to give Crash relief. Unfortunately she had to wait until we got back home and Monique came to give her the shot. She was pretty stir crazy at that point. She took the shot and kept rubbing on the Calamine. By evening she felt no relief. When Pasteur Quene called I asked him to buy another shot to give her that evening. It was late and most pharmacies were closed. The only promethizine they had was in a huge bottle. The took a sryinge, filled it with the correct dose and placed the syringe back in its original paper and Pasteur Quene took careful pre-cautions to bring it to Carries on a tap-tap. It cost $25 Haitian. We then had to wait for Monique to call the nurse at the pharmacy and confirm that we really had a shot of promethizine. She finally received the shot but the next morning she didn't feel like there was much success. We sent for more promethizine which was delivered in the same manner BUT there was a new pharmacist and she doubled the price to $50 Haitian. What a country! Well, we know that many of you were praying for us and that is the only reason our story has a good ending. Crash's face has since cleared up. We no longer call her monster face and children do not run when they see her. Thank you so much for praying. The moral to this story is: Beware and don't touch the mangoes, especially the sap because you are probably allergic to them. WE HAVE DECIDED THAT THIS ADVICE WILL BE STRESSED OVER AND OVER TO ANYONE WHO COMES TO VISIT US ESPECIALLY IF YOU'VE NEVER BEEN ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING BEFORE!Thursday, March 26, 2009
Nine months for a Rooster!
Nine months for a rooster! This might be an insult to many of you but to Mdme Kiki, returning to Haiti with Lonia after nine loooong months, it was the ultimate compliment! It was like something out of an old black and white movie or stories my great grandma used to tell of her childhood and how they used to pay the doctor with produce from the garden. It was a very small but very heart felt gift of poultry to convey the very essence of thankfulness in their hearts that little Lonia was alive and would live to see many more birthdays. I must admit I was a little overwhelmed and I felt a little selfish receiving it. I mean, not sharing with Dr. Gates, Beverly, Anna Lynn, Joe and Charlotte Tebo, Charlie and Teresa Bowen and so many others who had played such a big part in everything coming together and being accomplished for Lonia, it just seemed wrong.
I want to tell you more about how special it was and why there was so much meaning behind it. It was given by her grandma, her dad's mom. I had met her on our trip to Cupois as we took Lonia to the homecoming party that had awaited her up in those distant mountains. She apologized for not having anything to give me then. She laughed and hugged and kissed Lonia and I and promised she would be sending something. Little did I know what the "something" would be. Bright and early, Saturday morning, Pierre's brothers brought the rooster along with an apology from their mother. You see, she had also been fattening a goat. The prize possession of this elderly woman in her two room dirt shack was being saved and treasured to give as a gift for me caring for Lonia and all that went with it. The day they were ready to bring the goat, they found he had eaten someone's garden. The owner of the garden had proudly taught people the lesson of keeping their goats out of his garden by cutting the head off of the goat and leaving it lay in the garden to be found by its owner. Needless to say, the woman was devastated by the random actions of the gardner. She was also embarrassed to be only able to send the rooster, which I humbly accepted and proudly ate the next day before something drastic had time to happen to my new prized possession! Nine months for a rooster? You bet, and I would do it all over again without blinking an eye. What a privilege to be in the service of our Lord and King! May this find you serving Him faithfully!
Dee
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Home Sweet Home! Haiti
Kids kids and more kids! Lonia and HLG women at Cupois
Action of Grace, church at Carries
I personally thought March 7th, 2009, would never come! Of course it did however. Praise the Lord for that. Nine months was a long time to be gone from the country I love so dearly. The country that I have lived in for the past 16 years, day in and day out, Haiti, definitely my home. This is a good thing. It is where I function. It's where I am needed. It's where I am respected. It's where God allows me to use all that He has given me to serve Him. I don't mind telling you that for the last nine months I have truly felt like a fish out of water. I have met the task head on. I did what needed to be done. Lonia is alive and well and thriving. Josiah is almost 3months old. Ashley is about to finish the 4th grade. Kelsey is 4 going on 14 and talks a mile a minute. Wilckly is out of jail and busy about the Lord's work. Crash has survived Haiti without me and even speaks Creole. I Dee am Mdme Kiki and I am happy to be home in Haiti.
We left PAP at 4:30 in two vehicles. About thirty minutes out of town, the pick up broke down. We should have arrived home around 6pm. Instead we had to pull the pick up, stopping and starting a million times before finally arriving at 10 pm. We were all totally exhausted! Don't know what I would have done without the help of all those "superwomen" from HLG in Hannibal, Missouri. You all are my heroes. WELCOME TO HAITI!
Sunday morning was a very special service called Aksyon de Gras or Action of Grace. There were more than 8 churches represented that morning. Each came with a special singing group from their church with several songs to share for the occasion. It was a special get together to welcome us back to Haiti and to thank God for all of His actions of grace in returning us there. Many people were praying for us here and in the States. This was their magnificent way of saying thanks to the Lord and the many answers He gracefully provided for all of our prayers. It was evident to me through this special homecoming and gathering of the saints that the Lord is alive and well and with us in our ministry in Haiti. I saw, through teary eyes, people who have stood in total opposition to us and our work, now standing together before the Lord, praising Him under one roof. It was very powerful! Thank you for praying.
Taking Lonia home to the mountains of Cupois was a very special day also. The church choir prepared a few songs to thank us for all that was done to make sure this little girl stayed alive. It was a special time as her mom, dad, aunts, uncles, grandparents and godparents gathered around to see our miracle girl. She was her natural, sweet, captivating self as they gathered around to try to get their hands on her. In typical Lonia style she gave them all a quick kiss and a hug after completely showing off all of her English speaking skills, including singing for them and naming all of her body parts, and then she was ready to go with mom Kiki and eat. She is staying with us at Carries and her parents are close by with her new baby brother, Ezekiel. Please keep us in your prayers and Lonia's health as she adapts back to Haiti. Thank you each and every one for all you did to take care of Lonia, the girls and I while we were in the States. We can never thank you enough and we will never stop praying the Lord's continued blessings on each of you.
Mdme Kiki
Dee
OTuesday, February 17, 2009
Lonia...our miracle girl!
LONIA - JULY 2008, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
Her parents never dreamed she would live to be one year old, especially when the they were told to leave her at the hospital to die because there was no other option. Here she is, alive and healthy. She has had 4 major surgeries in the last 7 months. She used to have a dull, sad and painful look in her eyes. It has been replaced by a brilliant sparkle, full of life and a huge smile with big, dancing, brown eyes that speak volumes. She is now a ball of fire instead of the listless almost lifeless little girl I brought on the plane from Haiti.
We are thrilled with her progress. We are with Dr. Gates and his wife now, in Sacramento. He is running an ultra sound and some tests this morning to make sure everything is on track before we return to Haiti. It has been a sweet reunion.
Dee
Sunday, January 18, 2009
It hasn't been a problem for our little tropical girl to adjust to this frigid cold. She lets you know, quickly, how unhappy she is to be stuck in that crazy car seat with her coat, that already swallows her up. It doesn't stop her and it's usually short lived. She is always ready to go when someone else is getting their coat on. She is very active as a 16 month old should be. Her body continues to heal. We will be returning to California with her for one last check up from Dr. Gates before returning to Haiti in March. We are excited about that visit. We are very anxious for everyone to see how much she is changing and growing. Please pray for us as we make plans to return to Haiti also and all that this entails.
Lonia might not remember much about Haiti and what was her home but Mdme Kiki remembers. Yes I am a "little" homesick to say the least. Please pray for us as we prepare to return to Haiti and what my family recognizes as "normal". I'm sure God is smiling or maybe He even laughed out loud to Himself with this statement from me. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Dee
Thursday, January 8, 2009
What a Mighty God We Serve
WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!
Keep praying for our girl Lonia. She is doing amazingly well for all that she has been through. She is walking everywhere. She knows no stranger. She is full of all things little girls should be full of but especially, personality. She is talking and saying all kinds of things. She eats everything in sight. She has been staying with Charlie and Teresa Bowen in Maryville, Missouri. This was a big help while we waited for Josiah's arrival. Thank you both so much for your commitment to the Lord and to Lonia.
Every time I take a few minutes to think of the journey we've been on I am overwhelmed and the tears start flowing relentlessly. Just thinking how amazing it is that this little girl is alive! What does God have in mind? What is His special plan for her? The whole thing is a blur in my mind. It seems I've been gone from Haiti so long. I'm not sure who I am or where I am but I am sure who God is and I am still sure that where He leads me, I will follow.
I don't know how people live without Him. I would lose my sanity, lose my grip easy if I wasn't so sure of His presence in my life. He is so in love with each of us, He can't take His eyes off of us. What an awesome God we serve! I am kind of getting that as I hold Josiah in my arms and I can't take my eyes off of Him. How awesome, how precious, how delicate and so much detail! Really God, are you sure you want me to take care of him? I don't want to mess him up and God I know with you, I can't.
Daddy and Josiah
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