1June12
Today was a mixed bag of awesome.
Started with Bacon and Eggs at the Alabama house.
Followed with a good cross-ocean conversation.
Then I got down to doing something physically productive.
Didn’t accomplish anything solid, but, just by going to the Mangine’s house, I ended up talking to
a haitian guy about property that is available for lease. Turns out the Mangine’s security guard,
Black, has friend that rents land.
So, I went to take a look at this property, and it was decent and would work for that I need.
Except, he didn’t give me a price. He did, however, show me another place where there is a house
and depot building already up as well. Again, no price.
Either way, it was good, cause I started to get an idea of how things might work to get my house
up.
Also, encouraging thought for the day, I managed to go to the two sites with the real estate guy
without a translator, and we communicated well enough to get by. I’ll call that a win.
Afterwards, I talked with Nick Mangine, and with Sarah Wallace about properties to get an idea of
property values. Sarah actually said she enjoys looking at rentals and all, so she would like to
help me with the process, which is awesome, cause she is very fluent in Creole, knows market
values much better, and is good at haggling. So, we’ll go looking for properties, hopefully
tomorrow.
I’m still looking at renting property cause I haven’t heard back from any of the orgs I work with
about just using some of their land here in Jacmel. However, the thought has crossed my mind about
purchasing land too. That would be out of price range for now, but is still on my mind if the
right location would present itself.
And, I’m looking at a motorcycle tomorrow. A Jailing 125cc that is $1200 new, but a local pastor
is selling a 1 year old one for $650 or so. Might be worth the investment. Gayly will look at that
for me tomorrow since he knows much more about them.
Sadly, today marked a missed deadline as well, since I wanted to have my solar panels ordered.
However, since I did manage to find a different supplier, I may get even more panels for the
money.
Now, for the best parts of the day:
Josiah Mangine turned 5. So, I got to hang out for a birthday party. I’m thankful to whoever
donated some toy trucks that are still floating around in my car, cause two of them became his
birthday presents. 🙂
Then, I got to hang out with Craig Ericson and Sam Felix(Calvary Chapel Haiti Initiative) and
Gayly for a bit, which continued into a dinner outing with the HAF-Jacmel crew. We met up with
Matt, Cameron, Sharon, and Natalie for dinner at Cap Lamandu. The food was decent, but the
fellowship was awesome.
I think Matt and I kinda dominated the later parts of the discussion, but Sam, Sharon, and Natalie
were still involved as well as we got into the topics of our struggles (doubt, loneliness), our
current level of faith, and what we see as our goal in our growth with Christ. As always, George
Muller came up again as an example, lol.
It was a great discussion, reminding me why I am here. It is not about infrastructure projects or
orphanages, but about sharing Christ and his love, and about encouraging others in their faith, to
continuously draw nearer to God.
We talked about some parallel experiences as we have struggled to maintain our desperate faith in
God once we get settled into a situation, and how it requires God to continually break us and
shape us for us to stay focused on Him.
One illustration Matt used was the idea of walking on the water.
So often, pastors will use this scripture, I know I have, to illustrate how we need to step out in
faith.
BUT, we miss an even more important part.
After you step out in faith, you MUST keep your eyes fixed on Christ, or you will be overcome and
start drowning in your doubt.
It gave me a renewed thought for the painting from Eric Timm in the front of Crucified Church.
To the non-believer, it is a depiction of Christ pulling us out of the sin we are drowning in.
However, to the believer, it is a depiction of Christ pulling us out of our doubt. We have been
saved, we are His, but when we lose focus on Him, we end up sinking back into our doubt and He
must come to our rescue again.
With that, I must close for the night. It is almost midnight and I will be succumbing to sleep
soon.
I am thankful again for God’s providence for my shelter. I have been welcomed into the home of
Dave and Darlys Bird (Calvary International Development Mission, CIDM), and have once again been
spoiled. I have air conditioning and a huge bed.
Another case where my Father has provided well when I was in need.
God Bless.
Please pray for Dave and Darlys, as Darlys is still stateside awaiting some medical test results.
They are expected to be nothing serious, but it would be great to get Darlys back here cause we
all miss her, especially Dave.
Pray for Gayly as he is looking to share with Church on the Beach some of the troubles he has been
through and how God is working through them. This will be a difficult testimony, but I think it
will be very good for him.
