Two Weeks?!

How do two weeks fly by so quickly?  Now I have a lot to catch up on!

The last 15 days have been quite eventful.   On Friday the 8th (the day after my last post) I was talking to Krischelle on Skype when I got a call from Manis saying to please come over to the campus as quickly as possible, Sam had cut himself with the electric saw while working on the church porch roof.  I grabbed Ani and rushed out the door only to meet with Manis coming to get me on the 4-Wheeler. 

I knew it must be pretty bad and was trying to mentally prepare myself.  I am not a natural nurse so I was praying that God would help me do whatever I would need to do.  I got there to find Sam's finger wrapped tightly with a cloth to slow the bleeding.  I was told he had cut off a piece of his finger but I wasn't sure exactly what that meant!  How big of a piece???!!!  When I unwrapped the cloth I found the he had cut off basically the whole "fingerprint" part of his left pointer.  Then James (one of the development guys) walked up with a folded piece of paper which, I was told, held the piece that had been cut off. 

I cleaned Sam's finger the best I could and then called mom (a real nurse) to see if it was worth sending him to the clinic to stitch the piece back on.  She said it was so I then cleaned the piece of finger as well as I could, put it back in place and taped it down with steri-strips to hold it while he went to the CAM clinic on the 4-Wheeler.  I wrapped almost an entire roll of gauze around with the keep it clean and he and Petion headed off for the clinic.  By God's grace Sam missed the bone and Bethanie (the wonderful nurse at the clinic) was very hopeful about the piece rejoining with the finger.  Isn't the body an amazing thing?!!

 

Sam continuing work on the church porch roof with his injured finger.

A few days later materials for the school roof arrived!  A team will be coming down in February to help us get it on but since Sam and Petion were leaving and would be coming back only a few weeks before the team arrives we went ahead and got the bulk of the materials.  I was working on some things at the house when the trucks arrived so Manis ran over to the campus to help them unload and to get some pictures for me.  As they were unloading the 2x6s one slipped out of one of the guys' hands and hit James right on the forehead.  He crumpled to the ground and for one terrifying second everyone thought he had been killed.  Manis yelled for someone to get water and after dousing him, James finally came to.  As you can imagine, everyone was quite shaken.  In the end James had an awful headache but was otherwise fine.  Thank you, Lord!

Unloading the lumber (before the accident).  James is in the tan shirt.

By the time the guys finished it was dark.  The color of the roofing was a bit of a fiasco as they didn't have enough of the color we had originally chosen, but in the end I really like it :) 

All of this has reminded me, though, how much we need to pray, and need your prayers, for safety.  Every day things are done here that are dangerous... it is just part of life.  Of course as many precautions are taken as possible and everyone tries to be safe... but that fact of the matter is our safety and, more particularly, the safety of our staff is often quite precarious.

On the 15th Sam and Petion flew to Germany.  I know they would greatly appreciate your prayers as they will be doing quite a bit of traveling within Europe for speaking engagements.

On the 17th I headed into PauP to meet up with Krischelle and Bonita who were flying back from the US.  I had been planning to drive down the following day but when we got up on Sunday Manis said he felt it would be better to leave that morning.  There was a strike against the government planed for Monday and no one knew what the roads would be like.  I packed as fast as I could and by 9:00 was on the road.  Sure enough, the next day the roads were blocked and I would have never been able to get through.  Again, Thank you, Lord!

We had a busy time in PauP but all in all things went well and we were able to accomplish all that we needed to.  A special thanks to our friends Jenny and Djordjy Compere, Lara Berry and the Broyles family for their help and hospitality!

We got home last night after a long day and an eventful trip and it was GREAT to be home :)  I was not able to check my email at all while we were in PauP so please forgive me if you have written to me this week and not heard from me.  I will try to catch up soon!

Also within the last two weeks we have been able to triple the cow project participants but that will be a post all its own!

August Letter

Dear Friends,

It has been a long time since most of you have heard from us.  Our apologies!!!   About three months ago our internet crashed.  We had just begun working on setting up a better system for communication – then the internet died and everything went on hold.  So far we have not been able to find a way to get our old system working again. 

We have been able to purchase one jump drive router that connects to the internet through the cell phone tower.  This enables us to receive and send out emails periodically but it is extremely limited.  To give you a few ideas of exactly how limited it is... the other day Krischelle spent four hours trying to send out two emails.  She ended up having to rewrite one of them three times.  Bonita has yet to be able to receive all of her emails – it gets to a certain percentage and then stops.  One night I (Judy) walked around to all the best spots for reception – Sam even took my computer to a spot by the side of the road but I got no reception on my computer.  After several hours I gave up, frustrated and tired.  The next day I found out the problem.  Each time I use the jump drive I have to uninstall and reinstall the whole program.  Apart from his favorite spot by the side of the road, Samuel has also been found in the church, on the outside back corner of the Lemuel house, and walking around the campus looking for signal.

So, needless to say, with one jump drive between all of us and all the problems of signal and reliability, internet access is more of an exception than a rule these days.  Fortunately though, my parents have been here the past two weeks and will be sending this out/posting this on the blog for me when they get home.

A lot has been going on this summer!

1.  We were able to begin work on the school roof project!  Although it will be quite some time before we can actually put the roofs on (due to shipping delays and other logistics) all of the preparatory masonry work is finished.

 

2.  We were able to build a house that we will use for teachers and other staff who come from outside the area.  Plans are to put the roof on next week! 

3.  A group from The Village church in Milton, Ontario put on an English camp for 30 children.

 The video below is of the first day of camp. 

The team taught Thony a lot about making videos and presentations.  Thony actually made the intro video for the Olympics themed camp himself! 

 Rob Stanley, pastor of The Village, also did some leadership training for some of our youth. 

4.  A cistern and front gate were put in at Krischelle’s “house”.  Krischelle is currently living in Manis’ sister’s house and using her rent money to finish the house and get it set up to someday be used as a women’s center.  

5. My dad and Sam, along with two of Sam’s friends from the south of Haiti put in the kitchen at our house and a whole team of people helped us paint!

6. Renovations have begun on the guest house!  There will now be latrines much closer to the rooms so that no one has to traipse all the way down to the one by the gazebo.  For any of you been here you know how nice that will be!

7. Work has also continued on the church.  Money raised at the Fête Moisson and Fundraising Concert has been put to work on a front porch and back depot.

8. We had our first summer intern: Elysha Vanderveer.  She helped out in many, many ways, including with the English camp (pictured below with some of the English Camp staff).  She also taught a summer English class for some of the youth in the area.

 

On a more somber note there have been some difficulties as well.  It has not rained significantly, if at all since April.  It is REALLY dry right now.  Needless to say, the people have lost yet another harvest.  **Update since writing this letter: It rained yesterday August 21.  The area is still dry and could use a lot more but it was awfully nice to finally get at least something!  Praise God!**

By God’s grace we were able to do two cash for work programs this summer to clean out two of the rainwater catchment holes in the area.  These projects, along with all the other work that has been going on, has brought some much needed income to many families in the community.

 

On another sad note, Manis’ grandfather seems to have had some sort of stroke and has been slowly degenerating for the past two months.  Many are surprised he has made it this long.  The gospel has been clearly shared with him MANY times but he continues to reject Christ.  In fact, the day before his stroke he was calling the spirits he serves against his Christian wife.  We continue to pray for his salvation and that he may be released from his suffering into God’s presence and not into greater eternal suffering. 

Some of you may be wondering about Frè Jak whom I wrote about some time ago.  Although his physical situation is not much changed, he seems to be in much better spirits and strengthened in his faith by the regular visits particularly from Bonita and Thony and a few church members. 

Speaking of Thony, he has returned to PauP to enter seminary this Fall.  Please pray for him.  He is going to seminary with the intention of eventually returning to serve in the church here.  Please pray for God’s hand of protection on him – protection from both the physical and spiritual attacks of satan.  Please pray that the attacks God does allow will be for Thony’s growth and refinement – not for his destruction or discouragement.

Looking toward the next few months, here are a few things that will be going on:

August 23-mid September: New Crossworld missionaries Mason and Lauren Young with their son James will be doing their orientation here with us.  Please pray that we will be able to give them a good start to their time here in Haiti. 

August 28: Bonita flies to Canada for some medical appointments as well as reporting to and sharing with supporters.  She is planning to return in November.

September 2-6: Teacher and staff orientation

September 10: The first day of school (N.B. We just learned that the government is forbidding schools from opening before October!  We pray this will be rescinded.)

September 15: Krischelle will be flying out to finish raising the additional support necessary for her to work with Lemuel full time.

October: Jenna Brill, our intern for the year will be arriving!  Jenna will be teaching English in the school and helping out in various ways.  Rick Bucklew who has been down several times and is always a huge help may be flying in with her.  Loring and Marion Swain may also be spending some time with us in October.  We are also hoping to ship any materials we need for the school.  October is the earliest opportunity that we can due this due to changes in Haitian customs laws. 

November: Sometime in November Sam will be leaving for Germany.  He is planning to return in the New Year.  Bonita and (hopefully!) Krischelle will be returning from their trips, and Lake Tomahawk Bible Church will be doing their third annual English Camp for the school children.

December: No big plans yet, though it is always a busy month with preparations for the Christmas program.

January: We are looking to put together a team to help put on the school roof.  We were hoping to do this sometime in the fall but with the delay in shipping we have had to postpone it.

Thank you for your faithful encouragement, love, and support.  We are trying to get the internet system fixed but, as I have no idea when that will happen, we greatly appreciate your understanding and patience as you hear from us less often.  If you need to get a hold of us please feel free to call at 011-509-3209-3077.  For anything urgent please contact David Muchmore at david.muchmore@crossworld .org and he will get the message to us.

School Construction Update

Yesterday I got the exciting news from Manis that they have begun putting up blocks in the school!  I don't have any pictures yet but here are a few from last week when the kids were carrying the blocks from where they make them to closer to the school.  I have also included some of the top of the cistern being poured.

Time to work and they're still smiling!

 

 Kids can make anything into a game.

 Enjoying crackers and juice after working so hard.

 Cistern Top/Classroom Floor!