Joy Filled!

There is something to be said about having uncontrollable joy.  You laugh more, you wake up singing, you praise the Lord, and nothing seems to get you down.  It's easy to forget when the busyness and the anxiousness and the  wondering sets in to ask for that joy.  Oh, because we don't take time to seek the Giver of joy, we lack so many things!

Yesterday was a VERY good day!  Woke up early to get ready for school (that makes things easy, because I know what to wear!), spent some time with the Lord and was reminded of a fun kids' praise song by my lovely house-mate, Caroline--"Amen!  Praise the Lord!  Amen!  Praise the Lord!  Glory!  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!  I'm gonna jump down, turn around, touch the ground and praise my Lord!"  What a great way to start the day!

Eggs on a bun for breakfast and ready to go to school with my cold water bottle--I really like it when it's cold!  It was a quieter morning in school and I was able to focus on a single student for a while.  She got so excited when she started to get the correct answers!  There's never enough time though...so many students, so few people to help them....

I was kind of bummed because I couldn't help all the students who needed me yesterday, but remembering today that my joy comes from the Lord and I ought to give my day to the Lord, give Him my best and pray He will give me wisdom and guidance to help the right amount of students each day.

We finished our day with Bible Study with the missionaries last night.  I felt the Spirit of the Lord in that place last night.  I just wanted to keep praying and singing and studying and learning and sharing.

There are going to be things that can bring me down--there were yesterday, but I know that God will give me strength and joy if I seek Him during those times.  Then I will continue to have VERY good days!  May you all have VERY good days too!

"A joyful heart is good medicine..."  Proverbs 17:22a

In the Midst

I know, it's kind of cheesy to use my blog title as the title of this post, but it seems so appropriate today.  "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save, we will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."  Zephaniah 3:17.  I have felt the presence of the Lord during the past several days.  

On Saturday, I went up the hill and sat on my own singing praises to the King as the sun was setting.  I wanted more time to be with Jesus.  When I came down I craved more of Him.  That evening, I became ill.  I was curled up in a ball on Sunday not wanting to move.  Sanite and others came and prayed over me.  There is power in prayer, my friends.  The Lord was with me.  Sanite kept reminding me that God was with me.  He is in the midst.  

After another day of weakness, Sanite came back last night with 4 other women of faith here at Canaan.  This was a beautiful expression of God's love and faithfulness to us.  I sat on the bed and they all looked at me, waiting for me to do something.  I cannot speak the language enough to express how I was feeling, but they didn't mind.  They started singing.  A beautiful song followed by a prayer.  They all prayed at the same time in Creole so I didn't understand much of it.  They prayed for me and for Caroline--my roommate who was also sick.  Asking for God to heal us and be with us.  This went on for several minutes.  Such a heartfelt genuine prayer...ending with "Thank you, Lord....Thank you, Lord...."  They each came and gave me a hug and said, "God Bless You."  A peace rushed over me and I felt so loved by--not only these women--God.  

I praise God for this experience, even though I was not well, He has been blessing me with His presence.  He is my comfort.  He is here in the midst of sickness.  In the midst of singing.  In the midst of His people.  To Him be all the honor and glory forever, AMEN!

Oddities of Normality

It has occurred to me in the past several days that I now find things odd that I used to find normal and find odd things to be normal.  My world has changed and so has my perception.  What is normal anyway?

It is now normal to wake up and put on my school uniform.  I don't even have to think about what to wear.  It's normal to wear skirts all the time.  I have only worn capris or shorts to do my laundry.  It's normal to hang my clothes on the line in the middle of winter instead of dry them in a dryer.  It's normal to have to step over random sleeping dogs on my walk up and down the hill.  It's normal to have spaghetti for breakfast.  It's normal to greet people with a kiss.  It's normal to have a cold shower in the afternoon.  It's normal to slide on the gravel at least once a day.  It's normal to sleep under a mosquito net.  It's normal to see lizards on the ceilings, floors, walls, screens, sidewalks and behind the mirror in the bathroom.

So, because these thing are normal, it seems odd to see girls wearing pants.  It seems odd if there aren't dogs to step over.  It seems odd to think about a warm shower--although one without tadpoles would be appreciated.  It seems odd to think about walking on a smooth sidewalk.

These things are just normal to me.  I love this culture and these people.  I love to wear skirts and I enjoy my cool shower in the heat of the afternoon.  Lizards make me laugh when they chase each other or when they are playing in the leaves.

I still feel unbelievably blessed and humbled to be serving the Lord here.  It amazes me each day!  May God be glorified in my presence here.  Keep praying for me friends as I keep learning, serving, and loving here in Haiti!

Spreading Joy!

Even though there are people I can't completely communicate with (YET), I have decided that I will spread the joy of the Lord that is overflowing within me in any way I can. I have seen God use me in a couple of ways with specific people already and here are a couple of examples:

Catching an Eye:

There is an older Haitian gentleman who works in the school. We all call him Met (teacher) Girard. He doesn't speak much English and I do not speak enough Creole to have a deep conversation with him, but this doesn't mean we can't communicate. He has been an educator in Haiti for a long time and can be very serious a lot of the time. Whenever I see him, I do my best to catch his eye, greet him with a few words and a smile, and make his face light up with a smile. I don't know where he is at with the Lord, but I know that everyone could use a little joy from time to time ;).

On a side note: during opening exercises, one of my favorite things is listening to Met Girard sing the anthem with the kids!

Standing at the Door:

Most of the kids file through a single door to head to their classrooms and I like to stand at the door to warmly welcome them to school. The kids have gotten used me being there, so some of them look directly at me and wait for me to smile at them while others avoid making eye contact. It's so good to see them, love them with the love of the Lord, and pray that they would know Him.

Actually, that has been something that is on my heart recently. I don't know where these kids are with their faith I don't know how much they know about this wonderful King we have. I hope to get to know the kids on a much deeper level soon-- especially some of the older girls. Be praying that I start having deeper conversations with these girls and God would provide a time for me to meet with them.

Creole Lessons with Sanite

I absolutely love my Creole lessons. I have had two weeks of them know and they are often times the highlight of my day. Now, here's why...

In the evenings of most days I try to either complete a Creole lesson from my book, bring my flash cards to the cafeteria for some fun quizzing with the kids or friends (this helps my pronunciation), or I make new flash cards with new—almost always more difficult—words to learn.

When I walk up and down the hill to and from school, I walk flipping through my flash cards, pausing at the ones I don't know and trying to think of a way to remember them. I try to be very careful as the back is very rocky and I am very clumsy! I get through them about two times as I walk. Now, to get an idea of how many times I walk up and down the hill, let me give you an example from one of my days this week:

-5 am: up and at it to pray for Haiti

-6:58 am: walk halfway down the hill to the cafeteria for breakfast

-7:24 am: walk the rest of the way to the school for prayer and singing with the teachers before opening exercises

-8:47 am: already have had coffee, juice, and water but there is no bathroom at the school for us to use, so up the hill I go

-10:05 am: the kids have break, so now would be an excellent time to walk up the hill to use the restroom

-12:00 noon, on the dot: rushing up the hill before lunch again!

Okay, so that's only half the day, but see how many times I can get through my cards in a given day? Making sure I watch where I walk and greet everyone I pass with a “Bon jou!” and a smile, is actually more challenging! The fun part is not knowing words at the beginning of the day, but being able to know them very well at the end. No time is wasted!

School gets out at 3, but I am usually finishing up a project or something of the sort until 3:30, so by the time I get up to the house it's almost time for my Creole lesson (on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays).

Marthe, Me, and Sanite in uniform.

Sanite is my Creole teacher and I am her English teacher, so it's a great trade off. We walk further up the hill and sit in the shade on a cement wall. One of us prays to begin our session, then we figure out whether to start with English or Creole. She quizzes me on my flashcards and has my make sentences with each of the words that I know or reads English sentences to me so I can translate them into Creole using the proper contractions and usage of the word “the”.

For the English lesson, I read her sentences in Creole and she has to translate them into English using the proper pronunciation and tense of each word. Then, my favorite time comes! We choose a passage of Scripture to read. She reads it aloud in English working on building vocabulary and sounding out words. Each time she finds a word or phrase she doesn't know, we take time to talk about it and use it in other ways.

We both love the Lord and love to worship Him, so after we finish reading the Scripture and learning more about our God, we spend some time learning worship songs in both English and Creole. It is a beautiful time! Worshiping the Lord, having to think and explain who He is to each other and what different Scriptures reveal to us! It's such a filling time of study! One of the highlights of my day!

Each time I see Sanite we greet each other with a big hug and a smile! I know that she is a blessing to me here and she has told me that God has brought me here for a special purpose—to be a blessing for her. A beautiful friendship. A beautiful way God works. It is amazing.   

A Glorious Sunday!

I love Sundays!  What a great day when the people of God come together to worship the Lord!  He is so good and worthy of all honor and glory and praise!  Let me tell you about my Sunday at Canaan!

Mornings are very early here.  I didn't think mornings started so early, but when you wake up to the sounds of the women next door singing praises very early and the many nature sounds, mornings do start very early!  And that is very good.  I have come to love my mornings!  After getting ready for church, I head down to the cafeteria for breakfast with the crew and have my morning cup of coffee....very strong coffee!

Sunday School with the young women is really challenging because it is all in Creole!  We studied the existence of Satan this time and memorized 1 Peter 5:8.  I enjoy the memorization part because they repeat the same words over and over again so I can learn new words and try to figure out what they mean in the context of the verse.

Church starts around 9 or 9:30.  Everything is in Creole and I find myself picking up more words and phrases every day!  After the opening time of each class reciting the memorization verse from the day, we sit on hard wooden benches and sing along from the hymnal--if we can catch which number they say.  (I went to worship practice on Saturday night so I was prepared!)  Some of the older girls sit close by so they can help with translation.  There are times of prayer following the worship songs, then the party starts!  Pastor Joel grabs the tambourine and it's praising time.  We all stand and clap and dance and sway and sing to the King!  How wonderful it is to be praising the Lord together!

We have more beautiful prayers and praises, then it is time for the special music.  Anyone who has prepared something gives the leader of the service a note before the worship time begins.  They call them up by name.  The little girls love getting up and singing in English or in Creole.  This Sunday, Sanite, Marthe, and I had prepared a song, so when my name was called we all went up and sang about who God is and our response: to adore Him!

The music is finished, now the preaching begins.  Many different people share about God's grace for us and how we need Him.  They share testimonies of what God is doing in their lives.  It is a beautiful time!  God is so good!  There is a call for the people of the church to pray for revival in their own hearts and in their churches, their communities, and in Haiti.  We committed to pray at 5am and 9pm for 5 minutes each time for God to send revival here!  It is the cry of the people here!

After church, there was a time of fellowship and rest...last evening though we watched the sunset from up the hill.  I couldn't help but sing praises to the King!  Creation reveals His glory in an amazing way....

So, a Sunday in Haiti.  Beautiful.  Wonderful.  Praise be to God.  Hallelujah!

The Smell of Clean Laundry...

After over a week here at Canaan, I am feeling comfortable in my surroundings--including my school uniform.  I definitely look like a teacher, although I am not teaching.  During school, I attend opening exercises where the children pray, sing one of the national anthems while the Haitian flag is being raised, and pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Bible; I work on my own homework so I will be able to help the students with homework; and work on a variety of projects whether that means sorting through or hauling books up a hill in very large and heavy bags or cleaning and organizing in an office with too many mosquitoes to count, a rat, a live and dead lizard, and many spiders...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!  :)

I am hoping that I am being a blessing here and praying that God will continue to give me patience for myself as I work to learn the language and figure out what my niche will be here for the next several months.  I know that He is faithful and I am trusting that He will continue to give me grace as I keep learning!

Speaking of learning, there are several different things come to mind.  I have learned:

• that the English language is crazy hard to learn!
• that going to sleep BEFORE the dogs start barking is KEY!
• that rats do not always get caught in traps... and they like to play on tin roofs...
• that it is so important to be willing to sound like a baby when speaking a new language...
• that it gets chilly here at night
• that I will always be learning and re-learning things about God!
• that the smell of clean laundry coming off the line was my favorite smell today.
• that cold showers DO feel good!
• that the grace of God is sufficient for me.
• that things aren't always as they seem, but God is always the same...yesterday, today, and forever!

Friends, keep praying for me and for the ministry of Canaan.  I'm still learning so much about the history and the people here and know that I am here to serve and learn with everything I've got!  Pray that I will continue to surrender daily and walk humbly with my God!