Mountain Land

We stepped off the DC-3 onto the hot tarmac of the Port-au-Prince airport.  We and about 2000 pounds of our belongings had left the Missionary Flights International hangar at Palm Beach International airport early that morning.  It was January 28, 1986 and we were moving to Haiti for two years to work with the Baptist Haiti Mission (BHM).

We were greeted by Betty Turnbull.  Almost the first words out of her mouth were to tell us that while we were in the skies off the coast of Florida, the Space Shuttle Challenger had blown up in the very same skies.  What was a very good day for us and a very positive turning point in our lives, was just the opposite for the families and friends of the crew of the space shuttle.

There are not a lot of dates that I remember but this is one of them.

The name Haiti, I have heard, comes from a word used by the original inhabitants of the island for “mountain land”.  And, indeed, there were many “mountains” we had to climb during our stay there.

While our plan was to work with BHM for two years, we ended up staying for seven.

We had been on the island about a week when “Baby Doc” was run out of the country after he and his father had run the country for 27 years in a dictatorship that was brutal for many.  We had eight more governments in those seven years.  Those eight years were essentially anarchy.  And while we made little or no progress in the projects we were working on, it seemed like we were going forward compared to what was happening in the country.

We lived in the country in a place called Letan (l’Etang).  Letan got its name from Letan Somat, from the French term for “brackish lake'’.  The community was located on the north shore of the lake.

Letan was a beautiful place to live.  On the weekends many people would make the trip down the bumpy roads and rutted tracks from the city to swim in the fresh water lagoons on the edge of the lake.  Flamingoes could be seen in the lake throughout most of the year except when they left to nest on another island.

Ingrid ran a community health clinic.  The building was put up by a group called His Hands out of Michigan.  The clinic was the only one around for miles and some people would walk for 5 hours or more from the mountains to get there.  There were days when over 100 people would show up.  Our goal was to train a Haitian worker who could run the clinic, but we never found a person willing to stay in the rural area to do that.

While Ingrid was doing that, I stayed busy with many projects.  We had experimental gardens, a tree nursery for reforestation, a school and a church on the property.  Much of my time was devoted to maintenance.  I also led Bible studies and trained local leaders to run the school.  In the mountains we did soil conservation projects and spring capping.

While we encountered a lot of problems and roadblocks (sometimes actual road blocks of burning tires in the street) in our work in Haiti, we generally enjoyed our time there.

On this 25th anniversary of the Space Shuttle disaster, people will ask,  "Have we learned anything from that?  Where have we come since then?"  So, too, I believe it is appropriate to ask similar questions about our experience in Haiti.

We made many mistakes during those years, but we learned a lot of things in the process.  Some of the lessons we learned are:

• Problems-The physical problems we were trying to solve weren't actually problems but symptoms of underlying spiritual issues.  Trying to fix the physical problems without addressing the spiritual issues doesn't work very well.
• Prayer-Goes with the above.  Using my human instincts often just made things worse.
• Power-I am weak but God is strong.
• Patience-We got to learn patience through practice.  You would think, after all these years I would have mastered it, but I still working on it.
• People-We learned a lot about the Haitian people.  We learned that they are just like us on the inside, but that it is expressed differently on the outside because of cultural and economic differences.
  We learned to invest in key people.  Once I was asked about the "success" of our work in Haiti.  Rather than give results of projects, I gave names of people.  Changed lives are what missions is all about.
  We also learned we need people.  We need others around us for accountability and for a different perspective.  This is hard for a loner like myself, but doing missions on your own is difficult.  So we need to be part of a team and we need to be part of a church.

For more details about our time in Haiti, view here.

As we now prepare to move to another country these lessons stick with us.  But the main lesson in all this is to never stop learning.  Never think you've arrived.  Never stop depending on God.  As Paul writes:  Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12 (ESV)

Power of Love

Greyhound Station in Calgary

20 December 2009 

We were more than two hours late getting into the Greyhound station in Edmonton. Snowy road conditions resulted in us arriving at 2 am, which meant for sure we had missed the midnight bus to Westlock. The next one was at 9 am.

It was pretty quiet in the station after all the people cleared out for whom Edmonton was the final destination. The station was officially closed from 12:30 am to 5:30 am and the security guard kicked out anyone who did not have a ticket. Ingrid noticed one such person being thrown out—likely one of the homeless people who wanted a warm place to stay. That left four of us passengers, the security guard and two custodial staff.

At 6:00 am the A&W located at the end of the terminal opened for service, so Ingrid and I decided to get some breakfast. While we were eating, Ingrid noticed the man who had been kicked out of the station earlier in the morning. He was seated in the corner behind me sipping a coffee. She suggested that we get him some breakfast. So I bought a breakfast sandwich, grabbed my coffee and sat down at the man’s booth. I offered him the sandwich, which he accepted, and I asked him how he was doing with the cold weather. 

Victor (I asked his name later) said the cold wasn’t so bad as the pain he was suffering resulting from a crushed vertebra—L1 and L2. He had had surgery and a spinal fusion done last summer, but he still had issues. At one point later he had broken his foot.  Shortly after that he stumbled when caught his cast on an uneven part of a sidewalk, which caused a resurgence of the pain in his back. His back problems were evident by how he walked when he got up to get another cup of coffee. 

I heard more of his story, punctuated by comments of how good the breakfast sandwich is. I find out that Victor had been twice widowed. He separated from his first wife in 1993; she died of lung cancer in 2000. He had remarried, but his second wife drank herself to death in 2004. He was working in Barrhead at the time. 

At one point, I think in about 2002, he was in a bad car accident. He was thrown from his vehicle. The doctors did not give him a good prognosis— he had massive internal injuries, broken ribs and other broken bones, and a punctured lung. He was in a coma for 5 days, but walked out of the hospital two weeks later. 

In spite of all that he had been through, Victor had a better attitude than many people I know. He was not bitter, but he definitely was discouraged by the back problems. I offeedr to pray for him and he approved. 

Afterwards, Victor, on the verge of tears, said, “I’ve never had anyone pray for me before.” We part and I saw him continue to fight the tears as he walked away. 

Victor did not so much need the sandwich as he needed someone to love him. He had been the recipient of many benefits of Canada’s social system—all of the medical treatment he has had—but love and genuine concern about him as a person was not included in the benefits. 

As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)

 

Maybe that was why our bus was late. Perhaps God arranged a snow delay for Victor’s sake.

Awesome Power

Ice Along the Chilnualna Falls Trail
Originally uploaded by Sierra Sunrise

Rockfall broken free by ice

On Christmas Eve we went for a hike on the Chilnualna Falls trail--my favorite trail in Yosemite Park. As we neared the top of the trail, we were almost blinded by the sun sparkling off the mountain. The rocks were adorned with ice like a Christmas tree covered with tinsel.

While this is a very beautiful sight, it is this winter ice that gets into cracks in the rocks and causes great slabs to fall off the mountain. There is great power hidden in the ice.

We also, as believers, have a great power available to us in the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote to Timothy: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. .” (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV)

Pray that we will walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and not work in our own human weakness.

No Challenge too Great

The other day we were visiting Point Lobos State Reserve.  This beautiful park is nestled partway between Monterey and Big Sur.

The Reserve offers hidden beaches, tide pools to study, scuba diving, bird-watching and, at the right time of year, whale watching from the shore.

But what intrigued me were the seals.  The small rocky islands just off shore were covered with them.  What amazes me is how they get so far up on the rocks.  They don’t have any climbing gear that I can see.  No feet to stick in the footholds in the rocks.  No fingers to grasp the rugged mass of the island.  Yet there they were.

Sometimes our lives seem filled with challenges that are too big for us.  Right now is one of those times.  The task of trying to raise the funds we need to get to Thailand seems insurmountable.  Some days we just feel like giving up.  But if these seals can get to the tops of these rocks, then we can persevere and achieve our goals as well.  And we don’t go at this alone.  People are giving.  People are praying.  And God is with us. ^“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13-NLT)