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Haiti Weather
Carl & Marilyn Brubaker's
Haiti Mission Trip – Jan 9 - 19, 2007
Hello everyone,
We arrived safely to Port-au-Prince, Haiti this afternoon at about 12:15pm. Our
day started early when Pastor Charlie and Jane picked us up at 3:00am for the
Philadelphia airport for our 6:00am flight. Both flights went smoothly and had
no delays. We got through the customs area without incident and met Evelyn
outside the airport door. It was so good to see her familiar face.
After a late lunch at a nice restuarant in Petionville, we arrived at Evelyn's
beautiful home up the mountain. We both napped a bit before supper and are
relaxing. Tomorrow, we will be driving about another hour into the mountains to
a community center and we will start our teaching sessions. We will go from
about 2:00pm to 4:30pm. I am planning to teach from the book of Colossians.
I'm not sure what to expect but Evelyn said the interpreter already is trying to
get us to stay another week. Well?
Thanks for the congregation's support and we continue to ask for your prayers.
Blessings to all of you from Haiti.
Carl & Marilyn
Hello everyone, greetings from Haiti,
We have just arrived at Evelyn's house about an hour ago from the teaching
session in the mountain. We are amazed at all the mountains in Haiti. The men
who were in Haiti remember that the whole way up to the Baptist mission is up
hill, going up the mountain. Well, the Baptist mission is only halfway to the
teaching point in Calebasse. We continue to go higher and the roads become
quite treacherous. Stone and dirt roads, washed out, huge holes, narrow and
winding. We go about 6 or 8 miles further but it takes almost 30 minutes. When
we got home yesterday, Marilyn's back was hurting from all the jostling and
bouncing, and Evelyn doesn't drive fast. There are not a lot of vehicles in the
mountains but there are many Haitians walking along the road. They walk
everywhere, up to several hours to find work or to school or church.
We have had two teaching sessions thus far. We have been teaching from the book
of Colossians and today's lesson centered on the Supremacy of Jesus Christ from Col. 1.
Evelyn has been a little disappointed with the turnout, 6 yesterday and 4 today.
But the ones that were there are a real blessing. They have a heart to learn.
We were suprised to see a number of churches in the mountains and in the valleys below.
These pastors need to work to provide for their families so they can't all get there.
At one time, when Leroy was teaching, they had about 20-25 attending.
The sessions are in a community center, not like one at the Y or a rec center,
but a cement block building sitting on benches with no backs. We have an
interpreter, Yves, although 2 or 3 of the men understand some English.
It has gone fairly well for which we are thankful.
We are doing well and Evelyn is providing delicious meals. Marilyn mixed up a
batch of raisin oatmeal cookies this morning and baked them for supper this
evening. Yum! Evelyn's house is very comfortable and we have appreciated her
hospitality and getting to know her better. She is an amazing lady. We trust the
Lord's blessings to each of you. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Carl & Marilyn
Greetings to everyone,
Today has been a day of "running around" and relaxation. We did not have any
teaching sessions today at Calebasse. Yesterday, we had our third session. We
again had four men who showed up. They were not all the same as in the previous
sessions so I think we have met about 8 men and women up there so far. One of
the men is a young man by the name of Sammy who is 23 years old. He did a
little interpreting for me the one day. But he is a "Bible teacher" in his
church, located on the next mountain over (as we say it in Pa dutch). He has
been such a blessing as he really desires to learn. In our study yesterday from
Col 2, there is a passage that talks about how believers identify with the
death, burial and resurrection of Jesus through baptism. Sammy explained how
they practice baptism in his church (Baptist) and we were priveleged to share
how and why we Brethren baptize 3 times forward. The men had never heard of
that. So we had a great time talking about that. They also enjoy singing.
Every song they started to sing, we knew it. Even though we sing
and pray in different languages, there is such a blessing knowing that we are
"one in Christ." Sessions go for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours and I'm tired when I'm
finished. Marilyn and Evelyn also go with and I trust the teaching is a
blessing to them too. You'll have to ask them. It is certainly a different
setting from what we are used to, but we study the same "Word of God" and the
Lord has been supplying our strength.
Today, we went down from Evelyn's place to Petionville and into Port-au-Prince.
We went to the place where Evelyn gets her mail and then went up to the CSI
guest house where the Midway men stayed last March. It was good to see FanFan
and we got a chance to chat a little while. Greg (Benson) was busy when we
arrived and a team was packing up to leave on the truck, that I'm not sure he
even saw me. He said hello, hello, good bye and goodbye and he was off to the
airport. We did talk to Kathy for a little. We also met Jeff and Jean Graham,
a Brethren couple from Indiana, who came to Haiti in early June and are working
with the teams at CSI. They are looking forward to the next Midway group coming
in March.
We ate lunch at a nice restuarant and then did some shopping in town. Tomorrow
morning, I will be preaching at the Vine Church with a message entitled "Coming
Home to the Father" from Luke 15 (the Parable of the Prodigal Son). We have
felt and appreciated your prayers for us. We will be praying for the services
tomorrow at Midway as well.
Blessings to all of you.
Carl & Marilyn
Dear friends,
This morning we had the privelege of worshipping at the Vine Baptist Church with
our Haitian brothers and sisters. The church was full and the singing was
enthusiastic. Carl preached a good sermon on the love of our Heavenly Father
from Luke 15. Pastor Joel interpreted and then he gave the invitation to accept
Christ. Four people came forward. Praise the Lord!
After the service, we went up to the second floor construction site. Carl said
a good amount of progress had been made as the balcony areas are finished. Carl
said there is going to be a lot of sanding and painting but Pastor Joel said
that won't be ready for the March group.
Evelyn took us to a nice restuarant in Petionville for lunch. We met another
lady who has been in Haiti for 31 years. He name is Mona Teeter, a Church of
the Brethern member, who now runs a school near the Vine church. We enjoyed
getting to know her.
We returned and relaxed this afternoon. Carl even got to watch some football.
We talked to our daughter Deb a few minutes ago as she just returned from Thailand this evening.
We are having a wonderful time. The only thing is that I will be bringing home
a bunch of mosquito bites.
Thanks for your prayers and blessings to you.
Marilyn and Carl
Hello everyone,
We are still doing well in Haiti. We just finished a delicious supper here at
Evelyn's house provided by Madame Marie, the wife of the Vine church's pastor,
Pastor Joel. Pastor Joel and Marie, and their two daughters, Mirriel and
Mariejeol also joined us for supper. We had a nice time of fellowship around
the table and they just left a few minutes ago. The men who were in Haiti in
March, know that Mdme Marie can cook. Lasagne, chicken, rice and beans, along
with some other Haitian foods. Needless to say, we are full and well satisfied.
I highly recommend it, but you will have to come to Haiti.
This afternoon, we finished up with the teaching sessions at Callabasse. In
all, we had six (6) teaching sessions at Callabasse. I will not miss the
"bouncy" roads. But we had a good time with them. Today we had 7 men and 3
women which was the most of any day. Yesterday, we had 8 attend. In all, a
total of about 17 or 18 attended. Some were pastors, others were teachers or
lay leaders in their churches. In our sessions this week, they opened up a bit more and
asked all kinds of interesting questions. Some hypothetical questions. One was
"when Jesus returns will his feet actually touch the ground". Well, that is a
question I had never thought about and so we had a good time. What do you
think, Pastor Charlie? We have been blessed my meeting them and realize that
they are serving the same Lord in Haiti that we do in PA, but under much more
difficult situations. We did finish our study on the book of Colossians this
afternoon. We trust that we were an encouragement and a blessing to them.
Tomorrow will be a day of relaxation and some sight seeing and checking out some
places to shop with Evelyn. We are probably going to the Botillaire, the
lookout at the top ot the mountain overlooking Port-au-Prince and perhaps to
Kenscoff, a little town on another mountain about 10 miles away. Evelyn assures
us that it is a main road, so potholes and the like should be at a minimum.
Our flight leaves Haiti on Friday afternoon around 5pm. Evelyn's trying to talk us into
staying a bit longer, but I told her "the men's choir sings on Sunday" and I
need to be there. Ha. Ha. We have had a good trip and for that we are thankful.
We praise the Lord for safety on those mountain roads and for the wonderful
accomodations at Evelyn's place. I told Pastor Joel this evening to get ready
for the next group from Midway that will be coming in March. The Vine church is
looking forward to that as well.
We trust all of you are doing well. Is it cold up in PA? Any snow yet? It's
about 70 here right now. We will see you Sunday, Lord willing. Blessings!
Carl & Marilyn