life in the big city

Saturday night, after all the kiddos were in bed, we stayed up late doing something the six of us (and before the husbands, the four of us) have spent many a night doing...eating dessert, playing "Settlers of Catan" and laugh uproariously.  It felt so good and so normal to do something so good and normal with people who have been like family to us for so many years.

Greg and Lil, watching the girls below

Lily and Nora were both very popular with the "Hope Girls"

Simple things like these, and sitting around, talking about our jobs, our lives, our families, what He's doing in our three different parts of Haiti, what He's doing in our lives, etc. are so important, refreshing, renewing and inspiring!  We spent the bumpy flight back home this evening praising the Lord for this opportunity, which while quick, made us feel very ready again to attack the work He has placed before us.

Ryan and T (medical missionaries near Port), with Nora and baby Titus (below) and Cathie

Because Port-au-Prince was the place where both of us fell in love with Haiti, it's a city that will always be close to our hearts.  It was difficult to see so many thousands living in tents, and to see so many buildings still crumbled in heaps, as if the earthquake happened a week ago.

At the same time, we saw definite signs of progress in some areas...a large building used for drug trafficking for years now taken over and being used to store supplies and equipment for road reconstruction...new and improved shopping centers...the spirit of people transformed to a spirit of gratefulness.  Gratitude.  Community.

Cap-Haitien doesn't have any "Tap-Tap buses" like these...or roads like these!

However, we also don't have tent villages like these.

And earthquake or not, Port continues to be years ahead of Cap in terms of advancement.  Roads!  Several huge stores very similar to a Lowe's and several others very similar to a Wal-Mart.  Good hospitals, tons of specialized and good hospitals and clinics.  Roads!  I couldn't get the picture, but there was even a small little store we passed that had a generator out back, TVs inside, tons of young men swarming it, and advertised "X-Box" competitions.  I mean, just....unbelievable.

We may not have roads, X-Box, electricity or stores in our part of the world, but as we drove home from the airport tonight, catching up with Abel, we both felt very blessed to be a part of this breathtaking, dirt-road, rice field, family-community....and a part of the dear group of friends He's given us in Port!

Saccanville

weekend home from college

At least that's what it feels like!  Working hard, and finally getting a chance to come home for the weekend, lounge around on mom and dad's couch, get good counsel, laugh about "remember when's", eat good food you normally don't get and catch up on life!

It's really good to be here.  After the earthquake, Greg and Cathie (clarification: Greg and Cathie and all the photos of where we are right now are NOT OMS, but CSI International) were forced to leave the guest house where they had lived for 13 years and where I had always worked and stayed.  While a new orphanage is being built (pictures below) they have moved into the upstairs of the current orphanage, and have turned the upstairs into housing for teams.  Right now there is a team of 16 across the hall, 20 little girls and their care-workers downstairs, and us all staying in the same house.

Lily, as you can imagine, is in heaven.  They have a real live playground that she is obsessed with, Cathie made her ice cream sandwhiches, 20 little girls to play with, someone caught a trantula...really everything a 2 year old girl needs and more.

I've also had the chance to catch up with some old friends, some of whom lost their homes and family members in the earthquake and are now living near to CSI's clinic, orphanage, church and guest house.

Spending time with good friends is always such a gift, especially friends who have been a part of our lives for over 10 years and who understand our lives in a way that many cannot, having lived in Haiti and raised their girls here, etc.  We're feeling blessed!

Something you may not see at other airports...guns, with luggage tags taped to the barrels, being brought onto the plane.

CSI's gorgeous new Hope Orphanage...almost finished!

 Lily LOVES the new little girls rooms, and kept running from colored room to room, making us all "spin spin!"

Lily continues to be more comfortable with the Haitian staff than the American visitors...trying to jump in and work alongside of the national construction workers

Lily is thrilled with this tarantula, or "crab" as it's called in Creole.  She had it on her bed earlier today and I just couldn't take it anymore.

 out on the "gator", visiting some old friends.  You may recognize this family (Vilner family) as one I wrote about after the earthquake that killed their 14 year old daughter...It was great to see them and to see lots of smiles and to laugh together, something we were unable to do last time.

Lily and the "Hope" girls during recess break...Lily is the youngest of them, but quite the center of attention and still very prone to directing everyone :)

 Lil's first time on a trampoline

heading south for the weekend...

Tomorrow after work we are heading for the big city!  We haven't seen Greg and Cathie in WAY too long, and haven't been to Port since the weeks following the earthquake.  Greg and Cathie are the ones who introduced me to Haiti when I was 18, and are the family I always lived and worked with before we were married and came up North to join Emmaus Biblical Seminary.

Lily's been telling everyone today that tomorrow she is going to see "Grandpa Greg and Grandma Coffee!"

They are precious family to us three, and another old friend of ours, Theresa, her husband and kiddos will be joining us as well.  Port may not seem like much of a city to you, but for those of us living in smaller cities around the country, Port-au-Prince is where we find a few paved roads, traffic lights, garbage dumpsters, grocery stores, and yes, even a Domino's Pizza!

Lots of pictures to come!

pull back...push forward

We had a lovely time at retreat, with good time together as a family and as an OMS Haiti family! If it hadn't been for Josephine (or Zo-zo-phine, as Lily calls her) Lil NEVER would have made it through all the sessions without mom and dad. But as long as Jose was nearby, Lil was happy as a clam.

The weather was spectacular, and we enjoyed one afternoon at the beach, some time at the pool, eating out, taking a few naps, and spending extra time with the Lord. Tuesday and Wednesday concludes the "set apart" time with departmental vision casting, and Tuesday is also our last day of class before our one week "Spring Break."
(all the MK's but one)
(our fantastic meeting room)


(Lily JUST wants to be one of the big kids)


(Ba-boosh-ka Lily :)
As nice as it was to get away a bit, it is always good to be home, have the sand washed out of everything, catch up with what is going on here and get back in the swing of things. What a beautiful gift He continually gives us each : the opportunity to draw close to Him and lay down ourselves for our brothers and sisters unto Him each day...

We have something HUGE we just beg for your prayers for: This Thursday, Emmaus Biblical Seminary is setting out on it's first "Spring Break Missions Trip." A whopping 25 students, staff members and missionaries leave April 1st for Diquini, the mountain top area of Port-au-Prince where God brought over 650 people to a saving knowledge of Himself through EBS right after the earthquake. One of our own, Junior, continues to live in a tent on this mountaintop and work to disciple and plant the Church there.

After talking to him a few weeks ago, and detecting loneliness and discouragement in his voice (though he shared with me this beautiful promise: "God have given me the precious gift of joy. Things have been very difficult, but Stacey, I have not ONCE for one moment been sad. He gives me miraculous joy."), Matt and I began "dreaming" about sending a group over spring break to help him in discipleship, in evangelism, and in brotherhood.

As we prayed about this vision, we began praying that He would open the doors if it was what HE wanted, and in amazement we have seen 25 men, women and children step-up to plan an Easter crusade, house-to-house evangelism, a large children's ministry, and times of encouragement for Junior. SIXTEEN students are willingly giving up their Spring Breaks, the only days of class off until JULY, to voluntarily live in tents on a mountaintop in Port-au-Prince to be poured out. NINE missionaries have volunteered to help them do it.

SO EXCITING.


We have had a trip to Florida planned since Christmas, BE (Before the Earthquake), to see my dad, my sister, her boyfriend, Matt's mom and Matt's dad, and as excited about this as we are, it is KILLING us that we are missing out on this fantastic opportunity to be a part of what God is doing in Port and at EBS.

I will post pictures of those going this week so that you can be praying visually, too, but until then, PLEASE be surrounding the many preparations for this trip, and the many that are going, in prayer. This is as life-on-life, down-in-the-dirt, front-line ministry as it comes.

Another breathtaking vision I secretly and carefully hold: 25 men and women...3 full days...the Word of God and the message of salvation physically brought to EVERY SINGLE HOME on the mountain of Diquini. Not just through hearing the crusade services each evening, but speaking the Beautiful Truth in EVERY home....EVERY EAR on this Port-au-Prince mountain having heard directly of His love and plan of salvation for them by April 5th. It is a huge vision...please be praying. Thank you, family!

He is Mighty to Save

***this one's a bit gruesome. and beautiful. just warning you***

I love my job.

This might not be a highly sought after position, and maybe OMS just took me because no one else was applying, but the weather is gorgeous and the work is SWEET. Not in a modern sense, but rather SWEET water to my soul, to live and eat and study and work alongside of other men and women He is calling to bring radical change - "God Only" change - to Haiti.

I got to sit with one such man today, a new student from Port-au-Prince. He has been in my English class since last week, but having never had an opportunity to learn our language before, he is quiet lost and mostly there to gain what he can while waiting for his Bible classes to start.

But today I started doing interviews with these new students, gathering their testimonies to use to help raise support for their food, lodging and tuition.

And Alex? Sign ME up.

After telling me a bit about his background (no wife, family lives in La Victoire, a few hours from here, 27 years old), I asked a question that excited him.

You come from a Christian family?

No. No one in my family is a Christian except for my mother, who I led to the Lord in 2007.

So how did you become a Christian?

Radio 4VEH.

(Brett and Kate, knew you'd be thrilled. Radio 4VEH, the Evangelistic Voice of Haiti, is a ministry of OMS and is broadcasted throughout all of northern Haiti to pre-set, solar-powered radios.)

Someone on there was talking about Jesus and you came to the Lord?

No. I became a Christian because I didn't want to be eaten.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Start from the beginning.

OK, here goes. One day, in 2001, I was listening to Radio 4VEH, even though I wasn't a Christian, but just because it was on where I was. And on the radio, there was this young man telling his story. He was a young Christian man, from a Christian family, and he told this story on the radio:

"I lived in Grand-Rivier (near EBS) and my family sent me into Cap-Haitien to go and buy a goat. So, I went into town to find a good goat, and I bought one. I was on my way back home and I was crossing the big bridge in Cap-Haitien. As I was coming across, I saw a huge spiraling wind coming toward me. It picket me up, and while I was up inside the tornado, I looked down, and I could see all the people still on the bridge.

Ok, time out. I know that our culture isn't very accustomed to "spiritual interference" in daily life. We tend to think of God and Satan as doing spiritual things and man doing physical things. However, in Haiti, angels and demons, God and Satan and the things that they do are very much so a part of the physical world, not just a part of the spiritual world. You can believe this story actually happened, or that it was more of a dream or vision. Whatever you believe, it's the POINT of the story that matters here...

"So I was looking down at all the people, wondering what was happening, and a strong voice spoke into my ear, "Today, you are going to Leogane, and you will be killed."

"I began to pray, Lord help me, Lord help me, and in a moment, I was in the middle of a plain area, and there were hundreds of people there having a voodoo ceremony. The moment I arrived there, men grabbed me, and tied me up next to 7 other people, most of them children and young people like me. I saw that I was to be killed and sacrificed to demons and eaten by these people.

"I prayed and prayed, Lord save me, and then I watched while the men grabbed the first child, a young girl, killed her (I'm going to spare you all the details Alex shared with me) and began to roast her. As soon as they began to eat her, the men grabbed the second child and did the same thing. I was sick and crying and praying, Lord save me, save me as I watched the first seven people killed, roasted and then being eaten by the hundreds of people there.

When it came to me, they reached to kill me, and someone said, "I think the first seven will be enough. We don't need this little boy."

I continued to pray, and sat to the side while everyone ate and spoke with demons. Finally, when the demons were not satisfied, a witch doctor brought the knife and began to kill me. He raised his knife and thrust it at my chest. I prayed out loud: LORD, SAVE ME. I opened my eyes, and saw the tip of the knife touching my flesh, but unable to penetrate my skin.

The witch doctor was angry, and called another man. Three different men tried to stab me through the chest, but as hard as they tried, the knife would NOT go through my skin. Save me, God, Save me.

Angry, they brought a mirror (often used in voodoo ceremonies to look into the spiritual world) and forced me to look in it, hoping that I would be overcome by demons and that they would be able to kill me.

But in the mirror I looked, and I saw my mother, my father, and my brother. Only them, and they were praying, praying, praying in the mirror. Lord, save him, save him.

The witchdoctors were so angry that they grabbed me and slammed me into the ground.

My goat bleated next to me and I was on the bridge in Cap-Haitien. Everyone was walking past me, shopping and going places. I had returned. God saved my life."

"WOW" was all I could say when Alex finished telling me the boy's story. "So," I asked again. "How did you become saved?"

"The second I heard that boy share his story," Alex said, "I said to myself: If that had happened to me, I would have been sliced down the middle, chopped into pieces, roasted and eaten. If that had been me, I would have no God to save me. I know nothing bigger than demons. I would be eaten. So, that very moment, I said, "God, being a Christian might bring many sacrifices and many struggles, but please be MY God. Lord, save ME."

"So I have followed the Lord every since that day that He saved me."

"Wow" I said again, blown away. I wanted to quit right there and have a little praise service, but looking at the fresh scars on Alex's hands, I wanted to hear more. I wanted to hear about Port-au-Prince.

So, why did you go to Port-au-Prince if you're from La Victoire?

I went to study God's Word. God put on my heart, before I was even saved, to be a missionary, before I even knew what that meant. He made me to be a missionary, so I went to Port to study the Bible.

Were you in Seminary when the earthquake happened?

No. I was teaching. The only way I could pay for seminary was to teach. So all morning I would go to class and study theology, hermeneutics, Bible courses, and then all afternoon I was a teacher for first and second graders. At 4:49 on January 12th, I was standing in the third story classroom of the school, explaining the homework to the kids, because class would end at 5:00.

I felt the shaking begin, and I pushed towards the door, but everything was shaking so much, that I couldn't get anywhere. I pushed towards the door, towards the window, but I didn't get anywhere, and I saw the ceiling caving in, the walls cracking. I could do NOTHING. I kept my eyes on that doorway, but saw that the opening was getting smaller and smaller, blocks were falling, all was black, except the shrinking light of that doorway.

I knew then that I was dead. I knew I would die in just a few more seconds. I didn't want to die afraid, you know? I wanted to die at peace. So I closed my eyes, and I stood straight, and I raised my hands to the heavens, and I thanked the Lord for my life.

At this point, Alex has gotten up from his chair and is standing in the middle of my office, straight, with arms lifted and hands open...yeah, I was crying.

I praised the Lord, and was just waiting to be dead. And I opened my eyes, just to see, and the door, it was RIGHT in front of me. I hadn't moved, and it had been far off, but suddenly it was right in front of me. Blocks were everywhere, things continued to crumble and fall, so I just jumped.

"You jumped? out the door? of the third story???"

Yeah. I thought, "God has given me an open door. GO." So, I jumped. I cut my hands, my knees, but just cuts. I stood up. And I walked home. My home was gone, everything was gone. For six nights I slept in the streets until I could get enough money together to come. For the first four days, there were no cell phones, so my family was sure that I was dead. On the fifth day I called them, and on the sixth I came home.

"Wow" I said for the tenth time, a word he's probably wondering about.

And so then you came here?

Well, I knew there were two places to study God's Word in the North. Limbee and Emmaus. And I have NO money, and now, I have NO seminary, and now, I have NO job, and now, I have No home. And then I hear on Radio 4VEH that Emmaus is helping people like me. They said on the radio that even if you had nothing, to come, and Emmaus would give you Bible teaching and food and a place to stay. I called the number that day. Then I came.

"Praise the Lord," I kept thinking, SO EXCITED to be a part of what he is talking about.

"So," I said, wrapping up so I could go home and tell Matt his story, "what do you think?"

"It's good" Alex said. "Classes are good, teachers are good, the campus is good. But it is different than where I was. It is good."

In what way?

"I feel when I come on this campus, there is a...a spiritual ambiance here." Alex paused while I silently prayed Thank You, Jesus.

"Yeah, that's it. I can feel the Spirit here. I don't think He'd done with me yet."

I think He's JUST getting started.

The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing

Zephaniah 3:17

I LOVE this picture, from Port..."Jesus, the only solution."