Rain :]

This donkey may not be to happy about the rain we have been getting but everyone else is. Rain is precious here. Many times it means the difference between having something to eat or not. I was walking on the main road the other day when a few large drops started to fall. Soon it was raining so hard that it was hard to hear anything but the rain. I cant describe what it feels like to get rain when you need it so bad. The kids have a blast running around in the mud. We are coming to the end of the rainy season here so rain will likely be scarce for the next few months till about September. I have been doing well here, although about a week ago I was having a bit of an attitude problem towards the people here. As I mentioned in my last post it can be very tiring when everyone sees you as a potential benefactor to meet their needs. Over the period of a week or two I had lost patience and had begun to feel bitter towards certain groups of people here. Fortunately bitterness hurts the one who holds onto it the most:] The Lord showed me that my bad attitude was shading my whole view of everything, and that people where not really as bad as I had begun to see them. I think this will be an ongoing struggle for me here and so I ask for your prayers in that area. Praise the Lord for changing my attitude though... it has allowed me to have some good conversations and build relationships with some new people.

(I am just going to throw in some random pictures of people throughout this post.) Came across this verse the other day...

1 Cor 2:9
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Sitting down and talking with Haitian people is a great blessing. A lot of times I feel like avoiding talking to people because the conversation inevitable turns towards what can you give me. But once you get past that there is a lot you can learn about and from these people, they are quite friendly and are very easy to talk to. This week I have been working on putting in conduit for network cables and power. There is an engineering office that we are trying to put together here. It has been taking me longer than I would like but I am trying to take my time and do the job right. Mediocrity begets Mediocrity and it just builds up till you have a big mess. I am going to try and have this engineering office done right, but doing things right takes time and money but in the end it saves both. These are the sons of the guy who owns a restaurant in the intersection of our little village. I use the term restaurant loosely. It has a corrugated shack next to it that serves as the kitchen. The restaurant proper is concrete block and probably would not get a grade A from the health department. But the food always smells good. Someday I will go over there for dinner. I buy all my bread from this place. This kid runs his dads place when he is not around. You can actually get a cold Coca Cola in the bottle from this place at times. We have an abundance of pumpkins right now. The kids keep bringing them to us sometimes three at a time. Leah has been making pumpkin bread which is very good. She is leaving me with a bunch of recipe's so that when she leaves I will have a better chance of fending for myself in the kitchen. I have been blessed to have here as a friend here and will miss her when she goes. Luvner a kid from the neighborhood that plays soccer fell in some wuzoe (a plant much like bamboo, it leaves skewers behind when the top is chopped off with a machete) the other day and got some pretty nasty cuts on his leg. I took him down to the clinic to get stitched up. It is the first time I have seen someone giving stitches up close. I helped to the extent of my abilities.... holding the tray of instruments... but I really want to learn how to do some basic medical tasks. So I asked Dr. Anne-Marie and she is going to teach me how to give stitches. I am trying to think of what other medical things that would be useful to learn. It is unique to be able to go in and just learn something like that right off the bat. I have a cell phone now. Feel free to try and call me if you would like. Be forewarned though, it may cost you a lot of money, so maybe check with you phone company and see what kind of rates they have to a mobile in Haiti. Incoming calls do not cost me anything. xxxxxxxxxxxxx The 011 gets you out of the United States, the 509 is Haiti's country code and then the rest is my number. I am thinking about making my blog not password protected again and if so I will probably remove my number and some other information from here as well. Well drop me an email if you have the time I would love to hear from all of you. One thing to be praying for is a Doctor to help out Rob and Anne-Marie. Anne-Marie sees a very heavy patient load and they rarely get time off. Pray that I would have a good attitude and love the Haitian people.

1Cor 13
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.