"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree..." Ps 92:12a

While we don't tend to relish adversity, I am discovering that it is through it that we draw closer to God.

Today at the breakfast table Dave G. told us that a palm tree will grow more during a single hurricane than during five years of good weather. When he asked me what then did I think of Ps 92:12a, I responded: "It's in the times of adversity that we grow the most."

I am currently reading 'In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day' by Mark Batterson (highly recommend it). One of the things he says about adversity is this:

"Adversity can produce an increased capacity to serve God."

How true is that? He goes on to say it in a different way: "If you don't have any problems, you don't have any potential. Here's why: Your ability to help others heal is limited to where you've been wounded."

He wraps up the chapter by talking about the rebuilding of a broken bone, and how once a bone is broken it is remade stronger than before. He says: "...God breaks us where we need to be broken...He does it to remodel us into His image. And once we heal, we end up stronger than we were to begin with."

He ends the chapter by simply asking: "Where have you been broken? What adverse circumstances are you facing? Do you have any overwhelming problems? ... Maybe God is increasing your capacity via adversity."

 Hallelujah! What a thought! The pain, and hurt, and adversity can be redeemed! HE can redeem it! He WILL redeem it! The tough times that we go through are NOT in vain.

Today as I sat in a little rented house and listened to Haitians pour out their hearts to God - I was moved to tears. I was finally where He'd told me to go. I may not understand the Creole yet, but the joy of the LORD was so evident in their singing and on their faces.

During a time of prayer (everyone prays out loud at the same time - I've done this in prayer groups at PCC and yes, it's a little different and a little strange at first - but I do like it), I was able to pour out my heart to God. Some things that had really been bothering me - just lay them out, cry, ask for forgiveness, surrounded by others doing exactly the same thing...knowing I wasn't alone. Hearing them pray around me, all of us lifting up our own problems to God the Father - it was beautiful. Just beautiful. Later we had a time of quietude to just listen. To 'be still and know that I am God.' To just quietly nestle in the Father's arms. And all of this before the sermon!

Which was in and of itself amazing! The passage was on the Prodigal Son. When the pastor got done reading the passage, everyone held hands and repeated after him: "However far away you'be gone from God - come back." Wow.

Some sermon notes: (bear with me ;D)

It doesn't matter how much time it's been since you left your father's house - you can always go back. Jesus gave us this to show us how His Father is...No matter the distance between you and the Father you can always come back. He's not going to refuse you. He's got two arms open wide for you. He created you...Analyze where this man was - with the pigs. And those who watched pigs were seen as heathen because pigs were unclean. He'd left the straight and narrow path and was living with the heathen. Imagine the sins he'd commited - how far he'd gone from God. That's like us, Jesus is waiting for us. Whenever we decide to come back to Him, He's waiting for us. No matter what level of sin you've got yourself in - whatver state you're in today He wants to wash you. (Thanks to Dave for translating - haha - my Creole's not that good yet ;D)

There was more - and it too was good - but I'm afaid I'll bore you - it's nothing I've not heard before but today it struck a deep cord within me. And I wanted to share it with you.

I know someone who has caused a lot of grief to her parents through the poor choices she's made and yet they keep forgiving her and taking her back - I've watched as they've loved on her only to have her hurt them again and again- I've not been able to understand it - today I think I caught a glimpse of it - they do it because they love her. Just as God loves us as our Father - so they love her because she is their child - I'm not married (yet ;)) and don't have children of my own but how great must that love be? and how much more so from the very Being who is Love itself? I stand amazed...and marvel...and sing: "how great is the love the Father has lavished upon us - that we should be called sons and daughters of God?" (Speechless by Steven Curtis Chapman)

To Cap and back

Well the last week and a half has been filled with interesting things!

I'll try to keep it brief :) but interesting....

As I type this we are about to have a storm here at the Villa! Yay - we desperately need the rain! And we ARE getting it! Mezami (oh my goodness!) Talk about ‘chucking it down”! it’s coming down by the bucket loads!

Anyway – back to the past week and a half – Marilyn Graffenburger and I had an early  flight out of Port on Saturday (7/28) - when we got to Cap-Haitien we were met at the airport by Dave (Graffenberger) and Carol (Folkeringa) - Dave and Marilyn headed into town for a relaxing breakfast while Carol took me SHOPPING!!!! Wow - so many things that I never knew you could get in Haiti - the prices are good too - a little high perhaps but as Carol said, once you figure in shipping and Customs it's cheaper to just get it here. After our shopping trip we returned to Campus and I  met Erica Thompson at the house we will be sharing once I return in January. She teaches at Cowman International School and I think we will get along...she has a cat - Adidas - who doesn't like to be petted unless he deems it time, and a dog Chloe - who is 6 months old and still very much a puppy - unfortunately Chloe had gotten out of the yard just before I arrived and been wreaking havoc by killing chickens...

Sunday: 

Prudence (dear friend and fellow coworker) took me to a large church in town with her son - Patrick -  who goes to LU and knows my sister, Tiffany; daughter - Miriam; Mother; and three little children she has adopted - two boys and a girl about 3,4 and 5. The church service lasted from 10:00am til 12:00pm - with a lot of singing, praising the Lord, a few announcements and a half hour sermon - of which I only understood the smallest amount. Prudence had bought me a Haitian song book - the whole country uses the same one - and so was able to follow along. After church she took me to her home - a big house even for American standards - and told me that I was welcome and could come any time and that I must think of it as my own :D Dinner was delicious - Haitian rice and beans, chicken, a hot pasta-tomato-y dish, coleslaw, with peach juice to drink. When I returned to the Compound I took a nap - seems like I did that just about everyday as I wasn't sleeping well at night - the inverter for Erica's house wasn't working...they'd had it sent to the Dominican Republic for repairs but it still wasn't working by the time I left today. 

Monday: 

It was a national holiday so I worked with Bud and Rick - the maintenance guys...Was shown how to fix screens for Dave and Marilyn's 'house' by Valerie and his (yes, his) brother - we did two and half before we ran out of screen - but Rick saved the day by going into town and finding a shop that was open was able to get more :D So we finished that up, did a few odd jobs and before I knew it it was time for dinner - I'd been at least ten minutes late for lunch I'd been so enthralled with using the staple gun on that screen! I tell you what! Also visited the Clinic!!!! Saw my old friends! I'm so excited to be working with them again!

Tuesday: 

Cindy and I played hostess. So we went to a house that will very soon (Lord willing) have some new missionaries in it and did a quick inventory of the kitchen utensils (minus the dead rat  - we did let Rick know of this problem - we had no idea where it was but we could smell it - he took care of it :D) then into the bedrooms for sheet checks, and looking in the cupboards for how many more we needed as well as towels. What needed to be fixed/repaired, etc. Then back to the Holiday House (guest house) to go through ALL of their linens and towels and sorted the good from the bad and the ugly! Sorting included finding all the sizes: twin, double, king, queen and keeping them separate from one another; and making a pile of sheets to give away and a pile to make into rags. After we sorted them we put sets together - fitted with flat and pillowcase - this was fun as some of them didn't have set matches so we got to pair as we saw fit! Took a break at one point and headed over to another missionary's house to collect her old towels and sheets and do inventory for her. That done we took a look at my room to see what ideas we could possibly come up with on desk/dresser/bed(s). Back to the Holiday House for more sorting before refolding and putting everything back away nicely and neatly and making deliveries to the houses with loads of sheets - the one house has 6 beds so that's 12 sets of sheets; the Holiday House has 8 so that's 16 sets, and the last house has 2 so that's 4 sets! Cindy amazed me with her continued work ethic I was worn out by lunch time and just wanted to SIT DOWN! She let me take a few breaks and some of the stuff we did wasn't mandatory to stand up for :D thankfully!

Wednesday:

Into town with Olin (one of our trusted Haitian 'gophers' - he does mail, shopping, car registrations, banks - just to name a few! :D) We got to the bank before it was too busy and waited about a 1/2 hour only to discover I needed my passport as the color copies and driver's license I'd brought with me would NOT suffice! We continued into town on our mission to get inverter batteries - found 6 for more than we expected but I had some extra money with me so was able to help out. On the way home stopped at the Total convenience store for dog food and t.p. of which only dog food was to be found. So back to the Compound for my passport and upon sallying forth once again we were able without too much delay able to get the bank to let me open an account - step on of securing a visa. We went back into town to a few little hole in the walls where Olin managed to find t.p. at a good price :D Then out to the Emmaus Seminary to talk to Matt Ayars about learning Kreyol - had a few questions and was good to meet him and Stacey 'officially' as well as Sam and Cammie Aberle. Back with the Aberle's for prayer meeting - heard some amazing testimonies! Cammie'd had the opportunity to speak on three different occasions to a village where we'd never been before - shared her life testimony to the people there and each time they asked her to come back to share with others - she said it was the strangest thing that's ever happened! Despite a third degree burn to the leg Sam had been kept relatively safe when his motorbike flipped over - his young son Gideon was unharmed. Sophie Ayars, just 14 months, was playing with the dog a few days earlier and had gotten knocked in the head when the dog became disgruntled with her. The Ayars were able to get a hold of their pediatrician in the States who recommended patching the wound up with superglue - she was doing great when I saw her, none the worse for wear and does not appear to be traumatized by the event - Stacey said she was trying to give the dog a hug just hours after the incident.  

Thursday: 

I need to look at my journal - ha! I can't remember what I did on Thursday - aaaaaahhhh! Oh that's right! I worked in the Office and helped Cindy with an alphabetizing project for hard-copy back ups for Starfish kids in the morning - had a nice system and got it all down by noon - she was happily surprised :D and then in the afternoon I worked for Carol pulling previously filed 'voucher's' so that she would be able to settle accounts with Stacey at the Seminary next week! I also visited the Clinic at lunch time - didn't want to spend too much time there in case I got put to work and wasn't able to leave! Step 3 for visa - got a Haitian doctor's physician's 'all clear' from Dr. Rodney. 

Friday:

Marilyn and I were supposed to fly back to Port-au-Prince - but I couldn't go without getting an 'atestassion' from the bank - saying that I had indeed opened an account with them - step two of getting a visa. They insisted they needed 72 hours. I could come back in the morning. Dave explained that I had a 12:30 flight that very afternoon but to no advantage. We drove into town - Dave changed my flight to Tuesday at 12:30pm and off we went to get Marilyn at least to the airport on time :D We made it from downtown Cap to the airport in TEN minutes - this was unbelievable to Dave who said he'd never seen the roads so clear! Because the bank needed my signature and my passport I couldn't leave - unless I wanted to make a later trip back? but that would cost me $200 and it didn't cost anything to change the ticket...so change it we did! Back at the H.H. Dave and I had lunch and then I managed to get online - I spent most of the afternoon attempting (with no success) to get minutes added to my new phone - the phone's here have SIM cards (like in Europe) and so you can talk/text as long as you have money on it. I finally got too tired of trying and went over to the Office where Patrick - one of the guy's who works with Carol told me his sister could put minutes on for me - so I paid him and it wasn't long before I had a text message saying I had money :D 

Saturday:

I worked all day with a couple of the other missionaries on a project they've got going on. Long day, lots of hard work! I'm not at liberty to say much more than that at the moment. 

Sunday: Erica took me to a little church out, way, out where she normally goes - one of her best friends, Leonie, her family live right next to the church - they are the one's who gave her Chloe and in fact the mother had just had another litter - so cute! The church service didn't seem as long? But Erica was able to translate for me so I actually knew what was being said. The Sunday School teacher spoke slower and more distinctly than the pastor - I was able to understand a little more of what he was saying. After church, Erica and I and some other ladies from the church did visitation to two houses at the other end of the village - we sang and prayed together with two who weren't able to come - one an elderly gentleman who'd had a stroke some years ago, and the other a lady who was having problems with side pain/confusion a few days earlier and still felt a little weak. Once we walked back we visited with Leonie's mom and brother for a bit, saw the puppies again and then were on our way back home. We were delayed slightly by a flatbed semi-trying to deliver huge cement round things (not sure what they were?) and who had gotten stuck on a turn in the road and then a dip in the road - eventually he managed to back up and try again and got out of the way - there was a steep ravine on our side so there was no going around him -  we just had to wait it out! We stopped at the Compound for a pit-stop and to grab some money before heading to The Christophe for dinner - and excellent hotel/restaurant in town. Yes, I had the Kreyol Goat, yes I enjoyed it immensely! Saw an old friend of the family while there -  his kids and I were at school together - his oldest was in my younger brother's class - she of course now has just graduated from College and is living in the States - I had some pictures of my family with me I was able to share with him! Seeing as we've all changed so much since he knew us! Back home I was waiting on a phone call from another missionary which never came - I'd only meant to lay down for a minute...at 3:00pm - when I woke up it was 7:30pm!!! *groan* - the power goes out at 9 and then I'll just lay here again miserable b/c there's no fan....Erica saved the day (or the night) by suggesting we watch something...I introduced her to the old Ronald Howard Sherlock Holmes and then when the power DID go off we stayed up til 11 watching a movie on my laptop :D So the night wasn't too bad at all :D

Monday: 

Enjoyed my last day on the Compound...off of it ;) Olin and I went into town for my atestassion from the bank - and got it with minimal problems - although it did cost an awful lot - $53.66 - just for a piece of paper to say I'd opened an account? And I'd already paid money to open the account to start with! Could've been worse, I know...but when the last missionaries who had done it said it only cost $12.20? it's a bit of a shock! Once we got down with that Olin had another errand to run - something to do with the registration of one of the vehicles - at the one government building when we walked in I could tell a couple of the younger guys were commenting about me...later Olin had to go into an office to complete some work - I was waiting in the Lobby catching up on my journal when he called to me - uhho - sure enough those guys were in the office and wanted to be 'friends' with me? Olin speaks very broken English and they guys only spoke Kreyol - I know a little bit of conversational Kreyol but didn't feel comfortable really talking with them? I mean really! Olin calls me in and says: "Talk with them. They want to make friends with you. Go. talk." Ok? um...about what? and be friends? oook, but not sure how that works...found out they wanted my phone number...ahhhh...yeah - I don't think - so...sorry. There was the usual barrage of questions to answer: was I married? did I have a boyfriend? how long had I been in Haiti? How long was I going to be here? Did I want to marry an American? or a Haitian? or did it matter? - once again all of this with Olin speaking very minimal English and me struggling along in my Kreyol ...back to the Compound for lunch - although it seemed like we'd been out for so much more than just the morning - so much had happened. Went back to the clinic to get a second 'all clear' from Dr. Rodney as the first one didn't have my blood type on it! While I was there Miss Ketley - whom I knew from '07 called me 'Ma Carl' (which was what my Mom was called - married woman are called "Ma Whatever-their-husbands-first-name-is" I told her she couldn't call me Ma Carl as that was Mom - maybe she could call me Ti Ma Carl - Little Ma Carl ;) She seemed to think it was a good idea ;D Spent the afternoon with Erica - we watched another Sherlock Holmes (or two ;D - actually as the power had gone out on Sunday night before we'd finished one of the shows - we finished that first and then watched a second.)

Tuesday:

Flight wasn't until 12:30pm but as Missionary Flights International (MFI) was due in at 10:00 - Olin and I went to the airport at 9:20 - I was checked in by 9:30 and then just got to hurry up and wait - I had my nook with me so continued reading Gulliver's Travels - interesting story - heard references to it/about it - but this is my first time reading it - "It's alright." Flight was on time and took off on time - was good - a little bit of disturbance as we flew through some clouds - but a good flight all in all. Julma was there to pick me up, I didn't have to wait too long for my bag and flying in domestic is completely different than the other - and much, much less chaotic! Once I got my bag we were on our way - we had to make one stop at the Mitsubishi repair place to pick up a part for one of the cars - initially it was going to be more expensive then we'd anticipated - but Julma had 'connections' and was able to get the price down! Onto the Villa - through over crowded streets and one rather harrowing intersection i.e. one big mess! Marilyn was in her office when I arrived and Adrex - one of the guys here had gone in to say we had a guest with problem? when she saw me she smiled and asked in Kreyol what my problem was? I replied in like manner that I needed a key! Once I got in my room I was told leftover lunch was in the kitchen - good! I was famished - hadn't eaten since breakfast at 7:00am and it was now 3:00pm! After lunch I got to employ a little bit of nursing - one of the workers had fallen and hurt her knee the week before - the doctor had wrapped it and given her some pain meds but that was all...I unwrapped it and she showed me where it hurt. She said she'd not put ice on it as it itched...but she'd been putting it on top of the bandage. She'd not been able to wash it in that week, so I had a basin of water ordered (i.e. Marilyn asked one of the other workers to bring some) and then a washcloth and some soap - I washed her foot, calf, knee, and just above the knee...we then got some ice and had her sit with her leg propped on a chair with the ice under the knee joint - I told her to ice it for 10-15 mins; to try to keep off it if possible (not really as she lives on a mountain) she does have one crutch though and told me she could get a hold of a second one. I went back to my room to upload pics on facebook, and then just before dinner I came back and rewrapped the leg - she said it felt better and kept thanking me for helping her. Then it was back to the room to try and blog and figure out how to let those who don't have facebook see pics...think I'm gonna go with shutterfly? we'll see how that works.

Well the storm's abated - but it was pretty bad there for awhile (yay!) I did go out and sit by the pool just to watch it and then out on my balcony - beautiful - most of this I wrote in the dark with the computer unplugged. Sounded like we were right in the middle of it - with huge thunderclaps and everything!

Well it is now 9:10pm and this little nurse is tuckered out ;)

Ok http://renewhaitipics.shutterfly.com/ will take you to pics - for those of you who don't have fb :D Enjoy!