Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy early Thanksgiving? What are you most thankful for this year? 


The Lord has been teaching me much about giving thanks, and you can read more about it on my devotional thoughts blog:
http://chariteservant.blogspot.com/2009/11/resting-heart.html


Tomorrow, I'm going to La Gonave for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving with the group there. I'm excited to get to see the people that I'll be working with soon and looking forward to celebrating the day with other Americans! 


May you have a blessed and joyful holiday!!!

Important Updates

I'm so sorry that I forgot to mention this! I found out on Tuesday, and Tuesday, I had a very hard time remembering English! :o) 


My dad's prostate biopsies came back negative for CANCER!!! Praise the LORD!!!!! I prayed for that, but really did not expect such wonderful results! Our God still works miracles!! My dad's bladder cancer was all removed with the first procedure, so he'll still need frequent rechecks (q 3 months). But we are so thankful!!! Thank you all for your prayers and sweet, encouraging words!! 


Second, much smaller, update: New blog post on my devotional thoughts page with some thoughts as I see some of the extreme poverty here...
http://chariteservant.blogspot.com/2009/11/si-ou-ka-imajine-if-you-can-imagine.html


Finally, my allergic reaction is a little bit better. I can open both eyes again, almost completely. I'm still not sure what I'm allergic to, but I'm seriously considering a diet of just bread and peanutbutter for the next 2 weeks and slowly phasing foods back in! 


Thanks again for your prayers, and please let me know how I can be praying for you!

The Attack of the Allergies!!!

Good morning, friends! It actually feels a bit more like afternoon to me, even thought it's not yet 10am. That's mainly because I've been up since 5:15... Allow me to fill you in...

Last week, I had that crazy episode of hives and got to explore a Haitian pharmacy, an interesting world in which you don't need a prescription for anything and the pharmacist doesn't know his numbers in English great so you may not know exactly which doses you're getting (totally understandable, after all, i need to learn Creole and i can still look at the bottle :o). Thankfully, I've been pretty much hive free since Monday, when my area director made a House-like diagnosis. :o) As many of you know, House, MD, is my least favorite medical TV show... mainly because some information is withheld until the last 5 minutes of the show, so House looks awesome and smart and the poor PA following the show would never have guessed that diagnosis without that very important clue. Well, props to Dan Irvine, my amazing area director!! Monday night, he informed me that the mosquito netting on my bed is treated to ward off bugs, and as soon as we removed it, my hives went away!! So, I thought that we had solved the mystery... until now.

A little more background... This has been a interesting week for language! I found some Christian Creole music videos and have been loving them!! Here's my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6WyA-f3JdI&feature=related, and it's called "Where's your Bible?". I don't understand much else, but it's been fun to watch and I learn a little more each time I see it. I went from picking out words to understanding some phrases. And-- my favorite part-- it totally counts as my homework!! :o) If only all of my schooling growing up included youtube!! :o)

I've also been practicing with Esther every day. Esther is the 16 year old niece of our housekeeper, and she lives here in Port with her aunt to go to school. Her family is back on LaGonave, the island where I'll be headed for most of my time here in Haiti. Esther and I have formed a mutual admiration society/homework help group, and I'm proud to call her my first friend! ;o) I really felt like we were friends when last night, she asked if she could come visit me over Christmas break, when we'll both be on LaGonave. Soooo fun! So, mainly, we meet up every evening, and she helps me with Creole and I've been helping her with her English and Spanish homework... Yeah, you read that right-- Spanish!!! At first, I thought my brain was going to shortcircuit teaching my second language in my third, but it was actually really neat! And she is so patient with me Creole! I am so blessed to know her!

Last night, she told me about some several reactions that she has to mosquito bites, a terribly unfortunate allergy to have when you live in Haiti! She gets really bad hives, especially on her face. It was neat to be able to write down for her the names of some medicines that may help ease off her reactions. Also, I've been praying for ways to bless her and encourage her to love God more. Maya shared with us yesterday the huge need for youth ministry in Haiti, as over 50% of the population is under the age of 20!!! Any youth pastors wanna come join me? So, I feel like Esther is a little part of the reason that I'm here. Also, last night, it was amazing and peaceful to feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be and doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Such a neat feeling to sense that you're doing what you were created to do!! I highly encourage it! :o)  It was awesome to be able to communicate with Esther, love on her, and help her out a little medically.

So, I fell asleep last night praying for Esther, and woke up this morning around 5am looking like this...

That's me gettin' ready to fight that reaction with some Prednisone and Benadryl! Good stuff! And it was as much as I could open my eyes! And my whole right cheek was one giant hive! Well, the good side is that none of it itches, and hopefully the mosquitos will stay away from me today! :o) The not so good side is that I'm still not sure of the cause and my allergic reactions seem to be getting a little worse. Here's a little reminder of what I should look like! :o)

That's Maya and I in the kitchen hanging out... like normal people who can open their eyes! :o)~

So far, the meds are kicking in and I can open both eyes again and actually have both contacts in again! Hooray!! But I'm calling on all you wonderful people who pray!! Please join me in praying for allergy-free days and discovering their source! Thank you!!!

Once again, I had a great time with the Lord this morning as He encouraged me that His presence and peace are available even when I can't see (literally). My devotional reading for this morning talked about how ever since His resurrection, when Jesus showed up, He encouraged His followers with the works "Peace be unto you" and that "I will never leave you or forsake you". So, I am so thankful for His peace and presence in the midst of this battle with reactions. Even though it's still a little hard to see, I can still study Creole by listening to those awesome music videos! Watch out, allergies, I'm ready to fight!!

Haiti for the Holidays... :o)

Up until this moment, I haven't felt very fall-ish... I mean, I live in the Caribbean. I'm studying outside to work (carefully, without getting burned) on my tan (and of course, my Creole). But otherwise, it's been rather toasty here, with tempertures in the 90s-100s during the day. Next week is Thanksgiving, and I feel much more ready for Memorial Day or some other holiday where I can go swimming and eat ice cream, not turkey and stuffing! :o)  I've noticed many of my friends debating on facebook about if it's too early for Christmas music... I can barely imagine C-mas music, although a Gingerbread latte from Starbucks does sound rather appetizing.
Until today...
This afternoon, I found a radio station in Creole. My language teacher recommends that I listen to as much Creole as I can to pick up on the little sounds and contractions that make Creole so tricky. So, I just finished class and scoured the internet to find Radio Lumiere.... an awesome Christian radio station that's mostly in Creole. And the first song that came on was a Christmas carol!! So, despite the heat and workin on my tan, I suddenly find myself quite in the Christmas spirit! Wanna listen along?  Check out...http://www.radiolumiere.org/
And may all your Christmases be in Creole!

It's good to be three!

I think that I have reverted back to being a three-year-old. I speak in short sentences, I go to bed at 9pm, and I get really excited when someone gives me a cookie. Perhaps this needs a little more explanation... :o)

This week has been a week chock-full of language learning, and hence my regression in age! Matt and I each have a 2 hour lesson in Creole every weekday, and then spend the rest of our time memorizing more Creole words and playing with Thea and Zahra (see-- we play with other kids! we're 3 again! :). Our Creole is progressing "piti piti" (little by little), and usually we just make people laugh a lot. I don't know a whole lot of words, but I sure can get creative in how I use the ones I know! :o) Also, Creole kind of sounds like baby-talk. It's very musical, but many words contain sounds like "kap" and "w'ap" and things that sound much like a baby learning to English.

DISCLAIMER: I may be forgetting some English, or at least how to spell! I apologize in advance if I miss something and the spellcheck doesn't get it! From now on, please don't hold me responsible for the grammar/spelling of my blogs! Thanks!!

Nine pm bedtime-- It's true!! I really have gone to bed that early! And it's really not a weird or difficult thing around here!  Not everyone has electricity, even here in the capital city, so most people's days revolve around sunlight. That means getting up with the roosters before 6am and heading home by 5:30 pm when the sun sets. 

So when missionary midnight (9pm) rolls around, you're quite ready to sleep. Also, learning a new language wears me out, so getting 8 or 9 hours a sleep is so helpful for my memory!

Cookies-- we've had lots of yummy homemade cookies this week! And that makes me so happy... I think that's all I need to say about that. ;o)

Thea is my favorite person to try out Creole with. As an 18-month-old, she doesn't correct my grammar, doesn't care if it takes me a few minutes to get a simple phrase out, and will giggle incessantly if I spin her in circles. I'm a little nervous that I may be corrupting her Creole, but I figure that her dad (a native Haitian) will have the rest of his life to straighten her out if I'm leading her astray! :o)

I've also been learning to trust the Lord with childlike faith this week. First, I got to be my own patient and visit my first Haitian pharmacy! As many of you know, I have a few random food allergies of things that are pretty easy to avoid. But, it seems that I'm allergic to something new, for I woke up Friday morning covered in hives from hades. Many were larger than my hand! I was absolutely miserable. Thankfully, the pharmacy had exactly the medicine that I needed! I don't itch anymore, but I'm still on the meds and now have a mystery on my hands to discover the source of those hives. Also, an unexpected blessing--I learned that mosquitoes don't like to bite me when I have hives! I guess they're afraid to catch what I've got!! I was so thankful to have a respite from mosquito bites! But I had a sweet time in prayer with my Heavenly Father on Friday as I cried out for Him to remove those hives, and He gently reminded me that He's bigger and more powerful than hives and that He has been preparing me for this work in Haiti for a long time. 


First, it was neat to think that God had prepared me for that unfortunate occurrence. I'm a PA; I knew which meds would work and make me feel better. I was so thankful that God had lead me all those years and giant textbooks ago to learn medicine. Without that, I think I'd still be a big ball of itchy misery.


Second, my Heavenly Papa is teaching me that being a kid isn't so bad! He wants me to have childlike faith in the midst of these new situations and language learning. And like a child, I am back in school again; this time in preparation for my future Kingdom work here in Haiti.


Third, I've been learning to bloom where I'm planted. I'm praying for opportunities to be used while I'm here and learning to communicate. It's been neat to get to babysit for Carl and Maya so that they could go on their first date since Zahra was born, and one afternoon I made iced lattes for all of us (my espresso machine that I brought is the closest that we'll get to Starbucks this year!!). I'm thankful for these neat little moments to serve while I get ready for more hands-on service.


Well, I would love to write more, like to tell you about the awesome church that we went to this morning (at 7am), but it's 8:53pm, and you know what that means! Bedtime!!


~diane


P.S.~ I hope that your day is full of wonderful things-- like naptime and milk and cookies!

Status-Post Haitian Vacation... ;o)

The Lord definitely has a sense of adventure! So after an awesome week of "roughin' it" for Jesus at that incredible resort with AC, gourmet meals (not always sure exactly what i was eating, but it was awesome), and (usually) hot showers, we have arrived in Port-Au-Prince to find a rather different situation.

Matt Tegen and I are staying with Carl and Maya Gilles and their adorable daughters Thea (18 months) and Zahra (1 month) in their beautiful guest house for this month to cram as much Creole into our heads as possible. As we pulled up to their house, Carl hopped out and opened the large metal gate, and I felt like we were on House Hunters International! It's a lovely home with tiled floors and lots of space and fun rainbow-colored awnings above the windows.

Shortly after we arrived, we learned that the water had been left on while we were at the retreat for the week, and it had emptied the cistern on the roof... leaving us with no water!! It's been an interesting journey the last 48 hours of Carl valiantly trying to get it fixed. In the midst of that, once the electric went off for several hours. Usually, the city electricity runs for several hours, then we switch to that battery inverter system, and when that's done we move to the generator. It enables us to have fans (without which we might not sleep) and lights.  So, I've learned how to have a Haitian shower (a sponge bath-style bathing routine using a large bucket of water and a smaller bucket to rinse with) and I've gotten good use out of my headlamp for putting on my makeup while getting ready for church at 5:15 this morning. It's definitely been an adventure. :o) I think the fact that we have internet still makes me feel like I'm not really roughing it.

Yup... 5:15! Church was a really neat experience this morning, and we attended the early service (6-8am) at the largest Wesleyan church in Haiti! The place was packed out, and it was incredible to hear the people pray!! While the pastor was praying, they were all agreeing with him, and I am so blessed to be a part of the Lord's church worldwide and worship with this amazing group of believers! We were introduced on stage before the church (thankfully Carl translated for us so I didn't have to do it in Creole-- yet! the goal for next Sunday is to be able to introduce myself and describe my future ministries). I didn't understand much beyond a few scattered words and phrases in the message that was all in Creole, but I did figure out which passage of Scripture he was using... only to learn later that he read it all in French! I'm so confused! :o)~

Yesterday we had some fun little adventures! We whizzed thorough the downtown area to see the huge cathedral, a museum, and the palace, and then went souvenir shopping with some girls that were just here for the week. I bought a lovely painting that's gracing my room here, which Matt helped me negotiate the price for like 30 minutes! Do you like it?: 

 Also, we all got to enjoy sugar cane!! It's really good and different... You bite off a chunk, gnaw on it as sweetness floods your taste buds for 10 seconds, and then spit it out. It should come with a spittoon! It's nice, but much like chewing on sweet wood.

Now that you have an idea of some of the tastes of Haiti, let me describe the smells... Periodically, the aroma of a fire permeates the air. It seems that something is always burning. Typically, someone is burning a pile of trash. I'll have to post pictures of the city soon so that you can visualize it too! Thus far, I've been in a moving vehicle through the streets, so I'll have to try to get some still shots soon! But here's a little peek into my room, complete with my rockin' mosquito netting:

I'll leave you with one last story of smells here... On Sundays, we're on our own for meals, as the cook/housekeeper and her niece have a much-deserved day off. This afternoon, I had the pleasure of making eggplant lasagna (eggplant is sooo cheap here!) with salad and garlic cheese bread for lunch. It was fun finding my way around a kitchen in Haiti. The oven is fueled with propane, so you have to light a match and then turn the gas on for the stove and oven. We can't (shouldn't :) drink water from the tap, so it's an interesting process of cleaning vegetables. Washing dishes involves a small amount of soap and bleach and a rinse bucket of boiling hot water to scorch the germs and hopefully attain a small measure of sterility. But the results of the cooking sure were wonderful!! And one last scent to leave you with... Maya made cappuccino chip cookies for dessert! The running water it off again right now, but I'd say we're not roughing it too bad right now. ;o)

 

Haitian Vacation?!!! :o)

Yup, you read that right! I'm kinda on vacation for my first few days in Haiti! How sweet after the hustle and bustle of leaving and the unexpected news about my dad! On the plane on Monday morning, the Lord spoke to me about resting in Him, and it was so sweet to find out Monday night when I got here, that it's also the theme of this retreat, centered on the same verses that God had shown me!!  


First, I need to give you a quick update. My dad's bladder cancer biopsies came back this week, and-- praise the Lord!!!-- it's a low level, non-invasive cancer!! The prostate still needs further biopsies, but we are soooo thankful for this news!!! Thanks for your encouraging notes and especially for your prayers!


This week is an area missionary retreat, and it's the first one in several years. There are 26 of us gathered here, and it feels much like an extended  family reunion-- we don't know one another that well but we already love each other! There are also 2 incredible women here who have been doing missions work in Guyana and Suriname for 40 years!! Their stories are incredible and encouraging, and it's fun to see pictures of people in grass huts!


I felt a little silly at first to be on a retreat when I haven't done any work yet, but I've been assured that I'll earn it soon enough! We're right on the ocean and the sunsets have been incredible! Isn't God a great artist?!

And the beach is incredible:

And I think that's where Monday night's dinner came from! Conch is yummy! Tastes a little like chicken... :o)


The schedule for this week has lent itself to lots of adventures! Our normal schedule consisted of meetings of encouragement and team building in the morning, and then free afternoons and evenings. Those times were full of swimming in the ocean and pool, enjoying the sun, playing games, visiting, drawing, napping, and snorkeling.  And we were especially excited to have AC in the bedrooms and hot water (most of the time :).  Picture us here:

And then one afternoon, I was invited to another mission for a quick visit.


That morning, one of our team members shared a neat insight into a common experience for missionaries in Haiti. Often when we're out on the island (La Gonave, the place where I'll be for most of my time here), children will hold our hand while we're out. The missionary mentioned that these kids are placing some of their hope and trust in us every time they do that. When I was here in March for a week and that occurred, it was just like "o, isn't that cute?!", but what a neat insight he had! But how neat to consider even these little events as a moment in which to share Christ and His love as a child places their trust in me for a short time.


This afternoon, a few of us visited Mission Possible with Cory, a botanist and a missionary in the northern part of Haiti. He was going to check on the garden, and they also have a school there. While exploring the gardens we checked out the banana trees.

As we meandered through the gardens, a little girl who lived there grabbed my hand. Instantly, Carl's message from the morning came to mind, and I felt so priviledged to be in this country and have moments of influence and venues for impact.


We also had a glimpse of Haitian power supply, and it's quite different from the States!! When the normal power goes out, we rely on an inverter system using power that was stored in car batteries! The one at this mission looks like this:

I think that there's 18 of 'em!


 On the drive back, Cory told us about the gardens on the side of the mountains. The mountains are so steep here that people sometimes fall out of their gardens!! The lighter areas on the mountains in this picture are surgham.










A few more pictures from the retreat... This is the view from our room and the room itself:

And a few quick pics to prove that I was actually here, too! :o) This is me doing what I do best-- talking!! I was waiting for lunch with Pastor Dan, our area director, Dr. Kris, her son Eli, and Marlene, the wife of our pastor to missionaries.  And the dining room has an incredible ocean view!! There are no walls in there, so we also had little birds who visited with us for dinner! :o) The food was incredible, all prepared by a Haitian/ Canadian chef!


And this is me (in the hat) on the rock beach at sunset:

I hope and pray that you're having a wonderful, restful day and look forward to hearing about your adventures!!!