40 on Friday (part 2)

So this is the part of the blog that I am going to add tons of pictures to. Daniel and I gave you 20 random facts and bits of information yesterday. Today I was planning on having Hudson do some contributing because he was buried in Civil Engineering homework last night. I mentioned blogging to him this morning at breakfast and he didn't exactly jump at the idea. So this afternoon, since my internet is working, and I am of no use in the electrical job the boys are doing I decided to spend some quality time with my computer and get to be re-aquainted with my blog. And for the second half of the Fabulous 40 on Friday, I have decided to bring you tons of pictures. So I hope you enjoy! 

1.  When the group came from Port Au Prince for camp last week we had some minor complications with the guest speaker... He didn't show up, so Gersan was the guest speaker in  pinch. He did a wonderful job and was very encouraged by the reaction of the retreaters. We moved a large tent up to the "upstairs" where you can see the whole valley, so they had a beautiful backdrop as they heard the word of God delivered.

2. After some incredible miscommunication (and bad planning by retreat leadership) we had a lot of fun at activites here at camp. My three haitian assistants and myself put up the activiites for Archery and Riflery, then took them down again, then up again, then down, then up, down, and up. Finally we used them and they went over marvelously. As worried as I was that someone was going to get shot I was so proud of my helpers for explaining rules and how things work. they were wonderful helpers!

3.On Tuesday we took the entire group to the beach.All 100ish of them. It was quite an experience, but went very well. That beach is so beautiful, and I highly doubt any of those city kids from Port had ever seen a beach quite like this one. They played in the water and sand all day long and had, what seemed like the time of their lives. So silly and fun!

4.Karnaval was on the road as we left the beach. This is the Haitian Mardi Gras. People get 3 days of school off and just parade through the streets and drink sugar cane alcohol and make lots of noise. As we were driving through a crowd of them I decided that masks kinda creep me out.

5. This is Tchaly working on the slab for Tancred's house. He is the one I mentioned in the February update. We got to finally work on the slab (And finish his house! More pictures to follow!)

6. Betty's first trip to the beach. This is definitely a forced smile on Betty's side. She was scared of the water and had already gotten a little bit more wet than she was happy with. I think in the end she enjoyed it more than she thought she would. We were all happy that she came.

7. Spring break 2011. Already lots of fun with my two great friends. How could we not have fun on the prettiest beach in the country!?

8. This is how the week has gone. Apply these personalities to work projects.

9. Yesterday Daniel mentioned that we got a new windmill here at camp. This is the installation crew. Don't be fooled... the pole in this picture is probably upwards of 500 pounds. The hope for this windmill is that it will nearly eliminate the need for our generator. Currently the generator runs about 15 hours a day to keep up with our power demand and with the windmill, if it works all correctly, we should be able to have equivalent power after only one hour of wind!!

10. Daniel came with many gifts for all his friends here at Jacob's Well. For Tchaly, our carpenter he brought this awesome tool belt. Tchaly is enjoying it, but batman, our dog is very scared of the belt, actually its pretty funny for my watchdog to be scared of a belt. Makes me feel safe!

11. Hudson worked very hard on finishing the roof of the "unfinished cabin". It still needs a paint job, but its much closer to being finished than it was before.

12. This is Madame Tchaly and baby NaNa. She is the one with the burn on her bottom. She is looking so good. She was actually smiling this day and the skin was starting to turn black again. God protected her and has done so much healing work in her body. I can't even begin to describe to you how precious this family is. Tchaly and his wife are always, ALWAYS smiling and laughing. They are a total joy and a priveledge to be around.

13. We weren't exactly sure where the step ladder was... so this was the next best solution. (TIH-This is Haiti.)

14. This is Peter Marc working on the roof of Tancreds house. (Almost finished!!)

15. Tancred standing outside of his new finished house! Praise God for His provision and goodness!

16. While walking back to camp after finishing Tancred's house we heard a lot of commotion. Turns out there was a make shift soccer stadium in this area. It cost 10 (25 cents) gouds for the entrance fee. Hudson and Daniel, being soccer fans were hoping that we could stay and watch the game instead of working on plumbing for the afternoon.

17. Hey Greta, we may or may not have caught the depot rat! Look how excited Dan is!

18. This is the man I mentioned yesterday with the machete cut in his hand. (Remember? The adorable one?) Daniel and I applied butterfly bandages to the cut. Today I checked them, and much to my surprise they were still holding on tight. The cut looked really good and was starting to close just like I wanted it to! Praise God! He also told us how much it had been hurting before (he injured himself last Thrusday and came to see us on Monday) but that after he came here it didn't hurt again!

19. After a long day of working in the sun, what is better than laying on cold tile underneath the mango trees? (Hint: there is nothing better)

20. Family portrait at the beach. Dad, Mom, and the kids after our beautification hike to pick up trash.

Have a happy Friday!

Beautiful in His Time

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." (Eccl 3:11)

I'm kinda a sucker for beautiful things. Thankfully, I am living smack-dab in the middle of beauty right now. I have a mountain in my back yard and if I walk a little way I have a huge gorgeous valley in the front yard. I live among the most beautiful people I have ever met. I see the beauty around me and can't help but worship the Creator.

Not everything here is beautiful. There are very, very ugly things here. Satan and his hold on these people's hearts is ugly. Very Ugly.

The lack of, well, everything, food, shelter, and healthcare is ugly.
Or is it? Is it ugly? or is it Joy? Is He making it beautiful?

The lack of resources is not the main problem that this village has. It is the lack of Christ. The lack of freedom. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost (Lk 19:10). But if we look at His life, he did more than that. He helped the poor and crippled. He healed the sick, and fed the hungry. If we are to be the body of Christ we are called to do those things too. He is making all this hurt beautiful in HIS time.

His time can be so different from mine sometimes, and as Solomon says, we cannot find out or understand what God is doing from beginning to end. But sometimes.... Sometimes, before the word leaves our lips, before we are even aware of our need He has provided.

On Friday night I was talking to Gersan and Betty about Tchaly. He is our carpenter here on campus. Always laughing, always singing, always joyful, always a total joy to be around. He works so hard. (He is also the one with the baby, who's burn I have been taking care of.) Gersan was talking about how he wishes he could pay Tchaly more for his hard work. And he could probably get a better paying job somewhere else, but God has a track record of blessing those who work here, and the money they earn. Some of these other people came from better paying jobs to work here, and have been offered other, better paying jobs, but they choose to stay, because they love working here and because God is blessing them for that.

Gersan told me about Tchaly's house. He described it as only a tiny step up from Tancred's house that I wrote about earlier. Tchaly has been saving and saving, but will probably never be able to finish building his house. Gersan said, "I want to give him a house, but that would cost around $2000 USD and we just don't have that right now."

Immediately, my heart leaped! $2000!!!!
I had gotten a text message from my mom that afternoon that Redeemer Bible Church, my home church in Tomball wanted to give $2000 to us to use however we like. I hadn't told Gersan and Betty this yet, but felt this was a good time.

God is so good. Without them even knowing it, He put that amount on the hearts of the Redeemer leaders, on the day that Gersan mentioned wanting to use that amount for a house!

God is making this beautiful! It has already been made beautiful, but He is letting us glimpse the beauty!

God is using Jacob's Well here in this village to change the mentality of people here. After giving Tancred a house, and taking care of  Lèlène and her leg the village is starting to talk. They are starting to see the "pay it forward" mentality. Doing nice things for others just because. I call it the "pay it forward" mentality, but really, it is the "Body of Christ" model. Tala's house needs a new roof, and we are almost sure that if we help Tchaly with his house that he will gladly take care of her roof out of thankfulness, and ask nothing in compensation. We are praying hard that God will continue to change the hearts of the people here.

This is the second time this week that God has blessed our socks off.
I found out this week that for almost a year now, or maybe more, Gersan has wanted to start a chicken business. Immediately after Boss Varis, one of our head guys, started working here he was asking about when he could start the chicken business. His son knows how to take care of them and it would be a wonderful micro development project. Gersan had wanted that for a long time anyway too, but never mentioned it to anyone. Last week I got an email from my boss at Frontier Camp saying that he wanted to talk about chickens. (I'm thinking... "ok??? That's random.") There is a family that goes to Foundry United Methodist Church and they teach the confirmation class for the youth there. They want to start emphasizing missions more, and wanted to use Jacob's Well as their project. The teacher of the class raises chickens in his backyard as sort-of a hobby, but also for meat and eggs. They decided that they wanted to raise the money, as a class, to buy 100 chickens for us as well as all the materials needed to build a chicken coop, hire someone to take care of them, feed the chickens, and gather eggs and meat to sell, or use for the staff here at camp. (Remember Gersan has never mentioned that he wanted to do this to any Americans.) I wish I could have seen his reaction when he recieved that email!

God is so good. He is so creative. His timing is so perfect. He can use things like chickens to remind us of how good He is.

Sometimes when God's timing is the same as mine it makes me realize how cool He is. But God's timing is not always the same as mine, not at all. But It is times like these that I learn I can trust Him. His timing is better than mine. It may not feel like it as i sit and wait and wait and wait and pray and pray and pray, but it is beautiful. He will make all things good in HIS time. 

For example, earlier I mentioned the ugly things here in my village. Satan and his hold on the people being one of them. While, for now, the big voodoo ceremony is over I know there will be others. It is not God's timing to totally remove all of the voodoo preists right now. But if you consider the whole picture you will see that less than 6 years ago there were 12 voodoo temples in this village. Today there are 3. THREE! And God is slowly turning the hearts of at least two of those three towards Him. I want them to know Jesus today. But, His timing is perfect.

He has made all things beautiful. He is a beautiful creator. Life is beautiful already. But sometimes He makes it more beautiful so that we will stop and recognize Him as the creator.

Notice something beautiful today.
Happy Sunday!