Christmas in the Caribbean

If you know Bud and have ever spent much time working with him, you've probably heard him singing at some point. He loves to walk through the day singing hymns or praise choruses and being in Haiti is no different. Just this past week as he worked in the office on inverters, computer and Internet connections, and electrical "fixes" - up ladders, under tables, and in the attic crawlspace, he was singing and had several singing along. It's quite a mixture of English, Creole, and our favorite, Creolish (which we're getting pretty good at!)

He was pretty honored when Patrick (the chocolate lover!) invited him to sing at the Christmas Eve service at their church. It was more of a concert with various groups and Bud would be one of the guest singers. Bud, of course, said, "Sure." He practiced a few times with a group of about 20 young people singing harmony behind him. I didn't attend the practices, but he did say, "It's Silent Night like you've never heard it before!"

The day before the concert Patrick asked Bud for a few tools to help with their staging. That's when we learned it could be an outside event! Then, Saturday morning, Bud was asked to help with the staging - which he did. The tickets said that start time was 4 p.m. Patrick told Bud to arrive at 4:30 p.m. for prayer. We arrived at 4:30 p.m. to find three other missionaries and a hand-full of Haitians working on set up. It was a pretty laid back scene! We sat down and laughed with the others about our "North American" time-table versus the laid back style of the Haitians. After a time we started making bets as to when the service would start. Almost an hour into it, the Pastor arrived who was scheduled to "open" the service. He chatted with us for a while, then asked someone "in charge" when things would get started and was told, "About 15 minutes..."

Forty-five minutes later the Pastor stood and started...the first song was sung at 6:00 p.m. Bud sang at 7:30 p.m. and it was great! Beautiful harmonies. I was sorry I didn't have a video recorder!  We headed home right after Bud sang - trying to "sneak out" (which is hard to do here!) But hey - we can be laid back too leaving in the middle and we had promised to call our kids on Christmas Eve! We laughed all the way home about having "bought a ticket" when we could hear the entire program from our living room. In fact, while chatting with Shelly at one point I said, "Listen..." and held the phone out. Sure enough, she could hear the music too!

It was a fun night and definitely a good lesson in cultural differences! However, one of the best parts was arriving to the stage! Bud is still certain this is the same tent SEC used during the sanctuary construction - if only he'd put an identifying mark on it somewhere to confirm it!
Doesn't seem possible it was only a week ago!

Today we have Doug Ries and his daughter, Kayley, with us from Portland (Doug is the HVAC guy who worked with Bud on the churches' system). Doug's been down several times, but it's Kayley's first time. It's Saturday - so that means BEACH DAY! It was 90 degrees yesterday, so it should be a great day for the beach. Who would have ever thought us Oregonians would be spending a new year's eve day at the beach!

Wishing you God's greatest blessings for a wonderful and very Happy New Year!

Bud and Cindy

Sharing Chocolates...

I can admit it, I'm a chocolate freak! I love chocolate! I mean really, there aren't many who don't like it. But, chocolate isn't something that lasts too long in a warm and humid climate and it certainly doesn't travel well! A few weeks ago at the market I found one of my favorite white chocolate Toblerone bars which I bought immediately. When I got home and figured what it cost me it was $3.75 U.S. Ouch! Oh well, it was worth every tasty piece! Two weeks ago a team was here and one of the members bestowed upon the Starfish office a large tin with a variety of chocolates all individually wrapped in brightly colored foil each bearing it's own secret flavor. I honestly set it aside and forgot about it (after all, I'd just had my favorite candy bar a few days earlier). Then, one particularly busy day, I thought, "I really need some chocolate!" And then I remembered...the tin! I broke into it and went throughout the office sharing. Our office is small, but we have a lot of visitors in and out everyday and every time a pastor, yard worker, or Bud would stop by, one of my co-workers would quietly say, "Cinzy (that's Cindy in Creole)...should we give them a chocolate...?" And I would make a big production out of getting the tin and sharing with whoever. It's been so fun to see the smiles and thanks of so many over one simple piece of chocolate. Most will peruse the tin for a few seconds before making their selection. Some sheepishly ask if they may take two to share one with their wives. (Of course I'm sure it's well-melted before it ever gets to their wives!) Then, of course, there is Patrick, our IT tech who has a real sweet tooth and announced today that he thinks we should have three chocolates a day - one in the morning, one at noon, and one before we leave at the end of the day. I told him if he ate that much chocolate he might get fat like Bud! He quickly replied, "That's OK, I want to be fat!" It doesn't matter where Bud goes, he has a following!

I know sharing chocolates might seem like it has very little to do with ministry, but I think of it as a precious gift from God. Not only do I get to bless those with something that they don't typically have to enjoy, but I get blessed to "give" the gift and enjoy the smiles and laughter around it! It is something we can "share together" and in those moments we are not black or white, Haitian or American, English-speaker or Creole-speaker, we are just God's children enjoying a little of life's sweetness! It truly is more blessed to give than receive!

We pray you will all enjoy a wonderful and very blessed Christmas with whatever friends and family the Lord brings into your life this year. We love and miss you all!

Merry Christmas,

Bud and Cindy

Red Neck Christmas...

In all the planning and preparation coming to Haiti, we made a lot of choices as to what to take and what we needed. One left behind casualty was the majority of our Christmas decorations! I have always enjoyed decorating for Christmas, but knew it wasn't feasible to bring too many decorations to Haiti so limited myself to our pre-lit tree and one very small container (the size of a large shoe box) of ornaments. I did buy a few plastic, lime green stars in the Dominican, but for the most part our tree is simple and, in Bud's words, understated. We did bring our most prized Craig Hochstetler-original design nativity scene which we've had for many years (this will be one of the few things we will someday bring back home with us!) We also ordered a new treasured nativity handmade by 13-year old Becky Kitterman from our church. This too will return home with us one day. (If you haven't seen her work, you should check it out, they are lovely!) I had mentioned to Bud that our decorations were considerably less than at home, but still gave a nice festive ambiance.

We went to Port au Prince last week to get paperwork completed for our visas. While there, unknown to me, Bud conspired with Sarah Shaferly (John & Jill's sister-in-law) who runs the Villa, to acquire a few more decorations for me as a surprise.

Today, as we were wrapping up the weekend, he placed a large, black plastic garbage bag under the tree and told me it was an early Christmas surprise for me. I opened it to find some ornaments, some "pre-owned" Christmas garland in varying colors, and a string of seven vintage glass-painted Santa head lights. What a great hubby! While the lights are rather unique and not at all what either of us would have in Oregon, they are beautiful here! We wrapped the pre-used garland along the strand and scotch-taped them above our TV cabinet (yes, I know, we should have used duct tape to make it really red neck!) We have laughed about them all night! All I could think was, "Jeff Lewis would love these lights with his aluminum tree..." (Maybe I'll bring them home for Jeff!)

Hope you are enjoying the season and spending time focusing on the true meaning of it. As we are away from family and friends this year, we realize how blessed we've been to always have had those times together in the past.

Cherish those you love and the time you have together ---

Blessings,
Bud & Cindy

PS) Keep the cards, letters, emails, and blog comments coming...we LOVE them and look forward to them all.