the day.

It was busy.  Add in packing, cooking, and preparing for the next three days, and here it was in pictures:

First, Lily took her final exams, then we picked her up early and headed for the hotel...I love when she and Sofie hold hands all by themselves :)

Picking up friends along the way, we took Mona, Edlin, Myolene, Granny and MaCodo to lunch to thank them for the thousands of lunches THEY served this semester.

Because we are totally out of time to pick a different day for Micheline, Gertha and Noel, they came too, and we added in our big "Thank you for all YOUR help this year" at the same time.  Multitasking.  

I don't know.  She's working on tree climbing :)

After I confronted them about not smiling (they know me!) in our family picture, I made Noel, Micheline and Gertha pose with me again :)

All the conversation, as always, was hilariously cross-cultural :)  Everyone is so ready for a break, that everyone was a bit giddy...really fun!

As soon as we got home, Lily's teacher came to visit...to say good-bye.  We had a great visit and I am just so thankful for both Madame Nata and Madame Rose and the patience, love and care they have shown Lily!

And here is our beautiful road I told you about!  Walking to visit neighbors...Saying Goodbye to people face-to-face is very important in this culture.  EVERY summer when we return there are a slew of people who come to tell us that we did NOT say goodbye, and how upsetting that was.  We're TRYING to get everyone this time :)

Roselore just delivered her fifth a week ago, and we needed to visit Lisline before leaving!

Sofie and her baby obsession continue...seriously, she goes NUTS over them.

I love this picture.  It's SO hot and stuffy, and so dark in the little mud hut that is their home, and there are so many children in that little room, including mine, and everyone was just happy.  Those moments are hard to capture...

 This little girl in the pink dress is Roselore's fourth, and the little girl in the back half-hiding is one of her twins.

Dr. Cooper comes in today, prayer meeting is at our house, Lily is finishing her final exams as we speak, we have a few more good-byes to do in the village, one last kid-movie night with our neighbors, and a lot of printing, folding, arranging and planning in the middle!  Praise the Lord!

the messy ones

Thanks to some powerful antibiotics left behind from Melissa and Mason (THANK. YOU.) and WebMD, I am feeling better!

Brother Harold and Angie left today, though, as always, I heard him more often referred to as the Honorable Reverend Doctor Harold :)  As the chairman of EBS's board and as a friend, it was great and really helpful to have him here for a few days, and wonderful to finally meet Angie!

For the many of you who followed and prayed us through the near-death experience of Gertha last spring, I wanted to give a quick praise report from yesterday.

Through different stages of life here in Haiti, I have questioned our decision to ask women like Gertha and Micheline to help us in our home.  Can't I do it all myself?  Shouldn't I have to do it all myself?  Do they not have enough to do?  How does this LOOK to people, that I have women helping me?

But the realization I always come back to in this cultural norm of having house help is that it's not actually ABOUT the house help.  It's not about an extra set of hands with the girls, nor someone to mop the floor while I'm teaching.

It's about intimacy, about relationship, about inviting these women to live life alongside of us...not just out in their part of the world, not just to help them in their lives with a job--but also to INVITE them into ours.  To welcome them to influence our children.  To be involved in the lives of their children. To ask them to influence us and to be influenced by us.  Intimately.  To be a part of the good days and the bad, to see us at our best and worst, and to have that precious and intimate opportunity for discipleship...and to be discipled, as has very often been the case.

What we've seen over these years is that it is these closest and most vulnerable relationships that have perhaps most imitated Jesus' ministry here on earth...living and eating and serving and being served by His disciples.   And THAT is a sweet opportunity we have found too good to pass up.  Whether a dish was ever washed or a child ever played with or not.

ANYWAY.

The last year or so, I have been distraught over Gertha, questioning all this, wondering if we had failed. Some choices of hers seemed to indicate just that.  I had done my best to influence her and guide her in Christ, but...I seemed to have failed.

But yesterday, many months after the accumulation of bad choices that almost cost her her life, it was just the two of us and a big plate of corn grits, and she quiet unexpectedly started to cry as we talked about Thalyia over lunch.

"Remember last spring, when I almost died?" she asked quietly, and for the next hour, in hushed tones and with tears in both our eyes, we finally we able to talk about it, the secret she has kept from everyone but her husband and myself, the choices that almost left Thalyia motherless.

She talked and talked while the corn grew cold, poured out her heart and begged...not me, but Him...for forgiveness.  And, as she has often ministered to me, I was able to minister to her, intimately.  To pray with her.  To hold her hand.  To encourage her heart.  And to send her home later, finally forgiven and free and FIXED on Him.

That which I had named failure, I should have deemed HOPE.   He was still working.

I believe now more than ever that it is those life-on-life, messy, painful, questioning, perseverant, unconditional and intimate relationships that truly disciple...

What a reminder for myself, who is quick to bring everyone into my life but very hesitant to bring anyone into my heart...who is quick to share our bread, our finances, our clothes, our time, but resistant to receiving, a key element in true relationship.  

Join me today in re-evaluating some of our relationships--relationships perhaps that we have given much to, but maybe not ourselves...that we have invested in, but not with abandon, that we have preached Him, but perhaps not died to ourselves in.  There may be great opportunities for great transformation all around us that we are cutting short.

Just like these years with Gertha, it's often not been easy or smooth, but if we can persevere (if only because He perseveres) there might be sweet disciples of Christ, yet...

It might be the messy relationships that bring Him the most beauty, with time.

I'm such a work in progress :)  Thanks for learning and sharing with me!

my led camera

Yesterday, we ended up with a jam-packed truck in the rain to go see Gertha and baby Thalia, who just turned 6 months old!  OH MAN, she is ADORABLE.  I've never seen such a young one with so much hair!

 Lily ADORES Thalia (I wish she was so motherly with her own sister :)

...and Thalia adores Lily.

Try as I might, it is impossible to get my sisters to pose smiling.  Smiling is "led" (ugly) and there's just nothing I can do to change their minds.  The ladies also hated this group of pix because they said "the lighting makes us look black."  

When I said that makes absolutely NO sense, and that there is NO way any camera in any lighting was going to NOT make them look black,  I got everyone laughing, which gave me this picture, which everyone hates even more.  Led smiling.  

I don't pretend to understand this culture :)  My own culture has me baffled half the time!  

But I am grateful for a fun day, a great/crazy evening with 14 around the dinner table and to see Gertha, laughing, walking, and feeling good!  Praise the Lord.

Another praise for prayer:  This morning at 7, eight students left with a medical team and Dr. Rodney for a village about 3 hours from here to do a long weekend of medical treatment and evangelism.  Every patient the doctors and nurses see will then spend time with one of the students, being prayed for and having the Gospel shared with them.

I was almost sick with envy this morning when they pulled out...That is the EXACT kind of thing I most love to do (and I know Cammie was green with me), but the little ones aren't quite ready for three full days without mom.  

However, Junior took my camera with him and we'll be praying fervently throughout the weekend for lots of seeds to be planted, for the healing hands of Jesus to touch bodies AND hearts, and for this awesome kingdom building opportunity!

powerful prayers

When I asked for prayers this morning for our trip to Milo, I didn't know.


Didn't know how much we were going to need them.  


When I said we were off for an adventure, well, I didn't know how true that would be, either.


But it was.  And whether you were praying or not, He answered!


Sharing details is just going to be upsetting, so long story short, we got pulled into the start of manifestations (riots) on our way through town to Milo, which the girls slept through and the ladies and I prayed through.  We couldn't turn around, so we had to keep pushing forward.


We finally made it to Milo, and we had a good visit with Gertha, though she was in considerable pain, the conditions were not excellent, and her hip-to-hip scar was gruesome.  She has very little understanding of what has happened except that the doctors "cut out the bad stuff."  Visiting people when they're sick is such an important part of this culture, and I can't help but think that part of it is because there is so much uncertainty in medical care.  


However, it was really good to see her and pray with her, and I'm praying that this surgery was the start of her feeling much better.  She's missing Thalia something awful, and seeing Lily and Sofia through the window was the only thing that made her grin (kids weren't allowed in, which I came to see the wisdom in).


Grateful for the chance to see Gertha, we grabbed some rice and beans, ate lunch to keep the girls from getting grouchy and headed back home, sure that the riots from earlier would be long dispersed by the UN and by time (there is only one road through town).


However, things had only drastically heated up, and in the wrong place at the wrong time, I didn't know what to do but trust and pray, pray and trust.
  
As I've shared recently, there is just no place that God is not...NO place, and I praise Him that that was resoundingly true today, with my babies in the backseat and dear friends around me.  


Lily and Sofie are HIS, Micheline, the baby in her belly, Noel, Naomi, Peninah and I...His.  I couldn't take care of us...a powerful reminder that we're not IN my hands, but HIS.


When we finally found ourselves almost home quite a while later, I asked Lil to sing us a song, and for the last 20 minutes she sang, "Hakkuna Mattata, it mean no worries, for the rest of your days!" at the top of her lungs in her party dress (turns out going to the hospital is quite the dress up event) and I couldn't help but be blessed by her childlike faith.  Never occurred to her to be scared, and the message on her heart was "no worries for the rest of our days" :)  


I could not have known.  There was nothing I could have done beyond what I did.  But He knew.  And He did what only He could do.  And I'm so incredibly thankful.


I prayed that the Lord would give me life-on-life chances today to be Jesus with the women around me, and I praise the Lord that He gave me His peace and presence...and protection!


THANK YOU for your prayers, and please never think that we don't need them, that He doesn't listen or that your prayer support of our family and His work in Haiti isn't SO vital!  We are standing on His faithfulness and on the faithfulness of your prayers...


Thank you!

milo

Gertha had surgery late last night and therefore this afternoon the girls and I are off for another bound-to-be-adventure.  Please pray for safe travels (Milo is 2 hours from here), good life-on-life time with Gertha several of her friends who are going with us, and for healing for Gertha!

no blood.

I have a rather urgent prayer request that we would greatly appreciate your prayers for.  


Our friend and the girls' nanny, Gertha, was having major stomach pains and swelling in her abdomen last week that were diagnosed locally as gas.  After a few days, she got better.  But then this past Sunday she started having excruciating pain again, and her stomach started to get bigger and bigger and hot to the touch.  By Tuesday, she could not get out of bed, her stomach looked like she was 6 months pregnant, and she was in so much pain that she couldn't speak to me, much less sit up. 

Wednesday morning we sent her to the hospital in Milo, which has the reputation of being the best hospital in the North.  They immediately admitted her, noting that her condition was serious. 


I spoke to her husband last night who is staying there with her, and he shared that she is on IVs.  When I asked what the doctors had diagnosed her with, he said simply, "No blood.  She has no blood."


Blaming blood (too much blood, not enough blood, sour blood, sweet blood, black blood)  is a rather cultural norm-explanation for sickness, so I persisted.  "What do you mean?"


Wislin explained to me that it had been explained to him that every human has 5 Liters of blood in their bodies, and that they had determined somehow that Gertha only has 1 Liter of blood in hers.  


He could not tell me how this is resulting in a swollen stomach and intense pains, but explained that today (Friday) she is to receive the additional 4 liters that she is missing, and asked if I could send more money so they could buy the blood.


"What kind of blood?" I asked Wislin, fear starting to creep in.


"Um, they said they'll take her parents blood for $100 Haitian, and then give her that, for another $100 Haitian."  


gulp.


After working hard all night to give my worries, my many concerns with this diagnosis and remedy, and dear Gertha--mother of adorable 4 month old Talia--to God, this is what it comes down to...

Doctors, whatever I think of their abilities, are the highest form of medical expertise in this country.  People have great confidence in them, just as we have great confidence in our doctors Stateside.  We do what they tell us.  So do our brothers and sisters here.  There is no WebMD.  No "Let's Google that!"  There is widely no general knowledge of how our bodies work, and many understandings about biology and anatomy are traditions/superstitions based.


After going a few local places, we sent Gertha to the best place available.  We can't take her out of there because things sound crazy when everyone else thinks things sound spot-on.  I'm no doctor, either, and the reality is that I have no place to take her nor the knowledge or ability to figure out what she needs.  Despite my strong desire as an American to swoop in there and take care of things myself...I can't do that.  

baby Talia

So, do I believe that God is the one ultimately in control, or not?  Do I trust Him, or don't I?  We have done what we can do, we are supporting what her family desires to do, and we will keep helping them pay for whatever the doctors are telling her she needs...and I have not stopped praying, trying to lay down all my many thoughts about this situation and instead, by faith, say (over and over, it seems)... 

You know what is wrong.  You know what she needs.  Lord, please heal Gertha.


Please pray with me, and I'll keep you posted.  Thank you...

I've got friends.

There are two things I detest about being sick:  One, feeling so awful that it's hard to think about anything else.  Two, needing help.


I'm a missionary, but I'm also from the White family.  


That means that I am here to help.  And that I don't need any myself.  


I have been sick since Friday.  When I woke up this morning still feeling unbearably terrible, I was in tears with disappointment and frustration.  I still have little voice, my head is pounding, my throat still aches, I have a major sinus migraine and my nose is raw from constant blowing.  (oh yeah.  I'm beautiful these days.)


And as you probably know, Sofie isn't content and sleepy all day because I feel like I'd like to be hit by a truck.  Lily doesn't want to sit quietly in her room, looking at books.  They want, and need, Mommy: friend, healer, cook, cleaner, playmate, feeder, snuggler, chaser, reader, teacher, entertainer Mommy.  I've still had a lot of classes to teach.  Today was still payday to prepare.  Everybody's still gotta eat!


I headed to class at 7:30 grouchy, and by 9:30 I did something we White's never do: quit.  I just couldn't grade papers, sort payroll, meet with students and process invoices anymore.  But I also couldn't go home and get jumped on and spilled on and fussied.  


My head hurt so badly that I had to squint walking home, but I snuck around to the back door, hoping to make it to the bedroom without the girls seeing me.  Gertha and Micheline were supposed to work until 11, so I could lay down for a good hour without encroaching on them.


"MOMMY!" screamed Lily and Sofie started to cry the moment she saw me..."Ma-Ma!"


And you know what?  Gertha and Micheline helped me.  I didn't even ask them to.  They saw how much I was struggling, swooped the girls up and happily took them to the cafeteria to eat fried chicken and to ride on the food cart "tap-tap".  


I woke up feeling even more congested when they returned at 11:15.  I fed the baby and put her down, only to realize that my women's Bible study was at the door, to begin NOW.  


"Oh, my goodness," I apologized, trying to figure out how I could possibly lead.  


"What are you doing up?" Granny asked immediately, pushing past me into the house and pointing down the hall.  "Go to bed!"


"But I want to study..." I said weakly.  


"What?  Go to bed!" Jezula demanded.  "We'll do it on our own!"  She came right in, grabbed Bibles and hymnals off our bookshelf and headed for the porch.  


"Lily!" Gertha asked.  "Wanna watch Dora?"


I fell asleep to the sweet sound of friends singing praise on the porch and Lily responding happily to all of Dora's questions, the first time I remembered today how Great and Beautiful He is.  


My seven friends met without me (hip-hip-hooray for having a Bible study that is not dependent on me!), and Noel came and sat on the bed with me before leaving, putting her cool long hand on my head and praying for me.    


Micheline and Gertha fed Lily lunch and stayed an extra two hours until Matt came home to help with Sofia.


My head in a painful, stuffy fog, I didn't learn much today.  But I did realize that I have friends...real ones.  


And I realized that by being so helpful, helpful, helpful all the time and refusing to be helped or ask for help might just be keeping friends from getting to love me the way I am always getting to love them.


I wish it hadn't taken 5 days of feeling terrible to realize it.  I commit to allow love once I get better...and until then, too.


Let someone love you today!

babies

We had a great time at church yesterday seeing baby Victoria (and three other little ones) dedicated, and hearing Lucner preach.

In light of Doctor Rodney's (Bethesda Clinic head and pastor of the Vaudreil Church) recent near-death experience (appendectomy), Lucner shared that many people had threatened to leave the faith if Dr. Rodney had died.  

He preached a great sermon on our disappointment when God doesn't seem to do what we wanted Him to do, or when we wanted Him to do it, using John the Baptist's beheading as text.  

 It was a great sermon and a great reminder that we are here for His glory, and a great re-commitment for myself to be seeking, praying for and living for His glory above my own desires.






Baby Victoria, meanwhile, looks so much like Luna (and looked so cute in her huge dress and matching cap and veil)! We also got to sit with Gertha and baby Thalia, and it's always so good to have some time with this gorgeous little one!

Also saw friend and student Devicoeur there.  Having Dodo and Bubba at church with us made the three hour (yeah, that's a full 180 minute church service on a wood bench) SO much easier with the girls...extra help!  Sofie had to cut out half way through, but Lily made it the whole service.  MAN, this girl is going to miss her Dodo and Bubba come Thursday!

We continue to be so thankful for Lucner, for the ways God is using he and Luna, and for this little miracle!

one of the crazies

WHEW.  What. A. Day.

At any given moment today, there was one screaming-bloody-murder or teary-whiny-fussy infant or toddler, someone at the door, a ringing phone, bread or a pot pie or a roast in the oven, a student that needed help...man...it was just a crazy, GO GO GO relentless day.  I am SO thankful Dad is here, or you would have found me in a corner crying by noon!  My brain was so numb just from working in two languages literally every moment today that I found myself talking to dad in Creole this evening and confused about why he was just staring at me.

However, now that it is over and I'm literally falling asleep at my desk, there were a LOT of GREAT things today...

Maxi, Dad and Abel, a dear relationship that has formed over the years.  Very thankful for these men, for the unity they have in Christ, and for an unexpected and powerful "break-through" conversation I was able to have with Abel this evening.

 Friends.  Shayla, Kerline and Max are three of my best friends, not "in Haiti," but in life right now.  I'm so thankful for these three, and this afternoon was particularly blessed by the way a very fussy, tired, dad-sick, stuffy Lily transformed into her joyful, gleeful self just a few minutes after their arrival.  I can be myself with these friends, they are real with me, they love our girls, and having them in our lives greatly improves our lives.

 Baby Gertha.  While she still hasn't been given a name, 'Baby Gertha' is just beautiful and wonderfully healthy and such a joy.  Gertha was just beaming that first-time-new-mom smile this morning, and I am so grateful to see this little miracle unfold.

 Lily had a blast with baby Gertha, too, though she was very discouraged that Sofia and baby Gertha didn't hit it off better, because apparently they are "suppose to be friends!"

 More friends.  Noel and Micheline went with us this morning to visit Gertha (and insisted that fussy Sofie was fussy Sofie because she was too hot, and therefore took off her clothes, all the while bundling Baby Gertha.)  These three women are a great joy and encouragement to me, and time with them is good time.  So grateful for these true and transparent relationships.  Plus, we could not have made the steep hike to Gertha's house with Lily, Sofie, and three boxes of baby clothes and diapers without their help :)

Also, praise the Lord, Dodo and Bubba (Dorothy and John McC.) arrived safely today and are sound asleep next door...YAY for friends next door!

End of the day...Matt is doing well in Jackson, we've had sweet time with dad/grandpa, we have help, I've been especially touched by the transforming power relationship has in our lives, and I am richly blessed this evening to realize that in the midst of a million tasks and people today, a handful of His children that I came to minister to minister instead to me...on the good days and on the crazies!

Gertha had a little girl at 1 am this morning and is now home.  I haven't seen her yet, but she said this morning that she is good and the baby (no name yet) is good, and wow, I am just praising the Lord for another miracle!  We'll go see her this afternoon and get some pictures!  Praise the Lord!

prayers and beach

First things first....

Lily and Sof with Gertha, friend and nanny.

Please be praying with us continually for Gertha and her baby.  She called at 7 this morning and was bleeding.  She went to a nearby clinic, who with no information and no treatment, sent her several hours later to the main hospital downtown.  She is there now with minimal pain but continued bleeding, and each time I ask what the doctor's are saying, she says, "nothing."

She is concerned, I am concerned...the baby is expected to come in October.  Please join us in praying.

Also, Micheline has had several people die of cholera in her area the past 10 days...her rumor is that "it's back."  Please be praying that this strain is squelched by "over-care" in how everyone is cooking and drinking right away...

We had a good time at the beach, though electrical/water/mosquito issues and colds for all three of us girls brought us home a bit more worn out than we had hoped today.  SO glad my dad is here and thankful for a rare day away from normal life!

Matt and the guys are safely in Jackson and enjoying their first day of classes today!

Liked ice cream like her momma...

8 "good stuff"

1. Our Weather
      I don't know what it's like where you are, but oh man...it is paradise here.  It's been between 80 and 90 degrees each day (26-30 Celcius), crazy sunny, breezy, sweat-shirt chilly in the mornings and evenings and perfect to sleep under a light blanket.  Haiti might have a lot of it's own issues, but IT IS NEVER COLD.  Right now, that's GOT to sound nice to some of you out there :)

2. Lucner and his Ti-Kay

 Previously men's overflow housing at the old Emmaus seminary, this house was a DISASTER.  I wasn't sure it would ever be livable, but with lots of help from some of you and lots of others it is not only livable, but just LOVELY.  Lucner and his new wife Luna are such a blessing not just to us, but to hundreds of people at the Vaudreil church where he pastors, to the Emmaus, to both communities and to pretty much everyone he runs into.  The joy of the Lord is the obvious strength of Lucner, and his wisdom surpasses his years.

Luke and Luna had us over for supper Thursday night, and we just had a blast celebrating our friendship, their new house and new marriage, and what God is doing in Haiti and at EBS.     


3. Gertha's Big Announcment
     Our first Christmas here, Gertha's fiance drowned with around 200 other Haitians on a boat heading to Turks and Caicos.  Until a year ago, she had remained single, but last fall she started dating a young man even taller than she is named Wislin.  Three weeks ago their two families finally sat down (without Wislin and Gertha, as is the custom) talked things out, and set a wedding date for May 28th.

     Gertha, knowing that Sophie isn't due until June 6th, thought this would be "perfect" so that Lily and I could be there.  When I explained to her that there is no way we can be here for a wedding 8 days before the baby is due she was so disappointed...but the families have spoken.

     I may not get to be there for the wedding, but I did get the pleasure of wedding dress "shopping" with her last week, which Lily thought was just fantastic, and Gertha found a dress she loved, thanks to a friend of Dodo and Bubba's who sent them back with 11 gorgeous wedding dresses.


4. Civil and the Saccanville Church
    About six months ago the head pastor of the Saccanville church was taken into a church planting program, and almost instantly things at the church went downhill.  Attendance dropped, preachers were hard to find, and the church really began to struggle with a lack of strong, consistent leadership.  Finally, the church met with the Seminary asking for help.  For two months, the seminary committed to leading worship and preaching, promising to pray about the future.

     The Lord took care of the rest, clearly leading Civil (3rd year student) to step in the Interim Associate Pastor, and not long after led Fan-Fan (staff) to take over the faltering Sunday School program, helping to train the teachers, teach the youth class that didn't have a teacher, and support the program.
      Things have been getting better slowly, but today I can honestly say that it was GOOD church this morning.  Civil's preaching has been outstanding: Biblical, honest, insightful and well-delivered.  Numbers are growing again, and a man came today specifically to become a Christian and we were all able to witness his conversion.
     Please keep praying for this group of believers and for Civil, Fan-fan, and many from EBS and the community who are seeking to be and help His church in Saccanville.


5. Other Ti-Moun's
    Of the 70+ people living and working on our seminary compound every day, ONE of them is a "ti-moun" (kid.)  But a few months a year, when the farm is too frozen to farm, Jacob and Josephine join Lily, and it is SUCH a blessing for us and for her to have some other kids next door, even if they are significantly older than her.

     The kids are abundantly patient with Lily, letting her tag along, making her fun gifts...like these elf slippers and new dress, and if they didn't have school, Lily would try to spend 24/7 with Jacob and Josephine.


6. Abel's New Ride
     A group of you have gotten together to try to bring some small business loans (which in Haiti, are HUGE business loans, and miracles at that!) to Saccanville, and this past Friday Abel was finally able to buy his tap-tap (the name for a small truck like this used as the main source of public transportation.)

     Not only will this help generate income for his family, but it will play a huge role in the continual major transportation problem our staff and students have coming to Emmaus from Cap-Haitien.  Saccanville is just SO remote that many times our students will stand in the road for literally HOURS waiting for a ride.

     This tap-tap will reserve a morning trip and an afternoon trip for Emmaus students and staff, picking them up and dropping them off at set times and places each day.  We're all really excited about this great opportunity, but Abel is downright overwhelmed at this rare chance to better his community and family.

     As always, no one was more pumped than Lily, who did NOT want to share the "baby bench" with Abel, but felt sure that it needed to be reserved just for her.  Please be praying for this new venture!

7.  A New Bell
     It might not sound like much, but until today, EBS has still been summed to and from class, chapel, lunch and study hall with Giselain ringing an old brass hand bell.  Needless to say, this leads to all kinds of flexibility in when that's being rung, especially on Friday's...her day off.
     Finally, over Christmas we had the purchase approved of a bell system, John got it all hooked up, and today, everything is just a little bit easier...and more on-time!


8. Junior's Return
     Junior decided at the last minute to return to Port-au-Prince for Christmas break, feeling led to do so.  The Lord knew what He was doing because Junior had a fantastic month of ministry down south.  Abandoned by his witch-doctor father and family when he was a young teen for becoming a Christian, Junior still doesn't really have a home in Port.
     However, the little church he planted and began in Diquini after the earthquake is ALWAYS anxious to have him back and to have him work alongside them.  He brought back awesome reports of church growth, dedication, individual spiritual growth, baptisms and developing leaders.  However near the end of his trip, right after Haiti's past dictator returned last Sunday, the Seventh Day Adventist denomination in Port exploded with the calculated and guaranteed news that this was a sign that Jesus WILL be returning on May 21st.  Thousands of tracts were distributed almost overnight, and the group of new believers in Diquini didn't know WHAT to do with the "news."

     Due to the fact school had been delayed an extra week, he was available to spend an extra week with this blossoming congregation in the face of their struggle, and was able to spend hours in Bible study, prayer, counsel and research with them to help them worry not for the day or hour, but to always be prepared for Jesus's return.
     Due to classes he has been able to take here the past two years, he was able to use the Bible to shed light on the false "facts" being spread, and to bring peace in a time of turmoil.
     I'm so thankful for his time there, for his safe and excited return to Emmaus, and for the few days we've had with him to eat, share, pray and spend time together debriefing his time and preparing for tomorrow!

     However, no one was happier to see Junior than Lily...he is one of her favorite people, and always takes the time to follow her bossy leadings! "Junior!  Come in my house!"

     School started off again today without too many hitches, and Matt is preaching in chapel in a few minutes!  And we're off!