Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Gary is gone to Port to pick up Caroline this morning, so the house is quiet early on. Of course that is after the 4am preaching service we had. We live next to a rather wealthy person and the local's come by periodically to preach to him...in the middle of the night. That is SOP around here, I guess that is when they think they have a captive audience. So, it's been an early start to the day as the preaching started around 4 and went till about 4:30.

A little more news on the little girl assaulted with a spoon. The worker at school told me that the one who did it to his 2 1/2 year old girl was........a 4 year old girl. How sad is that? At least there was no intent on her part to hurt the smaller girl, but obviously she has had this done to her, how else would she even think of it?

The swine flu thing is a topic here. One of the problems is that there is so many health issues regularly that it likely won't be recognized until well after the fact if it appears here. I guess that is probably similar to other places though. We pray about it and get thru the best we can.

D'Juno, one of my "special" students (special in that he challenges me daily to keep my cool) struggles with math. I have gone over the processes for division and multiplication about a dozen times each. Yesterday he is doing a problem and he comes to me and says "you know what? it helps to read the directions on the top of the page that tells you how to do it." after counting to about a thousand, I replied, "Yes, what a good idea! try that and see if it helps." so he is progressing some....I think.

Berona is a little girl whom I really like. She works hard and does well in some subjects, not so well in others, but she is humble and does not cause trouble. Once you're here for awhile you start to get to know the kids and families better and you see the growth and the problems. They all have ability, most just don't have a chance for schooling here. One of the families that has several children in school also has a 19 year old girl at home who takes care of the kids and has never gone to school. She got pregnant when she was about 14 and her lot in life has been to stay home and take care of the kids while the parents work and others go to school. She likely won't get any schooling in life at all, there are so many small kids in the house she will be home for sometime. She will likely get married at some time and have more kids and that will be her life....like so many young women here.

The days are flying by, 5 weeks from today I get on a plane to come home, and who knows what will happen after that? the kids want OUT of school and they are getting rowdy, but generally not bad. The year has been a blink and it is gone. I've seen so much and learned a little, but it will be good to see my family and friends for....awhile at least.

Djebenis tout moun

Bondye benis ou.

Monday, April 27, 2009

quick update. we have power and we have it all the time!! found out that the local power folks (known throughout Haiti as EDH) have found a much cheaper fuel to use in the diesel generators, I am guessing some kind of biodiesel. They can now run the generators much more than they could in the past. We have not had to use the generator now for an entire week, unheard of in these parts. It apparently will continue this way...until it stops. :) But in the meantime we have power about 18 hours a day. Now if someone would open a Burger King down the street.......

Saturday, April, 25, 2009

so many things. Leslie and Chris Rollings had their home attacked earlier this week, their van was set on fire in the middle of the night and they were threatened with death if they did not leave. A man had been caught stealing from them and I believe he is trying to scare them away so he can return home w/o fear of the law, who is after him for stealing and now whomever did this. One of our workers had his daughter, 3 years old, assaulted with a spoon by a neighbor. Apparently, it is custom here for some folks to "ready" a young girl for sex even at age 3. Al and Bev had to fire a worker with the orphans who basically just refused to follow the set rules for the orphanage. They need to find a new worker before summer. Tara blogged about a blog comment that basically wanted to know more about Haiti and less about her family. Tara tried to explain that a large part of life here doesn't translate well over the internet in words. She blogs about her passions..her family and the women in the program they run. She gave an example of a woman who is HIV positive, because she needed money and had sex with a man. She also is pregnant by him. She then saw the same man..and his wife..in the program. His wife is pregnant; she also is HIV positive, as likely will be her baby. This woman is destroyed and Tara just doesnt' know how to put all that into words. Two of the workers in school are trying to get visa's for the US for summer and were denied. Two nights ago there was a young woman walking down the street loudly crying. I heard her for awhile and thought it may have been a baby somewhere but when the sound moved and she walked by I coudl tell who it was. I don't know where she was going, or what had just happened to her, but she was very obviously in distress...and there was nothing I could do.

I have realized that I don't talk that much about some of the things that maybe people want to hear about. I also know that I am not really in a position to talk about those things intelligently so I avoid them. I talk about my journey here, the kids and general things. Those things I know something about, though often not enough.

I know that I don't know whether I will be back next year; that I both want to and think maybe I don't know how or where to be effective. I don't want just to be here so I can call myself "missionary". If I can't make a difference, then the money is much better spent with a place like Gospel for Asia http://www.gfa.org/. I know that sometimes I just want to grab someone and shake them.....and often I just want to hold someone till I can't anymore. Pierre, one of the workers in school, told me that his daughter Daydid told him that she loves me because I play with her. Is that enough to justify being here? Is it making a difference in her life? I wonder where God wants me, and whether I listen enough to know. I teeter between feeling useful and useless. I know that just working in a school and not being able to help someone know Christ just isnt enough....and I feel totally inadequate in telling people about Him. I teach Bible class for the young kids in school but somehow that doesn't seem enough. The physical, emotional, psychological and every other kind of need here is overwhelming....but if people just live better here and don't know Christ, then what is the point? I often think now that without living with the Haitians...really living with them in community...I can't share anything that will make a difference, and that both excites and scares me.

Please pray, those that do, for these issues mentioned above.

Djebenis tout moun

Bondye benis ou

Wednesday, April, 22, 2009

Rain. It has been cloudy in the afternoon for a few days now, humidity is up too. Today it rained. Slow at first, building to a large downpour for about 10 minutes, then slowing again. People running all around hiding from it, especially the women and girls, the young guys playing in it. Dust and dirt and all washed away. There has been about 3 days of rain here since December, and it was nice to hear it, see it and feel it. The only downside to it is the feeling that more is coming, unfortunately much more over the next 4-5 months. We just hope for no hurricanes.

Kenson is still with us. He has been working with Gary on math and today he got a 92 on a test. he could have done better, as he did not reduce to lowest terms about 3 answers which are the total of his errors on the test. But progress. His resistance is slowly receding. He has so much potential in school, but other issues always seem to get in the way. Hopefully this is a small step in the right direction for him. Dmitri, on the other hand......well, let's just not talk about him today.

The kids are all ready for school to be over, it has been a hard year, with the storms, hurricane damage including washed out bridges and roads, and the usual political escalations in Haiti. They have worked fairly hard and are all ready for a break, we can tell. Ronid is growing up and doing well in school; Peter is fat as a butterball turkey, the workers have done a good job with the kids and school, with the usual personal issues that come up from time to time. The mid year additions of D'Jinu and Jephtae are doing much better, learning how the school works and begininng to understand life a bit better it seems. Some of the ones with home problems still show those in their faces from time to time, but overall it has gone well. James started the year in such a way we did not think he would be able to finish a full semester of school and he has kicked in and is definitely one of the hardest workers in school now....and making progress in math and english. There are such bright kids here; Sophonie, Myberson, Pony, Kerwin, Rutney, Naika, Ronid, Jerry, Ashterline, and others. They have so much they could do. They have so much to overcome, and so much they won't. I hope they succeed, I pray they know Jesus a little better now than they did at the start of the year, I pray they are a light in their homes and communities. Small victories here, and everyone is worthwhile.

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

it's 5 am, been up for about an hour, been awake for longer. one of those nights. thoughts can be such a bother. you know those times when your mind just won't cooperate, won't give you dead to the world sleep, or nice thoughts about what a wonderful person you are and how blessed others are when you are around them. stuff like that.

tonight was thoughts of being in a group of people different from me...a group of inner city people from home, blacks, gang members, drug users, etc. And in it, we are all just talking about stuff, trying to find a way to understand each other. Generally it went well, for those interested. it seems that the skill we lack most as people is the ability to listen to others, or maybe, just to care about what they say. we struggle to fit the world into our rules and reg's, so that we are comfortable that everyone else is doing it the right way, which amazingly, is always our way. I know how to do this so you have to do it the same way....or else you're not special like me. Somethinglike that. Fear drives us, fear that others won't accept us, so we just refuse to accept them, being different from us. I have to say, having seem things this year that I haven't seen before, it is a lot easier to accept that people do things differently than I would. The amazing part is that they survive doing it their way and not my way!!! Now sometimes my way may be better..but not necessarily all the time. Finding those times when I need to change is the real challenge. Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke that we should not lend and expect to get back, we should give more to those who have taken unjustly from us, that we should love our enemies and treat them well. Later in another part of the Bible (foggy morning in the brain) He said those who obey His commands are His true believers. So I guess it's ok if others are different from me, maybe I can learn something from others, maybe the poor know somethings I don't about life, they just say it a little differently than I would.

Short week this week in school, Monday off to avoid any potential election violence (which was evident in some area's. One of our teachers, Delson, got a one week job as an interpreter with the UN and in the area he was in there were gunfights and fires) and off on Friday for St. Marc's day.

do you realize we have electricity....city power and have had it for the most part of the last 2 days? that is unheard of around here. yesterday we did not have to run the generator for school, Gary said that has never happened before. right now, I am typing by the glow of city powered lights, an amazing thing at this time of day here. If the city would run power from about 8 am to 2pm each day, Gary would never have to run a generator and save a lot of money on diesel. We are thankful to have had it the last few days, I won't be disappointed when it ends, as it will. Power people are strange here. You will have power for 8 hours, then it goes off......for 10 minutes, then back on again for 45 minutes.....then off for 3 hours then back on again. Or as it was a few months ago, off for about 10 days, on for an hour, then off again. We think they have a dart board they throw at to determine the power distribution around the area. And some people are really bad dart players.

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou

Sunday, April 19, 2009

http://www.topix.com/world/haiti/2009/04/blocked-candidates-could-tarnish-haiti-vote-haiti-caribbean

upshot: Preval will likely win in elections. Lavalas threatens to shut down country until he leaves if Preval tries to treat the election as valid.

it is very quiet today.......too quiet! (I always wanted to do that!) vehicle traffice is banned today and with the exception of about 3 motorcycles and about 2 cars I have not seen any. They say it inhibits drive by shootings and intimidation at polling places. I've never been through a coup before, it may be fun. Maybe I can take notes for when the US does it in the next few years. :( seriously, people are tense, it seems these things just regularly turn out badly so they expect the worst. Lavalas is the largest political party in the country and they are banned for various reasons, most of their own making. Granted it appears that the banishment is pretty much opportunistic on the part of the election commission, but Lavalas caused much of their own problem. Unfortunately, that probably won't matter. Unless they get violent, the UN won't intervene, I am told. So it could be loud and messy, but hopefully not as violent as in past elections. BTW, have I said recently that it's getting warm here in Haiti?

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Yesterday I had had it. I was finished with Haiti about 9am. I was going to change my ticket and go home, and never come back. No particular reason, just had reached my limit of "stuff". I missed by kids, and wanted to miss the mosquito's, roads, isolation, etc, that is Haiti. I guess it is a measure of God's grace that it passed and now....I think I'll make it to my regularly scheduled flight! It seems a lot of missonaries have posted about reaching "that" point, and I guess I reached mine. I am grateful it passed and I am doing better now. As I read of problems others have...police matters, thefts, kids and serious safety issued, etc., I know my issues are minor, but then again they are my issues. I am profoundly happy that Lydie is safe, that Chris and Leslie will get thru the problems they are going thru, that Peter is looking like a bowling ball. I hope and pray and Bobbie will get thru the summer without imploding, and that the country as a whole will survive an election and a hurricane season and a faltering economy without falling to pieces.

speaking of Peter, saw him yesterday, this kid has gone from deaths door (literally) to so chubby he waddles when he walks. He has been taken off the mamba program and is developing all the requisite attitudes that 2 year olds are supposed to have. Praise God for super peanut butter!

woke up this morning, stretched and looked up.....and saw a spider as big as my fist on the mosquito netting directly above my head. I guess it is the fact that I am truly Haitian that I didn't panic. :) I saw it not moving, just rested a bit more, got up and grabbed the Baygon spray. It is really good stuff, you just don't want to inhale. It can't be sold in the states due to whatever is in it, probably causes cancer, upset stomach and unwanted hair growth. Hmmmmmm....... Oh well, got the spray and doused the spider which did not move, so it was already dead. Or sleeping so soundly that deadly poisonous spray did not bother it. Did I say that yesterday I had had it with Haiti? Now I'm better...........really.........probably.......I'll get back to this on the next post.

So, I am looking for career advice from my legion of admiring fans out there. I have several choices. should I return home, never to return to Haiti........work at McDonalds for the rest of my life..........return in the fall and see if the spider is still on the netting over my bed..........or take a while off and maybe return next summer to run a summer program? I realize there are many other options but those are all I am willing to type out right now, so those are the official choices. The first 5000 responses.......or maybe the first response.....win's an all expense paid...well, make that a trip to Haiti where I'll pay for lunch one day while here. Rice and beans are pretty cheap. Not as cheap as they were 2 years ago, but still not bad by US standards.

For those who do, please pray for Haiti during the election today; and during the coming rainy season. Forcasts say not as many bad hurricanes this year, but seriously ONE bad one in Haiti and much will come unravelled here.

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sunday is the election here in Haiti for open Senate seats. There are 12 of them, I believe. St. Marc has ordered all schools closed on Monday....just in case there is post election violence. Vehicles besides motorcycles are banned from the streets after noon today....to limit drive by incidents. Power has been shut off to limit night time...campaigning. Who said elections can't be fun?

April is apparently vacation month in Haiti. The Haitian schools attend classes about 4 days for the whole month, I am told here. There is a spring vacation, personal holidays, teacher holidays, animal and insect holidays....so the whole month is pretty much taken up in holidays. Kind of like August in France, but August is too hot here so they make it April.

I have become very popular with the kids in school. I owe it to mechanical pencils. I have a small supply of them and the kids absolutely think they are the greatest invention ever. I get asked every day for one. I do not have enough to give to every one, so "no" is the usual answer. But it is nice having the kids suck up to me. Rutney, a 9 yr old in Daniels class told me "oh, Mr. Dan, I wish I was in your class". She is nine and I teach the high school kids. She is a very bright nine, but..... So I get hugs and stuff from the kids, I get to tickle them a lot....then I say "no". I am a bad teacher...... I have a reputation for being a mad tickler and the kids avoided me because of it, so I backed off. A few days later, they all started coming around me and are now asking me to tickle them. Fickle kids. Dadyd (da-deed) is a highly cute 3 year old who is very diva-ish already. She ran from me for awhile, but when I quit tickling, she now runs towards me and wants to be tickled. So my life has become easier....I just wait for the kids to come to me and then tickle. Ah, experience leads to a better life!

I can't wait to get home and cut Steve's grass for him. it's one of the simple pleasures of life that I have missed. If I don't get a job, I may have to charge him. Let's see, how much to charge for 10 minutes of cutting grass? I am thinking $200 a week will take care of my bills, as long as it is in cash. :) oh, Steve.......

Djebenis tout moun

Bondye benis ou

Friday, April 17, 2009

WANTED: summer job around St. Louis, Missouri area, beginning around middle of June. REASON: other position fell thru. NOW the government decides to start managing it's money well!!!
POSITION WANTED: I already cut grass for free....so maybe something that pay's a little. Pretty much anything as long as it's not working in front of a blast furnace....oh, yeah, forgot, that's not an option anyway. Bummer for blast furnace workers. will work for anything from $5 an hour up to $100, I won't take a dime over $100 an hour, no matter how much I am offered. I have principles, you know. :)

IF YOU HAVE SUCH A POSITION OPEN, PLEASE CONTACT STEVE MCKINNEY AT FRONTLINE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH IN GRANITE CITY, IL. OR VISIT 816 IOWA IN MADISON, IL AND LET MY SON KNOW. OR FLY TO HAITI AND TELL ME HERE......OR ANSWER ON THE BLOG.....CARRIER PIDGEON IS OK TOO.

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou

Wednesdy April 15, 2009

today is the day celebrated all over the world as American tax day!!!! I assume parades and such will be happening......maybe not? Today is the day we officially give our government trillions of dollars to spend as they see fit...which we all know is to secure more votes so they can win next time and get more money again.

talking with some of the locals here gives the sense of people who are resigned to the fate of having a corrupt govenment...this one or the next one, only difference is in who takes the money. I have to say that I have the same feeling about the US at this time. our government is completely out of touch with reality, they live in a fantasy land of money and power...otherwise known as the world. It seems that the only way to defeat the world is to live in it while at the same time seperating yourself from it. We can't leave it, but we can't live in it, as witnessed by a few thousand years of human history and how we mess up things every single time. We are consistent if nothing else, and "we" encompasses all people around the world. Consider the corruption in government and business, and prepare to get overwhelmed. The US, UN, Russia, EU, Japan, most 3rd world govt's......the list goes on and on. It appears that as humans we have found our niche....breaking things, just like kids. As we grow, however, we break bigger and bigger things and effect more and more people.

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is in assuming that it is due to power. I think that the Bible is right when it says that out of the a mans' heart comes the excess of his mouth. We sow out into the world what is inside us, and corruption is everywhere. It isn't politics, business, capitalism or socialism...it is people. Maybe we need to be in the zoo's and let the animals run the show for awhile and see how that works. God, in His wisdom, however, put us in charge. I do not believe it is because we are so good at it, as previously explained! So as I rant and rave at times about getting rid of this or that and fixing governments and injustice, I realize that as we get rid of one set of people we would only replace them with another set of people.

Maybe we need a different method of operation. Maybe we need to let God run our lives. I know I absolutely need it, because I have no doubt whatsoever I will mess things up when I am in charge. Maybe if we gave to Caesar what is Caesar's and gave to God what is God's, (ourselves and our ambitions, along with everything else) we would be better off. I personally would like being better off. Not necessarily talking of money here, but about joy, peace, and knowing that I am secure in Him so that I can give and receive without worry of having lack or debt. That would be a good tax day, wouldn't it?

Have I said recently it is getting hot?

Djebenis tout moun

Bondye benis ou

Monday April 13, 2009

I have not been posting......duh! it is hot, I am lazy, and I don't want to think most days. did I mention I am lazy? school is going fairly well actually. we have some small classes most of this week, as the week after Easter most Haitian schools are off, so the families just pretty much let their other kids stay home also. Or the kids just take off anyway. Seven weeks left of school, just over 6 of classes, at times I thought.....well, actually, I thought I would make it almost the whole time. didn't say I would enjoy the whole time....but taken as a whole, it has been pretty good. my summer job thing maybe be getting slightly dicey, so prayer is appreciated. I have no issue with working at MacD's if needed, those jobs are probably hard to get now! things work out so I am not worried. did I mention it is hot, and I am lazy?

had a good conversation with two of the Haitian workers just awhile ago, they run an English class in the school on Mon/Tues/Thurs evenings. they came by and we just talked about the upcoming elections, Haiti, the US, a rah-rah band clash that left 6 or 8 people dead not far from St. Marc. apparently two rah-rah bands came head to head (rah-rah=kids rave bands that travel around singing and making lots of noise with people of all ages) and people pulled guns. sometimes it feels so much llike home. :(

I really don't have much to say tonight, I will try and be witty and entertaining later this week.....or next. did I mention I am hot.....and unmotivated? :)

Djebenis tout moun
Bondye benis ou

Saturday April 10,2009

So Jesus is walking back to the city where previously he had driven out the merchants of the temple. He had gone out that previous evening from Bethany and spent the night outside the city. When He re entered the next day, He was hungry and passed a fig tree. Now the weird thing is that the commentary type folks say it was out of season for the fig tree to have fruit, but Jesus saw the tree without fruit and condemned it, and it withered. I always wondered why He was so harsh on the tree, being out of season and all....until I thought about a previous part where Jesus had warned people of the bad dudes running around, false prophets running around as sheep, but really looking out for what they could get. Jesus said that you had to judge the tree by the fruit it produced, and we had to see the signs of those who produced bad fruit.

So...it seems maybe there is no season for a believer for fruit. Maybe Jesus expects us to produce fruit all the time, whether it seems in season or not, whether it is.....convenient or not. This seems to be a message most Christians don't want to hear often, that after being saved by grace, Jesus expects something of us. Maybe He means that He can tell those who really have accepted Him by the fruit they produce. It makes me think that I should rethink my whole life in relation to how I serve Him.

I think that calling Jesus my "king" but then treating Him as though, well, as an entertaining guy and all that but one who I can change the channel on when it suits my purpose......I think it would really tick me off, if I was Jesus...a very scary thought in itself but we don't need to go there today. I think Jesus would think it highly disrespectful of me to treat Him that way.....especially after I called Him my "king". It seems that if I really felt He was my "king", I would treat Him that way. I need to give myself to Him, really give myself, to His service, and I need to consider how I can best do that. Maybe I have just played around at it, doing what is convenient for myself, but not necessarily glorfying Him. I have always had this self serving attitude about myself, for some reason. I think I need to ponder on what it means to have a "king" over me, one I submit to completely, for whom I work and strive to please. Maybe I'll find a little less of myself in that conversation and a little more of Him. I hope.

Djebenis tout moun (French, just found that out)

Bondye benis ou (Creole version)

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

OK, taxes have been filed...or at least filled out. Then they went to Mountrois to go to Mike......who is taking Anne to the airport in Port today........who will fly to Miami, then Michigan.......and then put them in a mailbox. See? No problems! We Haitians don't worry about such things, they just seem to get done. :)

The kids have been anxious about Easter break, locally schools get most of the week off...but here Friday only and they are bummed a little. The local schools giving the week off do so mainly to accomodate voodoo holidays around Easter, kind of a backwards arrangement, but it is what it is. Each day the talk is about "only 8 weeks left!". I guess school kids are working on getting to summer as much as we did when I was in school.

Dmitri and Christian have basically left school. Dmitri got into trouble again and was sent home, and he was going to Port with his brother Christian to get passports last week. Well, they never returned. Neither one wanted to learn English or work in the books. Honestly, the parents did them no favors putting them here, they would have been better in a Haitian school, but the parents didn't want that. They thought the kids would be better off knowing English also, and they would, but they obviously won't work at it, so maybe this will work out better for them wherever they are.

It is WARM now. The days are getting highly sweatified around here, though it still is not bad in the early morning. Again, it is a very mild time here, and it is not usual for this time of year. Take the gifts you get and be glad for them!

The road is bad....really bad.....getting close to horribly bad. It takes close to 20 minutes to get close to the edge of town, the potholes are just getting deeper and wider. We are seriously considering a helicopter....... :) Bouncing down the road is a common thing, we see things that fall off of trucks all the time, and in the last week, a gazillion or so vehicles broken down on the roads....not on the sides of the roads, on the roads, in the smack dab middle of the roads! But that is how it is done here. Oops, forgot to get rice out for Rose, gotta run, take care in the land of snow and baseball.

Djebenis tout moun.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

NO, my Illinois state taxes are not filed yet, thanks for asking. I plan on getting to it sometime next October, and if I don't YOU didn't remind me so it's YOUR fault, remember that! I did get my fed and Missouri taxes done and sent off. Yes I sent it snail mail, but it went out a week ago and will get there in plenty of time. NO I did not have the ILL form's to get done so I couldn't file them with the other forms. Pouki sa? you ask. Wow, blog readers are so nosey....I waited until the day before Caroline was leaving to go to the states and could'nt get on the Il web site to down load the forms. I had the fed and Mo forms, but the internet let me down......it's the web's fault!!! I knew I would find the culprit eventually. Remember, if you have a problem, just go down the list of everyone who could have possibly taken care of the problem for you and you'll find who did it.

Gary sent out a notice to parents a few weeks ago stating that the school was full and to ensure their kid had a spot for next year, they needed to sign up now and pay a small fee. The fee is more to make them responsible for actually showing up next year, as a signed paper w/o a fee really means nothing. There has been a surprisingly good response to this, with already about a dozen kids signed up for next year. (I have been teaching seniors English...not teaching but reading along with the students who do it...and I have learned that my writing style includes so many dangling participles, split infinitives and such that I should be back in 5th grade) SO, as I struggle to not split what should not be split, it seems that I have learned that several of my students are already signed up again for next year. These two had gotten into trouble in the states and wound up here mid year and honestly these are the biggest problem students. Consistent with Haiti, they have conformed to expectations.

It is difficult most times to even come close to viewing these kids in complete context. Obviously we can't do that readily for anyone, and never really completely. There is so much you just can't know about their lives and such. These two kids are honestly pretty nice kids. One is a manipulator, another a follower who went with a bad crowd. I think both are completely salvageable (bad term but it's early). They will work when prodded (I like Haitian school rules....if you don't like what the kids is doing, swat him. Most parents, if not all, have NO problem with it. In fact some actually wonder why we don't do it more) and have generally ok personalities. Their obvious problem is.....they are teenagers, and worse, American teen agers. If only there was a pill to cure this condition...

So next year it appears that Myberson and Kesmy will likely be gone to the states. This will leave me with Pony, James, Sophonie, Jephtae and D'Jinu. (assumes I will be back, pending any unknown kidnap attempts to keep me in the states by, well, these students). This should be a pretty good group I think for whomever is their teacher.

I truly do not know where I will be next year and I am very thankful that Gary has not asked me for a committment. Gary has told me that his goal is for me to find my place here and serve in it, wherever God wants me, and I really can't ask for more than that. If it is here, fine, if it is doing something else then God will arrange that. If it is home, then I know this will have been a year to change me. I will have to remember, however, to not carry a stick around to swat the kids with.....unfortunately! :)

Djebenis tout moun