Tuesday, August 31, 2010

On our own.

Well here we are last day in August. Marc Lisa and the kids left this morning leaving us or me rather feeling a little out of sorts. It's just Chris and I here with all the Haitian staff for the next 6 weeks. We will be stretched and pushed this coming month as we figure out what we can do and where we can help. Not exactly sure when English classes will start up again.
Lots has happened here in the last couple weeks which is really encouraging. The guys finished clearing the technical school site of all the rubble and today started digging the boundaries for the new foundation. Lots of panels have been made for the new fence (at the other property) and today the other guys are putting in a bunch of posts so that they can actually put up more wall.
Chris and I finished the first part of our tire playground. We are not sure yet what to do with the remaining tires because we are not sure what supplies we have to potentially connect all of the tires together. Unfortunately the tire swing that the team put up a few weeks ago continues to fall down. Going to have to get that figured out because the kids love it.
Studying Kreyol is hard, and can be very discouraging. Please pray for us as we try to get more phrases and vocabulary into our brains. I really need all of your prayers and encouragment during this time. Culture shock and everything has finally hit me and I need God's strength to stay positive and joyful.
Looking forward to going to the beach today. I think that's about all for today thanks for reading.
Rebecca

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Project Day!

Bonjou from Haiti. Today started out really good. Chris and I got motivated and decided to start building a tire playground for the kids to play on. (once school starts in October.) We used a pick and shovel and made holes in the ground big enough for five big tires to sit in. In this heat that was more than enough to tire us out for the day. Tomorrow we will go back and fill them in with concrete rock and dirt so they will be stable. (I will post a picture once it's finished.)
There was a lot of action on the compound today. We had 2 teams of guys working, one making re bar molds for the concrete panels they're building for the new property wall and the other guys were smashing the concrete where the technical school used to stand. We even had a dump truck here today taking away the busted up rubble. It's amazing how much has to be done by hand where in Canada we just have the equipment to get the job done with half the time and effort (or sweat).
We are learning that in Haiti everything takes a lot more time and patience. It's something good to learn but hard because we just want to be useful and get things done. Thank goodness for the grace of our Lord who gives us what we need each day to get through.
On Monday Chris and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary at the beach. It was so great to swim and snorkel in the Caribbean Sea. The water temperature was a few degrees cooler than the air so it wasn't as refreshing as I expected, but still fantastic.
Last night we started Kreyol lessons with Joany our new teacher. He's really serious about us learning so we'd better study hard. We are looking forward to being able to communicate more with the people. It's a slow process but definitely worth it!
Church services continue to be a blessing, we are able to sing a couple of the songs in Kreyol so it's so neat to worship with the people in their language. We are off to prayer meeting in a few minutes here but I just wanted to write a little something on the blog today.
Thanks so much for reading. Your continued prayers and support are still very much needed.
love Rebecca

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Learning the Ropes

Here we are it's Saturday morning in Haiti. We just had a meeting with Sterling who is the leader for the schools here. We talked about English classes and how that is going to look. It's exciting and we are very much looking forward to getting into a routine of teaching. We've been able to go through one of the storage rooms and take inventory and do a few odd jobs for Marc and Lisa. So slowly we are figuring out what we can do and where we can be helpful. There have been 3 church services and they have all been such a blessing. The people pray with a certainty and expectation for God to come and answer. There is such a freedom in praising the Lord here wow!
We have moved into our little home/room. It's great and already feels like our own space. There have been no incidents with critters yet but I am on the lookout.
The kitchen staff is incredible, almost all day yesterday they were singing praise songs and just having such a good time while preparing all our meals.
Creole learning is coming along, everyone is really patient and appreciates that we are trying. Hopefully soon we will have our tutor. Well I think that is all for me right now~ Rebecca

Things are going well. There are many things happening. Today a group of guys continues to work on a new wall for another property where a school and an orphanage will be built one day. They work hard and I try to help out when I can while trying my few phrases of Creole. I am always trying to learn a new phrase, and am excited to learn a new song from last nights church service. Roughly translated (I think it was actually originally written in English) it goes like this:

At Golgotha, at the cross,
Jesus' blood was shed,
He accepted the crucifixion,
So you and I could find life.

With all my heart, I will sing,
How great is God's love,
I adore, and praise,
for the sacrifice he has made for me.

So I am learning to sing it in Creole, praising the Lord and learning some new words, very exciting! Today we get to watch a Haitian wedding, should be a lot fun, and I imagine a lot of dancing :). Please continue to keep us in prayer as seek to make friendships, learn Creole, and serve God with his strength not are own. Also pray that our planning for English classes would go well, as we can teach from the Bible here :). I imagine the classes will be much different than the ones in Korea :).

All is well and God is good! Well back to trying to learn this worship song.
Peace and God Bless.
Chris.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

First Impressions

So here we are landed safely in Haiti. (We had planned to post this yesterday but the Internet doesn't always work to well.) Our welcome to Haiti Arise has been wonderful. We are blessed to have two couples from Canada to show us the ropes over the past couple of days. They are leaving today but it's been helpful for getting adjusted.
Yesterday I experienced the market. It was fascinating to see all the different people selling all kinds of things and just hanging out. There are guys everywhere on motorbikes, random animals running around, and trash on the streets. It's a whole different world and hard to get down on this blog. I think seeing what I've been seeing hasn't quite hit me yet. I see the people living in these tiny tents with basically nothing and I just can't believe it.
The residence building at Haiti Arise is really nice. We move into our room tomorrow I know after a few weeks it will feel like home and be really comfortable. There's running water, power, and even air conditioning in some of the rooms. We had our first church service on Tuesday night which was such a blessing. Marc and Lisa translated for us foreigners. We will have to learn creole but it will take some time and hard work.
Rebecca

Wow! It is so surreal to be back in Haiti. It will take a little while to adjust to the heat and language but with God's help we will. There are some amazing people here that we will work with and for. I am excited to see how teaching English here will compare (if at all) to our experience in Korea. I had a cool experience working with some of the guys building cement slabs for the new wall on the other property. I was eagerly trying to learn every ones name and a little Creole as well. That is one of the most important things for us to be learning over the next weeks and months. Please pray that God would grant us great wisdom (especially for me, Becca has a better memory for language) in learning the language.
i would have to agree with Becca that life here has not sunk in at all. You see the living conditions for some, the tents, the huts, and it just doesn't register that it's a way of life. One day we will be hit with the reality and it may make it harder. May God grant us servant hearts and fill our hearts with his love and peace.
God bless you all.
Chris

Monday, August 9, 2010

One Week Away!

Greetings family and friends. We have had a wonderful time in Canada visiting family and friends over the past two months. God surely had this all planned out. We were both able to help coach at Clipper basketball camp which was something we both had wanted to do for sometime. Thanks to all for your wonderful hospitality and great visits along the way :).

We are both excited and at the same time nervous with the adventure that lies ahead. So we are back in Red Deer with one week to go...we still have lots of packing, and supplies to get before leaving this country again. This morning we woke up and were a little anxious so we had a time of prayer. We need God's strength for every step we take, and prayer will be our staple as serve God and the Haitian people.

We decided to name this blog "In His Service," because we believe we are in God's service. He has opened the door for us to serve Him in Haiti and we are being obedient in walking through that door. We hope to use this blog to not only describe the good news but also the hard times we will experience while in Haiti. Our hope is that while reading our blog you will get many ideas as to how you can lift us up in prayer.

Thanks for reading our first post. There will be many more to come, hopefully once a week.
We will also do our best to upload pictures too.

Chris and Rebecca Girvan