Opening Up the Blog

As we begin 2013 here in Haiti, we want to say thanks to all you who have been faithful readers of the blog over the past 6 years.  I began this experiment just about 6 years ago as we were leaving the sleepy hamlet of Freeman, South Dakota to move to Haiti.  We are very grateful for the faithfulness of our God who has carried us along through many exciting times.  And we know he has used the prayers of his people who have prayed, sometimes specifically for things we have mentioned on the blog.

After much consideration and weighing of the pros and cons, I have decided to dispense with the password protection on the blog.  This does mean the audience is changing.  We are still writing for you who know us and want to pray for the ministry in Haiti.  We still want to share our lives with you.

But the security concerns do remain.  The blog is currently not searchable on the web and we want to keep it that way.  This means it is important that you DO NOT repost material from the blog on the internet or link to the pages.  Our concerns are for friends of friends of friends here in Haiti who might wish us ill.  We are not worried but we do want to exercise due diligence.  So please DO NOT repost material but feel free to print it out, tell church friends about the blog and pray for us.

Most of the content remains the same.  The links to various informational documents on the right hand column are now password protected.  If you are interested in coming to Haiti or need more information on short-term trips, please send an e-mail to benjamin_hopp@h0tmail.c0m with "Blog Files Password" in the subject line and I will be glad to pass it along.

The blog will be used to update mainly on the ministry here in Haiti.  The work on Lagonav and at the church plant in Port-au-Prince is exciting.  Our hope is to communicate that excitement through sharing our story and by introducing you to the people of Haiti we minister to.  We will reserve most of the information on our family for FaceBook.  You can search for my name or Heather's to connect with us there.  We will also continue to send out a monthly newsletter.  If you want to be added to that list please let us know by sending a note to the e-mail noted above.  I generally post the newsletter on the blog with the same password protection as the blog files.

So on to a couple quick stories from the past few days.  The New Year was relatively quiet here at Kaliko.  Yesterday day I traveled to Port-au-Prince to restock the refrigerator and get some information on building supplies.  It was pretty quiet on the roads with school still out.  Most of the time the traffic in Port-au-Prince is terrible, so it was a welcome change.

After buying groceries at one store I came out to realize I had locked the keys in the truck - again!  This is the third time since we bought the vehicle in 2009.  Thankfully there are always guys around willing to help.  They are the Haitian "locksmiths" who can get pretty much anything open with a coat hangar.  At one point I had four guys working on it including one of the security guards from the store. Altogether it took an hour of work in the hot sun.  A Nissan Patrol is not easy to break into as you have to manually pull the lock above the door handle.  This being the third time I finally went to the Nissan dealer to get a second key made.  As it turns out, the key copy cost as much as paying guys three times to help get the truck unlocked.

We are entering the dusty season again in Haiti.  It has not rained here at Kaliko for about 8 weeks now.  I will admit that I don't keep my truck as clean as a Haitian would keep theirs.  But once in a while it does need a good wash.  There are plenty of places around.  A small cement ramp, generator running a sprayer and a water source is all that is needed.  As you can see from the picture this place is not only a car wash but also sells auto parts.  This place just reminded me of the unfinished nature of everything in Haiti.  The second story is partly done but no roof.  Likely someone will live upstairs one day.  But when will that day come?  It will get finished one car wash at a time, something I am happy to contribute to.