DAY 3 PM: Guest Blogger-Pa-Looza

SHAQUILLE:

Today was beautiful and hectic. A few of us started the day off by going to market, which was an experience I’ve never been blessed with before. It was amazing to be a part of the community in an activity they do on a daily basis. The crowd was a bit crazy and I am incredibly thankful for our guide and translator, because otherwise I’d have never even found the market in the first place! Today was also the first day of VBS for the kids, which was definitely a learning experience. The kids here are different than the kids I am used to on the playgrounds in Canada. Organized games are difficult because of the language barrier, however the majority are extremely content with being chased around a field. They’re incredibly affectionate. They want to be held constantly and if you don’t pick them up they will be hugging, clinging, climbing, or touching you. After the kids had all trickled out of the compound and were on their way home we had an opportunity to go on a community walk. We split into two groups, took backpacks full of shoes and hygiene packages, and walked into the community with our translator. We just walked up to families outside their homes and asked them if they knew Jesus, if they were Christian, if they wanted to know more about  Jesus, and they were so incredibly receptive which I found amazing. We were blessed with the opportunity to pray with them and let them know about Jesus’ love for them and the call to love others as we love ourselves in His name.

JON:

A highlight for me today was during a walk through the community. We had brought hygiene and baby packs to bless the people we came across. We prayed as a group for guidance and then came across a house and felt as if this is where we were to go. There was about 6 or 7 people there and I asked if I could talk to them about Jesus. I talked about how Jesus is the Life (John 14:6) and how when we believe on Him His life becomes our life (2 Cor 4:10-11). We talked about how there are different things in the world, things that bring life and things that lead to death. Jesus is Life. If they choose Jesus they choose Life. Any other choice is a choice that leads to death.

After this talk we asked if any of them needed prayer for healing. We prayed for each person. I prayed for a woman struggling with severe back pain and headaches. Lisa prayed for a little baby who needed healing in his stomach. Laura led a young man to the Lord, and the Heavens rejoiced. Then, Tyson led another young man to the Lord, and the Heavens rejoiced. Then Alyssa led another young man to the Lord, and the Heavens rejoiced. We gave the family hygiene and baby packs and then connected them with the local church here at Haiti Arise encouraging them to be there on Sunday.

We then left that family and a mother shouted at us to come and see her. She was holding a baby, 7 months old, who had fallen in November and now had a hole in his skull amongst other problems. Michelle prayed for this young child and we are believing for a miracle. Finally, a little girl desired prayer for her schooling. She wanted to get very good grades. She was in about Grade 2-3. Lindsay stepped in and prayed for her. This ministry walk was great on several fronts. For one, God will do a great work of healing in each person we prayed for (James 5:15, Matthew 14:14) and two, each person in our group stepped up and prayed for someone in Jesus’ name. It was a great time of growing up in faith and a great blessing to the people we came in contact with. A glorious day. Three new believers! And the Heavens rejoiced.

JAMES:

Prayer is powerful.  Sometimes I forget about how necessary it needs to be in a Christian’s life.  Right after we finished breakfast, Tyson and I set out to our work project, which is to build the wall for the Children’s village, and one of the missionaries, Chris, came with us.  My mind was just focused on going out and building this wall, but Chris stopped us and said we should pray about this project before we go out and work.  Prayer is often something that gets skipped when we get busy or are going out to work. I think about what the bible says in 1^st Thessalonians to “Pray continually” and how sometimes I save up my prayers for later in the day when I have time.  When I do it that way I am not doing it the way God’s will is for me, which is to pray continually.  I am challenging myself from now on to have constant communication with God and to make prayer a priority, because prayer is powerful.  While we were out at the work site, it was just me, Tyson, 4 or 5 Haitians, and a huge communication barrier because we can’t speak their language and they can hardly speak ours.  That being said, the communication barrier makes the work a lot slower, and Tyson and I find ourselves unsure what to do much of the time.  If we could communicate the work would go faster.  Applying this to my prayer life, if I don’t communicate with God it will be harder to know what work He wants me to do, and to even know what His will is for me.  Constant communication with God will increase the effectiveness of the work I do for God.  I would also like to challenge those who read this to increase prayer in your life too.

-James

DAY 3 AM: Saskatoon Farmer’s Market, Eat Your Heart Out…

I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t be called a “cold” if you can get it in plus 30 degree weather.  Argh.

Aside from the odd ache and pain, everyone is doing well!  The girls–Shaquille, Beth, Lindsay, Hannah, Laura, and Alyssa–have been leading the recess with the elementary school kids, and today they decided to pick up fewer kids.   Once you give one an “uppie”, you’ll be busy for the next 15 minutes.

It was fun to watch things progress yesterday.  Tyson, James, and John spent the whole day working on the wall at the children’s home (and are back there this morning).  They got 7 posts put in to place, and today and starting to insert the concrete slabs that fit in the grooves to make the “fence boards”.  It’s a good 10-15ft wall, so they’re using scaffolding to get the 70lb slabs high enough to slide down the grooves.  Good times!

Meanwhile, Loretta and Lisa have served notice that they know how to use a spade–they’ve been making short work of the digging for the technical school footings. It’s a sobering process digging for that, as you are slowed up considerably as you dig up rubble and broken concrete from the old building destroyed in the earthquake.

Half of us took off to market this morning, which was a unique experience to say the least! The other half will go Saturday morning, except for Mitchell.  He made an impassioned plea to be excused from “shopping”, so we let him stay and work!

The market is chaotic, to say the least.  People and huts everywhere, with barely discernible pathways, and everything you could imagine.  It’s different from your typical Tijuana, MX market, where it’s a bunch of trinkets and souvenirs.  This was survival.  Food, medication, fruits, charcoal (by the bagful), meat (I think–there was a table with legs and hooves and cuts of something on it!).  I think I even saw farmer sausage, which made me incredibly proud.  We stopped at a bakery to pick up some bread too, which was fantastic.  The best of that was when half the loaves fell off the tray when coming out of the oven and we discovered that Haiti also lives by the “5-second rule”. (A little dust never hurt anyone, right?)

The highlight of the market trip for me was once all the kids were back safe in the van (phew!) and I had to go buy snack for our Kids Camp starting today.  After crossing the street (easier said than done. You have NO rights as a pedestrian.  None. Zero.), I had to figure out, with the help of my “translator” (HA!), how much they needed, then figure out the conversation rate.  ME! With my horrible math skills!  If there was ever a reason to have my phone with me on the trip it would have been right then–a calculator would have been handy.  See if you can track with me:

1US Dollar is equivalent to 8 Haitian Dollars.  Easy enough, right?  Except that they don’t have Haitian Dollars.  They just talk in that way.  They have “Gouds”.  And 5 Gouds make a Haitian Dollar.  So the locals tell you how many Haitian dollars they want, which you then have to figure out in Gouds, and then re-figure out in your head what you just were asked to pay in US Dollars so you can make sure you’re not getting taken to the cleaners (cause we kinda, you know, stick out.  Easy marks, really!).  We figured it out, though, and I walked out with 400 packages of cookies for kids for the next few days.

There was no receipt either, so that’s gonna make for a fun requisition when I get back.

We also got to go check out the river bed, which, right now, is currently just a light trickle. Our translator explained that in the rainy season (read: Hurricane season) the river fills to the brim, and that back in 2004 it actually took out the bridge that spans it … which explains why we drove through the riverbed and river on the way to compound rather than taking the bridge that is still not fully repaired. (I couldn’t get a clear answer on how they cross in the rainy season.  That seems like it would be fun.)

This afternoon our kids program starts, so I need to take off to go prep some stuff for that and wake up the few people that are taking a nap before lunch.  Moms and Dads, you’d be terribly proud of your kids. They’ve been fantastic. They were great through the airports, worked hard without complaint, and are putting in effort like crazy!

If you’re praying, pray for Marc and Lisa.  There have been a lot of little disputes and frustrations with the wall for the children’s village that have all come to a head this week.  It is their property, but there are still some squatters living in FEMA tents that don’t want to move their tents because they think someone will still build them a house (even though they already have one elsewhere). They are making it difficult to finish the wall.  In addition to all of that, somebody pulled up outside their house last night with a mic and speaker and “preached” against Haiti Arise and them personally (although not by “name”) from 3 till 6 in the morning.  Good times.

Otherwise, back to work!

DAY 2 PM: I Don’t Know What They We’re Singing, But It Was Louder Than Us…

Hey all who are following this, this is Cheryl blogging for the night.  Well, our day was great, as Stephen already commented on.  When 4:00pm rolled around (our time to quit for the day) you didn’t have to ask me twice, I pretty much ran to the shower.  That cold water takes a little getting used to, but it felt really good after a day in the hot sun!  Church was at 5:00pm and it is always a treat to worship in Haiti.  Hannah and Laura had children fall asleep on them, which will usually happen here.  Supper was later tonight because of church, but again, the food has been awesome.  We ate around 7:00pm, and as I type this, Lukas, Tyson, and James are on dish duty and I know that I feel really great about that!  My son is doing the dishes and I didn’t have to tell him and I didn’t have to help.  Life is definitely good, I love Haiti, and I am looking forward to tomorrow. Have a good night all!

DAY 2 AM: Blisters Are A Good Sign…

Mom and dad, your child was asleep by 8.30PM last night.  I checked.  Crazy, I know!

We spent some time on the roof last night doing a debrief, and talking about the difference between Lukewarm People, and those who are in love with Jesus.  Came from Francis Chan’s book, “Crazy Love”, which is well worth the read…  if you’re prepared to be pushed and challenged.

This morning, we were up at 7AM for breakfast (eggs and homemade english muffins), then off to work!  There are a bunch of ongoing projects that we are jumping into right now:

- The technical school, in the process of being rebuilt, and expanded. Were digging out for footings and foundation.  The girls did great on the spades.  It’s slow going, as we’re having to pick it all first to break it up, and hand bombing rocks and chunks of cement buried from the earthquake.

- We’ve also got people building the wall at the Children’s Village property, digging holes for 200lb poles (which are heavy when moving by hand!).  More spade and picking, with a bit of crowbar thrown in for fun.

- Brad is building some more forms so they can speed up production on the wall inserts and poles.  Mark is chanelling his inner farmboy and driving the bobcat around, while Mitch is off fixing and tinkering with the saws.

- Kevin and Linda, Tyson bought his Machete today   He wanted to use it clear brush at the village, but it’s safely in his suitcase, not to be seen again until we unload in Saskatoon!

- Sun is hot, but not unbearable… until you start working.  Then it gets a little warm.  I’ve discovered that I have possibly the most impressive deodorant in the world–my tshirt is soaked, except for little rings around my armpits.  Still not sure if that’s super healthy…  My non-sweating leg however, is stil non-sweating.

We’re back to the job sites this afternoon, then a church service tonight before debrief and bed.  All of the rooms now have air conditioners for night (sorry, Russ) so we actually woke up COLD in the middle of the night.  This is good, as we’ll be needing good sleep as we go.

It’s been fun to watch people try and cross the communication barrier.  Laura is doing fantastic, with her french immersion, I’m getting by (high school was a looong time ago), and the rest of us smile and nod.

The girls will be doing recess with the elementary school kids all week, so they are pretty excited about that, and Kids Camp starts tomorrow.

Time to head back out to work, and work on my wrist to elbow tan line. It’s gonna be a beaut by the time we get home!

Day 1: Arriving in Grand Goave

Hey everyone, it’s Laura!  I guess I am the guest blogger for tonight!

So, today after our lunch, most of the group napped and then headed back down for the orientation (during which we were reminded of all regulations and guide lines proposed by Haiti Arise).  After dinner, the team headed out into to the community for a tour with Beth, one of the Haiti Arise members that are with us, and were able to take photos and make basic or brief communication with some of the people of Grand Goave.  It was really neat to be able to see the community members and they’re reaction towards our presence and I think can speak for everyone when I say that our first day in Grand Goave was most definitely enjoyable.

Here safe and sound…

Just off to lunch and then a zombie like nap for those who didn’t sleep in the airport before orientation at 3PM.   Made it safe, no problems, and the missing bag was indeed missing, but all of the underwear it here.  The goner had giveaway stuff, so we will snag it from Lost and Found in Calgary on the way home.

Thanks for praying!

Why Is the Ft. Lauderdale Airport called “Hollywood” and Other 12.30AM musings…

Apparently It’s close to the town of Hollywood.  A different one, I’m asusming, or my geography is REALLY bad.

We’re on the ground (literally) as we spend the night waiting for security to reopen, so we can go through at 4.30AM (this will be good!  I don’t know if the students we have even KNOW there is a 4.30AM.  Education is everywhere).

And as we made our way down today I was reminded again of how little we can actually control, and how completely abandoned we are to God’s care.   We made it “safe”, but it is yet to be determined whether all our bags are with us.  I overheard on the radio as we were boarding in Calgary about “a bag with yellow tape” (that would be us) that had lost it’s name tag, and wasn’t being put on the plane.  My pleading with them as they we’re closing the door didn’t go over too well (against, points for WestJet.  Minus to American).

For everyone’s sake we’re hoping the missing bag isn’t Tyson’s underwear bag

Once in Dallas, we booked it over to the next boarding, only to get on to a plane that was literally 30C inside.  The AC was broken. Fun!  Good practice for the week I figured.  But as Hannah and I sat in our seats and watched people get to their boiling point (again, literally), we had to shake our heads.  15 minutes is all it took for us to get grumpy and unhappy with an “unbearable situtation”.  Seemed quite petty in the face of what we will be encountering in the morning.  Sometimes I think we need to give our heads a shake, at how we take things for granted, and complain like crazy when something isn’t to our liking, even for an brief moment.  And I’m speaking to myself too, as I whined all the way to Dallas about the lack of leg room and no in-seat TV (or ANY TV for that matter).

It could always be worse!  Tyson and Lindsay couldn’t control the toddler screaming bloody muder all the way to Dallas (complete with the parents spanking him to “quiet him” with the predictably opposite result).  I do realize that I will be enjoying that “pleasant” sound rather shortly, but good gracious–how on earth do kids scream like that? Where do they find time to take in air?!?

Either way, we’re quietly tucked away in our little cove, and camping out.  We’ll touch base tomorrow when we make it to the compound.  Please be praying as we make our way tomorrow, especially for hearts and minds of students who haven’t ever had the kind of exposure to extreme poverty that they will see tomorrow.  We want their hearts to be appropriately troubled, but in a way that leaves room for God to call them to a bigger picture.  Also, pray for the transition through the Port-Au-Prince airport, that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

… and that Tyson’s underwear shows up

Good night from Hollywood…

ST

Airports are fun!

big shout out to the westjet team at Saskatoon airport. They were a huge help, and even waived all our extra bag fees.

Now were just sitting around waiting for a delayed plane, talking about facial hair and unibrows. Good times!

HAITI TRIP 2011

Well, here we go!  Last day of gear arriving, backs being packed, passport checks, and web-check ins in the morning.  Thanks to everyone who has helped in so many ways, either through prayer, donations, financial help, and more.  Check back here regularly, as we will be blogging daily through the church website to keep people up to speed on what’s going on (and so that Melissa can track Stephen down in case of any “unexpected surprises”!)

Our flight leaves Sunday AM at 1145 with stops in Calgary, Dallas, and Ft. Lauderdale, where we will “sleep” in the airport for a few hours, than go through security at 4.30AM to be on the 6.10AM flight to Port-Au-Prince.  Then a three hour bus ride to Grand Goave, and we’ll be fresh and ready to rock!

We will keep you updated on what’s going on, and how to be praying for us as we’re gone as well.

Duty & Pleasure

Since the beginning of this new year I’ve really enjoyed spending some time reading the pastoral letters.  The pastoral letters are three short books in the New Testament where Paul, who we primarily know as a bold missionary and the writer of doctrine, becomes the mentor.  Timothy and Titus are on the receiving end as Paul passes on how to lead and be a positive godly influence in the very small, very young churches that are beginning to emerge in the ancient Roman world.  Part of the Roman experience was the ever present military, which the Romans used both for conquest, but also to police the population and maintain peace.  So everyone understood the role, and Paul uses this picture to give a clear picture of how the life of a committed soldier is ordered.

Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. And athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules. And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labour. (2 Timothy 2:3-6 NLT)

Paul is telling them, that believers cannot afford to be like everyone else.  This is such caution for us as Christians in North America.  It is one thing to say we are distinct because of what we believe, but another to see the fruit of that in our lives.  Have we capitulated to the shared dream of our society in such a way that we pursue security and safety in work and play as the highest of achievements?  To say we believe something is only part of it.  Being a soldier is a very practical affair, and has some pretty obvious results in victory and peace.  Perhaps our loyalty must be questioned when we look at our own results.  Are we concerned with victory or are we distracted and use our time and energy in things that are only for us.

Culturally we maybe aren’t as familiar with soldiers and the strict life of discipline they need to live.  And certainly we aren’t comfortable with the idea that we might need to endure suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ.  What our culture is interested in is the pursuit of pleasure.  And Paul talks about that here as the farmer should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labour.  The problem in the misdirected pursuit of pleasure is that you get what you aim for.  We aim for pleasure in so many ways.  We enjoy entertainment, we enjoy security and peace; we enjoy our homes and our families.  These are all fine things to enjoy.  But they are limited.  The story of the prodigal son ends with the older, stable, good, hardworking son; angry because his brother dares to come and enjoy the peace and security of living at home again.  To which the father replies:

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. (Luke 15:31)

In effect he is saying, it’s not about all this stuff we have.  It’s about me.  You have me.  And you have me all the time.  This is what is great about our lives; it’s about our being together, living together, and working together.  Following Jesus is beyond religion and it’s this marvellous place where duty and pleasure meet.  It’s because we are motivated by the wonder and mystery of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ.  So as we worship and live our lives to glorify God, let duty and pleasure be unified out of love for God, and a true desire to work with our father as he builds his church in us and through us.

CD’s For Worship

Here are a couple of CD’s that I’ve been listening to lately that will have some songs make their way into our times of congregational singing.  We had a lot of excited people about the song Our God when we sang it recently.  It’s the first song off of of Christ Tomlin’s If God is For Us.

Hillsong’s latest release has a great song on it called The Greatness Of Our God which has some amazing imagery on the power and honour of our great God.  We also regularly sing the song Open My Eyes, and Thank You has been used during communing.Both releases are great to listen to and have solid mixture of revelation and response aspects of biblical worship.  Having these with you during the week can be great for personal worship.

Also, for more in-depth personal Bible Study, I really recommend a series of New Testament Commentaries by N.T Wright.  They are great to read, and very practical

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