A Very Adventuresome Day!

Family and Friends,

As you know we are in Haiti right now and enjoying a great week. We will try to update the blog each day with our adventures...

Yesterday was one of those days in Haiti where so much happened you could sit down afterwards and write at least 3 posts on the blog, if you still had the energy.  Instead we went to bed and crashed and now as we enjoy our breakfast we are recalling all the great conversations, the difficulties, and the moments of ministry along the way…

The day started off normally and we waited to hear from Zacharie about the car that was to be made available for us.  For some reason we could not call him or send him a text, so we waited patiently to see what would happen next.  At one point Lynn went back to the room to get something and managed to lock the key inside.  We talked to the Hotel staff, and sure enough, there was no back-up key.  Around that time Willy came to visit, and he said, “No problem.”  He took out his knife, jimmied it between the door frame and the lock, and “POP”, it opened right up.  That gave us a good laugh.  I asked him if he had done that before and he said, “many times.” 

Soon Zacharie appeared with Bazile, the nice man who drove us from Port-au-Prince the other day.  This time, however, he had an old, small SUV which was puttering down the road.  It was just big enough for the four of us and the wheelchair, and as we got in we saw that Bazile’s 2-year-old son was sleeping on the seat.  Zacharie took the child in his lap, and we headed on our way.  We enjoyed looking out at the familiar sights along the way as we headed into the main city in this area, Les Cayes.  Everyone was busy about the commerce of the day, going in and out of the larger markets and carrying produce to the little booths, etc…  The large trucks rumbled up and down the road with motorcycles, bikes, and small SUV’s darting this way and that. 

The first place we stopped was a potential future partner in ministry, Les Enfants au Coeur Joyeux (Children with joy about the heart).  It is a school operated in partnership with three different churches, and there are some orphans from that area who are cared for through the program as well.  Zacharie had identified the couple who runs the program as a family with outstanding character and ability, and he wanted us to meet them.  When we arrived in the rural neighborhood north of Cayes, Bazile drove as closely as possible to the school before stopping.  The school was up on a hill with only a footpath stretching the final 100 yards or so.  We decided Lynn would wait in the car while the rest of us went up to the school to greet the children and staff.  Lynn was left to entertain the small boy who began to cry for his mother.  She tried giving him food and some balloons, but he was fussy until we returned.

Lynn waiting in the car to meet the kids at the country school.

After some small speeches and other formalities at the school we came back down the hill with the children and gathered around the car to meet Lynn.  Everyone was very kind and it was a good chance to visit that ministry in person and begin a process of communicating back and forth to better understand their vision and how we can be involved if appropriate.  Most of that will be done by Zacharie over the coming months.  We loaded up in the car and carefully backed up down the hill.

After getting some air in the tires at a road-side air shop and gas at the gas station, we headed towards our main stop for the day, the Deaf/Disabled School in Cayes led by Lucner and Julianna.  Earlier along the way we had picked up their daughter and the cakes for the party, and now we all piled out of the vehicle and headed in to the courtyard outside the house to meet the kids.  Instantly we had kids climbing all over and around us, squeezing our hands, and trying to communicate with us in their mixture of Creole and sign language.  From that moment the excitement continued until our departure around three hours later.   

The kids and staff at the Deaf/Disabled School in Cayes

During that time we enjoyed a tour of the property, some songs to welcome us (in creole and sign language), a formal presentation of the story behind the ministry (we will cover that in a separate post), some time working on art together with the children, a party with cake and fruit and soda pop, a time of taking every possible group photo we could think of, and some time to wander around and get to know everyone better.  We had a great experience and were very blessed to be honored by all of them in so many special ways.  They were thrilled to receive the monetary donation of $2000 that was made possible by many of you.  That will keep their food supplies going for quite some time.

Lynn meeting Jeff, a smart boy bound to a wheelchair.  Lucner is introducing everyone.

Again, we will try to share more of the stories, photos, and conversations of our visit to the Deaf/Disabled school in an additional post at a later time.  This Sunday we will sit down with Lucner and Julianna and discuss more of the future vision for the school, which will include helping them solidify their budget, expanding to offer instruction in trades to Deaf/Mute persons, and possibly obtaining a permanent facility instead of continuing to rent.  

Next we visited the "Ambassadors of Jesus Christ Church and School" directed by Zacharie's wise friend with snow-white hair, Gaspard.  If there is ever a movie made about his life, He will undoubtedly be played by Morgan Freeman!  We were impressed by their warm welcome, which included 2 complete songs sung in English.  Then came a memorable moment when a precious little girl very slowly made her way to Lynn with a welcome packet for us.  She walked unblinkingly towards us across the room as the entire school watched in complete silence.  She was very brave.

Lynn accepts the welcome packet from a little girl at the Ambassadors Church & School

The school was obviously operating on a meager budget yet was completely orderly and busy about their studies when we arrived.  We are anxious to get to know this ministry more in the future as well as it is highly recommended by Zacharie.  Again, he will continue to get to know them and their work, gathering information for us as we process which ministries are best to support in Haiti in order to make the biggest and best impact for the Kingdom.  

Part of the adventure of visiting that school was leaving the main road and driving through a large and deep ditch to reach our destination.  Getting back out of the ditch on to the main road was a bit of an adventure.  We could climb about half way up the steep incline but lacked the power to finish the job.  Of course every cab driver, school kid, and nearby vendor was shouting advice in our direction:

       "Put it in first gear!"

       "Back up and get a better run at it!"

       "Put it in 4-wheel drive!"

       "Get a better car!"  

Finally we made it to the top and headed down the road to our final stop for the day.  If you are a long-time follower of this blog you may remember a post several years ago when I had a chance to visit Junior with the foundation, Love Haiti.  Since that time we have remained in contact with him and his associates and have been encouraging them in different ways.  At one point we made the difficult decision NOT to back them financially.  This decision was based on the fact that we felt they lacked a definite vision for ministry.  Many times they would ask us what they should be doing, and our response as always was, "Only God can tell you that through the Holy Spirit.  It is not right for us to tell you what to do in ministry." (a founding principle of our ministry!)

Over the past few months Lynn has really been working on Junior and encouraging him to make sure he is truly following Christ, so upon reaching his home he jumped right into that discussion and wanted to know what he needed to do to give his life to Christ and be baptized.  We counselled him for a bit, as he is quite strong in English, and then we turned the conversation over to Zacharie.  It was a joy to see Zacharie passionately and carefully lay out the gospel, how to respond, what God expects of us, what God wants to do in our life, etc...  

Zacharie shares the gospel with Junior

Finally it was time to make a decision and Junior gladly prayed for forgiveness of sins and invited Christ to be Lord of his life.  It was a wonderful moment for us and truly a snapshot view of what our ministry is about, utilizing the gifts of both Americans and Haitians side-by-side in ministry.  Some members of Junior's family were there to witness the whole thing, and Zacharie plans to return to begin a discipleship process with Junior and invite his father and sisters to receive Christ as well if they have not already.  Junior has great potential for ministry and is extremely ambitious, and we are hopeful that we will enter a partnership with him in the future as the vision for his life becomes clearer from God.

Finally we returned to our hotel and enjoyed the remainder of the late afternoon and evening.  Olgens, an old family friend, was waiting there for us when we returned and we sat down to a meal of great food (featuring lumbi, the meat of the animal you find in a conch shell...tastes like chicken, really!) and many laughs.  Olgens is a great joker.  After that we welcomed many more guests and at no time did we ever have less than 10 people sitting around the circle together until after dark.  Lucner stopped by to say goodnight and thank us for visiting and he said something that really touched us, "I have translated for countless American ministries, aid organizations, and even the UN, and very few of them have been able to touch the hearts of Haitians like the two of you as you simply spend time with them and laugh together as true equals."  That was a great affirmation for us, not that we are great people, but the fact that God has humbled us and allowed us to truly appreciate the people here for the treasures they are.

Later on today we will have our chance to visit Ti-Riviere, the village where we lived previously.  We look forward to seeing everyone again, though we know there won't be time to have a nice long conversation with each one.  It will be a glorious moment, however, and we praise God for the opportunity He has given us.  As someone said when we left almost 2 years ago, "If God wants you to return to Ti, you will return."  

Don't Miss Your Many Adventures Today!

-the grimms