Back Home

On Thursday afternoon we arrived back in Haiti after a wonderful 2 months of vacation and deputation.  It was so wonderful to see how God worked and really encouraged us through the churches we visited and the many people that we spent time with. 
Coming back to Haiti after 2 months is always an adjustment.  This time there were several things that made that adjustment even more challenging.  It quickly became very clear to us that Satan was attacking us while we were tired and vulnerable. 
It is never fun to open a kitchen cupboard and discover that a rat has chewed a hole through the top of the cupboard and made a huge mess.  Then to discover that while we were gone someone broke into our back room and stole several of Kyrk's tools.
Through all of this it is easy to get angry and upset about these things, but we realized that that is exactly what Satan wanted us to do.  It made me think about what is most important in my life.  Do the things that I have really belong to Jesus?

This morning in church the pastor was speaking from Daniel 1 and challenged us to live true Christian lives.  He then referenced the hymn "I'd Rather Have Jesus"  I was reading it in the Creole song book and loved the way that it was translated.  Through these words God really challenged me to put Him first and not things. 
Here is the translation from the Creole Hymn book:
I'd rather have Jesus then lots of money
I'd rather have Him then being rich all the time.
I'm rather have Jesus then a beautiful house
I'd rather be led by Him all the time.

It is my prayer that this is true.  That Jesus is the most important thing, more then stolen tools, ruined food or anything else in this world.

Being who God wants us to be and trusting Him

Over the past few weeks we have been overwhelmed with the faithfulness of God.
We have had the opportunity to share with 4 different churches.  Each one of them have received us very openly and there have been some great opportunities to share how God is leading us.
As all this has been taking place I have been struck by the fact that I'm just an ordinary person striving to do the will of God.  I don't have to be anyone special, I just need to be me and follow God's leading.  Often I can get caught up in what other people think of me.  I think that I have to act a certain way and my children have to act a certain way since we are "Missionaries"  But I'm so thankful for God's gentle reminder through His word these past few days that it doesn't matter what others think of me and I don't have to be someone super spiritual or special since I'm a "missionary."  God just wants us to be who He made us to be and focus on drawing closer to Him and reflecting Him to others.
There have also been so many times these past few weeks when I have felt God saying "Do you trust me?"  I know that the road ahead of us as a family is going to be very difficult.  It is not going to be easy to make a major move to northwest Haiti.  There are so many uncertainties and we don't know where the funds are going to come from or how all the logistics are going to work out, but I constantly hear God saying "Do you trust Me?"
It is a daily struggle and I don't think it will ever be easy, but I'm so thankful for the ways that He has encouraged us through the wonderful people and churches that we have visited. 
I know that God has great things in store for us and day by day I pray that we truly will Trust Him.


Sorry for the lack of pictures.  They are all on Kyrk's computer so I will work on getting some good vacation pictures on here soon.

Enjoying Canada

Our trip here went very well and we have been enjoying everyday that we have been here.  It is so nice to be able to spend time with family and just relax.
Last Saturday David and Laura (my brother and sister in law) treated the kids to a train ride.  They all loved this, especially Robert.

Esther came home for a few days and built a gingerbread house with the kids.

 All of the grandchildren helped decorate Grandma's Christmas tree.  We made them pose for a picture when they were finished.  They are all here expect Anna, who slept through all the fun.

We were really looking forward to some cold snowy weather, but so far we have had cool rainy weather.  There has been a couple of days with a dusting of snow which the kids enjoyed, but they are hoping for enough snow to go tobogganing soon.

Preparing to leave for 2 months

Things are always a little more crazy amongst our house when it is time to prepare to leave for 2 months.  We will be flying to Detroit on Thursday and everyone is looking forward to a vacation and seeing friends ad family.

Knowing that we won't be here for 2 months there are many things that we need to do.  This past week Kyrk traveled to Atrel once again to speak with the owner of the property that we are wanting to purchase for our house.  We are praying that the paperwork can be started and hopefully completed by the time we return at the end of February, so that Kyrk can start construction in February. 

Patti, Kyrk, Trey and Joubert standing on the property in Atrel that the training center will be on.

Kyrk explaining to Joubert what the next steps will be for the wall around the property.  These are the pillars that we recently built around the property.

There are so many things that Kyrk and I do here that have to be explained to others so that they can continue to happen.  Pray that we are able to get all the details looked after before we leave.
Your prayers for our journey on Thursday are also greatly appreciated.  Traveling with 5 children is always an adventure, so we pray that everything goes well.  It will be midnight when we land in Detroit, so it is going to be a late night.  We are hoping to arrive at my parents between 2 and 3 am.  That is a long day for the kids when we start from home at 8 am.

As a little other side note, we still have at least one little mouse living in your house.  We are really hoping that we catch him before we leave.  We don't need a mouse running free in our home for 2 months :)

Flu and Rats

Fight with the Flu:
This past week our family has been fighting the flu bug.  Robert, Jonathan and Anna had it fairly bad and it lasted for at least 3 days for each of them.  Kyrk and I had less then 24 hours of feeling yucky, but thankfully didn't get it as bad as the kids.  We are so thankful that we are all doing well now and it seems that the bug has stopped spreading to the other staff. 

Rats:
On Saturday morning I did my typical morning routine of checking the rat trap in the back room.  I noticed that it had moved, so Kyrk went to check it out.  Yes we had indeed caught a rat and that rat had made a large mess in the back room knocking over the bucket of food for the pig.  I wasn't too excited about having to scrub the back room, but it was good motivation to clean it really well.  We moved the freezer to clean behind it and discovered a drain pipe that wasn't blocked.  After checking outside, we discovered that for the past 10 years we have had a nice open passage way for the rats to enter our house :(  Wow am I so thankful that the rat made a huge mess and we were forced to move the freezer.  Hopefully once we catch all the rats in the house, we will be rat free!!  Thank you God for a big rat mess.

Getting ready to leave for 2 months:
The next couple of weeks are going to be filled with preparations for leaving for 2 months on December 1.  It is always a lot of work to get things ready to leave, but it is so wonderful to be able to rest and relax once we are away.  We are really looking forward to seeing family and friends and to share in several churches.

Our week

I'm so thankful that this past week has been a much more relaxed week compared to last week. 

This past week Kyrk has traveled to visit a few newly constructed homes and also went to the village of Grande Source to check on the progress of the community to carry the sand to the building site of their new church (about a 1 hour walk).  It is encouraging to us that we are able to continue rebuilding homes, churches and schools.  We will keep rebuilding until the rebuilding money is used.

We were also blessed this week by having a group from Fellowship Bible Church in New Jersey come and help build a home.  They arrived on Thursday and will be here for a week. 

 Kyrk's parents also returned this week, which is always a wonderful thing.  It was nice for them to be able to be out for a few weeks, but it is always wonderful to have then come back.  Thankfully my work load is much lighter now that Patti is back, so I'm super thankful that she is back.

On Thursday Chelsea and I were able to have a fun ladies morning out.  It was a real treat to visit a jewelery making project and also spend some time with a friend from MAF.

Next week we are having a conference for about 75 preachers.  I'm really praying that everything goes well with the ladies in the kitchen again.  Join us in praying that the men who come to the conference will be open to hear what God wants to teach them and eagerly take what they learn and apply it and share it with others.

Fun in the Kitchen

This past week I have had the privilege of working with several cooks in our conference center kitchen.  There were about 200 teachers, school directors and administrators who came for a training conference and the 5 people in the kitchen were responsible for preparing 3 meals a day for them.  On Monday when I went to see how things were going in the kitchen, the head cook asked if I would be willing to help serve the food during lunch.  I willingly agreed knowing it would be a great opportunity to get to know the ladies and work alongside of them.
Brianne, my niece, along with Chelsea, a new missionary here, also helped out and we had a lot of fun together.
Even though it has been a long tiring week, it has been a blessing to spend time with the cooks and continue to build a relationship with them.

Chelsea helping to cut up potatoes for the salad.

Rebekah came along today to watch

My first job today was to help squish the plantain to make "banan pese"

The head cook, Madame Dodo, talking with 2 men who helped to serve the food.

Ladies doing the final preparations for the salad and sauce.

The people patiently waiting for their food.

Plating the fried chicken.  My hands were super greasy when I was done this job.

Everyday this was our job.  Using a large plate we scooped the rice and beans into the containers for each table.

Chelsea and Bri having fun washing the dishes