Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas, one and all, from the Plateau!!!

May the peace, joy, light, and hope brought by our Savior fill your hearts this Christmas season.

Well Drilling UPDATE

After hitting rock and having to change spots twice, the men from Forapompe were able to drill past 100 ft on their third attempt.  Unfortunately, they did not hit any water, and the signs they read from the earth layers indicated to them that it was no use continuing.

They have now changed locations altogether, and are drilling on the Lemuel garden land.  It will be their final attempt.

We thank the Lord that the men running the drill rig have been very gracious and desirous of striking water for us.

Please continue to pray that they will find water on this last try.

Teacher Team Building

It is a joy for us to provide opportunities for our staff to learn and develop personally. In the school, for example, we are not only interested in the education of the children, but in the continued development of their teachers. Due to the Plateau’s isolated location, the teacher’s do not have access to classes and seminars for their own interests like they would in the cities.

In addition to running a great English camp for the school children, the team from Pine Grove Community Church also invested in our teachers. As you may already have seen, they did a fun class on how to bake a cake. However, they also planned some important sessions on team building:

Session 1

They started out with the famous (or infamous, depending on your experience) trust fall:

Way too easy right?

So, Jeff upped the ante a bit….

Despite some failure to remain “straight as a board,” the teachers had a great time and were able to pull some insights out of their experience.

As a second activity, the teachers were required to disentangle themselves out of a human knot…

...without letting go of the scarves.

Hopefully, they were able to internalize the value of communication, patience, helping one another, and—as teacher Obed repeatedly pointed out—common sense.

Session 2 

On this day, the teachers’ teamwork was put to the test through an activity in which only their leader—in this case, Mèt Osselet—knew the rules of the game. I’ll let you in on the secret: the four stipulations were 1. Everyone enters the gazebo, 2. The GROUP AS A WHOLE must touch all the paper plates (numbered 1-30) IN ORDER, 3. Each person must touch at least one number, and 4. Everyone must exit the gazebo.

As you may be able to tell from Wiltha's puzzled stance, they weren't immediately successful.

It took a few tries to get it right. Then, their challenge became to do it in a diminishing time frame—first reaching goals set by themselves, then aiming for a time goal set by Jeff. Their toughest goal was 40 seconds. 

This picture of "Almaïs, the flying blur" being frantically directed by Obed gave us a good laugh. (Almaïs is not a teacher, as you know, but he participated in the activities along with them).

 Here is their moment of victory (they made it in 33 seconds, shattering their last record by 8 seconds):

As they worked together to achieve their objective, it was fascinating to observe the unique qualities of different individuals come out. Some were strong leaders; others were obedient followers. Some had great ideas. Some cheered their group on, raising everyone's spirits and refusing to be discouraged.

There were also, of course, negative attributes that emerged as well. Some were very defensive when they made a mistake. Some had a negative attitude. Some complained; some blamed.

Once the activity was completed, everyone sat down and discussed the things they had observed—the important components of successful teamwork; the qualities they saw emerge in one another; even the question of who may have been the weakest link, based on overall attitude and contribution to the team!

These quality times with our staff are invaluable. Not only do they offer opportunities for our employees to grow and improve personally, but they demonstrate that we care about them and who they are.

Thank you Pine Grove, for investing in our staff!

Pine Grove English Camp

There is so much going on these days!  We wrapped up a great English camp last week, the teachers had some fantastic team-building sessions, the drill rig is pounding away for water, we had our first ever wedding in the Plateau church, and Christmas parties are coming up!!

So, first things first:  Last week Pine Grove Community Church from Wisconsin ran the first English camp of the school year.

This year, the classes were arranged a bit differently.  Instead of each class having the same teacher for all subjects, the children rotated through classrooms focusing on different subjects.

Nicki taught English through geography.

The kids loved the coloring activities.

Katie was in charge of songs and chants, assisted here by Taleah.  One favorite number was the Johnny Appleseed Song...

(Warning: This song could be stuck in your head for days.)

Kirstin taught vocabulary, on this day with demonstrations by Jim and Mr. Potato Head.

They held the boys in rapt attention (which is no small feat)...

...as well as the girls on the other side.

Jeff's class was very popular: Games!

 After a great week, it was time to say goodbye.  The team gave out little gift bags as a parting present.

The kindergartners were too small to participate in the English camp, but they certainly didn't go away empty-handed.  Balloons made their day.

For the final luncheon with the teachers, the group sang them a Christmas carol.  After the English version, Almaïs helped them out with the Creole version of the same song.

And of course, we finished off the week with CAKE!  Thank you Pine Grove Community Church!

Day 2 of Drilling...

So far, the drilling rig has had to change positions twice, because it hit rock.  They are currently on their third try.

Please PRAY!

The drill rig has arrived!

Not long ago, Lemuel was unexpectedly presented with an affordable opportunity to drill for water on the Plateau.  The drill rig was supposed to arrive over a week ago.  We anxiously awaited it through delay after delay--first a political riot, then some personnel issues that the company was having...

But today, it ARRIVED!

In the coming days, please pray that we would not only hit water, but that we would hit an abundance of sweet water.

How to bake a cake...

This Friday, we happily welcomed a team of friends from Pine Grove Community Church in Wisconsin.  They have come with hearts eager and ready to serve in any way they can.  Although their main objective is to run an English camp for the school this week, they also will be investing in the personal development of our teachers through team building seminars....and a cake class! 

After a late arrival on Friday night, they jumped right in on Saturday morning with lessons in cake.

Why cake?  Every year at graduation time, there is a demand for cakes, both for the school and for the families of the graduating students.  Since there is no place in the Anse-Rouge area to order cakes, someone on the Lemuel staff--last year, it was our intern Jenna--usually ends up taking it on.  I have had requests from teachers (including Wiltha, who is wearing the black and white shirt) to show them how to make cakes, but have never been able to do it.  They were very happy to finally have an opportunity to learn.  Now, they will be able to take the cake orders at graduation time.

The class' Master Baker Jim first demonstrated how to make a boxed cake...

...then he handed it over to the teachers to give it a try.

Just before the class started, Katie surprised Jim with the apron with the Creole message that you see above.

After the boxed cakes, the entire class worked together to make a cake from scratch.  Everyone had a lot of fun!

After the cakes were baked to perfection, Kirstin taught everyone how to make the icing.  Then it was time to ice and decorate...

In Creole, we have a word: degaje.  Essentially it means "make do with what you have" or "figure it out."  Katie did a great job of degaje when she asked for a plastic bag to create a pastry bag for decorating.  As you can see from the final result below, the teachers had a blast with it!

After the class, everyone took a trip to the beach to kick off the week....with cake, of course!

Guest Blogger: Megan Doebler

Hello, my name is Megan, and I have just finished spending 2 weeks on the Plateau at Lemuel.  This was my first trip overseas and I learned soooo much from this experience.

I stayed at the home of a family in the community. The door to the right and the window with the pink shutters open to my room. There is no electricity or running water.

This is the view from the porch outside of my room.

Some of the things I did while I was on the Plateau were: help wash laundry by hand; ride a mule to get water for the people I was staying with; wake up at dawn to take goats and sheep out to “pasture;” experience a totally different culture than what I was used to; meet people that are truly following the Lord wherever He leads them; go to a large market where they sold all sorts of fruits and vegetables, and to a meat market where we saw a man skinning a feshly killed goat.

I would go with Lismane to take the goats and sheep out for the day.

I learned to appreciate the little things about home: having plenty of napkins, warm showers…ahhh; bugless beds, water as available as air, electicity, long-distance communication, washing machines, gas stations, flushing toilets, smooth roads, and apples. :~)

a footpath through the countryside

Things I learned to appreciate about Haiti: people you don’t even know will smile and say “Bonjour!” or “Good Morning!” People go out of their way to accommodate you.  For example, one morning I tried to ask Ciline--the lovely lady I was staying with--if the goats were already out in pasture by gestures and making a goat noise. She took that to mean that I wanted to see the goats who were already out in pasture, and promptly woke up her brother on his day off to take me out into the bush to show me goats :~) They have creativity in working with what they have, and are hard, very hard workers!! Not just 8 to 5, but from when they wake up to when they go to bed, making what seems like “over the top” sacrifices so that others can be more comfortable. They really value family… and that extends beyond siblings and parents to your second cousins and great grandparents—they look out for each other.

Mme Tiferne kindly let Carsyn ride on her donkey when we went with her to get water for her home from the water hole. 

These experiences and observations helped me to realize that the world is so much bigger than just my little bubble, and God cares about each and every one of these many people’s lives. I learned to depend on God as my rock even more on this trip, because I was not able to contact my family very much. And I had no idea what I was going to be doing the next day a lot of the time, which was quite overwhelming for me. I am super grateful that I was able to come and experience life on the Plateau, meet some amazing people, and grow in my relationship with my Savior.

Saturday Afternoon Soccer Club

In Haiti--as in a great many other countries across the world--soccer is a beloved sport.  From boys (both big and little) playing barefoot in city alley's or on rocky terrain to entire cities glued to their TV during an important match, soccer--or futbol--is a big deal.

Almaïs started a soccer club within Lemuel with two objectives in mind: 1) to provide a recreational activity for the boys--something that defrays the stresses and difficulties of life, provides enjoyment, and enables them to invest their energy in a positive direction--and 2) to serve as a vehicle for evangelism.  As the program develops and they are hopefully able to play against other teams, the games and tournaments will provide opportunities for the Lemuel club to share the gospel with the other players and the spectators.  

Every Saturday afternoon, Almaïs holds a soccer practice for the boys in the club.  After a brief warm-up, they started practice this past Saturday with an exercise in which they stopped a ball coming their way and passed it immediately back again.

Afterwards, they took turns heading the ball back to Coach Almaïs.

Then they stepped it up with headers towards the goal.  James takes his shot below while the boys who missed the goal do push-ups in the background.

Little Dawens was the tiniest guy out there...

...but that didn't stop him from taking a shot too.  It looks like he closed his eyes and hoped for the best!

So, a big idea is taking its first step.  There are a few things that have to fall into place for the club to attain its full objective.  But, in the meantime, the boys are developing their skills and having a blast.

You never know...

Maybe the club holds a budding World Cup star....

...If it does, it would be our prayer that he would not only be an excellent player, but would have an effusive love for God and a character that can allow him to serve as a role model for soccer fans around the world.

Viva la futbol!