April 4th - 11th

This week….April 4th – April 11th


It seems time is going fast….and this week went fast. I continue to teach my conversational English classes and lead a bible study for translators. My curriculum for the English classes is wide and diverse. The students themselves have given me two different books which are book one and book four. I know they rescued these books from the rubble somewhere. The difference between book one and four is rather wide so I need to reach waaaay back to my grammar/English classes. (What is a predicate pronoun anyway?). Overall I have seen change in just the short time I have been here. The student’s vocabulary and understanding has increased rather dramatically. Another curriculum source is the Bible. I read the Creole Bible(or try to) and have them read English. It’s been really fun. The conversations always turn to the Bible and God and most can understand when I share the gospel.

Schools are starting to open which is encouraging, but it also can be rather frustrating. Most of the schools are private and have their enrolment. The public schools are not up and running yet and the private schools only take new students if: 1 they have room or 2. They have room and have official papers to tell what grade you’re in and 3. Room, papers and money. Well, most official papers are buried in the rubble and jobs are hard to find so still rather frustrating.

MY Other Jobs: Between classes I have other jobs which I continue to chip away at. One such job was to build 20 desk/benches and 8 desks for a local school we are sponsoring. They are rather crude but I was reminded of my roots back in Grand Rapids Michigan. Grand Rapids and western Michigan is known as the “furniture city” and even now has a couple major office furniture builders/distributors. So who better to build school furniture than me, although my creation would surely be rejected by quality control at Stealcase.

I also have started to wire sheds for electrical. Our teams coming in are putting up 8 X 12 sheds, well I come behind the teams and put one light/switch, and one outlet. The owner then connects the electrical to the city power lines. The city has rolling power so the trick is to connect the power when it is off. Wiring electrical is a skill I picked up when I rewired my house back in Michigan.

Busy, busy, busy. Overall it is about relationships. I am really enjoying getting to know all the people in the neighborhood. From my students to the corner “drink lady” it is about relationship. I enjoy showing Jesus in practical ways, sharing the Gospel, the good news of Jesus by living side by side. I am learning a lot while I am here. I continue to lean in and press into God to hear His voice and steps He wants me to take.