In our New House

What a day! We have officially been in this house for the last 3 days straight. Unlike in Fauche, we are in the city here! The guest house is surrounded by tall concrete walls with razor wire on top. If you go upstairs you can see mountains in the distance and tops of trees but not much open space. It's like being back in good ol' Chicago in some ways.
Today Dan, Justine, and Matt all left for their home, La Gonave Island. Matt and Justine will probably be staying there for now, and Dan will return tomorrow. It was such a blessing that Matt and Justine were here for the first two days. Not only did they show us the ropes of running a guest house, but it was so good to hang out with them. Chris also left for a bit today to run errands with Carl Gilles' (the missionary whose house this is) brother, and go to a meeting for Dan. I found myself alone in this big house with the cook, Darlene and a man who cleans, named Awold. Oh yes, I was intimidated! Not because I felt unsafe, but because there was Creole flying all about me and an 8 hour work day ahead of Darlene and Awold with a very uninformed person (me) to instruct them! The most interaction Chris and I have with Haitians our same age or older back in Fauche is through our English classes, and with our Creole teacher, David. While we have made friends with students and really enjoy that, we don't have much one on one time with them. We talk with our cooks and with neighbors, (especially kids) but this was the first time I had spent hours with a Haitian. It was humbling. I knew that I couldn't just nod and smile at everything she said, so I had to ask for her to repeat things often. Darlene speaks quickly and softly so I had to really apply my mind. She and I did laundry most of the morning, washing laundry for the guest house in big tubs in the front of the house. Haitian women are so tough! Wringing out clothes and towels is tiring! Despite the limits in our communication, we shared a cool moment. Darlene was singing, and stopped for a second to say something to me. I didn't catch it, so asked her to repeat, she did, then finally she said, "Ou renmen Jezi?" (Do you love Jesus?) I thought, I know that phrase! And answered, "WI! ANPIL! ou?" (Yes, very much! You?) And she answered Yes, and it was one of those awesome moments where your love for the same God lets you forget the struggle you are having just to share a few understood words. What joy!

The rest of the day was interesting, trying to give Darlene little jobs and not have her feel like I was bossing her around.(She's 30) I learned that I never want to be a boss someday. She didn't like some of my ideas, which made things a little awkward at times, but for the most part it was a good day. At lunch time, Awold and Darlene usually eat outside while the group of us eat inside. So today, with just the three of us, I said, You can eat inside! And then I asked if they wanted me to eat with them today. Awold said, Next time! Haha. I guess we all needed a break from trying to talk :) I didn't mind the solitude.
I've been translating some recipes for Darlene and I to try, and trying to plan ahead for the teams that are scheduled to come tomorrow and Thursday. Chris has been hooking up the water, working on maintenance projects, keeping the generator stuff working, and we are both working to get organized. It's definitely a change. We miss our house and our neighbors in the North. We are hoping our English students will understand our quick departure too. But we are thankful to be here and like the change of pace and working at the guest house.
These pictures aren't very informative, but we haven't taken any of here yet, but will soon. The man in the first picture is Pastor Dan Irvine, and the second is another out of the plane window. It felt like if we had been closer to those mountains we would have clipped them with the plane. But it was beautiful. The contrasts are so hard to process in Haiti right now...such devastation, but so much help and love being poured out, beauty, but so much destruction, moments of laughing and fun, but knowing there is so much hurt nearby and even in this house as people come and go. All we know is God is in control. Thank you for praying!
Chris will write about what he saw and experienced on his drive around PAP today soon, he said he has a lot he could write about. Happy Groundhog Day!