One Last Thing

[Sunday]

The weather here has been unpredictable lately much like in the USA. We have been getting strong thunder storms and heavy rain each evening with much sand/soil and debris washing down the mountain and across our driveway. Last Thursday Missionary Flights was on a delay due to severe weather between here and Fla., that taken into account and tickets to fly early on the morning of 6/14 from West Palm Beach, we have opted to fly to Fla. two days early so as not to miss our flight North. We will “hang around” MFI’s hanger and volunteer as we have done many other times fitting in where ever. Usually I jump in and help Bob with vehicle repairs or run errands. Jane disappears in the office to get work done and take care of loose ends.

Yesterday we were busy packing up Sammy, defrosting the refrigerator, cleaning inverter battery cables and topping off batteries with water, scrubbing the stove, and sorting out trash. “Going Out” is always a good time to clean, sort and put things in order. During our work Sammy was playing on the floor and trying his best to follow us in our trips through the house. We have had a large mirror leaning from our chest of drawers against the wall next to our bedroom door. Sammy has a habit of swinging the door against the drawers and makes the mirror rattle which brings a response of “stop that Sammy”. Yesterday the rattle ended with a crash, thank God Sammy was with us on the opposite side of the door in the kitchen. Needless to say that created about 1 hour of sweeping shattered glass and Sammy not understanding why I suddenly locked him out of the bedroom. Sammy did enjoy being able to play knock-knock on the door to each other, he with hand and me with the broom.

About 4:00 Jane, Jeslain, and Noname took a ride to check on the progress of Jeslains family’s new rental house while I stayed behind watching Sammy and getting a few more things accomplished. About 5:00 a taxi towing our friend Franz in his broken down taxi pulled into our driveway where he usually parks it each evening. After they got the car situated I went out to investigate. Franz [who is not a mechanic] said that his fellow cabbies thought that his timing belt may have broken. He held Sammy while I proceeded to take some tools, remove some guards and sure enough the belt was trashed. I proceeded to tell him that I would try to help but we would be leaving in a week. I also told him that there are two types of engines one called interference and non-interference. An interference engine will damage the valves [very expensive repair] if the belt brakes while the engine is rotating due to the pistons striking the open valves. A quick call to Bob in Fla. he believed that the Toyota is usually safe from damage so we made plans to go ahead with a belt replacement. Hopefully he is able to purchase a belt locally.

Franz had driven Jane to and from English class for much of this past school year, he had attended three years of Seminary but had to drop out and start his taxi business. Just a few weeks ago he announced that he and his wife are expecting their first born.

The 1993 Toyota Corolla is actually held together by a lot of baling wire and prayer, it is all that he has for a means of income and recently moved into their own house that Franz built.

Hopefully I can use the talents and tools that God has so graciously provided to make a difference in their lives.

Just one last item on my “to-do-list”.

Thank-You for your prayers and standing with us as we attempt to be the hands and feet of Jesus here in Haiti.

bud

[Monday]

This photo was taken at noon, Franz returned shortly after with the parts and we were able to have the car finished and ready to go by 2:30

Anxious

Hi All,
It's Wednesday morning the sun is shining and I have Sammy and Savanna down at the Davis's while Vero goes to work and Jane is running errands in Cap.
I hate to say it but I am anxious for the 13th to get here to head home for a visit with friends and family.
It seems that after about 4 months we are always ready for a break!

Jane is finishing up final English exams at the Medical school and Grace Zion church. She finished up her F15 [address] classes early so that she could help me cover the babysitting schedule.

I have been working the airport for MFI Tuesdays and Thursdays, Lifewater a day or two each week. Repairing two vehicles for a local mission belonging to a Pittsburgh, PA church. along with babysitting and keeping our own to-do list accomplished keeps us hopping.

Jane had a "bon-fet"[good-celebration] for Jeslain's birthday supper on Monday. She fixed Bar-B-Q chicken and the fixings along with a frosted cake and soft drinks. After running Jeslain's family home I see in the rain that the front tire on the car is going flat, that is about the 12th flat since January, it's just part of being in Haiti. On Tuesday morning I pumped it up with air and two plug patches and then we were off and running for the day.
Being prepared for such things here is part of life that we take for granted back home. Brett taught me a couple of years ago, always carry a good jack, lug wrench, spare tire, compressor, plug kit, and jumper cables.

Two weeks ago Jane and Sammy's attorney made a quick flight to Port for the day to continue his adoption proceedings, she is being told that the remaining correspondence will be able to be by e-mail. She had to write a history of Sammy's case and how he came to us, now it is being transposed into French, the official legal language here to be submitted to the agency for further review.

Jane has been busy purchasing and arranging for deliveries of food and necessities for Potter's House Orphanage during our absence.

Over the week end I noticed that our [non potable] water had developed a strange odor. Yesterday Jestlain investigated and found that another frog had made it's way into our elevated storage tank and died. We  had him fish it out and add what bleach we had left, seems to getting better already.

Jane measured Sammy this morning and saw that he has gotten 2 1/4" taller in the past months. He likes to stand for a few seconds before being caught. It won't be long before he is walking.

As soon as we get home we are planning to go to our grandson Will's roller skating birthday party. Skating is something that we used to do weekly as a family back in the earley 80's. I know right where our skates are, hopefully I don't break a hip!!

We are scheduled to serve a week in July at Seneca Hills Christian camp Polk, PA as resident missionaries.
We are taking a number of grandchildren, Jane working with campers and I usually spend most of my time working with the collage age maintenance staff.

Over these past 5 months We have been blessed with:
Sammy, a dependable car, paved streets all of the way from Cap to our driveway, Jeslain, Annette and their family and many of you keeping us in your prayers each day.

Doug and Susan Rakoczy family are finishing up their two years here with Lifewater and heading back to Minnesota. We will certainly miss their friendship and help along the way.

Blessings,
Bud

Wedding & Birthday

Saturday was Juslain & Annette's wedding. Jane had been helping them plan it since last fall. All in all the event went off with out a hitch although for us North Americans it could be quite stressful such as: 5 minutes before the official wedding time only the groom, best-man, and ring bearer were there because I drove them, and the cake & food showed up an hour and one half later, just minutes before the ceremony ended. Everything went well, it was a very beautiful day. Jane's hard work and planning really made the day a joyous occasion.

After a busy Saturday, Kate Zlotnicki had us for lunch yesterday to celibate Jane's birthday (Today)

Mechanical Repairs

May 4,

It is 5:55 AM Saturday morning. I'm babysitting while Vero is off to choir practice 6-7:30. Jane, Vero and I have been spelling each other off watching Savanna while Don & Karen Davis are in the States.

A construction team of five from Washington state and Bob Ramsey from MFI are staying in the Davis dorm next door this week. It has been fun getting to know each of them. 

Bob is a good friend and mentor mechanic. We really got to know him well a year ago last January when he needed a place to stay while working on his truck that a local mission uses here. He stayed with us along with the Sweatmans. He is a life long mechanic and race engine builder that spent five plus years here doing mechanical work for missions before moving back to Ft. Pirece and doing mechanical work at MFI.

Don Sweatman, Bob and I spent many evenings talking engines boring our wives to death but learning, and sharing life stories about God's goodness. Jane and I now look up Bob and his lovely wife Barb [who works at MFI in shipping & receiving.] We usually share a meal together while passing through Ft. Pierce on our way "in" or "out" to catch up on how things are going. Bob has helped numerous times with technical questions, picking up needed parts, and tools.

Two and one half weeks ago I was following Jane the two miles down here to Davis's, she bringing Sammy to babysit and I was on my way next door to Lifewater to work when our car just died. It had been recently plagued with hard starting and stalling. I ran back to the house and grabbed a gas can thinking that the gauge may be lying but that didn't help. A quick call to Lifewater and one of the guys headed up to tow me while Jane continued with Sammy in friend's loaner car. I spent the rest of the day doing some diagnostics and low and behold it started back up. I babysat from noon until 5PM while Vero and Jane worked. At 5 I started the car but it soon died as I tried to back out of the Davis's carport. Jane came and picked me up with the loaner car. For some reason our car was not getting fuel, all of the fuses and relays seemed to be OK, the diagnostics scanner showed a cam angle sensor fault code. I had caught word that Bob was coming in the next day so called him to bring in his fuel pressure tester. I had written to my daughter Gretchen to send mine a week before thinking that the car would run long enough for it to get here but now it had stopped and Bob was on his way. He said that it was already in his tool box and would see me on Thursday. My gut feeling was that the fuel pump in the gas tank had been failing and had finally died. This would be a rather straight forward fix. After meeting Bob at the airport along with Ray from Limbe, we went and picked up Bob's truck and also swung by the local auto parts. Onel had fuel pumps in stock so things looked pretty good.

On Friday morning I hooked up Bob's tester and found that the fuel pressure was perfect meaning the pump was not the problem, now what? His scanner was also showing a cam angle sensor fault. The sensor tells the computer where the engine is at in rotation and when to fire the fuel injectors [not happening]. The sensor happens to be integrated into the distributor and must be change as a unit. Bob had to return to Fla. To get more tools and fabricate some needed body mount parts. While there he sent me a replacement distributor which fixed our car.

Upon his return a week later I was helping him install the new mounts. I was running the floor jack to lift the truck cab while Bob positioned the new mounts. We had a wooden 2x4 on end atop the jack under the floor of the truck; Bob got his fingers between the cab & the frame when the jack rolled dropping the cab and trapping Bob’s fingers. I was able to get the jack repositioned and released his fingers. After some rest we decided to “chock” the wheels of the jack and after the next attempt and very cautiously the jack kicked out again but this time Bob was in the clear. We came to find out that the truck shifter was not in Park after replacing the instrument cluster and this time the truck actually rolled. After blocking both the truck and jack we were able to finish the job.

The next day Bob’s hands were quite sore but nothing broken. Bob was working in the front of the truck and I was on a creeper checking air in the spare tire under the rear, I rolled out from under the truck, sat up and caught the trailer hitch with my right eyebrow splitting it open and causing a good laugh [after the stars went away]. Jane laughed and said that we are not to play together anymore. We did get a lot accomplished and had a good time in the process before Bob headed back Tuesday May 7.

Be Carefull What You Wish For

Thursday, 4/11


It was a month ago; we were gathered for the Davis’s early fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration here in Haiti prior to them going to the US to celebrate the actual date with family & friends. Sammy was in his walker and zipping around the banquet hall. A number of friends told me that it is very important that children master crawling before walking in order to learn a very important skill of arm/leg motor development. As a typical parent I went home and worked with him on the floor, coaxing to get up on his knees to get crawling (rally: to pull or crawl in Creole). Jane was more optimistic and said that he will do just fine, just watch. Now he crawls around the house on our ceramic tiles almost as fast as you can walk. He likes to stand and find his way around hanging onto the furniture. He will be walking, exploring and getting into everything all too soon.

Last Friday we were blessed with a hot water heater. We had planned many times to purchase one here but always something more pressing would come up. Last Saturday I was able to install it and connect it to our shower. We didn’t have any problems taking the cold showers, but during cooler weather they became quite invigorating to say the least, it’s also quite nice to run a pan of hot dish water than to monkey with the tea kettle on the stove.

Saturday evening it started to rain at 7PM getting harder and harder. About 8:30 our landlord called and asked if we were OK. We had a few drips here and there but nothing to be concerned with. Jane opened the front door and shown the flashlight around and we see that the drainage ditch that crosses our drive way had dammed up and filled the driveway with soft ball size rocks that flowed down the mountain. The storm finished at 9PM but produced many, many inches of rain. Back in November we had the same thing happen but with sand and at that time we had opened a large hole in the cactus fence next to us to prevent it again. Just last week two of the guys patched the hole with fencing to contain the goats in the field next door and low and behold the fence plugged with debris during the storm causing the flood again. Now the hole is open again. The guys spent a couple of days getting the rocks cleared and us back to normal. Our wonderful watchman/yardman Juslain found that his fiancée and their two kids who live down near the river were flooded, so Sunday morning we went and waded through 29 inches of water to move them up to Juslain’s house in our backyard. It was a busy place for four days with added house guests, meals, and school uniforms. By Tuesday they were able to clean the water from their house and return home on Wednesday. By the way if you are wondering the wedding is May 11.

Monday: it was work at Lifewater as Paul had brought parts in from Alberta, Canada to repair one of the drill rigs.

Tuesday: the Davis’s flew out for their time in the US and we are helping babysit 18 month old Savanna (Sammy’s kissing cousin)

Wednesday: I spent the morning out at an orphanage were we are drilling a new well. We had had some problems which Paul, Edrick, Junior and I was able to resolve. While returning at noon to Davis’s to take my turn at watching the kids so that Jane could teach at 1PM, I noticed a man at the tire repair next to the Total gas station was filling an assortment of 1 gallon jugs with gasoline and lining them up on a table next to the road. This is a “sign” that they are out of gas and he will sell you a gallon at a scalper’s price, hopefully it is 100% pure! I didn’t think much of it as that Total station often runs out. About 5PM Jane called me and said that they were at the National station closer to town and that National was out of gas. Oops, I told her about the guy by Total at noon but disregarded the “sign”. She had Juslain with her and later I found that she was able to purchase gas at the Sol station. She waited in line with many anxious cars & motorcycles with jugs, buckets and Tap-taps, some with 55 gallon drums. She was able to buy with what she had with her, 2000 gourdes ($50.00 USD) for 10 gallons. That will keep us going until the delayed shipment arrives from Port-au-Prince or Venezuela. Thankfully we have had quite a bit of EDH [Electric-du-Haiti] so the generator has been off most of the time. This happened about a month ago after Hugo’s funeral; usually we get word of a shortage thru the grapevine to stock up.

Thursday: This morning our internet was very fast for a while but it seems to have slowed down again, maybe just a tease. Our monthly bill is due tomorrow but we have been registering complains about the recent weeks of very slow or no speed. They continue to say that they are awaiting equipment to make repairs at our local cell tower, hopefully that is the case. Jane is off for the day to teach ESL and run some errands. She has been shopping for an outfit for the wedding. Sammy is in the middle of his morning nap so things are quite peaceful. MFI [Missionary Flights Int.] is not flying here today as they are headed with their staff and families to retreat at a mission in the Bahamas and will back on schedule next Tuesday. Hopefully they get some much needed rest and family time!

Please pray for:

• A Haitian friend’s protection,

• A friend & brother Ironworker’s chemotherapy treatments,

• Sammy and Savanna’s adoptions,

Bud