Looking Ahead

Dear Family and Friends,

As I sit here and eat another delicious Valentine’s Day cookie from my mother, I’m reminded again how blessed I am to have such a marvelous family. Jay and Ronda Grube and two of their children, Jamison and Reagan, came to Haiti on Thursday from Bluffton and delivered some gifts from my family – heart cookies, vitamin C, cards, candy hearts, and Peeps (yum!). Sophie, my precious little niece, sent me a card with all kinds of little “drawings” on it, and taped inside the card was a quarter from her gumball machine. How sweet is that?! My Mom always made us a Valentine’s Day feast, complete with big Jell-O hearts, shrimp, cheese ball, and some scrumptious dessert. I’ll be missing the feast, but I’m hoping they’ll save me a piece of the dessert (hint, hint).

I’m heading back home for a month in...24 days. Whoo-hoo! World Relief gives us two months of furlough each year, for which I’m extremely grateful. Marie Lucie and I both felt like it was wise for me to split my furlough instead of taking it all at once. The Gutweins go home for harvest and the Reinhards go home during the summer. Since I’m not connected to work teams, I can go whenever as long as Marie Lucie approves. Well, two months is a long time to leave the books and correspondence unattended, so I decided to take a month now and a month in August. So, I’ll be back in time to help Joe and Heidi serve lunch for the first time at Champaign/Urbana, vacation at Pokagon State Park with the Gerber family, celebrate my niece’s third birthday at Chucky Cheese, observe St. Patty’s Day with my friends, and watch Grace’s high school play at Kingdom Academy. In case you can’t tell, I’m super excited!

I’m excited for this coming week, too. The Reinhard’s are taking the Grubes out to a little island on Monday, and I get to tag along. We’ll be building benches for a small church in the morning and swimming in the afternoon. It will be good to get out of the office for a day of sun and surf. I’ve never taken a Haitian boat out onto the ocean before, so that should be an adventure. Wednesday morning, all the missionaries are invited to the MEBSH offices for a meet and greet. The MEBSH leadership want to know more about who’s who and what our particular missions are and have organized a time to share together.

This past week, I spent most of my time at Child Care, but in the evenings, I enjoyed the Love Comes Softly series from Hallmark. I just started the Beverly Lewis book series Abram’s Daughters about the life of an Amish family in the 1940’s. There was tea Tuesday and church Wednesday. Today, I went to Bambou church with the Gutweins and the new well-drilling team. The van died just as we entered Simon, so Val took a motorcycle taxis back to their house and got the Toyota. We piled a bunch of people in and on that vehicle! Check out the photos. After lunch at the Nami, we took a little tour of the wharf. I’ll be spending the evening making cookies for tomorrow, finishing my reading, and prepping for the week ahead. I like to feel like I have a plan even though it is Haiti, and nothing ever turns out quite the way you think it should.

I wanted to thank all of you who made encouraging comments on my blog or sent uplifting emails. I felt your prayers this week. In fact, I’m reading a book right now called Touch the World Through Prayer by Wesley L. Duewel, a former missionary to India and president of OSM International. I’m learning more and more about the importance and power of prayer. It does make a difference, so thank you again for the many prayers on behalf of Haiti and all who live and work here.

“Not only can your prayer reach heaven, but the arm of prayer can also span the miles to any part of the world, and you in your place of intercession can touch someone who needs you, even thousands of miles away. This is not make-believe. This is spiritual reality.” – Wesley Duewel

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In His service,
Abby