Ream Team International

Another day. Kids off to school and coffee in hand I sit down to deal with the myriad of thoughts swimming. Happy thoughts. Heavy thoughts. How to make sense of it all? I reached for my Bible and dusted it off smiling. That is the only time I have ever smiled at dust. I thought to myself, the phrase “dusting off the old Bible” sure has a whole new meaning around these parts! You can dust and dust some more. Then a truck drives by and within 5 minutes there is another film of dust. I detest the big trucks that drive through here. The noise and dust they bring always sets me on edge. They represent anything but peace to my little world. As I ran my hand over my dust covered Bible I was reminded how much I need it. Then. Now. Always. I need it. I need it before the dust starts flying and wrecking havoc on my day. I need it before the dust has a chance to settle. But oh how quickly the dust settles and stays and discourages! It stares at me standing for everything neglected, everything ugly and unreconciled and wrong with this world. I brush it away and in a moment another truckload of dust barrels into my day and sends me reeling, searching for peace.

It is these IN YOUR FACE reminders that also remind me why I love Haiti so much. There is no forgetting the dust. It is always there. I sweep it away and then another truck comes. And I know that the dusting will never end. Inside. Outside. All around. The truckload of issues is ever present, coming this way, already here. It screeches and halts and completely unnerves me. It makes me feel dirty and sad. Sad that nothing will ever stay clean for long enough to enjoy it. There is this constant longing to feel clean, to experience lasting peace. There is SO. Much. Injustice. There is so much to be done. The dust mockingly reminds us that we can never get ahead. The dust is overwhelming. There is always more to do. Someone needs help. We need help. I need help.
Continue reading “Dusting Off the Old Bible”

We spent Easter Sunday with missionary friends in our area. Our friends Al and Bev picked us up and took us to the English church in Montrouis. On the way to church Al mentioned that there was a house for rent in their neighborhood that might be a good fit for us but he did not know the price. I somewhat dismissed the idea of looking at another house and especially one that was not within a few miles of the school. After church we went over to our friends Chris and Leslie’s house in Pierre Payen. Montrouis and Pierre Payen are small towns you pass through on the way to St. Marc where we live. We had a great time of fellowship, food and the kids had a blast swimming and hunting eggs. Leslie asked me how the house hunt was coming along. I mentioned that Al had said their was a House #4 in his neighborhood. Leslie perked up and said she thought we should strongly consider that. I respect her opinion. They have struggled through housing situations in Haiti for years longer than we have and she understands the complexities of living here with a family. So I said, “Ok, I will ask Al to check it out for us”, but it is still too far from the school and we don’t have a car. Leslie offered to pick us up on the way to drop their daughter (who goes to our school) in the morning.
Continue reading “House # 4…the best saved for last!”

Conundrums continued. Over the weekend we looked at several more houses and out of those have added a third possibility to the list. Each member of our house has personal likes and dislikes with each. I personally want the kitchen and open floor plan from one house, the rooftop patio with cooler breeze, built in closets, and my own bathroom from another, the two house layout and convenient closeness to the school of another, and the list goes on. If only we could pick and choose and conglomerate. But we can’t. Someday life will be perfect and everything will come together just as it should. But in the unbalanced broken present I find it quite amazing that the Lord has shown us three possible affordable options all within 100 yards-1 mile of where we currently work and live. Honestly, we do not want this just to be about our personal preferences. We want to choose the house that is not only a good fit for our family but also a place of hospitality that will be a good fit for others to come and stay. We will have to deal with issues of transportation, electricity, laundry, and personal space in any of the three houses we choose. This is just part of living in Haiti. Our problem is that we can’t decide which issues we would rather deal with over others. What we want to know is if you came to visit us which of the following would be your preference? We would like to hear from those who have experienced Haiti and plan to return, those who plan to visit Haiti (us?) in the future, and friends already living in Haiti whom we hope will come stay with us when they come this way to go to the beach. Your votes would really help us make a decision. At least I hope. I really hope we don’t end up with equal # of votes for all houses. If we do, we will probably draw a # out of a hat!
Continue reading “House Hunters Haiti Edition”

Sometimes we have to get to other areas of Haiti for meetings, to pick up supplies we can’t find in St. Marc, pick up our mail through Missionary Flights, Intl., and to connect with other ministries and friends. Sometimes we are able to catch rides with friends heading the same direction. Every other time we are forced to take local transportation if we want to go ANYWHERE. Not having a vehicle is an unfortunate hardship. But this is not at all meant to be a vent session about that. We are thankful for these experiences (though we would be immensely thankful for a vehicle too)! We believe that if we are going to serve in Haiti long term that it is fortunate to have had experiences that help us identify with the common people in a way we would not have been able to otherwise. I remember when I first posted on Facebook that I had taken my first trip on a tap-tap. Long term missionaries and mk’s commented that they had never been on a tap-tap. Some of these have spent more than 10+ years living in Haiti. I know very few foreigners that ride tap-tap to get around Haiti, and absolutely none with families as large as ours. I’m not saying they should. I would not wish the tap-tap on anyone. If we had a vehicle we certainly would not be riding tap-tap either. I decided on our most recent tap-tap trip to Port au Prince that something MUST be done about the tap-tap! Riding tap-tap is generally a miserable experience. Breathing car exhaust, city pollutants and the smell of sweaty bodies piled on top of one another and pushed and shoved until there isn’t a square inch left makes me want to vomit just thinking about it.
Continue reading “How We Ride”

Today I have found myself saying the word “conundrum” out loud and/or to myself at least 27 times. I had a hunch why this word came into my head but because it isn’t a word I use often I looked it up to see why it kept popping up today. Maybe I once read a book that used this word a lot and it stayed in the recesses of my brain until the day that I could relate to it on a whole new level. 

*A riddle whose answer is or involves a pun or unexpected twist.
*A logical postulation that evades resolution, an intricate and difficult problem.

Yep. We have ourselves a “conundrum”…lots of conundrums actually and I’m certain we had them before today because Haiti = Conundrum. 
Continue reading “Co·nun·drum”