Meeting with the Atrel District Church Leaders

Today we had the priviledge of attending the monthly meeting for all the preachers and church leaders in the Atrel district.  There 16 churches affliated with BHM within the Atrel district and each month they gather together to discuss the things that are happening within their churches.
It was very encouraging to talk with these men and continue to get to know the people in this community.

Over the past few months we have had many visitors and several of them have brought things to be shared with the people here.  We do not want to hand these things out to people and have them begin to rely on the foreigner.  Instead we want to use the Biblical example of the church taking the responsibility of taking care of those in need.  Therefore we gave all the things that had been left to the group of church leaders today so that they could take them back to their communities and help those who are in need in their areas. 

Below is a picture of most of the church leaders who were at the meeting.  One of the things we gave them were mats that had been made by people at Forest Baptist Church.  They were very thankful for all the things that were shared and were looking forward to passing these things along to those in need.

Showers of Blessing

Right now in the Atrel area it is a common site to see men and young boys working in their fields each morning and evening.  They are diligently working the hard rocky soil, preparing it to be planted soon.  This is all done by hand and it is very difficult work.  I am always amazed at the diligence of these men and their willingness to work so hard for the small crop that they will hopefully receive.
It is a challenge to me to think: "Am I willing to work diligently, under difficult circumstances, not knowing what harvest I will reap, as I work for the Lord?

Group of men working a field together

This morning we had the privilege of attending a Harvest Celebration at the nearby church of Grand Kay.  This community invited us to attend and it was very special to be a part of their celebration.  During the service they were thanking God for the harvest and all the blessings that they had received.  Just as the service was about to end it started to rain really hard.  The closing hymn was "There shall be showers of blessings"  What an appropriate hymn to sing, as it is pouring rain.  It rained super hard for about an hour. 
As we drove home, in the rain, we were super excited to find that it had rained hard in Atrel also and we received almost 2 1/2" of rain.  This is a huge blessing!!
Another blessing was the gift of a goat.  We are always humbled when churches give us gifts.  We know that many of these people have very little and when they choose to share with us it is very humbling. 

Church at Grand Kay

Our new goat, which the boys have named "Dark Thunder"

Back in February, with the help of several people, I was able to get a garden built.  This past week Kyrk set up the irrigation lines and I was able to plant the lettuce, carrots, and a few other vegetables into it.  I will be so thankful to have some fresh vegetables soon.

Installing the irrigation lines

Plants ready to go in the garden

Fun pictures of the kids:

Jonathan was trying to make a parachute

Matching sisters

Beautiful rainbow that was in the sky Friday evening. 

Update from the Past Couple Weeks

Wow, it has been so long since I last updated this blog that I am not sure where to start. 

LaSalle School:
From March 16-26 we were blessed with having 5 men from People’s Church in Toronto come and help work along side the community of LaSalle to build a much needed school building.  Each day there were many people from the community who came out to help in whatever way they could.  Young, old, they all helped by carrying rocks, sand, water, or other building supplies.  It was hard work for all, but to see a well constructed school building for this community, they were all willing to do whatever they could.
Thanks to Mark, Andy, Peter, Jeff and Brian for all your hard work also.

Our House:
The progress continues, but at a much slower pace now that we do not have any extra help.  We are so thankful that we have our solar panels and wind generator hooked up. We also have a fridge/freezer connected.  This really makes life a little easier and it is so nice to be able to turn lights on at night also.  Each day progress is made, which keeps us encouraged.

This is our kitchen right now.  Looking forward to having kitchen cabinets soon.

Movie night in the "living room"

Drywall Finishers:
We are currently looking for a couple of men who would be willing to come help finish our drywall.  The drywall is all hung in the upstairs, so if someone is willing to come, anytime in the month of April or beginning of May would be perfect.  Let us know if you, or someone you know would be interested in helping.

Easter:
We were able to spend Easter in Fermathe with all of the mission staff.  It was a special time to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord with everyone together.  A sunrise service on Easter Sunday morning is always very special.

Our children (minus Jonathan) along with Lizzy, Kilee and Josiah at Fermathe

Atrel community:
We continue to meet new people here and develop relationships with the people.  Continue to pray that God would clearly show us the ways the He would like to use us here in Atrel.   We know that we are supposed to start the training center, but the little steps in between are yet unknown.

Children:
Our children are really adjusting well to living in Atrel.  It was a little struggle for Naomi to celebrate her 10th birthday “in the middle of no where” as she put it without her cousins and friends from Fermathe, but we made it as special of a day as we could.  Having a “No School Day” always helps make it a good day.

Naomi with her birthday cake.

Robert really wanted a mo hawk, so his hair stayed like this for a couple of days.

The Turkey:
With the help of Mark, who was part of the team helping to build the LaSalle school, we butchered a turkey that was given to us from the Atrel church committee.

Mark did a great job of killing the turkey.  Brian is holding the tool of choice here, a machete.

It was a family affair to pluck and clean out the turkey.

The finished bird.  After pressure cooking it for awhile, it made a great casserole.

Long Overdue Update

Sorry for the long absence over the past couple of weeks.  The last couple of days of February most of our family came down with a very bad stomach bug.  We then traveled to Fermathe on February 28th, and I will not share all the details of that trip.  Let me just say it was very eventful and we stopped 8 times along the side of the road :(
We really enjoyed our week in Fermathe.  We felt like we were at a resort as we enjoyed our home their.  To have warm real showers, enjoy yogurt, cheese and fresh fruit and vegetables was a huge treat.  We were able to get a couple of the kids' passports renewed and buy some needed supplies.
On Saturday we returned to Atrel and even though life is a little more challenging here, we were glad to be back "home."
Sunday was a special harvest celebration service at church.  It was neat to be apart of this and to worship and give thanks with our brothers and sisters in Christ, giving thanks for the harvest that they have finally had after losing 2 crops to drought.

On Monday we were back to work on our house.  Here are a few pictures:

 This is a water tower that will hold a large 300 gallon water tank.  Thank you to Uncle Bob for welding it for us. 

 The guys are building a small rock wall to make a larger porch at our front door.

 This rock wall was started by my brother Caleb, and the guys have been working on finishing it.

 The kids are enjoying playing in their rooms when they are finished school.

 Kyrk has most of the interior walls finished now.

We decided to bring our couch up on the last truck.  It is so nice to have a couch, even if the house isn't finished.  We all sat as a family on the couch on Sunday afternoon and watched a movie together in our new house.  We were squished, but it was fun.

This turkey was a gift from the church committee.  The kids are enjoying it and they are really looking forward to it's execution tomorrow.  They are all excited about plucking it's feathers and eating it.  It is going to be a great science lesson.

Exciting Times in Haiti

There have been many exciting things happening over the past couple of days.
We praise God that we received over an inch of rain on Sunday and Monday.  This is a wonderful answer to prayer.
On Friday a group from Holland with World Servants arrived to help the community of Moulin Gouane build a 3 room school building. 

On Sunday afternoon it started to rain!

We were so excited to see rain that we went up to our house just to listen to the water fall into the cistern.  Yes we got soaked, but it felt so good.

This has made the roads very muddy

There is a group from World Servants here and they get to experience the super muddy roads.

Arriving at the Moulin Gouane school, where they are building.

Communicating with the help of an interpreter

Boss Joubert explaining how to tie the iron together

The cistern at the school was in great need of repair and the group is helping with this project also.

Wash Day!  Naomi and Anna loved to help Aunt Helen.

The dedicated window and door trim painter

Painting the plywood for the ceiling

Praying for Rain & Construction Continuing

Since we said good bye to the group that was here, work has continued.  The team of local men have put the coating on the outside of the house and work continues on the inside also.  Everyday we are one step closer to moving in.

Huge Prayer Request:
On Tuesday we got some water from the spring and noticed a big difference in the water.  The water level is getting so low that it now has a salty taste.  It has been over 4 months since this area has seen measurable rain and it is getting very critical. 
Please join us in praying that God would send rain.  As I sit writing this, I can see rain falling in areas close by, but it is not raining in Atrel.  Praying for a miracle rain fall.

The outside coating is almost finished.  Only the front needs the second coat.

Johnny and Bob worked to get the last of the mesh on the house.

We have a front door!

Bob has welded all of the metal grates on the windows

We can now collect water off the back side of the roof to start filling the cistern.

The windows are being put in.

Thank you to our Creative and Diligent Groups

We are so thankful for the people who have come to help us build our house.  As of tonight the electrical is basically finished, most of the dry wall and plywood is on the walls, all the exterior is sheeted and our yard is starting to really look like a great yard.  They have been a fantastic group of very hard workers.  They have also been a very creative group.  Here are a few of their creations.

Group from Forest Baptist, Alberta and Steve who stayed from the last group.

Dustpan the size of a shovel

Step scaffolds also known as miniature ladders

Walter's T-square

Walter's step ladder

Pull cord made from left over rope and a small piece of wood

Electrical wire spool holder

When you don't have paper, use drywall scraps.