Genesis 9:13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,  15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."  17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth." 

I started running with some of the boys in the afternoons.  There is a trail up the mountain behind the Children's Village that makes a loop.  The trail is a footpath used for travel to and from the small dwellings dotting the landscape.  We pass by these on our run and greet everyone we meet along the way.  The trail tops out on a large plateau overlooking the city of Grand Goave, and then the ocean.  The plateau provides a foraging place for goats and cows.  We greet the men and boys tending the livestock as we continue on along the trail.

The trail continues to climb and meets up with the mountain road behind the Be Like Brit orphanage.  Then it continues to climb the steep road until it circles around to our other Hands and Feet Site at Ikondo.  We are always greeted by all of the small children waving and yelling “Hey You!,  Hey You!”.  We complete the far end of the loop right before we reach our other site, and then circle into another trail behind a Haitian night club.  I witnessed a large crowd fighting there the other night and a woman being beaten in the midst.  She then turned on the guy beating her and began holding her own.  The whole crowd seemed pretty violent.  This scene caused Amy to lose sleep for a few nights.

On our runs we circle in behind the night club.  It is pretty deserted during the day and the afternoon when we run.  We circle in and make our way down the mountain through all the dwellings along the path.  More kids waving and giving us high fives.  Some of them have clothes on.  Some of them have red hair, a sign of malnutrition.  We come out of the mountain trail right behind the church – Mission of Hope – and the follow the highway back to the Children's Village.  I'm pretty sure Jean Marie is our fastest runner.  Tall, lean, and reserved.  He can run like the wind.

“Laramie, you better come take a look at this” Amy said with a slight look of concern in her eyes.  I went out to check things out and noticed something hanging on a string.  This time it was a bat.  It was a pretty decent sized bat.  All the kids were gathered around poking at it and the kid that held the string would swing it around from time to time.  I told them they couldn't play with the bat because sometimes they carry rabies.  They agreed so I killed it and threw it in the garbage fire.  I held open the mouth with a machete before I threw it in the fire to show them the sharp teeth and fangs.  They were pretty unimpressed.  I guess when you don't have a whole bunch of toys you make your own.  It seems the first choice is to find some kind of vermin, put it on a string, and then gather around to poke it. 

Our Creole teacher decided that it would be good for us to interact with his English class.  We met up and then went to the school together.  The school was a few cinder block rooms with a tin roof and a dirt floor.  No lighting.  The English lesson consisted of teaching the class to sing I surrender All.  The beautiful voices learning to sing praises to God in English.  We were all fighting back tears as we had the privilege of helping them sing the words.  The night was coming on and the light-less room was growing dark, but the voices were lifted to heaven as we sang to God together and brought a light that could be felt even if it could not be seen.  

The same construction worker that cut his thumb and needed stitches a few weeks ago has been talking to me about his strong desire to evangelize in the mountains.  We started praying together about what God has in store for us in this area.  A Haitian guy that has been helping us with our short term groups is also interested.  His name is Samuel.
 
Samuel has been invited to the International Festival in Lafayette, Louisiana because he is part of a Haitian Singing group.  Megan from Respire Haiti is also from Lafayette.  We told him about her and decided it would be good for them to meet.  So their group started praying about it.
With no further prompting or communication Megan called out of the blue and said she wanted to tour our site and get to know us better.  We saw Samuel that day and told him that she was coming.  He got his group together so they could all meet.  If that wasn't cool enough, just wait.

When Megan got here she had a dentist and his wife with them that volunteer here from New Iberia, Louisiana.  We met them  and connected right away.  While Josh (Megan's husband) and I were talking, Megan met Samuel and his group and began to help them right away with the application process for the festival.  A few minutes later Amy came and asked me if I knew what was happening.  I thought so, but there was one more piece that I had missed.  

Before the dentist left on this trip, a friend of his had given him some money to give to a Haitian man that they use to sponsor when he was a child.  The dentist took the money but had no clue how to get in touch with the man and thought that there was no chance of them actually being able to give him the money.  As they were talking with Samuel and his friends, it turned out that one of the members of the singing group was the man he was supposed to give the money to.  God is at work here.  Sometimes we get the privilege of participating, and sometimes we just get to observe and praise Him for what He is doing.

We got to go to the the Tuesday night prayer service at church for the first time this week.  It seems that other duties have pulled us away every other Tuesday that we have been here.  I love the Haitian prayer service.  The men here that lead it are just wonderful brothers in Christ.  During the service, one of the pastors said something in Creole that sounded like Pastor Laramie will be preaching next Tuesday.  I leaned over to Amy and she confirmed that she thought that is what he said to.  He then smiled at me and said “Si 'dye vle!”  In the military we call that getting voluntold.  I just smiled back and nodded.  Of course I would be happy to preach.

One afternoon I smelled smoke closer to the house than the usual garbage fire.  Smoke started to fill the house and I walked outside to see what was cooking.  Well, it was corn.  The kids had built a fire right outside the open window that draws the most air and were cooking corn.  I learned that in Haiti, you just take the whole ear of corn, chuck it in the fire, pull it out before it burns completely up, peel, and eat.  

There is definitely a revival here.  I had the privilege to be a part of baptizing two more of our kids this week.  In addition I was able to baptize the wife of a former Voodoo priest.  About a year ago a Voodoo priest heard the church service on the radio, decided he wanted to surrender to Christ, and then came to church to find out what to do next.  He gave his life to Christ that day and destroyed all of his Voodoo stuff.  Last Saturday he got married.  On Sunday he and his wife were baptized.  It is as if God is saying,”I am doing something big here.  You are going to get to be a part of it, but don't forget that I am doing it.  It is just your privilege to get to participate.”

During orientation with the mission team the other night, a giant tarantula crawled out between the feet of one of the ladies.  Angie tried hard not to alarm her as she gently explained what was going on.  The lady immediately lifted her feet and gasped.  We paused long enough for a couple of pictures, and then I squashed it with my boot.  We resumed the orientation.

There is a cattle drive every week.  Usually during the evening service at church, you can see the procession of cattle being driven down the road.  Last Sunday night we got caught in the herd on our way home in the dark.  All the kids were running to the side of the road and hollering.  We couldn't figure out what was going on and then someone called out “Bef Anpil! (a lot of cows)” And we all stepped to the side and waited while the cows passed us by in the dark.  A short time later one of the boys was talking to Amy.  He said, “I just stepped in some of what the cows left behind.  I feel it under my foot.  It was hot.”  Good English skills.

I got to visit the children's hospital this week because one of our kids had an appointment.  I got to meet some other kids there, like Billy.  With protruding eyes from a lymphatic disorder, and club feet, he smiled broadly as he scooted by on a wheeled toy.  I thought he was riding it because he couldn't walk, but I was wrong.  I was amazed as he stepped off and walked to me even though both feet turned inward and he had to walk on the outward sides.  He barely looked like he had a problem.

Billy sat next to me and started talking.  He is maybe 5.  I asked him how old he was and he just said “Pa Konnen.”  He doesn't know, but that didn't stop him from smiling and laughing as he played with the alarms on my watch.  He played with the alarms and laughed every time the beeped.  After a while he called his other friends over.  One of them had a colostomy bag, he was about the same age as Billy and his name was Clifford.  He wanted to show them the new toy he had found.  

He came back to show them the watch attached to my arm.   They all stood around and laughed with him every time it would beep.  He showed them how the light worked.  But when they wanted to try, he just covered the watch.  You can look, but I control the watch – and the arm it is attached to.

I said, “Billy, you called all your friends over, but now you won't let them play.”  He just said, “No, li mwen.”  He said it very matter of fact, and the rest of the kids were content to sit there and observe.

Then there was Salina.  A beautiful girl with a mother that looked just like her.  I found out that she is getting worse.  I was sitting right next to the scale when she stepped off after being weighed.  She almost fell and I helped catch her.  She smiled and her mother thanked me.  She is finished with all of her treatments, but they are not working. 

Sitting next to Salina and her mom was a lady with a baby in her arms.  She is not the mother.  The child probably has cerebral palsy.  She was found on the street by the organization that the lady holding her works for.  They wanted to help her, so now the lady is taking care of her.

The kids here have been through so much, and sometimes that is manifest in their behavior.  That is why we are here.  It was a hard day, and right in the midst of some of the struggles a missionary was cut on the head by a falling board.  Head wounds always produce a lot of blood.  Things always seem to go wrong all at the same time.  After some cleaning it was decided that he didn't need stitches.  About that time someone said, “Look, a double rainbow!”  It was beautiful, and everyone stopped to look.  The kids looked up and said “Lakansyèl!”  The promises of God.  He who called is faithful to do it.  

In Christ,
Laramie

Matthew 3:11  11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 

Sanctification.  The process where God burns up all the wood, hay, and straw.  If there is gold underneath, then that is what is left.  If not....well you just get burned up.  

The long series of sleepless nights started during a loud thunderstorm.  Right before bed (of course) a large bolt of lightning struck near the house.  This was a series of large bolts that struck along with a downpour of falling rain.  We have multiple power sources that sometimes decide they do not want to work together.  Sometimes they break and strain the other systems, and then the whole thing just seems to give up.  Oh the spiritual lessons that can be drawn from that analogy.

The inverter that is connected to the battery bank right next to the house started giving an alarm.  The alarm is audible and very loud.  Even though it went into an alarm state, the power stayed on.  At that point the night guards decided to get involved and started flipping switches randomly.  That is another subject.

After a long time of vainly trying to resolve the alarm, we decided to just leave it alone because it was still working. I can tell you that audible beeping all night does not make for good rest.  When several things like that happen in a continual row it makes you kind of crazy.

After multiple scenarios that worked only slightly better (sometimes worse), the situation was finally resolved when another ministry partner loaned us one of their inverters.  I guess about a week had passed at that point.  I slept really well that night.  Hopefully things will get back on track soon.

Through all this I have realized how great the language barrier is.  I can certainly say that this is one of the biggest struggles so far.  To have the communication capacity of a 2 year old child trapped inside a 40 year old mind that has studied and gained so much life experience is a major struggle.  It is humbling for sure, but that is exactly where God wants me.  I have to rely on Him and I just have to pray.  Then I watch Him work.  I know He'll give me the language skills when the time is right.  For now I just have to learn humility.

Some things I can still do well, even without sleep and being a little strung out.  Things like fixing glasses and bike pumps.  This is the icing on the cake stuff anyway that makes all the hard stuff just kind of fade away.  When a kid brings you a pair of broken glasses, and you know it is not possible to just run out to Lens Crafters for a warranty replacement, you have to use McGyver skills.  Those skills usually involve fire.  Once you fix one pair you begin to gain some respect.  Then other stuff starts to come out of the woodwork, like more pairs of broken glasses and bike pumps.  Good teaching moments abound.

In the midst of the sleeplessness I succumbed to playing a soccer game for the first time with the kids.  They are really good.  The Americans stink.  They decided to play Haitians vs Americans – I wonder why.  Well Anna jumped ship right away and joined the Haitian team, and several of the older boys had mercy on us and joined our team.  The “Haitian” team slaughtered us 15 to 0 without even breaking a sweat.  When Earnest Shackleton was out on the ice floes watching his ship being crushed by the pack ice, he made his team play soccer for refreshment.  In the toughest of times taking a break to play soccer can make all the difference.  Except here (and with Shackleton) they call it football.

Last week we went to visit Respire Haiti because they have a cafe.  It was the best food that I have eaten since being in Haiti.  They have really done some amazing things and it is exciting to talk to Megan and her husband about all that is going on.  You can check them out here http://respirehaiti.org/

We had some leftover food and brought it home.  It sat on the table for a while before we ate it. Later I opened it and apparently ants had crawled into the fries and made themselves at home. You know you are starting to belong in Haiti when you pick the ants out of the fries and you REALLY don't care.  I was just as happy to have the fries with or without the ants.  I really didn't care if I accidentally ate some of the ants, but I tried not to.  

No matter how bad things get, it seems that God always brings some relief at just the right time.  I had walked and prayed a lot on Saturday night asking God for a little bit of relief.  That relief came on Sunday afternoon.  Several of our kids had surrendered their lives to Christ and were about to be baptized.  I was just standing there about to enjoy the moment from a distance when Pastor Lex approached me and told me to come into the water with him.  He said he was going to split the group in half and we would baptize two at a time in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  What an incredible privilege to have a small piece in what God is doing here.

The waves at the beach here are usually very small or non-existent, but baptism day they were actually rolling.  The surf was breaking around us and tossing us around a bit as we baptized the new creations in Christ.  It was such confirmation that the Holy Spirit was in what we were doing.  There is a battle here that rages for the lives of these kids like nothing I have ever seen before.  God has something amazing in store for them.

Later in the week I got to share chicken killing methods with the kids.  They taught me how they do it, and I showed them how our family does it.  It was a great moment of sharing and learning.  I'm not a big fan of the chicken flopping all over the ground immediately after death, so I got to show them how I use a cardboard cone nailed to a tree.  This gives a little more dignity to the dying bird, and it doesn't get covered in crud as it flops violently in the dirt.  I'm not sure they were impressed.  I guess we'll know when we need to kill chickens again.

One night one of the boys came and knocked on my door sad because another boy had ripped his rain poncho.  The poncho was one of those disposable ones that has less strength than a cheap garbage bag, but it was his, and he was sad that another one of the boys had so thoughtlessly ripped it.  I went outside to get to the bottom of the story.

There was a bunch of yelling and hand waving, but the other boy admitted to doing it.  He tried to defend himself by saying it took no effort, and the poncho was worthless.  Even though I agreed I still wanted him to make it right.  I came back with a roll of duct tape and explained the idea of restitution.  I watched several of the boys work as a team in a vain attempt to fix the paper thin poncho.  When they were “finished” they wanted the boy that owned it to try it on.  He was still sad and didn't want to.

Well, the boy that broke it said he was too small and the owner was much bigger, so he had to try it on.  This went on for a minute or so and then everyone decided another big boy could try it on.  He was OK with it so he vainly tried to pull it over his head.  After fighting for about 30 seconds he got it stuck and everyone started freaking out because they thought he would suffocate.  He didn't seem to care, but they frantically pulled it off tearing more holes.  At this point I told the boy that had broken it to just keep working on it the next day until he fixed it.  I'm not sure I got my point across, but it sure was funny to watch all the action.

This place seems to be stuck somewhere between ancient BC and 21st century, but some of it seems to work so well.  I love seeing the 4 oxen teams pulling big loads of firewood, the dugout fishing canoes with homemade nets, and the big wood fire bread ovens.  Contrast this with the ox cart driver, the fisherman, and the bread maker all having i Phones.  It is just crazy, but I think there is a lot we can learn.  

I have heard many Americans complain of the Haitian work ethic, but I have rarely seen an American that can come close to working a hard full day like the average Haitian can.  I think we can learn from each other.  America needs Haiti to remind us of our heritage, and Haiti needs America to set the bar high.  Together we can make each other better.   All to the glory of God.

Last night the battery bank was finally drained and the whole place went dark, so I went to start the generator.  While I was refueling I heard a bunch of yelling and screaming from the back where the living quarters are.  Anna came running and screaming, “Daddy, Daddy !!! The propane tank is on fire!!”  I dropped what I was doing and started to run to the living quarters.

Amy had gathered everyone and ran them to the front gate.  She was pretty upset and was wondering when the tank may finally blow.  And...this is why I keep a flashlight with me all the time.  With only the propane fire to light the night I ran to the closest water hose.  Of course it was about 50 feet too short.  Then I remembered, “Hey, maybe you should pray!”  Then I started praying.

There is a certain sense of resolve that happens when there is a propane fire, there is no such thing as 911, and you are the one responsible for making sure a whole bunch of kids are OK.  I wrestled through that and realized that I had to act decisively and trust God with the results.  I have been through one main space fire on a Navy ship, thank God for that experience.  

The first three buckets I picked up had giant cracks and holes in them.  It was like a bad dream with everything going in slow motion.  I finally found a bucket without a hole and ran to the nearest water valve.  I am not kidding – the valve came off in my hand and no water flowed.  God, please don't let the tank blow.  God please give me water.  

I ran back to the short hose and began to slowly fill the bucket.  I was praying and Amy was helping to encourage me by yelling through tears ,”It's gonna blow up!  It's gonna blow up!”  After 20 years of marriage she knows just the right thing to say to bring calm and encouragement.  After an eternity I finally had the bucket about ¼ full and ran to the tank.  God had mercy and the flame went out with the first splash.  I ran back, refilled, and repeated until I was sure.  Later Anna told me that one of the boys had started praying, and when he said Amen and looked up, the fire was out.  God is real.  God is good.  All the time.

In Christ,
Laramie