This Little Pig Went to Market

Day 21 of our Haiti Adventure!

Family and Friends,

Had a great time at the market today haggling for some fresh produce.  I almost decided to try the shrimp but held back, not being sure if that was a good idea or not.  They just looked so good!  Anyway, we had a great weekend and are truly enjoying life down here in Haiti.  It still gets up to about 90 every day, but it cools off pretty well at night for sleeping.  The main bonus is the people.  They always surprise you with their humor and love of life.  As we learn the language the personalities become even more accessible to us.

The big election in Haiti was on Sunday. It is such a big deal here that they called off school on the Friday before the election and at least the first three days of the week following. The US Embassy sent out an email to us and the other Americans registered here letting us know to not travel in Port-au-Prince and to watch out for demonstrations and riots. Candidates have been known to do some strange things here, such as paying mobs of people to make a scene and prevent people from voting.


In youth group Saturday night we had a mock election with two of the guys pretenting to be presidential candidates. We even made posters for them like the ones plastered all over the countryside. They had a debate and at the end we had a vote. It came back tied. Good thing we aren't Florida in 2000 or Minnesota in 2008, or youth group would have come to a standstill for the next several months.

We learned what the Bible says about submitting to the leaders in power over your country, referring to Romans 13 and I Peter 2:13-17. We had a good discussion and ended the night praying for the election, the leaders, and the safety of everyone in the country in the days to come. It will be interesting to see the whole thing play out and how everyone responds to the results.  This recent vote was actually like a primary, so the big one for President will be coming later.

Let's check in with the family and see how they are doing...

Cory: Kids, what have you been up to lately?

Kester: I play with the kids in the orphanage. We play with the football. I read them some books in english. We went to the ocean, and there were huge waves, taller than me. I had so much fun I wanted to swim more and more. I like the beans and rice with chicken. My best new friend is John. I gave him a bracelet and he said, “Thank you.” The thing I miss the most right now is pizza.

Elizabeth: I like to play with my stuffed animals. Sometimes I read to Rose. I play with Alexandra, and I take her to the bathroom. I like the bread a lot. I usually have just peanut butter on it. Kester and Alexandra have peanut butter and jelly. I miss pizza, too.

Alexandra: I've been waiting for my baby blankey to come back from her vacation. I like swinging on the swing with Dad and playing with Elizabeth and Kester. I'm getting less scared every day. I really like Lucy. She's nice. Rose is nice, too. I miss pizza, but I miss Baby even more.

Cory: Lynn, how has your week been?

Lynn: My week has been good. We've been picking up creole a little bit each day. I've been trying to be creative in the kitchen with limited supplies. Today I mixed a can of crushed tomatoes, a can of soup, and some spices to make a spaghetti sauce, and we put it on rotini pasta. Cory cut up some of the local bread into slices, spread on some butter, and added a little garlic salt. It was a nice little meal.

Cory: We keep having visitors at night...a cat and/or a dog who find some way to squeeze through the 3-inch opening that runs alongside the iron gate. They knock over the trash and look for scraps, leaving a nice mess to clean up each morning. We don't exactly want to put the garbage in the house and feed our army of ants either. So my plan is to buy a huge pot roast (or at least some fly-covered hunk of meat down at the market), cook it, and leave it outside one of these nights. I figure after the varmit eats all of that he won't be able to squeeze back through the gate and we'll have him caught!

Elizabeth with baby lizards

Kester and John, best buddies

God Bless You and Yours,
The Grimm Family Adventurers

FOOD in Haiti!

DAY 18 OF OUR ADVENTURE IN HAITI!

Family and Friends,

I tried to explain “Black Friday” to a Haitian person today. That was interesting. Haitians can definitely relate to shopping all day in order to get everything on your list, but their lists don't have a bunch of technology gadgets and toys and things like that.

Here are some thoughts about food in Haiti:

Everything that goes into obtaining, preparing, cleaning up after, and storing food is a big deal down here. This process can easily eat up big chunks of your day even with a hired cook preparing one of your meals. The market is a real challenge, and many foods are seasonal or just not available on any given day. People mainly cook over open flames here with charcoal or wood. It is amazing though how good they are at getting the pot to a perfect boil when they want to.

On Thanksgiving morning we were invited to a friend's house to learn how to make Pik Lis, which is basically Haitian cole slaw. I love that dish! It turned out that we sat and talked all morning and eventually ate a whole meal together around 1 o'clock. The kids did pretty well considering they had to sit there for five hours. Once in awhile they did get up to explore the yard or go to the outhouse, because several of us have diarhea now. Alexandra went five times at least. She's feeling better today.

It is just amazing to sit and watch someone patiently prepare all of the various foods. The cook meticulously cut each carrot and piece of cabbage into tiny little strips, something a food processor could have done in 10 seconds. We also watched her catch a chicken, kill it, pull the feathers off, butcher it, marinate it, boil it and eventually fry it with the plantains. Plantains look just like bananas, and they even call them “banan” here, but they are more like potatoes to eat. It was quite a meal and it was definitely made with a great deal of love and care. The key was the conversation that went on throughout the process. That is probably one of the best lessons we Americans can learn down here...how to enjoy doing hours of menial work while simultaneously building relationships with family and friends.

Meals are quite the production around the property where we live. A lot of times we end up eating in front of several hungry people who are working on the construction, waiting for shoes, or any number of other things. It is a hard to describe how that feels, but it motivates you to think, “If I am going to eat this food I better use the energy it provides to help these people.” Also, the cooks are like moms or grandmas to us...they watch us like hawks to see how much we are eating or not eating. We are very grateful for the food, but it just takes awhile to get used to eating hot food in the middle of the day outside in Haiti, and we aren't used to eating so much beans and rice yet either. We'll get there.

We don't have a fridge here, but we share a small freezer with the orphanage. Well, we have one for now anyway. I say that because the freezer has been having problems lately. The issue has to do with the local electricity, which is not only hit and miss, but the power it provides is much less than you get in the US. So even if it is on and it will run a CD player or something like that, it might not be enough for the freezer motor to kick on. So for the last couple of days we have had to run the generator in order to save the meat in the freezer. This won't be feasible long-term, but we are doing it until Pam comes in a few days and gives us some guidance on how to proceed with the situation.

You can't talk about food around here without thinking about bugs. The ants in our house have their own economy and network of communication and transport. Their scouting program is really the most impressive. I swear you could rub a little smudge of jelly anywhere in the house and they will be carrying it off one lick at a time 20 minutes later. Ants seem to each have their own personality, too. I watched a team of three of them walking near the sink this morning. The first two were walking steadily along, but the third one was suffering from a severe case of ADHD. He would get distracted and go look at something and then a few seconds later run to catch up with his comrades. This happened several times.  Admiringly I named them Larry, Curly, and Mo. Then I killed them.



Arriving in Ti-Rivier November 10th and unloading the Bus


I finally got a picture to upload!  Remember 1997?  I just went there...or at least it feels like I did because of how long I had to wait for the internet to do something.  One more way to learn patience in Haiti!

We'll write again soon.  Keep living the adventure with Jesus!

God Bless,
the Grimms

Running with the Bulls in Slow Motion

Day 16 of our Haiti Adventure!

Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are doing great down here in Haiti.  We have been enjoying a few quiet days between teams from the US.  The last team led by Gretchen and Karen was a lot of fun, and many of them will return in the years to come.  Next will be a group led by Pam and the Mission Ball people.  They will do a lot of sports ministry down here early in December.  Should be a great week!

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to write again, so I will copy/paste from my journal.  But just know that we are thinking about everyone back home and praying for you every day.  It will be hard to be gone over Thanksgiving and Christmas, of course, but we will enjoy some time on the beach and hopefully make all of you jealous.  And even better we will discover what Christmas looks like in Haiti!  How fun.

One quick story...

We have been having trouble getting fresh fruit and vegetables lately, so yesterday I decided to travel on public transportation to a large market about an hour away.  It was quite the experience.  One quick snapshot...I was walking down a side street at the market, and all around me were large bulls...in front, in back, and beside.  I thought to myself, this is exactly like the running of the bulls in Spain, just in slow motion...but I definitely don't plan to stop and tie my shoes!  I'm not sure exactly how I found myself in that predicament, but I turned to my friend who was with me and said, "this is really bad for business for the little stands along this street...even if we wanted to stop and buy something we couldn't."  Anyway, it was quite the adventure, and it took forever to get home which was stressful for Lynn.  But at least I brought some fruit and vegetables.

Okay, here is the entry from the journal...

November 21, 2010-


Today is the 13th day of our Haiti adventure. Thanksgiving will be in four days, but it doesn't feel normal to say that when you live in a climate where the temperature still gets up to 90s during the day. It would be nice to have a great big American feast, though. I could really go for some pumpkin pie and ice cream.

Speaking of ice cream...Mike (Pam Plasier's husband) is here and he took our whole family to Les Cayes for a special day yesterday, and we got ice cream! It was actually really good and could rival any brand from the grocery store in the US. It was about the same price too, or even more. We got it from a little store downtown that is similar to a very small grocery store in the US. You can get most of your food and supplies there if you want, but it is pricey.

What you can't get there is fresh vegetables and fruit. Those have to be bought from the various markets. One of my ongoing projects is learning how to get what we need at a fair price and carry out the process of bartering. This will take a long time, but I have one of the cooks from the orphanage helping us. John Rivier, our Creole tutor, has also offered to take me to some markets and show me around. Part of the problem is that people are notorious here for charging white folks double what they charge everyone else. I'm trying to look at this as a challenge and a chance to meet new people.

The kids have been doing really well. They like hunting for bugs, lizards, and tarantulas. They really love swimming in the ocean. I just hope they don't get stung by jelly fish. I got stung on the first day and it didn't hurt too bad, but I'm sure the kids would cry if it happened to them. I also had a run-in with a little colony of fire ants. Actually, I don't know for sure if they were fire ants. I didn't ask them or anything. But I know one thing for sure...THEY thought they were fire ants when I kicked over their nest on accident. Pretty soon there were several of them inside my sandal biting with all their might. I still have several open wounds on my feet from that adventure.

Kester is starting to use a couple of creole words in his speech, so it seems his year of spanish immersion is paying off, giving him confidence to learn another language. Alexandra even let one of the kids from the orphanage push her on the swing and braid her hair. She was very excited to find out that when her hair is braided she doesn't have to have it washed for a couple of days. The showers here are really cold. Basically you take a 5-gallon bucket of water and an old peanut butter jar and start dumping water on your head. Alexandra always cries, but when we don't wash her hair she doesn't get quite as cold.

The team visiting from the US right now has been a lot of fun. Gretchen Shafer and Karen Sumner are leading the team. Both of them have been here several times and do a lot for Mission Haiti back in the US. Some of the group members have been here before as well, so they know what they are doing. Tonight there will be a great big competition down by the beach between Haitians and Americans. First they will do some Haitian activities, like hauling buckets of water on their heads, and then they will compete with some American sports. It should be fun to watch. I think I'm supposed to be one of the referees. I'll probably let the Haitians bribe me to favor their team...that is the way everything works down here. When in Rome...

I'm just joking because obviously corruption is a huge issue here in every facet of life. Next Sunday will be the elections for the new president, the senators, and the deputies, which are equivalent to our House members. Their system is very similar to ours. Every time there are elections there are also various kinds of demonstrations and even riots. I will try to lead the youth group in doing some sort of prayer vigil that weekend, asking God to provide good leaders for Haiti as they move forward, and protection for everyone in the community as they try to vote and pray as well.

As we were preparing to move both Lynn and I read a book about missionary life called, “Through the Outhouse Floor.” It recounts a lot of the ups and downs of everyday life on the field in Africa. We have already had some similar little adventures. As mentioned before we didn't have Lynn's indoor toilet for the first week here, but it was nice to finally get it out of the back closet when Mike and the team arrived. However, the kids needed some special training on how to use it. Normally they will use the outhouse, but sometimes, like it in the middle of the night, it is just easier to stay inside and avoid confronting the bugs and potentially dropping the flashlight down the outhouse floor.

So Elizabeth decided to use the toilet. I was doing something with one of the suitcases we are living out of on the floor nearby. Elizabeth attempted to dismount from the toilet, and the Tupperware bowl that catches everything fell off and hit the floor. The contents previously donated by Lynn, Elizabeth, and possible others promptly splashed up and hit me directly in the face. Oh what fun. Everything else in the vicinity got wet as well and required a very detailed clean-up effort.

One day Alexandra locked herself in one of the two outhouses. Kester was helping her, so he told me she was locked in there. The latch was stuck. After figuring out she couldn't get it open even with some coaching, I tried to shove Kester through the little opening above the wall between the two outhouses. It was pretty small and the concrete was pretty rough, so maybe that wasn't a good idea. He was fine, but my hands got pretty scratched up reaching through there and trying to lower him down. Then Kester tried to undo the latch, and that still didn't work. Now the kids were getting a little panicky. Alexandra said, “Dad what are we going to do now?” and you could hear she was a little scared. Finally I handed a rock through the opening to Kester, and he was able to bang the latch open with that. Disaster averted. We do have a circular saw and the door is wooden, so we had other options if it came down to it.

The other day I read something inspiring in “Introduction to The History of Christianity”:

“Jesus has many who love his kingdom in heaven, but few who bear his cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share his feast, but few his fasting. All desire to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for his sake. Many admire his miracles, but few follow him to the humiliation of his cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them... They who love Jesus for his own sake, and not for the sake of comfort for themselves, bless him in every trial and anguish of heart, no less than in the greatest joy. And were he never willing to bestow comfort on them, they would stil always praise him and give him thanks.”

-Thomas A Kempis, from “The Imitation of Christ” (written in the 1400s)

And...

“Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal. 6:2)

Wherever you are reading this, whether in the comfort of your home or in some coffeeshop or in a foreign land, look out the window and there you find see a world full of people waiting for you to take an interest in their life and tell/show them what Jesus is all about. Will you stay inside and seek your own comfort, or will you do the hard work of talking to them and listening to their story and taking on their burdens as your own?

May your life be an adventure for Jesus this week!

God Bless!
-The Grimms

The Long-Awaited Update

Day 9 in Haiti!

Family and Friends,

So sorry to keep you waiting for so long, but here is the long-awaited update on our adventures in Haiti.  We would have written sooner, but we don't have internet access on our property yet, and it might be awhile now.  Fortunately, we should be able to have some limited access at a friend's house a couple of times a week until we get set up.  Also, I can't upload pictures with the speed of this internet connection.  We'll try again later.  Below is something I journaled a few days ago:

Our adventure is nearly one week long already, and the days are already passing by quickly. It seems like a good time to sit down and journal, because we haven't had internet access yet for communicating with everyone back home and updating the blog. Actually, the only correspondance we have had so far is one email with our parents and one with Pam which we sent on someone's blackberry. So things have been quiet here.  Well, as long as you don't count the roosters, countless bugs, donkeys, and other crazy noises you hear at night!


Actually the days are pretty loud too!  Every day a work crew comes to build another level on the top of the house where we are living, so they do quite a bit of banging up there. When the kids in the orphanage are home, which is all the time other than school, the yard is buzzing with activity. Also, many other people from the community like to come and hang out in the yard for various reasons...youth group, food and shoe distribution, medical attention, and other business relating to the schools and other projects. There is also a team here from the US, so they are busy doing different things in and around the house which they are sharing with us.

But I'll back up to the beginning and try to tell the adventure in the order it has happened...

DAY 1 (Tue, Nov. 9):

Cory:   Kester, what do you remember from our first day of driving from Sioux Center to Omaha and flying from Omaha to Chicago to Miami?

Kester: We got to see both sets of grandparents in the Omaha airport, and they said “goodbye” to us. I remember going fast in the airplane as it was taking off in Omaha. When we flew to Miami we got to see the ocean from the airplane, which was cool. In the motel we brushed our teeth after eating pizza and drinking pop. Dad and I slept in one bed, and mom and the girls slept together in another bed.

DAY 2 (Wed, Nov. 10):

Cory:   Elizabeth and Alexandra, what do you remember from our second day, when we flew to Haiti and then drove for a long time in the bus to Ti-Rivier?

Elizabeth & Alexandra: On the plane we found out “Baby Kiki” (Alexandra's blankey) was left in the motel in Miami. We took a nap on the bus. Everything we saw was different than in Sioux Falls. The people had dark skin. The people spoke a different language. The house where we would live was nice (we are temporarily staying in one room of the Mission House). We ate different food, and we liked it.

Kester: Dad, I'm hungry right now. Can I have a snack?

Cory: Lynn, what do you remember from the first couple of days?

Lynn: It was fun to see the kids' reaction to flying for the first time...to see it through their eyes. At the same time I couldn't help thinking, “What are we doing?  We're nuts!”  I was proud of the kids and the dog for doing so well travelling. It went pretty smoothly. The biggest disappointment was arriving at the orphanage and finding out my indoor toilet accidentally got locked in the back closet and no one in Haiti had the key.

DAY 3-7 (Thur-Sun):

Cory: Everyone...what are some things you remember from the first few days of living here in Ti-Rivier?

Kester: I have liked meeting new friends and having them meet us. I have played with John the most so far. He knows English.

Elizabeth: Swimming in the ocean is fun, but it is salty.

Kester: I like the ocean because there are waves. I'm having fun learning how to swim in the ocean.

Alexandra: I hope I get Baby Kiki back. I like going in the ocean, too. I don't like all the people here wanting to hold me and touch me.

Kester: I like to play with the kids in the orphanage, because they know english. We play badminton. I like to play soccer with them...they play rough, but I don't care.

Lynn: It has been great seeing everyone again and getting settled in.

Alexandra: I like it in the ocean that it is salty.

Elizabeth: I don't like that it is salty.

Kester: I like to play with my new friends because they are really nice to me. I like to mee the adults, too. I like to see the little crabs on the beach.

Lynn: There was a little lizard in our room waiting to greet us.

Kester: Yesterday was the first time I saw a crab. I liked going hiking with Dad and Elizabeth and climbing the mountain. I like seeing the little lizards. I like to hear the new sounds, like donkeys. I like to live in a new country. I know the word, “Wi”, which means “yes.” I know “bonjou”, which means “good morning.”

Cory: Lynn, do you want to say anything else?

Lynn: I'm tired. I was happy to see the kids jump right in and get involved and try the new food. Cory said to the kids, “Who wants to try goat meat?” and all of them said, “Me!” Bruce Milliken was here from Sioux Falls, and we figured out that he is actually my 2nd cousin on my mom's side. He is a great woodworker, and the first morning we were here he built me a ramp into the Mission house. The main frustration has been not being able to be mom to my kids...I can't help them take a bath, use the bathroom, cook for them, or even get them a drink of water. I'm frustrated by what I can't do, and Cory is frustrated by having to do everything.  But I will be able to do more things when we get our own space to live. It is also hard to be on display all the time with everyone gawking at us and watching what we do.

Cory: It is hard at this point to briefly give an overview of the first week because so much has happened. All of us have had our difficulties adjusting, but Pam was wise when she told us to not focus so much on “ministry” the first month and just work at adjusting to everyday life. The hard part in applying that each day is that people in the village still have their requests and their desires just to spend time with us. Also, the youth group always wants to meet every night, and the team working here often has questions about the work they are doing, etc... In addition to that the whole property is a construction zone and there always 11 orphans begging for attention.

Getting through each day is a small victory in and of itself and it brings us joy each time we feel a little bit more normal living here. I get really fired up each time I have a chance to be out in the community meeting people and practising creole. Learning how to do that with the kids tagging along is really the trick. Doing that will take years to perfect if it is even possible, finding ways to incorporate the kids into the minstry we are doing and yet balancing that out with adequate family time.

The youngest two members of our family, Alexandra and Cookie (our dog), have had the hardest time adjusting so far. We joke that at least Alexandra doesn't cry all the time...she takes regular breaks to whine, argue, pout, stomp her feet, fight with Kester and Elizabeth, and sometimes to eat or sleep.  Cookie has had an even harder time...she didn't pee the first 24 hours we were here!  But overall we are doing great and the adjustment process is going better than we could have hoped.  We are very happy here and can see all the ministry opportunities available to us in the coming months and years.

Thanks again to everyone who is praying for us and helping us to live out this adventure for God.  We truly appreciate it.

God Bless,
The Grimms   

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

Family and Friends,

We have finally arrived at the long-awaited date of departure!  Tomorrow we board the plane for Haiti and life will never be the same.  Thanks to everyone for all your help in getting us ready to go.  We truly appreciate it.  It has been a long and difficult process, but we go with confidence that we are firmly in God's will and He plans to change us and allow us to humbly help the people of Haiti.  We'll do our best in the days ahead to keep you posted about everything that is happening.  Cory's Dad sent us the following quote from Helen Keller the other day:

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do 

children of men and women as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is 

no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring 

adventure or nothing."

Tomorrow the Adventure continues!  

God Bless,

The Grimms 

 

Getting Ready to Go

6 Days Until the Big Move!

Family and Friends,

The big move is almost here!  But we are also spending a lot of time on the small move...that is, moving everything out of our home in Sioux Falls and into storage.  We are getting close, and the u-haul is reserved for tomorrow.  If you care to help out, we could still use more volunteers:

2-5PM (Thur) in Sioux Falls (5501 W Misty Glen Pl.)
6:30PM in Sioux Center (391 13th Ave NE)

The last week has been a real roller-coaster ride.  At one point we accepted an offer to buy our home, but that fell through in less than 24 hours.  So we are still waiting, praying, hoping that God will send us a buyer or a renter soon.  Otherwise we will be stuck in Haiti with no money for our return plane tickets next summer!  Oh well, that might not be a bad thing either. 

Other ups and downs have come as well. We have been confronted with many unforeseen expenses associated with medical bills, malaria medication, and immunizations.  Also, trying to fit everything we need into 10 suitcases was quite the challenge.  We packed other suitcases in hopes that Pam could send them with teams later on.  And of course we have been saying "goodbye" to everyone we see with the knowledge that we probably won't see them again for a long time, which can be very emotional.

But through it all God has been with us as always, encouraging us to keep going.  One tangible blessing was to hear that Alexandra's heart murmur shouldn't be a problem for us in going to Haiti.  That was a relief.  Also, the team down in Haiti right now is doing some work to the house where we will live to make it more accessible.  They are also looking into setting up reliable Internet service, which will help us keep in touch with family, manage our bills and other correspondence well, access homeschooling resources, and allow me (Cory) to use online Bible commentaries for the classes I teach.

Well, back to work packing boxes.  We'll try our best to blog during and after the move to let all of you know how everything is going.  Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti as they face cholera, a hurricane, rebuilding, and all of their normal struggles as well. 

God Bless,
-The Grimms