Julianna's 1st birthday

Last weekend, we were able to celebrate with many of our family and friends in Haiti, Julianna's 1st birthday. One of the best memories was a game we played with the kids using a pinata. What fun! Each child from 2 to 8 years old took a turn trying to beat the pinata and cause it to break open and spill the candy. We had fun blind-folding some of the older participants and watching them swing at air, missing the pinata entirely. Finally it took the eldest boy a good number of strong swings before the pinata burst open spilling candy for all the children to run and collect. We thank God for our little girl. She is growing up so fast! Thanks to all our friends and family too who shared in this special day with us.

My God-Mother experience

Recently I had the opportunity to be a god-mother to my sister-in-law Guerdie as she prepared to get married at the end of December. In Haitian culture, the god-mother is an important role. You actually sit with the married couple during the entire ceremony and it is considered a role of spiritual wisdom and guidance for the couple. I was very flattered and pleased to do this for Diego's sister. Haitian weddings are an entirely different breed than North American ones. I recently stood up for my brother as well in his wedding last October and I can't help laughing at some of the huge differences that presented themselves between the 2 ceremonies.

1. Lateness is very common in Haitian weddings. Guerdie's wedding started 2.5 hours late! A good Canadian friend of mine shared that if that had happened in NA, many people would have left the wedding and she is probably right.

2. The bridal party is 2 or 3 times the size of NA bridal parties. Haitian bridal parties often have many different roles that I never knew existed, such as King, Queen, Princess, and Announcer. I think Guerdie's wedding party had over 20 people. No wonder we were late!

3. The reception is another huge difference between cultures. In NA cultures, the meal is usually the start of the festivities and the night is followed by speeches and dancing. In Haitian culture, everything happens before the food, because once the food is distributed the party is done and people go home. Another important difference is that there is no dancing in Protestant weddings in Haiti.. I'm not exactly sure why.

However, despite all the differences, there is still the incredible moment when the Pastor/Officiator pronounces the couple married, they kiss and you see first-hand this amazing joy on their faces. Thank you to my brother, Geoff and his wife Julie and my sister-in-law, Guerdie and her husband Delince for allowing me to be apart of that special moment. Blessings to you as you start your married life together.

Best Christmas Gift Ever

Today I received one of the best Christmas gifts I can ever recall. A dear friend of mine told me a story where a life was impacted and Christmas cheer was spread to a family who couldn't make ends meet this Christmas . I feel blessed to have had this story shared with me! Sorry for the lack of details but I don't want to give anything away for my friend who heard this story in a confidential manner. Just use your imagination!

If you know of stories where our Lord has touched someone's life, PLEASE SHARE IT. We need to hear these stories to be encouraged of the work our GOD is doing in so many situations.

I pray that this year you may receive the treasured gift of that warm fuzzy feeling when you have true joy.. The joy that comes from our knowing our Saviour.. Joy to the World!

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

Our work bearing fruit

I have to say in Haiti you have to be prepared for all things for every day is an adventure. I was busily working and my colleague Magguy popped in the office to say that 1 of our volunteers was here with his "foreign" wife and mother-in-law. Now the first thought that ran through my head was, "are they foreign because this the first time they've visited our office?". It never occurred to me that she meant foreigner, meaning blanc.. So I come out of my office and am very surprised to meet 2 Americans from Kentucky. It turns out that one of our volunteers who corrects bible study lessons for us is married to an American who he met here on short-term missions. Unfortunately, his mother-in-law was in a bit of rough shape since she had taken public transportation to get to our office and passed out from the heat, or crowds of people.. we're not exactly sure. So I offered to give them a ride back to their hotel. On the way back, my volunteer Denis Jean Rodolph was telling me how much he loved the bible study program and how he wanted to start an office in the USA when he immigrates there. He told me how much the lessons changed the way he read the bible and his wife even told me that he had said that everyone needed these lessons. I was very pleasantly surprised. It is so great to hear when God uses the work you are doing to bear fruit in someone's life.
Sorry i didn't think to get a picture of Denis with his wife until later so its just him.

Spiritual Rollercoaster

I feel as if over the last 3 months I have been on a spiritual roller-coaster, sometimes experiencing amazing highs and sometimes realizing heart-breaking lows. My time visiting churches and sharing about the work we do in Haiti was a huge high. I love to share with people about what it is like to live and do ministry in Haiti. However, being back here and encountering so many challenges and difficulties in my first month leaves my mind reeling and wondering where my spiritual highs went. But maybe, I think God is trying to teach me something. Trials are about growth and maybe I need to do some stretching and be stretched. I remember the Psalms, David’s Psalms where he cries out to God, asking are You there? How long will I have to endure this? But in the end, David relents his soul to the Lord and says I trust in you. Even though things are hard, and life is difficult I trust in the unfailing love and salvation of my God. I pray that God will use this time to break me and teach me in order that I may grow and bear His fruit.

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.