Seeking His Face: September 2013

Sitting here pondering the blessings of God and His Creation- as I view the beautiful mountains and the rustling of the sugar cane. I see His Face in the beauty of those around us, the Angelic Presence of our guests and in the little children, their curiosity and eagerness to learn.....
Gary & Marilyn Stull came for a week. Gary ran all the electric wiring downstairs ( it was all temporarily wired ) into EMT conduit with his good right hand helper- Marilyn. Upstairs the Romex was behind the cement . Gary traced all the wires, hooked them up to breakers in the main box and labeled them. We had trouble tracing one circuit and found one junction/ receptacle box was cemented over. After trail and err we was able to uncover the box ( chipping the cement out ) and make connection. We sure had a good week with them. It was hard to get Gary to stop working to take them a few places, but he wanted everything done enough to leave Philip confident to finish.

This is Gary's very good helper

wiring downstairs

serious discussion

We all went to Double Harvest. It is a older mission that seemed to have a cutting edge on agriculture practices years past. Its board members are in the States and Canada They have a wood-shop that isn't hardly used and Philip wanted to see about renting or using it. Some of the board members were coming down the week Gary's were here. We met a young couple, Henry & Maria with 2 children from Canada , that moved down for 1 year to help out at Double Harvest. The Haitian overseer, Philip is overwhelmed with so much responsibility. Double Harvest has a clinic,fish farm,chickens and a nursery. Its very close to our house. Philip met some board members too and they were glad we could check on Henry, Maria and their children occasionally. They will check into Philip using the wood-shop.
Took Gary's to ocean real quick one evening and then the Tin Market the morning they were leaving. What a Blessing Gary & Marilyn were to us. MESI ! MESI !

cooling off a little!!!


Mia & Ava Bower

   Enjoyed the little Bower girls for a day & a half while Clint & Brenda went shopping for household needs and a little get away anniversary trip. What fun it was to play Gramps & Grams for a little bit.
   The workers finally finished upstairs, and the sanding is all done. Philip spent a couple of days putting a curbed edge on the end of the roof to direct water out the drain pipes. He also spent several days repairing the walls where he had to chip holes to find some wires shorted out. :(
Went to Brics Bible Study, took Henry, Maria & children with us. They didn't know there were so many whites in Haiti. We all enjoyed the song service, devotion and fellowship meal together.
Took Stanley (our Creole teacher) and Julyne to a clinic one Saturday, to talk to the Doctor about removing some fluid . She ordered some tests to determine her condition, the size of her tumor, and position of her liver. The first place we went they came to the car to draw her blood, that impressed me for the caring attitude. The next stop, at the radiologists they told us Monday is the only day they take x-rays. So Monday we headed back there, got caught in a traffic and barely got there in time. She would be the last patient of the day. We got there around 10:00 o'clock and was there till 3:30. So we sat in the truck with the air conditioning running on her. Her sister waited inside for her turn. Stanley walked to other clinic to get test results, but wouldn't be ready until the next day. After the Doctor reviewed everything, she said she couldn't do anything because the mass was so big, they couldn't draw fluid off. No, Stanley doesn't give up though, I'll get to that. Philip & I remembered a bedside commode at Pastor Enels. We went and got it , and delivered it to Julyne's one night. What a treasure we had !!!!! They have an outhouse, but its to hard for Julyne to use . The sisters & brother was so excited for the commode, they took turns sitting on it.           Stanley found a Doctor coming to the D.R. from N.C. She thought she could take off some fluid, it was getting hard for Julyne walk because she was retaining so much fluid. So we took them to the border, we couldn't cross because we didn't have our truck title yet. They hired a taxi to take them to Azua, which was 2/12 hrs. away. We picked them up at the border again on Sunday. We asked Pastor Kiko from the D.R. ( that Tom Mohlers work with) to pick them up. The taxi was so expensive. The Doctor took off 6 liters of fluid and were wishing they could've observed her for a few more days. The Doctors were leaving on Friday to go back to the states. It was painful for her but her legs look so much better and her abdomen isn't as tight. They are staying with us for a few weeks. Their house has no electric or screens. It has been so hot, its hard for Julyne to get comfortable. So we have an angel living in our midst. Her love for the Lord is outstanding. The neighbors have been coming almost every night to pray & sing with Stanley & Julyene. The read and recite a lot of Psalms by memory. Everyone prays their own prayer outloud together. This is very common in a Haitian church service. Stanley & Julyene have been a blessing to us , please remember them in your prayers.
Purchased some paint and some light fixtures for the upstairs, and finally a mattress. The garden is growing , not sure what all we have. Something keeps eating off our cucumber blooms & the zucchini keeps rotting on the end. ??????? Looks like some melons, butternut squash, & green beans might make it. trying some lettuce, spinach & tomato in a container. Enjoying some good pineapple &avocados in season right now.
       We had a well pump meeting to introduce ourselves & address some neighborly contention at the pump. The neighbors next to us collect 1 goud/5gal. of water, for pump repair. It was the neighbors idea but some people thought they was just keeping the money. (1goud is 2 1/2 cents-5goud =1 Haitian dollar-we've received 2,000HD which is enough to pay for 50,000 gallons of water since January) Our good friend Gario interpreted for us at the meeting. We had about half the crowd we thought we might,but the meeting went good. It was suppose to start a t 4:00 o'clock, nobody here. we went out and waited (this is normal, even Weddings begin late). Gario arrived at 4:30 , some arrived at 5:00 and we started singing at 5:30. Had Prayer and the meeting , it lasted about 45mins. Madam Philip passed out fresh molasses cookies to end the meeting. About 30 ended up being here, including children. Thank you for all that prayed for the meeting!