19Jan11

19Jan11

Tell you what, it’s been a rough day. 🙂
Guess I should start by letting you know where I’m at.
I’m currently swinging in a hammock, under a thatched roof, overlooking the ocean (or i guess it’s probably a bay or gulf), from Mission of Hope’s Beach Property in Grand Goave.

Woke up around 8am, sleeping in for around here. Granted, I went to bed around 10 cause everyone else had too.
Read some “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan.
Prayed a bit.
Went for a swim.
Took a shower, then read and prayed a bit more.

Then I started my task for the day, figure out what to do with 10 45watt solar panel packages that Pastor Lex got for the beach. I drove down to the office with the car they left here for me, picked up a battery, then set up one of the packages here at the beach. After that I made my assesment, and have a good ideas for how to make this work. I’m thinking window shades for the second story rooms on the guest house that face south will be made of solar panels. Should have a nice look and be quite functional.

Anyhow, here I am, finished with my primary task, and enjoying creation as God made it.

Could be reasons for me to be upset. I was supposed to be in Les Cayes prepping for Dr. Jay’s team to come in tomorrow, but didn’t have a vehicle to get there. However, then I wouldn’t have gotten to go to church last night at MOH, catch up with the Edme family, or spend some time at the beach.
I could be upset that some solar panels got stolen here at MOH. But, it happened. Now it’s time to learn from the mistake. They have four panels left from our installation. It still gets them through the night. The thief has been caught, but I doubt the panels will be returned. Now I know that the security at that site was insufficient, so I will not make the same mistake in the future. In a funny story, I came up with some more security ideas looking at the small system from Harbor Freight that I am working with for the beach property.
But ultimately, there is no reason to be upset. I am where God has me. I am doing what He hs brought me to. I have clothes on my back, a roof over my head, and food to eat. Therefore, I will rejoice in the Lord, who is my sustinance.

I really started this post to reflect on a lesson God has been teaching me over the past year. It is called Faith.
For some, I have already talked about this too many times, but each time I see a new expression of faith, it reminds me even more of where I should be.
Down in Jacmel, I was helping to watch the kids the other day. One of them, Madley (spelling?), i think it was, decided to jump off the top bunk and into my arms. This seemed pretty standard, as many kids will do this. However, he had faith unlike any of the others. Most would cautiously creep to the edge of the bed, bend over and slighty fall into my arms. He would count to three, run and fling himself at me. Honestly, he jumped so fast that he almost knocked me off balance, all 40 pounds of him. 🙂 That is faith. He had no doubt that I would catch him. And he did so, knowing that I would catch him with a smile, extend my arms and fling him towards the cieling, giving him a thrill of flying that he wanted over and over again.
There was no hesitation, he trusted me. And he has known me for about 3 days. He just knew that if he trusted me, he would be rewarded with ride up in the air that filled him with joy.
how much more so is our heavenly Father standing with His arms outstretched, calling to us, “Jump, I will catch you, and I have even greater things in store for You!”
Oh to have faith like a child.

For the sake of helping people to keep up with what I am doing, here is the play by play:
-Monday I spent organizing the garage at HAF-Jacmel
–Good day. Learned a bit of what we have and what we need to be doing. Also got to know the crew a little better.
Ken and Diane Pierce are in charge. They are a Dr. and Nurse from Kauai, Hawaii and have been in Jacmel since about September.
Their daughter, Emily, is here as well. She just turned 18, and in the short time they’ve been here has become very fluent in Kreyol in my opinion.
The two interns, Cameron and Stacie, are awesome and both just started their year of missions work. Stacie went to Creation with our family back in 2004 or so (pre-Crucified days) as a friend of Alyssa Buted (now Hudson). It’s been fun to catch back up with her.
Josue and Fanel are the two translators working with us. Josue is sharing the apartment with Cameron and I, and works with the kids doing bible studies and other thigns. Fanel is our Kreyol instructor.
Michelle Meece has been here the longest, I met her each of my previous trips to Jacmel, but she is out of town for a bit. She is great working with the kids and she helps keep things running around the facilty as well.

-Tuesday was a travel day. We piled into the Mahindra pickup (I would buy one of these given the chance, they are nice vehicle for a reasonable price for around here. HAF has 1 and is getting a second.) and drove over the mountain to Grand Goave. Mainly this was a site visit for Bob and Steve Fair, since Steve is a board member for HAF. I was going to hire a driver from here, but things worked better to stick around and work with MOH today. I also got to go to church and play with the kids for a while before church started. I have decided to be much more intentional about showing love and compassion on this trip. I feel that has been something God is directing me to even more.

-Tomorrow will be my pick up with MIA. They are arriving in PAP and I will join them as they travel through to Les Cayes. I’ll work with them until the 29th.

Prayer Requests:
-not really a whole lot for me. just that I will continue to be faithful.
-for you, that you would earnestly seek God’s direction, and follow boldly when He reveals it.
-for all christians, that we would become of a people of action, known for love and compassion, and that we would transform our image from that of beings takers (always begging for more money) to being givers.
-for my mom, cause I know this hasn’t been easy on her.
-for Crucified, that this body of believers I call my brothers and sisters would grow and flourish, joyfully spreading the love that God has granted us.
-for Hands and Feet, as they seek to expand and improve, that Christ always remains the focus, and that we would always lean on Him for wisdom and guidance.