Approaching the Finish Line

What can you accomplish during a week of work in the hot Haitian sun? A lot!  The Hopps are so thankful for the team of eight that came from four different churches around the country.  They left behind the snow and ice to help us build a new gate to match the wall the Haitian crew has been putting up.  The men did many big and small jobs around the Mission home at Kaliko including building bookshelves, pouring a cement patio and fabricating a rack for the battery system that powers the home during the day.  That was on top of building the gate from scratch, pouring the pillars and approach, and installing all the necessary hardware.

Every day was full.  The wife of one of the men came along to help Heather with the cooking.  She also helped make curtains and do other jobs around the house.  Everyone got along well and the fellowship of the saints. They worked with several Haitian men and we even took the opportunity to visit Menorce at his home and pray for his family.

We are getting near the finish line for the wall project.  The Haitian work crew is happy the wall is closed in now.  For several days the goats were still getting in and eating their lunch.  The put the pot on, left it to do their work and the goats would eat it right out of the pot.  No more!  Next week we will begin the final stage of pouring the wall cap.  Thanks for continuing to pray for safety on the job and strength to complete the project.

A Few New Year's Notes

Has it really been nearly a month since the last post.  The year 2014 has already begun and time moves along as usual.  Heather and the kids are back at school after a short break.  I am regular traveling to Port-au-Prince and Lagonav to teach, preach and help oversee the work of the churches.  With the many changes there remains much that stays the same.  And we are content with that.

The Kaliko wall project continues to make progress.  We are very thankful for the hard work of Bos Edner's team.  They completed the foundation and are not working on putting up the block part of the wall.  Several of the team follow behind pouring the support pillars.  We anticipate that this portion of the project will be completed early next week.  Thanks for praying for the men and safety on the worksite.

While a lot of our time and energy is taken up by the wall project, we are thankful for the input we have into their lives.  Every morning I begin by reading Scripture and praying for the men.  It is fun to hear some of them singing as they work.  You can tell some of them are thankful for the work and try as best they can to enjoy themselves.  This is not true for everyone.  From time to time the tension level goes up and you can tell that some are poisoning the atmosphere on the job site.  Pray for us as we interact with them and hopefully point them to the Savior through our words and actions.  There is an eternal aspect to building a wall that may only last for several decades.

We are looking forward to the immanent arrival of our first short-term team of 2014.  The team of 8 will come to help with the wall project, construct and gate and do lots of little jobs around our Kaliko home.  We have a busy couple months with teams but are so thankful for these folks who come to help us in the ministry God has called us to in Haiti.

Merry Christmas from Haiti

Merry Christmas from Haiti

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Metal for the Wall

Kaliko Wall project, a set on Flickr.

We are now on week two of the Kaliko wall construction. An important part of the wall is the support pillars that will go in every 3 meters. We have a metal boss here who is supervising his team as they make the rebar supports. Four 10-foot pieces of 1/2 inch rebar are tied together with 1/4 inch squares tied in with wire. These will then be cemented in the ground and once the block is up a pillar of cement will be poured. They are working hard and Lord willing we will be starting to build the foundation next week.

Wall Going Up

So technically the wall is not yet going up.  But we have started to dig the foundation for the wall.  Very important work as we want it to stand up well to wind, rain and the occasional hurricane.  It is hard work too as the men have to dig through rocky soil and cut out all the roots criss-crossing the land.  We are thankful for Bos Ednor and his team.  Please pray good success for the project.

We did have to make use of our Haitian healthcare plan today.  One of the workers was cutting down "kandelab" and got some of the sap in his eye.  He didn't come prepared to work with it and we can tell you from experience that it hurts.  So we washed it out with water, called our eye doctor friend, gave him some pain medication and drove him home.  That is how it is done in Haiti.  Please pray for safety for the workers each day.

A Tax Collector in the Temple

This past Sunday morning I picked up a tax collector and brought him to church.  OK, Simeon is not really a tax collector, but he did make me think about the relationship Jesus had with the tax collectors.  The fact that Jesus called a tax collector named Matthew to come follow him.  And that tax collector did.  The fact that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.  And they too believed in him.

I can't remember the very first time I met Simeon, but it was sometime in 2008.  In Haiti, I am often needing to change money into the local currency, the gourde.  The bank will do it for you but that means a long wait in line.  The other option is to change money with guys on the street.  You need to find someone you can trust so you get a good rate and bills that don't have pieces missing.  It turned out that Simeon was that guy.  I drive up, greet Simeon, we chat and he provides me with an important service.

Over the years the rest of the Hopp family has also gotten to know Simeon.  It is hard not to like him, particularly because of his infectious smile.  He asks after the kids and is genuinely interested.  Simeon knows we have a church in Port-au-Prince near his place of work.  So we invited him to join us for worship this past Sunday.

And this past Lord's Day this "tax collector" accepted.  We just had to pick him up.  He was not able to stay for the whole service but it is encouraging to see someone wanting to hear more of what the Scriptures teach.  Pray we will have more opportunities to minister to him as Simeon said he wants to come back.  We give thanks for the many visitors to the Port-au-Prince church and the relationships we have been able to cultivate.

Please also be in prayer for our family and other suffering with fevers.  It is a curious illness going around the past few weeks.  Our children have had on/off fevers for the last few days.  Nothing very high but it comes on, goes away, and then a day later is back again.  It seems like many in our area and in Port-au-Prince are under the weather.  We covet your prayers.

Food of All Kinds

The acquiring of spiritual nourishment is fueled by the partaking of physical food.  This is especially true in Haiti.  We spent part of the last week conducting a theological seminar on the Old Testament books of Joshua and Ezekiel.  Each day we were able to provide a lunch meal for the thirty or so students who came.  They gratefully partook of both the physical and the spiritual food.

As you can imagine, food is very important in a country where people are not always eating three square meals a day.  We are thankful for the efforts of Madame Pastor Delfils and her ladies who prepared the food for us.  They all take a great deal of pride in the food they prepare including the way it is presented.  They not only prepared the lunch meals for the seminar but were also busy preparing for a the congregation coming to church on the Sunday following.

The ladies also took a great deal of effort to prepare a meal for the 3rd anniversary celebration at the Port-au-Prince church.  The food included beans and rice, salads and the little bread cones filled with a delicious concoction.  All done by hand as you can see from the picture.  It was all gratefully consumed and while the ladies prepared for 150 people, we ended up having over 200 at morning worship.  Despite this everyone got something to fill their stomach after feasting on the spiritual food of a great sermon.

Ultimately, while people need physical food, our goal is to provide the spiritual food that comes from the hand of the Savior.  The men and women who came to learn about the books of Joshua and Ezekiel were fed.  It is always encouraging to see them understanding that the Old Testament is not just a history filled with interesting stories, violence and the multitude failings of a people, but points to Jesus Christ.  Pray that the people of Haiti would seek not just food that fills their stomach for a moment, but the spiritual food and drink that leads to eternal life.