Chicago Team Always a Blessing!

Gary went to Port on Saturday, while Carol Horrigan, Barb Macloed and I went to Montrouis to teach Bible school. When teams arrive, Gary and I must split our duties and guess what? I got the best end of the deal. I won't go into Port au Prince travel "blog mode" I'll spare you, but……we had been to Port on Tuesday and didn't get home until Wednesday of last week. Maybe I will tell you about that.

We received an unexpected gift for a new vehicle, the truck broke down, the team was coming so we rushed to Port to purchase something. Our good friend Johnnie Cavo and wife Claudette were nice enough to take us and stay with us until we had a van. That took all day! We still needed to buy groceries, so in our new Hyaundai van, to the grocery store we went. It was getting dark and the later it got the more convinced we were that going home that night wasn't wisdom, so we stayed in a guest house. This would mark the second time we've had to stay overnight due to a trip to Port without anything, no toothbrush, comb, pj's, clean clothes….not fun to wear the same thing two days without showering. My next trip to Port will be with an overnight bag!

We had a glorious time of praise and worship at Bible school which convinced me even more of getting the "best end of the deal." After Bible school, I took the ladies back to St Marc and while they joined with Al, Bev, Dan and Nancy at a restaurant for lunch, I packed a few things to leave for the resort where the team would be staying as we planned to stay a couple of nights with them. Driving alone to the Xuargua was an experience, something I'd never done before. It's taking us over a half hour to get out of St Marc, due to the terrible road conditions and a detour since they are putting in a new bridge. I started out at 4:00PM, it gets dark at 5:30. It was a long trip for some reason and I couldn't have been going more than 20 miles! At one point, I noticed a road block ahead with CIMO's, who are the highest government police. OH NO! I didn't begin to pray, I'd been praying but did say, "Lord, please, let them wave me on." They did. Had I been stopped, I could not have pulled out a license because it was at home. I drive so seldom, it's not a thought to have it with me. Whew! Got through that one, thank you Jesus!

When I got to the entrance of the Xuargua, Gary was standing there waiting. As nightfall approached, he was concerned as to my welfare. You don't want to be on these highways at night! It was great seeing the team. They were excited, but very tired. One suitcase didn't make it and it was the one with all the chocolate!!!! We did find out later it is at the airport. Gary and Peggy Phaby, will go there today and the rest of the team will go to St Marc. I thought they'd want the day off to swim since they won't have another, but they all want to work….just the kind of team I like!!!

Yesterday morning was fun as we split so we could minister in two churches. Brush arbor, but both churches were filled with the spirit of the Lord. Tasha Witherspoon, ministered to the children and the adults. Since it was such a young church, we are going back to minister to the men and women on purity (on Tuesday evening).

I got up at 4, intending to shower and wash my hair but there is no water!!!!!!!!! What kind of resort is this? Peggy had to move three times due to flooding in her room, hummm, that must be where all the water went??

So, my early rising gave way to pen some of the things that should be shared. I have tons of pictures but have to wait until I get to St Marc to upload them….another story that need not be told at this point.

We are looking forward to a great week, if I get my hair washed…………..be blessed!

Carolyn

I’m trying to get focused but this is more fun right now……

I was sitting here trying to focus on my lesson for chapel tomorrow but it's not working. Nothing is coming together. We finished our series on David and Saul, that centered around the Ten Commandments. Now what do we do? Lord, help!

I just got pictures unloaded from my camera and need to post them because they are "cool." I couldn't figure out what happened to the pictures I'd taken of Carol Horrigan since she is doing the Friday night children's church. Well, duh, they were still on the camera. Carol is a real trooper to teach the elementary kids on Friday chapel at El Shaddai, then do the Friday evening children's ministry (when we open the gates and let the neighborhood children come in. Then get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to teach Bible school in Montrouis. It's a lot and we so appreciate her willingness to do the job! Not to mention teaching a group of children all week, keep her son Spencer on his toes with school work, and do some cooking as well in the evenings. I asked Kevin how he liked Carol's Old Testament Survey class at Bible school and his answer was: She sure is animated. Yes, that's Carol. The interpreters work when she's teaching. Last week she was up and down the platform steps so many times, I got tired watching her and the next thing I realized she was standing up on a chair up on the platform. Daniel was interpreting then and he looked, shaking his head, all the while smiling because he knew this is the kind of thing that will keep the Haitians attention.

The other thing Kevin said was that they were hearing things about the OT that they'd not been taught before. Thanks to Carol, her lessons will be with them for a long time to come.

I am going to get the photos on here and move back to my lesson, which still isn't coming together, lots of loose ends, nothing concrete.

Blessings!

 

 

Exciting Monday

It was exciting because we held our first parent / teacher conference with Dan Joshu at the helm, Nancy Hibbard doing the translating……..what a team!!! We had a pretty good turn out, about 30 parents so, now they know that Pastor Gary is no longer at the helm. He is, of course, but behind the scenes and whenever you give authority to another, you back away and allow them to stretch their wings. We have prayed for so long that someone would come along and take the school to the next level. We got our prayers answered in these two people.

Did I tell you the devil sent some young boys to steal from my classroom? Well, he did and they did and now I'm without scissors and paste for the kids. Right when I was patting myself on the back for being so organized! I had decided early this year to not allow the kids to keep their scissors because they take them home, or they disappear. My remedy was to keep the scissors myself, passing them out and collecting them when they were all finished. And they were stolen from me, imagine that!!! Windows here are open, slated to keep rain out but skinny arms can reach in quite far if you are tall enough. The first time they took brand new ball caps, several. The second time, even though I moved everything out of reach (or so I thought) they got the scissors. Mind you, they were in a large plastic container, in a plastic bag. They were able to reach (really reach) get the top off the container and get in to grab. Grab what? Whatever they could grab. I had a little monkey on the ledge to see if they'd take that, they tried. But his nose was just a bit too tough to pull through. Today the monkey was turned a different way and again, his nose to tough to pull through. SO, that's the way it goes, but a board is going over the window, never mind that we won't have the light and air! I refuse to lose anything else and spend time moving things everywhere away from the shelves.

Gary is working fervently on the Bible school books. What a job! First they had to be translated, then typed, then copied, then put together. We didn't have the help we needed last year but with Gary not at school much, he's able to get the job done. He must not get weary in well doing for he will reap if he faints not!!!! As will we all.

It's still quite warm here. We think it's cooling off then it heats back up. Staying hydrated is an issue. Especially when you put your stainless steal water jar in the freezer and the frozen water pushes the bottom out of the jar! I liked that bottle too. I am trying to drink enough but the cramping in my toes tells me I'm not. Water is not the most interesting thing all the time, but it's necessary and I'm thankful for a filter so that we don't have to run to town all the time to get bottles of purified water (five gallon jugs). It's saved a bunch of time. A wonderful ultra violet light filter! Will filter anything.

I'm going to close this out for now and add some photos. Life with the Lord is wonderful. We are exceedingly blessed to be saved. How could anyone who calls themselves Christian not Praise and thank HIM for taking us out of darkness and placing us in His marvelous light. In Him is light and there is no darkness. I'm so glad to be in the Light of the Lord.

Blessings to you!!!

I’m Excited

We got our satellite fixed. Starband has a new satellite or changed to another one, however that works….so we had to take our modem into the office here in Haiti, have it reprogrammed, then wait for it to get finished ( a longer wait than we wanted) plus, the dish had to be pointed in another direction. The guys came out once, said they couldn't do it that we needed a new pole. Try as Gary might, he couldn't find one so today! They came with a tripod device and got the dish pointed in the right direction. They had to drill into the roof ( flat, cement) and we wandered if the drill would come through the ceiling, but it didn't, Praise the Lord. All this cost us 200 American dollars and it was supposed to be free!!!! Not in Haiti, nothing is ever free. But, we now have speedy transitions from one thing to another on the internet. There are so many things for which to be thankful. Speedy internet is one but this morning……

…..I heated water to take a shower. Ahhhh, my quart of hot water with some added cold water made for a very nice shower. Well, not actually a shower. It was a soap up and pour the water over the body to rid oneself of the soap. But it was warm and as it hit my back, I thought wow God, I'm so thankful for this warm water, it feels soooooo good!

We find ourselves buried in work as we make changes at the school. I think I told you about making Dan Joshu the principal, and Nancy Hibbard the secretary. It's creating a whole different atmosphere as the children realize we have a plan!!! Our plan is to create an environment that will cause them to succeed! We often reflect on Kesmy and how hard he worked to graduate. Without arms, with seizures, this young man made it and you know what? He just got his tuition paid for to go to Moody, which was dream of his!! God is so very faithful! So, the changes were necessary. Gary was about to lose his wits running around fixing things that break, taking care of payroll, problems with people, and run the school too. Now, he has a reprieve. Dan has been taking the kids home everyday, so that duty is no more Gary's.

My first graders are the smartest class I've ever had! They amaze me. They are now reading and just about through with the 12 week program in nine! Amazing. The little munchkins are learning as well. They are so cute, I have to be careful not to begin cuddling them (which is what I'd love to do). Every day when they lay down for their naps, I take their shoes and socks off. Did you ever watch a young child's toes when their shoes come off. They curl them under and though they don't say, ahhhh thank you, you know they are feeling really comfortable to get those shoes off. I can't help but begin to massage them so they'll feel even better. They all go to sleep without an argument, they are ready. Their belly's are full and their feet are free. Humm, that could be a book title, don't you think?

So, now I can zoom this blog to blogger (I type in Word) and know there is enough speed to get it there. How many things can you think of for which to be thankful. Hot water? Feet free of shoes? God is so incredibly good to us!!!

Hoping this will work

We don't have satellite anymore for a while so while we are blessed to have another kind of connection, it leaves a lot to be desired. I've written posts on Word and tried to publish to no avail. So, let's see what happens here.
Things are moving along nicely. I've always said, "We need someone at El Shaddai, who can take the school to the next level." It doesn't take me long to realize that what we are doing is sufficient but it could be better. Praise the Lord for Dan Joshu and Nancy Hibbard. They are the two angels God sent to help us and together the school is raising the standard!! Dan is now the principal and high school teacher although, he's got time to circulate through all the rooms and solve situations he sees that could become problems in the future. The teachers are having to toe the line! Nancy has the office looking like a real office, not only organized but she's quite an artist and everything around us is changing, all walls are becoming picturesque and colorful.
God always answers prayer, we just have to be patient while He puts everything in order to make the answer the best ever.
Dan also drives the children home at night relieving Gary of that duty. I've said so many times that Gary works non stop and he does. With the added help at school he can work on other things like, manage the generator which is constantly needed new filters due to very dirty diesel gasoline, keep the truck in tip top shape, do all the business in town, make Bible school books (and if you think that's an easy job, come down and assist him or take it from him---multiple hours of work; manage the payroll as our staff continues to get bigger and bigger in number, manage the orphanage, tell Carolyn NO we can't do that, do you know how much that would cost? Well, that's about the way it is.
Bible school is going well. We are gearing up for a big children's crusade when the team from Family Harvest gets here. They'll do two nights, and it takes tons of work behind the scenes to get this to be successful. We have a committee working on it from the Bible school. All the students are excited about it. They'll do the music and the follow up ministry with the children. We'll have tons of pics and let you know what takes place.
My six children are doing well, but we are tightening up there too. If they don't memorize addition facts to ten in the next week......they better!!!! No more work will be done until they get it. They just have two more books in the 12 week pre-reading program because they've advanced so quickly but "how much is 2 plus 5?" gets a variety of answers and I'm determined they will aprann pa ke, know it by heart.
Hope I can post some pictures. Hot Saturday night. I thought we were cooling off but it got hot again.
Be blessed! Love to all. Carolyn