Oh, our dear Haiti

The balancing act of life continues to get harder as Haiti’s instability increases. On one side the daily tasks of life continue to need attention. The second side consists of the ‘what if’ tasks and questions. 

Worry not..He clothes even the flowers

Life on the mountainside appears peaceful but everyone knows that in the rest of the country roads are blocked; cities and businesses are paralyzed; police being attacked; looting and violence spring up where frustrations, anger and despair mix;  hospitals are running out of fuel and the doors could be closed even if patients can travel around or talk their way through the multiple road blocks. 

While doing daily tasks, one’s mind is constantly being pulled in the many directions of unknowns and ‘what if’s’, some personal and a multitude for our friends. “Should Cory be on the ladder?  Because if he should fall and hurt himself it could be very difficult to get him to a working hospital. Did the hospital and mission compound on LaGonave find fuel? How long will it be before Cory can go to a bank or a grocery store?” 

“I wonder how is [insert name of church leader, friend, missionary, or organization] doing?   Are they safe? How long will the phones and internet continue to work? The airport  must still be open as a jet just flew over.  Wonder if anyone we know is leaving due to the unrest? How long will the people put up with not being able to go to market or work?” 

“ What should we be doing incase we need to leave again? What can we do now to prepare for that possibility? What trees can and should be planted now? How can the house be readied? Probably good to eat older food first so that newer remains for sharing with friends or can wait here for our return. 

For now we are not planning to leave. We are in a very safe location and have supplies. The plan is even if the other Global Partners missionaries return to the USA, that we would ‘shelter in place’. 

However that was the plan in February and then things changed and we had two days for packing/ preparing to leave Haiti. So we feel it wise to take this time to prepare for either going or staying. 

With every unanswerable question there is only one healthy response- take it to the Lord. Follow each question with a prayer. God size problems need the One True Savior. 

Small bits of hope occur in the morning when the local radio station is still on the air; during the day when jets fly over; or at night when the lights of major cities still shine along the coast.   But our real hope rests wholly on the Lord, as do the hopes of the Haitian Christians.

Saturday Pastor LeGrand, his son [a trained agriculturist] and a man from their church came up for a visit. After touring the garden, learning about plants, getting trees to plant from the nursery, tasting some avocado smoothy, a strawberry and mulberries they prepared to leave. We prayed together for the country and they blessed our house and family.  

Our biggest encouragement comes from hearing him and Haitian pastors on the radio praising the Lord, confessing sins, and asking Him to intervene, purify and save this country. We know as well that many around the world are praying for our family and the Haitian people. May the Lord use this crises to advance His Kingdom, to draw people into closer relationship with Himself. He is Able. 

Heading up the mountain.

Tuesday morning we repacked our bags and then had breakfast with the team and Deep River folks. After the team left we posted the blog and chatted a bit before prayer and heading out.

We stopped for a SIM card for our phone after which I tried to text and Cory went to a store to exchange some money. 

The phone internet did not work so we stopped at a second phone location to get help making it work. Very thankful to receive texts from my folks and Anna assuring us that we can communicate while on the road!

Then we stopped at a mission where a mechanic teaches Haitians as they repair cars together and he checked our Land Cruiser. They switched the front and back tires for us to try to fix a shimmy. We will need to have a gear in the back axel replaced next spring..but it should be OK until then.

We will also be buying new belts soon but the rest looked OK.

We then headed to Fauche. Most of the crops this summer were lost in the drought and many fields were never planted this spring. All the animals were let loose which caused even more problems. Our oldest employee, in his 60’s, says it is the worst he has seen. Some of the area’s cacao trees died and most had large branch dieback. Breadfruit and bananas are also major crops around Fauche and lost most of the production, many of the banana plants sacrificed or stolen to keep livestock fed.

Cory’s plant/tree nursery looks better than we’d hoped it would. Some items damaged by a hungry goat recently but nothing of significance died.

We unloaded our bags and started to think about what we will pack.

Thursday..I enjoyed attending the early prayer meeting. Cory walked to the gardens across the river with the guys. Fritzlin and I took apart the boxes that make up the base of our bed. His aunt and mother came for a visit just as Cory arrived back from the gardens and we had a good visit. Lunch. More packing. So thankful for our Land Cruiser! Solar panels, a tall bookshelf, the entertainment center, 2 big mahogany boards (1.5”x22”x4’!) that we plan to use for bathroom counters; Lots of smaller things stuffed down between the shelves, the items from our 3 checked, 3 carry-ons and 3 personal bags. We also organized the remaining things for pick up. 14 years of curriculum take up a lot of boxes! As well as favorite books. 

Thankful for Jean Pierre’s family who provided us with stew, eggs and bread, rice and beans with chicken & sauce- what good friends we leave here. After dark his family came to pray with us and send us off well. Continue to pray for Jean Pierre’s health as he’s doing much better but still struggling with his diabetes and high blood pressure. 

Friday’s plan is to leave around 6:30 [left at 7] and slowly drive south to Ortlip [made it at 2]. Stop in to see our teammates and hopefully check e-mails and post this blog. Then we will continue up the mountain. [another 3-4+ hours] If the internet at the neighbor’s is working we will post on Facebook and I’ll put a praise on the blog.

Thanks for the prayers. A few delays..and Anna's cat not happy but small things. 

Day in Port-au-Prince

At 5 a.m. I paused a bit on the way to breakfast to gaze at the stars sparkling across the black night sky. Normally not up or outside at this time I do not often appreciate the glory of His handiwork. Awesome.

Grabbed a quick bite and the three of us jumped in the truck to town. Eli and Anna stayed with Pastor Dan for the day. At one point they spend an hour putting rocks into large metal baskets for the new wharf project and then enjoyed a bit of additional time in the sea.

Johntinny in blue shirt. Family early this summer.

We made it to the line outside the Embassy by 20 to 7 a.m. You can read more about that part of the day here.

Our next stop across town was to renew our Haitian residential visas which expire on Oct. 1st. With the check, our passports and our visas in Haiti Cory entered hoping that it being the first day not many other foreigners would be there to renew. Johntinny and I stayed in the truck.

With a couple books, snack food, water and music I did not mind the wait. Crazy ants must have a home in the truck so as they wandered over my arms and the truck seat I reduced their numbers. Soon Cory returned. One of the Wesleyan drivers couple picked up our renewed visas later. Legal for another year.

Now we headed to check out locations for washing machines on our way back to plant quarantine to pick up the seeds Cory dropped off the day before. These Moringa seeds will be sent to ECHO for distribution.

Despite recent rains many parts of Port get very dusty within a days time. Johntinny had not traveled to Port in over 6 years. He pointed out a neighborhood where he once lived, his church and most of the buildings survived the quake in 2010. He talked about his children all who are doing well in school [it was their first day of the year] and each one dreams of what they will grow up to be, the oldest 3: doctor, nurse and agriculturalist.

We were all impressed with the number of solar lights now found in Port and I wonder how many of them work.

At the end of the day we headed back with a new washing machine, a water cooler, a few groceries, fingerprints, and paperwork being renewed! We ran into a bit of light rain showers and saw a beautiful rainbow on arrival at the Ortlip center.

Anna was snorkeling with a visiting team member. We enjoyed visiting with different members of the team and shared supper with them. Early bed we headed home in the morning.

Monday: Good-Bye LaGonave

Cory and Jeantiny left at 5:30 a.m. for the boat dock while the rest of us remained in bed. A breezy start to the day helped them to choose to wait for the big ferry and not chance a small speed boat. They were in our truck and headed to Port-au-Prince shortly after 9 a.m.

Eli, Anna and I packed up our stuff and put it in a pile near the door. After breakfast the kids went off to play with a friend who received a school delay to spend a bit more time with them before we left.

Nurse Vero, head of nursing and a great friend, sat with the remaining medical folks while they listened to her dreams and plans and brainstormed ideas on how to make the needed changes.

Nurse Rose sent a message for me to come and finally meet again her Anna. Anna would be starting school for the first time on Tuesday at age 3.

With the wind blowing we knew that the crossing would be a wet one. Every foreigner on the boat at one time lived on LaGonave and remembered well how wet one could get and the sea reminded us well.

Thankfully when packing I found 4 plastic bags in one of the shoes and put them in my purse. After getting on the Wesleyana sail boat I slid two over the computer case and the other two over my purse before putting both under the tarp.

Following prayer we left the protective cove to be told everyone needed to move to the right side of the boat as the full sail pulled the left side low. Anna did not like this at all.

Soon all of us experienced the familiar sensation of your clothes under the life preservers wicking the moister into previously dry spots as the waves poured onto us. These were not small little sprinkles of mist but the 5 gallon pouring bucket waves. Mouths and ears filled up while hair and clothes dripped.

Toward the end of the trip the sea did calm down and a weak sun peaked through the clouds enough to start drying us off. Thankfully none of us would head to town that same day giving us a chance at showers and clean clothes.

The rolling waves did make getting off the boat on the mainland a bit of a trick as the boat rose and dropped a few feet with every wave. The procedure went like this: 1. Move to the edge of the boat. 2. Hand up any bags 3. Raise your arms above your head for the men on the dock to grab. 4. When the boat comes up, rapidly step to the dock at the peak. 5. Move away from the dock area being sprayed with sea water so the dry parts of your bags do not get wet at the last minute.

Thankfully only a couple of our bags or boxes absorbed sea water. Other than drying some pages of my Haitian hymnal and a few papers we did not have anything damaged.

Cory and Jeantiny visited the Embassy, Plant Quarantine, and did some shopping. Funny to hear your husband say on the phone 'I'm in quarantine' even when you know he is there to have seeds inspected.

Anna swam and played games. Eli and I read and visited. Pastor Dan worked on the electrical system. I prepared for what I knew would be a long day in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. Good byes to those returning to the USA on Tuesday as Cory, Jeantiny and I would be leaving at 5 a.m. for Port au Prince. 

Cory's Trip to Bouk O'Boy

Cory and the guys left about 7:30 a.m. minus Dad. When he heard the report that the travel would be 2 hours, not one, he decided to stay back with us.


 The actual travel time ended up being 3 hours there and 2.5 hours on the return trip so he was happy he stayed.

Cory had the camera so no pictures of our day. Dad worked on a few more stepping stones and this afternoon he and Eli put a gutter over the enterence to the gazebo.

 School continued as usual. One load of laundry and this afternoon we cooked some. Tonight's celebration we'll enjoy beef noodles by Anna, glazed carrots by Eli, and Key Lime pie by Mom and I. We also have some fresh cinnamon rolls.

A bit about Cory's trip from Cory.

The first hour the roads were good as we went along the coast to the west.

Then the road turned back into the big mountains.

Both resembled rocky LaGonave but the plant species confirmed as I was told that there are good rains all year long.

 It seemed like most of the road was mud puddle or rocks.

The main crops of the area are tropical yam, cacao, cooking banana, and breadfruit.

We unloaded the plants at the church and then took a walk around the town.

The church has a small two story school with an impressive number of small, open ceiling classrooms under one roof.

We visited the vacant police post where they showed the Jesus Film for Children last week, it was packed with kids to see the film.

Nearby was the open air market and an impressive cacao cooperative.

It purchases local cacao beans, frish from the pod, ferments them in the back building for a few days, dries them under the shade hoop house, the sun dries them and ships to Italy.

Police Station

Haiti Hippo !?!

OK not really but you'll need to forgive me as I just spent most of the day cleaning. If those tiny, little dust globs rarely seen in my mom's house equal a dust bunny then today we evicted a herd of dust hippos.

Yesterday Cory and the kids arrived at the Ortlip Center 2 hours later than they planned after loading the truck and dealing with the masses of vehicle traffic one finds in Port-au-Prince in December.

We visited a bit with the folks still present and Dan before eating a few sandwiches and heading North. Overall the trip went great and despite some areas of the roads being worse following the severe storms since Cory's last road trip in September we made it just under 5 hours.

Tired we still managed to clean for an hour last night. Today we unpacked a few bags but mostly concentrated on cleaning the house-dusting, laundry [thankful for sunshine!] sweeping, mopping, washing dishes. With the humidity things tend to mold like all my pot holders!

 Cory visited the local market and received many warm greetings from the sellers and church ladies. He picked up some fresh veggies and other foods. Next week he plans to travel to Cap to pick up close to 3 months of mail, more supplies and visit the bank.

Anna managed to save enough energy to put up our Christmas decorations. So with favorite Christmas music and traditional decorations it does feel a bit like Christmas but not like it did the end of November when we celebrated in cold Michigan with our families.

All of us visited Jean Pierre who returned from a short hospitalization last night. Ibuprofen to treat the pain from a abscess either caused or aggravated a stomach ulcer. In addition to prayer we shared with him Moringa powder, Artemisia powder and a large leave of Aloe babatiensis.

We went to bed last night at 8 p.m. and I doubt that we will make it much past that tonight. Good to be home. Good to be in a clean home. Good to see friends and catch up on news. Good to look forward to a day of rest to focus again on our Lord and Savior who blesses us daily with uncountable blessings.

Cory's Les Cayes Trip

Cory's trip to Southern Haiti last week delivered plants to a new sustainable agricultural project at an orphanage project.

He brought starfruit/carambola, jackfruit, peach palm, breadfruit, sapodilla, egg fruit, biriba, acai, cupuasu, malabar chestnut, peanut butter fruit, everbearing mulberry, lemon drop mangosteen, malay apple, Vitex donnia, miracle fruit,  chaya, katuk, some ornamentals and 3 species of bamboo.

He also visited ORE an environmental group and picked up 2 new timber bamboo varieties and some seed corn.

The huge varieties that impressed him the most he ordered 3 types.

The bunch by the truck you only see the lower 1/3 of the bamboo.

One project uses converted grain bins for housing, surprisingly with the ventilation and double walls it is cool and the round shape will prevent hurricane winds damage as well as earthquake damage.

The guys returned from the project with a 'gift'. A pair of rabbits will start Fauche's rabbit project- 

Technically they belong to Gener but so far Anna's taking care of them hoping to work a deal so that she can keep the male most of the time. 

On the way home they visited the botanical gardens in Cayes. Goals to preserve native plants, distribute food plans and in time medicinal plants.

Unfortunately the medical part of the gardens were closed at the time of their early morning visit. 

Road protests, wedding and reflection.

Start to a new week.

The road remains quiet. Thankfully the folks attending the wedding Saturday in Cap made it through both ways. Cory needed to wait a while for the group to decide if they would let him back home but thankfully they did.

The hospital and clinic remain empty in part because of a new, cheap clinic in Port Margot but mostly because people fear driving on the road.

Protesting the road condition equals: rocks across the road, burning tires and unfortunately throwing rocks at folks attempting to pass by the blockade.

Hearing distant gun fire more as well but don't know if it's connected to the protests.

Hear that some folks received physical injuries during fights over the protest.

Only the Lord knows how many people suffer because they cannot travel for medical care, cannot get their wares to market, cannot go to work or jobs in other locations.

In thinking how a few folks can mess up other's lives I realized that I too often focus on my wants and needs ahead of others.

 How many times do I throw verbal rocks when attacked or treated in what I perceive as a disrespectful manner?

I know that a soft answer turns away wrath and I'm to turn the other cheek but often forget in the heat of 'defending myself and my rights'.

I too have been shortsighted focusing selfishly on myself and not seeing the damage I'm afflicting on others.

Lord, forgive me. Help me to see situations from your point of view. To keep my eyes on the cross and reflect Your love and care to those around me. I know that only Your love, patience, joy and peace can change this situation and the world we live in.

Praying things resolve quickly.

Praying that others including myself remember to be fast to listen, slow to speak and even slower to anger.

Praying for wisdom for the clinic leadership and ministry.

Praying for the book translation.

Events of the week: School [three more weeks till the end of the 'year'. Painting the roof of the house. Blood pressure checks for the adult literacy class. Taylor, a niece has knee surgery tomorrow on my birthday. Celebration of our 5th year here in Fauche. Working on the agricultural book. And what ever other opportunities to serve the Lord sends our way.

Rare photo of Cory with a tie. His new one, a gift from the women's conference. 

Roof and Breadfruit Updates.

Cloudy days this week allowed the men to scrap and sand the rusty roof to the point that this morning they washed it off and started painting.

Wednesday thunderstorms sent a welcome rain storm that gave our dry area more than 1 inch of rain. Already the hillsides look greener. The roads yesterday contained many puddles and large holes full of rainwater.

Yesterday as a family we traveled in the afternoon to Cap Haitian to listen to Haiti's new USA American ambassador, Ambassador White give a short speech.

The setting of the meeting which was open to all Americans in the area not just wardens a very nice hotel, the Hotel Montel Joli. We dropped off two of JohnPierre's daughters and wife in town while he escorted us to the hotel.

Notice the feet! Mine would protest. 

We chatted with a few folks we know and met a few new people before heading home. The rough roads always remind us to be thankful for homeschooling and limited trips. 

Cory will return again to Cap Haitian tomorrow to attend a wedding of family friends and allow some of the guests an easier ride.

The rest of us will work on some school work and house cleaning.

Today the road in front of campus remains quite as a protest in Port Margot again has closed the road to through traffic. Earlier in the week a peaceful protest was held asking for electricity and paving of the road. Government power was on last night so today's protest focuses on the road condition.

Roots at 2 months.

We heard last night from the hotel's owner and fellow warden that the road should be paved by the end of December.

 Better roads do not cause as much wear and tear on vehicles and human bodies as long as accidents do not occur.

But alas better roads allow faster driving which causes more serious and deadlier crashes. So I greet this news with mixed feelings.

The small breadfruit cuttings thrive in the shade house!

Some cuttings only took three weeks to grow inch long roots and will be ready to move out of the shade house to the regular nursery area in about 6 weeks.

In a few months these trees will be ready to be disturbed and planted in local gardens and yards.

What do you pack?

Cory left yesterday for a couple day trip consisting mainly of visiting Love A Child ministry to share plants/trees/knowledge, getting the yearly paperwork on the truck done, and a bit of shopping.

Things he 'packed' to bring along:

 

• 5 gallon bucket of ripening star fruits
• cuttings of chaya and katuk plants
• lots of plants and trees [not sure of the list but the back of the truck was full]
• Creole health books
• a few prayer cards and business cards
• a cooler for the shopping trip
• camera and batteries
• a small bag with clothes, toothbrush and personal items

They made the trip yesterday with the only 'bump' missing some sticker on the truck that the police at a check point said he needed. After some talking-pointing out he was going to renew the next day they finally let them go. 

Today Cory and Gener will travel to Port to met Judain and work on the paperwork [praying they get it today]. After the time in Port will return to Love A Child for the night and hopefully head home tomorrow. 

Bedonia's surgery went OK but she's experiencing a lot of post-op pain. Please pray for her healing as well as for the anxiety levels of her mom and family. Pray for those around them as they host them, provide encouragement and support. 

Let us know if you did not receive an E-mail update from us this week and would like to be added to our list. 

Cap Haitian Trip.

Another week and only 18 days remaining in 2011.

Today Cory will head to Cap Haitian to shop and pick up cargo from the MFI flight. Hope he can find our traditional stocking stuffers. When we can find them each of us get their very own large can of ....Pringles chips. Although generally we only open one at a time and share as a family. This started back when I lived on LaGonave as a child..normal chips do not travel well.

Anna with imported breadfruit and a small off shoot.

School continues as normal. Cory did some office work yesterday. Clinic numbers were to low for 3 doctors, so I headed back to home. I continue to put together an information packet for visiting medical personal to LaGonave. Met. Rous, the hospital administrator, sent me some papers that were made for visiting medical personal back in 2002-and translated into French and Spanish. It surprised me to see that I wrote it! Carol's folks translated it into Spanish and I don't know who put it into French. Will need a bit of updating but helpful reminders of items I might not of included in the updated one.

The walk to church Sunday and clinic Monday shows areas of erosion as we received over 4.24 inches this weekend and 2.25 inches on Thursday. A bit squishy in some areas but sunshine for the moment peaking out around big fluffy white clouds. While we've dropped to 70 degrees this month we've not yet seen the 60's.

Ready for a day in Cap Haitian.

Cory loaded up banana plants, bamboo and a few breadfruit trees, a couple Acai palm trees, and 5 star fruit trees to share with the Blue Hill's church on the way to Cap Haitian to shop and get cargo. The most important item on his shopping list is batteries for the clinic and our house [our older batteries have lost most of their capacity therefore not holding a charge well anymore].

Praise: SIL Beth feeling a bit better.
Pray: Todd has surgery on his elbow tomorrow.

Cory's Travels

I did try to blog yesterday but the Internet would not work for me when it was not thundering..sorry.

Cory left yesterday at 4 a.m. for a trip to Port-au-Prince and LaGonave. Genier traveled with him and helped to load the truck with over 1300 banana plants purchased by Starfysh and heading for LaGonave. As many boxes of Creole health books that could fit on the truck also made the trip South.

At 10 a.m. knowing we would be enjoying a break from formal school Cory called letting us know they reached the Irvine's house, near the Wesleyan boat dock and unloaded the plants and books. Later about 2 p.m. he updated us on their way from Immigration [where he'd renewed our residential visas] going across town. They shopped and then spent the night at the Gille's guesthouse. 

Today they will head across the sea to LaGonave. Visit with friends. Visit the gardens and talk about the ongoing agricultural work as well as Starfysh's plans. Tomorrow they head back into Port to hopefully pick up the paperwork that should be ready at 10 a.m. If all goes VERY well in Port they will head back here tomorrow. The trip will take over 7 hours from Port.

Eli, Anna and I continue to work on school. I've found a hole in our English education-while learning our French 1,2,3rd person singular and plural tenses we noticed that my kid's cannot easily identify the pronouns in this manner. So our French studies now spill into English. I'm not sure what our teacher thinks about our progress but we continue to learn every lesson. I'm hoping for  'slow but steady' progress. 

My folks started looking into tickets to come visit next year! Anyone want to join them? A few churches continue to talk about teams and pray about a visit. The big prayer request would be that when folks do decide they would like to come that the plane would still have open seats for the dates the team wants. 

Prayers: Beth received her third round of chemo yesterday. Cory's trip. 

Thankful: Electricity. Great times of learning with Eli and Anna. Wonderful support team. 

Interruptions

Yesterday turned out being one of those days....a day full of interruptions. One needs to learn to live with many distractions here and it adds a whole additional layer to home schooling.

The day did not start out any different than normal. Breakfast, school, a load of laundry, plans for Cory and Anna to attend a celebration for the small group of school children who completed a summer program of learning English.

Wondering when our boxes shipped in August by sea container would be released from customs we ask Jean Pierre to check while in in Cap. "Today" he reported when he called. Cory and Gener jumped in the truck and headed for Cap Haitian. The trip, less than 25 miles, currently means a rough, nearly 2 hour drive.

Holding down the home front included answering the door for requests: tape, small generator, keys, projector and stuff, second time for generator, napkins for the party. A second trip to the door required when the items return.


Anna made it to the celebration while Eli and I worked on some chemistry experiments. The afternoon lab ended up rather comical as we attempted to collect the needed supplies and substitute for the items we lack.

When his first attempted failed, Eli good-naturedly tried again, using his mom's idea-which worked worse than his first attempted. Sorry buddy.

But he received an 'A' for the attempt. [Notice the panic induced by the possibility of a major mess. If the water balloon proved too weak to hold the gas produced by the baking powder / vinegar reaction the powder remaining in the balloon would coat the kitchen.]

Cory and the guys missed the celebration because they ended up waiting for the whole container to be unloaded. Cory did note with interest the items sent via container: large TV's,  whole bed sets with fancy headboards, chairs, a few refrigerators (2cu ft. to full size), 60 cases of Capri Sun juice, many large boxes appearing full of used clothes, 2 or 3 foot stack of plywood, gallons of cooking oil, and our boxes. One box of ours ended up slipping by the guy's watchful eyes and sent to the warehouse or someplace else? The majority of our boxes contained donated over the counter medications for the clinic and a few boxes of personal items-books, towels, linens, peanut butter, spices, tools....

Cory returned home over 6 hours after he left. I'm sad that John Pierre missed the celebration as he spear headed the class. I'm always impressed how the guys handle major interruptions. While I'm better than I used to be I'm still learning. I remember on LaGonave when the hospital would frequently call me for emergencies or advice I ended up putting a sign by the phone that read "Opportunity to Serve".

May I learn to met every interruption with a smile and think of it as an opportunity not just to serve but to bless.

Thankful: Cory and supplies made it without trouble.
Prayer: Anti-United Nations protests in Port-au-Prince remembering victims of cholera.

4 June. A slow Saturday Afternoon.

I'm going to enjoy this slow afternoon by reading. Planning to read a book about home schooling high school, as well as a fun book [need to go look at my Kindle choices]. Water slowly dripping off the roof tells me that it is sprinkling but not hard enough to hear on the tin roof. I plan to enjoy this slow drippy afternoon as I know it will be the last one for the next 3 months.

This morning while Eli and Anna helped to clean the house, Chris and Kathleen helped Cory bring 2 loads of banana plants to the Port Margot church for distribution tomorrow. A bit of shopping at the market occurred before the clouds darkened as well.

I'm happy to announce that we now possess a list of 400 prayer partners. Still wanting and willing to add more so if you procrastinated in letting us know that you pray for us at least once a week..please let us know.

A photo shot to let you know that Haiti does possess some great roads. This stretch belongs to the road between Cap Haitian and Milot where our lab work occurred on Thursday.

20 May Cory's Trip

Today I asked Cory to tell a bit about the pictures he took on his trip this week.

He traveled to a new location for him to visit a friend, Tom, who is also from Michigan and involved in agricultural work.

Tom lives in the Artibonite valley which is an irrigated plain surrounded by seasonally dry mountains.

The climate, geology/soil, and plants were very similar to LaGonave Island.

The elevated seed beds are a technique he has taught local farmers for starting pepper, papaya, tomato and eggplant seedlings.

When the rainy season starts the plants are moved to the gardens.

Last year the farmers had very good income (Even by USA standards) considering the size of their small gardens, especially from the peppers.

Tom's tree nursery has mangos, grafted avocados, guava, limes, tangerines, cashew, sapodilla and other fruit trees.

Cory and Tom exchanged some fruit trees

18 May This and That- Prayer Requests

Cory's travels, although I lack the details at this time, ended with him at Tom's where he planned to be. I know he remained behind his 'hoped for' schedule most of the day but to be expected when traveling in Haiti.

I did hear that the trip started by a drive via the river bed as our road once again became blocked because of political protests. This time the ditch across prevented even motorcycle travel. I hear that the law stepped in and some maybe under arrest. More details to follow I'm sure but I encouraged John Pierre to run home as the rain began.

In 4 weeks time we will be heading to the airport to pick up my brother's family and team. Next week we host for 1 night a group from the central plateau coming this way for a graduation at the Christian University of Northern Haiti. One week later we pick up Chris and Kathleen for a 1 month long visit. The following week we may have a short visit by a team from the University. And then Todd's team!! Lots to do before these visitors as we return to the USA 2 days after Todd leaves and 1 day after Chris and Kath.

Thankful to hear from a couple locations in Haiti yesterday that their rainy season appears to have started. While the gardens and dust benefit from the rain it is likely to spike the number of Cholera cases..so please remember to pray.

Clinic numbers remain low. Pastor Rigo does not know at this time why but hopes it indicates good health in our area. I did hear yesterday that a man, found helping himself to a garden not belonging to him received severe machete wounds but remained alive by the grace of God. Sadly this is the second attack for him, for the same reason.

The compound's banana plants continue to ripen unfortunately last week while John Pierre left for volley ball tournaments 2 nice bunches walked away. Cory discovered the robbery when he went with the camera to get pictures of the nice banana bunches.

[First picture is our pastor's youngest daughter. Second is some of the Kid's club kids picking up trash around campus. Visitors coming so we want to look good.]

26th April

Easter celebrations included watching the sun rise, twice over the mountains [once on top and once again on the plain] ON the way to Sunrise service at the Cowman International school. This did not bother us as we needed to be on the road at 5 a.m. and if the service needed to be earlier we would of had to been up and on the road earlier.

Enjoyed: Easter songs in English, our heart language, a great sermon about allowing the Lord to move the rocks in our lives [bit like the one in front of the tomb or small deadly ones like took out Goliath] by a Godly man who escaped his kidnappers last fall, talking with old friends and making some new ones, and breakfast potluck.

Returning home we took a bit of a break, put lunch in the oven and headed down for church. Being a bit late [still in time for most of the song service and the end of special music] we sat out on the porch enjoying watching the leaves fall gently from a tree and the breeze. By the sermon all the children from children's church surrounded us-and by the coconuts several of them carried we guessed that Fauche's Harvest Service shared the Easter Sunday. [Remember, last Sunday we attended church at Missionary retreat missing the reminder at Fauche]

So Cory returned home to retrieve our offering and some bananas to give. A very nice service celebrating both our Risen Savior and offering Him our lives, our possessions and our worship.

This week Cory and I continue to work on translating the Creole Health book back into English. Not as hard as writing in Creole but a few spots exist where we do not know the Creole words or what I tried to say. So will need to return to our language helpers.

Eli and Anna continue to work on school. Our goal remains to complete week 24 by the time Todd's family and team come to visit the middle of June. Time will tell.

Pictures of our dear friend from LaGonave who helped raise Eli and Anna and kept us well fed. You may remember that she lost 3 adult children in the quake. I enjoyed our heart to heart talk as well as meeting her older daughter's fiancée.