fearfully and wonderfully made

One of the things that excited me most about coming to Haiti was the opportunity to be able to learn and communicate in a different language. Haitian Creole is a very easy language in the fact that it doesn't have a lot of confusing rules and multiple verb conjugations. Unlike English that has a lot of words that mean roughly the same thing (for example, make: create, build, assemble, brew, compose, construct, fabricate, form, generate, manufacture, produce, etc.), Creole has one word that can be used for lots of different things (for example, fè: means to make, to do, to perform, to produce, to provide, to manufacture, to achieve, to take in (money), to read, to learn, to give birth, to stay, to spend). Basically, in English we have lots of different ways to say one thing and in Creole you have one way to say a lot of different things. As long as one pays attention to context, basic conversations are easy to follow. 

When I first arrived in January, so many people said that I would be communicating in 3 months. I didn't believe it was possible. After all of the audio language courses that I did before coming, I was excited to pick out a stray word here and there in conversation.

Still, exposure does something to you, and the more that I heard the words being spoken, the quicker I was able to catch on. It seemed like every time I learned a new word, I picked it up in conversation not long after, helping to reinforce it in my memory. By no means am I anywhere close to fluent, but I can at least express my basic needs and wants, and carry on a decent conversation with someone as I walk down the street.

This past Sunday, I was able to understand my first sermon, from the passage, to the illustrations, to the outline as a whole. I do not say this to “toot my own horn” because I know that none of this has been through my own strength and I still have a LONG way to go. Yet, after being here for only 5 months, I am amazed by how much I've been able to learn. When David states that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” he wasn't kidding (Ps. 139:14). Just our minds are a marvelous creation that should bring us not only to awe and wonder, but drive us to use it to it's full potential. If we would not only believe that we had this potential, but put it into action, how much more abundant our lives could be? God promises us that He has the ability to do amazing things in and through us (Phil. 4:13, John 14:12), we just have to step out with full confidence.

rain, rain, go away

My last blog on Wednesday was about the rain.  Over 80 hours later it is still raining.  We had a break for about 2 hours on Thursday and then the sun tried to peak out for about 20 minutes this afternoon... long enough to decide to take a walk and then get caught in the rain on the street.  I guess rainy season decided to hold off this year.  I've never experienced anything like this.

I remember when I first came to Haiti last August, I was welcomed by one of the worst thunderstorms I have ever been in.  It was my first experience in a flooded road, and what was supposed to be a 3 hour drive ended up taking over 5 hours.  The streets became rivers and trash flowed to unknown locations.

Now, I love a thunderstorm back in the states.  In the safety and comfort of your home, you can curl up with a blanket and a nice book or pop a movie into the DVD player to pass the time.  Some of the best naps are taken on a rainy afternoon; the same can not be said for Haiti.

As my team sat in traffic on the flooded streets last August, I remember Michael, my translator, looking distraught because of the rain.  I leaned over and asked him if he was okay?  Did he not like the rain?  I will never forget the look that he gave me or the response that followed.  "When it rains in Haiti," he said, "people die.  Children in the tent cities will drown tonight."  I froze.  If I hadn't yet realized that I had entered a different world from the sights of people living under tarps and the earthquake destruction still to be seen, that one statement made it real for me.  Something that I enjoyed back home, something essential to plant growth and drinking water, can bring death to those that leave in extreme poverty.

Though no one lives in tents in my community, flooding is still a significant problem and living in rain days on end forces you to have to make some changes.  I honestly don't know how the people do it.  No one in our house can do laundry because the clothes will not dry on the line.  Just yesterday, we tried to light a match to burn a mosquito coil.  After 14 matches, it finally lit.  They were either too moist to keep burning long enough to light the coil, or the phosphorus match head would scrap off just like wet chalk. And, these matches where in a closed jar just moments before we tried to use them.

I wonder how the Haitians are able to take care of their everyday needs?  How do you cook food with wet matches and fuel.  Since no one has indoor plumbing, were do you go to use the restroom?  I guess no one bathes until the rain is gone, or maybe they just bathe in the rain.  Not only can you not do laundry, but it doubles in size with all of the wet clothes everyone accumulates.  Also, no one goes to school on rainy days, so kids have to be entertained somehow.

After feeling like we were under house arrest, and about to go stir-crazy, the PT team this week jumped in the car with our cooks for a trip to the market in town.  I was in disbelief at how flooded the streets were.  Most places were at least to mid-calf, some areas were all the way up to people's waists.  Yet, market day continued to go on because people have to make a living.  See the photos below of the flooding, and please pray for the people of Haiti and the DR right now as we are all affected by heavy raining.

My friend, Felix, walking on the flooded streets outside of my work place

The start of my walk home from work

Wet feet for 4 days straight

The main corner in Simon

Downtown Les Cayes, the streets have become rivers

Wouldn't the National Guard be helping if this happened in the states?

Our Land Cruiser leaves a wake as we drive down the streets

Haiti has disappeared on the weather radar

lapli tonbe (it's raining!)

It has been raining non-stop for the last 8 hours.  It is so amazing how life here is controlled by the weather.  Everyone's plans change when the rain starts falling.  Work ended at 4 today at the Child Care center (I will blog more about my 2nd job later), and all of the pastors were sitting out on the porch waiting for the rain to dwindle down before jumping on their motorcycles to head home; they quite possibly would still be sitting there if prayers were not answered.

I grabbed my disposable poncho out of my backpack that I've carried around for emergencies to keep my laptop from getting drenched.  As I pulled it over my head, I heard a discussion going on about the need for the center to invest in raincoats and umbrellas to have on hand.  Immediately my mind converted to the American response of how to fix the problem.  I was already thinking about types and brands, and what the best way would be to ship them to country upon my return to the states.  I never once considered that God had the problem solved himself long before I even knew the rain would start.

Marie Lucie offered me a ride home, which I was grateful for.  Though my laptop would have been dry, walking a mile in the rain doesn't put you in the best mood.  As I jumped in her truck, she said we would have to make a quick stop by another missionaries house to drop off some mail.  We said "good bye" to the pastors who were still under the covering of the shelter, and headed to Tim's house.  Marie Lucie stopped to chat as she dropped off the mail (running errands in Haiti are never quick), and the topic of weather came up.  Out of the blue, Tim said that he had extra rain jackets that his team did not use and the Child Care center was welcome to have them.  Out of his depo came 6 high quality, adult sized rain jackets.  Marie Lucie just smiled about the answer to prayer.

As we drove back to the Child Care center, all of the pastors looked at us trying to figure out what we forgot.  As Marie Lucie pulled the neon yellow jackets out of the truck, I witnessed grown men jumping and dancing for joy.  God at work in Haiti... it's hard to miss!