3.18.2011
40 on Friday (part 1)
Ok. I feel like a total blogging failure. We are more than halfway through March and I have blogged only twice. In my defense, I have had more internet problems than I care to go into or relive right now. I’m currently writing this post in Microsoft Word hoping that by the time I finish my internet will have loaded the blogger page. I have written numerous blogs in my head and started a few on the computer, so maybe someday I’ll catch up. Today I decided since I have missed two 10 on Tuesdays and numerous other blogs I have decided to introduce this a blue moon special, “40 on Friday.” So here goes… This is all the fun you have missed! This will be a 2 part blog. (it actually was going to be the 10 on Tuesday, but the internet didn’t work… then it was going to be the 30 on Thursday, but again… internet troubles. So here goes part 1 of 2 in the 40 on Friday.
1. On Friday, March 4th we had almost 100 people here at camp for the retreat. They stayed until Wednesday, March 9th and, I believe had a lot of fun. Remember, my job was to find and secure beds for all of them? Yeah, I was planning on having 46 people and then found out there were 81 coming… which quickly turned into almost 100. Needless to say, it was a stressful few hours/days for me. The camp went well overall. It was full of challenges though. The staff of the camp was not open to using our program or hearing our suggestions. I think it was a little frustrating for all of us. Finally, on Monday, they asked for help and after that camp went great. We got to do our activities and play some camp games, as well as have a really special time of campfire. Overall, God was glorified, which is always a victory.
2. We had a few days of rest and then Daniel Frantz and Hudson Stone arrived from Texas on Saturday, March 12 to spend spring break here at Jacob’s Well and get some work projects done. It has been so refreshing for them to be here. After the crazy week with camp and the stress of having 100ish people on our campsite, I needed a change of pace.
3. This past weekend marked the midway point of my trip. That brings up a lot of emotions and thoughts, both sad and happy. Its almost impossible to believe that I have been here for two and a half months already, in some ways it feels like it has flown by. In other ways it seems like its been a long, long time. I have learned so much. It has been so different than I was expecting, but in a lot of ways exactly what I expected. I have accomplished some of my goals for being here and that is so encouraging, but in some ways I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything at all.
4. This past weekend also marked the year and 2 month anniversary of the earthquake here in Haiti. I have done a lot of thinking and praying about it. God has done an incredible amount of healing in my heart and mind over the past year. I am, at times completely overwhelmed by his total faithfulness to me. It has not been an easy year, but I have been far from alone.
5. Its mid March. This means we are entering the phase where I will be hearing about an acceptance decision from the Nursing department at Texas A&M Health Science Center. As much as I am loving not having school this semester and not having to worry about tests and homework, I am starting to get excited about going to school again. I am learning so much here, but a lot of it is learning what great need there is. I’ve mentioned Christina (the baby with the burns) and Lèlène (with the motorcycle accident), and this week I have added a few more patients to my list. I am so glad that I have been able to be here to help them, but every day I see the need to go back to Nursing school. I’m praying (and you can too!!) that I will get accepted to the Nursing school in College Station at the Health Science Center. Due to various circumstances that occurred last minute, I ended up only applying to this one school. I very strongly feel that this is where the Lord wants me, but then again… God is sometimes so full of unexpected surprises.
6. Speaking of new patients… My newest patient is the tiniest little man in the village. He’s so adorable. But don’t be fooled. He is THE toughest guy in the village. Maybe it comes with being small. Gersan told me he has a reputation for running Americans out of the village. He has always been anti-American presence here and doesn’t appreciate us. On Monday he was doing something and fell on his machete. Thankfully he only sliced his hand, but it is a pretty serious cut. Guess who he came to for help? Me. I was able to help bandage and clean his wound and he has come back every day since. Remember how I said he was the toughest guy in the village? If you saw this guy’s hand you would know. He has calluses equal to those on my feet. He watched me clean and dig grass and dirt out of the flesh in his hand without so much as a flinch. It would be great if he could get stitches in this hand, but I don’t have access to them and I know he won’t go to the hospital. Today Daniel and I put some butterfly closures on the most serious parts. I’m very optimistic about the way its going to heal, its already looking good and staying infection free. Did I mention he is the most adorable man ever? The man is probably 4 feet and 7 inches tall and super tough, but so cute. The first day he came with some family that brought him. I asked him his age and he honestly had no idea. Today he came all alone, knowing what Gersan told me about him and how he feels about white people I was interested to see how it was going to go. I walked up and asked him how he was doing. He launched into telling me about his family and his wife and kids and his life. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a match box and took out a tiny piece of paper with, “74” written on it. He handed me the paper telling me he found out how old he was. I can’t wait to see how his hand heals, and maybe continue to change his view of Americans.
7. Since Daniel and Hudson have been here we have been able to get a lot done here around camp. In the states, Hudson is a Petroleum Engineering student at Texas A&M (whoop!) and indoor soccer lover. Daniel is a Biology/Psych student at DBU and a barista at a local coffee shop in Dallas. When they are here in Haiti they become our “professional consultants” on all things plumbing, construction, maintenance, etc. So far they have installed a new hot water heater, built and roofed a house or two, laid pipe for a main water line, fixed the plumbing issues in the kitchen and consulted on numerous future projects here around camp. Its only been a few days and we have gotten so much done.
8. We received word last week that we had an anonymous donor that donated enough money for us to finish our cistern. We are going to be starting work on our cistern very soon. The hardest part of hosting groups here is our lack of water. Without a cistern we are very hard pressed to provide water for our teams. Praise God for His provision.
9. I have almost finished the child sponsorship program for the school. Please be praying for me as I try to finish preparing and try to start this program. It would be such a wonderful opportunity to be able to provide the village with a better opportunity to have some education. This program will give the parents an opportunity to send their children to school, but will give them a sense of ownership and give them opportunities to get involved in their children’s life and education.
10. As I mentioned before my two friends Daniel and Hudson are here doing work and bringing some sanity and English conversation into my life. Its been such a blast hanging out with these two guys and even though we are working we are having loads of fun. Because they are here I’m going to take advantage of them for a second and have them help me write this post.
Thanks for having patience with me (or really my internet). I’m going to be doing the best I can and praying for God to work a miracle and make it move faster than frozen molasses.
Meet Daniel Frantz:
I first experienced Haiti, and Jacob’s Well January of 2010. As a part of the FC team that left the island about 40 hrs before the quake. Back then Jacobs well had one building, a bathroom/storage depot, but as Matt Raines would say, if you have good staff, a field and a ball you can have camp. That is what Jacobs Well used to be, today it is unrecognizable from just a little over a year ago. God has blessed this land, and the ministry of Jacob’s Well. And I thank Him for letting me see His hands at work here.
1. The spring break trip – Hudson and I were here with the last trip, Haiti 6, and both decided we would love to come back, and the Lord blesses us by granting that wish. As Noelle has said getting things done in this country can be difficult to say the least, and traveling is rarely an exception. We had to leave the states on Friday, meaning an overnight layover and almost 24 hrs total travel time from departure to arrival at JW. We spent a pretty good amount of time wondering if our bags would make it all the way to PAP or weather we would be picked up from the airport. But God is good and after a tiring day of travel we arrived in CAP and were warmly greeted by Noelle, Betty, Gersan, and Bos Varis (and a Toro!) Home sweet home.
2. This is my fourth time to come to JW since Jan 2010, I am always astounded by God’s glory as the camp continues to expand. Yet, as much growth as there has been, the plan for the future dwarfs its current state. I cannot wait to see how the Lord will bless JW and pray I will be allowed to be a part of the growth.
The following are some of the newest additions to Jacob’s Well.
3. The windmill, after some stressful moments regarding the mill, it seems to be an amazing tool and will hopefully save a ton of money on gas for the generator.
4. New plumbing, an ongoing process, we are in the process of running a new main line that will provide a more reliable water source for the time being. Improving the current “cistern” (two cubic meter water tanks), repairing leaking drains on the kitchen sinks, and hopefully repairing a drainage problem at the shower house.
5. New water heater (well old heater new installment) it is quite an expensive propane powered, heat-as-you-go heater, and has been sitting in the depot for at least a year now (the current heater is a standard 40 gallon electric heater). We haven’t purchased the propane yet but hope to have it running within the next few days. Switching to propane will also lighten the load on the generator and reduce the amount of electricity needed to run camp.
6. Cabins, we are helping finish the last of the two rooms cabins and put up two more one room style cabins (same style as Tancred’s new house that was finished today! Noelle is planning on posting pictures when the internet isn’t as big of a disappointment).
7. A few days after we arrived we were introduced to an amazing new trail to the “upstairs” that is much better than the old ankle breaking path.
8. Another beautiful addition is the Jacob’s Well mosaic. It used to be a gravel platform used as a meeting/eating area in the past (and under where the Haiti 6 interns, Jack, Greta and myself hung our hammocks).
9. One thing Hudson and I were able to do is bring some new tools to Jacob’s Well (thanks to “the Man” Richard Stephens for buying/providing them!) Some of the tools we brought include a stellar Dewalt Table saw which I have yet to use, but hope to work on a few projects with Bos Tchaly and get some use out of it. We also brought Tchaly a new tool belt, every carpenter of his skill needs a good tool belt, and some seeds for Guerline’s garden.
10. Finally, another item we brought with us were mouse/rat traps (they deserve their own number). When I was here with the other interns over Christmas break Greta and I saw a massive rat in the depot, and Noelle has seen a few herself recently so I figured we could put an end to these rodent shenanigans. So far the traps have been set for a little over 24 hrs and the body count thus far is 4. Three of the slain were rats and one mouse, but we’re hoping to kill off a lot more before we leave (and Noelle will then have to empty and re-load the traps, she doesn’t seem thrilled to do that)
... stay tuned for part 2.
3.06.2011
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!
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!
3.01.2011
10 on Tuesday
So today is 10 on Tuesday: Thoughts and Random facts edition.
I've decided that the 10 pictures on Tuesday gets a little old week after week, and its too much pressure for me to remember my camera all day. Also, there are always moments I miss on camera or can't actually take a photo of.
So this afternoon I made a decision. 10 on Tuesday is no longer going to be only 10 pictures (or word pictures) on Tuesday. It can be 10 of whatever I want it to be. At first I felt like I failed because I'm "giving up" on the pictures, but its my blog, and I've decided I can write what I want to write about... because when I do its typically much more enjoyable for everyone. I'll try to have a theme for my Tuesdays, but I make no promises!
So. Thoughts and Random Facts: go!
1. It is so hard to get anything done in this country. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm living in a world without subtitles... Today I felt like I worked hard, and was even borderline stressed out. Looking back, I acomplished barely anything. And I still feel like it was a productive day here in Haiti. Strange. This is a very strange place.
2. Speaking of strange... Tala wore bubblewrap on her head today for her headscarf. (Yes the kind that comes in packages with fragile things.) It was all I could do not to laugh at her every time I saw her.
3. This weekend is the Haitian equivalent of Mardi Gras in Port Au Prince. Lots of loud, loud music and drinking and other crazy stuff. So Gersan's church decided to have their youth retreat here! We are so excited. This is going to be the first retreat group to come here. We are going to do our very best to show the city kids how to really camp!
4. I have been staying up entirely too late recently. I have decided that I need to institute a bedtime. I would like it to be somewhere around 8, but I think I'm going to go with 9 o'clock, and make exceptions for weekends and busy days. Yes, I'm fully aware that I am a grandma. Call me names if you want. I don't care.
5. I have learned it is astronomically more difficult to speak and understand Kreyol if I am tired.
6. I love living here. I am so thankful for this opportunity that God has given me to live here. God is the best. I love every day here. Some are hard. Some are very, very hard. But I am very happy here and love living here. This trip has given me a lot to think about for the future..... which will require a post all in itself. I'll come back to this sometime when I have all my thoughts together.
7. There were numerous encouraging moments today that I would be explaining something in Kreyol or just making conversation and whoever I was talking to would say, "You speak Kreyol so well!" or, when I would explain something, or reference a conversation I had overheard, they would look at me shocked and say, "You are very smart, you know everything that goes on around here!" Which, frankly is my goal!
8. At the end of the day, today was a lot more sucessful that I anticipated. This morning skype was making me want to sit and cry and pull out my hair all at the same time. I was depending on skype today because "mwen telephone pov." (my telephone is in poverty... poor... I have no minutes.) Waiting till the weekend to recharge, but may buy some tomorrow to hold me over. Skype worked well this afternoon and I just turned up the volume really loud so I could hear it if it went off without me around.
9. I was grateful for outdoorsmanship class with Wes Woodard at Frontier Camp today because my job for the day was to set up tents. We currently have enough bunk beds to sleep about 44 people here. We had plans to set up another couple of beds because we were planning on having 46 people for the retreat this weekend, so we were going to put a few in the tent....This afternoon I found out that our 46 people had turned into 81. Hence the tent scramble.
10. My 10th fact of the day is that it is now past my newfound grandma bedtime!! And my brain is out of things to say.
Honestly I was out of things to say after I told you about the bubble wrap. Sorry if you could tell. You probably could. I'll try to do better next Tuesday. Until then, please don't be too dissapointed in this post. My creativity is nonexistant tonight.
Thank you, and goodnight.
I've decided that the 10 pictures on Tuesday gets a little old week after week, and its too much pressure for me to remember my camera all day. Also, there are always moments I miss on camera or can't actually take a photo of.
So this afternoon I made a decision. 10 on Tuesday is no longer going to be only 10 pictures (or word pictures) on Tuesday. It can be 10 of whatever I want it to be. At first I felt like I failed because I'm "giving up" on the pictures, but its my blog, and I've decided I can write what I want to write about... because when I do its typically much more enjoyable for everyone. I'll try to have a theme for my Tuesdays, but I make no promises!
So. Thoughts and Random Facts: go!
1. It is so hard to get anything done in this country. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm living in a world without subtitles... Today I felt like I worked hard, and was even borderline stressed out. Looking back, I acomplished barely anything. And I still feel like it was a productive day here in Haiti. Strange. This is a very strange place.
2. Speaking of strange... Tala wore bubblewrap on her head today for her headscarf. (Yes the kind that comes in packages with fragile things.) It was all I could do not to laugh at her every time I saw her.
3. This weekend is the Haitian equivalent of Mardi Gras in Port Au Prince. Lots of loud, loud music and drinking and other crazy stuff. So Gersan's church decided to have their youth retreat here! We are so excited. This is going to be the first retreat group to come here. We are going to do our very best to show the city kids how to really camp!
4. I have been staying up entirely too late recently. I have decided that I need to institute a bedtime. I would like it to be somewhere around 8, but I think I'm going to go with 9 o'clock, and make exceptions for weekends and busy days. Yes, I'm fully aware that I am a grandma. Call me names if you want. I don't care.
5. I have learned it is astronomically more difficult to speak and understand Kreyol if I am tired.
6. I love living here. I am so thankful for this opportunity that God has given me to live here. God is the best. I love every day here. Some are hard. Some are very, very hard. But I am very happy here and love living here. This trip has given me a lot to think about for the future..... which will require a post all in itself. I'll come back to this sometime when I have all my thoughts together.
7. There were numerous encouraging moments today that I would be explaining something in Kreyol or just making conversation and whoever I was talking to would say, "You speak Kreyol so well!" or, when I would explain something, or reference a conversation I had overheard, they would look at me shocked and say, "You are very smart, you know everything that goes on around here!" Which, frankly is my goal!
8. At the end of the day, today was a lot more sucessful that I anticipated. This morning skype was making me want to sit and cry and pull out my hair all at the same time. I was depending on skype today because "mwen telephone pov." (my telephone is in poverty... poor... I have no minutes.) Waiting till the weekend to recharge, but may buy some tomorrow to hold me over. Skype worked well this afternoon and I just turned up the volume really loud so I could hear it if it went off without me around.
9. I was grateful for outdoorsmanship class with Wes Woodard at Frontier Camp today because my job for the day was to set up tents. We currently have enough bunk beds to sleep about 44 people here. We had plans to set up another couple of beds because we were planning on having 46 people for the retreat this weekend, so we were going to put a few in the tent....This afternoon I found out that our 46 people had turned into 81. Hence the tent scramble.
10. My 10th fact of the day is that it is now past my newfound grandma bedtime!! And my brain is out of things to say.
Honestly I was out of things to say after I told you about the bubble wrap. Sorry if you could tell. You probably could. I'll try to do better next Tuesday. Until then, please don't be too dissapointed in this post. My creativity is nonexistant tonight.
Thank you, and goodnight.
2.28.2011
Back-seat Drivers
Since I was a really little girl I always looked forward to driving. I would pretend to drive all the time and once, I was probably 7, I even made a steering wheel and petals to install in the back seat. I would practice as mom would press the gas and the brake. My dad used to drive a standard car so I would pretend to do the clutch and shift as well. The day I got my drivers' liscense I thought I would never be happier. Not to brag and boast, but I'm relatively certain I am one of the world's top female drivers. Yes, I've run a few red lights, sped a few more times, and had a tiny graze incident with an 18-wheeler, but that was not my fault. I learned how to drive on a Ford F-250. And after driving it for a few years could parallel park it like it was no big deal. Ok. Enough bragging. I'm really just trying establish in your mind that when I'm driving there is no reason to fear for your life...
... Tonight I made my maiden voyage driving in Haiti. We had to run an errand to Bas Limbe to get some supplies for our camp coming up. We've talked about me driving before and everyone seems to be impressed that I have such a cool skill. So we started our journey. Me, Guerline, Boss Varis, Boss Mervil, Johnny, and Windel. Before we got out of the drive way I had a small run-in with a large rock. In my defense, I am not used to large overly monstrous rocks causing me to bottom out... we typically don't have that problem on FM 249. But I did think that maybe not being behind the wheel for 2 months may have made me a little rusty. Whatever, I shook it off.
Once we got on the road that familiar smile came back. The one that I got when I drove for the first time. It kinda creeps up on me and by the time I realize I'm smiling I can't stop. Its actually kindof embarrasing and childish. Whatever, I'm a child. I'm fine with it. We were on the road. I was driving on the wrong side of the road, mainly because there were potholes on my side, and partly because it made me feel like a rebel.
Then the backseat driving began... "Sound your horn." "Go faster!" "See that hole?" "Watch out for the girl on the bike." "slow down." "Don't drive on the shoulder of you'll flip the car over." "Sound your horn." "Sound your horn." "SOUND YOUR HORN." All of this usually would have made me pull the car over and sarcastically offer for them to drive the car if they think they are so good at it. But here, in a car full of 5 other people that don't know how to drive... that didn't seem like a good idea. Before we even got in the car they all expressed to me the fact that they thought I was going to kill them, except Johnny, he trusted me . I tried to be as sweet as possible and follow their back-seat commands. While we were in our village all the children ran behind us shouting, 'Norel can drive!! NoRel can drive!!" it was adorable. Once we left our village I started getting all the "Blanc" comments. "Haow aaar hough Blanc?" etc.
On the way back from Bas Limbe everyone made comments about how I was a good driver and they weren't scared anymore, but this didn't stop them from back-seat driving . All in all, it was a fun little outing with my friends. I was a little nervous, but I think I did well. There was not much traffic, but it was dark on my way back. So next all I have to do is learn how to manuver in traffic. (I'll let you know how it goes.)
..... AND....Everyone seems to love, (and comment) on the frog stories, so I'll leave you with the last detail of my day. I had just parked the car and everyone was ooing and awing at my parking job (at least that's what they were saying in my head... I wasn't really translating Kreyol at that point...) Everyone had gotten out of the car and I leaned my head out the window to say something and... WET... on my nose. I tried not to panic, and brushed it away a little bit. Laughed to myself, stuck my head back out the window. WET... and crawling... on my nose. Then the panic-startled laugher started. I couldn't figure out what it was or where it when when I flicked it off. Turns out it was a little froggie that loves me. I continued to laugh to myself for about a minute or two thinking how incredibly scared my friend who is afraid of frogs would have been. I'm sure she would have died. So here are my words of widsom for the night... next time you drive, watch out for frogs who decide to jump on your face. And be nice to those in the back-seat... even if they are bossy.
And to all of you who are back-seat drivers.... please stop. Unless you are litterally scared for your life... and speaking Kreyol.
... Tonight I made my maiden voyage driving in Haiti. We had to run an errand to Bas Limbe to get some supplies for our camp coming up. We've talked about me driving before and everyone seems to be impressed that I have such a cool skill. So we started our journey. Me, Guerline, Boss Varis, Boss Mervil, Johnny, and Windel. Before we got out of the drive way I had a small run-in with a large rock. In my defense, I am not used to large overly monstrous rocks causing me to bottom out... we typically don't have that problem on FM 249. But I did think that maybe not being behind the wheel for 2 months may have made me a little rusty. Whatever, I shook it off.
Once we got on the road that familiar smile came back. The one that I got when I drove for the first time. It kinda creeps up on me and by the time I realize I'm smiling I can't stop. Its actually kindof embarrasing and childish. Whatever, I'm a child. I'm fine with it. We were on the road. I was driving on the wrong side of the road, mainly because there were potholes on my side, and partly because it made me feel like a rebel.
Then the backseat driving began... "Sound your horn." "Go faster!" "See that hole?" "Watch out for the girl on the bike." "slow down." "Don't drive on the shoulder of you'll flip the car over." "Sound your horn." "Sound your horn." "SOUND YOUR HORN." All of this usually would have made me pull the car over and sarcastically offer for them to drive the car if they think they are so good at it. But here, in a car full of 5 other people that don't know how to drive... that didn't seem like a good idea. Before we even got in the car they all expressed to me the fact that they thought I was going to kill them, except Johnny, he trusted me . I tried to be as sweet as possible and follow their back-seat commands. While we were in our village all the children ran behind us shouting, 'Norel can drive!! NoRel can drive!!" it was adorable. Once we left our village I started getting all the "Blanc" comments. "Haow aaar hough Blanc?" etc.
On the way back from Bas Limbe everyone made comments about how I was a good driver and they weren't scared anymore, but this didn't stop them from back-seat driving . All in all, it was a fun little outing with my friends. I was a little nervous, but I think I did well. There was not much traffic, but it was dark on my way back. So next all I have to do is learn how to manuver in traffic. (I'll let you know how it goes.)
..... AND....Everyone seems to love, (and comment) on the frog stories, so I'll leave you with the last detail of my day. I had just parked the car and everyone was ooing and awing at my parking job (at least that's what they were saying in my head... I wasn't really translating Kreyol at that point...) Everyone had gotten out of the car and I leaned my head out the window to say something and... WET... on my nose. I tried not to panic, and brushed it away a little bit. Laughed to myself, stuck my head back out the window. WET... and crawling... on my nose. Then the panic-startled laugher started. I couldn't figure out what it was or where it when when I flicked it off. Turns out it was a little froggie that loves me. I continued to laugh to myself for about a minute or two thinking how incredibly scared my friend who is afraid of frogs would have been. I'm sure she would have died. So here are my words of widsom for the night... next time you drive, watch out for frogs who decide to jump on your face. And be nice to those in the back-seat... even if they are bossy.
And to all of you who are back-seat drivers.... please stop. Unless you are litterally scared for your life... and speaking Kreyol.
2.25.2011
February Update
So much has happened this month! Just looking at the calendar I would have never expected that so much would happen here. It is such a priveledge for me to be here and get a front row seat to all that is going on. AND to be able to tell you all about it. Sometimes the Valcins get so busy with all that they do in their ministry that it is too hard to sit and write a newsletter about it because it would take all month!! Thankfully, God has brought me here, and given me a semi-reliable internet system in order that I can update you on what is going on in the Valcin ministry here in the North. (Now we just need someone to talk about all that is going on in Port Au Prince!)
Church: This month, as I've mentioned before, a lot of things happened in the church. Please continue to pray for those who attended the class that Gersan was teaching about the foundations of Christianity. Please continue to pray for Tolem as Gersan prayerfully considers starting to mentor him into becoming one of the church leaders. Pray also as he tries to start a small buisiness of selling minutes for the telephone, so he can support himself in his ministry. Pray for the current pastor, that he will have a teachable spirit and start acting like a man of integrity as the leader of the church.
Voodoo: Please continue to pray for those who are living in fear and bondage to Satan. There has been a voodoo ceremony going on this entire month almost, and they are still going on, morning, afternoon, evening, night, dawn. You name the time, and they are chanting, shreiking, beating the drums etc. Here is what I know about the ceremony... They have somewhere around 20 chickens 11 goats and at least one cow. They are going to be sacrificing and eating these until the end of the ceremony. The word in the gossip circle around the village is that the voodoo preist is getting rid of all of his voodoo stuff by having a huge ceremony in order that he can become a Christian at the end. However, this is not a good plan. I wish someone would tell him that He needs to just come to Christ if he is going to do that. Please pray that he will come to Jesus. And not wait another minute, because his soul is at stake. (Not to mention that I'm sure those goats,chickens and cows wouldn't mind living longer. AND I could use a decent nights' sleep!)
Click here to read background info on the church and voodoo.
Medical happenings: Last week I asked for prayer for Lèlène and her leg. She went to the hospital in Cap Haitian and spent at least 2 days there. They decided not to do the graft surgery after all because the doctors thought they could save her leg without doing that surgery. As far as I know she is back at home and visiting a nurse daily for wound care. Thank you for your prayers for her! Also, I believe I had mentioned Bebelove and her severely infected eyes.
I saw her yesterday and her eyes looked beautiful! Praise God! (sorry I didn't get a picture of her beautiful eyes and smile. Next time!)
One of the men who works here full-time told me last week that his little baby had a burn. When I asked follow-up questions I discovered that she had fallen in some boiling milk and her entire bottom and the back of her thighs were burnt. I told him to call his wife and bring her that afternoon. Thank the Lord for His provision! Last year, He gave me the opportunity to work at Global Outreach International in Titaynen, Haiti. There is a specialty burn clinic there, and I got one day of burn experience before the earthquake, which then gave me lots more burn experience. Little did I know I would be doing much the same thing, without the earthquake setting here in Little Guinea. I have been taking care Krystena (I don't really know how to spell it...), or as we call her NaNa, for about a week now. She is making progress every day!
I was able to call Sheryl, the nurse at Global Outreach and she sent me some more burn supplies, because I was running low on them. Thank God for His goodness and grace. I think NaNa is going to recover well. We are about 2 weeks past the day of the burn and no infection. She is starting to get some of her skin back as well and it is no longer raw and red.
Nana was somewhat unhappy with me when this picture was taken. Burns are incredibly painful and I had just finished soaking and removing some of the dead skin from her burn. But recently she has been much happier. We are not best friends, but I think we might get there one day! Madam Tchaly is adorable. I love her. She is one of those people that I can tell is a good mom! Please continue to pray for NaNa as she heals.
Community projects: A lot has been going on in our village too. Water Missions Haiti has built latrines for several families in the community. This past week the director came and brought some of his team to have a formal ceremony of giving the toilets and doing my favorite thing... Health Education!! They had a wonderful presentation on cholera and general sanitation.
This girl was very articulate and did a wonderful job of explaining throughly and clearly what she wanted to communicate, but also expressing it in a way that someone could understand even without any type of education.
She explained how water gets contaminated with microbes, she explained what microbes were, and what the bad ones will do to you if you get them inside of you, and how to properly wash hands!
I was so happy that this education happened. I haven't been able to do much health ed like I had hoped because my language isn't quite that far along. I have been able to talk to NaNa's mom a lot about the burn, but she is very gracious with me and re-translates things back to me in CORRECT Kreyol, to make sure she understood what I was saying.
On top of doing health education there was a short presentation on the care and keeping of a toilet. Each person recieved a bucket to put clean water in and wash thier hands after they use the toilet, and to use to pour in the toilet to flush it. They were given toilet brushes, soap, a water carrier pouch to drink in the fields or at work, and a containter to carry water in and leave on the counter to drink. A lot of times people here get water in 5 gallon buckets which stay open and stagnant and go bad, but they still drink it.
I'm so glad that these people have this education and the tools to have better drinking water! The drinking water distribution site is here at Jacob's Well and it has been a joy to see people coming to fill their buckets!
Also:
We gave this man a house at the beginning of the month.
I'm not exactly sure how this came about, but he is one of our security guards here. He and his wife live in his house along with 7 other people. His house is smaller than the master bathrooms of most of you who are reading this. 10 feet by 10 feet maybe?
You can't tell very well from the picture but total in the house there about 4 beds all shoved together. I'm talking like beds without mattresses. Just the frames with wood or wire holding the rags that used to be sheets. People shouldn't live this way, but they do. Praise God that we were able to help this man and his family! The house we are giving him is a lot nicer, and will keep the rain out. And it will not be made of rags. Its still small for 9 people to live in, but it is a gift that they are very thankful for. We have all the materials ready to begin building, but don't currently have money for a slab. The slab will cost about $550 USD.
In conclusion: God has done so very much this month in our village. There is so much I want to tell you about, but I think this post is about 7 times longer than it should be already. Bottom line... Pray for us. Pray for these people. Pray for their hearts. Pray for their souls. Pray for their bodies. Haiti never ceases to amaze me. And neither do the prayers that our God answers!!!
Church: This month, as I've mentioned before, a lot of things happened in the church. Please continue to pray for those who attended the class that Gersan was teaching about the foundations of Christianity. Please continue to pray for Tolem as Gersan prayerfully considers starting to mentor him into becoming one of the church leaders. Pray also as he tries to start a small buisiness of selling minutes for the telephone, so he can support himself in his ministry. Pray for the current pastor, that he will have a teachable spirit and start acting like a man of integrity as the leader of the church.
Voodoo: Please continue to pray for those who are living in fear and bondage to Satan. There has been a voodoo ceremony going on this entire month almost, and they are still going on, morning, afternoon, evening, night, dawn. You name the time, and they are chanting, shreiking, beating the drums etc. Here is what I know about the ceremony... They have somewhere around 20 chickens 11 goats and at least one cow. They are going to be sacrificing and eating these until the end of the ceremony. The word in the gossip circle around the village is that the voodoo preist is getting rid of all of his voodoo stuff by having a huge ceremony in order that he can become a Christian at the end. However, this is not a good plan. I wish someone would tell him that He needs to just come to Christ if he is going to do that. Please pray that he will come to Jesus. And not wait another minute, because his soul is at stake. (Not to mention that I'm sure those goats,chickens and cows wouldn't mind living longer. AND I could use a decent nights' sleep!)
Click here to read background info on the church and voodoo.
Medical happenings: Last week I asked for prayer for Lèlène and her leg. She went to the hospital in Cap Haitian and spent at least 2 days there. They decided not to do the graft surgery after all because the doctors thought they could save her leg without doing that surgery. As far as I know she is back at home and visiting a nurse daily for wound care. Thank you for your prayers for her! Also, I believe I had mentioned Bebelove and her severely infected eyes.
I saw her yesterday and her eyes looked beautiful! Praise God! (sorry I didn't get a picture of her beautiful eyes and smile. Next time!)
One of the men who works here full-time told me last week that his little baby had a burn. When I asked follow-up questions I discovered that she had fallen in some boiling milk and her entire bottom and the back of her thighs were burnt. I told him to call his wife and bring her that afternoon. Thank the Lord for His provision! Last year, He gave me the opportunity to work at Global Outreach International in Titaynen, Haiti. There is a specialty burn clinic there, and I got one day of burn experience before the earthquake, which then gave me lots more burn experience. Little did I know I would be doing much the same thing, without the earthquake setting here in Little Guinea. I have been taking care Krystena (I don't really know how to spell it...), or as we call her NaNa, for about a week now. She is making progress every day!
I was able to call Sheryl, the nurse at Global Outreach and she sent me some more burn supplies, because I was running low on them. Thank God for His goodness and grace. I think NaNa is going to recover well. We are about 2 weeks past the day of the burn and no infection. She is starting to get some of her skin back as well and it is no longer raw and red.
Nana was somewhat unhappy with me when this picture was taken. Burns are incredibly painful and I had just finished soaking and removing some of the dead skin from her burn. But recently she has been much happier. We are not best friends, but I think we might get there one day! Madam Tchaly is adorable. I love her. She is one of those people that I can tell is a good mom! Please continue to pray for NaNa as she heals.
Community projects: A lot has been going on in our village too. Water Missions Haiti has built latrines for several families in the community. This past week the director came and brought some of his team to have a formal ceremony of giving the toilets and doing my favorite thing... Health Education!! They had a wonderful presentation on cholera and general sanitation.
This girl was very articulate and did a wonderful job of explaining throughly and clearly what she wanted to communicate, but also expressing it in a way that someone could understand even without any type of education.
She explained how water gets contaminated with microbes, she explained what microbes were, and what the bad ones will do to you if you get them inside of you, and how to properly wash hands!
I was so happy that this education happened. I haven't been able to do much health ed like I had hoped because my language isn't quite that far along. I have been able to talk to NaNa's mom a lot about the burn, but she is very gracious with me and re-translates things back to me in CORRECT Kreyol, to make sure she understood what I was saying.
On top of doing health education there was a short presentation on the care and keeping of a toilet. Each person recieved a bucket to put clean water in and wash thier hands after they use the toilet, and to use to pour in the toilet to flush it. They were given toilet brushes, soap, a water carrier pouch to drink in the fields or at work, and a containter to carry water in and leave on the counter to drink. A lot of times people here get water in 5 gallon buckets which stay open and stagnant and go bad, but they still drink it.
This is the group shot of everyone who recieve a Each person recieved a latrine.
I'm so glad that these people have this education and the tools to have better drinking water! The drinking water distribution site is here at Jacob's Well and it has been a joy to see people coming to fill their buckets!
We gave this man a house at the beginning of the month.
I'm not exactly sure how this came about, but he is one of our security guards here. He and his wife live in his house along with 7 other people. His house is smaller than the master bathrooms of most of you who are reading this. 10 feet by 10 feet maybe?
9 people live here.
And sleep here.
In conclusion: God has done so very much this month in our village. There is so much I want to tell you about, but I think this post is about 7 times longer than it should be already. Bottom line... Pray for us. Pray for these people. Pray for their hearts. Pray for their souls. Pray for their bodies. Haiti never ceases to amaze me. And neither do the prayers that our God answers!!!
If you are interested in donating to our ministry for the slab for this man's house or any of the other projects that we are involved in currently then please email me and I will send you more details: noelle.gonzalez11@gmail.com
I will be writing again soon about some of the other projects that you could donate to if you are interested. Please check back for details!
2.23.2011
He's SO good to me!
Sometimes God really blows my mind. Sometimes it doesn't take much for Him to do it. And then I realize that I don't give Him enough credit for being God. I mean, being God is no small responsibility.
So here's what happened today that made me praise my King.
Actually, I'll come back to that.
First... let me tell you about yesterday.
So yesterday I was finishing the last peice of my nursing application. It comes in two parts, if you pass the first part you get the second, and then they tell you if you are in or if you are out. This was the last peice of the second part. Yes I let it hang over my head for this long. Not smart, I know. So this last part of the application is the triple check that I have all my prerequisite classes.... I'll spare you all the gory details and summarize it for you... I realize that I'm MISSING a prereq. Panicked. Panicked some more. Had a minor breakdown on skype with my friend that understands what a pain applications can be. Realized that I had already submitted the part of the application that says I'm not planning on taking classes before nursing school starts. Which disqualifies me from... well everything. The night ended and the best case scenario in my head was that I come home early from Haiti and take a mini-mester of a silly class before nursing school... IF I got accepted, IF I could somehow indicate that I was going to take this class...
It was all very complicated. And I was very dissapointed. This meant that it was very possible that after May 23 I had ZERO plans, I wouldn't be able to be roommies with my long-time roomie and best friend as she planned her beautiful wedding, I wouldn't be able to be in College Station with many of my other friends. I would have no job. I would have no future. etc etc etc.
This led to me considering what God was doing in this situation. He knew before the foundations of the world that I would be having this crisis at this time. He planned for it to happen. He was going to use it for His glory. Maybe I should be considering what He was trying to say. Was it, "Nursing school is not your thing." or, "Try again later." or, "You should look into so-and-so career." or, "Just trust me.... And for heaven's sake please stop freaking out about everything, you psycho!"
I went to bed feeling somewhat dissapointed, but knowing it would work out in the long run.
Ok, back to today...
Today, I got a text from my mom saying, "Your speech class fulfills the requirement for English that you are missing so you are good!!" WHOOP!!!! Praise the Lord!
I had a few follow up questions, so I decided to call the school myself just to be absolutely sure. I'll paraphrase our conversation... "Yes, she is correct. You are all set on prerequisites. And because your mom told me that your iternet is sketchy I went ahead and filled out the rest of your prerequisites on the form and submitted the application for you. So you are all set and don't have to worry about a thing!" (I LOVE this girl! I say girl because she must be young and hip-happenin' to say 'sketchy'.)
God had it all worked out. There was no reason whatsoever to panic. There never is. God is God and He is good! This was a very small thing, but it reminded me of how Faithful He is.
Taste and see that the Lord is good! Psalm 34:8
So here's what happened today that made me praise my King.
Actually, I'll come back to that.
First... let me tell you about yesterday.
So yesterday I was finishing the last peice of my nursing application. It comes in two parts, if you pass the first part you get the second, and then they tell you if you are in or if you are out. This was the last peice of the second part. Yes I let it hang over my head for this long. Not smart, I know. So this last part of the application is the triple check that I have all my prerequisite classes.... I'll spare you all the gory details and summarize it for you... I realize that I'm MISSING a prereq. Panicked. Panicked some more. Had a minor breakdown on skype with my friend that understands what a pain applications can be. Realized that I had already submitted the part of the application that says I'm not planning on taking classes before nursing school starts. Which disqualifies me from... well everything. The night ended and the best case scenario in my head was that I come home early from Haiti and take a mini-mester of a silly class before nursing school... IF I got accepted, IF I could somehow indicate that I was going to take this class...
It was all very complicated. And I was very dissapointed. This meant that it was very possible that after May 23 I had ZERO plans, I wouldn't be able to be roommies with my long-time roomie and best friend as she planned her beautiful wedding, I wouldn't be able to be in College Station with many of my other friends. I would have no job. I would have no future. etc etc etc.
This led to me considering what God was doing in this situation. He knew before the foundations of the world that I would be having this crisis at this time. He planned for it to happen. He was going to use it for His glory. Maybe I should be considering what He was trying to say. Was it, "Nursing school is not your thing." or, "Try again later." or, "You should look into so-and-so career." or, "Just trust me.... And for heaven's sake please stop freaking out about everything, you psycho!"
I went to bed feeling somewhat dissapointed, but knowing it would work out in the long run.
Ok, back to today...
Today, I got a text from my mom saying, "Your speech class fulfills the requirement for English that you are missing so you are good!!" WHOOP!!!! Praise the Lord!
I had a few follow up questions, so I decided to call the school myself just to be absolutely sure. I'll paraphrase our conversation... "Yes, she is correct. You are all set on prerequisites. And because your mom told me that your iternet is sketchy I went ahead and filled out the rest of your prerequisites on the form and submitted the application for you. So you are all set and don't have to worry about a thing!" (I LOVE this girl! I say girl because she must be young and hip-happenin' to say 'sketchy'.)
God had it all worked out. There was no reason whatsoever to panic. There never is. God is God and He is good! This was a very small thing, but it reminded me of how Faithful He is.
Taste and see that the Lord is good! Psalm 34:8
2.22.2011
The Never Ending Rollercoaster...
Matthew 6: 25-27;33-34... 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ...33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Romans 8:28 " 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Meditating on these verses today. And trying not to worry. He knows my future. Even when it feels like a never-ending bad roller coaster.
Romans 8:28 " 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Meditating on these verses today. And trying not to worry. He knows my future. Even when it feels like a never-ending bad roller coaster.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
