God's Little Reminders

Sadly it is not uncommon to hear about the corruption in Haiti, and yes it is true that there is a lot of corruption here and it can easily get discouraging.
Today I was delightfully reminded of God's faithfulness and that there are those here who really are striving to live a life of integrity.
Yesterday was payday, so I gave one of our cooks the money she was due.
I was a little surprised when she came to my door this morning, since today was not a day she was to come to work.  She said when she got home she discovered that I had given her $100 dollars more then I should have (about $12.50 US).  She didn't want to wait until Monday to make it right, she had to come and return the money this morning.
Wow, praise God for this true example of integrity.  This was convicting to me.  Would I have wanted to make it right so quickly that I would have paid extra tap tap money to return the money so quickly? 
I am so thankful for my sister in Christ's example of integrity.

Answered Prayer

All night last night the tropical storm sat still in the ocean south of Haiti.  It was a very peaceful night with no wind or rain.  We were closely watching the reports all day and were expecting the storm to come.  All day the sun tried to shine and there was very little wind.  We kept wondering when the storm was going to come.  When we checked the report at 4pm, we were amazed.  The storm had broken apart and disappeared.  WOW!!!  God surly answered our prayers and spared Haiti from a tropical storm.

Since we were expecting the storm to come, Kyrk made the decision to keep the 2 teams that are visiting, here at the mission instead of going out to continue building the houses they are working on.  This also was such a blessing.  These teams were able to complete some much needed projects here at the mission and were a huge help.  Some of them finished installing all the plumbing for 2 apartments.  The others built some walls in storage depots and helped with some cleaning and sewing.  They all worked so diligently and it were a great blessing.  Tomorrow they should all be able to go out to complete their houses.

Calm Before the Storm

Today has started out to be a great day.  Today is Jonathan's 7th Brithday and Kyrk and I's 10 anniversary.  So it is a day of celebration.  The sun is shining and I have my clothes hanging outside drying.  It is hard to imagine that we have a tropical storm heading straight for us later today.
Several of our workers are going around making sure that everything is tied down or put away, preparing for the storm.
We are thankful that several homes have been rebuilt, so many families have a safe, secure home to stay in during the storm, but at the same time there are still so many who are living in tents and poorly constructed tin shelters with tarps.  We are praying that people are able to find safe places to go while the storm passes.
Your prayers for the people of Haiti are appreciated as we wait for the storm to come later today.

Accident update

Thank you so much for your prayers for those affected by the accident in the market on Friday.
We praise God that several of those who were injured are recovering well. 
This morning one of the workers, Celavy, came in and was very thankful for the ways that we were able to help him out on Friday and have a driver take his son to a hospital.  His son was released from the hospital and is doing much better. 
The reports from the other family members of workers are positive also, but their is still lots of healing that needs to take place. 
Thank you once again for your prayers.

Accident in the Fermathe Market

This morning around 8:00 a small pick up truck (Tap Tap) lost it's brakes coming down the hill from Fort Jacques and ran into the market area at the bottom of the hill.  The market area was very busy since it was market day and many people go to the market early in the morning. 
This market area is located about a 5 minute walk from the mission.
Sadly several people were injured and some were killed.  We treated some of the injured here at the mission hospital, but most of the injuries were transfered to other hospitals since they were severe injuries and we didn't have the staff to handle all the severe injuries.
Two of our drivers became Ambulance drivers and helped to transfer 2 worker's family members to hospitals in Port-au-Prince.  We praise God that they were able to get them to the hospital where they could get emergency surgery if necessary (we can only handle scheduled surgeries here).
We don't have any further updates on those injured.  As we hear more, I will try and update.  One is Celavy's son and another is a family member of Gaston.  Madame Boss also had a sister in law injured.
Thank you for your prayers.  Your continued prayers for the families who lost loved ones and for the healing of those who were injured are greatly appreciated.

Kyrk took this picture when he went through the area around noon.  In the middle of the picture behind the 2 motorcycles is the truck which flipped over on it's side when it crashed.

Summer Bible Institute, Teams and Fun Pictures

Conference Center and Summer Bible Institute:
After about 2 weeks of very hard work, Kyrk finished building 3 classrooms and a dorm room on the second floor of the conference center.  This was a large task and we were blessed with having several people come and help with the project.  We were also very thankful for our very talented carpenters and painters who faithfully worked each day helping to get the project finished.
Summer Bible Institute classes began on July 6 and it was an answer to prayer that they were able to use the newly built classrooms.
This year Kyrk was asked to teach one of the classes for Summer Bible Institute. He is teaching a class on the doctrine of sin, salvation and man.  It is a third year class and on Thursday (his first day of class) there were 6 students in his class.  He teaches every Tuesday and Thursday morning for 2 hours.  Pray that God uses Kyrk to clearly teach these doctrines and Bible truths and that the students would be able to clearly understand and apply what they are learning.

Teams:
Over the past few weeks we have been blessed with several work teams coming to visit and rebuild houses.  This is always a delight and encouragement to the people in the communities that they are working in and also to us missionaries. 
It has also presented some challenges for Kyrk to try and get all the building materials to the job sites while he was struggling with several mechanical problems with the trucks.  Pray that God keeps our trucks working well.

Fun Family pictures:
I thought it was time to include a few fun pictures of the kids.

We had to count thousands of Aqua Tabs to be sent to the schools and Anna was "helping."  Thanks Bri and Brooke for helping me with this huge task!!

Anna was more interested in climbing in the boxes.

Anna playing with glasses.

Robert was gifted with a little pig from Ti Jean (one of our contractors)  He named it Thomas and loved to go feed it each day.  Sadly this pig died a week ago, but the next day Ti Jean brought another pig for Robert. The new pig is Lightning McQueen and so far it is doing well.

Flexibility

There are definitely some days when God really teaches us a truth and we can't help but get the message.  Yesterday was one of those days for me.  I started my day thinking that it would be a typical day, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and other jobs that come with raising 5 children.
Around 11 am all of that changed and God started showing me that I was going to learn a little more flexibility.
One of the team members that is here helping to build houses had tripped on a piece of a cement block and they thought she may have broken her ankle.  Once she arrived at the mission the fun began of visiting the doctor, getting x-rays, getting the proper hospital paperwork, etc.  Thankfully that all went rather smoothly.
We discovered that she had fractured her ankle and would have to go down to Pettionville to have a cast put on.  So off Rebekah and I went with Evelyn and a driver.  Once we arrived we discovered there were 2 flights of stairs that she would have to get up.  This was a huge task, but we made it and thankfully the doctor was willing to help us quite quickly, which was a huge blessing.
By late afternoon we were back home and Evelyn was feeling much better.
Needless to say, I didn't get accomplished what I had thought I would do yesterday, but I'm so grateful that God chose to use me in this way and teach me that His interruptions may not be my plan, but He wants to accomplish great things through His plan.  It was a wonderful time of getting to know Evelyn and she really encouraged me and challenged me in many ways.

It is often said that to survive on the mission field you need three things, flexibility, flexibility and flexibility. I think I still need to work on this one, but I'm thankful that God continues to teach me.

Cholera on the increase again

On Friday Kyrk had an opportunity to visit the community of Grande Source.  He took the Honda Big Red and drove for about 45 minutes and then had to walk 1 hour to reach the community.  During the earthquake the church was destroyed and the community wants to rebuild.  They were wanting Kyrk's wisdom to help them decide on the best place to build the new church and other construction advise.
As Kyrk was walking back to the place where they had parked the Honda, he was passed by a group of people who were walking very quickly carrying a lady who was very sick with cholera.  They were taking her to the closest clinic which was over one hour walking distance from the community of Grande Source.
When Kyrk got the the Honda, he once again saw the group carrying the sick lady.  They had found out that there was no one at the clinic to treat the lady and a truck had been called to come and pick her up to bring her to the mission, the next closest clinic.  Kyrk had passed the truck used to pick up cholera patients, on his way out and he knew it was broken down on the side of the road and that without someone else helping this lady, she would die.
So he offered to put the stretcher on the back of the Honda, but he didn't have any ropes to tie it down.  He asked the people if anyone had any ropes.  No one had any, but they were so desperate to get this lady to a clinic that one man took off his sweatshirt, ripped it up and made rope to hold the stretcher on.  This was all he had and had to borrow a t-shirt from another man to have something to wear.
Kyrk was able to bring her safely to the mission and she quickly received treatment. 
We are praying that she is recovering and will soon be able to return to her village.

The rainy season has increased the number of cholera patients that we are seeing.  Our cholera clinic had downsized, but they are going to move back into the bigger facility soon since the number of patients that they are seeing each day is increasing. 
Pray that people will be able to get to clinics quickly to receive treatment.

Here is a short video of the group carrying the stretcher with the lady on it.

Antione is with Jesus

On Monday night at his home, Antione went to heaven.  He was a wonderful man of God who faithfully worked at the mission since it was started.  He would always arrive at 6 am and was the last to leave around 6 pm and he would come 7 days a week.  Each day he lead devotions with the workers and was a great example to everyone around him of what a Godly servant should be like.
Our children, especially Robert, have had a special place in their heart for Antione.  Since his stroke in 2009 we have been sending a vehicle to his house every Sunday morning to pick him up and bring him to church.  The children all looked forward to saying hello to Antione each Sunday after service. 
Also every evening that we eat together in the dining hall with the mission staff Robert requests prayer for Antione.  When I shared with Robert yesterday that Antoine had died and went to heaven, he didn't understand.  I think he might realize what happened when he doesn't see him at church on Sunday.
He will be dearly missed.
Pray for his family as they go through this difficult time.

This picture was taken in November when my mom and 2 neices were here visiting.

Back again

Sorry that it has been so long since I have put anything up on our blog. 
On April 25, Kyrk and I traveled to London, England for a 2 day vacation and then went on to Holland for some vacation time and a 6 day conference with World Servants.  It was a wonderful time for us and we enjoyed spending time with some dear friends in Holland.

We are very grateful to Chris and Kelli for taking care of our children for the 2 weeks that we were gone. 

We were able to spend Sunday afternoon with this wonderful group of friends.

Gerben and Marjon were such wonderful hosts and we really enjoyed spending time with them.

Saturday morning bike ride through Joure.

Shopping for good dutch tea.

Kyrk loves Stroopwaffles.

Doing an assignment during the World Servants training.

Playing Farmer's Golf.  We had so much fun playing this crazy game.

New Machinery arrives

Last week we were blessed with some great machinery, a John Deere and a Bob Cat.   Yes, they came in the form of 4 hard working men from the St. Louis area.  They had a wonderful sence of humor and were a very wonderful group to work with.  Two families were blessed with a new home thanks to these 4 men, the 2 ladies that joined them and some of our faithful workers who worked along side of them. 

New machinery, John Deere and Bob Cat

Working on one of the houses

 As an update on Sanel's house, Kyrk and the others working with him, have completely finished this house.  Sanel and his family are very thankful for the gift of a new home.

Sanel and his family in front of their completed house.

Fun Video of the kids

Kyrk recorded this video this afternoon of the kids playing.

Election results

Around 6 pm tonight the election results were officially announced.  It was announced that Mr. Martelly is going to be our next president.
As soon as this announcement was made you could hear cheering and celebrating all over the mountain sides.  As I am writing this (at almost 9pm) I am listening to people cheering and celebrating on the street.
Overall it appears that the people are happy with these results, so we are anticipating that things will remain calm.
Thanks for your continued prayers for Haiti.  We are praying that as Mr. Martelly takes office soon, he will have Godly people around him to help him make wise decisions and that he will lead this country well.

A New Home for Sanel

Sanel is a carpenter who has been working for the mission for several years.  He lost his home in the earthquake and since that time he and his family have been living in a tin shack. 
For the past few months we have been building concrete homes, but Kyrk was wanting to experiment with other building materials, to see how they compare.
Over the past 4 days Kyrk, along with our team of carpenters, have been building Sanel's new house with steel studs and dense glass.  These have been very enjoyable days for Kyrk and he has really enjoyed working with the guys and building this home.  They are hoping to finish the house tomorrow.
We are praising God for the safety that He has blessed the men with this week, and Sanel and his family are praising God for a new home.

Framing the house with the steels studs.

House covered with dense glass

Applying the finishing coat on the outside.

Elections and children

Thank you so much for your prayers for the elections that took place on Sunday.  
Thankfully they happened very peacefully.  We haven't heard too many reports of what took place on Sunday, so we are assuming that all was well.  The word now is that the results should be announced on March 31.  We will wait and see what happens.

Over the past couple of days we have had several of our children sick.  Anna and Naomi had fevers and are now battling a cold.  Thankfully they appear to be getting better.
This afternoon Robert was sick with the flu, so I'm praying that he gets better soon and that the flu doesn't spread to the other children.

Currently we have 2 different teams here.  One is a construction team that has completed 2 houses in the past week.  This morning Kyrk was able to join the team as they had a small dedication service at each house with the family.  In Kyrk's words "It never gets old."  God is doing great things and it is so encouraging to be able to share God's love through helping a family rebuild a home.
We are also blessed with a medical team from Annapolis.  This group of 16 doctors and nurses have been doing some amazing surgeries and helping many people.  It is so clear that they are here in God's timing.  During the first 2 days that they were here, there were 2 emergencies cases that came in and because they were here, we were able to treat those patients here instead of transporting them to a different hospital. 
Usually we can't do emergency surgeries since we don't have a anesthesiologist here 24 hours, but there are 3 with the team :)
Thanks for your continued prayers and I am hoping to get some stories and pictures up relating to the houses and patients that we are treating this week.  So check the BHM blog in the next couple of days.

Few pictures from Kyrk's Atrel trip

 Kyrk's trip was very successful.  He was able to speak with several school directors and teachers as they visited several schools and assessed the greatest needs of the communities.

Some of the Boulanger school children in front of the school building that was built in 2008.

The old school building at Boulanger.  They really needed a new one :)

One of the classrooms at the Moulin Gouane school.

The same classroom from the outside.

A class in the Nan Flip school

 No matter where we go in this country we are always amazed at the hospitality and generosity of the people.  At one of the schools that Kyrk visited he was given a gift of a sack of millet.  Right now many of the farmers in the Northwest are harvesting millet.  This is one of the staple food for the people in that area.  The district pastor, Pastor Fritz, also gifted Kyrk with a sack of millet and also some beans.  I'm now experimenting with recipes that use millet or millet flour.  I would love to hear any suggests if anyone has some good recipes using millet flour or millet.

On the right is the millet still in the hulls.  On the left is what it looks like after they pounded it.

Removing the chaff from the ground millet.

Kyrk Currently in Atrel

Kyrk left on Monday to go to Atrel for a few days.  There are 2 people here from World Servants and they needed to check up on past World Servants projects in that area and also look at future projects.
When I spoke with Kyrk last night things were going very well.  It really is encouraging for us to visit churches and schools in the area of Atrel and see the needs as well as get to know more of the people.
Pray that as he visits more churches today and then travels home tomorrow that God would protect them as they travel and that God would bring the people into their paths that He desires for them to meet and talk with.
We are so thankful for Pastor Fritz, who is the overseeing pastor in the Atrel area.  He has been traveling around with them, showing them different places and he has also opened his home to them.
Thank you for your continued prayers for our move to Atrel.  We are trusting that in God's perfect timing we will move there.  Trips like this one, that Kyrk is on now, help to encourage us as we wait for our move to Atrel.
I'm hoping that Kyrk took some pictures on his trip so I can post some on here.

Recent donations

Every since the earthquake we have been receiving many donations of various clothes, food and other items.  Most of these items have been very helpful and many people have been blessed by the donations.
On Tuesday we got a truck load of shoes, and clothes.  Kyrk decided to model some of the contents of this truck load.  I think this is some of the craziest things we have received. :)

Yep, we got a lot of tuxedo jackets and vests

Crocodile Adventures

One of the ministries that we have here at Baptist Haiti Mission is to offer the community a safe place to come, relax, enjoy our yard, playground and zoo.  There are 2 main attractions in our zoo, a monkey and a crocodile.
Sadly in November our crocodile died.  Since so many people have enjoyed visiting the zoo and seeing a crocodile we knew we had to try to replace him.
Last week, we were blessed with a new crocodile and it came at the perfect time since Kyrk had finished having the cage repaired and repainted.
After doing some research we discovered that crocodiles do best when the water temperature is between 68F and 95F.  So we went to work trying to create a way to warm up the water in his cage since the water was in the low 60s.
Jonathan has loved working with his Dad helping with this project and as of lunch today the water should be getting warmer for the crocodile.

Bring the Crocodile into his new home.

Untying the ropes

Resting in his new home.

Working on their water heating system

Kyrk trying to convince Jonathan that he can stand on the island with the croc.

This one is for Grandma C!

David and Laura come to visit

We were recently blessed with having my brother David and his wife Laura come and visit us.  It is always such an encouragement to have family visit and it was hard to say goodbye to them on Friday

David helped build sink counters on the conference center.

Kyrk and David working on plumbing for the conference center.

Coloring with David.

David and Laura helped with many projects around the house. 

Rebekah being silly.

David wanted us to make cupcakes, so we had "Happy David Day."