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.
Friday, October 16, 2009
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
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