Thursday, August 19, 2010

shiny faces, dirty places

One of the hardest things to get used to is the guns. And the walls. The U.S. and the Canadian Armies have left for the most part, but the UN is still here - pretty much permanently, I think. But there are still security guards all over the city, carrying ugly black shotguns. Every house has big concrete walls around it, with razor wire all along the top. It's strange because it doesn't feel unsafe. The people I see on the street look harmless - even docile. But I guess empty stomachs make people do some crazy things.

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That might not be the best way to begin a blog post that is supposed to make my mom feel like everything is wonderful and we are always perfectly safe. It's really hard to describe the situation here in Haiti. Things are safe and calm, and Randy and Karen's house is a haven - what with the guard dogs and the razor wire. But behind their new house, less that 100ft from where I type is a huge tent city. I have no idea of the danger that those people are in each night. Theft and rape are huge problems in the tent cities - and there are lots of them - they are everywhere. Not to mention the lack of food.
One night Randy and I climbed on the roof to take a look at the mountains and the city. One man stood in the tent city looking at us. He shouted "hey man, we need food!" That's the way things are in Haiti. Everywhere you go, you are reminded that people need food. Food for their bellies, and food for their souls. This is a tough place to live.

This is the view from Randy and Karen's roof. The top one is the back left corner, and the top one is the front. Quite a contrast! It's a beautiful country.













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So, a little update on what we have been doing. We've been very busy. There are so many things to do, people to meet, places to go. Randy and Karen and Maia have been awesome, giving us whirlwind tours of Port-Au-Prince, and making us feel really at home. Even Maia is starting to really like having us around, because we are more tolerant of her misbehavior. She is one busy little girl.

For the first week we were here, my big job was teaching Bible at Adoration Christian School, which is the school that Randy and Karen are in charge of. I taught grade 3 and grade 5 for 4 days. It was a pretty interesting and very challenging, because for the first time I had to work through a translator. It was also a big challenge to teach the story of the battle of Jericho to children who live surrounded by walls - walls that fell down around them not so long ago. I had lots of support from Randy and the teachers at the school, so I think it went well. I also had an opportunity to teach at Friday afternoon youth group at the church. I thought that Randy made it sound like 6 or 7 teens would show up and we would study around some tables. Much to my suprise, there were about 30 teens there! And they sat in pews! We were preachin' it, brother. It turned out great though. Randy and I preached about the three enemies that are against us that hinder us from following God. They are Satan, Ourselves, and the world. We emphasized that the only way to fight these enemies is with the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus, that we are unable to do it on our own. It was a huge privilege to be able to encourage those teens in their walk with Christ and point them toward Him. Here is a picture of me teaching Grade five, and a picture of the classrooms.



































Cassandra has been busy as well. She has been helping Karen with a whole lot of office work. Last week was the last week of classes, so there is a whole lot of end of year stuff to finish up. She has also been getting a crash course in the Creole words for basic school supplies, because she is in charge of the little shop that the school runs where kids can buy pencils, pens, and paper.
Karen also really likes having her around because she is amazing with Maia, just like she is amazing with every kid in the universe.
The day that we arrived in Haiti, Randy and Karen finalized a deal with a new landlord, so the day after we arrived Cassandra and Karen were busy packing up the old house. We moved into the new place last Saturday. Cassy did a TON of work to make that happen. The move has actually taken a lot of time. I should also mention for my mother's benefit that the move is the reason she has not heard from us...we had no internet until this afternoon!

Other than that, we have been doing a lot of driving around, fixing things at the school, problem solving, visiting people, babysitting, etc.

On a side note, getting anything done in Haiti takes about 4 times longer than it does in Canada - this is not an exaggeration. You can image how much work moving is. The roads are terrible - a moving van is out of the question. The average speed on Randy's truck is 4.4 km/h. Seriously, it has a thing on the dash that tells you. The roads are always washed out, so you simply can't go any faster. I can't even describe how bad the roads are - you wouldn't believe it.

In any case, that should bring whoever is reading this roughly up to speed. Please keep praying for us. It is really really hot here. Seriously. We don't have hot in Canada. Canada is the land of permanent winter. But all joking aside, please pray about that. Cassandra in particular is having a hard time with the heat - it often makes her nauseous and exhausted. She is a real trooper though.
Also pray that we will be able to communicate and connect with some of the kids at the school - it has been really tough with the language barrier. It's really tough to step out and get to know kids when you can't talk to them.
And pray that we will be bold to live out and teach the Gospel. Pray that we will have wisdom to know how to love the people here without making their problems worse, which has so often been the case with Christian mission. We see the affects of that a lot here. Pray for Haiti.

Friday, August 06, 2010

we're not in Canada anymore.


Our flights were great. The view from 38,000 feet is pretty incredible.

I am very tired, so I am going to keep it short. We are doing well, we feel a bit overwhelmed - there is a lot of new things to look at and take in. But we are alive, and we know that we are in God's hands.

Haiti is different than anything I have ever felt or experienced. I'll try to explain more in the future.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

farewell, North America


well, we're off.

This blog might (finally) see some action in the next few weeks, because we will be in Haiti, and it is traditional for North Americans to blog about their experiences in distant lands.