The Paralytic and Port Salute

My days are finally starting to resemble a shaky routine of sorts. We didn’t have a tropical storm or hurricane or riot this week, so I was able to really dig into my job at the Childcare office. I have my Creole lesson with Jean Claude from 7 to 8 in the morning. Then, I head off to work. The office staff gathers for devotions from 8 to 8:30. I’ve been taking my lunch break around 12:30. I walk back home (about 300 steps) and see what Madame Marie has prepared. I head back to the office around 1:30 and work until 4. The evenings have been a mixture of activities – studying Creole, reading, catching up on emails, calling family and friends, church, tea parties, or games.

This week, I finally managed to remember to take pictures of our weekly tea party. (I ate three oatmeal and raisin cookies. They were that good.) Wednesday night, a visiting German missionary, checking up on the health and welfare of his local missionaries, led us in an interesting discussion of Mark 2:1-12. He divided us into groups to look at the five different sets of people in the passage: the crowd, the four friends, the paralytic, the teachers of the law, and Jesus. We were to list what we found admirable and what we found disgraceful. On Saturday, the three Reinhard girls, Sheila, and I went on a beach adventure. We headed to Port Salute, about 45 minutes from Les Cayes. It’s a beautiful drive up over a mountain and down to the seashore. We didn’t know how it would be after all the hurricane damage. The beach itself was littered with a lot of natural debris, but the water was clear and refreshing. We ate our packed lunch on the roof of the truck in the shade. I got a little too toasty. I’ll pay for that this week!

I wasn’t 100% on Sunday morning, so I stayed home from church and listened to the two Bluffton Country services over the phone. I’m grateful to God for modern technology! It’s amazing that I can sit in my living room in Haiti and listen to my home church LIVE in Bluffton, IN. Whoever created that phone-in service deserves an extra jewel in their crown! Thank you.

I hope to actually unpack my stuff this week. I am waiting on my room to be painted first, and I didn’t want to put everything away, set up my bed, fill my bookcases, and lay my rug until the room itself had been freshened up. Sheila brought a grill and I packed an air chair; it might be time to make our porch an outdoor living space...with a tall table. If I see that spider again, I need something to leap on to and squeal like a little girl.

To those in Bluffton, enjoy Street Fair for me!! I'll be praying for your outreach lunch on Wednesday.

Many blessing to all!

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