Ayiti. Sometime after Day 23 and before Day 29...part 2.

After Sunday School, church and a church meeting on Sunday, we came home and this was the meal that was waiting for us! Oh. my. goodness. So much delicious Haitian food!

A little while after lunch, Sydney and Pastor Marky invited us to go to the beach with them in Jacmel. Along the way, we saw another one of the Lutheran churches in Jacmel:

This is one of the churches/lay pastors that will soon be available for churches and people in the U.S. to support. Pastors and lay pastors in Haiti receive no salary. Within the past 2 years, one lay pastor died of starvation...we are working to change this! I am going to be working on this with Pastor Marky for the Lutheran Church of Haiti, and will have updates and availability as soon as I can.

The beach was not what I expected! While we have seen Gelee Beach between Les Cayes and Torbeck that has a row of restaurants and bars along the beach, there was a much bigger operation going here and so many people, we had to search for a place to sit. It was great!

Howard went in the water while Tom and Pastor watched him...meanwhile Sydney and I got to know each other a little better. We also had some plantains and fish...and of course, there was a Prestige (Haiti beer) for everyone but Pastor, who soon would have to do another church service. He had an energy drink. :)

Church that evening was another great experience! So much passionate singing and joy! Towards the end of the service, we heard a little thunder, saw a little lightning, and the wind picked up. As it did, the almond tree growing next to and over the church roof began to drop almonds on the corrugated roof, which was pretty noisy! Since we were the only ones that had a car to drive to church, several people got up to leave...it would soon be a muddy walk home!

But, many people stayed, and soon the downpour began! More thunder; more lightning. I did lean over and ask Tom about the safety of being in the woods in an open air building with a metal roof in lightning...he assured me that since part of the roof was plastic, it was fine. Right. I just decided that if lightning struck at that moment and it was my time to go, there was no better place to be!

Since no one was going to be walking anywhere soon, the praise band started with the more "upbeat" music, which included Pastor Marky alternately playing the keyboard or the drums, depending on his choice at the moment. The singing was amazing, some people were dancing, others were talking and laughing...this went on for close to 30 minutes I think, but I really lost track of the time...before the rain dropped off and people made a hasty exit while they could.

Sydney then told us that Pastor had a meeting, so we could drive Howard and some of the church ladies home.  Tom said, "How will I know where to let them off?" Sydney said, "Howard will tell you."

So, we started off in the dark, still raining, muddiness...Tom turned onto the main road and headed towards Pastor's home. I should note at this point that Howard had had a very long day playing with Tom, swimming at the beach, and then sitting in another hot church service. He was very quiet. Tom got to a particular intersection and said, "I don't know if I'm supposed to go straight here or go left." I said, "Ask Howard. " "Howard???" Tom yelled to the third row of seats. "Yes?" Howard replied in a rather sleepy voice. "Am I supposed to turn left here or go straight." No response. "Howard?" No response. It was now a very quiet car, although I think there were at least 7 people in it. So, Tom started to turn left. Suddenly, a very loud chorus of Haitian women said, "NO! NO! NO!" So, he went straight, and they sighed and said, "Oui." Our new navigation system worked just fine after that!

The next day Pastor Marky told us in the morning that he had a 3 day Executive Meeting in Port-au-Prince, and wouldn't see us again before we went back to Les Cayes. We said our goodbyes, and then had some restful time. In the afternoon we decided to go for a walk in the neighborhood where Pastor and Sydney's house is. After walking down the street just a little ways, this is what we saw:

A house that had been completely destroyed by the earthquake. While Port-au-Prince was featured in the news reports because of the huge number of people impacted in that densely populated area, there were several other cities and towns that also sustained substantial damage. Jacmel is one of those places.

We saw several homes partially or fully destroyed, and then we saw this one:

fully intact, and by the way, for rent! It also has this view:

Absolutely beautiful!

So, we were struck not only by the damaged homes and not damaged homes, but also by the intermixing of poverty and great wealth in the same neighborhood.

In the next post I will share with you the visits to the tent cities of Jacmel....

Ayiti. Sometime after Day 23 and before Day 29....part 1...

Good evening from a warm and sticky Haiti! I am sorry for the lapse in posts...last week when there was internet I couldn't post and when I could post, there was no internet. Then, last Saturday, Pastor Marky Kessa, the President of the Lutheran Church of Haiti, and his wife, Sydney, made a surprise visit to Les Cayes! They arrived just as we were starting to meet with a team that was here from Jenison, MI about construction plans in phases at Torbeck for the orphanage.
During one break in the meeting, I went into our bedroom for a moment, and there was a knock on my door. I said, "Hello?" and a strong voice said, "It is the Presidente. Are you packed and ready to go?" I opened the door and said, "Go where?" Pastor Marky said, "Jacmel. We need to spend some time with you before you leave Haiti! Besides, your husband needs to preach at my church again."
So, we packed a few things and left a bit later.
Jacmel is also on the southern coast of Haiti, probably about an hour east of Les Cayes. However, there is no road that goes even remotely that direction. So, to get to Jacmel from Les Cayes, one must drive north across the mountains to almost Port-au-Prince, then take a turn off that heads southeast, back across the mountains, to Jacmel. On a good weather day, with no mudslides or car/truck accidents on the 2 lane roads, it takes about 4 hours.
We arrived in time for dinner Saturday evening, and shortly thereafter got settled in our room for the night. The night was peaceful and uneventful.
The next morning we arrived at the church back in the woods off one of the main roads in Jacmel at about 8:10 am, and Sunday School for the adults had already begun. There is no Sunday School for the children of the church during the summertime. There were a good number of people there, and they were learning what seemed to be parts of the Small Catechism by rote memorization. Here are a couple of photos:

This is the church at the entrance...

This is a side view. The entrance is on the left of the photo, the altar at the other end.

Sunday School.

2 of 3 tents 20 feet from the church...for members that lost their homes in the earthquake.

Pastor Marky and his wife, Sydney.

Howard, their very cute 8 yr old son.

About 20 minutes before Sunday School was over, people started filing into church. And they kept coming, and coming. When I thought the church could hold no more and even the ushers were shaking their heads, more people came in and squeezed into these pews. I couldn't count how many were in church finally, as I was seated in the very back...but I'm guessing maybe 300. When I looked over my shoulder outside, there were at least another 50 to 75 people sitting on small child sized plastic chairs, (some of them broken) outside the church. The photo above was my view from the back. Note the lack of "personal church space" for these people, and it was easily in the 90's during the service.

Tom preached and Pastor Marky translated. Amazing message. They are a great team!

Two women accepted Christ during the service. Here the pastor and lay pastors are praying over them.

There is so much more to write, but I will have to save it for another time. I have been in bed all day with some sort of stomach bug, but thankfully the Cipro is helping. Hopefully we will have electricity and internet tomorrow. I have so much more to share from our time in Jacmel.....

~kimberly

"waka waka. eh eh."

lately i haven't been able to get the girls at the orphanage off my mind. it seems like anything and everything reminds me of them.

on this trip, i had a closer relationship to the girls than any of my other trips. i feel like it always takes the kids a week to warm up to you; that's why i was so excited we were able to have such a long time with them this time! and since my last trip was only a few months ago, it didn't take quite as long for them to warm up!

i remember the night that they finally let julie and i in completely. it was the night of sarah's birthday. [i already wrote a little about it in my last blog post.]

we were all playing the "my name is.." game. we were having so much fun; we must have played for an hour or so. then we slowly started moving towards the house so we could leave, but we didn't want to go! we ended up playing with the girls on the driveway for another hour, at least! then, not sure how it switched to this, we started singing different songs with the girls. it would just be bits and pieces of different songs. julie and i would sing a little bit to see if they girls knew it or not, then they would sing a little bit of another song to see if we knew it. we were mainly singing disney songs or hannah montana. there was a little bit of beyonce or rihanna mixed in too. the girls just loooved it when we knew the same songs. and it was so cool because that was one thing that the language barrier couldn't interfere with. music is the same wherever you are. i think that's what helped bring us all together.

then it slowly moved from singing to dancing, and by this time it was started to get dark. so dina, matilda, and ruth were on a mission to teach me how to dance. [which is pretty difficult for me anyways] they decided "waka waka" would be the best to teach me! so sure enough, after about fifteen minutes of diligent teaching and a LOT of laughing, i knew how to dance to the chorus of "waka waka"! the girls LOVED it. i'm not sure if they were laughing because they were so exicted i'd learned it or if they were laughing at my dance skills. [i'm leaning towards the latter...] but either way, it brought our relationship to a whole different level.

they also taught me how to dance to a different song, i think it was shakira as well. all i know is it went, "oh boy. i can see your body mooooving." hahahha. man, they were like rolling on the floor watching me try to dance to that. it's just amazing to me how much fun we can have together and how much we can understand about each other even without speaking the same language. God is so awesome.

what's even cooler, is that throughout this entire time, one of the girls was videotaping. it was dark so you can't really see anything, but all you need is the sound to understand how much fun we were having together. it was so awesome to go home and realize all of that was captured on video rather than just my memory. so whenever i miss those girls and those times we had together, i can still close my eyes and imagine i'm still there with them.

after that night, the girls couldn't get enough of us. we were like attached at the hip! we had new games and new experiences with the girls everyday! they were so much more interested in talking with us than before! it seemed like before that night, the girls would talk to us in creole, knowing that we wouldn't understand most of what they said and really not caring that we didn't understand. but then they changed. they started saying things using the creole they knew we knew and helping us to understand what they were saying! they started asking us about our lives at home; about boyfriends [the nonexistent ones julie and i have], about where we live, if julie and i share a room, anything they could think of! it was so cool knowing that they finally let us in enough that they cared about us!

then i had a pretty funny conversation with ruth, who i became very close to over the course of my trip. she started asking me if i was going to cry when i left and i said yes of course and that i didn't want to leave. ruth, being the goofy, beautiful girl she is said, "well, if you don't want to leave then don't." and i laughed and told her that i had to finished school before i could stay here for good. i told her i would be coming back next summer and i would stay for the whole summer. and what did she say? "i'll believe it when i see it." that comment made me laugh because of how wise such a young girl is, but it also made me really sad. i mean, these kids see people on mission teams come and go. i'm sure many of them promising kids things they can't always keep. it broke my heart to think that ruth would even wonder if i was telling the truth or not, but what else can she do? this is her life, watching people come, play, love, and leave. she hasn't been shown any other way to think about people traveling to haiti.

but i told her to just wait and see. i'll be back for good soon enough. and i can't wait till she sees that i wasn't lying.

Ayiti. Day 23.

This is an update for yesterday and today...and I wanted to share with you a photo of three beautiful women that prepare the amazing meals that we eat everyday.

From left to right, Sincia, Veline and Ziane. Here they were shelling peas and cleaning spinach.

They often start one meal as they are finishing up the last meal. I am so thankful for them and the wonderful things that they prepare for us!

Here is my view during my devotions last night...

This morning, Ketura left for Port-au-Prince at 2:30 am. I, unfortunately missed saying goodbye to her...then Amanda, Megan, Ashley and Kelly were taken to PaP by Israelson and Tom at 6:30 this morning. I did manage to say goodbye to them, but it was close. I was sound asleep!

Around here this morning we did some housecleaning, and I did some much needed organizing of our stuff...one can only stay so organized in a suitcase. Actually, Tom is living out of a suitcase and 2 laundry baskets...Leonie graciously gave up some closet space for me, so I do have many things hanging up. Still, I was not organized.

At lunch time, Yelline and I went to Torbeck. I started on the porch with the kids, and thought that since I don't know enough Creole yet, playing Uno would be a great thing to do!

I quickly realized that we weren't really playing Uno...as I saw this:

 Yes, our folding chair / table has two different kinds of cards. Uno and Skip-Bo. I have not played Skip-Bo in many years, but being the proactive person that I am, I knew that they had that game and had grabbed the instructions from Les Cayes! So, I started reading the instructions...all is well, right?

Well, not so much. Claudine was doing her best to help me, but as far as I could tell we weren't playing a version of Uno OR of Skip-Bo. Fortunately Yelline came by just then, and I explained my predicament. She spoke to the kids and they told her that we weren't playing either...we were playing Casino. Then she proceeded to explain how to play Casino to me, and the royalty and aces had great significance. I told her that we didn't have those...then she shrugged and said, "Well, then. I don't know. Good luck." Haha!  It went on for awhile, and then I pulled out the Creole/English flashcards and we started practicing those.

I love working with the kids on the language because they don't get taught English until middle school, and even then, they have a great desire to learn. So, we had a great time quizzing each other and practicing pronunciations for quite awhile. They are great teachers!

A little bit later, the girls noticed that I badly needed a pedicure, and I got one, with the most attentive "staff" I've ever had! Here is what it looked like by my toes...

There was much discussion about color choice and proper application...I loved it, and now have pretty pink toes!

When the sun had become not quite so direct, Yelline and I decided to clean up the land that had been cleared for the raised beds. We quickly had help raking, scooping, and dumping!

It was still quite warm, but fun for everyone involved and got done within about 90 minutes.

This evening the internet and power finally came back on after almost 2 days without. It has been nice to spend a few minutes catching up with family that I have wondered about for the past couple of days! Glad to hear that everyone is well!

And, Tom and Israelson returned back just a little while ago. Tonight, Tom and I begin our first evening alone here in Haiti, without any of our family and friends along. While I miss them, this is the time that I have been anticipating...some much needed time to talk, pray and see how this all "feels" to us, and to discern where God may be leading.

We appreciate your updates and your prayers!

kimberly

Ayiti. Day 21.

Today it is 3 weeks since I arrived in Haiti, and I have less than 3 weeks until I leave. That is bittersweet for me. I love my time here, and am beginning to get glimpses of what God might have for me to do on a bigger level while doing what He lays before me each day while I am here.

I have to be honest, I'm missing this every once in awhile...

Certainly, I am much more aware here of the difference between wants and needs, but sometimes amidst the hard work and high prices I let my mind wander to a quick trip to Target...today for the air conditioning if nothing else! :)

Last Sunday some girls from the church and orphanage danced to a song that the Praise Team sang. I was surprised to learn that the song was by Beyonce, but it is beautiful. You may want to look it up and/or listen to it. Here are the lyrics:

Took me a while but I'm finally here
So I just wanna testify, make it crystal clear
See I've been picked out to be picked on
Talked about, out my friends mouths
I've been beat down til He turned my life around

Seems like I always fall short of being worthy
Cause I ain't good enough but He still loves me
I ain't no superstar, the spotlight ain't shining on me
Cause I ain't good enough but He still loves me

I used to wake up somedays
And wish I'd stayed asleep
Cause I went to bed on top of the world
Today the world's on top of me

Now everybody's got opinions
They ain't been in my position
That it breaks my heart
When I hear what they have to say about me

Seems like I always fall short of being worthy
Cause I ain't good enough but He still loves me
I ain't no superstar, the spotlight ain't shining on me
Cause I ain't good enough but He still loves me

And I'm not perfect
Yes I do wrong
I'm trying my best
But it ain't good enough

Shunned by the world
If I don't succeed
Cause I ain't good enough
But He still loves me

If you ain't worthy just raise your hands
And let me know that you understand
That we are all so blessed to be loved, loved

Stand for him or fall for anything
Cause through his eyes we all look the same
What will we do without pain?

Seems like I always fall short of being worthy
Cause I ain't good enough but He still loves me
I ain't no superstar, the spotlight aint shining on me
Cause I ain't good enough but He still loves me

I'm not perfect
Yes I do wrong
I'm trying my best
But it ain't good enough

Shunned by the world
If I don't succeed
Cause I ain't good enough
But He still loves me

I'm not perfect
Yes I do wrong
I'm trying my best
But it aint good enough

Shunned be the world
If I don't succeed
Cause I ain't good enough
But He still loves me

No, I ain't good enough
But He still loves me
No, I ain't good enough
But He still loves me

No, I ain't good enough
But He still loves me
No, I ain't good enough
But He still loves me
(But the Lord still loves me)

Here are a couple of photos

And those lyrics, with the somewhat haunting melody, sung by Haitians in this hard world, where their praise is so sincere, and the dancing by those young girls, some of the orphans, well....it was an experience I won't soon forget. I believe that Tom videotaped it, so hopefully if he hasn't posted it yet, he will be able to soon.

Ketura worked so hard with those girls....and we could hear the Praise Team rehearsing hour after hour. And Leonie and her friend from church made the costumes. All of the time and intention that went into this made it a so special.

Ok, back to today...

After some necessary team time this morning, we went to Torbeck a little later than usual. The girls did some activities with the kids and Tom, Leonie and I took first steps on making the raised beds. Here are some photos from those hours:

This is our "Before" photo. All of that rebar had to be moved before we could do anything...

Measuring and re-measuring. For those of you familiar, we are using the Square Foot Gardening method, with a few necessary adaptations for our situation and available materials.

Level? Nope...very low and uneven ground. We moved the yarn (yes, the yarn I brought for the knitting projects) to a place to show the workers how much soil to fill with.

This method took us quite awhile, and it was just about the hottest part of the day. We knew it would be easier if we could make some sort of 4x4x4x4' frame to mark the places of the 5 raised beds, but after much discussion, there was not any material available to do so. Tomorrow morning we are going to see if Leonie has any scrap (that word is unheard of here, we use everything!), fabric that can be cut to the appropriate size and then laid out to mark the beds.  I am hoping so...I wish I had something big enough to use that I had brought with me....

More on that tomorrow, I hope!

Today happened to be Ruth's 13th birthday, but we didn't know until we got there and the other girls told me. Here is her photo after being sung to multiple times...

 I just love Ruth...she has a great spirit and a terrific sense of humor.

And the girls got to play "beauty shop" and got their hair done!....

Later this afternoon they took the kids to Gelee Beach for some cooling off. They also used some of their extra money to purchase apples and cookies for the kids, which both were a real treat! 

And this photo

I took while I was doing my devotions in the early evening. This is from up on the roof of the house in Les Cayes, looking over the soccer field. You can't really see them here, but there are mountains outside the city, and they are just beautiful in the waning daylight. I can't help but think when I am there....

I lift up my eyes to the hills- Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip -
He who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you
The LORD is your shade at your right hand;
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm -
He will watch over your life;
The LORD will watch over your coming and going
Both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121

I have been reading a couple of books during my time here...both by Beth Moore, and both changing my life. I also began on August 1st reading 1 chapter of Proverbs each day and studying it. 

My little rooftop perch is not only cooler at this time of day with a breeze, but a great place to spend my alone time....

I pray that you too have a place to go to meditate on all that God is trying to tell you....

Ayiti. Day 20.

Well, today has been different than every other day in the time that I have been here! I did not spend more than 5 minutes outside, I did not go anywhere in the truck, and I did not take a single photo! Three things that were different!

But, at the same time, I feel it was a very productive day. I don't have the end result yet, but let me tell you about the meetings that I participated in today...

If you remember from an earlier post, click here to read it! we stopped in at the local Heifer International office (only 2 in Haiti, one happens to be a 2 minute walk from where we are staying...), and made an appointment for this morning.

When we got there, we were greeted a National Director for this area, and his associate. I explained my relationship and experience with both Heifer International and the Children of Israel Orphanage, and explained that I just wanted to see if there was anyway that we could get them connected.

In short, there seemed to be a lot of "God-incidences" involved.

 To summarize:

• A series of meetings have recently been held on how to best help Haiti through Heifer
• A few more meetings are happening this week.
•  From today through August 15, 2010, they are accepting grant proposals to fund projects in Haiti since the earthquake. (note "today.)
• These proposals will be reviewed by a group of individuals from 12 countries on behalf of H.I. into September.
• During September the projects to be funded (anywhere from $3,000 to $50,000 per year) will be chosen.
• These projects will be implemented beginning in October 2010.
• Oh, and it just so happens that this National Director found out after the earthquake as he was helping to distribute food, that he has 2 nieces that are being cared for at the orphanage. Remember that birthday party for Sarah a couple of weeks ago? Yup...her and her older sister, Ruth. Hmmmmm....

So, the grant proposal form isn't quite finished yet, but he has promised to email it to us this week. We already have some ideas for our project, but if you have some ideas, please feel free to "comment me" with them!

_____________________

Since today has been my very first headache day in Haiti, and it happens to be a migraine, I took some time this afternoon to rest with my eyes covered. No worries, while it isn't completely gone, it is feeling a little better, so thanks in advance for your prayers! A migraine in this heat is not the best, but I'm grateful that it isn't any worse.

_____________________

On our way to Heifer this morning, a vehicle passed by us with a familiar logo on it...it was the logo of the Gaskov Clerge Foundation.  I was familiar with this foundation through a contact by the name of Cosy Joseph that I befriended on Facebook...or maybe she befriended me...it's been over a year, so I can't remember.


I knew that she, with the GCF had a medical team here in Les Cayes, and then I saw the vehicle with their logo pass by. I mentioned to Ketura what they do, and since Ketura is training to be a Physician's Assistant, she thought that they should try to meet. I sent Cosy a message on her FB wall and set up a meeting for this evening!


She and Dr. Charles came here to Leonie's house, and as it turns out, Cosy grew up right around the corner, knew Pastor Israel, of the church and of the orphanage! (Are you seeing some familiar themes here?)


We did not have long to meet, but enough time to exchange stories and missions. Cosy is running a few conferences the next few days and invited Ketura to attend, which she plans to do...perhaps on Wednesday!


Also, I asked them to talk with Israelson for a moment about his medical issues that he has been struggling with, and he is going to meet with one (or more) of their doctors tomorrow!


We have all agreed to keep in touch...Cosy and the foundation are making plans with an architect NOW to build a world class medical center in this area! Ketura and I both got goosebumps, and this is what Ketura has been praying for and working towards...her future dreams here in Haiti!


When she comes with teams, the bring 60-70 doctors, and over the course of a week or so see about 3,000 patients! This is BIG work that they are doing!


So, as I said earlier, nothing is for sure, but with God all things are possible! Could it be that these connections made today will help to further develop the mission and work of the Izidor family here? And, could the work of and connections of this awesome family help these other organizations? Perhaps...and I pray it is so!


I am so thankful to have been involved in such a small way, and pray that I can be involved in bigger ways in the future...


In other news...if you don't keep up with my husband's updates at his site, firmly rooted ministries, let me tell you that he has been joking with me lately that he isn't exactly sure what God specifically wants his future to be here in Haiti. Regarding that the other day, he said, "I mean, I know I'm pretty good at moving rock, but I thought there might be more...." Don't you love his sense of humor? And God's?


Well, last week while he and I were moving rock (I'm pretty good at it too...), he said, "I have this feeling that I should be doing some sort of devotions with these workers." (The ones working on the wall that we are moving the rock for.) I told him to mention it to Leonie...she said, "YES! YES! My husband always used to do that with the workers when he was alive." And, she headed right over to talk to them. Then she motioned Tom over to join them and he did his first devotion. 


Today he did another, and he talked about how the materials used to build can be the same, but the difference is in your foundation...rock or sand. At the end one of the workers asked him (in Creole) if he could do that with them every day, and the other workers agreed! Tom also shared his granola bars with them, and they were extremely grateful...


So, while today was different, at least for me, it feels like it was a pretty good day! Please keep all of these items in your prayers if you don't mind...


blessings...
kimberly

Ayiti. Day 19.

Yesterday I posted, but only about the concert because it seemed to be the only thing on any of our minds around here! Yes, there was a certain level of excitement, but no one was particularly thrilled with the performers or their music, so quickly the house shaking all night long and diesel fumes coming into the house and giving headaches to many of us became the conversation rather than the excitement of having our very own backstage passes!

Anyways, yesterday morning began with a devotion with our team in which Tom went through the Salvation Diagram with everyone, but particularly for the team member that had prayed the night before to accept Jesus as her Savior! What a beautiful thing! To see the tears that she had over the sadness of her former life and the hope offered by Jesus...truly a miracle!

After that, the women on the team, with Ketura and a few of guys went to the Les Cayes Hospital to hand out onesies to the moms of the new babies and to give messages of hope to those moms and some of the other patients and families that we met.

Some of the babies that we visited were not newborns, but were sick. And the most difficult part of this visit for me was when the hospital staff told us that the 2 children were in front of us were abandoned...and hadn't eaten anything for awhile....They were clearly two children with special needs...and my heart broke for them. And immediately, as the tears were welling up in my eyes, this washed over me, "Yes, they have been left here, but I have not abandoned them, and I know the number of hairs on each of their precious heads." 

Oh, my friends! I hurt for a country where a parent with a child that has special needs has no ability to care for him or her...and, in fact, the country cannot care for these children either.

In my time in Haiti I have seen so much joy and hope, that sometimes I am ashamed of all that I have the the many times that I grumble. But, in that hospital yesterday, I did not see much joy or hope. We went through several different sections that had people of various ages and with differing illnesses or injuries. They did not appear to have hope, and these are the people that could afford to get to the hospital...

There are times that I allow the weight of all that I am seeing and experiencing to permeate the surface, and it weighs heavy. I have to allow our Father's words to me yesterday fill my heart more and more..."....I have not abandoned them, and I know the number of hairs on each of their precious heads." Please join me in praying, and if so moved, finding a way to continue to help these people of Haiti. They are precious in His sight, and we are called to be His hands and feet.

Yesterday afternoon we took the girls to Port Salut. It was nice for me to be able to take in the beauty of Haiti after the emotion of the morning. We swam, had dinner and stayed for sunset. Here are a couple of photos that remind us that He is here....

Have a peaceful evening and a wonderful first week of August!

kimberly

p.s. if you haven't read Adrianne's recent post about her time in Haiti, please take a few minutes to do so.

Ayiti Beauty.

I haven't had much opportunity to just post for you a glimpse of the beauty of Haiti, so I thought that I would show you just a few things now...

(not sure what kind of tree this is...when I asked Israelson he said, "I big tree." thank you.)

The sun is beginning to set at Port Salut. This was last night...beautiful! And the photo below was taken a little later...

Tom and I have been discussing the importance of taking mission teams and visitors to see these beautiful places while they are  here. It is important for them to see not only the work that needs to be done, and to do some of that work, but also to see the amazing beauty of this country and the blessings that are here. As the Isidors say, "We work hard and we play hard."

I hope you find these as beautiful as I did...

The concert outside my window....

Well, the day (night) has finally arrived...several of you have seen Tom's photos or videos, or my comments about the upcoming concert here in Les Cayes.

Just when the rain was stopping, about a week ago, this began on the soccer field, right outside our bedroom window:

I asked Tom what he thought they were doing, and about 2 hours prior to this photo being taken, he said he thought they were going to put new lines on the soccer field.

Lots of pounding ensued...

Next, this:

Then this...but this is when they made a mistake, so at 10 pm the other night, they started taking part of it apart and changing it...all night....

And....this was yesterday.....a rehearsal and sound check that started about 5 pm and went until 4 am today...

And tonight, as I type these words, the concert is beginning. My bed is shaking...below is a photo I took a couple of hours ago:

See the people on the right of this photo? They can see into my bedroom window....

And, what is most surreal is that all of this light and sound is powered by huge generators (under my window), but the rest of the city, as far as I can see, is dark...no power.

Late breaking news...I think they just lost their sound during the first song...oh, no...Tom came in from the roof (our seats...) and reported that it is pouring...i couldn't hear it for the generator, but now I hear the thunder and the rain is coming through the window...what will this do to the concert????

To be honest, I did pray for rain, but only after they got an hour into the concert so that I could sleep before 4 am....(more thunder...)


Look for an update soon....

oh, my soul is singing.

i am sitting here in my living room alone wondering where the time went. it honestly feels like yesterday i was sitting upstairs debating with julie on if i should bring my cowboy hat or not.

but it wasn't yesterday. my fifteen days in haiti flew by like they always do. i feel like the time went by so quickly my mind couldn't hang on to all the beautiful things happening around me.

and now i'm here with a broken heart. and this kind is hard to fix because i left most of it in haiti where i belong.

it's hard to explain what i'm feeling right now. i feel sad, but that's a given. i feel lonely without israelson, my parents, and those beautiful children i left behind. i feel like i want to tell everyone about it, but i don't want to talk. i feel eager to start planning my next trip to haiti.

i remember sitting on the plane on the flight back to michigan crying because no part of me was ready to leave and i was thinking how ironic it was; just two weeks earlier i was on a plane on my way to haiti crying tears of joy because i was finally going to be home again.

these past two weeks were the best of my entire life. i have never been so perfectly happy. God found a way to surprise me with His awesomeness every single day. i'm going to do my best to explain my experience in haiti, but trust me, it's hard to find the perfect words to describe how incredible it was.

i'm looking over my journal from the past two weeks to try and remind myself of all the things i want to share with you. it's kind of funny to see my writing day to day. almost every day starts with "today was the best day" or "today was the most perfect day". i didn't even notice i was doing that. every day is perfect to me in haiti.

so first of all, before we left our house i was appointed the "team leader". how exciting!! i just really wanted to see if i could do it alone since i hope to work with mission teams coming to haiti in the future. it was a lot of fun! everything went really smoothly. mom and julie started calling me "TLA". (team leader A)

the first day in haiti was so refreshing. after planning for so long and counting down the days, to actually be there was awesome. i also finally got to meet ketura!! she is such a sweetheart and so filled with the Spirit. she is such a beautiful woman. and she's so buff!! we also finally got to see leonie again! after having her with us for so long in michigan it felt like i hadn't seen her in forever! i just love being around the Izidor family. they are so beautiful and overflowing with God's love.

one thing that really struck me as we traveled from port-au-prince to les cayes was that while i am SOSOSO thankful that our kids at the orphanage aren't living on the streets, i feel guilty for not giving other kids in haiti the same things i give to the kids at CIO. i mean, of course i love the kids at the orphanage and would give them the world if i could, but i realized that besides my first trip to haiti, i haven't done much outreach to the community in les cayes.

that is one thing that i really really want to work on more next summer while i'm working in haiti. i mean, the kids in the community of les cayes need to hear the Gospel just as much as the kids at the orphanage do!! i just feel really guilty for not realizing this sooner.

anyways, throughout the week i witnessed some beautiful things and experienced things i never have before!

one thing that was so simple, but yet so beautiful was our walk to the beach. not just that it was pretty scenery, but it was who i was walking with. the entire way there sarah (a little girl i connected with right away on my first trip to haiti) and a girl named francesca held my hands as we walked. they would lead me around puddles or tall grass, but no matter how far apart we needed to walk from each other to avoid the obstacles; they wouldn't let go of my hands. then all the way back to the property jean junio was glued to my side. jean junio and i have had a special relationship since my second trip. he is the most handsome boy you'll ever meet. his smile just radiates God's love. and it was so incredible simple, but so perfect at the same time.

one day, we went to torbeck to hang out with all the kids while mom and tom worked on the wall. we all went under the cabana to sit, play games, and sing. then it started pouring rain. and when it rains in haiti, it really rains. we must have been sitting there for two hours. at one point, i was sitting on the end of a lawn chair with four kids sitting on the rest of the chair, and three on my lap. sounds uncomfortable, but i didn't want that moment to end. those kids bring so much joy to my soul; it is unbelievable.

then mom and tom said it was time to go so julie and i had to run over to the car. we were in the rain for maybe thirty seconds and we were completely soaked when we got in. then we watched jean junio take five kids at a time underneath a tablecloth back to their houses so they wouldn't get wet. tom picked up the rest of the girls in the truck and drove them back.

it is so refreshing to see kids that care for one another as much as these kids do. they are always looking out for one another and always there for each other. it's amazing.

one day we sorted clothing that was in the storage room. we packed tubs of clothes for the kids at the orphanage and tubs for people in carrefour duclos. (which is where our sister church is)

handing out the clothes was such a surprising experience for me. i know that if i lived with 14 other girls i would be fighting for the clothes that i liked, but the girls would watch us pick an item of clothing up and then they would tell us who they think it would fit. there was no fighting at all. it made me realize just how much we take for granted in the states and how selfish i am. here they are, kids who rarely get new clothes and they are all making sure that each of them got a decent amount of clothes. seeing that really made me contemplate how i deal with things in my life.

the most beautiful thing about this trip was obviously the kids, but it wasn't just that. it was how they opened up. this was my fourth trip to the children of israel orphanage and i've always had tons of fun playing with the kids and loving on them, but this time even the shy kids showed their personalities.

claudine is one of the girls at the orphanage. she is so beautiful and so sweet, but she's always been quiet around me. i thought that was just her personality. maybe she was just shy. i remember vividly the first time i heard her laughing; i mean, really laughing.

we were sitting under the cabana after sarah's birthday party and she was doing my hair. a few of the girls and i were

playing the "my name is..." game. you basically just say "my name is..."and name whoever you want! some of the girls were saying "mulan"; there was a "cinderella" every now and then. then someone said "my name is king kong!" and with their accent it sounded like "ching chong". so i said, "you're name is ching chong?" i thought claudine was going to fall over she was laughing so hard. it just melted my heart. and after that she was talking to me all the time!

it was just so cool to see that the kids were really finally starting to get comfortable with me. which made me fall in love even harder.

before we knew it, it was monday and our first day of VBS! the week of

VBS went by so quickly! what was so amazing was that so many things popped up that julie and i didn't even think about. for example, on tuesday we were supposed to use water balloons in our game time, but they wouldn't fill up because there wasn't enough water pressure. you would have thought that that little problem would ruin the game for the day, but it didn't! julie and i just came up with a different game using blown up water balloons rather than filled with water. and the kids loved it!! i was even surprised at how quickly julie and my minds were working to solve the different problems thrown at us. i mean, we figured out a different game and how it related to our scripture lesson in literally two minutes! i would have expected that to normally take quite a while, if we came up with a new game at all!

another thing that seemed to just jump out at me was the power of God's Word and prayer. julie and i tried to do a devotion and pray together every morning before we started our day. there were two days that julie and i were slacking on our devotion and prayer together and it was SO apparent throughout our entire day. those two days that we didn't begin with thanking and praising our God were the hardest days we had to deal with. we found ourselves losing patience with each other and with the kids, both of us were just in bad moods; it basically just sucked. and then we both realized it. we prayed together and it was like instantly everything was better. i mean, you could feel the atmosphere change around us. it was like God was sitting right there with us.

that was when i really began to realize how crucial it is to immerse yourself in God's love and His Word, especially when you're there. without it, it's hopeless. we weren't able to share His Word with the kids like we should have been, we weren't getting along with each other, we just didn't even want to do anything. as soon as we gave it all to the Lord in prayer, it was lifted from us. i mean, talk about powerful!! after that we did a devotion every day together and we started every day with a prayer together. it was the most refreshing, empowering time of the day for me. and i'm so glad that God helped me to see just how important it is to revolve everything around Him, especially in haiti.

now for the next ten months as i plan my trip for next summer, i know what i really need to work on. and that's my relationship with our Lord. without a strong, committed relationship with Him i will never survive four months in haiti. i am so looking forward to my spiritual growth in the coming months!

i will continue to post more blogs with little stories and experiences that happened over the course of my trip, but i think that this is enough information for you to process for now.

it's exhausting and a little overwhelming to try to explain everything in just one sitting. (although it has taken me four days to complete this post) so as i start to process the rest of my trip i will post stories that i know you all want to hear.

overall, this was the most amazing trip to haiti i've been on. it was so beautiful to have all of the kids open up to us and i think that's ultimately what has made it so hard to readjust here. i am home when i'm there with them so now coming here seems so weird and uncomfortable. (coming home to an empty house helps too)

some of you may be wondering when i'm going back to haiti! well, let me tell you! i have been talking to yelline isidor and nora leon about traveling to haiti for about four months next summer. i plan on leaving for haiti the second week in may and coming back towards the middle or end of august. i can't even explain how excited it am!!

i will be working with the mission teams that travel to the orphanage while i am there. i will help plan what their projects are for everyday and i will work along with them over the course of their trips! i am also hoping to plan three mission teams myself. nothing is official yet, but i am hoping to take a team down when i travel to haiti in may, julie sabo may be a team leader and bring a team down in the middle of june, and i am still looking for a third team leader to bring a team down in july or august.

if anyone is at all interested in being a part of any of these teams please let me know!! as soon as i get the okay from yelline and nora i will try to start planning these mission trips!

also, i am already saving up for my trip next summer. i would love it if you would keep me and my plans in your thoughts and prayers! if you feel called to donate to my trip that would be AMAZING. you can either contact me about a donation or tom with firmly rooted.

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'

And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"

Isaiah 6:8

i just want to thank everyone who has been constantly supporting me with all of my trips to haiti and back. i can't explain how much it means to me to know that i have family and friends backing me up with prayers and love!! to be working in haiti and think about all the love and support i have here is overwhelming! i love each and every one of you and i thank God for you every single day!