10 really good things.

Since I'm never going to find the time to write real posts about these great things, I'm going to just sum 'em up!


1)  Last night, Sofie slept through the night for the very first time.  Last night, I slept through the night for the very first time in over 8 months.  8 weeks for Lily, 8 months for Sofie.  Really, really good.


2)  After over a year of praying for and thinking about and trying to help the struggling church here in Saccanville, we are overjoyed that the Lord spoke to Junior about it.  When the Lord puts something on Junior's heart, he gives his all, and that seems to be contagious.

Now, there are four students and a staff member teaching Bible studies, teaching Sunday School, and leading the youth group...and this morning, seeing everyone do their thing and seeing the church excited about the Word and FULL (major change!) was REALLY great.  The students are excited about the work, the congregation is excited about these young men--well trained and passionate--pouring into them.  SO good.


3)  On Friday, we were able to attend Wadner (yep, a lot of you know him!) and Brooke's wedding.  We were blessed to be a part of their big day, and praying for a beautiful marriage that furthers His kingdom!  (Lily was thrilled to watch the 'prince and the princess' tie the knot :)


4) On Sunday after church we got to spend the afternoon at the pool in the rain with friends.  Thought the rain would ruin the pool, but turns out the girls liked the rain more than the pool.  Having friends is...good.


5) Thursday afternoon, Matt and Fanfan drove over an hour to visit with Rosnal, the friend of ours who recently lost his wife.  While the cause of this reunion was so sad, this time was SO good for each of them.  And we praise the Lord for this community culture!


The images I had in my head of Rosnal trying to care for these seven kids alone, preaching and cooking and cleaning and kissing kids, is not at all the case.  


Instead, his entire extended family live in one block, and Matt found the yard and house and surrounding yards all full of family and friends of Rosnal.  They lived in community while she was well, when she was sick, and they live in community, now...lots of help, lots of aunts and sisters and cousins, lots of love for those seven children and for Rosnal. 

I hate that they are with out their beloved mom and wife.  But I love that they're not alone.


6) On the Rosnal note, Matt had a REALLY good time.  There is nothing in Haiti that I enjoy more than sitting in a yard, embraced in everyday life, and Matt rarely gets to do that.  By the end of the first hour, he was just a friend, not a foreigner, and he, Fanfan, Rosnal and his brother Samson sat for hours talking about life and ministry, Haiti and culture, the past and the future.


This was a great encouragement to Matt, a big day of learning, and when he came home well after dark he kept saying, "I am so thankful that God has us here."
  

7)  Maybe you prayed for Pehpay, maybe you helped build his house, or maybe you don't remember who he is, but this morning in church when it came time to share memorized portions of Scripture, I thanked the Lord for Pehpay's miracle yet again.


He was the first to jump up, boldy declaring his passage and joyfully taking his place back on the old man bench, always aware that he shouldn't still be here, that God gave him a second chance, and that his new life in Christ is so precious.  Such a good thing, a life redeemed.

8)  I was SUPER sick yesterday and SUPER better today...which is rarely the case with Haitian Happiness.  Really good.  Now.  


9)  Dodo and Bubba are on their way, set to arrive on Thursday!  Having folks (and friends) next door is always SO much better than being surrounded by empty houses!  We can't wait, and Lily is ready to wear back down the path in between.


10)  Things at Emmaus are just Really Good.  Our staff (not the staff that belongs to us...the staff that we are a part of) is working really well together and in gift/passion-fitting capacities.  We have a fantastic student body full of men and women that we have SEEN His fingerprint on. 

God's doing some pretty amazing things, and proof of that is the fact that EBS is clearly attracting some very called, humble and godly young men and women.  You can't FIND students like the ones filling the halls of EBS, and yet God keeps sending them and using them at the same time for ministry throughout Haiti.

Several conversations with various groups of nationals has helped us to realize that EBS truly is one of the top 2 places in Haiti to study His Word, and we're just thankful to be used by Him here.  


The need for GOOD, accurate, selfless, faithful Bible teaching continues to just be HUGE in this country.  Haiti has believed a lot of lies and has followed a lot of waves of doctrine the last 200 years.  

But I can testify that the WHOLE Truth is being taught at EBS, is being soaked up and changing a special group of people, and is being proclaimed brightly in a very dark and hopeless world.  


What could be more good than that?  

kè poze

 
Big Christmas weekend!  We made candy.  We made fudge.  Lily ate 900 pieces.  Then we went to Cindy and Bud's, where we had ham (woo-hoo) and carmel corn and Sofie slept on the couch while Lil' snuggled with Cindy and in their new laundry hamper, which she thought made a good "kid house."
 

 Then this morning we walked to church down the road and through the mud and joined our brothers and sisters in worship.

Matt shared a message that was simple, but one I'd never heard before.  In light of Christmas (though this isn't a big holiday here, both due to lack of means and due to the fact that because Jesus wasn't actually BORN on Christmas day, many Haitians don't believe it should carry so much weight), Matt spoke about Joseph.

He spoke about Joseph's set up, which frankly, I've never thought much about.  Lost his reputation and whether people thought he got Mary pregnant, or choose to marry her despite the fact that someone else had gotten her pregnant, was surely hearing it from everyone.  Had to leave home with a 9 month pregnant lady.  Had to go pay a bunch of money to be reminded that some other man ruled over him.  Did all that, finally got there, and there weren't even any rooms available.  Excuse me for saying, but most of us would have blown a gasket :)

But, Matt reminded everyone, the whole time all of this was happening, in Joseph's mind and heart were The Promise.  The promise Gabriel gave him of the paternity.  Of the future.  Of the hope...for the world and for Joseph.

That promise, and Joseph's faith in it, had to have affected how he responded during these hardships.  Had to have made them dim. 

God choose Joseph for this huge responsibility of caring for His Son.  And yet God didn't prevent any of the hardships in return.  He didn't work it out so Joseph didn't have to go, or hide the tax money in Joseph's pocket, or even make sure a hotel room was open.  God allowed all the hardships to take place, and some had big reasons, and some maybe had no reasons at all.  

But Joseph's trust in God's Promise, held at the front of Joseph's mind and heart, had to have given Joseph a calm, determined, hopeful heart...peace...in the midst of these things.

So have we no such promises today?  The SAME promise Joseph had we have, AND have seen already carried out.  The Child DID come, Son of the Most High, to "give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of our sins, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:77).  

We have that "accomplished redemption" available, and I pray, in our hearts.  In addition, He's promised so much...to care for our cares, to provide for our needs, to speak to our hearts, to hope for our future and a promise of eternal life.

So as we face daily challenges and trials, some we may understand one day and others we never will, do we face them through the lens of these promises?  Have we bound them to our foreheads and written them in our hearts so that they affect the way we respond, think and even FEEL in the midst of trials and suffering?

"So if we have a tax to pay," Matt concluded to a surprisingly engrossed crowd, "Pay it.  Kè poze (heart at rest, at peace).  If someone demands something crazy, do it, kè poze.  You've got Jesus.  If someone takes your last shirt, robs you, you have an accident, lose a job, fall sick...kè poze!  You have Jesus, don't you?  We have Jesus!  

"If His promises don't change how we view our suffering, don't change how we speak, how we react, then perhaps we don't believe them...or don't have Him."

A simple, but Great truth for me today, putting back into His hands and perspective my "problems."  Grateful to have been able to be in church today and to have His Word before and within us.

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!

all in a weekend's work

GREAT Weekend.

Friday, I got some rare girl-time as some of our friends and I went to see the home Gertha (Lily's nanny and my best friend here in Haiti) is building.  We had a blast...

Why isn't Lily wearing her dress in the picture?  I don't know what to say.  We have a Haitian baby, folks :)

Then, last night we had the weekend students over (guys who live too far away to go home on the weekends) for supper and a movie.  They picked "Castaway", which they found totally enthralling.  It was fun for Matt and I to watch with them, too, and listen to the guys promise NEVER to fly in a plane, yell to Tom Hanks 13 better ways to start fire, and heartily commend Tom's ex-fiance for her moral decision to stay with her new husband.  It was really fun...

Then this morning...The Saccanville church has been really struggling these last few months after their pastor, a truly godly man in love with them and the Lord, took a job with OMS's church planting arm.  While the church plant he has been working with has been going really well, and we are thrilled to see Janiel be better able to support his family while doing ministry at the same time, the Saccanville church has obviously declined in many ways in his absence.

Without a strong leader and a consistent pastor, some morality issues have crept in, and the preaching has been spotty, inconsistent and sometimes one week's preacher will completely contradict the next, and frequently both will completely contradict the Bible...Matt's been struggling to stay in his seat a few times.

We've been praying about this heavily, and also praying that the Lord would show us and other EBS leaders and students clear ways to help in a healthy, glorifying way.  Just like I don't think it is any mistake that there is a seminary smack in the middle of a famously Voodoo area, I also don't think that the Lord "coincidentally" brought 60 Haitian Bible scholars, teachers, pastors, evangelists and missionaries next door to the Saccanville church during a difficult time.

So, just as EBS is working hard to plant the Of the Mangoes church alongside of the Saccanville church, the church has asked EBS to work hard to help them in this time of need, while they continue to wait on a new pastoral assignment.  This morning, Pastor Janiel came for a special service, and 4 of the seminary guys led the service and worship.  It went really well, and I could see that the congregation was excited to have people excited about the Lord.  Two of the EBS community afterwards said they feel very led to get involved however they can...teaching, preaching, committing to going each Sunday, whatever.

Tomorrow, the church leadership will meet again with the Seminary leadership and work on temporarily filling some of their biggest gaps...someone to teach the youth, Biblically-based preaching, and even just the presence of more young godly men.  (Like many churches in Haiti (and elsewhere?) there are a lot of women, elderly people and children in the church, but almost NO men in their 20's-40's.)

Next Sunday Matt will be preaching with an Emmaus team leading the service, and next Sunday afternoon, Saccanville church is walking to Of the Mangoes for a special kick-off service there.

All that to say that it was GREAT to be in church this morning, and to see another clear calling seem to open for the Emmaus community.  I am always so proud to watch the students obey when they hear the Lord's voice, even in situations that will give them no money, no power, no fame...

Afterwards, we took Lil to the pool for her life-favorite activity, swimming.  The weeks are so very busy here, and it is such a blessing on Sunday's to spend time as a family NOT working and doing something that we do for HER, simply because she loves to.

God broke the mold when He made this one!  Please continue to pray for her and for wisdom as we seek to raise this beautiful, hilarious, ornery and stubborn flower into a woman after God's own heart.  (Thank you, Gladys, for her dress!  She picked it this morning for church and for some reason has chosen it to be her "dancing" dress :)

Final praise, the McCluskey's!  After almost a full year (next month) of trying to work at the Seminary, in the community, be a family AND be fully responsible for the transportation, cooking, cleaning, entertainment, etc. involved for all EBS visitors (some for months at a time), we finally told Bryan last Spring that we would be unable to continue at such a pace this school year.  While we love each element, all of it together was just too much (even for someone who HATES to admit that!), and we weren't giving our family the priority that we strongly desired.

I bumped into John and Dorothy on the beach once last year, (they have been in and out of Haiti for years for short and longer term trips) and said, "We miss having you guys!"

"Well, what could we do if we came back?" Dorothy said.

We drove home from the beach that day excited that maybe help was on the way!  And so this Friday, they arrived!  John and Dorothy came for this school year with tons of stuff to make the empty house next door a home, and they began yesterday turning it into a kind of Bed and Breakfast for all the visitors EBS has throughout the year.

They'll be keeping visitors, cooking for them, transporting them, caring for them, laundry, weekends, etc....making our Visiting Professors' experiences so much better, helping out the EBS community, and MOST (is that selfish?) will be providing Matt and Lily and I with some down/family time once the day is done and during the weekends!  You have no idea what a huge answer to prayer this is, just to have some help!

Lily is also loving having someone next door, and loves to venture over to Do-Do and Bubba's house and be pleasantly surprised to find friends there...over and over :)

So, news flash:
 The God of the Universe is in control of it, and the God who answers prayers answers prayers!  Always blessed to always find Him faithful...

What prayers, however long-standing, is He clearly answering in your life?  As ALWAYS, we would LOVE to hear from you!