Saturday, October 10, 2009

Learning a New Language

One of the things that we never did in high School was take a foreign language. Now I wish I had taken French. It is funny I always had a desire to, but it just didn't seem as important as a few other things I wanted to take. So here we are in our 50's and trying to learn Creole.

Many of the words are very close to English so that does help. I do not know which is funnier listening to Bud tell what it is like for him trying to learn or watching me try to explain to my English students in creole what our words mean. Either way we are both surviving.

My Haitian friends who help us in our home are actually beginning to understand what I am speaking about when I talk to them in their native language. My English students come up to me in class and often I hear, " I wish I could speak English like you" and I tell them "No I want to speak creole like you" and then they laugh.

This week I learned how to share the Gospel of Christ and the good news of Jesus with the Haitians. Next week I am going out evangelising with my teacher. I'm asking the Holy Spirit to give me what I need to be able to speak and hear with ease. It is important to me to be able to tell them about Christ.

This past week was a real treat. My best Friend Kim and her daughter came to Haiti. I was so nice to be able to share our new life with them and see Haiti through fresh eyes. Sometimes the loneliness for family and friends sets in but the Lord is quickly filling our lives with new friends to add the ones we already love and adore.

Soon we will be leaving to go home for just 3 weeks. We will be sharing in churches in the Erie area and raising support once again. While we are home our daughter will be having her baby. We are very excited about that, but it will be hard to leave knowing it will be a year before we hold our new granddaughter again.

There is so much to do here but we never seem to get tired of doing it. The days pass by quickly, We are very happy to say the crashed computer is fixed and on it's way back to Haiti. Then we will have several months of data to reenter. This is a true answer to prayer. New sponsorship for the children are coming in slowly but our Lord is faithful and we know he has a plan for all the children on our waiting list.

There are very happy days here in Haiti and very sad. This week I held in my arms a beautiful baby girl who is not going to live very long. She is having multiple seizures all the time. Please pray for her and her family, they have a rough time ahead. The mothers sister is a dear friend of mine and works with me. Life is very hard here for so many, but God is working and everyday we see him touching lives.

The Aberlees feel the Lord is calling them home and Bud will not only have the responsibility of this compound but completing the new seminary as well. We are praying that some of our friends will be able to come in and stay with us and help Bud during Nov. and Dec. The heat is hard on him but he is building friendships with the men who work under him and I believe he is impacting their lives.

The greatest thing is we are growing in the Lord and changing in ways that make us more useable by Him. Thank-you for your prayers. Jane

1 comment:

Cindy said...

Will be praying that you have a safe trip back to the states & that your daughter's delivery goes well. Also that the Lord will multiply your three weeks making them feel like six or eight or 10! Sorry to hear the Aberlee's are leaving. We know the Lord will multiply Bud's efforts...but remember...he can't fix all of Haiti in a few months :) Blessings - Bud & Cindy