All in a Days Work

My internet is still working perfectly. I started laughing when I turned it on. I think God was laughing too.

Yesterday, I spent the day visiting people in the village beside our land. I met a man named Gary who spoke English very well. I'm always shocked when someone approaches me and starts speaking English. He said that he was a Christian and he would be happy to help our mission in any way he could.
For a long time I've had the desire to start a women's Bible study. It's good to teach children, but their mother's could teach them so much better than I. This is why I feel it's even more important to teach the mothers. I've been wondering how I could accomplish that. My Creole is okay but it's no where near good enough to stand in front of a crowd and speak. I would need a translator. Maybe Gary can be that translator. I've been praying about it and I really feel led to do it, but I think I need to wait until after Christmas break. I don't want to start something and then leave for a Holiday as soon as it starts to catch on. I'm planning on trying to develop a relationship with Gary before we start. I need to be sure of where his heart is before we start teaching others.
I visited one house that was extremely poor. Poorer than most. It had a dirt floor and only a plastic tarp for a roof. I wrote down everyone's names and silently prayed God would show me how to help them. I wondered how they survived the Hurricane last week with such an flimsy structure for a house. While we were visiting their older son came into the yard. He started talking with the Pastor that works for our mission, but I couldn't understand most of what was said. I kept hearing the word "voodoo" while he was talking. That caught my attention. At one point I understood him to say, "I don't love God. I don't believe. God has never helped me. Only voodoo has helped me." I could see the pastor was getting visibly frustrated. Whatever the argument was he couldn't respond quick enough to the boy's disputes over our religion. I had no translator with me at the time and the conversation was much to fast for me to join in. I've never been so aggravated not being able to speak Creole! There is so much I could have taught him. The other Haitians I was with quickly dismissed him as being crazy.
 "He doesn't want to learn," they said.
 I said, "You don't know that. Jesus died for that man too."
That house is on the top of my list as houses to help. I don't want that boy to ever again say God has never helped him. God is the one who put compassion in my heart for the Haitian people. He is the one that provided the money and the personal connections with people so that I may come. He led me to that particular house that day. He gave me ears and a brain so that I may piece together a conversation not in my own language. He gave me truth in his word that he loved and died for us all. He loves that boy who claims to hate him, and I intend on showing him this love.
After that incident we left the home and walked down the hill to a large group of houses. A lady ran to me with her baby in her arms. The baby was sick. She said she had a cold. Her eye was swollen. I'm guesses from sinus infection. All I had with me was over-the-counter children's cold medicine. I gave the baby some and held her while I prayed. Then she peed on me!!!! Haha. All in a days work I guess.
I'm going to go back and check on her today. If she's still that sick I'll try to arrange for her to go to a clinic for better medicine.
So much to do here. I'm so thankful God has chosen me to do it. How blessed I am!

God Knows Whats Up

So here's the deal....I have internet through a flash drive that I plug into my computer. I guess it picks up service from a cell tower somewhere. I haven't been writing my blog because ever since I bought it I haven't been able to get service at my house.
This whole time I've been so frustrated. I love writing my blog. I love telling my stories.
Finally I decided that I would start asking the other missions in Grand Goave if I could sit in their houses and see if I could pick up service there. My computer has a horrible battery and it has to be plugged in to work. For some reason it wont hold charge anymore. So not only did I need to find a signal I needed to find electricity too. That's not an easy task in Haiti. (Everyone make sure to tell my dad he needs to tell Santa Claus I need a new computer for Christmas..lol)
Anyway when I decided to go try to find signal at the other missions I felt God leading me. I don't know how to explain it. It's just a gut feeling I've learned to trust and except as God. I just knew he was setting me up for a new connection.
After not being about to find service at other missions I eventually ended up at a place called Haiti Arise. Its run by a Haitian man and his Canadian wife. Right now they're in Canada expecting their 5th child! They have a missionary couple from America living at the mission also. When I walked in I introduced myself. When I told them I lived down the street by myself they looked at me like I had two heads. Apparently my situation is odd even to other missionaries. Most people these days get hooked up with big organizations and live in compounds behind huge walls. I prefer to live among the people. Both jobs are important and helpful, but I just prefer mine. After the shock wore off a bit they completely took me in. The woman, who is named Val, is very motherly. I love that characteristic in people and I often strive to have more of that in myself. They told me if I was ever in danger or sick I could always come there for help.
The other day I sent Kenzy to the market to buy food. He was gone all day. There isn't any Walmarts in Haiti so shopping is usually an all day event. Around lunch time I was really hungry. I didn't have anything to eat so I was just trying to ignore it. I walked down to Haiti Arise to pick up some of my kids from school. Once I got there Val offered me a huge bowl of soup and bread. I didn't even ask she just offered.
God really does supply all our needs! I know that for a fact now because I'm down here testing it everyday and it's true! Isn't he wonderful!!
After our friendship was made I came home and turned my computer on. And just like that I had full service and my internet worked perfectly. I thought it must be a mistake but this morning it came on again. I think God was the one blocking my signal!!!! I'm not complaining though. As you can see he has a plan and he knows best.
Next time I get frustrated about anything I'll remember this lesson.

Getting Started

I purchased my first mosquito net last night. For some reason that makes me feel like a hardcore missionary  Don't ask me why. The bugs are a lot worse this year then before. Maybe its because I'm so close to the ocean now.
Last night I had my first meeting with the Haitian employees. I was nervous. They are all men and I knew the way I handled our first meeting would set the stage for the rest. I kept telling myself, "Focus Carrie. Use your Captain America leadership skills." lol. I think I did pretty good. But that probably had more to do with God then Captain America...haha!!
I told them that this Saturday we are going to start a soccer club on our land. Every Saturday we play soccer with the kids. Every Friday we will have Bible study and hygiene classes after the kids finish school. Monday I'm going to start going from door to door (or tent to tent) to get to know the families and find out their needs.
I just found out yesterday that we have to go to some kind of social affairs office and fill out paperwork asking permission from the Haitian government to start a mission. And if I know anything about the Haitian government that should probably take me about 5  to 10 years to get the correct documents...lol.
Next week I'm going to visit the kids at the school i worked at last year and help out with a medical clinic. I'm excited to see all of them.
So basically I have a lot of work to do! I love my job this year!! I have so much more freedom and I feel like I'm really starting to help people and make a difference!!!

My New Home

Literally 5 minutes after I wrote my last blog Samson chewed up my house slipper. Since then he has chewed up one of my new dresses, a roll of toilet paper, and ate a bar of soap. HaHa! It’s hard to get angry with him though because I know he is trying to adjust just like me. We can’t be as active here as we are in America. Most of the time people don’t venture far from their homes regularly, and because my Creole isn't completely fluent yet I’m dependent on other people to run all my errands for me. Sometimes it can be a little boring when I’m waiting around for people to come speak with me or take me somewhere, but on the plus side I now have time to practice my guitar and spend time with God. Poor Samson is still trying to figure out what to do with all his free time and I’m afraid eating everything in my house isn't going to cut it!!

                Cayla, had to send me more money yesterday because the expenses for starting my new house were more than expected. I've been writing everything down that I've spent but I just keep finding new things I need. So far my house has a bed, a plastic table, 4 plastic chairs, and a propane stove top burner. The burner is kind of like the ones people use when they go camping. I have a set of dishes and a pitcher that I can plug in to heat up water. Obviously the pitcher only works when the electricity is on. However, I can’t complain. The electricity has been really good so far. I would say it’s on about 70% of the time. Unfortunately, it always seems to go off at the worst possible moment. Last night I was taking a shower and everything went pitch black! Lucky for me I was smart enough to have put an emergency lantern in my bathroom.  I have Cayla’s mom to thank for that. She gave me two lanterns before I left the States.

I have a couple wash pans I use to wash my dishes in, but I have to set on the floor while I do it because I don’t have any counter tops in my kitchen. In fact I don’t even have a kitchen. It’s just an empty room right now that I plan on making into a kitchen.  A Haitian carpenter came to my house yesterday and said he would build me cabinets and a counter top for $375 dollars. I still won’t have a sink in my house but just having a counter top would be a blessing because I wouldn't have to squat down to do all my cooking and washing. I have to wait though. I plan on putting my house together slowly. When God provides the money I’ll buy what I need. Until then, I’m doing just fine.

I like living this way because when you have a little everything is a blessing. One day God with give me a kitchen counter top and I’ll probably think it’s the greatest counter top in the entire world! I never stop and thank him for such things when I’m in America, but Haiti is different. Even when I’m frustrated, hot, hungry, and tired I still wouldn't trade my experiences for anything. God changes me for the better every day because I have allowed him to change me. And, because he has helped me so much I can now go out and help others.

My job on Soul Harvest property will begin very soon. I’ll keep posting and let you know how it all turns out.

Returning Home

As of right now I don’t have internet but I figured I could write my blog and then publish what I already wrote. If you’re reading this it means I've already got internet, thank you Jesus!!

I made it to my new home safe. Samson, my German Sheppard, is here with me. He did amazing on the trip. I’m not being sarcastic when I tell you I've witnessed a miracle through my dog! He’s only a 6 month old puppy, so he’s obviously not trained. He lived outside at my Aunts house until I came to Haiti. He came and went as he pleased and went to the bathroom wherever he wanted. He also loved to destroy all my aunts’ yard decorations and dig huge holes in her flower garden. When people would come to the house he would bark hysterically at them ignoring the fact that I was screaming at him to stop. Basically, he was a typical puppy. I very big puppy! Samson weighs 60 lbs already and he’s only half grown.

My dad and I drove to Florida and I got on a flight with a private airline called Missionary Flights International. Samson rode in the back of my dad’s truck the entire way there.  Every few hours we would stop and let him out to pee and then he would go right back in his kennel. We got a hotel room and Samson never had an accident on the floor. He never chewed on anything in the room. He was perfect. Then when it was time to board the plane he seen another dog that was flying with us and he started barking. I started praying, “Dear Lord don’t let this crazy dog bark the whole way there.” It was a very small plane with only about 15 people on board and Samson was right behind me in his kennel the whole time. After we got on the plane he never made a sound. It took us about 5 hours to get to Port Au Prince because we made a couple stops along the way. Once we landed I had to take him out of his cage and walk him through customs. A huge puppy walking through a crowed chaotic airport and he hasn't went to the bathroom in over 5 hours! I thought, “There is no way this is going to end well. “ I was wrong. He walked beside me completely calm. Every time I would stop he would stop and sit down beside me. Everyone kept commenting on how well behaved he was!! I said, “It has to be Jesus training him because he’s only a baby.” It was crazy!!

 When we were walking through customs it got a little scary. The customs officials grabbed me and started asking me all these questions in Creole. They were talking so fast I couldn't understand them. Then they started saying, “$70 tax for dog!” I didn't know what to do. I had never been stopped before and they wouldn't let me leave. I had no choice but to give them the money. Who knows if there is really a tax to bring dogs into the country? But even though I was scared Samson was just fine. When we finally got to leave I found some grass nearby and he went to the bathroom. Then we were in Port Au Prince all day getting supplies and he never bothered anyone. Once we finally arrived at the house it was dark. I put a fan on him and after he drank about a gallon of water he immediately fell asleep. 

He’s still mysteriously house trained and he won’t chew anything lying on the floor unless it’s his toys. He’s sleeping by my feet as I’m writing this now.

There is, however, one small problem. The Haitian people are terrified of him! I wanted Samson here for protection. I figured at night he would wake me up if someone was snooping around outside. I had no idea that he would cause people to avoid my house all together. People walk in and Samson will be lying on the floor panting with his ears perked up. He doesn’t act mean or hostile, but grown Haitian men will freak out and start yelling, “Be careful! Be careful! Put him away!” He’s not even doing anything! I took him for a walk yesterday and a group of children started screaming and ran away when they saw him. Haitian dogs start crying and hide when we walk down the street. It’s like I own a mountain lion! They all stand around amazed at the fact I will let him play bite me when we are wrestling. He is definitely doing his job. Everyone in a 10 mile radius now knows the white woman owns a big black monster dog. Hahaha. It’s Hilarious! I keep telling myself that Samson is probably protecting me in ways I will never know about. God knew though. I prayed for God to protect me and he answered my prayers in the form of a dog. It’s the answers to the little things that I always fined amazing. No request is ever to small or to insignificant for him, as long as you’re praying in his will. Thank you Jesus for providing all my needs.

BGILY