Thankful

I know that we are a few days late on this…. But, I wanted to take a minute to express how thankful we are to be here! We are so grateful to all of you who have helped to make coming to Haiti possible. Although the days here are not always easy and things have not always gone as we expected, Jason and I love life here. We are learning, growing, and being challenged in ways we have not been before.

Two of the biggest things I am learning are humility and dependence.

This is very evident in our learning Creole. We often have to ask people to repeat themselves and speak more slowly and have to be willing to learn language lessons from everyone. This is really a blessing, though, because it helps us to develop relationships with those around us and shows that we value the Haitians we do life with and their culture. We are very thankful for the great teachers we have, including our tutor, Daham, the Janofski family, and the friends we see at the orphanage and around town.

It is also humbling to be learning our aquaponics work from Glynn Barber, who is so good at what he does, and then teaching to people who are such eager learners and hard workers. We are amazed at the team God is developing here.

I am also growing closer with Jason as we learn to depend more and more on one another. There is less communication with friends and family in the States and we have more time together than we ever had before, so we are learning to communicate more clearly and support one another better.

Another lesson we are thankful to be learning is “dousman.” This is a Creole word for slow or gentle. It seems that everything moves more slowly here on La Gonave.  You can only expect to get a few things checked off of your list each day, and we are not nearly as busy as we were in the States. I have started to find great joy in this slower pace of life that allows us to choose to spend more time with the Lord, to just spend time with others and develop relationships in this very different culture, to help one another out, to play with the kids, to enjoy the beauty of creation around us, and to dream about the future.

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers!!!