Second Mile Haiti: better than awesome

Jenn has been keeping the blog very up-to-date from the States! Her trip is going so well!
Since this is Second Mile

Haiti and since I'm here in Haiti,

I thought I’d chime in too. The answer to the "what's going on in Haiti?" question lies somewhere in between same ‘ole-same ‘ole and
awesome!
incredible!
exciting!

I debated whether or not to write a post yesterday about what makes Saturdays unique. But I concluded that Saturdays aren’t really all that unique after all. They’re pretty much good for everything you might do on a weekday plus some. I found myself at the airport and at the bank yesterday and both places were packed. People who work Monday through Friday only have a window of a few hours on Saturday to do their banking. ATMs aren’t totally a big deal here just yet. Although recently, I have heard several radio announcements raving about the ease and pure magic of the things. Maybe one day Cap Haitien’s one and only ATM will be a buzzing hub of activity. Until then, for us Saturday is a day to clean and roll beads.

Yesterday we did both.

beads, getting better.

Now its Sunday and I’m sitting on the roof of our apartment enjoying the sun and writing with pen and paper. It feels very college/So-Cal where it was always too sunny to bring out the computer but you had to come up with some way to still “study” while soaking up the sun. Actually, it feels like heaven. The only thing I can hear is the wind, the clanging of that metal door against the cement, and the squeaking of that pvc pipe as the wind sails it back and forth…Sure looks like it has an important job.

bliss on a roof

Here, where the working world is resting up for the start of another week, silence is sacred. Not even the neighborhood dogs dare disturb it.
Did I mention the view!? I’m afraid it comes at a price. If I was in the Hunger Games I’d be shot from my perch in seconds.

Good thing that’s fiction.

God is growing me through these weeks of being by myself. I’m pleased to report that I haven’t had any more ‘bad attitude attacks’ like I had mentioned in my last post. God’s showing me how to tackle my fears by surrendering them. All those things I think I have to figure out on my own…Yea, he’s already got them figured out. I won’t go into all my shortcomings and weaknesses right now, but let’s just say God is giving me ample opportunity to practice living through his strength while there’s no one else around to fall back on. I crave this kind of growth. It’s been awesome.

~~-I’ve also had time to reflect on what a good God we serve.-~~ I’ve also had time to reflect on how the word good just isn’t sufficient. Yet we use it all the time. I remember as a kid when someone, a Sunday school teacher maybe..or just some other concerned adult, instilled in me the conviction that I shouldn’t just throw around the word -awesome. God was awesome, not my new shoes. And if I wasn’t careful one day I’d be sorry

At the time I'm sure I thought this "old" person was just trying to suck the fun out of life. But sure enough I regret not having a way to differentiate between my awesome friends and my awesome God.

It hits me most when I’m sitting at the table with our two employees thinking ...God, you are so good to have brought us all together like this, so good to let us in on your plan. God you are so faithful and loving, so good to let us experience the blessing of watching you rain down the funds for this project.

You are so good, so awesome..so indescribable.

Ah.. the contientious adult from my childhood was right! I’ve run out of words to describe his awesomeness!

I caught Dadou and Dorothy talking yesterday about how Haitian Jenn has become now that she speaks Creole. He was fishing for some credit there as he reminded us of how much time they spend together. I went ahead and gave him all the praise he was after. It was obvious he misses his construction partner.

As much as we miss Jenn, thoughts of her quickly bring us to thoughts of how well this trip is going and how thankful we are that God communicates with his people. We are humbled that he led us to stop work when he did and that he is now giving us this time to watch and see how good he is. There's that word again.

So we sit at our bead-making table with full, expectant hearts, literally feeling like every cardboard box that shows up on our door is a gift from Him and that virtually every bead we roll has promise, promise to impact the person who made it and, the person who wears it.

Thanks for the positive bead feedback and for praying for this little ministry.