Heather in Haiti: A Review

What a delight it is for me to be writing to you from Haiti! Praise the Lord for His ongoing work in your hearts and in ours as we pursue the calling which He has placed on each of our lives. He is good and gracious, steadfast and kind, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. How can we not love Him and grow in that love day by day until we meet Him in glory!

It may seem odd to say, but I feel like I am living life in the fast lane here in Haiti … even though I live in a country where everything moves at a snail’s pace! It is good for me to sit down long enough to reflect and to process what it is that is happening here in Haiti.

Transition would be the word I would use to characterize our life over the last year. Two moves and many nights in unfamiliar beds prefaced our arrival on the field. We left South Dakota at the end of January 2007, stayed five months in St. Petersburg, Florida, squeezed in three weeks out in Colorado for cross-cultural training, and then arrived in Haiti at the end of June last year. Much change for all of us!

I am thankful to report that God has answered the prayers of many folks back in America for our safety and for our adjustment to life in Haiti. Each of us has adapted well to the new home, new church(es), new language, new culture, new food—just about new everything! We are so grateful for how the kids have handled this time of upheaval. The Lord is good and steadfast! He is our ROCK, who is the same yesterday, today and forever!

Life as a wife, a mom, and a missionary is, to be honest, quite exhausting. Of course, the Lord gives strength and grace for each day, but one aspect of adjusting and walking through culture shock is being tired. Learning a new language and trying to absorb everything around you can be draining. My brain hurts some days! On top of this, I am homeschooling Ethan and Emma. Thankfully they are easy to teach. They are little sponges who enjoy learning and retain what they’ve learned. We enjoy these times around the kitchen table! Elijah is a busy little fellow, and keeping him entertained while we are in school is a challenge. But I have learned to creatively incorporate him into as much of the schooling as I can and he enjoys that, too. Otherwise, he is playing Play-Doh and singing up a storm.

There are many demands on my time here, not only from the kids (there are no babysitters here) and their schooling, but also just keeping the household running. There are no grocery stores to pop into and get this or that food item. Life requires a lot more planning. Shopping for food involves going to the local markets and bartering for goods. This can be challenging because foreigners often do not get a fair price. The trick is to ask Haitians what they pay for items and then go to the market and get a price close to what they pay. Surprisingly, we live in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, but it is more expensive to shop here than in the United States. Whether we eat “American” or “Haitian” food, we still pay more for groceries now than we ever did back home. Go figure! The economy here is quite dysfunctional and almost everyone seems to be looking out for number one. Food costs have skyrocketed. Even rice and beans, the Haitian staples, are almost unattainable for most people now. After asking many Haitian friends (who were willing to answer me) how often they eat a day, I have found that most families here eat only one meal a day, if that. It is extremely difficult to get a handle on how these people survive under such difficult conditions. They have great fortitude, and some have great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! He is faithful to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.

I immensely enjoy standing alongside Ben as a missionary wife. Pastoral ministry in small-town South Dakota has prepared us in ways that we would not have expected for this mission field. We praise the Lord for all the ways He has molded us and prepared us for life in Haiti. We have an active ministry among the Haitians, but we are also finding that we have many opportunities to witness to other foreigners and missionaries here. Offering hospitality to these folks has been a great blessing to them and to us. Not a week goes by that we don’t meet someone new. This has been a particular delight for us.

Our home has become a haven, not only for us, but for others who are battle-torn and worn down by life in this country. We rejoice in all the counseling training we received at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, as this has aided us in providing much heart-changing counsel and encouragement for our brothers and sisters co-laboring here. Hosting short-term mission teams has been a specific joy for us. We have met some really special friends in the OPC over the last month, as five teams have come through. We rejoice in their willingness to spend time in Haiti and to advance the Lord’s work here in a tangible way.

Because Ben and I are both so closely involved in all the work here, we have grown to love each other more and have learned to communicate graciously through the ups, downs, and many frustrations of life on the field. We are closer now than ever and for this I am truly grateful. As a family, too, we have all benefited spiritually from this “stretching experience” to which the Lord has called us.

Life without our family and friends has been difficult, but we were already used to long-distance relationships after living in South Dakota. Ben’s a great e-mailer and blogger, so he keeps people up to date on our happenings. We also have Internet phone service which allows us to inexpensively contact our families. We are grateful for the technology that is available to us here! Satellite access is just one of the bizarre realities of living in Haiti. People don’t have electricity or running water, but they do have satellite and cell-phone service!

There are no Americans living in our immediate area. One of the neighboring homes is owned by an American, who comes down every two to three months with a team, but he does not live here long-term. We enjoy our visits with him, even though they are brief. We have made several friends in Port-au-Prince, but it is challenging to get together regularly, as we are all involved in different ministries. Our free access to Kaliko Beach Resort for our family and friends does somehow entice them to get away from the hustle and bustle in “Port” and relax on the beach!

Having devotional times can be a challenge. Proverbs is a great book for me as I instruct the kids and address the realities of living in a godless and superstitious society. Satan is always crouching at the door with one disturbance or interruption after another that takes away from my personal devotional time. However, our family worship times have been encouraging and consistent. We have chosen to do this after breakfast, and this has worked well. I usually take a nugget away to ponder for the day. It is great prep for our homeschooling routine, and we are again brought to our knees in prayer and praise to our Lord as we rejoice in the gift of each new day. Our neighbor mentioned that she heard us singing one morning and promptly joined in over the wall. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven … that is our desire and our goal.

As missionaries, we live in a fishbowl. People are always watching, listening, and wondering what makes us tick. Do we yell at our kids? How do we handle our struggles? Are we kind and generous? How do we show that we love God, each other, and our biblical neighbors? It certainly is tempting to be people-pleasers, and to make our kids into people-pleasers, but this robs God of the glory due only to Him. We struggle against our flesh and the sin that remains to serve Him faithfully before our Haitian onlookers. Not by might, not by power, but by MY spirit, says the Lord. We are weak, but He is strong and so we persevere in living for Christ in a spiritually dry and weary land.

Our church life has changed greatly since moving to Haiti. We often worship in a different church each Sunday of the month. Ben preaches all over the place and so it is harder in some ways to have relationships with a close set of believers from one church. The kids are, by God’s grace and mercy, not complaining about all the upheaval. They patiently sit through one- to three-hour church services almost solely in Creole or French (apart from their Dad’s sermon: that is preached in English and interpreted into Creole). It has been a great blessing to fellowship with Haitian brothers and sisters and to see their faith in action as they meet with their Lord week in and week out. My comprehension is at least 90–95% now, so I am entering into worship and being refreshed by the Lord each week. The services we attend are all at Presbyterian churches; apart from the language difference, they flow along like our services back home. It is a great comfort to me and I am richly blessed by the teaching I receive here. My great desire is for the kids to learn Creole and enjoy the Sabbath day as much as I do! I need to be patient in this regard. Their Creole is coming little by little and I am not forcing it. I want them to love the language and the people and make it their own.

As far as prayer requests go, I would continue to ask you to bring these things before the throne of grace for us. Please pray for:

• Power and desire to love the Haitians unreservedly, especially when we find them hard to love.
• Faith to grow in the hearts of the brothers and sisters on Lagonav, despite adversity.
• Increased ability and facility in Creole. It’s Ben’s desire to preach comfortably in Creole. Pray for encouraging times with our language helper, Charles, who is currently unemployed.
• Pray for our interactions with our unbelieving live-in gardener, Wilson. He drives me crazy sometimes! Pray for wisdom and grace as I try to show Christ to him. He is the epitome of Haitian culture right under our roof. We have learned many hard lessons through our times with him.
• Ongoing safety as we travel many miles on the roads and over the sea—especially Ben.
• Ongoing health. Praise the Lord for His mercy in this regard. We have had no cases of malaria so far and we know the Lord’s hand is in this.
• Protection for the kids as they play outside and in the water.
• Completion of the construction on the guesthouse so that, Lord willing, we can host teams this summer on Lagonav.
• Rain. The planting season has begun and the crops need rain. Please pray for a sufficient harvest.
• Recent waves of unrest and demonstrations over food prices. Pray that Haitian lives would be spared and that the United Nations soldiers would be protected and would use wisdom.

Thanks for the opportunity to share these thoughts with you. May the Lord continue to bless you as you work for His glory in another part of His vineyard.