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!!!