New! Oatmeal Cookies With Extra Protein

This entry is sort of a continuation of Eric's Jingle Bells entry:

The New Hope Haiti Mission Christmas party was held Christmas Eve for all the staff and the kids. It was a fabulous party-everyone received gifts, ate a bunch of food, sang and praised God for His provision for these kids through the orphanage here.

In order to prepare for the party, Medja and I had been working feverishly. Baking cookies, cakes, and turkeys filled much of the three days before. Here lies the continuation of the Jingle Bells entry...Eric failed to mention that he and Mr. Wilson killed the rat behind our oven, the oven which is a notorious rat hide-out. Medja and I made a huge double batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. My girls were helping along with a couple of girls from downstairs. The first two cookie sheets full were done and looked beautiful. The second set were in the oven baking. All was going smoothly and the kitchen smelled wonderfully.

Suddenly a loud bang crashed, the broiler door flew open, the oven door came open and small amount of smoke poured into the room. Immediately an unexplained stink flooded the kitchen. My first and only thought was that a rat exploded inside the oven. I couldn't look-I wasn't going to find an exploded rat inside the very oven where we cook all of our food. We were going to throw out this oven a buy a new one. I was never going to use this oven again.

Upon closer inspection (by Eric and Mr.Wilson) a can of tuna was found in the broiler. You see, Wilson and Medja have a sweet, sweet 18 month boy Jean Daniel. We believe he was the culprit who placed the can of tuna in the broiler. (We lost our dustpan a couple of weeks ago to melting in the very same place!) Needless to say, we didn't want to serve the oatmeal raisin tuna cookies at the party. I took them downstairs to see if the kids might want to eat them...They loved them!!

Oatmeal Raisin Rat vs Oatmeal Raisin Tuna--Neither sound very appetizing to me, but I guess I will still use the oven...

The Real Problem with Haiti

Saturday began just like any other Saturday. We got up, got dressed, made coffee, had breakfast, and started doing some cleaning. That was when things got "weird."

There was a LOUD noise coming from the street, it sounded like hundreds of people were walking past the orphanage. We went out on the balcony, and sure enough, that is exactly what it was. For a good hour, a solid stream of people went past us up the mountain. I would estimate the number between two and three thousand people. Some on foot, some in vehicles, some on horses, and some on stilts, yes, you read that correctly, stilts. Mind you this was not a parade, but more of a pilgrimage.

As it turns out, it was some sort of a voodoo celebration day, and everyone that went by was involved in a voodoo ceremony. In the video you can see many of the men dressed in red, and the women in blue dresses with a red cloth belt. That is the witch doctor and voodoo priestess dress code. You can also see all of the baskets piled high with fruit, vegetables, and other foods that were given as sacrificial offerings. In a country that is literally starving, people would rather waste it in a sacrifice than give it to a malnourished child.

Jennifer and I had both seen this sort of thing before, but for our kids it was a first. We explained to them that this was the very reason that God brought us here, there are so many that do not know Christ, and we are a light to them. I told the kids that these people not only don't know God, they actually don't like Him, maybe even hate Him, and their affairs that day were a slap in the face to the Almighty.

This is the real problem with Haiti. This is what keeps Haiti in bondage to Satan, people who openly and proudly march down the street professing their allegiance to voodoo.

I've been driving in Joplin before, and have pulled up behind a car with a "Wiccan" sticker in the back window. That alone has given me the shivers. I can't even tell you what I felt like watching all those people march past us. It was incredibly sad, heartbreaking, and very, very dark. I want these people to turn from their futile gods and embrace the one true God. Only He can give them abundant life.

(Sorry the videos are such large files, hope no one is still on dial-up)

Baptisms in Balan

What a day in Balan!

We woke up early and got the kids up, dressed, and in the Isuzu by 6:45 a.m.. We hadn't fed them yet, but brought some food with us, and bought bananas on the side of the road. We drove to Port-au-Prince to meet Pastor Leonel, then drove to Balan. It only took us about two hours to get there from the orphanage, there was very little traffic coming down the mountain.

I knew there were going to be six baptisms, but didn't know exactly how we would do it. The church has no baptistry, and the lake is a good mile and a half from the church. It was pretty hot outside, lots of sunshine, and pretty dusty, as it had not rained for a while. We decided that for the whole church to walk would be too difficult. So we looked at the number of people going, which was 17 counting all of our kids. And then we looked at the Isuzu. For those who have not seen it, it is a 1997 Isuzu Trooper, four door, supposed to seat 5 altogether. There were five in the front two seats. Enough said. After all, this is Haiti. I must admit it was a little difficult driving the stick shift with Jett on my lap (don't worry, it's all dirt roads, never got above 10 mph, and never passed another vehicle...Balan is out in the middle of nowhere). I have been on some pretty bumpy roads before, driven on some pretty rough terrain...but the road to the lake definitely beats them all...if you can call it a road! The whole way to the lake, all of the Haitians were singing praise songs. We came over a hill, and had such a beautiful view of the lake, while they sang "Crown him Lord of All" (in Creole). It was quite a moment, I teared up a little, it was pretty amazing.



The baptisms went as expected. I had read somewhere that there are American Crocodiles in the lake, but we didn't run in to any (thankfully). That would not be good.

It was six girls from the church that were making the decision to follow Christ. It is great to be a part of what God is doing in that church!


During the baptisms, Wilson and Jett decided to walk into the water, too. So with their tennis shoes on, while we weren't watching, they began wading (again, don't worry, it was only inches deep right there). I think their feet were pretty shriveled by the time we got back to the orphanage.

After the baptisms, we all loaded back into the Isuzu and returned to the church. It was quite an amazing experience, one I will not forget, and will pray happens again soon! Next time though, I think I'll drive the big truck!

Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to kill a rat at Christmas time!

I just finished killing our first rat. Actually, I don't get the full kill. Wilson, the other missionary here, actually did the hitting. I think I should at least get an assist, or maybe a half a kill. I drove it to him. I'm not sure how to tally them up. Maybe I'll design a system. Suffice to say, Haiti is now minus one rat, with probably 100 million more to go. I will not stop until they are dead. Like the Terminator, I'll be back.

Journey to Balan??

Okay, so for those of you that do not know the whole story, I feel I must explain. About a year and a half ago, we were contacted by Jon Weece, from Southland Christian Church. We knew Jon from being in Haiti together previously. Some of the members of the board of directors for New Hope Haiti Mission were attending church there and knew he had experience in Haiti. They told him the type of people they were looking for, and he thought of us.

It wasn't until a few months later we actually got to meet the board of directors. We flew to Richmond, VA a week before Thanksgiving 2007. We spent the weekend with them learning about the mission and fellowshipping. Before we left to go to Richmond, we knew nothing about the mission. We were willing to do anything, and follow God anywhere he would lead us. The one thing I said to Jennifer was, "What if it's an orphanage? I don't think I'm cut out for that."

And so, of course, an orphanage it was! The board shared all about the orphanage, the kids, and the staff. It definitely would be a lot of work!

However, the board informed us that they really had a different position in mind for us. For the past several years, they have been distributing rice and beans to a poverty stricken village called Balan, three hours from the orphanage. This village is very primitive, and pretty remote. There is not a good road going to the village. There is no source of clean water. There is one Catholic school, but it is not big enough for all of the kids there. There is no hospital for miles, no clinic, no doctors. There are no electric lines going there, no phone lines there, and no sanitation system. I can tell you what is there. People. People whom Jesus died for. But they don't know him. Balan is a very voodoo stricken area. Many there adhere to voodoo practices, and the name of Jesus is far from their lips. The board asked if we would be interested in reaching out full time to this village. Can I just say, it was exactly what we had been praying for, for the last several years.

I came to visit New Hope Haiti Mission for the first time last December. Jennifer stayed in Joplin with the kiddos, and I came to Haiti with two of the board members and one other lady. We were able to go visit Balan for church on Sunday -- oh yeah, almost forgot, there's a new Christian Church there, just a few years old, and established by NHHM. Leonel Dorsaint, a Haitian pastor, preaches there every Sunday. The church building is unfinished, no doors, windows, or bathroom, but it a place where God is worshiped every Sunday! -- So I was at the church on Sunday, and I mentioned to Scott Salvant, a board member, how we could live right next to the church. I think he was shocked that I wanted to live in Balan...he wanted to suggest it but didn't want to scare us off. However, if we are really going to reach out to the community to meet both spiritual needs and physical needs, we will need to live there.

That is where the title of this blog comes in to play. In all actuality, our journey to Balan has just begun. Yes we are now living in Haiti, but we are living three hours from Balan, in the upstairs of the orphanage. We are going to move to a house less than a half mile from the orphanage, but we are waiting for our furniture and appliances from the US. After we get settled in our house here, we will begin raising funds to build two houses in Balan, one for my family and one for Pastor Leonel's family. Not until we move into that house in Balan, will our Journey to Balan be complete. Then, we will start our Journey In Balan!!

There is so much to do, houses to build, money to raise, water to find, but most importantly, people to turn to Jesus. Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement.

Until next time,
Eric

We're here!

Almost exactly one year after meeting the board of directors for New Hope Haiti Mission, our family boarded an airplane and left for Haiti. I believe it was a year and one week later. It is so good to be here. For so long, I have come to Haiti without them, always longing that I could bring them with me to meet the people and to experience "Haiti." For those of you who have been, you know what that means, "to experience 'Haiti.'" For those who have never been, come visit sometime, the door is open and the coffee is hot (or the cokes cold, whichever you prefer).

Eight days
We've been here eight days.
Eight days, and our kids have already experienced a third-world country more than most American kids ever will.
Eight days and our kids already know more than a handful of words in Creole.
Eight days and we've had goat four times. Every time we eat it, I say, "Not ba-a-a-a-d."
Eight days and our kids have already helped pass out rice and beans in the village of Balan.
Eight days, and so many more to come.

I wonder what I will think after eighty days. I'll let you know. All I know is, it is so good to be in the place that God has been calling us to for so long. Like a magnet to iron, here we are.