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!!!

Dear Friends, a little letter from me to you

Dear Friends,

Hi! I feel like writing a letter today more than a blog. Letters seem to be a little more personal and sweet (or maybe just a little more Diane-ish :o). Most of the New Testament was written as letters-- epistles full of love, encouragement, personal greetings, and exhortations to know and love the relational God who first loved us. Today and the news that I have to share are letter-types of things.

My dear friends, thank you for going on this journey with me!! I'm so glad to have you with me in spirit on these new adventures. And I especially appreciate your prayers and responses!

I'm leaving tomorrow night for Haiti!! My flight leaves at 7:45pm from Atlanta, then it's on to a quick overnight in JFK. On Monday morning, I should arrive in Port-au-Prince!! Nov. 2-6th is a retreat for the area missionaries-- the first in several years! Then, I'll stay in the capital for language training for the rest of November and on to the hospital in December. Can't wait!

Dear friends, the next bit of news is hard to write. About 3 weeks ago, my dad started having some concerning symptoms. From an ER mindset, they were cancerous until proven otherwise. From a daughter's standpoint, they were nothing until they were something. Unfortunately, it did turn out to be something. My father was diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer yesterday. We are waiting for the biopsies to come back to know how severe it is. Hopefully, it's not much of something.

In the midst of this curveball of news in my last week States-side, the Lord has been so sweet! None of this takes Him by surprise! My dad has an incredible sense of peace. And God has made it so clear that I need to be departing for Haiti in November. It has been incredible to watch Him bring the Haiti trip together! The vice president of the missions board I'm going through was amazed that all of the funds came together in just 5 months! I had a veteran missionary tell me this week how stunned he was that all of my fund-raising is already done (i'm just $500 shy of the whole $27,300 needed!). In the spring, I felt so strongly that I needed to leave in Nov., and here I am departing on Nov. 1st!! At this point, it still seems like I need to leave, but so much of my heart and prayers will still be here in little Central, SC. I know that my dad remains in the competent hands of great physicians, the gracious hands of loving friends, and the Almighty hands of Father God.

It has been a crazy but good week here. We spent it in doctors' offices, packing (and repacking-- still 3 pounds over in both suitcases! :o)~, eating and more eating of favorite foods, spending every second possible with family and friends and my wonderful boyfriend, and celebrating holidays (we had Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all this week!). I also had my last day of work yesterday, and it was an incredible love-feast! Love, because I don't know that I've ever felt so loved at a job, especially yesterday with the news of my father's illness!! And feast, because I have NEVER in 3 years there seen so much food in that place! And I think that food there really equates with love, and it poured out in a high tea and many other yummy treats. Heehee, and I think that I will be feelin' that love around my hips for a while! :o) What a blessing to work with such wonderful people!

May the grace, peace, and comfort of our gracious, powerful, comforting God fill you today and every day! Thank you in advance for your prayers and comments-- I look forward to keeping in touch!

In His peace,
~diane

My Life, a Miniseries

I think that God loves to surprise me when I least expect Him to! I like to think that it's kinda like He's sitting on a couch in Heaven watching the miniseries of my life and at a moment like today, He'll lean over to an angel and say, "Hey, Gabriel, watch this! She's gonna love what I did for her! Watch for the expression that going to be on her face!" And then He leans back and smiles as He watches me enjoy the surprise that He's had in store for me since before the creation of the world.

Today had one of those moments!

So, I was writing an email to my mobilizer from Global Partners this morning. My mobilizer is the guy who makes sure that all of the long list of stuff to be done before going to Haiti gets done. I'm so thankful for him!! It's great to have someone know you, know your paperwork, and know how to get you to where God wants you to go! So, I was writing about my checklist of stuff (which is shrinking rapidly!!!) and mentioning fundraising. If my budget gets officially approved for $27,000 (that's the number i've been working with, but I need some i's dotted and t's crossed to make it proper), then I only need another $5,500! Woohoo! But the funny thing is... I have no idea where that money is going to come from!! The mobilizer wanted to know my plan for raising funds this month, and as I sat there pondering what to write had this feeling of "duh, uh, I dunno..." I don't really have a whole lot more contacts than the ones I've already contacted. It was a bleak feeling, and oddly, I felt so bleak I didn't even feel like I could pray about it.

So, on to the next email that I needed to respond to... and I realized that I needed to write back to a dear friend of mine who wrote me last week and asked about how to support me! Hooray! The Lord already has one more supporter lined up!

As I was writing her, I got a phone call from my mom. One of her friends had just stopped by to see her and share some exciting news from her (the friend's) recent doctor's visit. This doctor is a wonderful, nice doctor that I met as a student, and he had expressed interest in offering me a job 3 years ago. I had something else lined up by then, but he's still one of my favorite doctors. Well, this doctor asked my mom's friend if I was still moonlighting at the internist's office. When she said that I wasn't, he inquired about my current job status. The friend went on to explain that I'm preparing for Haiti and that I have a LOT of money to raise. {this is the part where God leans over and smiles big} The doc wants to support me!!! He told her to tell me to send him a letter and that he would love to be a part of my support team! Wow!!!

It's so neat when I think that I'm absolutely at the end of all that I can do trying to follow God's leading, and then He steps in to provide in ways that I never even imagined (and i have a really good imagination!). And He works even when I have zero faith that He's doing it!

Thanks for your prayers and I hope that today you're enjoying the next installment of adventures that God has planned for the miniseries of your life!
~diane
P.S.~ My target departure date is early November! Soooo excited!

Sweet Thoughts of September

Happy Fall! It certainly feels like fall today!! It's wonderful to run in the afternoon (since it's no longer blisteringly hot at that time), drink Pumpkin Spice lattes from Starbucks, and watch God paint the leaves!
I hope that you're having a wonderful week! My September has started well with some hikes in parents' mountainous neighborhood, easing back into running (after a 4 month hiatus after running a marathon and then having shoulder surgery), and definitely enjoying a few lattes! Below is a fun recipe that I found for a homemade Pumpin Spice Latte-- let me know if you think it tastes like the real thing!

2 shots Espresso

3 oz milk combined w/ 3oz 1/2 & 1/2 steamed & frothed-- or As much as you like

2 Tsp Pumpkin Spice- Grocery store Spice Isle.

1 tblsp white mocha Tollhouse chips to sweeten.

Then mix it all up to taste. Top with whipped cream and a sprinke of pumpkin spice.

As much as I'm enjoying fall right now, I kind of miss summer. Usually, summer is so hot that I long for fall by the time it gets here. This year, I have a little bit of nostaglia for summer, like I wasn't quite ready for it to be done yet... I was hoping for a few more days of soaking up sun on the deck, wearing skirts, and eating watermelon. I think that perhaps God is getting even my internal thermometer ready for Haiti! I'm looking forward to living in perpetual summer, where the coldest it gets is 80 degrees at night in the winter!

Speaking of Haiti, it looks like a November departure just might happen!! I'm so close with the fund raising-- praise the Lord!!! I only need another $5,600 out of the $27,000! It's fun and wonderful and scary and exhilarating to be so close!! Thanks for your prayers!!

May you have a wonderul, blessed, pumpkin-spice-filled fall week!