These Days...

Since I last wrote there have been some developments in the internet situation.  At this point we have given up the idea of fixing our old system and are trying to get used to the jump drive modems.  On the bright side we have found that on the roof of our house we can get an excellent connection.  On the downside the offices still do not get a good signal but with Krischelle and Bonita both gone right now it is not affecting us too much.  When they return we will probably just have to adapt to a new way of internet life.

With this discovery of the good connection on the roof I have no more excuses not to update the blog!  So, without further ado...

The last month has been an interesting one.  The government prohibited any schools from opening before October first so we had to push back our opening date almost a whole month.  In a sense it was like slamming on the brakes when you were going 80 mph.  All plans for the start of a new year went on hold.  In the meantime, though, no one has been bored!  Samuel has been particularly busy with preparations for the teachers' house.  With the extra time available he decided to work with some of the youth instead of with professionals.  This has given the youth a lot of valuable experience but poor Sam is exhausted!  As the deadline got closer and much work was still left to do, Gulbert joined the team.  As I type this (it is 7:30pm) I can hear the guys pounding away, getting the ridge caps on.  Today a group of masons started plastering the inside while Sam worked on getting the doors in.  Sam did an excellent job with the roof plans and it is really shaping up to be a beautiful house. 

 Still working after dark

Although losing a month of school is not beneficial to any of our students, we were particularly concerned about the sixth grade.  At the end of sixth grade students must pass a government-issued exam.  The pressure is extremely high for these students.  Our students already are at a disadvantage do to lack of exposure to French, parents who cannot help them because they themselves did not go to school, and malnutrition that affects their ability to learn and in some cases has stunted brain development.  Instead of allowing them to lose the whole month, and only increase their disadvantages, we had two of our teachers start working this month, giving lessons just to the sixth grade class.  One focused on math while the other did French, the biggest challenges for our students. 

Now the month that seemed so long when school was pushed back is almost over and we are again gearing up for the start of school.  Tomorrow the teachers from Port-au-Prince arrive and Thursday and Friday of this week will be staff orientation days.  Saturday morning will be a work day and then in the afternoon we will head to the beach and start the year off with some fun and a time of prayer.  We hope the days of orientation can unify our staff and build excitement for the new year as well as deal with the more mundane items.  I look forward to posting pictures!  School will not start till October first so Monday will be a staff work day getting all the last minute details taken care of.  Then TUESDAY!!!  I am particularly excited this year as we have changed school uniforms and I can't wait to see what they look like on all the kids. 

In addition to being a full month it has been a particularly "heavy"one as well.  Manis grandfather passed away last week and his final days, the wake, and the burial preparations have brought to the surface much of the spiritism that is very much alive here but that we don't see quite as much of any more.  Over the past six years or so much of the spirit worship has gone "underground".  It is still very much real and active - instilling fear, destroying lives, but it is not as open as it once was.  We do not often hear the ceremonial drums and chanting in our community anymore.  But this month brought much of it out again.  It is a reality check to what we are actually facing here and it is a heart-wrenching reminder to keep our priorities straight.

On a brighter note, we are excited to share that Mezou (Mezilien Servius) passed his final state exam and has officially completed high school!  He is the first of his siblings to hit this milestone.  I would launch into a full bio on Mezou but this has already gotten rather long so I will save that one for another post. :)  Suffice for now to say that he has had a large part in ninety percent of the trees planted on campus and in our yard.

One final note: I know that many of you would like to know more about the people we work with and hear stories from their lives.  We hear you.  As we work to establish other methods of communication besides the blog we may be able to share a bit more candidly.  Please understand the need for sensitivity in what we share here on the blog.  I try not to put anything on here about people's lives that I would not want shared with the world wide web about my 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.

Catching Up... Looking Ahead...

Dear Friends,

I know it has been a long time since you heard from us.  About a month ago the internet went out on the Plateau.  It was at that point that we found out the company we got internet through had sold to another company... but we have no idea who.  Fun times!

Every now and then we can get signal through the cellphone towers but it is difficult to find signal and not very reliable when you do.  I am in the US right now but will be heading back next week.  Once I return I have no idea how long it will be before we can get internet.  If you do not hear from us please know that it is not out of negligence but simply that we have no internet.

Since we may not be able to communicate with you for a while and since it has been quite some time since we were able to update the blog this will be a pretty long post... bear with me.

The end of June was the close of the school year and of different activities.  I left before Kindergarten graduation so I don't have any pictures of that but I hear that it was very well done.  

One of our teachers, Wiltha Belizaire, has been teaching embroidery to a group of young girls.  To close out the class for the year they had a little party.  They enjoyed Haitian cola, cupcakes that Krischelle made for the occasion, and a few other treats.

Wiltha and her class with one of the projects they worked on this year.  

 A bird done by one of the girls 

To close the year out and as a way of saying thank you to our staff we threw our first ever all staff end-of-the-year party.  It was a fun and unifying time. 

 

Our entire 2012-2013 staff.  They will all be returning next school year except 

Thony who will be going on to Seminary.

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of all four tables but this gives some idea.  The balloons that were found in Gonaives were the most random mix I had ever seen but they gave us a good laugh... can you see the tiger print one?

Some of the highlights from the evening were the staff sharing things they have learned throughout the year, a game where they would imitate each other and the rest had to guess who it was, and when we gave out awards for the year.  There was also a hilarious dance...

 Sam gallantly pulling out Mme Tiferne's chair so she could dance with him

 At the end we had a special send-off for Thony. Some of his fellow teachers did an improv song and staff members shared things they appreciated about him.

  Our great school staff.  

The camera battery died after their picture so I didn't get one of the other departments.

Since I don't know when we'll have internet again, I will give you a sneak peak into some of the things that will be going on in the next few months. 

Currently work has begun on preparations for putting on the school roof!  Workers started this week to pour the pillars and bond beams so that within the next few months the roof can go on.  We will be sending materials from the US which will take some time and are currently working on putting together a team to help our guys "Raise the Roof" sometime in the fall or early winter.

On Monday a team will be arriving from The Village church in Canada to do a children's English camp and some leadership training for NOVA (the youth group referred to here and here) as well as a few other things.  

Also within the next month we will be starting work on two Teachers' Houses!!!  We recently received funding to be able to construct these homes before the start of the new school year.  This will enable us to more easily receive qualified teachers for our school by giving them their own space.  We are so excited to get started!

Please pray for us as the next few months will be very full with preparing for the upcoming school year and also completing these construction projects.  Our staff was supposed to have a vacation this month but many of them have been working almost as hard, if not harder, than they do normally!  We are so blessed to have the staff we do, but please pray for them for strength, health and stamina as well as the ability and willingness to recharge as (or before) needed.  Please pray also for the situation with the internet.  If we cannot get it repaired it will greatly inhibit our ability to communicate with you all and to do some of our most basic work.  God is in control though and we trust that until we get the internet back, there are other things He wants us to be focused on. 

If you do need to get a hold of us while our internet is out please feel free to call us at 011-509-2258-4977.  

May God bless you all and may we be back in touch soon!

Judy

Kid's Club

When I (Judy) first got involved in Lemuel in Port-au-Prince back in 1998 my primary responsibility was doing the Sunday afternoon kid's clubs.  The first few Sundays were pretty bad but eventually it became the highlight of my week. 

We incorporated Kid's Club a few years ago but this year we decided to take it on as the responsibility of the administration - namely: Manis, Krischelle, Bonita, Sam and me.  Thony and Patricia from the school also wanted to lend a hand.  It has been fun getting back into "Club mode" after all these years and it has been good to be able to interact more personally with the kids. 

Club usually starts off with prayer and some lively singing and then segues into the lesson and some fun activities.

The kids are divided into four groups.  They compete for special parties throughout the year.  

The competition helps keep up motivation and discipline.

Like I said... lively!

For the lessons this year we have been using ideas from Character First and adapting them to our environment with the help of Selafen, a made up character that the kids can relate to.

Life size "Selafen" that Krischelle and I made.

For each character trait that we study, we share a story about Selafen and how he learned the importance of this trait.  The traits we have studied so far are: Attentiveness, Obedience, Honesty, and we are currently working on Gratefulness.

Manis, Selafen and some of the club kids.

Along with the Selafen story each trait has crafts, games, a song, a Bible verse and more that go along with it.

Back in March we were studying Honesty.  Part of their story involved a truck made out of tin cans that was given to Selafen (he let his friends believe he had made it and got into quite a mess!).  For the craft day we split up the kids into three groups.  The youngest kids had to match shapes in their envelope to the shapes on the template to make a truck.  It was harder than it looks and I was so impressed with how well the kids did! 

We conscripted the help of teachers Lovelie, Kattia, and Bergeline 

as we certainly had our hands full!

Some of the kids proudly displaying their work.

The second group sanded little squares of wood that we had left over from a camp about 5 years ago!  They then colored the squares, and threaded string through pre-pierced holes to attach button wheels.

 

You can see an almost finished orange car on the bench.

 The oldest group was divided up into their teams.  Each team was given a few tin cans and some basic tools and materials and told to make a tin can truck.  It was really great to see their creativity come out!

 The final products!

This past week we had another craft day.  We are currently studying Gratefulness and so their craft was to make a thank you card to give to someone who had done something for them and whom they wanted to thank.  The kids got construction paper and a mix of other items to decorate their cards with (thanks to our friends from Wisconsin for bringing the materials!).    

Despite the wind blowing all their stuff around (see girl in the back trying to hold her stuff and catch her flying papers) they really got into it and had fun. 

I was touched by what they wrote on their cards.  This boy's card is for his father.  He says "Thank you Papa for all you do for me and for putting me in school. Thank you."

This boy had started writing to his mom. 

Like I said, they really got into the stickers and gluing!

 

Once they found the scrapbook paper with the balls, the boys were all over it!

 I was impressed with this boy though who actually picked out flowered paper for a 

card for his sister.

 

The kids also love the game days...

This was one of the games for attentiveness.  The kids had to listen for their number to be called and then try to get the ball and run back to their team before being tagged.  

(Thanks Josh and Russ!)

For obedience our team from Wisconsin played follow the leader with the kids.

Other games have included "the Blob" to teach how lies grow and "roads and alleys" for attentiveness. 

We have had anywhere from 120 to 30 kids on any given club day depending on a bunch a variables (water shortage, gardening duties, school breaks, etc...) but it has been encouraging to watch the kids who have really latched on and engage in what they are learning.  Please pray with us that these children will really take what they are learning to heart and that God would use it to impact their lives and the future of this community.