"But God..." Moments

I have some wonderful news to share with you today, but first, let's do some updates.

We had a full week of school this week. (I can hardly stand the cuteness of our preschoolers...)

Although we have beautiful furniture in the library, often times the favorite reading spot in right on the carpet. And what's more fun than reading a book? Reading a book with friends!

In the mountains of St. Etienne, our students are learning and eating, too!

The radio station has some automation to it, so while there's loud music playing outside, there's not always someone INside.

Lots of people turned out for clinic this week. I love seeing our nurses trading positions with Baby at the intake station and Sarah in the pharmacy.

Dr. Mabou was back at work this week, too, bringing dental care to our students and community.

We finished up our time in Charlotte with a couple of great meetings. One was soooooooooooooooooo fun, with teachers from the Charlotte Christian School who had conducted a teacher's seminar for us in Haiti last summer. Oh, how we had missed these folks!

We got up bright and early to meet with leaders from the East Charlotte Presbyterian Church at 6AM before beginning our drive to Florida. We were able to do some brain storming about projects and are looking forward to working together in the future.

Lex and I traveled back to Haiti on Friday. Already missing this little guy (our grandson), who will be celebrating his first birthday while we are in Haiti.

We arrived in Port-au-Prince after dark and were met by Pastor Hakine and Harold, the man who knows every alternative route there is in the city! Our drive out of the city was pleasantly crowded with all the normal activities that had been absent during the rioting - people selling food and goods on the sides of the roads..."fast food" rice and beans, and fritay (fried meat, piklis [spicy coleslaw], and fried plantains)... plenty of noisy vehicles honking at one another... lots of foot traffic with people heading home from their jobs or school. While to most Americans it would likely seem a bit chaotic, to us it rang of normalcy and we felt welcomed.

Speaking of welcoming, welcome to our small team from Connecticut which arrived yesterday! We are excited to have Jonathan, Devon, and Brett serving with us this week. (And Jonathan just may have proposed to Devon at the airport before they got on the plane!)

We purchased our first batch of goats this week, all the way from the island of la Gonave. These goats supposedly produce more milk that the breeds we have locally. All you knowledgeable goat herders, please fell free to email us with advice. Here's a short video from feeding time today:

Big news this week? God supplies over and over and over again! Funds have come in over the past several weeks toward purchasing a new generator AND upgrading our solar system at the Thozin campus. Those seemingly impossible moments when the mountain is just so big you can't imagine moving it... I call them "But God..." moments. I can't figure it out, "But God..." I don't think I can, "But God..." The cost is too great, "But God..." We don't have electricity, "But God..."

I can look back over the past 19 years (this month!) in Haiti and clearly see so many of these "But God..." moments. Each property purchase was like that - no idea how it would happen, "But God..." Where are we going to sleep when we arrive at our destination, "But God..." Slanderous attacks, "But God..." Failed projects, "But God..." Solar panels stolen, "But God..."

Pastor Lex shared that "But God..." moment this morning at the Thozin church service. We arrived at the Thozin campus one Sunday morning. Much to our dismay, we learned that several of our solar panels had disappeared overnight. Our leaders were up in arms over it and encouraging us to consider hiring armed guards to protect our "stuff." During Lex's message that morning, he told the congregation, "Some of you think that I own everything on this property. I don't. Everything here was purchased with money that God provided. So many people worked hard to send money here to help us bring the Gospel, education, healthcare - change to this community. God has provided. He's more than able to hold onto it if He wants it."

The next morning, we arrived at the Thozin campus only to learn that there were more solar panels missing. My heart sank. Surely God heard my husband's declaration of faith and yet He didn't keep "protect" those solar panels. I certainly didn't understand what was going on.

Later that day, we received word that the solar panels had been found. The man who'd stolen them was riding on a motorcycle with them (can you imagine that image???) to go sell them in Port-au-Prince. He had a fatal accident. Word spread throughout our city and to this day, no one has ever since attempted to steal solar panels from the mission again. "But God!"

Check in with us next week. Hopefully we will have a brand new generator on the Thozin campus to show you!!! We so appreciate all of you who labor with us in Haiti. Thank you!!!