Nov 27th

A quiet moment to share life on a personal note….

Today is Tuesday and, like most week days, Dawson and Jordan do their school work in the morning. Today was a hard day for that. The kids were in a mood of not wanting to try and sometimes I think they almost like to frustrate me! I am happy to be done for the day. Kira and I then wondered around and took some pictures of what people have been doing. Stephanie is helping in Met. (abbreviation for teacher) Alexanders class, Carl in Met. Germaines class, Sheldon in whatever class needs it more. Jaimee has been doing the little guys with Melissas help. It is a challenge to be sure because there are many ages. Two years until sometimes 7 I think! Because these little guys don’t know much English they don’t listen very well. Also, I think they can feel that Jaimee is much more of a ‘softie’ than any of the Haitian teachers they have had!

The school here is doing the Accelerated Christian Education program (A.C.E.) and it is going very well. It is in English,of course, so the kids are learning that as well as the subjects. We help out in class by marking their paces, having them read out loud to us and correcting grammer and pronunciation etc. We also need to allow then o go and score their work when they put up their flag. It surprises me how busy that can be! It seems every time you turn around a few more kids need help. It is a good thing God has sent us to help or these kids would sit with their hands up for a long time!

We are also fixing up and painting the guest house here. They have people and teams coming throughout Dec. and right now we are preparing specifically for about 50 pastors to come learn about and take Christian education to their own areas. This ACE seminar will be the week of Dec 10^th. We will be in Jacmel for that time and it works well as they will want to use our place to house people.

I have finally finished reading ‘Desiring God’ by Piper and interestingly enough, the last chapter was titled “Suffering : the sacrifice of Christian hedonism.” Hmm…. I felt keenly some of things it contained were for me for now. I was particularly having a difficult day and feeling overwhelmed with the sores my kids have and the heat and the mentality that is so different here as far as organization (or lack there of) and I thought “what am I doing?” It encouraged me to read of Paul and all he went through and with such a GREAT attitude! That he would rejoice in his sufferings (and how I could even think I was suffering in comparison!) and even boast about them! How thankful I am for the family of God and for the examples of godly men and women who perseveared by faith in a God who was working all things together for good!

I had a moment of reflection last week too when I was feeling lonely for my family and friends, my home and town and comforts there. Then God impressed on my heart the Isrelite people and how they always felt the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. ‘we want to be free! Release us from the bonds of slavery!’ to ‘Man, we had it way better back in Egypt!’ and I felt convicted to repent of my heart attitude in this. I thought it through and played it all out logically and could almost see myself sitting at my window looking out into the cloudy, rainey, snowy day thinking ‘man, I can’t stand this weather…’ or ‘ I wish winter wasn’t so long here”. Then I thought if I was there I would wish I was here! Needless to say, I had to give myself a good, swift kick in the butt and snap out of it! Since then I have not looked back and things have been going better.

The kids are adjusting more and more. Jordan has made her own blog and for part of her school I’m going to get her to do an entry every other day or something. She actually wrote today that she was having fun here! I made no comment (of course, less she changed her mindJ) but was happy to feel she’s having an easier go of it. Dawson, I think, will make his own blog as well and then they can put silly pictures on their own instead of mine!

We have been doing English conversation classes and they are my favorite thing! We do 30 mins, three time a week with four different classes (that’s 12 total) and then in the evenings we do 2 classes for adults. One beginner and one advanced. This has been a GREAT way to get to know people better (and actually remember their names!) These are Mon, Wed. and Fri, at 7pm for an hour. So far they have been with the tachers and adults here in Canaan but come Dec. we will open it up to the community of Mount Rouis also. We charge $5.00 /person for the whole month! This is really a good deal for them and it gives a little money to Canaan to boot!

Better run! Talk soon…

Kim