I watched nervously as the airline attendants wrapped a sticker on my suitcase handles and casually tossed the two bags holding all my possessions for one year onto a conveyor belt.  What am I getting myself into?  I tried to push the thoughts away as my bags moved out of sight. 

That day, exactly one year ago today, I moved to Haiti to start my first year as a Global Partners Go-NET missionary.  I had never been to this country before, and had only found out 6 weeks earlier that I would be serving there.  I really didn’t know what to expect.  

But a lot can happen in a year.  I spent my first few months in country studying Creole. 100 words a week for 11 weeks was the pace I picked.  In the mean time I fumbled around trying to make friends and figure out that crazy guesthouse on La Gonave.  

It seems funny to me now, the way I wrote phrases on note cards and stumbled through my explanations to the cooks.  I vividly remember parroting the phrase “Yo pap manje jis set er” (they won’t eat until 7:00) making long pauses between each word, the dear cooks just smiling at me.  Now I can talk to those ladies for fifteen minutes about their families before even mentioning what’s for breakfast. 

 Around the same time, I also started reading everything I could about TESOL.  I’d sit for hours in my house studying textbooks and wondering how in the world I would be ready to teach a class by September.  But when September came, so did the teaching skills.  Okay it wasn’t that easy.

 It took me about 4 to 6 hours to get ready for my two one and a half hour classes.  In mid October I finalized my first ever syllabus and spent my first semester writing a research writing curriculum for fourth level English students.  Meanwhile I did everything short of singing and dancing to engage my more difficult third level students. 

 When December came and classes ended, I left for the US a more confident teacher.  During my break I dreamt about the future of the English program.  How can I take these students from conversational English to college prep?  When will we be ready for the university? 

 On January 12^th, along with everything else, however, these dreams had to be dropped.  In response to the earthquake, our mission then turned its focus to disaster relief and making me a full time guesthouse manager and coordinator.  The last four months in Haiti were very difficult.  We saw, heard, and experienced new levels of devastation amongst our friends, and grieved not only the loss of life but the temporary loss of our dreams. 

 Two weeks ago, I watched them slap stickers on my bag and throw it in a pile at the Port Au Prince Airport.  I didn’t care too much if it made it to America or not.  I was more concerned about my own time in the States.  How long will I be away from Haiti?  Though I really needed the rest, I still couldn’t bear the thought of being gone for more than a couple of months. 

 This July, if all goes well with fundraising, I will return to Haiti to resume my work with the English program for one more year.  

As part of the countries reconstruction effort a post-earthquake action plan has been created by the government.  This document addresses the needs that must be met inorder for the country to move forward.

 The complete text of plan can be found here.

Last night as I climbed in to bed I commented to Robin, it feels good to be in our own bed in our own house for the first time in 5 months.   Then the question came, “Why are we doing this?”   Robin was not happy with that question and neither was I, but many times that is the burning question that we are asked by good friends, family and strangers alike.  The answer is complex yet simple.  It has two parts that are related but different.  First is the call.  The call of God to do something uncomfortable and sometimes out of character, but is always where we are the most content and happy.   The call of God is not about us it is about doing God’s plan and seeing how we fit into that plan.  God’s call is the rock that keeps you sure when everything around you is uncertain.  It is the part with a promise, Matthew 28:20 “I am with you always.”  God is with us because He has called us.  God gives us strength because He has called us.  God gives us peace and safety because He has called us.  God gives us wisdom because He has called us.  The second part is the need.  Haiti is poor and in desperate need, that was before the earthquake that shattered the country and killed around 260,000 people.  The need is not only desperate but complex.  Right now, for many the focus is rebuilding, as it should be, but we cannot forget that need existed before the earthquake.  The need for healthcare, the need for jobs, the need for education, the need for food, the need for clean salt free water, and the list goes on.  I find myself sitting on an Island off of the main Island of Haiti.  It is called La Gonave.  It is where for the last 50 years the government has ignored except to send unwanted people.  It is an Island of 300 square miles and a population of 160,000 people.  The influx of people post earthquake has made it almost famine conditions.  There are villages on this Island that are nearly unreachable do to the lack of roads.  There are villages here that the monthly income is less than 5 dollars per person.  This is where I sit and where God has called us.  How do we help?  How can we make a difference?  Again the answer is simple but complex.  Through the implementation of CHE or Community Health Evangelism we intend to touch every community and every life on this Island.  CHE is a comprehensive development plan that uses local people and local resources to transform lives and communities.  In two weeks we plan on starting our first Trainer of Trainers class.  This is the beginning to change.

Pray for us as God uses us in this place of need.  Remember us in your financial gifts because you are the ones that make it possible for us to be here and do this work.

Lowell

This post was written by Robin Adams.  She, her husband Lowel, son Lance, and daughters Cassie and Madeline have come to Haiti to serve as missionaries for four years.  We’re very excited to have them on the field.

How we are doing

We are all getting healthy from our colds and sleeping well at night in front of our fans.  Maddie is making friends with everyone.  Cassie is a great helper in the kitchen and I am so proud of her desire to be helpful.  Lowell is dreaming and scheming about where to begin… I am just a little overwhelmed with the task ahead of helping at the guest house and not being able to speak to the help.  Lance has been receiving his upcoming to do list with a smile and a groan- painting, gardening, computer work, moving furniture… whatever his mom can dream up.  Life is good because God is good and he continues to pour out his peace and confirmation of his plan for our life.

Feelings

The sights and sounds of people everywhere and the bright color combined with not knowing what is being said should leave one overwhelmed, yet I find myself compelled to pray for individuals as we drive by.  From the young men who look bored, the young girls alone on the streets, the mothers with babies, the pregnant teens, the old man with one leg and the group of boys waiting to clean our windows for change.  There was not just one of each of these but it is repeated mile after bumpy mile. 

We passed army trucks, container trucks- that we guessed about what was inside them, vehicles from many well know international groups could be counted along the way.    I found myself focusing on these unimportant, yet interesting things so that I would not have to really think about what it must have been like when the buildings around us first fell.   But I couldn’t stop myself from looking and feeling the pain of knowing so many lives… gone.  It is about 2 months after the quake and people are going about their daily lives, they have to because they are alive and that is what life does.   I can’t find the right words to tell you the sorrow that I feel as I think about their broken hearts and as I think about those who never had a chance to know my good, loving and merciful God.  

Pray that we will quickly learn the language and that our lives will make a difference.  I can hardly type with the lump in my throat and the tears in my eyes as I struggle to help you know the desire God has placed in my heart to not just bring them to him to see the change that he desires for their lives.

This post was written by Eli Thede, twelve-year-old son of missionaries Cory and Chris Thede.  Eli has spent most of his life Haiti.

The earthquake that hit Haiti was caused by the movement of the geological plates. One plate goes under another and causes pressure that is released by an earthquake.

 In Haiti the earthquake caused a lot of damage. When it struck buildings collapsed, and the walls of other buildings rocked so that they flung heavy bricks at anyone that was in the buildings.

 Many people were doing normal day things one-second, and were in heaven, or hell the next. People that weren’t killed, but trapped were found and saved, or died of starvation and thirst. Others that were safe lost family, friends, limbs, homes, and dreams.

They had food shortages. A jail fell freeing 2,000 killers. For a month or two help will come, but then people will hear less about it, and then they will forget about it, and the proud country of Haiti will be broken and alone.

 It will take years for the people to recover, and will this help the people? Some people have come to Christ and know about the hope, this is the good thing. People will be more for a God that will help them, I hope that we can help more people think that going to Jesus is the best way out, not demons, and spirits. We can help them, or we can make them feel bad about it all.

 Eli