Turkey and Technology

Technology can be awesome. Like when I’m in Haiti for Thanksgiving but I can FaceTime with my family in Indiana. Or when I’m not feeling great and just want to relax. I can turn my kindle on and watch a few episodes of Criminal Minds on Netflix. Technology can also be extremely frustrating, like when I’m trying to look on Pinterest for ideas on how to teach summarizing to third graders and my kindle shuts down randomly. Or when I’ve sat down and typed out a whole post for the blog (cough cough, this one.... been ready since December 2!) , but for some reason Google Chrome won’t stinking work for weeks, forcing me to wait.  Some days, technology is my best friend; sometimes, my mortal enemy.

In honor of Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment and share what I’m thankful for this year. First, I’m thankful for my family. They are so supportive of my decision to move to Haiti. We talk almost every day, which is more than I talked to them the last two years of college. This move has made me appreciate them so much more. I’m thankful that they’re giving up part of their Christmas break to come visit me so I don’t have to be alone for the holidays. I’m thankful that I can tell them a need that the orphanage has and before I know it, they’re hosting a packing party with our friends to raise the support and supplies that are needed. Man, my family is amazing. I’m thankful for my friends who have also supported and encouraged me. I was so worried that when I left, people would forget Tme. They would say goodbye and then move on with their lives. I’m so happy to say that’s not the case. Stephanie, my best friend in the world, texts me every day. I’m FaceTiming with my dear friend, Makenzie, tonight. Others send encouraging texts and Facebook messages. Even more of you encourage me with your prayers. Again, when I present a need, my friends amaze me by rallying together to provide for the need. I am so blessed by you guys! I love that I am constantly being encouraged by you, even when you don’t know it. I’m being 100% honest when I say this- I would not be able to do this without you. Lastly, I’m thankful to be in Haiti. This is my dream. Even though sometimes things are tough here, I’m thankful God has allowed this for my life! It’s easily one of the hardest things I’ve done and not a day goes by that I don’t think of what I’ve left behind. However, when I think about what I’m doing here and what has been done in me, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I know without a doubt this is what I was meant to do. When I focus on that fact, it makes the days a little easier.

Thanksgiving here was actually a lot of fun! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect since it’s not celebrated by Haitians. Would we have a Thanksgiving break? Would we have any sort of special dinner or would it just be another day? Ms. Sherrie decided to cancel school for Thanksgiving Day, since we have several American teachers and staff who would like to celebrate. The pastor of the church we attend, Pastor Dan, and his wife, Liz, invited us over to their house for a Thanksgiving meal with some other Americans from the church. We were all asked to bring a side dish to share with everyone; I made caramel pie! Our group showed up at Pastor Dan’s house pretty unsure of what to expect. We walked into the kitchen to find a feast! Jen and I went first in the line and were very conservative with our helpings of food. After everyone (about 30 people) went through, we went back to see if there was anything left. Imagine our delight to find that it looked like nothing had even been taken! (I’m still partly convinced that the Pastor borrowed some house elves from Hogwarts to help.) We helped ourselves to more turkey, sweet potato casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and salad. It was the most I’ve eaten at one time since coming to Haiti. I was absolutely stuffed. After dinner and dessert we relaxed poolside, allowing our food comas to take over entirely. At about 6:30, we returned home where everyone went to skype their families. I loved seeing everyone! We laughed and joked around and only a few tears fell. It was nice that technology actually decided to work so that I could see my family!!

Guys, I’m sorry I’m so bad at blogging. I have the best of intentions! Things just get busy here and I forget to write about everything I’m doing. Then when I get an hour or so with nothing to do, blogging is one of the last things I think to do. It seems like I write blog posts in my head every night as I’m falling asleep, but by morning I have so many things on my to do list that I forget what I planned to say. Please forgive me and be patient with me! I have a whole list of stories I want to share: my trip to the Dominican Republic, the Christmas program, my room switch (again!), driving in Haiti, and progress reports for all my kids. Thankfully, I have a two week Christmas vacation! It is my goal to share these stories, and many more, with you over the break. Stay tuned everyone :) 

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24

Foreign

In my hand, I have a pitit, wonn gourd. It’s pretty important. Do you want it? No? But come on, it’s the most important thing you will ever receive in your lifetime! Wait, you don’t understand what it is? Come on, I already told you. It’s pitit, it’s wonn. Let’s see, it’s jaun. It’s a gourd. It’s priceless; literally the most important thing in your whole life if you accept it. Just accept it!

This is how I imagine the Gospel to sound to the children of Haiti. Full of words like grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness that they have never heard of, much less experienced. Yet still we come to Haiti with the Gospel message, with the big words, with our trainings on the four spiritual laws and all our fancy Gospel sharing tools. We march in knowing we only have one week to make an eternal difference. We share the best news that we’ve ever been given with the people of a foreign country and encourage them to accept it during our time in their country. But have we ever stopped to think about how foreign some of the concepts we are preaching actually are? For the child who gets beat because they lose 5 gourds (the equivalent of about 9 cents), can they truly understand the concepts of grace and forgiveness? Can a woman with five children from five men understand what unconditional love means? It’s hard enough for me, a middle class American citizen from a loving, Christian home to completely understand such huge concepts. I have experienced grace, forgiveness, mercy and unconditional love from my amazing parents, from my youth leaders, and from my best friend on a near daily basis.

It’s like me telling you to accept the small, round, yellow coin that I was offering you at the beginning of this post. You had no idea what the words I was using meant! You just knew that I thought it was important, but did this make the object I was trying to hand to you any more important or valuable in your mind? Most likely not. You might have just accepted it to please me, because I thought it was so valuable.

I guess what I’m trying to do in this blog post is to help everyone understand my role as a long term missionary. I’ve been in Haiti for 3 months and I have not verbally shared the Gospel once. I realized this a few weeks ago and was deeply upset. What was I doing here if not presenting the Gospel?? Wasn’t that what missionaries were supposed to do? Go out every day and share the most amazing news to anyone and everyone who would listen?  Over the course of my worrying and apologizing to God for failing as a missionary, I felt like God was smiling and chuckling at me. Not in a mean way of course, but in the way a parent might when their child is fretting over something unnecessarily. I stopped and tried to figure out why God might be doing that. Then it hit me! I HAVE been sharing the Gospel every day. I share it in my classroom when I hug every student as they enter. I share it when I give students an extra chance to turn in late homework. I share it when a child is on my last nerves and I don’t hit them like they’re expecting because that’s what every other teacher has done. How can I expect my children to understand the concept of unconditional love from God when they have never experienced unconditional love from a human? Being at the orphanage, they do receive love and hugs and kisses, but with two people in charge of 35 children, they don’t receive as much as they need. It’s not the fault of the house parents, who do their absolute very best, but the fault of the situation in Haiti. My job here is to love these kids, to teach them to forgive someone who stole their crayon, to apologize and repent for bad deeds and to help them experience some of the foreign concepts of the Gospel message so that when the short term teams come and share that important message they can truly understand.

If gave you the small, round, yellow coin I was describing to you, how much more likely would you be to accept it?

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24

Grocery Store and God's Presence

It’s finally hit. I’ve reached the “I’ll write about that tomorrow” phase. Tomorrow comes and I’m worn out from a ridiculous day at school, we have a surprise grocery trip, or my mind is in a thousand other places and I forget. Tomorrow seems to never come. As a result, I have several stories that I want to tell, but I don’t want to write a novel. I’ll try to keep each story brief, but you know how I can sometimes get longwinded!

A few weeks ago, two of my students were on green all week long, which means they receive a reward of an apple for me. Miss Katelyn, the house mother at the orphanage, has decided to reward the kids for their great work as well by taking them to the grocery store with us if they stay on green all week. Pame, age 14, and J.J., age 7, loaded into the big blue truck with us as we set off for DeliMart. I wish my eyes could take pictures for everyone to see; I couldn’t get a good one with my phone because the ride was too bumpy. But man… J.J’s face. It was absolutely priceless. Here was a seven year old child whose face reflected my own on my first ride into town in Haiti. Think of a child entering Disney for the first time and you’ll have a good idea of J.J’s face riding in a big blue truck down a bumpy road in his own country. It was so sweet, yet incredibly sad to see him point at all the motorcycles, cars, street vendors, and small shops. The excitement in his eyes was nothing compared to the moment we walked into the grocery store and saw Christmas trees lining the entrance. I thought he might pass out! Though Pame is not as easy to read as J.J., I could tell he was just as excited. I let Pame push my cart since J.J. was pushing Miss Katelyn’s. She had promised each of the boys a treat- they could get something to eat and something to drink. Of course, both boys went wild when they saw they could buy their very own apples! “Miss Katelyn, I want some apples!! Miss Katelyn! Look at all the apples!” Finally, the boys got their very own apples and some juice and it was time for the adults to do their shopping. Before we split up, I heard J.J. jumping up and down, yelling “LOOK AT ALL THE PIZZAS!!” I didn’t even care that all the other store patrons were staring, his joy was contagious.

Pame came with me, and just as one would expect, was full of questions. Can you imagine being 14 years old and never seeing the inside of a grocery before? “Miss Brittany, what are these stickers for?” (Those stickers tell us the prices.) “Miss Brittany, what do these numbers mean??” (The numbers tell us how much to pay.) The rest of the trip was spent with him trying to put everything we passed in my cart and me trying to explain to him that a) I didn’t need all that food, and b) I did not have enough money to pay for it all. I now know why 99% of mothers in grocery stores look so frazzled and how it’s possible to wind up paying $40 and not have anything to make an actual meal. Pame helped me put all my items on the conveyer belt (“What’s that Miss Brittany?” “What happens now??”) Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katelyn and J.J. putting their groceries on the belt to pay. She reached in the cart to put his apples on the conveyor belt, J.J. suddenly wilted and started to pitch a fit. “Noooo! Don’t give away my apples, I want them!” The poor kid didn’t understand that he had to put his apples up there so Miss Katelyn could pay for them. It was difficult to contain my giggles as I watched the scene unfold. What a fun and eventful trip to the store! I’m looking forward to more of the children accompanying us!

Now on to the next story… which I’ve forgotten! Darn it! Well, I’ll skip it and try to remember and include it in the next post. Moving on to this week. There has been some intense spiritual warfare occurring at CLS lately. I feel like every day we’re being beaten down with different problems that arise. I won’t go into detail with the problems, but I would like to ask for prayer for everyone here as well as the ministry itself. Monday was a particular struggle for me. Out of the seven children in my classroom, one puked, one peed his pants, one spent 15 minutes screaming for absolutely no reason, and one was sent to the principal’s office. All before 11:00. I was about 10 minutes away from a meltdown myself. After a quick break for my sanity, I walked back into the classroom to talk to Magdala about why she was sent to the principal’s office. I was able to take her into an empty classroom next to mine where I could keep an eye on my other students as well. She started off very angry. Her arms were crossed and she wouldn’t look me in the eye or even speak. By asking yes and no questions, I was able to get her to open up about what was going on. She had woken up late and was rushed to get ready, missing breakfast. At the end of our conversation, her anger had completely dissolved, the arms uncrossed and she melted into my arms sobbing. It was as if all her strength for the day had been put into being angry and when we broke through the reason why she was angry it disappeared, leaving her exhausted and vulnerable. I asked her if she knew that there was someone who could help her have a better day. She pointed to herself and then to me. I shook my head. “God can help you have a better day, if you ask. Would you like to ask Him to help you?” She nodded but wanted me to pray because she was crying too hard. I don’t ever want to forget that moment. I thank God for putting me in that moment and allowing me to pray for a young girl who was having a rough day. I thank Him for turning her day around and ending her day with a smile. I thank Him for using both my bad day and Magdala’s bad day to point us toward Him. It was much needed!

I have so many more stories to share and pictures that I want to post. However, internet here is quite annoying and it takes several hours to insert pictures onto a blog post and organize them. I’ll do my best to write again soon! The last story for tonight is a recent one. Yesterday was another rough day with the children and I was absolutely exhausted. We desperately needed to go to the grocery store, so I drug myself out of bed and tried to put on a good attitude. We piled into the blue truck; Travis and I in the cab and Ashleigh and Cathy in the back cage. We stopped by the orphanage to pick up Jenn, who wasn’t quite ready yet. We parked the truck to wait. A Mack dump truck came up the street towards us. Let me emphasize again….we were parked! The dump truck tried to pass us but didn’t do a great job of estimating how much room he would need. He caught the side of our truck and drug us to the middle of the road while simultaneously pinning us between the concrete wall and his dump truck. I have never seen two people (Cathy and Ashleigh) move so quickly to get out of the back of our truck! The driver’s side door was pinned shut and the trucks were stuck at such an angle that neither could move in attempt to get unstuck. Thankfully, school was just letting out and there were about 30 high school boys walking our direction. Pastor Lenny was able to organize the boys and lift the blue truck up and away from the dump truck. I was doubtful that anything would actually happen when they tried, but the boys surprised me! It was a crazy experience but there are many reasons to be thankful- the dump truck was not going fast, no one was hurt, and the damage was superficial. It’s funny that after all the driving we do down unfinished roads and crazy intersections with no traffic rules that our first accident would happen while we were parked! After last night’s small accident, we are all extra thankful for God’s protection in this country we call home!

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24

Christmas!!

Christmas is just two months away. Sitting in my room in shorts and a tshirt, sweating in the 90 degree weather, it doesn’t feel like that should be possible. But it is! I’ve got lots of mixed feelings about Christmas this year. On the one hand, I get to be with my family and I’m so excited that I don’t have to be alone on this holiday. On the other hand, I can’t help but to think of the kiddos in the children’s home. Not my kiddos. Not my seven that I get the privilege to teach each week, I know that they’re going to have a good Christmas. A team recently came and left beach balls, plastic golf clubs, flip-flops and more. They will wake up on Christmas morning and experience the joy of opening toys from Santa and spend the rest of the day destroying… I mean, playing with… those toys :) It’s the older kids that I worry about.

Like so many before me, when I first entered the children’s home I was drawn straight to the youngest inhabitants. I hugged and kissed and laughed and played with all the five, six, and seven year olds. It took me a month before I spoke to the teenagers, longer to learn their names, and it’s just now getting to the point where they will call out to say hello to me. It took nearly three months for me to feel comfortable talking to them, to joke with them, to remember their names. I’m ashamed by this. Unfortunately, it happens to these teenagers all too often. Everyone wants to see the little kids, to take their pictures, to laugh with them….while the older ones watch.

And now we’ve come to the reason that I worry about them. So many Americans hear the words ‘children’s home’ and think that the kids living there are 12 and younger. But that’s only about half of the children living there! In reality, there are kids as old as 20 living at the house! What will their Christmas look like? Will they have anything donated by Americans for them to open on Christmas morning? I’m sure that Katelyn and Lackis (the house parents) will provide something for these kids to open, but will it look like what the little kids have? I’m afraid it won’t… and I’m not okay with that.

Can you help? Has God blessed you with unexpected extra money this month? Will you receive a nice Christmas bonus this December? Is there any way you could cut out the pumpkin spice lattes and the peppermint hot chocolates? Listen, I love Starbucks just as much as all of you other typical white girls out there and I know how big of a sacrifice it would be to cut this out! I miss Starbucks so badly and there are days when… wait, off topic! Sorry! Back to the kids. I just want them to be able to open something they were hoping for on Christmas morning. Not clothes that don’t fit or a plastic golf club.

It’s because of your generosity that I am in Haiti right now. You! People I know and love, and even some people I have never met have donated money to send me to do God’s work in Haiti. I don’t know if you guys know this, but I am fully funded. I have been meaning to put a Facebook post out there to let everyone know that the $10,000 that I needed to live in Haiti for a year has been raised. Thank you so much! It was such a lofty goal that I didn’t think would be met by December, let alone by October! I want to thank you for your obedience to God and your willingness to donate your money to help support me. If I could, I want to push for a little more. Could we raise $1,000 more? That money would go 100% to the teenagers at the children’s home to help them have a good Christmas. This money would buy them new clothes that fit, new shoes that match and don’t have the soles worn out of them. It would buy nail polish, soccer balls, headphones, movies… Please pray about this request.

This is heavy on my heart today because of a conversation I had with Katelyn on the way to church this morning. I asked why none of the older girls were coming to church with us today. She frowned and told me that they didn’t have clothes. I kinda rolled my eyes, because as a girl, I say that all the time. “I literally have nothing to wear today…”  but that usually happens when I’m staring at a closet full of clothes and nothing jumps out at me. Katelyn said, “No seriously, they each only have one nice dress to wear to church. They wear the same dress every week and they’re tired of it. They’re embarrassed to wear the same thing every week and see their friends there.” It breaks my heart, friends. In a culture where we rarely wear the same thing twice in one month, these girls are wearing the same things every week because our mission can’t afford to buy them anything new and all the clothes that get donated are for the younger children. As I was coming back from church, I saw one of our teenage boys standing outside the gate barefoot. I asked him why he didn’t go to church with everyone and he stared at his feet and said he didn’t have shoes to wear. His shoes just broke and he wasn’t allowed to go to church. Guys, these teenagers need Jesus. They need to know there is hope for them and that someone loves them more than anything else in this world. They need to know they are redeemed and they are priceless jewels to our King. But they are being kept from church due to something so simple as shoes and dresses.

If you would like to help, please contact me at brittany.gilbreat@gmail.com. A friend and I are in the process of organizing a shoe and dress drive to collect items that these teenagers need. My parents are coming to visit in December and they will be bringing some items with them as well. However, if you would like to donate money, that would be amazing!! Since I’m here, it’s hard to get money to me. Please make checks out to Tammy or Michael Gilbreath. They will deposit the money into my account and I will give everything we collect to Miss Katelyn and Mr. Lackis (the house parents) so that they can go buy presents for the teenagers. My goal is $1,000! I know my God is an amazing God and that He will do more than we can ask for or even imagine! I also know you and I know that you guys amazed me with your giving once before. Let’s do this together! :)

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24

Tears and Teachings

Every Monday morning, I start the morning by singing with my students and then teaching a short Bible story, and the kids are given their memory verse for the week. This week, I taught them the B-I-B-L-E song, and then oepened a children's devotional. Now, being the excellent planner I am, I had not sat down beforehand to figure out which lesson I wanted to teach. (hahaha, sarcasm) I quickly found one that I thought would be quick and easy- the title was "Does Jesus Cry?" I asked the students about times that they have been sad to help them relate before I told them the story found in Luke 11. Jesus's good friend Lazarus had just died and Jesus, being fully man and fully God, wept. It's the shortest verse in the Bible, and I wanted my students to memorize it. Luke 11:35, Jesus wept. We talked about how crying when you're sad is completely okay. Jesus never sinned, not one single time. He cried when He was heartbroken that His friend died. Since my kiddos are from the Children's home, a lot of them have never been taught how to deal with emotions. When they cry, they're often laughed at by the other kids and don't ever get to talk about what made them upset. They try to hide their tears and be tough. It's really sad, and I want them to know that if Jesus cried, it's completely, 100% okay for them to cry.

Fast forward to Wednesday. I woke up in the middle of the night with a crazy stomach ache. I spent the majority of the morning in the bathroom... well, I'll spare you the details. Anyways, I'm so completely rundown and exhausted. When you're sick, you just want your mom. I'm convinced that this is true no matter how old you get. On top of being sick, we had no power, which means no fans and no wifi, no movies to keep you entertained. It sounds so "American" to get frustrated about those things, but when you've been sick and are running a low grade fever, a fan is an absolute necessity. At about 6:00, my mom texts me to tell me that a family friend has suddenly passed away. Tom Broyles was my basketball coach's husband, and a wonderful man. He always was encouraging me to keep practicing and even after I graduated high school he would still find me to ask how college was going. He was such a positive man and it was very upsetting to hear of his death. And to be honest, it scared me. I was worried for my family, for my parents and brother as they went about their daily lives. What if something were to happen to them suddenly, just as it did to Mr. Broyles? What if I couldn't make it home in time to say goodbye? Add these worries on top of my tough day of not feeling well and missing home.... let's just say I was a wreck. I managed to walk up to the children's home to talk to one of my good friends down here, Ashlie Will, without crying. As soon as I entered the gate and saw all the kiddos running at me, I lost it. One of my little girls, Magdala jumped into my arms and as I held her, the tears flooded down my face. She looked at me with wide eyes, "Miss Brittany, why are you crying??" I hurriedly put her down and ran upstairs because I hate to have people see me cry. After talking to Ashlie Will and praying with her for peace, I walked back downstairs to find Magdala waiting for me, worry in her little eyes, which of course reduced me to a puddle again.

We sat on the stairs for a long time, a five year old girl mothering a twenty-two year old by wiping her tears and telling her it will all be okay. I apologized to her; after all, this is something I should be taking care of by myself. I shouldn't be relying on the hugs of a child to help me. Magdala looked up at me and told me something I will never forget, ever. "Miss Brittany, Luke 11:35... Jesus wept. And now, you wept. But it's okay, Miss Brittany. You can cry when you're sad because Jesus cried when He was sad. It's okay Miss Brittany, it's okay." Wow. Isn't it amazing how God uses the people you're supposed to be teaching to teach you instead?? I was blown away by my little student. Even as I'm writing this now, I'm reduced to tears over the wisdom of this little girl. It melts my heart. Every word that she said was so completely true. I've always hated crying in front of people- it seems like weakness or something. I'm not sure exatly. I just don't do it. Not in movies, not at weddings, not at graduations... I just try to hold it in as best I can and cry privately later. But Jesus himself was not ashamed to cry in front of others when He was truly sad. Sadness is an okay emotion, it's human. I'm allowed to cry, to admit I'm hurting.

I've been in Haiti nine weeks, and I'll admit- it's hard. Is this where God called me to be? Absolutely. Do I miss my mom, my dad, my brother, Steph, Makenzie, my church family, my dog, my old life? Absolutely. It's just now hitting me that I'm not here for a few weeks and then coming back home like I've always done. This is my life for the next 8 months. I'm going to be completely honest. It's hard. It's hard to see everyone carving pumpkins with their families, to see everyone going through corn mazes with their friends, and for me to be here. It's hard to go from being surrounded by a ton of people and friends in college to only talking to one or two friends from home. It's hard to meet all these new people, figure out their personalities and quirks and figure out where I fit in. But my God is an awesome God. He knows every tear I cry, even when I cry in private. He knows how my heart aches to see my family, and He is allowing them to come down in December. He knows when I'm hurting and sends help in all different forms- even from a five year old child.

There's so much more to write, but I'll have to save it for another blog. I want to leave you with the devotion that I read last night when I was struggling to find sleep. "Blessed, Merciful God, your Word promises that those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. If I go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, I will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with me (Psalm 126:5-6). Help me to see that the promise is not made to those who simply have tears, but to those who are willing to sow seed in the midst of their tears. Your Word tells us in Luke 8:11 that the seed is the Word. If I am willing to keep believing and sowing Your Word, even when I am desperately hurting, You will bring me forth from this difficult season with songsof joy. Because of your faithfulness, with joy I will draw water from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3)."

Lord, that is my prayer. Help me to go out and proclaim the Gospel to the children I have been blessed with in my classroom, even when I am so homesick. Even when my heart aches and I am brought to tears in the middle of the orphanage. Even when I'm worried about the safety of my family and friends. Even when I am mourning the death of a good man. Help me to never stop doing Your work. You will bring me through it and allow me to be encouraged and return with songs of joy. Amen.

Playdough and Pictures!

Finally, the post you have all been waiting for! A post with pictures! Since I've been here for almost two months now, there's not a lot of new things happening. I've settling into my routine of teaching, resting, visiting the children's home, eating, going back to the children's home and then reading before an early bedtime of 9:30. I've thought many times about posting, but aside from the few short stories I post on Facebook, there's not really a whole lot that's new. So,  here's a few pictures to let you get a small glimpse into what a normal day looks like for me! The pictures are in no particular order... after working on uploading them for nearly two hours I have no patience left to organize them at all! Haha! 

Miss Jennifer- our preschool, three-year old, four- year old, fourth grade reading, seventh and eighth grade math teacher. Here she is on her first night at the house, getting in some snuggle time with JW.

The best drummers you'll find in Haiti, and their conductor, Vidlon. 

Herode using his wonderful imagination! 

Our kids are obsessed with superheros and ninjas. 

 Today in class, I decided to be a little ambitious and get out the playdough. After a talk about the rules (playdough does not go in your mouth, in your desk, in your ears, on your hair, on the floor, etc.) we practiced writing our names! Then, the kids practiced making their spelling words and using the alphabet to practice writing a few basic words! They were so excited to be allowed to play with playdough. I'm not sure I've ever seen them so well behaved!

 

This is Mr. Jerry, one the fabulous teachers who works in the special ed classroom with me! 

Vidlon practicing his spelling words! 

My little princess bed! I tried to sleep without the net for a while, but I must taste too sweet because all the mosquitoes feasted on me! Mosquito net it is! 

My little yellow classroom! :)

The sweet note my fellow missionaries left me for the first day of Special Education! 

Kevenson is 5 years old and he loves to steal Miss Katelyn's shoes! What a stinker :)

Meet David! He's our EMT, electrician, wifi guy, driver, water specialist, and entertainer. It's never a dull moment with this guy around!

The sunrise on my very first morning of school! So beautiful! 

My good friend, Michelle. Unfortunately, she was only here for a month but I'm looking forward to reuniting in December (hopefully). She's got one of the sweetest hearts and is really great with the kiddos! 

Discipline in Haiti. All you have to say is "punishment" and they go to the wall. That would never fly in America!! Hopefully I won't bring this bad habit back to the states or I would be in heaps of trouble! 

The view from the pool when we went to Wahoo Bay, a private beach resort. 

The most beautiful beach I've ever seen! The mountains in the background make for a stunning view! 

This is the Ravine, where Katelyn goes to feed babies every morning. Many of the students who come to Christian Light School live along the Ravine.

 That's all for now, it's literally been three hours since I opened this blog to try to add these pictures. There are so many more that I want to share with you, so keep your eyes peeled. Maybe God will give me the patience to sit and add some more on Saturday. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers for me and for my team here at Christian Light Schools! I miss you all and am so thankful for you!

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24

10 Things You Didn't Know About Haiti

Since I've been in Haiti for over a month, I decided it would be fun to share some of the cultural differences I've learned and experienced so far! 

1. There are no real traffic rules. Just use your horn and avoid the potholes. I’m amazed that I haven’t seen more wrecks!

2. There are two systems of currency here: Gourds (it sounds like gouds) and Haitian Dollars. Some grocery stores are in gourds and some are not. It takes 45 gourds to make one American dollar. I bought a can of tuna at Delmas 2000 for 90 gourds, which is $2.00. At Delimart, everything is in Haitian dollars. It gave me a heart attack the first time I saw tuna marked $16.00. It turns out there are 9 HD for every 1 American dollar, so the tuna was about $1.70.  Everything is crazy expensive here. I thought it would be completely opposite! I spend about $40 US dollars every two weeks buying Gatorades, juices, Pringles, and some other snacky foods. 

3. Haitians like to wear clothing that is verrrrrryyyyy tight. I have been asked several times by my kiddos why my shirts are so loose. 

4. Haitians tend to be very honest when you ask them a question. When asked how their weekend went, they’ll respond with bad or not great if nothing great happened to them. This is in stark contrast to Americans, who always respond with, “Good! How was yours?” even if they didn’t have a good weekend. This honesty is difficult to adjust to. I have been wearing shorts every day to the children’s home. One day, a teenage boy named Tony said, ‘Why do you wear shorts?’ So I told him that I just liked wearing shorts better than skirts because that was what I was used to in America. He frowned and said “Girls should not wear shorts ever. It’s not good. I do not like it. And why do you wear boy’s shirts? I do not like it.” I was taken aback; no one has openly criticized my wardrobe before. But here, it’s normal to be so open and honest with what you like or dislike. 

5. I have also been asked why I wear a string bracelet around my ankle. I respond by saying that it is a friendship bracelet for my best friend and I to wear. However, here in Haiti it means something much different! Apparently, it’s a symbol of voodoo or devil worship to wear an ankle bracelet. Needless to say I will be taking it off my ankle and wearing it on my wrist for the rest of my time in Haiti. 

6.The Haitian culture is very open with everything. For example, my coworker Amy told me this story a few weeks ago. A girl in her class missed school. Ms. Amy asked the class if they knew where she was. A young man spoke up and said that the girl missed class because she was constipated. Ms. Amy was very taken aback to say the least! In America we don’t ever share that much detail with others, let alone the whole class!! For another example, I was pretty sick this last week and missed two days of school with a stomach bug. When I returned, one of the male teachers asked me if it was time for my menstrual cycle. Naturally, I turned blood red and sputtered and was totally awkward. But here, it’s nothing but normal. Most Haitians that go to school here grew up in a one room house- mom and dad and brothers and sisters all sleeping in one room. They are very comfortable with their bodies and bodily functions. 

7. The Haitians here have picked up on some random American sayings and use them ALL THE TIME! Truly. I’ve never heard any American say ‘truly’ as much as I hear Haitian students say it. Another fan favorite is, ‘it is not true!’ instead of simply saying ‘nuh-uh’ or ‘No!’ or ‘I didn’t!’. I love listening to these kiddos with their heavy accents and funny sayings. Truly! 

8.  Haitians are very amused with arm fat (or as my good friend Makenzie has so lovingly named them- bat wings). They love to come up and poke my arm to watch my arms jiggle. I’m 90% sure this is because they have about zero body fat on their own bodies and 10% because they’re kids and love to make fun of old people :) 

9. Speaking of Makenzie- apparently it’s a boy name here! The kids are very amused when I tell them that it’s a girl name back home! 

10. Don’t even get me started on the names here! American teachers- you have no room to talk about all the crazy names and spellings you get in your class until you have a room full of kids named Emiel (em-ee-el), Ludjer (lee-jay), Keymderson (kim-der-son), Tcharli (charlie), Roseguerline (rose-girl-leen), and Bergeline (bur-ge-leen). Even the kids who look like they have typical American names have a Haitian twist- Richardson (Ri-shard-son) and David (Da-veed). It’s taken me a month and I STILL mess up their names! In my defense though, they struggle to say Brittany. I’ve gotten Miss Bryn, Miss Bwitt, and Miss Brit-Ta-Knee. The good thing is we can all laugh at our mistakes together!! 

That's all I could come up with at the moment! Please know these might not apply to all Haitians, I don't want to be accused of wrongly stereotyping people. These are just some of the differences I've noticed in the past month or so! If you have any questions, let me know by commenting below and leaving your name or just message me on Facebook! 

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24