A couple weeks ago, we got a call from a friend who was having some trouble finding our house.
I knew she was close, so I threw on some flip-flops and headed into the street to meet her car. As I walked around the corner, I saw our neighbor Reymond sitting on his step, flipping through a booklet.
From the first day we moved in, we sensed a relationship developing with Reymond. It started with him helping me figure out what to do with our trash and continued to the point where he would ring our bell almost every day to see how we were doing.
Sensing the Lord may be up to something, we began to pray for our relationship with him and asked some friends to pray, too.
Then he dropped off the map.
Well, kind of. He was still next door, but we started seeing less and less of him over the next few weeks. We began to wonder what the Lord was doing.
So when I saw him sitting on the step, I went and sat with him catch up. He showed me the book he was flipping through and explained that a group of women passed by moments before and gave it to him. I looked to our left and could see a group of women from a local church, slowly making their way up the hill. As I flipped through the book, I realized it was a gospel tract.
What a joy it was to sit with him for a few minutes and explain what the book was about!
As we sat there, I thought to myself: “Wow, I had started to lose hope for this relationship – but the Lord knew what he was doing the whole time!”
It’s easy to say the Lord’s timing is perfect. But when He takes longer than we’d like, it can be easy to be discouraged.
There were several points during our support raising process where we said “OK, Lord – what are you doing? Why is this taking so long?” But in that moment with Reymond I was reminded again that the Lord knows what he’s doing, He is always in control and his timing really is best.
We’re here!
Thank you so much for your prayers for us during this transition period. We’re here! We’ve been busy getting ourselves set up and learning again how to get things done in this city and it’s been an adventure.
Getting a home set up in a place where electricity and water don’t flow with any predictability, and security is always a concern was quite a task – but we’re grateful to be settled enough now where we’ve been able to come up for air and shift our attention to language learning and ministry.
For the most part, our transition to life here in Haiti has been exceptionally smooth. There is no way that would have happened without the Lord’s help and grace. He has been so good to us! Thank you for praying!
What are we up to over the next few months?
Over the next several months we’ll be devoting a large percentage of our time to language learning. Although we’ve both picked up some Creole over the years, now is the time for us to really focus on developing this so we can communicate with greater ease.
Becca will begin homeschooling the kids next week and they’re all excited for that. Just yesterday Grace told me: “Dad, I only have two more days left of summer!” I wonder if she’ll always be that excited for the start of school?
I’ve also begun to settle into some of my responsibilities at STEP Seminary, working closely with the President as he leads the school. This is a tremendously exciting time at STEP as construction is under way to finally replace the large building that was lost in the earthquake.
And of course, we’ll continue to be involved with the little things that come up – like this relationship with Reymond. The Lord is always at work – often in ways we don’t expect – and it’s such a joy to be used by him in relationships like this!
How can you pray?
1) For wisdom as we balance our schedule this Fall. Between homeschooling, language learning and responsibilities at STEP, we’ll have full plates. Pray for us to balance this well.
2) For language acquisition. Language learning is difficult in the best of circumstances. Being a family with young kids and living in a difficult place, we know we’ll have our challenges. Please pray for perseverance and success in this since it is so tremendously important.
3) For safety and provision for the STEP construction project. Every day there are dozens of workers working on the project – pray for safety as they work. There is also a need for funding to complete it – we’d appreciate your prayers for this as well.
It’s a bit surreal to finally be able to write you from here in Haiti. Thank you so much for your partnership as we serve in this ministry together. We’re so grateful to be on this team with you!
