When the going gets tough, the tough do what??

I’ve been asking myself this question a lot lately and some days, I have different answers than others (leave, give up, cry, yell and just be faithful). These are just a few of the myriad of emotions I feel all the time; I don’t think it helps being 7 1/2 months pregnant! But lately I have been trying to analyze the biblical answer to this question. When faced with trial after trial after trial, how did some of the people in the bible respond to God. There are many examples we can draw from: Moses, Job, and Elijah are just to name a few. In the face of suffering, I think we can choose 3 things: we can reject God, we can harden our hearts toward Him or we can be broken by Him.

God doesn’t do these things because He is mean or unfair. On the contrary, I think it is because He wants us to change and He wants to use this experience for our growth and renewal. So now that really has me thinking, what is God’s plan for Haiti? What is the purpose of all this suffering? I don’t know.. I don’t have the answers but I do have a choice in how I respond to the events taking place here. I can’t begin to explain to you how frustrating, and heartbreaking it is for me to watch Haiti be afflicted by cholera, and have the election be called a fraud. All this in the aftermath of an earthquake! But I know I won’t reject God, because He has already won that battle with me. I pray that my heart will not be hardened towards Him, so that leaves the only option of Him breaking me and Haiti and using this experience to change us and shape us for the better. This is not easy and it is painful but I’ve already seen the transforming powers of God in my life and I pray that I will see them in Haiti as well.

Giving thanks to the Lord

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you all! Recently we celebrated Canadian thanksgiving here in Haiti with fellow Canadians and Americans (they just wanted to get in on the food). Despite the earthquake and all the changes we've seen in Haiti, we have a lot to be thankful for. \

First off, for us personally, Diego and I have been blessed with the opportunity to start a family. We are looking forward with much anticipation the birth of our baby girl in January 2011. I can't wait to be a mom and I know Diego is really excited about being a father. Also, I'm so proud of Diego and the way he responded after the earthquake. He had lost his job shortly before the earthquake but after Jan.12, he was ready and willing to help out where he could, volunteering with our mission until they hired him at the beginning of Feb. Now he is a changed man, I see him devoting so much time and effort to the work being done with CRWRC in Leogane, it makes me proud that he is so dedicated to his work.

Second, for the country of Haiti, I am thankful that so many volunteers and organizations have come to help out and begin to restore Haiti to what it was before the earthquake. I am thankful for new opportunities to share the gospel with those who've never heard it. Also, I am thrilled at the opportunities our ministry has had to grow and reach almost 3,000 bible study students. People are more and more thirsty for God's word and want to learn and apply it to their lives. I am thankful too for the possibility of a big change in the way Haiti is run. There is an upcoming election in November and we pray that God will choose His leader and Haiti will be able to take a turn for the better in terms of administration of the country.

Please continue to pray for us and Haiti as it is a turbulent time.

New additions to the family

Well we recently have grown our family to include 2 german shepherd-rottweiler puppies and 2 new kittens. It makes life very exciting at my house! We originally thought about acquiring some good dogs to act as security for our home in Haiti. Now as you can see in the pictures, these little guys aren't protecting anyone just yet! However, they will get big and we'll train them to be guard dogs. They are so much fun. But, you know what they say about puppies.. THEY ARE LOTS OF WORK. This is proving to be very accurate but it is good practice for growing our family.
Cats also have a purpose in Haiti, not for security obviously. However, they play an important role in keeping out unwanted rodents, like race mice and even lizards. So I guess in a way, they do protect us from having to deal with those rodents ourselves! There's always lots of excitement at our house with 2 puppies and 2 kittens and we look forward to watching them grow and protect us in many ways.

Road to Recovery

Recently, CRWRC celebrated a monumental event of their work in 5 communities in the area of Leogane (the hardest hit area of the earthquake) They were able to give out the certificates of ownership for the new houses that they have built for those people who lost theirs during the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010. There were over 160 people in attendance, including dignitaries, spiritual leaders, community-based organizations, community members and key players that helped make these housing gifts possible. There were some incredible testimonies from the community members who received their ownership certificates that day. An elderly lady could not stop the tears when she exclaimed that she didn't have to be victim to the rain any longer. All the community members shared stories of how CRWRC's work in their communities has changed things for the better. I felt very proud that my husband and his team had played a significant role in accomplishing the work in these communities and changing these people's lives after the earthquake.

Currently CRWRC has built over 300 houses and plans to build 1,200. The director of Disaster Relief, Wayne de Jong had some very valuable words to share with the community members. He said "CRWRC feels deeply honored that we have the opportunity to serve God and serve you in this amazing way" I give thanks to God for this example of servant-leadership and I look forward to seeing many more joyful moments as CRWRC continues to serve and provide housing in their communities.

Girl Power

I was blessed to be apart of the third annual woman's conference of the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti. Despite the difficulties this year posed, the women were still dedicated to making this event happen to inspire and teach their fellow sisters in Christ for 1 weekend. Myself along with 3 other women were the speakers during this weekend and we addressed the topics of the woman's role in her marriage, as a mother as well as her responsibility in the community all from a Christian perspective.

This weekend was a time of remembering too. Women shared their testimonies of how they experienced the earthquake, what they saw and how they dealt with their friends and family who lost people dear to them. One women shared her experiences working as a nurse in the General Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince. She painted a truly disturbed picture of death and suffering and I can only imagine the distress that experience still brings her to this day.

The women particularly loved the presentation done by my colleague Marguelita Petion. She taught them a very challenging song and shared with them how as Christian women they can cultivate good relationships with their husbands which will then affect how they raise their children. She used all sorts of examples that apply directly to Haitian culture and made everyone laugh. It was really good.

Even though the weekend was a lot of work and I did complain some about it :) God used it to bless me incredibly and I will never forget all the laughs and fun we had.