Prayer Partners Kick-Off Celebration
April 15, 2010
In my last update, I mentioned the Prayer Partner Program I have been working on with a few others over this past month (and for a more detailed write-up by Connie and pictures of the beginnings of the program, you can visit the March 23rd entry on www.HAFFDetails.blogspot.com). A few weeks ago, we paired up students with their partners, and then on this past Saturday, April 10th, we had the kick-off celebration. We called it a “Ti Reyini Ansanm” (Little Reunion Together), and have been planning it for several weeks. This was intended to both celebrate the beginning of the program, and also to help the students form more friendships with one another, especially their partners—and to hopefully help those who more recently came from Port-au-Prince to also feel welcomed into the school.
The “Ti Reyini” was scheduled to start around 1 in the afternoon, so the morning was spent in final preparations. Gabi, Jean-Rony, Edouine, the Wilsons, and Barb (all the others at HAFF currently) all helped preparing the food and materials for the activities later. The morning felt like a hectic time, but with everyone’s help (by God’s grace) things came together by the time we were to start. We would begin at 1 with worship and a talk, then games until around 3:30, and lastly a movie and snacks to finish out the day.
Students started filtering in around 1pm—a couple even coming early and helping with the last few preparations. We began with a time of corporate worship in the school devotions room, led by one of the students, and then a pastor from Pignon gave a talk on prayer. One of the things he stressed was that the prerequisite to petitionary prayer is a relationship with God, but that when that relationship is there, we can ask God anything. During the worship and preaching, more students came bringing the total number to about 45!
After closing in prayer and another song, we gathered in a gazebo in the schoolyard to explain the games we would be playing. As we had decided to do all three of the first three games at the same time, we divided the students into three groups—which would then cycle around to play each of the games in turn. Gabi, Edouine, and I each had one game to direct, and Jean-Rony would call the switch times and help out as needed. Before we split up, we first gave a quick overview of each of the games: Edouine would be directing the sack-race (in Kreyol, “Kous ak sak yo”) station in one area of the schoolyard, Gabi would be directing the water-balloon toss (“Jwet ak blad yo ak dlo”) in another area (students paired with their prayer partners), and I would be managing the tug-of-war (“tire”). The students seemed to thoroughly enjoy all the games, and minus a few small hitches they went extremely well. At one point, stepping in to even out the tug-of-war teams, I was sent sprawling on the ground as the other team soundly beat us. And each time a team won, there was a flurry of cheering as students crowded around to receive candy for their prize.
After the first round of games, we gathered again for the next game: a trivia contest with questions made up by Edouine and Jean-Rony. The students split up into four groups, and had about 20 minutes to answer the questions as best as they could. We would announce the winning group later, after grading their answers. In the meantime, we moved on to our next game: a bread-eating contest (“pen jwet”). Five boys were chosen first, competing to finish eating chunks of bread hanging from the gazebo rafters—without their hands. The rest of the students grew more and more excited, pressing in erupting in cheers whenever one of the boys successfully got a mouthful of bread. The winner got a handful of candy, after which five girls were selected, and had the same task (minus hanging the bread from the rafters, to save some time). Again, more cheering and lots of excitement as one girl pulled ahead and finished with an impressive performance.
The final game was balloon tag (which we called “jwet ak blad yo mariye nan pye”)—in which each of the students, and we also, tied a balloon to each of our ankles. The object of the game was to stomp on/pop other players’ balloons while keeping yours safe. It took a while to get everyone settled enough so that we could begin, but when we did the whole area went crazy—around 50 people running and jumping around, trying to pop 100 balloons while laughing and shouting, with the sound of balloons exploding mixed in for good measure. A good conclusion to the games!
Once the balloon tag wrapped up, we headed back to the devotions room for snacks and a movie. The movie was Facing the Giants—a Christian film about American football, and some themes relating to the prayer partner program as well. The students seemed to enjoy it, even cheering at the ending.
Before we finished, we reminded the students that this day was just the beginning of the program—and that what was most important were those times they would continue to meet together with their prayer partners. This was the only the beginning, and we pray that it will be followed by years of mutually encouraging, edifying, and God-glorifying friendships between the prayer partners.
Several times throughout the whole planning process, we have seen that the turnout and results of this program have far exceeded our expectations. It has been a joy to see so many students eager to sign up even before they knew of the kick-off celebration, and an amazing blessing to be able to see them having such a good time on Saturday as well. What a testimony to God’s grace—in the stress and busyness and completely new experience of planning the program and kick-off day, we had to commit it to God, and He (as He so often does) worked in wonderful ways. Even amidst various technical, scheduling, and logistics-related roadblocks along the way, He showed again that we need not fear, for He “will be exalted among the nations, (He) will be exalted in the earth” (see Psalm 46:10).
What a testimony to His faithfulness. Now, let us continue to pray that these students, in God’s grace and power, would overcome every obstacle to meeting together and building up the Church through these friendships and prayer partnerships. May they be united despite any other differences, and help one another grow and love God more and more. Please join us in prayer that this beginning to the program and kick-off activity would be only the beginning of something so much greater!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Some Pictures
Here are a couple pictures from some of the soccer games (I am helping the guy to my right in the first picture, in coaching the Bohoc girls' soccer team)...
Top: On our way to our second game
Bottom: The girls celebrating after a goal in our most recent game (They now have matching uniforms!)
Top: On our way to our second game
Bottom: The girls celebrating after a goal in our most recent game (They now have matching uniforms!)
Below: Some of the mountains on the way north, from Pignon to Cape-Haitian
Also, you can see some other pictures of the Prayer Partner Program on a recent post on HAFF's blog, http://haffdetails.blogspot.com/ (which I will also put as a link in the sidebar). Feel free to check them out!
Of Prayer Partners and a Philippians Passage
March 31, 2010
Dear Friends and Family,
It’s hard to believe that two months have already passed since I arrived in Haiti, and that my time here is a third over! I am still trying to find a good balance of work and rest—as well as when to tell people I’m just not available when they come over to hang out or for requests. I have found it a blessing and a haven to have found a more secluded area out of sight of my house to do my devotions in the morning and just get some time to be by myself.
These past few weeks have been nearly as full as most. One of the newer and exciting developments has been the privilege of working with some others (Gabi—one of the missionary family’s daughters—and three graduates of HAFF’s school) on planning a prayer partner program at for the students at HAFF’s school (Bohoc Training Institute, or BTI). We wanted to pair up students with prayer partners, and then encourage them to meet regularly to pray together and encourage each other—something we saw as a need especially for the many students who recently came from Port-au-Prince, as well as a potential blessing to all the students. We hope that through this time with students who have already attended BTI for some time, the newer students will be able to better integrate into and feel welcomed into the school and community, and will experience the comfort and encouragement that can come from such times of prayer.
We invited all the students to participate in the program, and after introducing it in devotions a couple weeks ago, we left a sign-up sheet in the teachers’ office. After 3 days we had 26 students—not a bad turn-out. Then, after the principle made another announcement the next day, over 40 more signed up! We now have about 87 students signed up—such a blessing and answer to prayer. We are planning a kick-off celebration for Saturday, April 10th, so please keep that and the program in general in your prayers. Pray that in their meetings, the students would continue to meet faithfully, really understand the value of prayer together, genuinely open up to and encourage one another, and form quality friendships resulting in mutual growth in the Lord. And please pray that the kick-off day (with some corporate worship, a short talk, fair-type games and a movie) would be a fun and God-glorifying time as well, helping the students start building stronger friendships with one another as well. Also, the planning is coming along, but please pray that everything necessary would get done in time—it definitely is stressful at times to plan for a big activity like this.
Last Sunday afternoon, the girls’ soccer team I’m working with had a game with a nearby team, and won 1-0. That was exciting for the girls, and it’s neat to see how they are improving and learning better skills. At the first game, it seemed like the audience was viewing the game more as a joke that was to be laughed at than a serious game. However, that seems to have been changing as the audience’s reaction seems to have moved more away from just laughing at mistakes and in the direction of genuine cheering (which compliments the girls’ skill and hard work). It’s satisfying to see them developing skills and play better as a team, and have the support of those watching.
On another subject, as I’ve been seeing how constant the requests for help are in this area (perhaps especially because we are Americans), I’ve been thinking about how such requests really test how tightly we hold to those things we consider “ours.” Of course, there are wise and unwise ways to give, and it is not necessarily the most loving thing to always give someone what they ask for (i.e. choosing between buying an ipod for someone you hardly know who asks, and food for someone who really needs it—or giving in the form of employment instead of just handouts). These are different kinds of giving, and in each request, the person being asked needs both wisdom and love. But it is convicting when, after a time, it becomes obvious that all too often it is my selfish nature that is keeping me from giving—rather than the knowledge that some requests may not warrant as much of a response. In general, this becomes evident in how readily I/we share our things, food, money, when it seems the loving thing to do—how loosely we cling to those things as “ours” versus resources to be used for God’s glory. He does give us things we need, but He also often blesses us with much more, with which things or resources we may be called to express His love to others in such forms as giving or hospitality (which gifts I have been privileged to see practiced in amazing ways by friends and family as well).
In Luke 14, Jesus teaches about not choosing the places of honor at a wedding feast (verse 8), but rather humbling ourselves—and that those who humble themselves will be exalted. This seems to be a small reflection of Jesus’ perfect example highlighted in Philippians 2:5-11: though being “in very nature” God (or “in the form of” God), he “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing…he humbled himself and became obedient to death…on a cross!” And as verses 9-11 show, he was exalted.
I find this word in the passage—to grasp—especially convicting. In my life, it seems to hearken of other words such as “entitlement” and “control.” When I perpetually hold back my resources, my food, my money from others, I am seeking to grasp them—believing the lie that they are actually my resources, my food, my money, rather than the Lord’s. In reality, I am coming to think that we are called to not grasp any of those (something related to Jesus’ words on worry about what we will eat, drink, or wear), but rather trust that God will provide what we need. When we release “our” resources to their true Owner and Giver, we are free to trust in Him, and He is far better at providing what we need than we are. I don’t think this means that we will necessarily always have as much of these things for ourselves (though it may well at times—we know He is a God who infinitely out-gives us, and this is sometimes expressed in temporal blessings as well as eternal), but He will provide for us what He knows is best and what is to His glory.
The same principle also seems to apply to something I mentioned earlier—seeking the praise of others above the praise of God. When we seek to earn the praise of others, we are trying to grasp glory and honor. We are not trusting in God or seeking Him; we are seeking to provide for ourselves reputation and honor. However, when we trust in God and do not fear the insults or bad opinion of others, we are free to serve Him and to trust that He will defend our cause when He deems it time. So perhaps one of the central solutions to this epidemic “grasping” at things or honor is to simply commit ourselves to Him in repentance and trust—trust that He can provide for our needs infinitely better than we can, and commit our hearts to seek His kingdom instead of the comforts of this world. Furthermore, He gives comfort and He gives food and He gives honor at times, and these things are far sweeter when they come from the open hand of God than when we seek grasp them on our own. Perhaps we could say that, likewise, it is better to wait until after dinner to be given a cookie, than to rob the cookie jar before dinner and feel sick as a result.
…Something that seems simple to think about and write about; but it involves that part of us that still wants to control our own lives and revel in our own comforts being destroyed. Simple, but not easy. May the Lord show us the joy of trusting Him to provide, and may we learn the joy of releasing our resources and our very lives to Him.
Again, I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support. It is such a privilege to know that I am not alone here, and to get each of your notes. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend!
Jonathan
Dear Friends and Family,
It’s hard to believe that two months have already passed since I arrived in Haiti, and that my time here is a third over! I am still trying to find a good balance of work and rest—as well as when to tell people I’m just not available when they come over to hang out or for requests. I have found it a blessing and a haven to have found a more secluded area out of sight of my house to do my devotions in the morning and just get some time to be by myself.
These past few weeks have been nearly as full as most. One of the newer and exciting developments has been the privilege of working with some others (Gabi—one of the missionary family’s daughters—and three graduates of HAFF’s school) on planning a prayer partner program at for the students at HAFF’s school (Bohoc Training Institute, or BTI). We wanted to pair up students with prayer partners, and then encourage them to meet regularly to pray together and encourage each other—something we saw as a need especially for the many students who recently came from Port-au-Prince, as well as a potential blessing to all the students. We hope that through this time with students who have already attended BTI for some time, the newer students will be able to better integrate into and feel welcomed into the school and community, and will experience the comfort and encouragement that can come from such times of prayer.
We invited all the students to participate in the program, and after introducing it in devotions a couple weeks ago, we left a sign-up sheet in the teachers’ office. After 3 days we had 26 students—not a bad turn-out. Then, after the principle made another announcement the next day, over 40 more signed up! We now have about 87 students signed up—such a blessing and answer to prayer. We are planning a kick-off celebration for Saturday, April 10th, so please keep that and the program in general in your prayers. Pray that in their meetings, the students would continue to meet faithfully, really understand the value of prayer together, genuinely open up to and encourage one another, and form quality friendships resulting in mutual growth in the Lord. And please pray that the kick-off day (with some corporate worship, a short talk, fair-type games and a movie) would be a fun and God-glorifying time as well, helping the students start building stronger friendships with one another as well. Also, the planning is coming along, but please pray that everything necessary would get done in time—it definitely is stressful at times to plan for a big activity like this.
Last Sunday afternoon, the girls’ soccer team I’m working with had a game with a nearby team, and won 1-0. That was exciting for the girls, and it’s neat to see how they are improving and learning better skills. At the first game, it seemed like the audience was viewing the game more as a joke that was to be laughed at than a serious game. However, that seems to have been changing as the audience’s reaction seems to have moved more away from just laughing at mistakes and in the direction of genuine cheering (which compliments the girls’ skill and hard work). It’s satisfying to see them developing skills and play better as a team, and have the support of those watching.
On another subject, as I’ve been seeing how constant the requests for help are in this area (perhaps especially because we are Americans), I’ve been thinking about how such requests really test how tightly we hold to those things we consider “ours.” Of course, there are wise and unwise ways to give, and it is not necessarily the most loving thing to always give someone what they ask for (i.e. choosing between buying an ipod for someone you hardly know who asks, and food for someone who really needs it—or giving in the form of employment instead of just handouts). These are different kinds of giving, and in each request, the person being asked needs both wisdom and love. But it is convicting when, after a time, it becomes obvious that all too often it is my selfish nature that is keeping me from giving—rather than the knowledge that some requests may not warrant as much of a response. In general, this becomes evident in how readily I/we share our things, food, money, when it seems the loving thing to do—how loosely we cling to those things as “ours” versus resources to be used for God’s glory. He does give us things we need, but He also often blesses us with much more, with which things or resources we may be called to express His love to others in such forms as giving or hospitality (which gifts I have been privileged to see practiced in amazing ways by friends and family as well).
In Luke 14, Jesus teaches about not choosing the places of honor at a wedding feast (verse 8), but rather humbling ourselves—and that those who humble themselves will be exalted. This seems to be a small reflection of Jesus’ perfect example highlighted in Philippians 2:5-11: though being “in very nature” God (or “in the form of” God), he “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing…he humbled himself and became obedient to death…on a cross!” And as verses 9-11 show, he was exalted.
I find this word in the passage—to grasp—especially convicting. In my life, it seems to hearken of other words such as “entitlement” and “control.” When I perpetually hold back my resources, my food, my money from others, I am seeking to grasp them—believing the lie that they are actually my resources, my food, my money, rather than the Lord’s. In reality, I am coming to think that we are called to not grasp any of those (something related to Jesus’ words on worry about what we will eat, drink, or wear), but rather trust that God will provide what we need. When we release “our” resources to their true Owner and Giver, we are free to trust in Him, and He is far better at providing what we need than we are. I don’t think this means that we will necessarily always have as much of these things for ourselves (though it may well at times—we know He is a God who infinitely out-gives us, and this is sometimes expressed in temporal blessings as well as eternal), but He will provide for us what He knows is best and what is to His glory.
The same principle also seems to apply to something I mentioned earlier—seeking the praise of others above the praise of God. When we seek to earn the praise of others, we are trying to grasp glory and honor. We are not trusting in God or seeking Him; we are seeking to provide for ourselves reputation and honor. However, when we trust in God and do not fear the insults or bad opinion of others, we are free to serve Him and to trust that He will defend our cause when He deems it time. So perhaps one of the central solutions to this epidemic “grasping” at things or honor is to simply commit ourselves to Him in repentance and trust—trust that He can provide for our needs infinitely better than we can, and commit our hearts to seek His kingdom instead of the comforts of this world. Furthermore, He gives comfort and He gives food and He gives honor at times, and these things are far sweeter when they come from the open hand of God than when we seek grasp them on our own. Perhaps we could say that, likewise, it is better to wait until after dinner to be given a cookie, than to rob the cookie jar before dinner and feel sick as a result.
…Something that seems simple to think about and write about; but it involves that part of us that still wants to control our own lives and revel in our own comforts being destroyed. Simple, but not easy. May the Lord show us the joy of trusting Him to provide, and may we learn the joy of releasing our resources and our very lives to Him.
Again, I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support. It is such a privilege to know that I am not alone here, and to get each of your notes. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend!
Jonathan
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Haiti Address
Some of you have been asking for my address in Haiti, so I thought I'd post it here:
Jonathan Fischer
Unit 1069 - HAFF
3170 Airmans Drive
Fort Pierce, FL 34946
After it gets to this address, MFI flies it out to the town near HAFF. However, due to issues at the airstrip near us, it looks like only regular mail will be arriving weekly, whereas we will be driving to Cape Haitian to pick up cargo and packages.
Jonathan Fischer
Unit 1069 - HAFF
3170 Airmans Drive
Fort Pierce, FL 34946
After it gets to this address, MFI flies it out to the town near HAFF. However, due to issues at the airstrip near us, it looks like only regular mail will be arriving weekly, whereas we will be driving to Cape Haitian to pick up cargo and packages.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Some more pictures
Top: Chewing some sugarcane with friends before dinner
Bottom: The food depo at HAFF before we started dividing it to distribute to some 400 families (housing around 1400 refugees) Classroom Disturbances and More Reflections
Dear Family and Friends,
March 7, 2010
Another couple weeks have passed here, and it still seems that there has not been one moment I’ve been bored since arriving at HAFF. There’s certainly plenty to do—packing up food for families with refugees, teaching English classes, leading a conversation group, helping coach soccer, tutoring, continuing to work on my Kreyol, and spending time with the others at HAFF—but it’s also been good (and necessary) to have some down-time as well, after some of the adrenaline/novelty of the first couple weeks has worn off. For everyone here, little times of rest such as Friday evening movie night and Wednesday staff Bible study are so necessary. We had a great time watching October Sky this past Friday, accompanied by a kind of “snack potluck” replete with the (treasured) commodity of good old regular American junk food as well. The food here is good, but sometimes cravings for chocolate or a pound cake from a box just can’t be stifled!
The weekly activities have been continuing as usual—English classes, conversation group, soccer, meeting and activities with the rest of the staff, and tutoring (now that the family whose daughter I am tutoring has returned from the states). Those at HAFF and some of the leaders in the community have also been working on getting and packaging up food, for distribution to families with refugees from Port-au-Prince. Thanks to the World Food Program (I believe) and other donations, we have been working on dividing and distributing hundreds of sacks of food (rice, beans, salt, and oil) to help out several hundred households.
Teaching has been going well, and though some days are more challenging, it is enjoyable to be able to teach and see the students have fun learning. In my classes the main focus is pronunciation, so we recently learned the word “antidisestablishmentarianism”—and practiced saying and spelling it in English. That was especially fun, and tongue twisters (great for learning pronunciation too) also bring laughs. So far we’ve done “She sells seashells down by the seashore” and begun “Peter Piper picked…” But at times, not everything goes according to plan. A couple Mondays ago, we were halfway through the class period when the students started exclaiming “Koulev! Koulev! Snake! Snake!” I looked where they were pointing, and saw a small snake in the rafters above me and my chalkboard, so I tried to redirect their attention to the class. But then, when I saw the snake’s head appear, I realized that I had originally only seen part of its tail—this was one of the biggest snakes I’ve ever seen (probably a boa), and must have been several feet long. It was coiling around in the rafters, so we ultimately had to switch classrooms before the students could redirect their attention to our work. A rather unique morning!
On another note, I and a couple others from the community have recently begun getting together for a Bible study on Saturdays, something that has proven to be a special time. We discussed John 3:16 and other related verses last week, and this past Saturday we looked at Psalm 1. It is a blessing to be able to be a part of the group, and good to be able to also study in another setting than simply Sunday mornings at church.
One thing that has been an interesting challenge recently has been thinking about giving. As Americans, it feels like we are often asked for help (i.e. money, food, etc.) and also simply presented with a great number of needs. At times, those issues are of life and death—hospital runs in the past few weeks have involved such cases as a young boy with severe burns and a woman unconscious for a number of hours with a head injury before HAFF was notified and able to pick her up. But other requests, such as for money, use of one’s house for charging phones, or aid with other more diverse needs are also part of the weekly scene. Some are probably just people wanting to share their difficulties and have an understanding ear; others are requests for help. As I was thinking about this, I was struggling with both knowing that there are many genuine needs, but also wondering if others simply view us as ways to get something—not genuinely desiring relationship. Connie (one of the missionaries here) helped me think through this, and had some good perspectives on what such requests can mean here: First, she said that people truly believe that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and so when someone asks for something they may think/know that they are actually giving the opportunity for the other to be blessed by helping them. Another perspective is simply that this is what friends do—they help each other—and if they were able, they would do the same. And another perspective, she said, is that Haitians love to be the person who is able to help others out and give stuff, and so when they ask for help, they are actually complementing the individual from whom they are requesting something. These perspectives allowed me to better understand the common requests for help. But still, Christ-like love, wisdom, and patience are needed in this area!
One other thing I’ve been thinking about recently has been grace. It seems that the Haitian church is especially strong in the areas of dedication and fervor at times (evidenced by 3:30am services, 4-hour worship services during “Fets”—church celebrations as the harvest season begins—and young people’s desire to serve in the church). However, there seems to be less talk of grace than I believe is reflected in the gospel. When I asked one of my friends to explain the gospel in Kreyol, it seemed that perhaps 90% of what he said centered on the person’s response to being saved—rather than Christ’s work to save us. Other missionaries here confirmed grace is something they seek to focus on as well, as it is often not preached as centrally as it ought to be. This has proved an interesting and especially relevant topic for me as well, as I often struggle to grasp the depth and true implications of God’s grace in the gospel, so that has been one of the main topics of my studies lately. Grace. A small word, but so much within it! And it is often so difficult to accept, as it must shatter our pride, purge our illusions of self-sufficiency, and reckon our desire to believe ourselves morally good in and of ourselves as the lie that it is. Easy to say and write, but so hard to live those very truths.
This, then, is one of my central prayer requests for these next weeks: for the Haitian church--and all of us as well--to come to a deep understanding of God's grace, that we may live in grateful obedience (as the right response to grace, and through which we are able to experience the joy of deeper fellowship with the Lord—something we must also never forget) as we unceasingly rely on Christ’s work on the cross for our forgiveness.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my time here, and please continue to pray for God’s work in and through the Haitian churches, to bring many to Him and to continue to draw ours and others’ hearts to Him through their witness. Thank you all again for your wonderful encouragement to me throughout my time here!
Feel free to check out my blog (www.bonjoufromhaiti.blogspot.com) for some pictures from the first few weeks. I have not uploaded many because of internet limitations, but look forward to showing more when I return to the States!
Have a great week,
Jonathan
March 7, 2010
Another couple weeks have passed here, and it still seems that there has not been one moment I’ve been bored since arriving at HAFF. There’s certainly plenty to do—packing up food for families with refugees, teaching English classes, leading a conversation group, helping coach soccer, tutoring, continuing to work on my Kreyol, and spending time with the others at HAFF—but it’s also been good (and necessary) to have some down-time as well, after some of the adrenaline/novelty of the first couple weeks has worn off. For everyone here, little times of rest such as Friday evening movie night and Wednesday staff Bible study are so necessary. We had a great time watching October Sky this past Friday, accompanied by a kind of “snack potluck” replete with the (treasured) commodity of good old regular American junk food as well. The food here is good, but sometimes cravings for chocolate or a pound cake from a box just can’t be stifled!
The weekly activities have been continuing as usual—English classes, conversation group, soccer, meeting and activities with the rest of the staff, and tutoring (now that the family whose daughter I am tutoring has returned from the states). Those at HAFF and some of the leaders in the community have also been working on getting and packaging up food, for distribution to families with refugees from Port-au-Prince. Thanks to the World Food Program (I believe) and other donations, we have been working on dividing and distributing hundreds of sacks of food (rice, beans, salt, and oil) to help out several hundred households.
Teaching has been going well, and though some days are more challenging, it is enjoyable to be able to teach and see the students have fun learning. In my classes the main focus is pronunciation, so we recently learned the word “antidisestablishmentarianism”—and practiced saying and spelling it in English. That was especially fun, and tongue twisters (great for learning pronunciation too) also bring laughs. So far we’ve done “She sells seashells down by the seashore” and begun “Peter Piper picked…” But at times, not everything goes according to plan. A couple Mondays ago, we were halfway through the class period when the students started exclaiming “Koulev! Koulev! Snake! Snake!” I looked where they were pointing, and saw a small snake in the rafters above me and my chalkboard, so I tried to redirect their attention to the class. But then, when I saw the snake’s head appear, I realized that I had originally only seen part of its tail—this was one of the biggest snakes I’ve ever seen (probably a boa), and must have been several feet long. It was coiling around in the rafters, so we ultimately had to switch classrooms before the students could redirect their attention to our work. A rather unique morning!
On another note, I and a couple others from the community have recently begun getting together for a Bible study on Saturdays, something that has proven to be a special time. We discussed John 3:16 and other related verses last week, and this past Saturday we looked at Psalm 1. It is a blessing to be able to be a part of the group, and good to be able to also study in another setting than simply Sunday mornings at church.
One thing that has been an interesting challenge recently has been thinking about giving. As Americans, it feels like we are often asked for help (i.e. money, food, etc.) and also simply presented with a great number of needs. At times, those issues are of life and death—hospital runs in the past few weeks have involved such cases as a young boy with severe burns and a woman unconscious for a number of hours with a head injury before HAFF was notified and able to pick her up. But other requests, such as for money, use of one’s house for charging phones, or aid with other more diverse needs are also part of the weekly scene. Some are probably just people wanting to share their difficulties and have an understanding ear; others are requests for help. As I was thinking about this, I was struggling with both knowing that there are many genuine needs, but also wondering if others simply view us as ways to get something—not genuinely desiring relationship. Connie (one of the missionaries here) helped me think through this, and had some good perspectives on what such requests can mean here: First, she said that people truly believe that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and so when someone asks for something they may think/know that they are actually giving the opportunity for the other to be blessed by helping them. Another perspective is simply that this is what friends do—they help each other—and if they were able, they would do the same. And another perspective, she said, is that Haitians love to be the person who is able to help others out and give stuff, and so when they ask for help, they are actually complementing the individual from whom they are requesting something. These perspectives allowed me to better understand the common requests for help. But still, Christ-like love, wisdom, and patience are needed in this area!
One other thing I’ve been thinking about recently has been grace. It seems that the Haitian church is especially strong in the areas of dedication and fervor at times (evidenced by 3:30am services, 4-hour worship services during “Fets”—church celebrations as the harvest season begins—and young people’s desire to serve in the church). However, there seems to be less talk of grace than I believe is reflected in the gospel. When I asked one of my friends to explain the gospel in Kreyol, it seemed that perhaps 90% of what he said centered on the person’s response to being saved—rather than Christ’s work to save us. Other missionaries here confirmed grace is something they seek to focus on as well, as it is often not preached as centrally as it ought to be. This has proved an interesting and especially relevant topic for me as well, as I often struggle to grasp the depth and true implications of God’s grace in the gospel, so that has been one of the main topics of my studies lately. Grace. A small word, but so much within it! And it is often so difficult to accept, as it must shatter our pride, purge our illusions of self-sufficiency, and reckon our desire to believe ourselves morally good in and of ourselves as the lie that it is. Easy to say and write, but so hard to live those very truths.
This, then, is one of my central prayer requests for these next weeks: for the Haitian church--and all of us as well--to come to a deep understanding of God's grace, that we may live in grateful obedience (as the right response to grace, and through which we are able to experience the joy of deeper fellowship with the Lord—something we must also never forget) as we unceasingly rely on Christ’s work on the cross for our forgiveness.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my time here, and please continue to pray for God’s work in and through the Haitian churches, to bring many to Him and to continue to draw ours and others’ hearts to Him through their witness. Thank you all again for your wonderful encouragement to me throughout my time here!
Feel free to check out my blog (www.bonjoufromhaiti.blogspot.com) for some pictures from the first few weeks. I have not uploaded many because of internet limitations, but look forward to showing more when I return to the States!
Have a great week,
Jonathan
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Some Photos
Hi everyone! Here are a few pictures from the first couple weeks; more will be coming at some point, although I am not able to upload as many as I might like due to internet restrictions. Enjoy!
Top: Some of the relief supplies in MFI's hangar ready to be shipped out
Bottom: A DC-3 (MFI's workhorse plane)
Top: Some of the relief supplies in MFI's hangar ready to be shipped out
Bottom: A DC-3 (MFI's workhorse plane)
First: Fabius (choir director at a nearby church who was teaching Kyle and me some Kreyol songs) and one of the foremen working on Fabius' house
Second: At the top of Mt. Pignon, with Becky, John-Robert, and Gabi
Third: Scene from Mt. Pignon on the way up
Fourth: Scene from my window, flying to Haiti on January 28th
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