A Busy Week

Last week was a very busy one for us as we began a new school year with new responsibilities for all of us. Lee and Daniel started out the work week early Monday morning. They met several other RMI staff at the Depot at 4am to pack up two vehicles and head into Port au Prince to build a house for a Haitian Pastor. The trip to Port au Prince is a five hour ride over some of the better roads of Haiti, but that doesn’t mean that they are easy roads totravel, by any means. Once arriving in Port, they constructed a metal home on a less than desirable foundation, but in Haiti you accept what you have and make it work (in Creole, they would say, “degaje”). Upon finishing up with the house at 4pm or so, they headed out to get some lunch and arrived home that evening just after 9pm. Needless to say, they were both exhausted and ready for showers and bed.

While they had a very busy day in Port, the rest of us were starting our first day of homeschooling. Normally, we start our schedule a few weeks ahead of this, but we decided to wait to get started since we are still adjusting to our new home and environment. Our homeschool schedule is looking a little different this year since I (Tina) have been asked to help at Cite Lumiere Christian School (CLCS), here on the mission center, from 11:30am-1pm by teaching Bible with the second graders and helping them finish out their school day. Monday was also the first day of school at CLCS. Since Isaac is also in second grade, he goes along and joins the three other students for the last portion of their day, as part of his school schedule. Last Monday, however, they started the CLCS school day with opening chapel at the Bible School and then we all went back to CLCS for the first day of classes. Nathan went along with Isaac and I since we were spending the day there so that we could better understand what is expected of us in this new school setting. It made for a full day since we finished up at the school and then came home to work on our normal homeschooling work, as well. The rest of the week was not quite as busy, but we were still kept on our toes as we worked at getting all of our schoolwork accomplished. As most years, Mom realized that she has been a little overzealous with her lesson planning and is going to have to make some adaptations to our schooling schedule in the coming weeks.

Since we were all so busy on Monday, we cancelled our Creole classes for that day, but we picked them up again on Wednesday and Friday of this past week with our teacher Pastor Jean Clod Mezi. The rest of the week went well, but we were exhausted at the end of each day with trying to get used to the new schedule. RMI also had two teams on the ground in Haiti this past week. We were able to spend some time with the team from Schuykill Valley Bible Chapel Thursday, after they returned from spending a few days with their sister church at Camp Perrin Baptist Church. Then, Saturday Lee rode along with Rob Thompson, Haiti Field Director for RMI, to the Les Cayes airport to visit with the Creekside team briefly before they flew home, after spending a few days in Baradere, Haiti this week.

In addition to all of the busyness of the week, we still had time for a little fun, as well. Friday evening the missionary community gets together to play volleyball. The younger boys are always running around the mission center with their new friends, and Daniel went to a youth/young adult Bible study at one of the other missionary family’s home on Friday evening, as well. There are also the adventurous things like finding tarantulas in our beds, after the lights go out, or how about looking down to find a big tarantula on your chest when you are using a chainsaw to trim the bushes around the property?? Yes, well, maybe some of these things are not so much fun, but we are creating memories and growing more accustomed to life here in Haiti, for sure!!

This new week brings us some changes to our schedule as our Creole teacher, Pastor Jean Clod Mezi, is also a professor for the American University in Les Cayes. He starts teaching classes there this week, so our Creole lesson time is changing. We will be startingwith him every morning at 7am so that he can leave by 8am to be at the university to start his teaching. This will mean that we will need to have our brains awake and ready for our Creole workouts earlier than they are used to being challenged. We covet your prayers as we make this change. Another prayer request for this week is for Lee as he will be teaching on integrity in leadership at a pastor’s conference that RMI is holding for pastors who are involved in our sister church partnership programs.

We feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to serve here in Haiti. Thank you to each of you who have played a role in helping us along this journey. Through all of the adjustments and challenges, God has made it clear to us that this is exactly where he wants us to be.