I'mm back! Thanks to Jesus for being my redeemer and my life! Here is what has been going on! During the week that no one was here, we had an staff volleyball tournament, more Bible studies, we went to Port au Paix to relax, we went to Anse a Foleur to visit Twin Basins and the House of Spirits, we had many movie days, we made cakes, did street ministry and had an intern obstacle course!
Here is a bit more detail about those! So the last time I talked, we were having staff bible studies. They were really great and they really help refocus the staff outward to the streets of Haiti! We needed that! After our days of bible studies, we had relax days/bonding days! On thursday (the 14th) we had the staff volleyball tournament! I was on the yellow team our of four other teams (red, green, gray). It was much fun! Unfortunately, my team did not win, but it was fun to watch and enjoy the game!
On that friday, the interns and some staff went to Port au Paix to do pretty much exactly the same thing we did last time! Another much needed relax day. Not much else happened on that day. The next day however, was quite tremendous. The staff went to Anse a Foleur and we visited the new sites.
The first site was called Twin Basins and is very sacred to the voodoo people. This is where they come to cleanse themselves (and when I say cleanse, I mean deep cleansing)! They strip completely from their clothes and climb down into a fifteen foot hole that has very clean spring water in it. They begin to scrub themselves deeply and then a child (the local children are in charge of the place) takes a bottle of red soda, to symbolize blood. He drinks some of the soda and then pours it over the person who is cleansing themselves!! They then leave the clothes on the ground that they arrived in and put on clean garments to symbolize the washing. They also believe a very large spirit snake lives in the cave. They say it has two heads and is rainbow colored. How odd.
The second site that we went to is a place called the House of Spirits. In essence, this place is a very large cave with caves the branch off of the main one. The Haitians believe that a different spirit lives in each one of the caves the branches off the main one. Our staff went into this cave, ducking under bats and making our way across very wobbly rocks to the center of the main room where we had a Bible verse sharing time. All the Bible verses that we shared consisted of spiritual warfare ideas and the best ways of defeating the enemy. We prayed loud in this place and enjoyed the company of our Jesus in the midst of this spiritual battle! Praise Jesus for what he is doing here in Haiti.
Following Saturday the 16th, we relaxed for a majority of the week and continued to minister to the local people! On the Wednesday before the groups arrived, that would be the 20th, we had an intern obstacle course competition. This is an annual event and the winners, the fastest boy and girl, were treated to a lobster dinner in Port au Paix. This obstacle course took place around the entire mission and consisted of an egg on a spoon, tabasco applesauce, balance obstacles, wheelchairs in gravel, shooting soccer goals, and an assortment of other fine activities! Needless to say, I got the fastest time by about a minute! I got to go to Port au Paix and have non-battered fried lobster with potato salad, rice, and friend plantanes! It was soo good! Definitely worth that tabasco applesauce! :)
On thursday, the groups arrived and ALL of the interns were happy. We were starting to get bored during the week and a half of no one being here! :) I am partnered with Brittney, one of the other interns, and we have the coolest group! They are so fun! We already have done a street VBS, which was so amazing to me to be able to give food to many of the children that I have built a relationship with! We have gone to Anse A Foleur, and done all the activities except for the temple, twin basins, and house of spirits! Today is Sunday, a relax day. It is the last Sunday with all of the interns here because next Saturday, about half of the interns leave. The entire family will begin to vanish and the dynamics will be changing! I can't believe that I have already been for about 6 weeks.
Continue to keep us in your prayers! Pray that our ministry would be effective! Pray that the hearts of those who we will come in contact with will be prepared for us! Pray for all those who are over seas doing missions in the name of our Lord! Pray for health! Pray for strength! Thanks for all of your support!
Nathan
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Fish and Birds!!
Wow! So it has been a while since my last post. I have been tremendously busy and the internet hasn't been working very well recently. I hope everyone is doing well and that the Lord is blessing you like He is me. Let's see, the last time a blogged was right after one of the groups left and us interns had 3 days of relaxing time, so I'll start there!
On that Friday, the interns and some of the staff went to Port au Paix to get some ice cream, but unfortunately when we got to the store, they had none! While leaving the ice cream store and driving down the street a little bit, we found an ice cream street vender who had cherry ice cream! It was the most glorious thing I've ever had since I've been here! :) We also were able to go to a store and get some snacks! The next day we went to Le Baie just for some fun. We went to the beach, took a ride in a boat, swam, had fried Bonita (a type of fish), the Bonita was 100 pounds! It was hugggee!!! :)
Then on Sunday the next group arrived. We gave the group tours of the facility, showing them the new filtration systems, the miriam center, the new aquaponics facility, the gran moun, the new chapel and all sorts of fun things! I was in charge of the miscellaneous group again! I was able to to lead the group to L'Anse A Foleur again, Tortuga again, House of Hope, on campus ministry, neighbor hood ministry, and an assortment of other fun things. We even hiked to the waterfall. God used this group to minister to people and it was so wonderful to have them. Nothing crazy exiting happened this week. It felt pretty average, but average here is like being at camp for a week and having that crazy high for the Lord! :)
Some really great things that have happend this week are: the chapel that is now on the roof of the facility finally got a roof put on it instead of tarps! That is a blessing! Aquaponics got the concrete poured so now the progress there will be tremendous. We had our first deaf church held this past week. I've learned more Creole and got closer to the Lord! Life is great here! the group left on Sunday and this week we have Barb and Jim, two people here to help rejuvinate spirits through Bible studies, devotions, leadership training, etc. I'm a little skeptical, but I know God will use this time to renew a right spirit within me. Us interns will get to do ministry and personal interest ministry at the end of the week! I'm excited!
Now for those of you who don't know what Aquaponics is ( I don't think I have talked about it yet), it is taking aquaculture, which is farming of fish, and hydroponics, which is growing plants from water, and completely intertwining the two systems. The fish (Tilapia) will be grown in tanks and there fish poop will be harvested and will be broken down by bacteria from ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. When the break down reaches nitrate the water is very nutritious and the plants (any kind of plants i.e. tomatoes, carrots, vegetables, etc. etc.) take the nutrition out of the water, in essence, it cleans it, and then it gets pumped back to the fish! I'm super excited because there will be many vegetables and fish that we will be able to eat once it is done! This will be a breakthrough for mission fields everywhere!
Oh, we have also discovered a new spiritual spot in L'Anse A Foleur called the House of Spirits. Basically it is 3 or more big caves that each contain different spirits that the people go to and worship. They look like Indiana Jones style! They have vines and big bats in them as well. We are planning on having a Bible study there and doing some ministry! I'm really excited!
Continue to keep all of us in your prayers! I have been here for a month now! That is unbelievable! This time here will go by really fast! Pray for health. I haven't gotten sick yet, but some of the other interns have! Pray that God may continue to grow and stretch me, that he may allow me to push every corner and boundary of my comfort zone! Thank you all!
P.S. - this morning when I went on the roof to do some morning worship by myself and do a quick morning Bible reading, a bird kept swooping down every 3 minutes or so and running into my head. I guess it was mad or something I was on the roof! haha I still spent time with the Lord, despite the distraction! :)
On that Friday, the interns and some of the staff went to Port au Paix to get some ice cream, but unfortunately when we got to the store, they had none! While leaving the ice cream store and driving down the street a little bit, we found an ice cream street vender who had cherry ice cream! It was the most glorious thing I've ever had since I've been here! :) We also were able to go to a store and get some snacks! The next day we went to Le Baie just for some fun. We went to the beach, took a ride in a boat, swam, had fried Bonita (a type of fish), the Bonita was 100 pounds! It was hugggee!!! :)
Then on Sunday the next group arrived. We gave the group tours of the facility, showing them the new filtration systems, the miriam center, the new aquaponics facility, the gran moun, the new chapel and all sorts of fun things! I was in charge of the miscellaneous group again! I was able to to lead the group to L'Anse A Foleur again, Tortuga again, House of Hope, on campus ministry, neighbor hood ministry, and an assortment of other fun things. We even hiked to the waterfall. God used this group to minister to people and it was so wonderful to have them. Nothing crazy exiting happened this week. It felt pretty average, but average here is like being at camp for a week and having that crazy high for the Lord! :)
Some really great things that have happend this week are: the chapel that is now on the roof of the facility finally got a roof put on it instead of tarps! That is a blessing! Aquaponics got the concrete poured so now the progress there will be tremendous. We had our first deaf church held this past week. I've learned more Creole and got closer to the Lord! Life is great here! the group left on Sunday and this week we have Barb and Jim, two people here to help rejuvinate spirits through Bible studies, devotions, leadership training, etc. I'm a little skeptical, but I know God will use this time to renew a right spirit within me. Us interns will get to do ministry and personal interest ministry at the end of the week! I'm excited!
Now for those of you who don't know what Aquaponics is ( I don't think I have talked about it yet), it is taking aquaculture, which is farming of fish, and hydroponics, which is growing plants from water, and completely intertwining the two systems. The fish (Tilapia) will be grown in tanks and there fish poop will be harvested and will be broken down by bacteria from ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. When the break down reaches nitrate the water is very nutritious and the plants (any kind of plants i.e. tomatoes, carrots, vegetables, etc. etc.) take the nutrition out of the water, in essence, it cleans it, and then it gets pumped back to the fish! I'm super excited because there will be many vegetables and fish that we will be able to eat once it is done! This will be a breakthrough for mission fields everywhere!
Oh, we have also discovered a new spiritual spot in L'Anse A Foleur called the House of Spirits. Basically it is 3 or more big caves that each contain different spirits that the people go to and worship. They look like Indiana Jones style! They have vines and big bats in them as well. We are planning on having a Bible study there and doing some ministry! I'm really excited!
Continue to keep all of us in your prayers! I have been here for a month now! That is unbelievable! This time here will go by really fast! Pray for health. I haven't gotten sick yet, but some of the other interns have! Pray that God may continue to grow and stretch me, that he may allow me to push every corner and boundary of my comfort zone! Thank you all!
P.S. - this morning when I went on the roof to do some morning worship by myself and do a quick morning Bible reading, a bird kept swooping down every 3 minutes or so and running into my head. I guess it was mad or something I was on the roof! haha I still spent time with the Lord, despite the distraction! :)
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