Well, sorry everyone for not being able to post anything new for the last week and a half really.  I assure it has not been because I have not wanted to; quite the contrary actually.  The last two weeks has not only gotten busier, but the internet has been very hit or miss recently.  We are on satellite internet, and we are limited to the amount of bandwidth, and so when things get crazy our internet stops up and quits working.  All this to say I have not had a very easy time sitting down to update posts.

The good news … We go to Thursday this week and then we have off Good Friday, and next week is Spring Break.  There are obviously lots of good things about this, but none better than allowing me to completely catch up on my posts and pictures.  So if you do not receive a post before Friday – please know that there will be plenty coming your way soon. Hopefully, though, I will be able to get another post up this evening, but truthfully there are a lot of variables that could prevent this from happening.

Oh …. One last comment.  I love getting feedback and receiving messages from each and every one of you.  It really means a lot to Lorraine and I when you post a comment or send us an email.  I say that with deep candor and affection.  So thank you all of you who have sent comments and emails, and please keep it up.  Many Blessings from us!

Kyle

Pardon my extremely technical language for the title, but there are some other important things that have been going on that I feel are necessary to share.

First things first, about a week ago we had a baptism at the school. If you scroll down the page you can see a couple of the pictures that came from this awesome occasion. The man who is baptizing is named Thom. Thom is married to the main missionaries daughter Cara, and they have been here for about 5 years or so together. (Cara has been here longer) Thom teaches sixth grade and this is one of his students. Thom is an awesome teacher, who absolutely loves the kids – and trust me it is obvious. On this note, though, I feel that it is extremely important to point out a sad reality that happens a lot here in Haiti. There are several students who are contemplating baptism, and the only thing that is really holding them back is their parents. Several students have made decisions and really want to be baptized, so please pray that God softens their parents heart to allow them to be baptized.

The other night while I was in the work room working on my blog, much like I am now, I started to hear a noise. It sounded very much like a crowd at a football, except with a marching band that played violins, and were not any good. So basically not like a marching band, but close. I went outside to see a whole crowd of people marching this way, sing and shouting. I had no idea what it was at first, but I soon realized that it a marching voodoo band. This was a little scary to me at first, because voodoo can be a very dangerous thing. I soon ducked back into the office to not make myself known, but realized that my wife was up the street alone in the school. I thought to myself … well I probably should go check on her and make sure she is OK and not freaked out, so I did. She was fine, and so this marked our first encounter with Haitian voodoo, and hopefully it will get no more intense than that.

One last note … Right now we have a group of dentists here, who are doing work on all the kids in the school – I mean all. They are working their butts off everyday to see and clean the teeth of over 350 kids, and trust me not all of these kids are excited about getting their teeth worked on. Anyways, they are even doing small operations on some of the kids, and I am very inspired by these dentists and the working they are doing here, and the attitude they bring in doing it. There are lots of different areas of need here in Port-de-Paix, and all sorts of different types of mission groups come to work. If any of you reading this blog are ever interested please do not hesitate to inquire more. Blessings to all.

Kyle

Well once again I am about a week behind, but better late than never I guess.Last Sunday was also a very interesting day.  I started off the morning at around 6:30 when I usually do and went to get into the shower, but I noticed that I had a visitor with me in the bathroom.  By visitor I am referring to a spider about the size of my hand, plaguing my mind by just lying frozen on the wall of the shower.  Well it wasn’t moving and I needed to take a shower, so I had to work out a compromise where I kept my eyes on that monstrosity the whole time I showered.  Not ideal by any means, but in Haiti one must get used to these unexpected visitors.  I did not really want to touch and I did not know if he would jump or not, so I let him be.  Before I left for church, though, I told Lorraine to keep her eye out, because there was a massive spider lurking around the bathroom.  Unfortunately for her, she forgot and was quite scared when she realized that she was taking a shower with a spider the size of my hand.  She got over it eventually and we transported the spider out of our room and across the street where it can find another residence.  These spiders are called Banana Spiders, because they must spend time around the banana trees, and fortunately for us they are not dangerous – just big. After church was over Lorraine and I were scheduled to take another adventure to a local hotel and restaurant.  This would be our first meal outside of our street, and our first meal at a Haitian restaurant.  It was actually quite beautiful at the hotel, because the hotel was right on the beach and the restaurant overlooked the ocean.  (I should have some pictures from there soon.) The mean took a long time; it was not the typical in and out restaurant that you visit in the states it was a couple hour venture.  I played it safe and got a chicken dish.  Lorraine, however, mixed things up and got the goat – that’s right the goat.  I tried it and it was quite tasty; pretty much like a beef jerky or something like that.  The food was very good and we had a really good time, and so we went back to our room and crashed.  Oh … just a note about the pictures below.  The first picture is of Lorraine, obviously, but I wanted to put in on there to prove to everyone that we actually are here in Haiti and that we are not just putting stock photographing on the webpage. (As if there were any doubt)  Mostly all of these pictures besides the first one were taken from the roof of the school.  It is one of the tallest roofs around, and it is right off the ocean, which leads to some beautiful scenery.  I have not been able to take too many pictures in town or even on our street, because it is always crowded and the people are very sensitive about photos, so I do not want to upset these wonderful people.  The first picture of our street was taken when nobody was around, which if you come here you will know that that is extremely rare – I mean extremely rare; I am still amazed I did it.  To the left of the picture is where Lorraine and I are staying, and a little further up on the left is the house of the main missionaries.  To the right up a little bit is an orphanage. (but it probably can’t be seen from this picture)  I will hopefully get some better pictures later of where we are staying, but for now this will have to do.