A Tour of Our Haitian Home

Bienvenu, tout moun!  Welcome, everyone!  Sorry it took so long to get these pictures up, but it took awhile to get all of them taken and uploaded.  It's funny -- our internet is through a cell phone signal and since it rains/storms up here in the mountains every evening, the internet is not always working.  I never thought internet could be dependent on the weather!  Ha. 

We've been working on our home little by little over the past several weeks as we had opportunity.  It's coming together pretty well.  Some of the stuff we have in here is ours that we sent from America, other stuff is the mission's, and we purchased some of it when we got here.  Household items here are many times more expensive here than in the States, so we haven't really bought a lot of Haitian household goods since we arrived.  We do most of our shopping through Amazon Prime, so we can get American prices on things we need.  We are so thankful for how the Lord has provided for us as we have settled in here in Haiti.




Welcome to the Bidwell house!  Our church back in the states recently had a ladies' Pinterest night, so I decided to join in.
Just because you live in Haiti doesn't mean you can't pack crafts in your suitcase and make a Pinterest wreath!

Our living room.  All of our floors are concrete and so this rug is our favorite thing in the house!

Another shot of the living room.  The homeschool room is the room in the background.

In honor of Honest October, I thought I'd post a picture of my kitchen with a ton of dirty dishes on the counter.
This is what the kitchen looks like all of the time, usually even messier though.  :)

Another shot of the kitchen.  That's our source of clean, healthy water there in the background.
Never ever ever ever drink out of the tap here!

The kids are sharing a room, which has been an adventure!  We were thankful that BHM already
 had these bunk beds so we didn't have to buy any.

Another shot of the kids' room.  One of the tubs we packed the container with doubles as a great toy box.  Thankfully, the dresser was already here, too.  The jungley art over the dresser is a Haitian piece that we haggled for at the market.  Kilee picked it out and Scott sealed the deal.

 

This is mine and Scott's room. 

Thankfully we were able to pack some vinyl wall scriptures in our suitcase to use so that our walls would not be so bare.
This one is a great one to see first thing in the morning!  The basket under it is a handwoven Haitian hamper that we bought on the side of the road in Port-au-Prince!

   For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this is posting sideways. No matter how many times I rotate it, it just does this. Sorry! This is an extra room. Scott mounted a tabletop to the side of the wall so that I would have a place to sew. I am very excited about this room. :)

Thank you for joining us on this home tour!  Y'all come back now, ya hear?

New Jersey Team

In our time here in Haiti we have had the opportunity to host several mission teams.  Most recently we had the opportunity to serve with an incredible group of guys (and gal) from New Jersey. They came to Haiti with the goals of constructing a house for a family that lived near the town of Ft. Jacques, building some cabinets at camp Laphare, and helping Kyrk and Deborah Baker move forward with BHM's project in Atrel. Little did they know that throughout the week a few of their guys (professional welders) would also fabricate two hand rails for steps at a local school.



The team that stayed here at the mission completed their house on Thursday and had the opportunity to dedicate it along with the family and the Haitian workers on Friday morning. It was an intentional reminder to the family, as well as to me, to allow their house to be a beacon of light situated on a hilltop for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To allow them to proclaim the reason for the hope that have they have (Not just BC of a physical protection provided by the house, but because of the spiritual redemption they had found in Jesus.)

I also had the privilege to take Kilee along with me to the house dedication. We hope to intentionally teach our children about the vast poverty that most Haitians face, as well as, the vast riches that we have been blessed with. I asked Kilee if she wanted to go inside the new house and she was excited and said "Yes!" As we walked in she suddenly stopped. She looked around the two room concrete floor, concrete wall home approximately 15' x 15' and turned to me and said innocently, "It's really small." Kilee had already met the three daughters, mom, and grandmother that would be sharing this space and she correctly deduced that this house was close to the same size as her bedroom. I told Kilee that this new house was a huge blessing to the family and that because we build the house for this family we were able to tell to the family about Jesus. I also had the opportunity to show Kilee where the family had been living since the earthquake. Basically it was a 10' x 10' tin wall and tarp covered structure.

I am encouraged by the opportunity not just to build houses for people that desperately need them but with the intentionally that BHM insists on in communicating the Gospel and connecting the families with the local Bible believing churches.  Also, I am extremely grateful for teams like this one from New Jersey.  They demonstrated what it means to be a servant  all throughout the week and it was both convicting and encouraging.

Nou Ap Etidye Kreyol!

Translation: We are studying Creole!  And it seems to be going well.  We have a great teacher named Hassan and we are working hard to understand and speak this language if it's the last thing we do!

Scott and Hassan

Hassan is a medical student at Notre Dame University in Port-Au-Prince.  He is very excited about school and is working hard to complete his studies and serve his people in the medical field.  He is passionate about Jesus and spreading the gospel.  He recently went on an in-country mission trip with his church to spread the gospel to an unreached people group in one of Haiti's remote provinces.  They had a great deal of resistance from many of the people, but tens of people came to know Christ during the trip!  He teaches a "New Christians" class at the church as well.  We really are enjoying getting to know him and hearing his heart for Haiti.  And the dude puts together some pretty tough Creole exams for us bewildered Americans, too!  Whew!  We are glad he is working with us so diligently.  It helps us to push harder each day.

We think it's starting to pay off!  On Wednesday, Scott had a "speaking exam" with one of Hassan's friends.  Hassan invited his friend to meet Scott at the mission and speak only Creole with Scott for a solid hour while Hassan listened nearby!  Scott was speaking so proficiently that Hassan had to tell his friend to interrupt Scott from time to time and redirect conversation!  My friend Judy and I are having a speaking exam soon with Hassan's mother.  I am having opportunity to speak with several Haitian employees of the mission on a daily basis and they insist that my Creole is getting better "piti, piti" (little by little).  They have been very encouraging overall.  We are so thankful!

Mesi Seigneur!  Thank you Lord!

School Has Begun

For many students throughout the country of Haiti this week brings much excitement as school is beginning.  There were students from all over Haiti who, I'm sure, woke up early, put on their school uniform, gathered their backpack and school supplies and headed off excitedly to begin another year of school.  I'm sure that many students had similar experiences as I did on the first day of school -- a little excited and a little nervous about the new year and all that it may bring.  We can even hear the sounds of young students beginning school with songs from our front porch each morning.

However, for many students and families this week was yet another reminder of their lowly status here in Haiti.  For many of my new found friends around the mission, this week has been challenging.  Many have shared about the weighty responsibility they feel to send their children to school and the oppressive condemnation that accompanies their inability to provide this life-changing opportunity for their children.  Today especially was a challenging day. I sat and talked to one of my friends and in my broken Creole and in his broken english he began to explain to me that he was unable to send his children to school this year because he did not have the money to pay for their necessities (food, water, clothing etc) as well as their education.  He was broken and frustrated.  He said, "I can't sleep, I just can't figure out how to make it all work.  I just lie there and think."  It was heart breaking.  I sat there without words in English or Creole. 

Today I was confronted with what it means to have been blessed beyond measure.   Growing up in the United States, it never occured to me that it was a privilege to attend school, it was just something that we did and most often begrudingly.  As I began hearing about and studying Haiti it became obvious that the vast majority of the people of Haiti are very poor and that many people couldn't afford to provide food and clean water for their children, much less to send their children to school (aka. their very small chance at creating a life that is not marked by abject poverty), but today that knowledge became personal. Today that knowledge had a face and a family. 

Today I thanked God for the opportunity and privilege to have been born in the United States.  Something that I didn't work for or earn, but something that God, in his providence, granted through His precious grace.  I thanked God that he saw fit to bless me in incredible ways that so often I take for granted.

Most of all I thanked God for Jesus and for His death on the cross on my behalf.

Thank you Lord Jesus.

Scott