Friday, October 30, 2009
WE ARE BACK IN THE STATES
We are back in the states for two missions conferences. The first was a week ago and we were deeply blessed by a small church that has a big heart for missons. We were surprized to see old friends there. Another surprize was they had advertised in the paper that we would be speaking so other people from our past and present came as well. Our second conference will be the first weekend in Nov. This weekend we will be visiting some Haitian Friends in Buffalo. But I have to admit the highlight of our three weeks in the states is the birth of our granddaughter Abigail Jane. Mom and Dad are doing well but Abby is having some problems transitioning into this new world and has had to be put into the NICU. We pray that she will be leaving there soon and joining her parents. Her two year old brother is staying with Bud and I right now and we have forgotten what it feels like to have a two year old sleep between you. This is a picture of our daughter Lorah and her husband Chris.
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
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
Monday, September 21, 2009
When 80 Degrees Feels Cool
It is 8:00 in the evening and it actually feels cool to us. The humidity is not as high tonight as it has been. Lately Cold showers have been the next best thing to heaven.
We have been here a little over three weeks and I think we are beginning to adjust to the heat. I am so thankful that there are places through out the day that have air conditioning and when we get to enjoy it it is a real treat.
It is such a privilege to work along side our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ. So many of them are such dynamic individuals. I am so pleased with the way the staff in the Starfish Kids office and the maintenance staff have accepted Bud and I.
One of the things we enjoy is the time we get to pray along side them for the work going on here. Each Monday at noon I sit with my co workers and we have a time of worship together. It is all in creole and that give me time to work on my creole as well.
Today was my first class teaching English as a second language. I have 46 students and they are so anxious to learn. As I teach them about English they are teaching me about their language.
Most of my day is trying to find sponsorships for the children. We have lost several this year because of economic problems in the rest of the world. This past week was their first week of school and Madamn has been traveling from school to school passing out books and supplies to the Starfish kids.
Some times are hard when students have to be told that they no longer have a sponsor, but we have laid that in our Fathers hands as well. One thing I do know is that our Lord loves these children more than we do and he knows and will do what is best in every circumstance.
Bud and I have laid our financial needs as well at his feet and know that He knows from where it will come from. Every time I look at the beautiful mountains that surround us I can feel the Glory and strength of our Father. I feel sometimes like He sitting right there above us and He is sending down His love and mercy. He knows what we need and He has it all worked out. He just wants us to trust him and go about what He has asked us to do and leave the rest up to him. My desire is to draw closer and closer to him everyday so I do not disappoint him.
We have a team in here from Scotland and we have enjoyed our time with them. I am looking forward to more visits from teams. Espeacially one coming in in a couple of weeks. They are friends from home. Our family has been wonderful, at keeping in touch and taking care of things back home we are so blessed. Jane
We have been here a little over three weeks and I think we are beginning to adjust to the heat. I am so thankful that there are places through out the day that have air conditioning and when we get to enjoy it it is a real treat.
It is such a privilege to work along side our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ. So many of them are such dynamic individuals. I am so pleased with the way the staff in the Starfish Kids office and the maintenance staff have accepted Bud and I.
One of the things we enjoy is the time we get to pray along side them for the work going on here. Each Monday at noon I sit with my co workers and we have a time of worship together. It is all in creole and that give me time to work on my creole as well.
Today was my first class teaching English as a second language. I have 46 students and they are so anxious to learn. As I teach them about English they are teaching me about their language.
Most of my day is trying to find sponsorships for the children. We have lost several this year because of economic problems in the rest of the world. This past week was their first week of school and Madamn has been traveling from school to school passing out books and supplies to the Starfish kids.
Some times are hard when students have to be told that they no longer have a sponsor, but we have laid that in our Fathers hands as well. One thing I do know is that our Lord loves these children more than we do and he knows and will do what is best in every circumstance.
Bud and I have laid our financial needs as well at his feet and know that He knows from where it will come from. Every time I look at the beautiful mountains that surround us I can feel the Glory and strength of our Father. I feel sometimes like He sitting right there above us and He is sending down His love and mercy. He knows what we need and He has it all worked out. He just wants us to trust him and go about what He has asked us to do and leave the rest up to him. My desire is to draw closer and closer to him everyday so I do not disappoint him.
We have a team in here from Scotland and we have enjoyed our time with them. I am looking forward to more visits from teams. Espeacially one coming in in a couple of weeks. They are friends from home. Our family has been wonderful, at keeping in touch and taking care of things back home we are so blessed. Jane
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
We're Here
We've been here two weeks now and have been trying to catch our breaths.
Jane has been very busy with Star Fish Kids going over sponsorship lists.
And I, well have have been very busy myself.
We arrived on Tuesday Sept 1st to find our house being cleaned by one of the Haitian ladies, what a relief. I proceeded to hook up the propane cylinder so that we could have hot water and cook but found two leaks in the line which caused a trip to the "wood shop" next door for parts.
The next three days were spent in the annual field meetings, the weekend was relaxing, then Monday. It started off with Brett coming to our door at 6:15 AM stating that there was low water pressure and no better time to see where the wells are to check on the pumps. Well on our way to the second pump we found the problem, a water main break. It seems that this is a reoccurring problem due to some non-pressure fittings used some time ago. My Haitian partner and I spent the day fixing the problem but another fitting let go on Tuesday so we finally got all fittings changed and completed.
Through out the week it was filled with fixing the lawnmower, power inverters, checking batteries, copying keys and even a washing machine needed tending to.
We sent Friday afternoon, Saturday, and part of Sunday in team building meetings with Jim & Sue Smith from Oms Greenwood.
Monday morning we find that our only running generator is overheating. When I asked one of the Haitian staff what the problem was with the other generator he said that he believed that it's fuel pump was bad. As he continued to investigate we found that the injector pump shaft had broken and spent the next eight hours changing it. The hardest part was trying to "time" a used pump to the engine with out the proper factory tool. Through prayer and Haitian ingenuity we were able to get it running just as the other generator overheated again. Praise The Lord!! Today we will try to determine what the overheating problem is.
I can see how the Cummins Diesel books that Paul Juers sent along from Pennsylvania are being put to good use here, Thanks Paul !!!!
Well it's off for another busy day serving My Lord here in Haiti
Bud
Jane has been very busy with Star Fish Kids going over sponsorship lists.
And I, well have have been very busy myself.
We arrived on Tuesday Sept 1st to find our house being cleaned by one of the Haitian ladies, what a relief. I proceeded to hook up the propane cylinder so that we could have hot water and cook but found two leaks in the line which caused a trip to the "wood shop" next door for parts.
The next three days were spent in the annual field meetings, the weekend was relaxing, then Monday. It started off with Brett coming to our door at 6:15 AM stating that there was low water pressure and no better time to see where the wells are to check on the pumps. Well on our way to the second pump we found the problem, a water main break. It seems that this is a reoccurring problem due to some non-pressure fittings used some time ago. My Haitian partner and I spent the day fixing the problem but another fitting let go on Tuesday so we finally got all fittings changed and completed.
Through out the week it was filled with fixing the lawnmower, power inverters, checking batteries, copying keys and even a washing machine needed tending to.
We sent Friday afternoon, Saturday, and part of Sunday in team building meetings with Jim & Sue Smith from Oms Greenwood.
Monday morning we find that our only running generator is overheating. When I asked one of the Haitian staff what the problem was with the other generator he said that he believed that it's fuel pump was bad. As he continued to investigate we found that the injector pump shaft had broken and spent the next eight hours changing it. The hardest part was trying to "time" a used pump to the engine with out the proper factory tool. Through prayer and Haitian ingenuity we were able to get it running just as the other generator overheated again. Praise The Lord!! Today we will try to determine what the overheating problem is.
I can see how the Cummins Diesel books that Paul Juers sent along from Pennsylvania are being put to good use here, Thanks Paul !!!!
Well it's off for another busy day serving My Lord here in Haiti
Bud
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