Made it to Haiti

I arrived in Haiti yesterday around noon after 4 hours in the air and a short layover in the Bahamas to refuel.  About two thirds of the cargo I brought for Cowman’s kindergarten arrived with me – hopefully the rest will be on next Tuesday’s flight. 

Unfortunately, between adjusting to the heat and fighting a sinus infection, I am hoping at most to post some pictures with some captions before I head off to bed (and/or the power goes off).

I flew this time with Missionary Flights International out of Fort Pierce, FL.  A top-notch organization - and very helpful.  I got to sit next to Kate Z., who teaches 1st and 2nd grade at Cowman.  She tells me this is a DC-3.  She knows more about airplanes than I do.
 

Here's the inside - 18 passengers and two pilots and a bunch of cargo.  Met a Haitian pastor returning home with his family after spending 4 years in Pensacola earning his Master of Divinity and also met a family of six from Orange City, Iowa moving down to live and work at a Haitian orphanage.

This is where Melissa will eventually be teaching Kindergarten.  This was before all the furniture was set up - I will try to take better pics of the space next week.

The Bundys are being kind enough to let me share in their family meals while I am here.  They are a sweet family.  Here, their youngest, Christina, opens a letter sent to her by my Princess in Indiana.  The envelope was full of drawings of butterflies.

Jake Bundy showed me how he climbs a coconut tree...

Then I showed him how I climb a coconut tree...

Today I was included in the morning teacher meeting as everyone prepares for school to start on Monday.  Then I got to work on what will ultimately be my classroom, God willing.

Here's how it looked at the end of the day.

One last couple of pics before heading to bed.  This is one of my students, Jacob and he is a soccer fanatic.  Two goals have been constructed at the end of the school yard, but there are no nets.  I post this picture because I want my oldest son, Dats, to see this - he's my soccer player.  I thought maybe Dats would be willing to work with me to figure out a way to get some nets down to Cowman at Christmas time. It's kinda important for the sake of the game because on one end, right behind the goal, is this:

These cacti have already claimed the lives of more than one soccer ball.

Work that Matters ... is Tiring

As I was driving through northern Florida yesterday on my way to Ft. Pierce's airport, I heard a news report on the radio that struck me as being about the dumbest thing I'd ever heard.  The "journalist" was reporting that "researchers" had studied the last meal requests of Death Row inmates and concluded that the meals they wanted were made up of "comfort foods" like french fries and ice cream and were heavy on meat.  This was the conclusion after the "researchers" had studied 193 such meal requests.

What in the world?  I was shocked to learn that no Death Row inmates had gone for the low-carb, healthy options.  Not a single request for brussels sprouts, either, apparently. 

Seriously?  Someone was paid to study something so worthless?  And someone was paid to announce the results over the radio airwaves?  I just hope no tax money was involved ... but I have a sneaking suspicion.

Can't you just imagine those researchers coming home after a long day of pouring over menus and drawing conclusions and saying to the spouse, "Whew!  I am just exhausted and emotionally spent"?

I want to spend my life doing work that matters; don't you?  I am reminded this morning, though, that work that matters is tiring.  And sometimes when there's so much resistance, we are tempted to give up and go for the easy work, like researching last meals.  It's tempting to think that if there's resistance, we must be outside of God's will or maybe we just aren't doing it right.

A familiar passage in Galatians hit me afresh this morning:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.  Gal 6:9-10

Points that strike me:

1) Paul wouldn't have to say "let's not become weary" if doing good was not NORMALLY very tiring stuff.

2)  The harvest comes "at the proper time" - and the farmer is not in control of the timing of the harvest, is he?

3)  The harvest only comes (in God's timing) ONLY if we do not give up.  How many good works have been started only to be abandoned by those who grew too tired. 

Let's do important work and let's do it with the strength and stamina that the Spirit provides.

Hauser Teacher's Career Move Inspired by Church Missions

THAT was the headline for my article this past Monday as it appeared on the "Classrooms" page in the local newspaper!  I think it's the best headline they've given me yet.  (I've complained about their headline choices in the past - they tend to be ... uninspired.) 

In all the last minute to-do lists before leaving home to drive to Florida, I almost forgot to post the article - so I include it below.  Yesterday I drove 800 miles to Newberry, Florida to catch up with an old friend, Lance, and to meet his family.  I met Lance years ago in Saudi Arabia, of all places, and his parents hosted me the first night I arrived in Saudi.  How good it is to see him now "all grown up" and enjoying his own family.  He and his wife have a very smiley little girl who was just delightful AND I even had the chance to say Hi to Lance's mom, who is living close by. 

Lance, Leslie and Lydia.  What a happy baby!

This morning I am enjoying a cup of coffee and some internet time because I only have a couple of hours to finish my drive to the airport in Fort Pierce to unload my freight in anticipation of tomorrow's flight. 

I have to point out that yesterday I drove 800 miles in about 12 hours and 15 minutes.  I stopped for THREE bathroom breaks - at JUST THREE MINUTES APIECE - plus TWO gas stops for about ten minutes each.  The short duration of those stops was the only time I was not already missing my family!  ;-)

Here's the article:

On a quiet Saturday afternoon a month ago, I carried the last of my boxes from my classroom, left my keys on the office counter and slipped out the front door.  I felt gratitude, fear, joy, sadness, and then fear again.

It is scary to drop a perfectly good job in this economy. 

I did not quit out of dissatisfaction with my school.  I had five meaningful and happy years at Hauser and I will always be thankful for the staff, administration and students, and my time as part of the Hope community.

And I did not get offered a higher paying job.  Quite the opposite.  For nearly two years now, motivated by a couple of short term church mission trips, my wife and I have been working toward relocating our family to Haiti where we will be once again teaching, but in very different circumstances. 

More than once this past school year, I had students question my plan to work in Haiti.  More than one perplexed teen asked, “Do they pay teachers more in Haiti?” 

Not so much.  According to Laurence Wolff, an education consultant working with the Inter-American Development Bank, in 2004 the average Haitian public school teacher made $900 annually while their private school counterparts made even less at $300 to $450. Keep in mind, those figures are yearly sums. 

My wife will teach kindergarten and I will teach high school English at a mission school in Vaudreil, Haiti just outside of the second largest city, Cap Haitien.  And, in a sense, we will be making even less than the average Haitian teacher: we actually must raise our own salaries to enable our move there.  (In fact, raising the funds to get us to Haiti is my current full time job.)

And even though my salary is not complete yet and we can’t hope to have the family settled in Haiti until after Christmas, my first day as a teacher at Cowman International School will begin in one week, God willing.  You see, Cowman has need of an English teacher this semester and nobody to fill the role.  So I will be flying solo to be on site for the first two weeks of school, to meet students and assess reading and writing skills, and then teach English on-line from here in Columbus the remainder of the semester.  It should be a grand experiment.

With the cost of flying freight to the island at $1.50 per pound, those boxes cleared from my Hauser classroom will be left behind in the garage.  My classroom, for now, will be largely “virtual” anyway. 

 

New Website

Over the last few months, I have had several people tell me that they are ready and willing to support us financially in our bid to get to Haiti BUT...

1) They haven't gotten around to finding a stamp and mailing in the back side of the prayer card...

OR

2)  They have tried to start the process on-line at the OMS website and found it confusing and time-consuming.

And these are legitimate hang-ups in our go-go-go culture and I completely empathize.  Fortunately, I've got a friend who has led me to a solution.  James Hill just moved to Greenwood, Indiana to be a homeland missionary with OMS in the area of web programming.  James and his wife Loni were in our OMS orientation class this time last year - and that's where we first got to know them.  They are such a neat family and we're glad to have them living near by!

Yesterday, James designed a website for me (while my main contribution to the process was looking over his shoulder and silently marveling) - a website that makes it simple, straightforward, quick and convenient for to get the ball rolling for anybody who wishes to support our upcoming ministry in Haiti through a monthly faith promise.

So, check it out right HERE.

I've also put the link in the sidebar of this blog, for ease of locating it again easily in the future.  And I plan to annoy everybody by posting and re-posting it on Facebook in the coming weeks and months.  ;-) 

In all seriousness, I often feel like we are placing a burden on family and friends (and sometimes even strangers!) when I ask for support, and I guess that's because I am.  I AM placing a burden on others.  But it's a burden God first placed on us.  We are just sharing the burden!  ;-)

I am beginning to feel the crunch of time.  Our goal is to get our family to Haiti right after Christmas - in time for the start of the second semester.  As I have already mentioned, the need for a kindergarten and high school teacher is present NOW and the Cowman International School is "making do" until we get there. 

When you click on the new website, you are simply initiating the support process.  There's no credit card info or anything like that.  You are only letting us know that you are committing to partner with us financially in ministry to Haiti and that you will start giving in December or so.  You will receive all the necessary information about the financial process in the mail in plenty of time to get started before we leave the country.

Would you be willing to pray about whether or not the Lord would have you partner with us?

We are completely dependent on God's provision through generous individuals to get our family to Haiti. Our hearts are already there - we just need to get our physical bodies there too!

Starting My New Job ...

... that's how I am thinking of this upcoming trip to Haiti.

Because that's what it is.

In about a week and a half, I will be driving down to Fort Pierce, Florida to catch a flight to Haiti where I will have two full weeks before returning to the States. 

The trip has several purposes:

1) To deliver some classroom supplies for the kindergarten at Cowman International School.  These are items Melissa pulled from her current classroom during the summer.  They will be put to use when the school year starts at Cowman on September 3rd in the classroom where Melissa, God willing, will be teaching in January.

The Princess (age 5) and The Dog (age 9) pose with 200 lbs of kindergarten supplies bound for Cap Haitien.

2)  To meet my students.  Cowman has been strictly a grade school for years.  It was never practical to imagine having a full high school staff present on the mission field and so older students would eventually outgrow Cowman and need to go on to other schools, be home schooled or travel to a boarding school far from family.  Now, with so many good options for on-line courses, a high school program could function with a single staff member present to monitor the students as they work at computer terminals.  That will be part of my role when we move to Haiti - teaching Language Arts in person and monitoring the students as they work on-line with their other courses.

The Principal asked me a few weeks ago if I would be willing to begin teaching English this semester from a distance - they have a young man willing to monitor the students this semester, but no on-line English curriculum. 

I jumped at this opportunity since I am growing impatient with the slow pace of the funding process and I am anxious to GET STARTED with this next chapter in our lives.  So I am going to Haiti now so I can meet the older students in person, assess their reading and writing levels, and help them get a solid start so that I can more effectively teach on-line the rest of the semester. 

3)  To help in any way possible to prepare the school for a new year.  I will arrive in Haiti the Thursday before school starts on Monday, so I anticipate being able to lend a hand in a variety of ways.  God only knows (literally) what that will look like. 

4)  To meet with Matt and Stacy Ayars at Emmaus Biblical Seminary.  I need to further explore ministry possibilities that might be available for me there once we settle in Haiti full time.  Melissa and I met the Ayars briefly last summer in person at the airport - they were re-entering Haiti as we were exiting.  Matt is president of Emmaus and we've had a few brief email discussions regarding the need for youth ministry courses there.  I hope to have a few hours - maybe an afternoon or more - to put our heads together on ways I may be able to contribute to the incredibly important ministry going on at Emmaus. 

Check out Emmaus' website HERE.

5)  To catch up with some old friends during the drive down to Florida and back.  Since I am transporting some freight, I will be renting a vehicle to drive to Fort Pierce rather than just fly out of Indy.  The drive gives me several opportunities to catch up with old friends.  Looking forward to seeing Lance, Aaron and Ivy, Bill and Melanie, and Jamie! 

6)  To ...??????  (I am always aware that God may have other purposes in mind whatever my own goals may be.  God's purposes may well involve Joy or Suffering or Learning.  Who of us really knows ahead of time?  But God is wise and omniscient and omnipotent.  So I will definitely be keeping my eyes open.)

I would certainly appreciate your prayers for my trip and for Melissa and the kids during my absence! Thanks so much!

Meet Joab

I first met Joab in October of 2010 when I joined a small mission team from my home church for a week in Haiti.  Joab came along on one of our evangelistic, radio-sharing expeditions as a translator.  He's a sharp guy and that's how he picks up a few bucks now and then - he translates Creole to English and English to Creole. 

Joab, flanked by Todd and Steve, in October 2010.

I've kept in long distance contact with him - sporadically - with the help of Facebook.  When I see him next, I will have to ask him exactly how he accesses the internet.  I'm pretty sure we can rule out any mental image of Joab grabbing a mug of coffee before shuffling into the den in his house slippers and robe, sliding into a leather office chair and rolling up to a mahogany computer desk. 

It's a pretty safe bet that's not how it works.

The other day I initiated a chat with him on Facebook.  I hadn't seen him there for a while.  I asked him if he was back home and he replied that he had returned to Haiti in May.  About a year ago, Joab left for job training in Nicaragua.  A South Korean company was planning to build a clothing factory in Cap Haitien with the aid of finances from the U.S. government and other humanitarian sources.  Joab joined about 20 other Haitians who were promised lucrative jobs upon completion of the factory if they would first train at a similar facility in Nicaragua.

In Nicaragua, Joab was paid $100 a month, but he toughed it out in hopes of a good payoff back in Haiti.  Eight months!  Eight months of "training"...

So, of course, I asked, "Are you working now?"

"No."

"What happened?"

It's heartbreaking.  If you knew Joab - and what a sweet and joyful and intelligent man of God he is - the "rest of the story" would anger you ... stir you up.  That's what it did to me.

That lucrative factory job back in Haiti offered all of $300 a month. 

Please understand that $300 in Haiti will buy you much less there than it does in the U.S.  It seems counter intuitive, but Haiti is a very expensive place to live.  Very little food and virtually none of the manufactured goods are locally produced - most things are shipped in from the outside.  And that adds to the cost of most goods.  And $300 was to be the pay for a MONTH of work.

And that month?  It was made up of six day work weeks.  7 to 4 each day with an hour for lunch.  That's $1.50 per hour.

Transportation to and from the factory was going to cost Joab $2 a day.  I did the math - that would remove a full sixth of every paycheck.

Most of what was left of the paycheck would disappear to cover "taxes". 

So Joab's back to freelancing as a translator.  He translates documents between English and Creole, types up the translation, prints it off and sells the pages for $5 apiece.  I'm not sure how steady the work is.  He's 33 and has been dating a young lady for eight years now.  The marriage has been put on perpetual hold because of their lack of employment, but Joab told me they plan to finally tie the knot this October.  Their financial situation is still not secure, but I imagine they have gotten tired of waiting. 

At the end of our conversation, I told him I would be visiting Haiti again in just a couple of weeks (I'll tell you more about that soon) and I would be glad to bring anything he could use.  (He would have never asked for anything without my prompting.)  Here's his wish list ... and I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it with you.  I share it because I would love to have some help in making as much of it as possible a reality:

A new or used laptop.  (He mainly needs a word processing program for his translating work.)
Some shoes.
New shirts for church.
A suit to get married in. (!!)

I don't have his sizes yet, but I will advertise them when I do and see what I can round up before I leave Indiana on the 28th of August.

Oh... one last thing.  The clothing that this South Korean factory produces?  I asked Joab where it gets sold.  Any guesses?

Walmart. Target. Kohls.

All I can picture is all the clothing hanging in my closet - all the great deals - and I wonder how many were produced by folks like Joab...

First Day of School and First Day of NotSchool

Today (Monday, August 6, 2012) is the first day of the new school year for Melissa and our kids, but not for me.  I turned in my keys last Saturday.  I am cleaned out of my classroom and someone else will be teaching sophomore English at the school.  It was quite a strange feeling, walking out the door and leaving a perfectly good job behind.  As I drove away, I was looking for a fitting soundtrack from the radio, but it was Saturday afternoon and that's a lousy time to listen to the radio.  ZZ Top singing "She's got leeeeeeegs. She knows how to use them" didn't quite fit the mood.  The closest I got was Tom Petty:  "You don't ... have ... to live like a refugee."

I feel a bit refugee-ish.  I'm living in someone else' house, I'm unemployed, and I am just trying to get out of the country! ;-)

So this morning felt very odd, too.  Melissa needed to be out the door by 7:00 AM with the kids in tow.  The alarm went off at 5:45 (much better than last year's 5:00 alarm!).  Melissa got herself ready while I worked on breakfast - we're one of those minority families who have a hot breakfast together, even when things get rushed - and then started assembling lunches.  Lunches will be a bit more challenging this year as we attempt to continue our recent habits of severely curtailing processed foods and grains.  (And we really don't want our kids eating the school lunches!)  So the lunch today: peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread, cheese stick, cherries, grapes, a small baggie of kettle corn and water.  Breakfast: omelets and the banana bread Melissa made last night. 

The kids were roused out of bed at 6:30.  Melissa and I both worked to keep them on task as they ate breakfast, dressed and groomed for school.

I drove them to school at about 7:10.  We prayed on the way.  A couple of years ago, I had started a daily routine of praying for the three oldest each day before they headed off to their classes.  Now all four are in school and we are definitely needing to keep that habit alive.

Before I could get back home (it's only a mile and a half), Melissa was calling to ask me to bring something she had forgotten, so I made a second trip.  Once fully home, I did some push-ups and sit-ups and went for a two mile run.  I was out of the shower a little after 8:00, made the bed, cleaned the kitchen and then sat down with my new prayer journal and my Bible. 

The idea for dropping my job is for me to give myself fully to funding.  But it has been impressed upon my heart that a big part of that process MUST be the strengthening of the foundation of my faith and spiritual life.  If I don't emerge from this semester much closer to my God and Savior, a great opportunity will have been squandered.  Don't we always make the excuse of "too little time" to justify our lack of serious attention to prayer and Bible study?  I know I have - plenty of times.  Well, that excuse is gone. 

And I must say, I am thoroughly enjoying my prayer and study time.  I have been missing out.  When I have shortchanged my spiritual disciplines, I have shortchanged myself.

Obviously, I need to get to work now.  I have a list of things to do - including everything from making an orthodontist appointment for The Drama Queen (who managed to lose her retainer over the weekend) to getting sermon information to Shelbyville First United Methodist Church where we will be preaching and sharing next Sunday. 

It may seem like a weird prayer request, but if you think of it, could you pray that we would locate Drama Queen's retainer?  We have confirmed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it was not among the chicken bones, coffee grounds and used kleenex of the past several days, and we have no idea where else it could be.  I desperately want to find it before her appointment.  Replacement will be expensive ... and I'm unemployed!  ;-)