Unexpected Blessing

I knew coming to Haiti would mean Bud & I would have a lot more time to just "be together". Not that we didn't spend a lot of time together before coming, but at home during the days we each had our "own" places to be. Now, we wake together, walk to the office together, have lunch together, and return from the office together to spend the evening together before going to bed together. Now, for some, that sounds like misery, but I'm mostly enjoying it :)  What I'm enjoying the most is getting to "watch from the sidelines" as he interacts with people during the week. He's made not being able to speak Creole (while some days very frustrating), an opportunity to joke and make fun of himself using humility and humor to get through the difficulty of not "speaking the same language". Within the first two weeks we were here he had a Haitian tell him that he should be a comedian!

Bud never misses the opportunity to introduce himself as Ti Bud (little Bud). This always either gets a roar of laughter or raised eyebrows, both of which end up being an opportunity that creates more interaction and explanation as to WHY he's Ti Bud (because he was the second Bud to arrive on the compound he will always be "little or second" regardless of physical size - he has a good 50-lbs. on the Gro (big) Bud).

Many times during the day I witness him in the midst of a circle of Haitians (he's rather easy to spot!) laughing and joking together and I think about what heaven will be like when we can all "speak the same language" and have nothing but time to enjoy being together. Bud will be ready for that part of heaven - I think I need a lot more practice and I think I'm going to get a lot of it living here! If this is one thing the Lord wanted me to learn while serving in Haiti, I'm glad the Lord brought me to Haiti with my best friend who I'm thankful to say is also my husband. And yes Lord, I'm watching and learning.

Lots of Krapo (FROG in Creole)

Froggie

Some of you know we have an inherited dog as an "outdoor only" pet from Bud & Jane while they're in the States, but this past week we've had a new pet arrive on the scene. A krapo - which is Creole for frog (or toad). A week ago we came home after dinner with a team to find a rather large toad on our front porch. He (or she) wasn't too bright as it kept trying to jump up the concrete wall to get off the porch. The next night we heard a "thumping" sound on the porch, only to find that Froggie had return. This has now been the nightly routine for over a week. About the same time each evening, Froggie is on the porch, thumping away trying to find the "exit". Our "watch dog" pays Froggie no mind -- she just enjoys the show! I have to say, there are much worse things that could be on the porch than a frog, so I'll just live with the krapo.

Thank you for your prayers. As we shared last Sunday, a laptop was stolen from one of the missionary's homes - the second he's had stolen in the past two months. The compound has 24-hour watchmen, many of which we've met since being here. We appreciate them greatly and so every time I get a hankering to bake something we "share" with the watchmen. Tonight we met two new ones - Jonas and Eve (yes, that's a man!) We were able to "chat" briefly and use our Creole! It was so much fun and they were so excited. All the Haitians on the compound try to help us learn Creole by practicing with us or forcing us to "use Creole" instead of English.  One of our favorite (and most helpful watchmen) is John-o. He's 72, widowed, and weighs about 72-lbs. He teases Bud all the time about being Gro Bud (which is BIG). He loves to chat and help us with our Creole and he loves bon-bons (cookies!). He is diligent in his work, carries a baton for protection, and takes great pride in doing his job. He helps me with the laundry, checks in if he sees a door open or something amiss, and is always ready to greet us with a Bon Jou or Bon Swa at anytime of the day or night. We are so thankful for the blessing these new friends are to us.

A Wonderful Reminder...

As we had shared with many before coming to Haiti, our Prayer Quilt has been a wonderful and beautiful reminder of all who are part of our team and, most importantly, who are praying for us. Everyone who has walked into our house in Haiti (and I mean everyone!) has mentioned the beautiful quilt and we are quick to point out that it is filled with the names of those who are part of our Haiti team AND who are praying for us.

And, we are SO thankful and dependent on that prayer...

On Monday, Bud had an incident which confirmed for us again the importance of prayer. He had gone with a pastor from a downtown area church to deliver some school benches. They arrived and made the delivery, but the school was in an unfamiliar area to Bud so the pastor offered to ride back to the main road with him. When they arrived, the pastor asked Bud to pray with him before he left. Bud pulled the truck over along the sidewalk, prayed, and when the pastor opened the door to get out he hit two men on a motorcycle sending them into a deep ravine along the roadway.

Immediately a crowd formed and helped the men out of the ravine, placed them in the back of the truck and the pastor, quite upset, asked Bud if he would drive them to the hospital. Of course he did - his first visit to the downtown Cap Haitien hospital. While they were waiting, Bud and the pastor prayed together and began singing, "Amazing Grace," to calm their nerves. The doctor checked the men out, took an x-ray of one of the men's legs and diagnosed that he was "fine" and sent them on their way with a prescription of Tylenol. Bud and the pastor put them in a taxi and praised God that it wasn't any more serious. The pastor thanked Bud over and over telling him that he had, "Saved his life."

Praise God for His faithfulness!

We love & miss you all,

Bud & Cindy

Lost & Found

Bon jou! (Good morning in Creole)

We apologize for not updating our blog as often as we'd planned. Our Internet in Haiti continues to be fussy, but we're trying to work around it and will hopefully be able to notify all our Haiti partners via email next week. We have "synched" and "merged" and "synched" and "merged" our mailing list three times only to find it continues to duplicate or eliminate people from our email list. While it would be annoying if we were in the States, add the frustration of a "fussy" Internet and well, you get the picture. For those who have "found our blog" we're very thankful!

Bud & I started our Creole (or Kreyole) lessons this week and are finding that while it's very challenging, it's a lot of fun and we're really enjoying our teacher - Belony. He's a great young man who is in his 4th year at the seminary in Saccenville. Two times-a-week we drive out to the seminary and meet with him and a black board with CHALK! The teacher-student ratio is pretty good - 2 to 1! He gives us a lot of individual attention!

On Thursday after class, Bud answered his phone. Afterward, we were stopped at the gate and asked if we could jump-start one of the Haitian's trucks. In the midst of the vehicle repair, Bud's phone must have fell out of the truck. Several hours later he realized it was missing. He eventually resorted to dialing his own number from my phone when a Haitian answered. Of course, the Haitian didn't speak English and Bud is only on Creole lesson #2 - since the man wasn't repeating the days of the week or counting to 10, or talking about being hungry (groun gu), Bud couldn't understand him. In retrospect it was pretty funny to listen to Bud repeating, "Hello...Hello....Hello..." louder and louder like the man was hard of hearing instead of not able to understand English!

He took the phone to Dave Graffenberger and explained the situation. Dave called Bud's phone and chatted up a storm with the gate keeper from the seminary...who had Bud's phone and said he would give it to Pastor Lucner who lives "up the street" from us! PRAISE GOD! Bud was so relieved - he had his "life line" back :) (Ask Shelly for further explanation!)

Once again God showed us that He even cares about the little details of our lives. Bud's parting comment was, "Well, I guess this is another good reason we need to learn the language!" Thankfully we were able to laugh about it...afterward!

Another rich blessing this week was receiving four DVDS of our church services! What a blessing! It was like a cool drink of water on a five-shirt day in Haiti!!! (Bud measures the heat of the day by how many times he has to change his soaking wet shirt!)

We love & miss you all...trust you will have a great weekend and a fabulous day of worship on Sunday!

Bon Nwit (good night),

Bud & Cindy