3 songs, James, and a Minor Back Irritation

What kind of faith do you have?

James 1:2-4

Consider it a sheer gift, unbounded joy, my dear friends, when tests and challenges, difficulties and pain come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Does your faith allow you to praise God in the middle of intense pain? Or is it the kind that finds it's much easier to praise God when life is comfortable?

Matt Redman's 10,000 reasons starts with these words
The sun comes up it's a new day dawning , it's time to sing Your song again.
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.

When I sing these words do I really mean them or do I only mean them if everything is fine and easy, trouble free. WHATEVER  may pass and WHATEVER lies before me?     Really?!

Song 2
114 kreol Chan de Esperance
1.
Chè Ségnè kinbin min-m, Edé mouin rété fèm;  Precious Lord take my hand, Help me stand firm
Mouin bouké, fatigé, tèlman.                               I am tired and completely worn out.
Nan loraj, nan fè noua, Kléré rout la dévan;        In the storm, in the darkness, light my way;
Kinbin min-m, chè Ségnè, fè-m rivé.                   Hold my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.

2.
Lè chémin-m difisil, E m-bézouin ou anpil,         When the road is difficult, and I need you
Ségnè, rété la tou pré mouin.                              Lord, stay close to me.
Lè mouin prèt pou alé, Edé-m pou-m pa buté,    When I am near death, help me not to stumble,
Kinbin min-m, chè Ségnè, fè-m rivé.                    Hold my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.

3.
Lè solèy la kouché, E nuit la ap proché,            When the sun is setting, and night approaches,
Et tout la vi mouin va fini,                                   And my life is about to end,
Edé-m pa régrété, Nan ou sèl mouin konfié,     Help me not regret, You are my only confidence.
Kinbin min-m, chè Ségnè, fè-m rivé.                  Hold my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.

Song 3
88.   kreol Chan de Esperance

    Kè:
Présié, présié Jézu,                                            Precious, precious Jesus
Zanmi sètin, juska la fin;                                     A friend for sure, all the way to the end;
Li ofri kò-l pou mouin gingnin la vi,                     He gave his body so that I can have life,
Jézu, présié Ségnè.                                            Jesus, precious Savior.

God has been trying to teach me something this week, I think maybe I'm a little slow but I think I am starting to learn. I still have a long way to go.

My week went something like this;

Tuesday 7:15 am  Boss Noel shows up at the door.  Must be the load of cement (150- 94 lb. sacks) we have been expecting. ( why couldn't this have come tomorrow) oh well grab the keys to the gator, out the door, pick up Johnny and down to the school to unload the dump truck.
       I am not sure if it was the first or second bag but something in my lower back just sent a message to my brain that was not very nice. I wanted to scream in pain and stop,
BUT Yesterday was Monday. (We'll get to Monday in just a moment.) Instantly,well okay maybe there was some griping and complaining that happened first but not long after that the three aforementioned  songs started repeating themselves in my mind. I must carry on.

Wednesday
    Today we are going to continue laying block in the shade house for our gardens. This is day three of laying block. I am not a mason and it is on the ground so a lot of bending over, oh sweet back pain, we meet again. But two days ago was MONDAY. Keep plugging away.  3:15 done with all the block we have for now. Let's rest a while.  3:17  Deborah  " Do you think you could take my mom up to La Salle to get a view of northwest Haiti?"  (I knew we had talked about this earlier this week but it had somehow slipped my mind) immediately three songs started playing in my head, okay maybe not right away but nonetheless my reply was "okay"  (selfishly thinking to myself I really do not want to drive that road right now) BUT two days ago was MONDAY.

Thursday
    8:00 AM.  Truck loaded time to drive to Port-Au-Prince, I love to drive but more and more I really do not look forward to this trip. If you have been to Northwest Hait you know what I am talking about. My back just does not love this trip but three days ago was MONDAY, so off we go. 3:40 PM Arrive at Fermathe my back says thank you very much. Three songs rip through my frontal lobe. Man, when will I learn.

MONDAY was just three days ago.

Friday
     Slept in today, what a great feeling. 8:30am. Off to see Noah.  He asks if I would be willing to pick up George, (name changed to protect the innocent) a professor coming in for the Masters program, from the Airport. I inquire about the time of his arrival. Noah says he gets in at 2:40 pm.  I think about the day ahead, we leave to take grandma to the airport at 10:15, I need to go to 2 different hardware stores and then to the wholesale depot, all in the area of the airport.
       "Yeah, I think that is doable." I tell Noah. Traffic is great and we get all things accomplished in great time and are at the airport at 2:20. As we get out into the Port-Au-Prince oven that is the waiting area for disembarking passengers.  Three songs dance through my mind.
      MONDAY was just four days ago.
        Two weeks ago we waited for Deborah's mom and to our delight there was a new feature that let us know that her flight had been delayed for 58 minutes. Not today however the new board gave us nothing except a one word message " Loading"  I guess it should not surprise me but we did not even have a flight number anyway,so we wait. After an hour of waiting and playing the "is that George?!"  no "  game I decide to call and get some info on the flight. Reply, “it should be on the big board just above the door.” three songs softly begin to ring in my ears,    
      MONDAY was just four short days ago.
    5:00 pm we leave the airport parking lot with George and company safely in the truck. Now just a quick stop at the grocery store for needed supplies and then back to Fermathe. Arrive at the mission at 6:34 tired and not feeling very happy but….
     MONDAY was just four days ago.


MONDAY
     8:00 AM. Boss Noel shows up and we need to go get the last 10 sacks of cement for the work being done at the training center. 8:20 at the house where the cement is and I am flagged down by the director of the National school in Atrel. I roll down the window and greet Ric. He tells me that last night a student was burned and needs to go to the clinic at Passé Cata Bois ( 10 miles away or about 40 minuets in the gator) and could I take them as there was no way they could ride on a motorcycle. Now, running through my mind are a plethora of thoughts, What, of all that has been told me is true and how much of this is just theatrical over exaggeration, are they just trying to take advantage of the blan (foreigner), etc.
           I tell Ric I will be back as soon as I drop off the guys and cement. I wasn't really prepared for what I encountered on returning to town and to the house of Mishmana, a 15 year old girl. When I first hear the sobs and looked in the direction of the sound I was not sure what to think. She was still about 50 feet away but I could tell that this was not good. When she arrived at the gator the sight of melted skin almost made me vomit, I had to turn away.
          Once everyone was loaded into the gator we left. What should haven been 40 minutes took one hour and fifteen minutes due to road construction and a detour that was more of a donkey trail than a road. I cannot even begin to imagine the excruciating pain she was in.
          As we were driving I could hear both her mother and sister muttering what I can only guess were prayers, I say guess because what I could hear through the sobs of Mishmana were these words coming from her lips....

Chè Ségnè kinbin min-m, Edé mouin rété fèm;
Mouin bouké, fatigé, tèlman.
Nan loraj, nan fè noua, Kléré rout la dévan;
Kinbin min-m, chè Ségnè, fè-m rivé.

              Kè:
    Présié, présié Jézu,
    Zanmi sètin, juska la fin;
    Li ofri kò-l pou mouin gingnin la vi,
    Jézu, présié Ségnè.

Lè chémin-m difisil, E m-bézouin ou anpil,
Ségnè, rété la tou pré mouin.
Lè mouin prèt pou alé, Edé-m pou-m pa buté,
Kinbin min-m, chè Ségnè, fè-m rivé.

                 Kè:
    Présié, présié Jézu,
    Zanmi sètin, juska la fin;
    Li ofri kò-l pou mouin gingnin la vi,
    Jézu, présié Ségnè.

Lè solèy la kouché, E nuit la ap proché,
Et tout la vi mouin va fini,
Edé-m pa régrété, Nan ou sèl mouin konfié,
Kinbin min-m, chè Ségnè, fè-m

                  Kè:
    Présié, présié Jézu,
    Zanmi sètin, juska la fin;
    Li ofri kò-l pou mouin gingnin la vi,
    Jézu, présié Ségnè.

    For one hour and fifteen minutes singing praise to God. I cried for that one hour and fifteen minutes.
     What kind of faith do you have? Could I have done the same thing that Mishmana had? I do not know, but this week has taught me I sure do complain a lot, about some pretty petty irritations. Can you praise God through your pain? I certainly can’t speak for you, but I have a very long way to go. Father forgive me for complaining about so many little irritations, minor setbacks, and petty inconveniences, for complaining when things do not go MY way, and failing to praise You for everything. 10,000 reasons and many more.

    Please Pray for Mishmana as her road to recovery is going to be very long and painful, Pray that she will continue to praise God in the midst of pain and not become discouraged.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from warm sunny Atrel. 

We recently sent out our Christmas newsletter.  If you did not receive it you can  click on this link to read our most recent newsletter.

Thanks for your prayers and support throughout the past year.  You truly have been a blessing to us and the people of Atrel.

Fall Update

Showers of Blessing
We are so grateful, that since the end of August we have been receiving rains.  The crops are growing and there is beautiful green plant life all around us.  We are also praising God that our cisterns are full once again.  The 2 of the 3 springs in town are still dry, but we are praying that as we continue to get rain we will see water return to the springs.

So encouraging to see green crops growing.

Young boy helping to weed a millet field.

Meet Johnny
At the end of September we welcomed Johnny Brutil as our first full time staff member for the Northwest Training Center.  Johnny has been a huge help and is very eager to learn various construction skills and help out in any way he can.  Johnny has been living at the Fermathe campus of the Baptist Haiti mission for the past 12 years and recently graduated from Highschool.  We are very privileged to have him working with us in Atrel.

Sewing Ministry
It continues to be a delight to work with the 5 ladies who faithfully come each week to sew.  It has been such a fun, encouraging time to interact with these ladies and also help them to learn sewing skills.  We are currently working on sewing dresses and doll dresses.  This is our first adventure into making clothing and the ladies are appreciating learning skills to help make clothes for their children.  Our next step is hopefully little boy shirts and pants (any willing seamstresses out there what to teach this skill.  I have no idea where to start :)

Modeling the purse she finished.

Our machines were in great need of repair.  Thankful Bob was willing to use his skills.

Gardening/Construction
Thanks to some donations we have been able to keep a crew of 6-8 men working all summer and fall.  They have almost finished all the concrete work of the Quonset hut.

Johnny and Berend (visitor from Holland) hanging the doors

The men are now working on preparing the foundation for a school in the community of Marot, that will be finished by a visiting team in the spring.

Mid October we welcomed Bob and Helen Shaw.  They are planning to work with us for the next 6 months.  Their skills with gardening, sewing and sewing machine repairs are greatly needed and appreciated.
For the past two weeks we had Anita and Berend visiting from Holland.  They were a huge help with the construction of our shade house.  In this hot, dry environment we are struggling to grow vegetables.  We are hoping that this shade house will help us to grow vegetables and trees.

The wall are going up.

All the wall built, ready for shade cloth.

Team work to put the shade cloth on.

The finished project.

Sifting donkey poop to add to the soil.

Filling the first bed.

Cholera during a drought

During this time of drought, having a cholera outbreak wasn’t expected since it usually increases only when the rains come. Sadly on top of the extreme difficulties that this drought has caused, many people from this area are now faced with cholera. The report this morning is that there are 36 people in a cholera clinic that provides care to several surrounding communities. One of those infected with cholera is a sweet lady named Madam Zalese, from the Atrel church. She was transferred to the cholera clinic about 5 miles away yesterday. Join us in praying for her recovery along with the 35 other people who are currently in the clinic.

We continue to pray for rain. We have heard that this drought has affected most of the Carribean. As we look around and see how there are no crops growing, animals are going hungry and people are having more and more difficulties finding ways to buy food for their families, it is easy to lose hope and wonder what God is doing. But then we listen to our brothers and sisters in Christ praying in church, thanking God for not forgetting them and thanking Him that in Christ they have hope. Those around us may be physically poor, but wow, their faith and trust in God really shows that they are rich spiritually.

The water level at our house is getting low and I find myself starting to worry about where our water will come from. Then I think, that is our only concern. God has richly blessed us with food and so many more blessings. Do I have faith like my brothers and sisters in Christ? Am I willing to put my trust completely in God and know that He will provide for everything we NEED?

We want to share a special thanks for those who have partnered with us financially. We are currently trying to employ as many people as we can to help them have a way to buy food for their families. We have 2 projects on the go right now. One project is preparing an area in our yard for a shade house that we are hoping to have built this fall. The other project is finishing up the quonset by blocking up the end walls and building the interior rooms. We are also hoping to do as much work on the fence around the mission property as we can. If you are interested in partnering with us to provide work for people around us, donations can be sent to Baptist Haiti Mission designated Northwest project.

Ladies Camp, Rain, and Teaching

Ladies Camp:
Last Thursday through Sunday the annual ladies camp was held at the Atrel church.  There were over 135 ladies from about 15 area churches, most of them were BHM affiliated.  Together we studied God’s Word to learn more how we could be a better wife, mother and follower of Christ.  Together we worshiped and of course together we talked and enjoyed our time together.
Friday afternoon I was given an opportunity to lead a short sewing activity with the ladies.  They made a small change purse and many were willing to pose for the camera to show their work.

The Sunday morning service was the big ending to camp.  We all dressed in our uniforms (long sleeve shirts, black vest, black skirt, nylons and black shoes) and marched into church.  It was soooooooo hot, but we were all sweating together. 
Overall it was a great 4 days of camp together.

Rain:
We have been blessed with some rain over the past couple of weeks.  The farmers have replanted their corn and millet and they are hoping that God continues to send rain so they will not loose this crop again.

Teaching Ministry:
Kyrk has been given many different opportunities to teach God’s Word to various groups from the church.  He was recently asked to share at a youth meeting at the church.  We praise God for these opportunities and pray that God would continue to open doors for Kyrk to teach God’s Word.
This summer he will once again have the opportunity to teach a class at the Summer Bible Institute, held in Fermathe.  This will mean weekly trips to Fermathe.  Join us in praying for Kirk’s safety as he travels each week and also for the students who will be attending the Summer Bible Institute, that they will understand what they are being taught and apply what they will learn.

Praying for Rain

Praying for Rain:
Usually by this time of year, we should be receiving some rain.  Over a month ago we got a small amount of rain and the farmers planted their fields with corn hoping that it would continue to rain.  Since that time, we have not had any rain.  The crops are withering and the springs are flowing very slow.  The situation is starting to be very desperate.
Join with us in praying that God would send some much needed rain.

Sewing Ministry:
It continues to be a joy to work with the ladies and teaching them various sewing skills.  They are so eager to learn and work and they are now coming two afternoons a week.  So far we have been making 2 different styles of headbands and hope to expand to other things in the near future.
If you wish to purchase any of the headbands that the ladies are making, you can contact me for more information.

Construction:
After several weeks of work, the men have finished the fence along one side of the property.  As funds become avaliable we will continue to build the fence around the other sides.
The next project is to finish the end walls of the quanset hut and get it enclosed so it can be used for secure storage.  Hopefully in the next few weeks this project can be completed.

Ocelia:
I am praising God for the work that He is doing in Ocelia's heart.  She is a young lady who works for us and is a single mother of 3 children.  Following the birth of her third child, she realized that she was not living the way that God wanted her to live.  She has recently started coming to church and we have been having some great conversations.  Join with me in praying that God would continue to work in her heart and that she would seek God's direction and strength to live the way He wants her to live.

Working along side the Beauchamp Church

This past week, we have had the privilege of having a group here from Grace Church in Rockford, MI.  They have come to work along side the people from the Beauchamp church to put the roof on their church addition and to finish the floor of the church.  It is a lot of hard work, but with everyone working together they are making great progress!  Tomorrow is the last work day and even though everyone is tired, it will be so rewarding to see this project finished.

Jay smoothing the cement of the platform area

Mixing cement is team work

Passing up the tin to finish covering the roof

Cement mixed and now going on the floor

Children love having their picture taken

A Week of Great Progress

This past week we were blessed with having a group of 6 men from People's Church in Toronto, Ontario.  They were very hard workers and willingly helped to dig a trench along the side of the mission property for the fence foundation.  Working alongside 5 men from the Atrel church, great progress was made.

Rock foundation and fence posts going in

The shale and rock made digging the trench very difficult

By the end of the day, they were thankful for any extra help.  Boys from the community were always willing to help.

 A cultural experience that we like to give all visitors to our area, is a trip to our local Friday market. 

One of the many donkey parking lots at the market

 Another huge blessing this week was the gift of a tractor.  A local missionary had a tractor that he was not using any longer and gave it to us as a gift.  After fixing it up and giving it a new paint job, it was ready for it's new home.  It took 3 hours to drive this tractor to our place and we are very thankful to have it here in Atrel.  It is going to be very helpful for transporting building materials in the area.

A nice clean tractor.  It looked a little muddier once we got it to Atrel, since we drove through rain and mud.

Quonset Hut Is Up!

It has been wonderful to have Caleb, Jenn and Stephen here helping us this past week.  The main purpose of their trip was to construct a quonset hut on the foundation that we have been working on for several months.  It is wonderful to see this project reach this stage.  They started on Monday and they were finished on Friday afternoon.  Now some local men will put concrete block in the ends and then it will be ready to be used for much needed storage of building supplies and other materials.

Thank you to everyone who had a part in this project.  Those who gave to purchase the quonset hut several years ago, those who came and helped build the cisterns and to the many who donated to help purchase materials and hire local men to do the construction.  We, along with the people of Northwest Haiti say a huge THANK YOU!!

Looking down at the almost finished building from our house.