Once again we have to apologize for not being very consistent with our blog, it's always on our "to-do" list but it usually never gets done ... so since it's Sunday evening and it's only 7 and we still have electricity, which is a pretty amazing thing, I'd thought I'd do a little update.
First I'd better start off with Natalie, we tried to put a prayer request on for her about a week ago but as soon as I was done typing it the internet disconnected and I lost it then the next time I tried to put an update on about it we lost electricity when I was half way through... so once again I lost it... anyway that's not the important part. We would like you to remember in your prayers Andrew and Natalie Vanderheide and their three girls, Kirilee, Shiana and Ashlyn. Andrew and Nat and family are missionaries in PNG and work alongside Ian and Nad, currently they are on the other side of the island finishing up there three month training course. Just as the course was finishing Natalie got quite sick and soon found out that she had malaria, Her temperature was sky high and she had the chills and other symptoms of malaria. This past week she has been up and down but malaria can be really hard on your body. They were supposed to head home on Monday but due to car trouble and Nat being sick as far as we have been updated they are still in Madang. Please pray for strength for the famiy and especially healing for Nat and just a smooth ride home as it is a five hour drive and the roads aren't exactly smooth.
There was also a little boy that Coram Deo helped this past week that we ask you to pray for as well. His name is Angelo and I believe that he is six years old and Karen helped him to get his paperwork and arrange his flights so he could go to Ohio to get a brain tumour operated on. Unfortunatly on his way from Miami to Washington he stopped breathing and the flight had to make an emergence stopover in South Carolina. At the hospital there they put a shunt in to relieve the pressure in the brain and air ambulanced him over to Ohio. He is now with his host family in Ohio and preparing for his surgery tomorrow, the tumor is a big tumour and has caused a little bit of brain damage they believe. The child is an inspiration though, he wasnt' scared at all to leave Haiti, he told his mom that he was going to the states to get his head fixed and then he would be back. The night before he left he offered to pray and recited Psalm 23 off by heart. And when he awoke in Carolina he was a bit upset and told the nursing staff there that if they didn't fly him home he was going to walk home because he wanted to see his mother. Please pray for healing for him and also pray for his mother who is left behind in Haiti.
Things have been going well here, it's hard to believe it's been five weeks already! We caught the sourit (mouse) in our room so that was a happy day, I'm not sure if I can post pictures of dead mice or if the mice rights people will come after me.... but so far so good in our room, I haven't seen any other evidence of our nasty neighbours!
Randy and I went away for the weekend, we had a little getaway to Global Outreach which is about an hour out of Port-au-Prince in the province, the people that work there go to our church, the place is an oasis in the desert, a beautiful piece of property with some beautiful views of Haiti and some lovely quiet time for Randy and I. The room we stayed in even had air conditioning which is a beautiful luxury!
Well I'm starting to get scared that the electricity is going to go off soon so I think I will just quickly blabber off a bit more information, hopefully this all makes sense... our creole learning is coming along slowly, I think we know more than we let on, usually when I am finished trying to explain myself in English I realize that I knew every one of the words in Creole and I should have spoken creole, the problem is english is So much easier and a lot of people here speak it... but Randy and I both realize that we need to work on that. Randy has started doing Bible study with the guys on Sunday night, in English for now, they really enjoy the time and they have a lot of good questions. It's really encouraging to see! We've also heard recently that a misionary from the OPC church is coming to Haiti, they are visiting at the end of April beginning of May so we hope to meet them to, we're pretty excited about that. As well, we get to have a few more Canadians on the property this week, Ed Gringhuis and Grant Kottelenberg and Joel.... can't remember his last name and Ed's daughter Gwen are all coming down on Tuesday and staying for the week, we're excited about that, we've got lots of work lined up for them... wouldn't want them to get bored. And one more interesting tidbit I found out this week that it's rude to whistle in front of Haitians especially if an older Haitian is in the room... hope I haven't offended too many people... I am a part Scholtens and Scholtens just naturally whistle, I have to work on that one.
Well I think that that is enough of my ramblings, I've got butterflies in my stomach i'm so nervous that I am going to lose this due to the electricity! We pray that you are all doing well, we love you all and miss you all and we were singing amazing love this afternoon and a line really struck me "in all I do I honour you", what a confession to make, I pray that the Lord gives all of us the strength to honour him in everything that we do, may his name be glorified and praised in everything that He has planned for us this week!
April 22, 2007
April 13, 2007
Haitian friends
The kids on their "way" to Canada! Unfortunately the flight was delayed so they are still here :)
Celebrating Sammy's 18th birthday at Epi d'or as well as Yolgens 7th birthday
From left to right: Reginald, Jackob, Yolgens, Manu, Benson
Will you Marry me? Ysmaille proposing to Chantal
April 11, 2007
April 10, 2007
Some pics
Here is me before my wife cut my hair. This was her first time trying to cut hair.....
This is my hair after my wife cut my hair. Besides a few shorter areas, she acually didn't do to bad of a job...just had to wear my hat a few days.
Serving food at the hospital. We go everyday for breakfast and supper and feed the mothers and babies who had the hydrocephalus surgeries.
Here is Sammy and Reginald helping me fix a table
.
Here we are trying to fix the printers that the mice made a mess of. This one actually has a mouse caught in it, and we are trying to get it out. Fun! Celo, the dog is standing near-by waiting to get a piece of the action.
Blessed Easter!
Well, so I’m not really so good at keeping this blog thing up to date, sorry about that. But here it goes. We have been here 3 weeks now, the time is flying. So, where did I leave off...
Last Sunday night we went to an engagement party of our dear friend Ysmaille. We had no idea what we were going to. We thought we were being invited over for supper. It turns out it was an engagement ceremony, which is kind of a big thing here. It is an official ceremony, and the person proposes right there and then witnesses sign a form and such. Wow, it was quite the evening. We were way underdressed to say the least for the occasion as Haitians usually dress-up very nice, but on occasions such as this they dress to the hilt. Anyway, it was one of those learning experiences.
On Monday morning as we were going to the hospital we got stuck in a traffic jam. It turns out it was a ‘Walk for Christ’, actually entitled in Haitian, “Haiti for Christ” walk. There were about 10 thousand Christians walking down the main road. Since we weren’t moving anywhere for a long time we joined in. It was quite amazing. They were singing hymns as they walked and also just cheering. That is one thing about these people. They are really vocal about their beliefs and want to stand up for them.
Leading up to Easter there was quite a few Rara bands going around. These bands are mostly Voodoo believers that are celebrating the death of Jesus Christ. As Good Friday approached they were out on the streets in their bands a lot more, as this is their big day. Their temple is right across the road so we hear them quite often going late into the night. The Lord has been gracious many nights and sent rain to literally drown out the meetings. On Friday night when we were at church, a big band came up to the gate, to make as much noise as they could. This for me was a clear definition of spiritual warefare, it doesn’t get much clearer. We paused the service to pray for the people outside the gate as they were literally in the dark – they didn’t realize that Sunday was coming – the Christ conquered death and Satan. These people are so lost, they are in darkness. They need our prayers, and our witness.
We also got the old Isuzu running this past week, which is nice cuz it gives us a little more freedom to get off the property a little. My second time out with it, it first over-heated on the Main road during rush hour, and then when we fixed that problem the gear shift snapped off, leaving me to shift gears with a little piece of steel. So that was kind of exciting. But I love the machine, it does have a lot of character.
On Saturday we went to the beach which is a few hours out of the city with our friend Jenny, and a family that is working with the Christian Reformed Churches. The drive was more exciting than the beach. It was nice to drive through the country and see a little more of Haiti then just the city. I could not believe how desolate the landscape looked. What people have said about the deforestation is true. There are so little trees, and big scars where they once were. We only were on the beach for about an hour, as we spent our time checking out different places. We didn’t go swimming because there was so much junk in the water. The beach was on a resort which was actually quite nice I thought for Haiti.
On Sunday we had a sunrise service at church and a regular service. It was so nice to celebrate the resurrection of our LORD and rejoice in the life we have been given! Just meditating on Christ’s sacrifice and what He accomplished for us, just helps put life into the proper perspective again. We have been given life! Eternal life! And now, for a short time we get to tell others about this great news, and fight everyday to crucify our old nature and long to become more and more like Jesus Christ –to His honour and glory.
Anyway, on Sunday we also got to meet a few more dutch people that are here working, and a few more brothers and sisters contending for the truth. We also got to go to a games night on Sunday night and meet a few more young people who are working here in Port au Prince.
On Monday, we had a birthday party at MacEpi (Haiti’s version of McDonalds) for Sammy, who turned 18, and for Yolgens, who turned 7.
Anyway, that about brings us up to date. We are slowly learning Creole, but are not quite fluent yet, by far. But we will continue working on it, and hopefully soon the people will mistake us for being Haitian.
Well, that’s all for now. I hope everyone had a blessed Easter, and I pray that the joy of the Lord is your strength!
Randy
Last Sunday night we went to an engagement party of our dear friend Ysmaille. We had no idea what we were going to. We thought we were being invited over for supper. It turns out it was an engagement ceremony, which is kind of a big thing here. It is an official ceremony, and the person proposes right there and then witnesses sign a form and such. Wow, it was quite the evening. We were way underdressed to say the least for the occasion as Haitians usually dress-up very nice, but on occasions such as this they dress to the hilt. Anyway, it was one of those learning experiences.
On Monday morning as we were going to the hospital we got stuck in a traffic jam. It turns out it was a ‘Walk for Christ’, actually entitled in Haitian, “Haiti for Christ” walk. There were about 10 thousand Christians walking down the main road. Since we weren’t moving anywhere for a long time we joined in. It was quite amazing. They were singing hymns as they walked and also just cheering. That is one thing about these people. They are really vocal about their beliefs and want to stand up for them.
Leading up to Easter there was quite a few Rara bands going around. These bands are mostly Voodoo believers that are celebrating the death of Jesus Christ. As Good Friday approached they were out on the streets in their bands a lot more, as this is their big day. Their temple is right across the road so we hear them quite often going late into the night. The Lord has been gracious many nights and sent rain to literally drown out the meetings. On Friday night when we were at church, a big band came up to the gate, to make as much noise as they could. This for me was a clear definition of spiritual warefare, it doesn’t get much clearer. We paused the service to pray for the people outside the gate as they were literally in the dark – they didn’t realize that Sunday was coming – the Christ conquered death and Satan. These people are so lost, they are in darkness. They need our prayers, and our witness.
We also got the old Isuzu running this past week, which is nice cuz it gives us a little more freedom to get off the property a little. My second time out with it, it first over-heated on the Main road during rush hour, and then when we fixed that problem the gear shift snapped off, leaving me to shift gears with a little piece of steel. So that was kind of exciting. But I love the machine, it does have a lot of character.
On Saturday we went to the beach which is a few hours out of the city with our friend Jenny, and a family that is working with the Christian Reformed Churches. The drive was more exciting than the beach. It was nice to drive through the country and see a little more of Haiti then just the city. I could not believe how desolate the landscape looked. What people have said about the deforestation is true. There are so little trees, and big scars where they once were. We only were on the beach for about an hour, as we spent our time checking out different places. We didn’t go swimming because there was so much junk in the water. The beach was on a resort which was actually quite nice I thought for Haiti.
On Sunday we had a sunrise service at church and a regular service. It was so nice to celebrate the resurrection of our LORD and rejoice in the life we have been given! Just meditating on Christ’s sacrifice and what He accomplished for us, just helps put life into the proper perspective again. We have been given life! Eternal life! And now, for a short time we get to tell others about this great news, and fight everyday to crucify our old nature and long to become more and more like Jesus Christ –to His honour and glory.
Anyway, on Sunday we also got to meet a few more dutch people that are here working, and a few more brothers and sisters contending for the truth. We also got to go to a games night on Sunday night and meet a few more young people who are working here in Port au Prince.
On Monday, we had a birthday party at MacEpi (Haiti’s version of McDonalds) for Sammy, who turned 18, and for Yolgens, who turned 7.
Anyway, that about brings us up to date. We are slowly learning Creole, but are not quite fluent yet, by far. But we will continue working on it, and hopefully soon the people will mistake us for being Haitian.
Well, that’s all for now. I hope everyone had a blessed Easter, and I pray that the joy of the Lord is your strength!
Randy
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