Spirits in the night!

We have started language classes on Thursdays, and this week we had a little surprise on the trail home.  We haven’t talked about it before, but there is a house along the trail that is used for voodoo worship.  Actually, the house is almost visible from our front step.  There is a particular tree that is also used for voodoo worship and there  is a huge one in front of this house.  We can see the tree.  Well, carnival season must be coming close because as we came close to this house we could hear laughing and singing that just gave us an uneasy feeling.  We know what was going on, but really hadn’t expected it.  In our four months here, we have seen very little activity here.  But tonight was a different story!

The voodoo tree and house.  Two trails cross at
this point

We didn’t have a lot of choice but to walk right through the middle of the group and tried to be friendly but not wishing to spend any time there.  Much to our disappointment, we recognized some of the faces in the group but didn’t hang around long enough to really check it out.  There was a fire going and there were a couple little stick things put up with decorations on them.  There seemed to be plenty of alcohol available and you could tell they were preparing food so we expected it to last into the evening and night. 

Yes, it lasted into the evening and night.  It seems like the darker it got the louder they became!  There wasn’t the usual pounding of drums, more of a rhythmic chanting in a leader/response mode.  Then they’d get to the chorus and they’d all sing together. 

A Haitian friend was with us and he couldn’t understand any of the words. He did tell us about 3 ‘oungans’ (what we’d generally call witch doctor) in the area.  We didn’t know there were that many around.   We were surprised to learn that the step-son of one of these ‘oungans’ was in our home on January 1 asking for a Bible.  How we wish we would have had one to give!!!  A lot of the sounds were more just like moaning and groaning interrupted fairly often by screeching and wailing. The sounds reminded us of stories we’ve heard about the worshipers calling out for evil spirits to appear to them, and in some cases spirits would appear and ‘mount’ a person and they would go racing off into the night screaming and wailing. There were several children there too.  A group from Canada had visited on Tuesday and given out some party horns.  We could hear some of them being blown, so we know there were some of our school children there.  That in itself is cause for grief!   Every once in a while you’d pick up a strange smell of something being burnt.  We spent the evening in prayer, crying out to God to block the presence of any evil spirits and for the salvation of those who were participating.  It’s not that we were afraid because we know that these spirits are powerless against the Spirit of Christ!  We were just saddened for the people and sickened by the thought of what they were worshiping.  We were aware that there was a very active voodoo influence in the area, but this is the first activity we’ve seen.  It’s the time of year for the increase of this kind of activity.  Carnival here coincides with Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  

This year Mardi Gras starts on Feb. 12 and will go for 3 days.  Here, there are groups that meet and chant and sing in the streets, moving around the city building energy for carnival and trying to strike fear into the people.  We’re not sure how it all goes up here in the Mts., but we’ll keep you updated on what happens.  We’re not sure how late they went, but they were still going strong when we went to bed about 10:00.  I was awake at 3:00 and all was quiet, but there were still people hanging around in the morning.  There still seemed to be some kind of activities going on inside, but there are no windows in the place and it was too dark to see in the door.  They were still chanting and singing, but had lost a lot of their energy and most of the people.  Outside you could still see the ornaments and piles of feathers where it looked like chickens had been plucked.   Maybe some of what we smelled was them burning off the pin feathers.  I’d like to think that over the thought of sacrifices being offered!  The whole thing was just pretty gross!

This is another thing we've encountered concerning the spirit world.  A
family member in a house near this place in the trail passed away in early December. Now
they leave these dishes with food for his spirit when he returns.

We’re making plans for some activities in our church up here over carnival to worship and pray.  Hopefully, we can offer an alternative that represents Hope and Life!  Join us in prayer as we prepare to engage the enemy!

And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.  Jesus Christ (Luke 10:17-20)

Something from nothing!

Friday I gained a new respect for this awesome planet that God has created and for the perseverance of the Haitian farmer.  One of the important cash crops here in the mountains is onions, and early January is the time to prepare your fields for planting. 

Hi 'hoe', hi 'hoe', it's off to work we go!

These are my /zonyons/, planted from sets, not seeds.
Maybe next year.

 From prior trips, I knew where most of the seedling gardens were planted and really was wondering what they were going to do.  Let me first set up the process involved in growing ‘zonyons’.  When we thought of planting onions at home is was buying onion sets and planting and never really thinking about where the sets came from.  Well, as hard as this may be to imagine, they come from seeds!  And that’s where we will start here is planting seeds and then transplanting them in about 6 weeks into larger ‘jardens’ higher in the mountains.  We’ll fill you in on why the mountains when we get a chance to help them transplant.  Right now I want to talk about planting ‘zonyon gren’ (onion seeds).  The reason for my skepticism was the seedling jardens were all in the bottom land along the river.  They do this for a couple reasons.  First, the soil down there is some better than the soil higher up, but mostly because there is water in the river.  If you think back a few posts, you’ll remember that hurricane Sandy did her very best to wash away everything along the river, roads, gardens & trees, and replace it with a generous covering of rock.  It didn't seem to me that there would be any place to build new gardens.  I’d asked a friend, ‘Tinonm’, if I could help him ‘fe te’ (work ground) for his jarden.  When we arrived at the site, I was still wondering if there were any places to build new gardens.  The spot he was working was up on the bank from the river in an area the flood waters hadn’t reached.  It was hard to tell though, because the whole area was covered with a ‘generous covering of rock’.  They had been here the previous day and cleared most of the vegetation leaving a pretty steep slope.  They had worked it in some places and he pointed to a spot and showed me he wanted me to start throwing rocks from the ‘tilled’ area off to the sides.  It looked to me like and endless job with not a lot of potential!  But, as we worked, you threw off the big ones, shoveled off the smaller ones and the soil (I almost called it ‘dirt’ but I’m not sure if it would qualify) started to appear.  As we worked, we built small terraces 4-6’ wide that were becoming planting beds as you finish graded the beds with a rake.  I wish I had before and after pics but I hadn't taken a camera, but in just a few hours what appeared to be wasteland had been transformed into seedbeds awaiting seed.  The area is barely ¼ acre and there’s probably a 25’ change is elevation front to back.  On this little space, they will plant enough seed to eventually produce over 100 ‘gwo saks’ (large sacks like 100# seed bags) of mature onions.  They will plant the seed next week and then the hours will then be spent hauling water up from the river.  These beds will be watered twice daily with a watering can with water carried up 5 gallons at a time.  As we worked Tinonm asked me if we grew zonyons like this back home.  I just smiled and shook my head.  I can only imagine what he would think if he could see me bring the Troy Built out of the barn and prepare my ‘jarden’ to receive onion sets.  I’m sure he’d just smile and shake his head!  I’ll post some  pics as we plant and things grow.

"Bondye konnen!" (God knows!) our friend Charlot 

Holiday Reflections

It's taken a while to figure out how to start, and really I haven't decided anything special so we'll just dive in.  The holidays have been really different, not necessarily bad, just different.  Changing seasons, family gatherings and all things Christmas have been replaced with warm temperatures, sunny skies and foreign traditions.  Being separated from family for the holidays has given us a new perspective on how special our loved ones are and how much we tend to take things for granted.  I must admit, and Cheryl will too, that we missed you all very much, but we've learned that we miss you because we love you and want to be an active part of your lives.  It's given us a new perspective on how God loves us and wants to be an active part of our lives.  He want it so bad that He allowed His Son to lay aside all the wonders and Glory of Heaven and take the form of man.  The season we celebrate as Christmas marks the beginning of His plan of restoration for His creation.  I know Christmas is over, but I need to remind myself of this beginning every day.  God became man, to walk in our shoes and experience everything we experience so He can comfort us through any situation and to pay the price for our salvation by willingly going to the cross as the only sacrifice acceptable to God for my sin.  Praise God for this unspeakable gift!

The past couple weeks have been full of new and interesting things as we tried to share some of our holiday practices as we learned new ones.Christmas at our house always meant lots of Christmas cookies.

Our resources were a somewhat limited but we managed cut-out sugar cookies, ginger snaps and oatmeal cookies.

Cookies, or anything baked in an oven is a special treat,
but 'confetti' (icing) made them extra special!

We made plates and delivered them to
13 different families.

We went expecting to bless our friends with a special treat that was part of our traditional Christmas. What we received back way more than we gave away.  The genuine appreciation, smiles and hugs were enough to warm our hearts, but the reciprocal giving was truly humbling.  We gave for fun out of our abundance. In return we received 2 fresh baked breads from one friend, 2 eggs from another and 5 eggs (2 were turkey eggs) from another.  Gifts given from the heart from their poverty.  God has a way of teaching us to appreciate what we have and how He wants us to be cheerful givers.

And you never can predict what He will ask you to give!  Sunday mornings are not a lot different than other mornings here except you're in church around 9:30. The day still starts before 6:00 and you're never quite sure what it will include.  I had one can of spray paint, maybe the only can for miles.  What started as a request for a couple zip ties

turned into a full frame paint job.  Not sure yet how he talked me into it, but we just brushed the dirt aside and painted 'er up!  'Sa bel' (that's beautiful) were the words that came out when we were finished.  Then we cleaned up and off to church we went.

Our personal Christmas was a nice, quiet Christmas eve

We were specially blessed by friends and family. The mail man had been busy!  Special gifts and treats that will be appreciated into the new year!  Thanks to all of you! 

Christmas night, we had a really special event.  With the installation of the solar panel and batteries we have a much better source of electricity.  We borrowed a projector from another mission (International Faith Mission) in Fond Parisienne, 

nailed a bed sheet on a couple 2x4's and showed the
'Jesus' film.

We didn't know how many to expect, but over 100
people showed up to see 'television'.

Of course, satan had to disrupt things a little.  Just as we were getting to the crucifixion, we lost our electricity!  Everything went black!  People started to leave and I had the projector packed up when Cheryl looked up and said 'the lights in the house were back on.' We got the people to hang around and pray while I put the equipment back together.  We turned off everything that wasn't necessary and everything stayed on through the end of the film and a short preaching/prayer time afterward.  God is sooooo good!

The next day was the school Christmas party.  

We didn't know quite what to 
expect, but they spent most of
the morning carrying sound
equipment up,

decorating the building and making food.
It was quite an event

New Year's is a big holiday here!  It is a celebration of their independence day on Jan. 2, but Jan. 1 is a day of visiting and food. 

The featured food is pumpkin soup.  We didn't know how to make it so our pumpkin was in cookies and bread and we made a different kind of soup.  On New Year's day, everyone prepares soup and treats and the young people visit from house to house, enjoying food and little treats and gifts.

Our visitors all got balloons,  

and it got a little roudy at times.

But it was a good day.  It was fun to just let them into the house and relax and enjoy themselves.  Another humbling experience as some of these kids had never seen water come out of a faucet or just have room for chairs inside.  

Overall, we're feeling like more a part of the community.  The language has a long way to go, but we're getting there. We took a couple days and traveled north with Philip and Beth Hollinger to see Sodo Falls.  

It was a beautiful place, and a nice refreshment for us to just get away and relax for a bit.  It has been a different, but special holiday for us.  It has helped us adjust to life here.  We still have a lot to learn.  We appreciate your support and your prayers.  If you have a question or comment, we'd love to hear from you!  Often we get to feeling that we're on a tropical island somewhere completely removed from all things familiar!  We'd love for you to remind us there is a bigger world out there. We love you all!

Ale ak Bondye! (Go with God!) Edmond - Moto driver