no prize for the winner

Last week, we were told by the school that even though we are both in the beginner class, we will be required to speak in chapel for twenty minutes in March (in French, of course!) Yesterday during one of our breaks, another missionary approached us about this, and asked if we felt that this was unjust, because a beginner (much less two beginners) had never been required to do this.

Last week, I did think this was a bit of an injustice. But this week, I received a phone call from my sister after she had experienced a three day conference at Messiah College on poverty in the world. Still overwhelmed by all she had heard, Lisa told me that the fact that stuck with her the most was that the president of World Vision said that 30,000 children die every single day of poverty-related causes (malnutrition, starvation, lack of resources for medical care, bad water).

Last night, I finally researched a topic that my dear college room-mate had brought to my attention a few months ago. Bex is currently on the road to spending her life as a full-time missionary to Sudan. As we discussed all of the broken pieces that are Sudan, she told me that she had heard that it was actually Haiti that had just “won” the most corrupt country in the world.

I Googled this idea and found her to be quite right. Transparency International, the leading global coalition against corruption, has recently posted the results of their annual ranking of 163 countries. Each country completes several types of surveying, and then is graded on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being completely uncorrupt, and a 1 being most corrupt.

When I looked at the chart, the correlation between corruption and poverty is obvious. Every single country considered 3rd (or even 4th) world, scored below a 5. Myanmar, Iraq, and Guinea all tied for 2nd place. Haiti “won.”

I think again about my “chapel injustice.” And I think about what this corruption rating means life is like in Haiti. I think about the “injustice” (for lack of a stronger word) of 30,000 precious children giving up their last breath today, when the future should be so bright.

And all this makes me wonder if I have every actually experienced any kind of true injustice…and what changes are ahead as we prepare to move from a country ranked 20th to a country who came in dead last at 163rd.

I do know that there will not be much we will be able to do about the corruption plaguing Haiti. But we also know the beauty, in any country, of one who lived in darkness walking into light, of one who lived in desperation coming to live in hope…even when circumstances never change.

May we each have the courage today in each of our countries to reflect the Light that a hurting, unjust world is dying for.


To see the ranking of all 163 countries and to view more information, go to- http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2006/cpi_2006__1/cpi_table

it's starting to click...

Finally, we are starting to be able to communicate in practical settings in French without our minds blanking or our mouths freezing up! This is opening up all sorts of opportunities to experience more of the culture and work on our French. We are so thankful to be past (almost) the stage where even going to Wal-Mart is such a challenge. Thank you, thank you for your prayers!

Psaume 68:19

“Béni soit le Seigneur chaque jour! Quand on nous acable, Dieu nous délivre.”...Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation.
The more we think about this verse, the more humbled we are by the promise that He is Daily involved with our lives...We are so thankful that we have this kind of intimate relationship available in Our God! Lead us on and we will run after you...

when we're in Haiti...

...someone remind us about this! If we ever mention the heat, drop us an email! We finally got to go out for Valentine's Day to a great little resturant right on the river. They were even still decorated for Valentine's Day! It was wonderful to go on a date...it had been a while!
Last week was a little discouraging for us both. It is easy to be downcast about how much French there is to learn and how long it truly takes to absorb a language! However, we have really felt the Lord this weekend encouraging our hearts to be perserverent and our spirits to be joyful. We might be the only chance someone will ever have to see Jesus! We are so grateful for your prayers...and continue to pray for you on your missionfield.I have but one candle to burn...

you can tell we're from OH/DE...

...because we cannot get over the snow! This is the view out our bedroom window! We were finally back to class today, but our trip to Maxi, the grocery store, proved to take quite a long time. We have rescheduled our Valentine's date for Saturday, hoping back roads will be well cleared before then. We are trying to keep pressing forward with our French...we will be very ready for our spring break once it comes (March 3-11).

just kidding!

We actually will NOT be going out for Valentine's Day after all. We made it halfway there only to find many of the roads still unplowed and covered in 20 inches of snow. These pictures show our front walk and our neighbors car. We are in...for a while. So, it is pancakes for dinner and hopes of going out for Valentine's Day...maybe by next Wednesday?

for Valentine's Day...

...we decided to send you ALL some snow :) Don't worry: we're getting our fair share. A predicted 23 inches, to be exact, with at least 17 already fallen since 8 am. However, we have been looking forward to going out to dinner tonight for a few weeks, so we're going to try to go, anyway. Our neighbor reminded us that we won't have any more Valentine snow adventures for many years to come!

on the up and up...

We are both feeling a bit better than we did this weekend. The ice hotel pictured here and earlier is one of only two ice hotels in the world...the other is in Sweden. It was the coldest hour that Matt and I have ever experienced, but it was so neat to tour this hotel made enitrely of ice and snow. We would go wherever He calls, but this time in Canada has us extremely grateful for the heat waiting for us in Haiti! Matt and James decide they like the igloo suite the most! James and his wife Cindy have become dear friends as they have taken us under their wings and provided much of the friendship and family that we miss so much.

Old City Quebec

We are back from our trip to the Old City, which was the capital of Canada at one point. We had a really good day, but it was unbelievably cold, and we are both quite sick today...but we wanted to show you some of our pictures!

www.delawareonline.com

"The Newsjournal" of Delaware has just published an article on Matt and I going to Haiti...It came out today, but you can view it online. We are excited for the opporunity we have in this way to share with the state of Delaware some of the things the Lord has put on our heart! You can view it at:
www.delawareonline.com Type "Matt and Stacey Ayars" in the Search bar, and it will come up. We were blessed to have a Chrisitian author work on the article, though the newspaper is not a Christian paper. Please be praying with us that this would touch many hearts for Christ and plant many seeds...that it might inspire those searching for purpose in their lives and that it might in some way help us become fully funded...We have a long way to go and not a lot of time! Thank you!This is a photo of an arial view of Haiti taken this past September.

nous etudions...

We study...and we study some more! Our oral exams are tomorrow and we have spent the past four days preparing for them and for our written exams on Thursday. Weeks like this remind me of why we were SO excited on graudation day at Asbury! But, He is so faithful...we thought we were coming here to prepare for Haiti by learning French, and already we are watching Him prepare us for Haiti in so many other ways as well: Working with other missionaries, dealing with extreme weather conditions, being an active part of the mission field despite a lot of pressure, multi-tasking, learning more about each other and ourselves, seeking Him through His word when all other Spiritual feeding is in a language we don't understand, relying on Him when all friends and family are hundreds of miles away...the list goes on and on and we are truly grateful. (thank you for your prayers!)

more snow. more french.

It warmed up long enough to snow another six inches, and now the mercury plunges for an upcoming week of "minus" degrees. This week is exam week, and we are feeling the pressure!