End of 2014

Last night with the family here some of them walked the river and hung out with the local children before supper.

After pizza we enjoyed family devotions. 

Mom blessed each of the family with some specific words of observation about each person [other than Dad] and then Todd and I spoke to the folks.

Following prayer we celebrated Beth's birthday a bit early with hot fudge cake.

This morning everyone but my folks said their good-byes and left after hugs. Cory and Anna escorted them to the airport.

Message at 4:30 that they arrived in Miami with no problems. 

Back at home my folks, Eli and I worked to straighten, clean up the guest houses, deal with the first 3 loads of laundry [due to our complicated, re-wired washing machine I don't do laundry without Cory close by].

Guest houses are now clean and ready for any meetings or overnight guests that may drop in unexpected. 

Mom worked on a bathroom curtain. Plenty of left overs for a few days so don't need to worry about cooking.

Eli and Anna moved back up from the guest house.

Tomorrow we will celebrate our family Christmas in addition to a New Year!

2014 for our family boils down to 4 BIG events: BCBC. Boards: Kris's for Family Practice. College application. Book completion. Christmas with family. 

Praying hard that 2015 will see our adoption referral, successful transition of Elijah to college life in the USA and much more!

Happy New Year!

Last full day!

 What is the best way to wrap up this trip? Words seem to fail me. I could make a simple list of things we have done or experienced today or this week, but I want to go about this a little differently. Yes, I can say that it has been a great trip, but how do I really explain why. We have had absolutely gorgeous weather, even though usually we are in a season of rain. We got to experience a day of history at the Citadel, a morning of Caribbean glory on sandy white beaches, gorgeous green vistas, a Haitian clown (a new one for me) and countless little moments of joy, fun and gratefulness. Did the trip have negatives, of course. There are always the piles of garbage, unpleasant smells, heat, disrupters of sleep and the occasional far off drums in the middle of the night that speak of darker things. But these things are such small detractors to our total experience. I personally am leaving with a feeling of blessing. I have loved this time with family. I loved the dedication of the church where the presence of God was so heavy that it was easy to feel despite the language barrier. I love being with my brothers and sisters in Christ of another color. To see their easy smiles, to hear their joyous singing throughout the day and to share simple greetings always is good for my soul.

I have been told several times when it comes to this county that I am a little warped and biased in my perspective. I may be because I can so easily look past the negatives and focus on the the good here, but I can't help but think that all of us as Christians need a healthy shot of perspective that comes from getting out of our normal walk of life. Haiti does that for me. It is a place that I love. It is a place that will always be near and dear to me and I always get way more than I ever give.

As I write this I can't help but think of you the reader and my prayer for you is that God pushes you out of your norm and He meets and blesses you in that place.

-Todd

Now that I've finished proofing for my dear husband, I will quickly add a few thoughts.  This is my 3rd trip to this country and the 2nd time I have been able to bring my children.  It is impossible to explain, but somehow this country gets under your skin.  I have fallen in love with this country and its people and I am watching my children do the same.  Despite everything that can be thought of as negative there is a purity about this country and these people.  I would highly encourage anyone who is reading this to allow God to break your heart for his people, because by doing so you will see them through His eyes and love them with His love.

A few highlights of our day.... going on a walk up the mountain and down through the jungle with Anna as our guide, a parade of Haitian children following us on a walk by the river, Taylor being proposed to by a young Haitian man and her dad immediately shooting him down, giving a special gift to a special little girl who we have spent time with on both of our trips here, and finally surprise hot fudge birthday cake!

-Beth

Beach, work and party.

Jacob Tol signing on to write on today. 

Today was actually a pretty interesting day overall, there was a first for most of the present group. 

But before that, we started the day by heading to the beach about 45 mins away with a truckload of family and Haitians. 

At the beach we had a great time. 

The weather was perfect, the water was beautiful, and the trip was great. 

All the kids spent almost the whole time playing in the water and "riding" the waves (body surfing).

When we got back from the beach, we had a quick lunch, we got to work building and painting benches.

However we couldn't exactly paint because there was no paint, only some stain. 

Not quite the same thing.. 

But we moved on and instead were invited to an elder's party, a first for most if not all of us in attendance. 

As Todd put it, the party was pretty much an open mike night for the elderly folk. 

Open mike night and dance party is more like it. 

At one point about 7 of the elderly folk were up front just a dancing away with each other to the music. 

Even Larry got up with Kris and started dancing away, to Anna's embarrassment. 

After that a Haitian style clown walked up and entertained everyone with jokes of his shoes and evangelism. 

When the clown finally danced away, Papa Noel showed up to give candy to all the "children". 

The elderly folk were all for that. 

We left soon after that, after some more singing of course, and went to watch "Princess' Bride" for myself and Josh who have never seen it. 

We had to stop it part way through to eat and then finished it after, and then we went on to have devotions and a good long discussion. 

Then I was told to go blog... and that is where my day ended, with typing this blog.

Trou Du Nord Church Dedication

Today was a special day!

 The team left early this morning..6am to attend a church dedication in Trou du Nord, Haiti.

When we arrived around 8am the church was already full.

They had graciously had kept room for us to be seated.

Old church

Three choirs sang to our Lord's glory and our hearts were full as we listened.

Pastor Rigo had invited many pastors from the northern district to be a part of the special service.

We heard how the church started 15 years, with just a pastor and one other in a small home.

The first years were difficult and required much sacrifice.

 In the last few years, the church had grown and now was meeting in a rented toll covered building.

The heat in the building was difficult for all and yet the congregation filled the building and over 130 stood on the outside of the church...the Lord was moving in a very special way.

 With a definite leading of God,  some land was purchased, although the congregation had very few funds.

Three days before the money was due for the land purchase, the Lord supplied the total amount needed.

Pastor Rigo now dreamed that in 4 years they would be able to put the foundation for a new building, in another 4 years Pastor dreamed for the walls and then more years for the final building to be completed.

 Today we met in a church building, while still in need of windows and doors, has walls and roof completed and a thriving congregation meeting there.

 Today the voices of 500+ people gave God all the glory for what He has accomplished and we were so blessed to be there with them.

 It was a day that was the highlight of our trip and we thank God for it.  Carol

We arrived back to the Fauche campus during this week's Kid's Club.

Dad offered to lend Jean Pierre his santa suit, so Papa Noel headed down to Club with some small candy canes.

He received an enthusiastic welcome!

Working Saturday

 Today, I (Josh Tol), was voluntold to write the blog, so here is a summary of today's events.

The day started off nice and early with breakfast at 7:00, while this seems to be the norm for most of those here, it is definitely earlier than I am used to. 

 After Breakfast most of the morning (and the afternoon) was  used to build the legs for the pews for the church. 

 It was a group effort with one group putting together half of the legs with a home-made jig, another group putting the other half of the legs together, one group cutting supports, and one group coating the assembled legs with termite repellent. 

 While working on the pews we found that:

 

     1.) waxing screws makes driving them a lot easier 

     2.) Having extra batteries for the drills makes the work a lot faster 

     3.) a blinking light on the charger does NOT mean that the batteries are fully charged.  

All told, we completed 80 pew legs (which translates to 40 pews to later be assembled at the church)  from about 9:00 to 4:00 (with a break for a lunch of rice with a red sauce and/or bean sauce and some fried breadfruit and sweet potatoes followed by a nap).  

While some where working on the pews, Grandma Bergsma sewed curtains for the guest house,  a coconut cream pie, passionfruit pie, and peanut pie along with chicken and pumpkin soup (the national dish of Haiti) were made by the more culinarily inclined. 

Now we prepare for the dedication service tomorrow and having to get up at 5:00 and traveling a couple hours to the church.  

Well, that's all I got.

Bonswa,

Citadel

Today I stayed back with my folks, Aunt and Uncle.

The men routed lumber for the benches. Aunt Sherry worked on some curtains for the guest house.

Mom and I did some smaller projects.







Guest blogger today: Taylor.

On this wonderful day after Christmas, a group of us headed to the Citadel.

We had to wake up super early, at least for me it was early.

It was a very long two hour drive.

There was six of us stuffed in the back of the pickup truck while the rest of them were in the cab.

The drive wasn't much fun, but its funny to see all the people's faces when they see white people.

After what seemed like forever we finally got to the Citadel.

The parents went and bought tickets while most of us stayed in the back of the truck.

While we were waiting we got swarmed with people trying to sell to us.

Then the parents came back with our tour guide and we started to drive up the very steep mountain. That drive up was a little scary, I was holding on for dear life.

We got up to the second parking lot and instead of being swarmed by sellers we were also swarmed by the horse sellers. The tried to get us to buy their horses for the ride up.

We decided to walk up instead of the horses, but the horse guys decided to follow us up as well to try and get us to take a horse.

We were strong and all walked up that steep mountain.

Getting to the top was so rewarding, the view was amazing.

We all got a lot of pictures and Patty got some pop when we got up there.

Our guide did a very good job explaining what happened and taking pictures for us.

We got to take a tour inside the Citadel, it was huge there was so many rooms and cannons.

 After we got the full tour we went back down and took a short tour of the palace.

 The palace was very beautiful as well, but some of it was ruined when they had an earthquake.

All of us were so tired by the time we got back to the truck.

We drove a little and had lunch on the side of the road. Lunch was hotdog or peanut butter sandwiches.

The ride back wasn't as fun as the ride there, it seemed longer and everyone was hurting at the end.

All in all the two hour trip to the Citadel was worth it, the view was amazing and hanging with family is always fun!