Fruit of Your Labor

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,

Who walk in obedience to him.

You will eat the fruit of your labor;

Blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Psalm 128:1-2

When we first arrived, Kerry prefaced us with the fact that we may never see the fruit of our labor while we are here in Haiti. I was prepared for that. God had other plans. He blessed me last Saturday with the fruit of my labor.

All of us girls were asked to take on the task of teaching a literacy class to the men and women of the fishing village. We happily agreed and most of the men and women were very excited to participate. By December, our group had dwindled to a few faithful. When we came back in January, we actually discussed stopping the literacy program because we did not have a lot of people coming anymore. We decided to keep doing it for the few that did come.

Necilia was one of them. She is an elderly woman around 60 years of age. The first day of literacy we learned she didn’t even know how to write the letters of the Creole alphabet. So we started with the basics. By January she had filled a notebook up with letters and words to practice. A few of us didn’t believe it was her notebook because of the vast improvement of her writing skills. We moved on to sounds in February. She struggled so much every week but kept coming back without fail. We always knew Necilia was coming. At one point, we talked about as a group that we were just going to love on her at the literacy program because we didn’t have much hope for her to do more than learn the Creole alphabet.

Last Saturday, Kelsea was working with Necilia. I joined in to help Necilia because she is my favorite lady among the women. I sat down as Kelsea was showing her a flashcard and asked her to read it. Necilia, without hesitation read the flashcard. I couldn’t believe what I had heard! We all screamed in our happiness, looked at each other with awe, and I cried. Neclilia can read…she can read! Necilia had the biggest smile on her face.

Teaching Necilia at Literacy Program

It’s worth it. 52% of Haitians are illiterate. Six months. One hour a week. Necilia can read. We gave her more than you can imagine. She can read the Bible. It’s totally worth it. 

Perseverance Until the End

Three weeks ago today I returned from spring break vacation the States. That week away renewed my spirit and my visa. I came back prepared to finish my last five weeks in Haiti in high spirits and determined to finish up all I had started and love on my students, the kids downstairs, and the men and women of the fishing village. Little did I know that the last three weeks were going to be the hardest three weeks of my life so far. Since getting off the plane, there has been spiritual attack after spiritual attack. They started out small and individual to each one working with our ministry. I had been praying against a thought that crossed my mind very regularly since Saturday of someone getting in an accident involving a car/truck/moto. As I look back on it now, I think God was preparing me for what was to come. On Tuesday, only three days after returning, my best friend Liz was hit by a moto crossing the street to open the gate at school. I will never ever forget watching her get hit and fall to the ground. If any of you reading this blog know me at all, you know I don't do well with anything medical. I got off the bus as others were helping her back on to take her to the hospital. God was watching over her…she escaped with 1 stitch, a swollen upper lip, a bump on her forehead and scratches. I knew she would be fine and knew I had a school to take care of and make sure everyone else did their job. Students and teachers were shaken up because several had seen it happen. Half the teachers drove away to take Liz to the hospital as I became the middle and high school math, science, English, history, critical thinking, bible, yearbook, and P.E. teacher (14 different classes in all). Liz was out all week so I took over planning and teaching for all 14 different classes. That week finally ended, Liz returned and I rejoiced to be free from that much responsibility. It was emotionally and physically draining.

The second week came and went with multiple disciplinary issues with all my students. I felt like my students had taken 5 steps back and we were at the start of the school year again. It was very frustrating and discouraging to see how far back we moved after I thought we were making huge breakthroughs. The weekend started with a rouge fishing trip with the high school students where the only highlight was riding rough waves that reminded me of California and a peeling sunburn. I’m sure Jeff and Luke did not enjoy being trapped on a boat with their teachers but it was wonderful being able to spend time with them and chat on a more personal level.

Sickness knocked me down on Sunday and kept me laying low long into the third week. I started feeling better towards the end of the week when severe spiritual warfare brought me into a saddened state of mind. Two weeks left and I want to go home. I feel far from hearing God and having Him speak into my life every day while I am here. I want my life to be simple again, easy. I felt bad for having these thoughts until today when I read from the book, ReEntry by Peter Jordan, that my thoughts are part of a natural process in which God is weaning me from my present circumstance and is preparing me for my next step in life. That comforted me and God has continued to encourage me throughout today. 

I don’t tell you these things for pity or to make you think badly about Haiti. I tell you these things so that you will know how to love me and uphold me in prayer. I have two weeks until I return home for the next step in my life. I have no idea what that is or what it entails. All I know is that I have two weeks to persevere in Haiti so that I may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. I also know is that God cares for his children and He never gives more than a person can handle. God has given me His strength over the past three weeks and I have conquered much in His name. I pray that I will continue in His strength and conquer more in His name in my last two weeks in Haiti.

“Consider is pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

Pi Day

Last Wednesday was a monumental day for math teachers all around the world. It was Pi (3.14 or the date 3/14) Day. My 11 students were excited because I had been talking about it for quite some time. The middle and high schoolers were going to put on an event for the whole school. They spent a week of class in preparation of Pi Day. The middle schoolers wrote funny stories about Pi and the high schoolers wrote raps about Pi. They cut colored strips of paper to make a link chain representing the never-ending number. They calculated Pi by throwing sticks on the ground, counting how many landed on predetermined lines, and threw it into an equation. Students even created coloring sheets for the younger kids involving the symbol for Pi. We even had pie (cake) to eat for the special occasion. The day came and they were ready. They flawlessly held an event for 30 1st-5th graders having stations and completing all of the Pi activities they had prepared. I was amazed at how well they followed directions and directed the younger students. I was especially proud of my two HS students who wrote amazing raps about Pi. Here they are :-)

Jeff:
let lets talk about Archimedes
he was mathematical
never did anything that was practical
so rational that he invented a number
that was international
Pi lets talk about
but don't start a riot
infinite but it have a definite point
very interesting
why you gotta think it that
why cause it amazing
just think about it all
these numbers will have you dazing
pi equal the circumference over the diameter
why does it matter?
because equation sounds more like
a persuasion to me

Luke:
Dude listen Pi is very simple
wanna hear an example
let's grab some sample of a couple numbers
wait stop imma be out numbered
you can do it
lets starts at 3.14
that sounds a little fluid
just keep going
i think we about to do this
this is very restless

how about we test it

Bondye ka fe tut bagay

Bondye ka fe tut bagay...God can do anything...and He did! Yesterday Roger, Kelsea, Liz, and I went fishing. We got out on the ocean right when the sun was rising over the mountains. The highlight of our trip was going to Lagonave, the island on the eastern side of Haiti that we can see on the balcony of the Mission. We found this amazing place where the water was an unreal blue color. How can God do that? After a little tour and picking up some bait, we headed back to the main island coast. After about 6 hours we were heading home and very disappointed that we hadn't caught any fish. We made it almost home and then (no I'm not going to tell you we caught tons of fish) we ran out of gas. Roger didn't think it was a problem and directed us to the shore. We followed him down a path to a road and he asked if we wanted to come because it was going to be a long walk. We all wanted an adventure so we didn't object. God totally provided because we started off and then a truck pulled up. We asked for a ride and was taken all the way to the road! Now we are on the side of Rt. 1 in Pierre Payen about 5 miles from our Mission.

Lagonave...water was breathtaking

Ok, now what? We ask around and find out there is no place to buy gas. We call some people and no one seems to know how to help us...now we are stranded? We tried one more person, Luis, a worker at the Mission and he agreed to bring us some gas. Yes we are saved! He pulled up a little while later and drove us back to the boat in the MoTap. Roger is excited now and we all hop back in the boat. Roger was ready to fish again! Still we catch no fish. We pull our boat in when we finished and found Gary, one of our other fisherman, returning from fishing. He caught 5 fish (2 sailfish, 1 mahi mahi, and 2 wahoo)! HE showed us up! Here we are all high tech with a motorboat and he went out in his wooden boat with jugs and line. Slightly embarrassed but God provided for our lack of fish.

We kindly walked Roger back to the fish house and thank him profusely for taking us out on the boat. It was so much fun! We got to end our day walking through the village to the road to catch a taptap. Or so we thought. We got on a taptap and then Dago, our driver for NVM, drives up in his car, honks at us and tells us to get in. God provided another ride for us!

At the end of the day waiting on the taptap right before Dago showed up to give us a ride home

God exceeded my expectations yesterday. We couldn't have asked for a better day or to be more well taken care of if we had planned it. It definitely goes down in the books as a day always to remember God's faithfulness and how much fun we had.

Montrouis International Fellowship

Today marked the third week of Montrouis International Fellowship, the first ENGLISH church in Montrouis, Haiti. New Vision Ministries with the help of Stephen and Autumn Byxbe and Dr. Dennis and Sara Cowley are raising up a church where people from all nations can gather together for church in English. It is located just down the street from the Mission and coincidentally where our kids from the Mission go to school.

This church within the last 3 weeks have been a blessing for many people in the area, including me. One of the things I missed the most being here was not having a place to worship and get fed every week. Don't get me wrong, Haitian church is awesome but only to the extent of learning their culture and seeing people on fire for God. It's tough to sit through a 3-4 hour long service only catching a few words here or there, praying you understand the gist of everything going on. I love it but I can't do it every week.

Today we were packed! The generator was working (woot woot!) so we had fans, microphones, and a little electric piano and guitar. We rocked out to some music and heard a great convicting sermon about God sending Jesus to free us from all sin...so stop trying to hold on to it! Even if you think it's little and not a big deal! And had wonderful fellowship with other who are here in Haiti for the same reasons as us. This has been on the hearts of New Vision Ministries for a long time and it is finally happening! Praise God! Please be praying for the church and the influence it will have on many people, Christian and non-Christian, here in Montrouis, Haiti. There is something big in store here in Haiti! (Pictures will be posted later...sorry!)

Wahoo!

Saturday I had my first deep sea fishing experience in the Caribbean Ocean. Months ago a shipping container was shipped to Haiti for New Vision Ministries. This container had three 20 ft. boats equipped with motors for the fisherman in the fishing village. They have been anticipating the arrival of the boats for months while it traveled from the U.S. to Haiti. Then they waited months for customs to release the container to Kerry. After a very frustrating process, we got them out last week! The men were ecstatic to finally have them in the fishing house yard. Roger was especially proud to show us the boats and motors and invited Liz, Shala, and myself out with him on Saturday. 

Six a.m. Saturday morning. We arrive in the fishing village via tap-tap (Haitian taxi) and walk with Roger and Jean-Benny to where the boat is stored on the shore. They pushed the boat into the water and gestured for us to get into the boat. We hopped in and once we got out a little ways we were handed a pole with the bait dragging behind the boat. It is mentally exhausting holding on to that fishing pole watching it jump around in the waves knowing that at any moment a fish might bite. Five hours of fishing, one Wahoo caught by Liz, mentally exhausted, tired hands, and sunburn but it turned out to be the most refreshing, peaceful day I have had here in Haiti. There is something special about working side by side with the fisherman as they proudly show us what they do to make a living in their brand new boats.

Fish Kisses

Fish Kisses. Everyone at some time or another sucked in their cheeks and made a fish mouth to some little kid to make them smile. This is how I get Daniel, a little boy about 6-7 from our orphanage at the Mission, to smile when nothing else seems to work. I don't know why I started making the fish mouth at him a couple months ago but now it never fails to make him smile. My favorite part is that he has started coming at me in full force to kiss me every time I make the fish face. Then he laughs and makes me do it again. How could that not bring a smile to anyone's face?

I returned to Haiti this past Friday to 15 kids at the Mission ecstatic at our return. They were partly shocked and had no idea what to do with our return. Then huge smiles dawned on their faces as they came toward us with open arms. Sitting at the tables as kids hung on us, Daniel walked up to me and called my name. I turned to him and he is trying to make the fish face. It is a failed attempt since he still can't figure out how to do it but it melts my heart. He wants fish kisses from me. I make the fish face for him and he gives me a fish kiss and ends with a huge smile.  I love the special little fish kisses that I share with him and no one else. A way to show I love him and he loves me. And I get to have fish kisses every day. I'm a very lucky person. Thank you God for giving me the opportunity to make a difference in Daniel's life and the difference he is making in mine.