Gutwein Haiti Update - August 23, 2005
Greetings of Love in our Lord Jesus.
It has been almost 2 months since we left our home early one Monday morning in June. We can attest to God’s faithfulness and His mercy as we’ve begun our life in Haiti. What a comfort we have in Him, no matter where we are, He is with us. The trials and tests come daily, but He asks us to cast our every care upon Him (1 Pet 5:7), and what joy we have when we do. Not much in Haiti has changed since we were here in 2003. Daily we have people asking for help in some form, either at our door, in town when we run errands, or people who work for us. It is hard to know who to help and who to turn away. We wish we could provide a job or give a gift to everyone, but it is impossible. God gives us the means to touch a few lives, and as we touch we know He can bless His work even further.

After Hurricane Dennis: Thankful
We are thankful that our area did not sustain any more damage than it did. We know many people lost banana trees, but thankfully we still find bananas at our door for sale. Most of the trees that went over have been cut up into lumber with machetes. It is amazing to see the nice piles of wood lying beside the road and we’ve never heard the roar of a chain saw! A missionary from the mountains told us that in her area, all animals were lost and all gardens were destroyed. The area already has a problem with starving people, and she is very concerned for the people that her family work with daily. The Haitians believe that God protects Haiti, and after talking with a missionary who has been here 15 or so years, we believe it. Many hurricanes begin looking like they are headed straight for this poor country, but most of them always turn away and go south. The last terrible one was in 1964.

Our Home: Settling In
Little by little we are getting settled into our home. Amazingly, we even have some left over space! The children’s rooms have worked out well. We have an adequate living space with a recliner couch and chairs on one end of the room and the dining table on the other. Thankfully there was a nice bookshelf here to go along with the one we sent down, so we found plenty of space for all the books we brought. The kitchen is hot because of poor air flow, but the design is good for multiple workers. One counter is a little lower and Alisha really likes that. Derek does too and one too many times we’ve found him walking off with a sharp knife. We have 3 enclosed storage areas that we call depos. One of them keeps the kids' bikes and outside toys safe while the second one has turned into a mini-shop/storage area for Jan and the boys. Down below our house about 10 feet there is a third depot that has become storage for things we don’t need to get to daily. There are nice shelves for organization. Our yard is really a nice size. The kids have plenty of room to romp and even a huge tree for where their daddy built them a tree house. Down in the area by the lower depot is some nice shade and typically a nice breeze comes through. We have much to be thankful for.

Click the thumbnails for a larger image.

Language: “Little by little the bird builds his nest” (A Haitian proverb)

We’ve been in formal language training now for 5 weeks. Both of us have our times of discouragement, but we keep on. For me(Val), learning in the book and on paper goes fine. Talking does not. Jan does well talking but does not enjoy grammar lessons. Tess is doing great, although her mom sometimes remembers a word she forgets! Jean Claude, a 40 year old Haitian man teaches us 5 days a week for 2-3 hours each morning. We begin each lesson reading from the Kreyol Bible and then we pray in Kreyol. He gives us homework daily, plus we spend time learning vocabulary. One thing we are all thankful for is that Creole is a very phonetic language. No one really has an excuse for poor spelling. After teaching 3 kids to read, I am amazed at how many exceptions to rules English has. Creole has very few.

Work Teams: We miss them!

In the summertime and early fall, we don’t have workteams. This has been an adjustment for us, since we always were here during the hustle and bustle of the work team season. We sure miss the fellowship the teams bring, (and the little extras) This does not mean there is nothing to do. Jan has 4 schools to visit prior to our departure in September. The building must be measured and the materials gathered for when the work team arrives. The first 2 construction teams arrive in December. Since language is our main thrust right now, Jan is not putting time towards other projects like wells or trade schools this summer. In the future, there will be plenty to do in the off season.

Containers: Three….safe and sound.

With a major bridge out near Port Au Prince, we were a little worried about the 2 containers that arrived after the hurricane. God watched faithfully and both arrived safely. Typically the containers are unloaded in our front yard, where the goods are distributed to the various MEBSH departments, or where the lumber/tin is stored in storage sea containers. We hire about 9 Haitian men who do a most of the unloading. It is a hot job and the workers are as glad as we are to see the last piece taken off and put away.

Our Helpers: What would we do without them?

Mme Lulu cooks for us 5 days a week. She is not only a great cook, but brings joy to our lives and she is so patient in teaching us creole words. At this point I am dependent on her. Audin is our yardman. He works 2-1/2 days a week for us and the other ½ of the week for our neighbors Ron & Linnea. The yard always looks nice. Roseman comes once a week to do some of the heavier cleaning. Since we have cement floors, they all need mopped and swept. The windows are in panes that move to close tightly and open wide. They are often dusty from wind and rain. She gets us over the hump, of major cleaning, and we take care of the rest. Christoph lives in the neighboring village of Simon. We first got to know him in the winter of 2000. Our trust continued to build in him during our "four" 3 month terms. He would learn to do little odd and end jobs and earn a little money. Now he is a 22 year-old young man. Our trust and friendship has continued to build and he has helped us with unpacking, plumbing, hanging, organizing, Derek sitting, and on and on. Jan is starting to do a little work with him in the metal shop, wood shop, and giving him opportunity to fix mechanical things like the push lawn mower. He’s really given us a boost, especially since it seems there is an unending list of “little” things that need done. He knows English well and can help translate for those pastors that show up at the door needing construction work. Jan takes him to town sometimes to help him run errands and find things. Right now he is Jan’s right hand man. Derek loves him and Christoph reported that one day he cried when he had to leave. One day he took the boys for a walk and Christoph carried him for over an hour. Christof said, “He didn’t want to walk”. I told him next time, make him walk at least some of the way. We are thankful for good help and the precious friendships that come with it. We all will grow through these times of sharing our lives with others. We can learn so much from each other, if we take the time to do so.

Adjustments: Life is full of them

So many ask…how is it going? Well, it is like anything new, we are adjusting. The heat is exhausting, but we survive with fans and air-conditioned bedroom/office (when we have electricity). On Sundays we really miss the fellowship of believers, but are thankful for sermons from home. We miss family and friends, but what a joy to get and send email via cyberspace. We’d feel lost without the connection. We do have cellphones, but the cost prohibits long conversations. A few days a go we were able to make our first computer to landline phone call. It was amazingly clear and we could hardly notice a delay. It cost us 5 cents a minute to boot! We put the other party on the computer speakers and we could all hear the conversation. We have many Haitian friends who visit us and help us practice our Creole. One particular gal, who makes peanut butter for us, visits weekly and we use the opportunity to “try out” what we are learning. She gets a kick out of us and we often scurry to find our dictionary.

Future Plans: In the Lord's Hands
Lord willing we will return to the States around September 22. We will harvest our crops, meet a new baby, enjoy the Holidays with our families and take a trip to Colorado for some Language Acquisition Training. We will return to Haiti after January 15th to begin work with the Work Teams. May the good Lord watch over us and keep us all in His care, in the place He has given us to occupy until His return. May we all exercise the directives given in Romans 12:10-12 .

In His Care, Jan, Val, Tess, Alisha, Mark and Derek