Ssshhhh... [sigh]

Ssshhhhh… listen.  What do you hear? I hear the bubbles in the back of the fish tank as the air hits surface in the filter.  What do you see?  Right now, at this very moment?  I see snow lightly floating down from the sky, doing its best to pile up upon one another on my front porch.  What do you smell?  Is there any fragrance in the air?  I just boiled a dozen eggs… mmmmm… there’s something about a fresh boiled egg first thing in the morning.  And what do you feel?  Deep within your being? Are you feeling sad or glad or silly or tired?  Lost or lonely or giddy or mad? 

From time to time we have to slow down long enough to not only ask these questions, but actually find their answers.  This past week signaled the beginning of a 40 day spiritual adventure we call Lent.  If you count the Sundays along the way, then it would be 47 days, but we don’t.  For Christ followers, every Sunday is a mini-Easter, a day to celebrate resurrection; both ours and that of Jesus.  But the days in-between are a little different.  We use them as a path of growth, steps to take toward holiness, toward becoming more like, and closer to, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. 

So this week, I’ve asked my faith family to practice a bit of solitude.  If your life is as chaotic and jam packed as mine, then breaking away purposefully for a good 10 minutes a day will be like chocolate for the soul.  Take 10 each day this week, whether in the morning or in the evening, or even during lunch at work.  Just pull away to a quiet room or even to your car and just be.  Be alone, be quiet and be still.  Psalm 46.10 says “Be still and know that I am God.”  Be still… and know that he is God. 

If you have more time on your hands then sacrifice a bit more of your social life.  Commit to a half hour or an hour per day this week (or all the way through Lent, if you are willing!)  Turn off the radio, the television, the phone, and yes, even the internet.  No Facebook, no Pinterest, no nothing but you… and your Maker.  God may move.  God may not.  God may speak. God may not. God may touch you.  God may not.  It really doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that you stopped. 

In the fast paced, focused and frenzied world we live in, stopping is of utmost importance to our mind, body and soul.  It strengthens us for tougher days ahead and it gives us opportunity to simply exist, as a human being, with no immediate task or need at hand.  Just be.  Be who you are.  Be who you are meant to be.  Be yourself.  And be loved.  Allow God: Father, Son, Spirit, to renew you, fill you, and love you.  And then tomorrow, do it again. 

And if you are one who is quite practiced in solitude, then go one step further this Lenten season and take a day per week through Lent to simply be silent.  You can do what you typically do within your day but do it without speaking.  Simply live silent one day a week.  Listen more than you speak.  Hear the bubbles in the fish tank or the purr of your cat or the wind dancing across your yard.  See things you may typically miss.  The uniqueness of each snowflake, the color of each leaf on your indoor plants, the light and the way it dances across the ceiling at just the right time of the day.  Smell life around you: the fresh boiled eggs, the toast browning early morning, your husband’s aftershave as he walks by you fresh out of the shower.  And feel… something… anything.  Cry, laugh, contemplate, be thankful. 

The path to resurrection is full of both death and life, if we slow down long enough, and often enough, to notice.  

Haiti Team #1: Day 11

Our last day in Haiti, and we have a lot of work we want to get done before we leave, so after breakfast to work we went. Tom and Odlin worked part of the day on the door frames. Jaime was painting planters for the porch of the Merlet Center. Dave, Darryl, and Ulrick worked on painting the west end and the south side of the lower level of the building. We got as far as the stucco was done. 

Jaime went and gave a class on photography at about 4:30 and took Ulrick with her, the rest of us started laying out where the new clinic will be with Odlin as our translator. He did a great job. So the clinic is laid out and will be just to the west and just to the south of the Merlet Center. The workers finished up the dining area enough for us to eat dinner in it.  Paul was very excited. He had come up with a name for it and wanted us to baptize it. We baptized it with the name "mizak Thanksgiving table" and the ladies had cooked a feast for dinner, complete with a cake. 

After dinner everyone showered and started packing and along came a down pour of rain, so that cut short all the good buys from the area people that show up on the porch. The trip has been very rewarding in that we got a lot of work done.  We also were the first people to shop the artisans boutique in the new Merlet Center and we were the first team to eat under the roof of the new dining area. 

The workers at Paul's house are working hard to get the upstairs done.  They have the roof on it and are tiling the bathrooms. That area should be ready for the next team that comes at the end of the month. We will be up at 4 am to get the ride down the mountain for the trip home. We will be arriving in Concord, MI at about 1 am on Wednesday morning. That will make for a long day. Not sure if I will be doing a blog for the last day as I will be busy catching up on all the work at home that has not got done since I left. So this blog thing has been fun, but I hope the next time I go on a mission trip Melany can come with me and I can talk her into doing the blog again. Thanks for reading.

Haiti Team #1: Days 9 & 10

Everyone was up early Saturday morning getting packed for our trip to Les Cayes. The excitement and anticipation of what was to come was getting to all of us. We left right after breakfast in the van expecting a 4 hour trip of site seeing across the nation. Instead of 4 hours, it took about 5 hours, but what a beautiful country with great views. 

Once in Les Cayes, we did the site seeing thing. We saw the Methodist Church, the house that Odlin rents, and also met his family. We then went to the school that Odlin attends, which was emotional for Tom. The school had part of the roof collapse a few months ago and Odlin was at school that day. He made it out, but some of his friends died. 

We also visited a house that the orphanage on Ile-a-Vache owns. The kids move to the orphanage when they are going to high school and college. We met a guy, Damien, from Ireland. He works with the orphanage and many other missions in Haiti. They have a farm that they teach people how to become farmers so they are able to support themselves. He also works with different businesses and teaches them how to do business plans. He gets different businesses together to buy their supplies at wholesale prices. He also works with the mayor and a committee to get the nonprofit groups to work together and get more done. 

We then went down to the beach and walked around and found a hotel, gym, and cafe all in one. The guy that built it was a Haitian American from Jacksonville Florida. He gave us a tour and told us he intends to bring medical teams to do work in the local community. We left the Haitian American and stayed at Dave's house over night. Dave's house is in a new subdivision near the area and they are going to build a new international airport close by. The house is still under construction but was very nice. Dave was very hospitable and gave up his room for us to sleep in.

Sunday morning we had the baptism of Odlins nephew, Allen. Tom and Jaime were the God parents. Church started at 7:30 and of course we showed up Haitian time and were late, so we ended up standing outside which was not bad. It was a Catholic church and we didn't understand much but it was nice. The Baptism was scheduled for after the Church service and was very proper and beautiful. The preacher discovered right away that there were English speaking  people so he did the entire service in Haitian Creole and English. We recorded it so we might load that when we get back. When he put the water on the baby he used a squirt bottle and squirted him with it and then he used oil on his forehead. 

After the Baptism we dropped Odlins family off and went back to Dave's house to change clothes and eat one more time before we embarked on the trip home. We were excited to get back to HAPI knowing that Valerie (co-founder of HAPI and American contact) would be there. We were also looking foward to internet so we could have some contact with loved ones. The trip back seemed to take less time, which was nice. The trip was long but we are all glad we made the trip. The ladies in Mizak had dinner ready for us shortly after our arrival. Pastor Paul had people working on his dining area all weekend and they are tiling the table as I'm writing this. The space is looking good. Tonight will be a relaxing evening so we can work hard tomorrow. Tonight we'll get a little rest and head out early Tuesday morning for home.

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Jaime here:

On the way home from Les Cayes, I was riding in the far back of the van listening to some jams. The Song Grace Like Rain by Todd Agnew consumed my headphones and grabbed my attention. Some of the lyrics read,

"And hallelujah,
Grace Like Rain falls down on me
And hallelujah,
And all my stains are washed away -
They're washed away...

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed"

As the song continued, I noticed the van was pretty much raging against the road. I was relaxed so my body was lifted when we crashed against the harsh bumps in the road. I look up to the sky and see mountains beyond mountains. To me, the wonderful sight of the mountains resembled redemption. The bumpy roads represented a battle for the soul and the straight and narrow path that He calls me to daily. God knows His grace is the only thing that keeps me going because without Him I am nothing. From His beautiful self, he crafted together creation. We are all worthy of being pursued because God Himself, who is the definition of Love, took His time and gave us life. 

There's a verse that reads, "I have set you an example that you do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

I believe God's love is equal so ours should be dispersed evenly also.

Love is...

 v  Odlin sharing his family with us this weekend.

 v  Tom carrying a bucket of water for me early in the morning just because I wanted to take a shower.

 v  Ulrick telling us to thank God before we fall asleep at Dave's house.

Haiti Team #1: Day 8

Another day of clouds and sun with temps in the 80's.  No rain today. The day started with another great breakfast. A big THANK YOU to the ladies in the kitchen and the staff at HAPI.  The hospitality has been wonderful.  Today was laundry day so we got the laundry together that we are going to need clean before we leave and they are taking care of that for us.

The artisans set up shop in the Merlet Center for us at about 10 o'clock this morning. They have done a good job of creating some new and beautiful artwork.  We all shopped and will be bringing some things home with us.

Not much different as far as jobs at the work site. Tom and Odlin have the wood cut for the last door frame.  All they have to do is put it up on Monday, and all the door frames will be done. Darryl and Dave got the gutters half way around the building which is all the materials they have now.  Then they joined forces with Jaime and Ulrick on the painting mission. The outside of the second floor of the building is now painted and the first floor will get started on Monday.  The tile guys made good progress today.  They tell me the artisans room will be tiled by close of business on Monday. Which is great news. The bustle of activity continued on the building all week and a lot has been done. It has been nice to see all the improvements from day to day.   We will have pictures when we get home on Tuesday evening.

After work Jaime, Ulrick, and Tom went to have pizza at Angelica's house.  They said it was real good.  The rest of the gang hung out at the house and had dinner. Tonight everyone is showered and getting ready for our trip to Les Ceyes, Haiti in the morning. We will be staying there overnight at Dave's house. He also visited our church this summer with Tom. He had stayed with Tom for a couple days while in the U.S.A. While in Les Ceyes we will see Odlin's nephew get baptized, hopefully see some old friends, and do some site seeing. We will return to HAPI in time for dinner Sunday.  Not sure about internet access this weekend so might be Sunday night or Monday before the blog gets to you. Until then God Bless. 

Haiti Team #1: Day 7

I woke to another beautiful day that God has made. A mix of sun and clouds all day with a few short rain showers mixed in today. The ladies made us the scrambled eggs with peppers and onions for breakfast again... yum yum. Then off to work again. Tom and Odlin were back to door frames. 

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Dave and Darryl were put back in the gutter, or on putting gutters up. Jaime and Ulrick were back on painting the outside of the building. They are finding out that the building is very big. At lunch time we all took a walk to The Living Media Gallery. Some of us bought some artwork and we got to visit with Angelica for awhile. There was a lot of very beautiful art work there.  After work another great dinner, and then Tom and Odlin went to visit friends.  Jaime, Darryl and Dave hung out with the kids on the porch and went to bed a little early when the generator ran out of gas.

Our time here has flown by and a lot of work has been done, but we are all missing our families back home. Can't wait to see everyone and be able to upload all the pictures. The internet has been very slow to upload pictures so we will wait to upload them until we get home. Friday's blog will be up soon.

Haiti Team #1: Day 6

Well, the roosters finally won and woke all of us up after crowing since about four o'clock in the morning. Dave says the dogs bark until two and the roosters start at four. Regardless, we have been able to sleep thru them more this year than in the past. We had some kind of hot cereal that was good and then we went off to work. 

Darryl started the day trying to help the tile guy, but with a lack of tools he just slowed him down. Dave finished the front wall with the stucco and then he and Darryl started on the gutters. The gutters are 4" pvc pipe cut in half and screwed and strapped to the building. All you see is the pipe and no hangers and it looks good. Tom and Odlin went back to the door frames after spending much time looking for tools, like charged batteries and electricity, they persevered. They were able to get some door frames done. Jaime and Ulrick went to the national high school in the morning and took some pictures of the 8 -13yr old girls who belong to HAPI's dance group, Nouvel Etwal (New Stars). They visited and came back to the work site and started painting again. 

The walls inside the building are made of Styrofoam and wire with re-bar down into the floor and throughout the wall.  They tie the panels together, then they spray two layers of cement on them inside and out (with a gun like you would spray a textured ceiling).  After that, the Haitian workers hand trowel the final coat of cement onto a smooth finish and paint it. They are getting more and more of them finished, but of course everyone wishes more of them were done already. I think they should finish the spraying of the walls today.

The ladies cooked an amazing dinner. They had put a pan of mashed potatoes in the solar oven for the day, which was very good and thick.  We also had some rice, chicken in sauce, salad, and vanilla and chocolate & mint cookies. We then hung out with the locals and played cards for awhile. Dave stayed at Paul's house and played another game with 3 kids, Doris, McKenzie, and Magena. Tom, Odlin, Darryl, Urick, Jaime, and a few of the locals decided to try and see Angelica again. We walked down to the Living Media gallery, then to Lee's house, and then back down to the Living Media Guest house. We never did find Angelica but we did find the team from Iowa that is doing some work with Living Media and spent time getting to know them for awhile. One of their team members, Rick, grew up in Reading MI. It was nice to get out and walk around.  

Haiti Team #1: Day 5

We had much needed rain this morning. It down poured some overnight, into the morning, then stopped by the time we went to work. The women fed us breakfast and off to work we went. Tom and Odlin were back to building door frames and they are coming out nice. I think Odlin is learning a lot, maybe even how to cut a straight line- the first time he tried it, not so much. Dave and Darryl were back on putting the stucco on the side of the Merlet Center. The finished product is looking really good and they've almost finished one floor of the side of the building. Jaime and Ulrick painted a wall on the inside of the building then they came outside and painted. Every day you see improvement in the building and people are working hard to finish it up. 

HAPI has a very important meeting next week with LEVENO and United Methodist Communications and everyone wants the "WOW" factor to be here when they arrive. Our team decided to pay a guy to tile the floor in the artisans room and he is doing a great job. They tile very different than we do back home. By the end of the day everyone was worn out.

The ladies cooked another good dinner for us including, "turkey," rice, fried plantain, sauce, and beet and potato salad. The turkey didn't look like turkey but tasted real good. Everyone tried to go visit Angelica (missionary that visited our Church last summer) but she was not home so we will try again another day. We all hung out on the porch for awhile. Darryl got to talk to Melany on the phone, which was great. Then we went off to bed to get some rest for another productive day on the Merlet.

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A lady's (Jaime's) perspective:

Our team is wonderful. Dave has adjusted to "Haitian time" faster than Darryl can make a joke towards me. We are blessed with wifi available early in the morning so we all huddle around Paul's table on his porch with our phones.

This morning (Wednesday) I asked some of the guys what they're excited for and Tom said, "Saturday. Excited to see everyone in Les Cayes."

Darryl, "I am excited for you (Jaime) to finish up this blog so I can put it up. No..... This weekend. The whole sight-seeing, being back in Les Cayes, the baptisim."

Our team is traveling to Les Cayes this weekend to celebrate Allen's baptism. Allen is Odlin's nephew and Tom and I are proud godparents. Odlin is excited to see his family because he hasn't seen them in a month. He's also excited to make door frames and run the saw. Instead of "make door frames," Darryl heard, "make girlfriends." 

This, ladies and gents, is our team. We are weird, partially deaf, and blessed. 

Haiti Team #1:Day 4

The sun was shining today, what a beautiful creation God has made. The day started with a good breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread, peanut butter, jelly and bananas.

We got to the work site with the high hopes of getting the floor in the artisans room leveled and the tile started. Dave, Darryl, and Jaime were tasked with that. Unfortunately, we did not have all the correct materials so we tried a couple of different things to make it work and just could not get the tile to stick to the floor... so we did the two steps back thing. We are going to wait until the correct materials show up for that project. Tom and Odlin were tasked with building door frames for the offices. It sounds like an easy task at home. Well, it's no easy task when you don't have the easy convenience of a table saw, nail gun, and chop saw. Tom was able to pull it off and of course it looked great when he got done. After the floor didn't work out for Dave, Darryl, and Jaime we started putting the stucco on the outside of the building again. I think we are starting to get it down. Doug didn't say "well we can come back and put a second coat on it".

The Merlet Center is a buzz of activity these days. There is a crew finishing up the soffits and fascia, two crews putting stucco on the outside, James (Paul's son) was finishing the Styrofoam walls in the internet cafe so they can be sprayed with cement. There was also a cement spraying crew in another office and yet another crew was doing the finish coat of cement on other offices. There were a few artisans there yesterday cleaning the rest of the building,  sweeping and hauling off all the trash. 

Pastor Paul's house is also a busy place with crews finishing up the stucco on the walls for the second story and another crew working on the dining area. It looks like they may be getting the roof on it soon.

After dinner everyone got cleaned up and then we went down to John Baptiste's house and met his parents and hung out for awhile in there dining area, talking about school, beer, fishing, and moto rides. That was fun.  Then it was relax for awhile and off to bed. 

Haiti Team#1: Day 3

Another cloudy morning, rained overnight. We had scheduled the artisans boutique for this morning but with the rain it was postponed so that they did not have to bring all their artwork up the mountain in the rain. Before church Dave, Darryl, and Jaime were able to go to the Merlet Center and etch the floor where we will be tiling this week.

Church was started this morning on Haitian time (a little late) but when they got going it was full of scripture, song, and passionate preaching by a visiting pastor, Christnor Caririsse. It was about having Jesus in your heart.  The van showed up right after church to take us down the mountain to Jacmel. Today was the first day of Carnevelle (Madi Gras). I am not sure that Pastor Paul wanted us to go to town, but he went along with it. There was a lot of traffic and people in the streets, as we made our way to the "Hands and Feet" orphanage, a beautiful refuge for children that have been brought to them by the social services of Haiti. The staff there is awesome and doing great things. The kids are placed in family units with a house mother, a nanny, and a cook, and up to 10 kids. The children are sent to school to learn and someday become good citizens of their community.

We then headed to the beach with Carnevelle going, which made it a very popular place. In the past we just went and parked the van, and went and played on the beach. This year there was a big wooden wall that had been built and we could not park the van because there was no area left to park it.  So the driver left us at the wall and returned when we needed to be picked up. Getting thru the wall, you had to buy tickets and since we were white I think the price changed because Pastor Paul negotiated for sometime to get us all in. Once we were all in we found a table to call our base, ordered some fish, lobster, and shish-ka-bobs. Some people went swimming, some took walks, but always came back to the table and had great conversation and fun. The daylight was getting short so we headed to the van, which was a walk down the road because of the traffic.  So we took another opportunity to stop and take pictures, then headed to the van. Most of the ride back up the mountain was in the dark because it took us so long to get thru Jacmel and the traffic.   The driver did a great job.

There was more hanging out on the porch, and then one by one to bed for the night. Tomorrow will be another work day, hopefully to see a lot of progress on the Merlet Center.

. 

Haiti Team #1: Day 2

Woke up this morning to cloudy skies and a little on the cool side. The ladies in the kitchen did an excellent job again fixing breakfast, today it was eggs probably my favorite for breakfast down here. We decided we were going to work. Doug (American project manager) had a few things he wanted done that would make the work on Monday go a lot better.

Tom and Odlin were commissioned to plumbing professionals and they ran the water lines and drain lines to the bathrooms on the second floor of the Merlet Center. Darryl, Jaime, Dave, and Ulrick were given the task of getting the floor super clean and all the extra cement piles off of it. They have been mixing cement on this floor for various projects so we used pieces of iron to scrape the floor, then swept it and washed it down with water. We had put in a request for some etching material but there was some misunderstanding because it did not show up until after dark, so we were unable to get that done. In the afternoon we got time to relax and enjoy the surroundings, and talk to friends.  Jaime spent most of the morning and early afternoon at Peace Pals (like Vacation Bibile School) playing, singing, and taking pictures. After dinner Darryl worked on trying to get the other laptop to hook up to the wireless, was unable to accomplish the task but got it to work hard wired. The rest of the gang continued the relationship building with cards and conversation. Everyone is feeling good so far and hoping that continues. All the kids we have meet the last two years here are getting bigger and are still a lot of fun. 

What Darryl didn't mention:

Kendy kicked Dave and my butt in the card game Casino. He also added many rules along the way, but hey, that's innovation right there.

Dave had his first star gazing session last night outside of Pastor Paul's home. Today he describes them as, "Brilliant."

Jaime:

The kids at Peace Pals are full of respect and energy. When everyone was gathering, the kids sat patiently and waited for the other little dudes to enter. There were 2 male adult leaders and 4 female leaders. The kids sit together by age and are the cutest little things (of course.) They sung, jumped up and down, practiced fractions, addition, multiplication, division, repeated scripture, and danced. There was a little one who performed a song for all of us. 

The two adult male leaders and I practiced Kreyol, French, and English together. Here's a phrase for ya'll Americans to learn... :)

Mwen rele Jaime

Je m'appelle Jaime

My name is Jaime

Guest Bloggers On Board!

Just wanted to invite all of you to begin reading a series of blogs from Haiti. I was not able to go with our team this year but my husband was, as well as others from my church.  So they will be working together and sending out the journal writings this year.  Enjoy!!

Haiti Team #1: Day 1

Yesterday is a day in the past but the memories have transformed our day today. Since we didn't blog yesterday, our thoughts spilled over at the breakfast table. Darryl said the construction work inspired him. The 2 story multipurpose building, affectionately known as the Merlet Center, is looking AMAZING. Last year when we left there was just a big flat area with a big hole in the middle for a cistern. This year there is a 7,000 sq ft of that beautiful building with a roof over it. Some of the outside is painted but it still needs the stucco put on the outside. The inside walls are getting done and covered with paint.

Today our team sanded the rough spots in the stucco on the walls. Then we cleaned the floor in that room and painted two walls all before lunch.  After lunch we moved outside to rough up the Styrofoam so that the cement and stucco will stick to it. Then at the end of the day Dave and Darryl thought they would try their hand at putting cement on the walls. We were slower than the Haitians and not very good at it. By the time we were done we had a crowd of Haitians watching in disbelief with a few laughs.   Then Doug said he had two American women do a whole house in a day and it looked really good.

Pastor Paul has a second story addition going on his house with more rooms for teams to stay in and a couple more bathrooms. Also in the front yard they are building a dog free dining area. There will be a large cement table in the center with chairs around it. First class all the way.

Dave said he was surprised how the Haitians style of driving was different than ours. When cars or any mode of transportation honk, they are generally being considerate and warning others they are passing by. Right now, Friday, Dave is Skyping with his family on the roof of Pastor Paul's house. Dave's family is asking Dave to show him the building he's working on. His service is being a rebel and not connecting well. Regardless, they continue to call each other and wait it out. After a bit, his wife and him can talk. As you can imagine, concerns and laughter are being exchanged.

Ulrick, our translator for the third year in a row, said he was "Happy because I have one year without seeing you. Happy to be with all of you and be with all of you."

Odlin said, "No words. I am so glad to be here." Tom, Odlin's bestest friend EVER said, "I'm excited." I asked, "for?" and he replied, "everything."

                One thing I love about life and traveling is that hearts remain in contact. Sometimes people applaud missionaries, but the truth is we as Christians are all given the chance to be missionaries. If Christ died, sacrificed his life, and rose again for all- We are all His people. People are people are people. God is God is God. Love is love is love. We all have the opportunity to share God's goodness.