Liquid Humility

We have been blessed to work with several pastors in this area.  One of them is Pastor Fleurilien from the LaSalle district that is in the area above our house.  The following was written by Kyrk and he shares about our experience a couple weeks ago when we attended a service in La Salle.


Sunday Dec. 29th 2013, we were invited to a special service at La Salle, in North west Haiti. The service was Pastor Fleurilien’s idea to honor the older members of the five churches in his district. Most of the honorees were founding members of their respective churches, and he wanted to give them a special honor while they were “ Still living and not after they had gone.”
The Service started like many other special services do here in Haiti, lots of decorations and two photographers and a videographer complete with a TV for the viewing pleasure (or pain) of the assembled mass on this most wonderful day. As we take our seats halfway down on the right side of the sanctuary in 4 school bench desk combo units we are greeted with smiles and a few “bonjour’s” from those around us.
About five minutes later the Pastor calls me up to the platform to join the other visitors and special guests (visiting pastors for other churches of the surrounding areas). I had not anticipated this and felt a little out of place, ALL of the others were in nice suits and ties, me wearing a short sleeve shirt and dress pants, NO TIE.
Now the service really has started, The honorees are asked to come forward and  take special seats  near the front in an area they have set aside just for the occasion. There are about 50 people. As the Pastor begins He says “ Unfortunately there is one lady who cannot be here today. We really wanted to have her here but last night God called her Home. I know that she is smiling down on us now and is much happier with her Heavenly family than we could ever have made her here today.”
Not long into the service, the time for the baby presentation arrived, which I thought a little strange (it was not in the program), this normally happens on the First Sunday of the month not the last. Three sets of parents make their way to the front of the sanctuary and the Pastor reading from The Gospel of Luke, about the presentation of Jesus at the Temple, gives the families an encouragement to raise their children in the Lord and teach them to be God fearing and responsible members of society. Then as is always done deacons from the church come and each take a child in their arms as the Pastor offers a prayer of blessing over the children. Only the pastor asked ME to give the prayer of  blessing on the children. WHAT !!! Did I just hear that correctly?
As I stumble through the prayer the significance of what is taking place begins to hit me like a ton of bricks. I find myself fighting back tears and struggling for words, in Creole, to properly convey the importance of the actions that the parents, family members, and congregation are all a part of. To give Gods blessing to them as they seek to raise their children in the Truth of God's Word. As I take my seat behind the pulpit I am amazed that God allowed me the privilege to do that. Humbled I bow my head and say a quick thank you to God. I immediately look at the program to see if there is anything else that may come my way. There are three more prayers that do not have a name next to them just a blank space.  Better get ready just in case, I think to myself, hoping that my duties for this day are over.
The program keeps rolling, passing the 2nd hour mark now and the Pastor has not started preaching. The interviews of the five of the members, one from each church, were priceless. It was incredible to see these men and women reminisce the histories of these five churches and how they started. These five were all over 80 years old, of the 50 present the oldest was 95 and the youngest 68. WOW. How precious to hear their stories. One of them there at the outset of the church in the 1940’s  70 years serving, in the Satanic Voodoo culture that is so prevalent here in Northwest Haiti, as a Light In this Dark world. I am Humbled once again as I sit with tears welling up in my eyes.
Finally the Pastor has finished his sermon, we are well past the 3 hour mark by now but who is counting. It is time to honor the special warriors with a small gift that the church has purchased in appreciation of their faithful service for so many years.
The Pastor turns again to me and asks if I will help with the distribution of these gifts. So along with two other elders of the church we stand at the front. As each pillar of faith comes forward I have the privilege of pronouncing God’s Blessing on each one. “Bon Dieu Benni Ou” I say as I shake each hand, some frail from lack of enough nourishment, some calloused from years of tireless work in gardens of rock. Each face radiating the glory of God, basking in the honor that they so much deserve, but so inadequately shown in our human ability.
As one toothless smile reflects the love of God back to me I realize again the Liquid Humility burning down my face, I so do not deserve this honor. God Graciously gave me the honor of pronouncing his Blessing on a brand new generation and on the Foundational members of the Churches represented here in the District of La Salle. I am So NOT Worthy and God is So GOOD, not at all what I expected when I woke up this morning. GOD IS GOOD.

Will you Share your Shoes?

 Last week a few boys came up for our Saturday afternoon soccer game.  This time they came very prepared and 3 of the 4 boys wore shoes.  One of the boys noticed that the other boy did not have any shoes so he let him wear one of his shoes.  The area that we play in is very rocky and hard, but that didn't stop this boy from sharing and sacrificing the comfort of his foot.

This made me think, would I have done the same?  Am I willing to sacrifice my comfort for others?  During this Christmas season I am so thankful that God was willing to sacrifice His comfort and come to live on earth among men.  Thank you Father for sending your son.

The soccer group with a couple other younger children who came to watch.

It has continued to be a huge blessing to have Gerben and Ellen here with us.  Thanks to them our team house is nicely painted, the last few cabinet doors have been made, several fix-it projects have been completed, all the congo beans have been shelled and lots of cookies have been made.  For 3 days Ellen and I made several different kinds of cookies.  Today we went and visited all the deacons and leaders from church and gave them a plate of the cookies.  It was a great opportunity to visit each of their houses and learn where they live and meet their families. 

After all the cooking we thought we needed to enjoy a little of our efforts.  The chocolate pudding sure tasted great!

Yesterday we had several people who work in Northwest Haiti over to celebrate Christmas.  Our children were able to continue our yearly tradition and perform the Christmas story for our guests.  There were 2 children visiting us from the Port-au-Prince area, so they were able to join in with the play also.

The cast of the play (some had already taken off their costumes)

We would like to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Visitors

Visitors:
We are blessed right now to have Gerben and Ellen visiting us for Holland.  It is always a joy to have them come and work along side of us.  Gerben has been working with Kyrk on various woodworking projects as well as many electrical projects.  Ellen and I have been cleaning and doing whatever needs to be done.

Anna and Ellen shelling congo beans that we picked from our yard.

Saturday afternoon children's program:
Each Saturday the kids and I continue to go out and try to find children to play with.  Last week we had several young boys who were willing to join us for a game of soccer.  By the end of an hour we had a nice group of people who had gathered to watch the "match"  We continue to pray that God will help us to develop good relations with this children and to be able to share the good news with them.

Robert and Jackson throwing a football to each other.

Rebekah and Lubenson were having fun with a tennis ball

 LaSalle Church:

A couple of weeks ago we had the privilege of attending a special service at a church about 45 minutes up the mountain. 

LaSalle Church, if you look real hard you may be able to see Kyrk sitting at the front of the church :)

School Visits and Children's Program

Wow, has it really been 2 1/2 weeks since I last wrote.  Sorry for the absence. 

Things went really well with the school visits and it was great to continue to learn about these other districts and what they are doing.  There are still a few schools from the Atrel area and Port-de-Paix that he needs to visit, so hopefully these happen soon.
Here are a few pictures from the Herbe A Fleche school, just to give you some more idea of the type of schools that he was visiting.

What does God want us to do?
Over the past few weeks I have really been struggling with what God wants us to do here.  We know that we have been called to work with the local people to make a training center become a reality in this area, but what does that mean for today and the next months.  We have been blessed with some great pastors that we have been talking with and starting to get their ideas, but still I must admit that it is difficult to just wait.
There are so many ideas that we have of what we would like to see and do, but we don't want to do something just for the sake of "doing."  We want to be sure that it is what God is wanting us to do.  Join us to praying that God's will would be so clear to us and that we would be obedient to His will in what ever little steps He wants us to take.

Saturday afternoon kids time:
Our children have really wanted to start making friends with the local children.  Last Saturday the kids and I all went for a walk to see if we could find some kids to play with.  Armed with a tennis ball and a football, we set out.  By the end of an hour we had a group of about 15 boys that we played with.  These boys really enjoyed it and said that they would come back again this week.  We are praying that this will become a weekly event, with games and a Bible story time.

Count it all Joy

James 1:2-4 "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have it perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing."

These verses have been going through my mind quite often during the past few weeks.  I must admit that I have had a very hard time "counting it all joy" as I have battled ANTS. 
I think I should start by fully explaining just what an ant problem we have had.  You know that ants are bad in your house when....
- you have to throw away one of your favorite kinds of cereal since it is filled with thousands of ants
- there are ants floating in your cup of coffee
- the bread that was rising on the counter has hundreds of ants crawling on it
- there are ants biting you in your bed

I could go one with this list, but I think you get the idea.
To try and look at the positive side of all of this and count it all joy has not been easy.  But God has been working on me and most days I can say that I am thankful that the ants have forced me to keep my counters and floors really clean.  They have also helped me to scrub all of my cupboards at least once in the past few weeks.

Ants on the bread.  I just cooked them and brushed them off when it was cooked.

Now I know that ants are just a little thing in the big picture, but I'm thankful that God can use even little creatures like ants to teach us to stay close to Him and rely on Him.

Ants in a heart shape

Kitchen really coming along
Last week Kyrk did not have any meetings with pastors so he was able to get a lot of work completed on the kitchen.  He made all the kitchen drawers, which is a huge blessing.  There were also several other little projects that were completed.  I am so thankful for the progress that continues to take place on our house.

This week:
Today Kyrk along with Pastor Fleurilien, had the opportunity to travel to Vincent to deliver school supplies.  The little school that they went to was very thankful for the gifts.

Tomorrow he will be visiting some of the churches and schools in the area of L'Arbre along with the pastor for that area.  These visits are a time to meet the school director and teachers and start to get to know the people in these areas.

Wednesday there is a regional meeting for all the church leaders, in the surrounding areas at the Atrel church.  There will be about 40-50 BHM affiliated churches represented.  We are praying that this will be another time of learning what is happening in the churches and continuing to learn how God wants us to come along side these leaders.

God's Blessings

Back in May, God opened doors for us to purchase a 4 wheel drive John Deere Gator.  It was so amazing to see that when it was time to pay for the Gator almost the exact amount we needed was in our account.  Then when it was time to pay for the shipping and customs fees, again almost the exact amount we needed was in the account.  God is so good and we praise Him for the way that He has provided this method of transportation for us in Northwest Haiti.

The roads are in very poor condition and in some areas the roads are not passable with a truck.  With our gator we are now able to get to these difficult areas, easier.

Last Saturday Kyrk had the opportunity to go with Pastor Fleurine to visit some of the churches in the LaSalle district.  This is the area in the mountains above our house.
Thankfully with the Gator they were able to get to most of them.  There was only one that they drove as far as they could and still had to walk about 10 minutes to get to the school.
This was the first time that Kyrk had been to these churches and schools.  It was encouraging to see the work that is taking place in this area but also difficult to see the conditions that some of these churches and schools are in.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Jonathan and Robert went along on the adventure with Kyrk

We are Back

Sorry for the long absence from our blog.  As many of you know we spent the months of August and September in Canada and the US.  It was an amazing time of encouragement and relaxation.
As we visited all of our supporting churches we were very encouraged to know that we have such a wonderful group of people who are faithfully praying for us and partnering with us.
God truly has blessed us beyond what we deserve.
Thank you to all the people who hosted us during our time in the states.  I'm sure it is never a simple task to host a family of 7, so we really appreciate everyone who opened their homes to us and welcomed us in and made us feel at home.  Thank you!
Here are some of the highlights from our trip.  (Maybe I should say that these are the highlights that I have pictures of on this computer.)

Kyrk and Jonathan were able to go to a Red Skins game

We visited the Hershey factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania

Deborah's sister Esther was married at the end of August.  When all the Campbell siblings get together, we take this pyramid picture.  This only happens about every 3 years.

Spending a day in Niagara Falls

Robert especially loved this stop in Strasburg, PA

Tom and Vicky Coale took us out in the Chesapeake Bay in their boat.   I think the favorite part for the kids was jumping off the boat and swimming in the water.

Visiting the St. Louis zoo with Rob and Pat

Back in Haiti:
We arrived back in Haiti on Sept. 28 and after spending a couple days in Fermathe, we made the trip as a family up to Atrel on Oct. 1.  It was so good to be home.  Since then we have been busy getting settled in again and starting school. 
It was a joy to be able to worship at the Atrel church this past Sunday once again.  The church committee welcomed us back by giving us a gift of a turkey. 

Some upcoming things:
This coming Friday Kyrk is going to be visiting the LaSalle area and talking with the church leaders.
Next week he will be going with Pastor Fritz to visit a few churches in the Atrel area.  The purpose of these visits is to talk with the local church leaders and ask them what they would like to see happen with the training center and how they are willing to be involved.   We are also hoping that God will show us ways that He wants to use us in the communities surrounding Atrel.

Week in Fermathe and Preparing to leave

Week in Fermathe:
Last week we were able to enjoy a little time in Fermathe.  Our kids were really exicted about this since a group recently built a large Noah's ark in the playground.  They loved playing at the playground every opportunity they had.
The main reason that we spent the week in Fermathe was so Kyrk could teach a class at the Summer Bible Institute.  He has taught a class for the past 2 years and this year it was great that they adjusted the schedule so that he could teach the first part of the class in 3 days.  There are 2 other men who will be teaching the other 2 parts of the class.

We came back to Atrel on Sunday and we brought Johnny with us.  He is a young man from Fermathe who will be living in our house while we are gone for 2 months.  The kids love playing with him and he has already been a huge help to Kyrk, with various projects around the house.  We now have eves troughs that don't leek, kitchen cabinet doors installed, shelves in the storage room, more completed plumbing and a functional bathroom downstairs.
Johnny is also learning the many unique things about our house, the electricity set up, the water set up along with other things that he will need to know while he is here for 2 months.
Please join us in praying for him as he learns and then as he is here taking care of things while we are gone.

Roasting corn with Johnny

Anna thought it was yummy

Market Fun

Part of our life here in Atrel is walking to the market to buy fresh fruit and vegetables (when they are available).  Each Saturday and Tuesday there is small market in Atrel and it is always an adventure to walk down and see what we can find for a good price. 
It is also a great opportunity to talk with the local people and get to know them better.
Saturday, Naomi, Robert and I went to the market.  Naomi took a camera along to capture a little of the adventure.

Naomi and Robert think that the mangoes are very heavy on the walk home.

Others have a donkey to carry their things home from market.  Maybe we need a donkey :)

Some of the bananas and mangoes that we bought.

Amazing Progress on the House in 2 Days!

For the past 2 days we were very blessed to have a group of 9 people from Grace Evangelical Free Church in Rockford, MI with us.  They were a fantastic group and were able to get so much completed in our house for us. 
In just 2 days they were able to:
* build all the kitchen cabinet doors
* stain all the window and door trim
* stain 2 room doors and all the lower cabinet doors
* paint all the walls upstairs
* build a large book shelf and stain it
* lay formica on the counter tops and finish them beautifully

I never dreamed that a group of 9 people plus Kyrk's parents would be able to accomplish so much.  For the past month the progress on our house was coming along very slowly, so this was a huge encouragement to have all of this work completed in such a short time.  God really knew what we needed and met that need through these willing helpers.
Thank you so much!!

Josh, sanding cabinet doors

Jay, working diligently to build the cabinet doors

Staining the trim, while enjoying the shade and the breeze

Bryan and Justin installing the trim

Karen, finishing the door trim stain

We were so thankful to have several men help us move the fridge into place.

Patti painting the school room/office

Jay and Rob building the book shelf for the office

Anna had to inspect the work :)

Preparing our first meal in the real kitchen.  It was a very exciting moment!

God is at Work

When God called us to move to Atrel we knew that the main goal was to establish a training center for training school and church leaders.  This is still the overall goal, but seeing the steps to reach that goal are not clear.
During the past few months living here in Atrel we have been trying to learn how things work and get to know the people better, while at the same time we are focusing on getting our house built. 
Wednesday of this past week, Kyrk had the opportunity to meet with all the regional church leaders.  There were about 30 people at the meeting and it was a great time of learning what is happening in the churches and also for the leaders to ask questions and learn more about why we are here.

We are seeking God's wisdom to know how to best serve Him here.  We know that we want to come along side the local church and work with them in the areas that they are meeting needs.  One of the ideas that we had been thinking about was starting a trade school as part of the training center.  Last Sunday the church committee announced that they have decided to start a trade school!  Wow, God is working.  We are seeking God's wisdom to now know how we can come along side the church committee and help them with this trade school.

This afternoon we were blessed with a nice hard rain.  It has been such an answer to prayer to have received regular rains over the past month.  The temperatures have been around 120F during the day, so when it rains hard, the kids always ask if they can play outside.  When the storm had passed, these pictures give you a little idea of the fun the took place.  Yes, this is what you do on a very hot day when there is no pool or sprinkler and water is a treasured commoditiy.

Anna was content to just sit and watch the craziness

Jonathan claimed this mud puddle as his

Rebekah's personal mud puddle

Anna still isn't too sure about it

Finally after the water fight stopped she was okay with playing in the puddle with her tea set.

The new favorite play place in the unfinished kitchen cupboards.