Well the first thing I want to say is that I am sorry that the posts have been a little few and far between recently.  I promise, though, that there has been good reason for this; reasons that I will be sharing throughout this post.  The biggest reason I am able to write this post right now is because I am home sick for the day.  No need for alarm, I just got a small bug that had been circulating around all of the other missionaries.  This bug has affected my stomach and intestines, so needless to say I have spent a lot of time at home today.

Now to the more pressing matters.  For those of you who have not heard any news reports recently about Haiti, there are some major things going on here.  First of all, there have been riots in Port-au-Prince, consequently leaving several Haitians dead and damaging lots of property.  People in Haiti are rioting because of the outrageous food prices experienced in most third-world countries.  The average Haitian lives on two dollars a day, and that’s it.  The price of rice has gone up itself to more than this, and this is just rice (unfortunately one of the staples of the Haitian diet).  Over the last year food prices have went up some 40% which is not good for a country that is already extremely poor.  The burden of these prices is threatening starvation all throughout Haiti, and so consequently people are starting to react.  Fortunately for us, though, we live in a very poor, but very peaceful city.  People here hardly ever riot or anything like that, and if they do they do not seek out the Americans; what they want is to change the minds of their leaders.  Because of this, I want you all to know that we are very safe here; in fact, where we are it is hard to tell that there is anything going on.  We here the buzz on the street and from our students, but life in Port-de-Paix is no different from the day which we arrived.  Many of you have already expressed concern for us and we appreciate your concern, but truly the best thing you can do is pray, and trust us when we say that things here, where we are, are good.

Now with all of this said, one can never predict how a situation will escalate.  One does not know, for sure, that when they drive through the streets of South Phoenix that a gang won’t attack them, or when jogging through the streets of Boone, NC, that someone may accidentally run into you – you just don’t know.  With that said, as far as instability is concerned Haiti is up there with the worse, and so I will, as best as I can, keep you all updated on our situation here.

One last thing about all this.  Because of the food and fuel crisis here, we have started to conserve fuel.  This means that we do not have power for a good chunk of the day, and if the situation gets worse we will have power even less.  Obviously, without power we have no internet and so updates will be hard to find.  Also, we have satellite internet and it is not always the most reliable (in fact, sometimes I think it specifically targets and boots us off – just kidding – kind of).  All this to say, the internet has been goofy for the last month and half really, and it probably will not get any better, so just because you do not receive post, do not get too worried it may just be the internet and our power-less circumstance.

Just to reiterate … everything is great here and we do not feel on any level unsafe; in fact, we feel quite safe.  One reason for this feeling is because our mission and ministry is very well-respected in this city; two, we live in a very peaceful city; and three, because we have all of you praying for our continued safety.  Thanks for your prayers, your concerns, and your faithfulness.  Blessings!

Kyle and Lorraine