Pictures!

A happy new knitter!

A typical knitting class scene.

Gloria and a few of her students.

Kathy, with host Christine,  demonstrating how to make t-shirt yarn.

We're so proud of our knitting graduates!

Thank you donors for letting Haitian women shop for free yarn.

MAF, the ministry we served alongside.

David's plane, a Cessna 206. And a fun trip to Pignon.

Our team.

Our amazing hosts, David & Christine!  A true pleasure to be with these servants of the Lord!

Flying High

Today we had an amazing flight to Pignon with Captain David (perfect landing David!). Pignon is a small village in central Haiti where David and Christine did their language training. It's much greener and cooler (still hot!!) than Port-au-Prince. We landed on a grass strip and were met by friends of theirs who took us to see their ministry, United Christians International. Wow, it was incredible! They have a school, are opening a university (which includes vocational training), a clinic and a "Come As You Are Church." The church has had 13 witch doctors come to Christ including one who murdered our host's father!
They also have the philosophy that all of the work at UCI needs to be done by Haitians because they want it to be sustainable locally.

The roads out to UCI from Pignon were terrible---rutted, steep and impassable without 4-wheel drive!! And this was Highway 3--the main road between Port and Pignon!! We were so thankful that we got to fly between the two!! Twenty-five minutes in the air versus 4-6 hours by car (52 miles).

Early afternoon David came and picked us up and flew us back to Port-au-Prince. It was fun to fly with him, see the hangar, meet co-workers and see first-hand what MAF is doing in Haiti!

And to top the day, and as a treat for David and Christine, we are having Dominoes Pizza delivered!! I guess it comes by motorcycle. Never know what's available in a developing country...

Knitting Graduates

Today we set out to teach the ladies how to make knitted flowers. Christine and Gloria invented a cute pattern for headband that you can attach the flower to. We've learned that Haitian women have a sense of style so the flowers were a big hit. And it taught them another stitch, purl. The ladies are so comfortable with their newly acquired skill that they arrived with additional projects they did the night before. And after Christine showed them a pattern website and a knitting help website, you could see the smiles of imagination flowing! Google translation translated these sights into French, which is another widely known language here (oh the joys of technology). We gave out the rest of the yarn (thank you again donors!) and patterns. Most importantly, we gave them certificates of completion written in Creole. We wrote in their names and snapped a photo of each of them. They were so proud to get this recognition! (they paid 100 goud -- about $2.50 -- for this 4-day class. Christine says an average Haitian makes about $10/ day... So they we're invested in their class). Today really showed how in 4 days we evolved into a Knitting Bee of sorts, sharing our lives, laughter, and knitting knowledge with one another. Christine will meet with the ladies again August 10 to check in with their knitting. And we're humbled by the invitation for our team -- or another RHCC team -- to return. Pics will be posted after we download our cameras when we get home. Tomorrow, up, up and away with our host David, Captain MAF! We can't wait to his ministry world. Lastly our pastor host, Serge, asked that we pray for a soon to be launched ministry aimed at orphaned boys that are essentially homeless and slaves for work bosses. This renders then uneducated too. The Calvary intends to buy a house and then begin an outreach to get these kids out of this lifestyle. Humbled by ministry, The Knit Wits

Rhythms of Life Here

Some rhythms of life I've grown to love while on mission in Haiti: Team breakfast with last minute coordination for day. Pour filtered water in our water containers. Open garage gate and leave a puff of dust behind. Honks all the way. Pass Ladies carrying multiple flats of fresh eggs on top of their head. Motorcycles passing inches away. Cheek kisses as greetings from our ladies. Grins, knitting successes and multiple uses of "wi". Sharing Bible story thoughts. Cheek kisses goodbye. Honks. Dust & rubble roads. Open gate. Unload, and plop near fan. Gulp filtered water. Plan and prep for day. Delicious fresh meal from Christine. Silly talk. Dishes -- with a splash of bleach in rinse water. Fill up chilled water jug, add bucket of water to filter contraption. A perfect cold shower. Slide cup with rock over drain so unexpected visitors do not emerge. Rest in room with fan. The breath and barks of beloved guard dogs right outside my window (I am grateful). Roosters unable to observe time. Sleep anyway....sort of. ( repeat) ~~Ter

Knit Wits a Rollin'

Day 1 & 2 have been great experiences. The women are really catching on with the skills and opening up to us.A typical day starts with an 8-honk car trip to the church. 8 to avoid hitting other cars or pedestrians. The women now greet us by name with a kiss on our cheek. They even show us the work they completed after the previous class.Yesterday the ladies learned how to complete the baby booties and to cast on. Their typical shyness about pictures turned into radiant, ready grins to picture commemorate their completed booties (sadly our camera pics aren't cooperating with downloads; we're showing phone pics). Terri bible storied Peter's miraculous escape from prison in Acts. The ladies seemed to agree their is great power in prayer.Today we set out to teach the ladies to make yarn out of used t-shirts. (Google t-shirt yarn, if you want to learn more). Kathy demonstrated how to cut shirts into continuous 1-inch strips. Then they had great fun stretching the strips into yarn. Even some children couldn't resist joining in! We then taught them to make wash clothes out of this yarn. Then Gloria told the story about the Samaritan woman at the well. Good discussion resulted. Then we gave each lady about 10 t-shirts (thank you donors).On our way home from class we got to go to the market. Pretty impressive variety...and ask any of us the "unique" foods we saw there. Terri couldn't resist snapping photos.Now we're resting at home and making plans for our final class tomorrow.Thank you supporters for believing in this mission. We trust this will be a reoccurring invitation from our Haitian friends and community.Please pray for rain (ongoing drought) and pray for the city electricity to come back on...we're slowly draining generator reserves. And of course, please pray for the lady knitters.~Gloria, Terrri & Kathy

Day One

Sunday was spent busily preparing for the Haitian ladies at church--sorting yarn, needles, practicing patterns, learning important words (how do you say knit in Kreyol?).

Out the door early Monday morning, Christine behind the wheel weaving and dodging cars, pedestrians, potholes (more like craters!), trucks...that girl has moxie!!

17 lovely Haitian ladies showed up to try their hands at knitting. It was so much fun!!

--Gloria and Kathy

Sights & Sounds

Sounds i notice -- Dogs barking, a cool breeze reaching inside the house, roosters hollering as if they need to be known, air fans saving us, children playing by their own rules outside, worship in a beautiful & unfamiliar language, horns honking. Sights I've taken in -- women in their Sunday best, rubble in the road jostling the car around, women balancing baskets of produce on their heads, roadside meat stands, a woman holding a baby as a passenger on a motorbike, and bags filled with yarn. Things I expect tomorrow -- awkward giggles when we try to communicate to those we teach, humidity (65%), heat (101), knitted baby booties met with smiles of confidence, real conversation over the Bible story we share (Daniel in the lion's den), and an adventurous ride home. ~Ter

Worshipping in Creole

While you all awaken, we've already been to church. A beautiful Calvary Church with a talented worship team. We sang familiar worship songs in Creole (thanks to slides in a screen). We prayed for international events (even the Colorado Batman shooting tragedy was mentioned). The pastor gives the congregants a rare opportunity to pray for international news events. I imagined how God hears all the prayers from the world, for the world, in multitudes of languages. Think of the beauty of all the voices of the world praising Him! Now we're back at home, about to plan our week ahead! Sorting of supplies and plans for each day. We're anticipating 15-20 class participants. A word of advice from our hosts is to dress nicely because we are their teachers, a position of authority. I guess we should not refer to ourselves with our new informal name -- The Knit Wits. We're trying to come up with the perfect descriptive words to make an acronym for WITS! Any suggestions (be nice!) We'd love prayers. 24-hours away from our real purpose here. ~Terri

Hello Haiti!

Landed around noon and were met by an ambitious baggage "helper" who was originally satisfied with $2 to find our bags. Then he tried to wrangle $10 more from each of us to move the bags (via cart) to the curb. (this where the dynamic of missions plays out -- an unforeseen strength in character from a teammate) Look out, we,be got Kathy Harms who on no uncertain terms says "no way" and snatched our customs forms from him and commanded us out of there. Next, our hero in uniform on the other side -- David Harms, our host, in pilots uniform with full authority! Away we go! Like at a slow jog pace pst the masses. Our prepaid bag guy (thank you, David) was so fun, efficient and good at small talk using gestures. A bumpy ride home. AC broke in car. Haiti acclimation, ready or not, here we go...sweating all the way" Delicious lunch made by Christine, great chats and home orientation. Terri is allowed a much needed nap. Next up, dinner, showers, early bed then 7a church and then more mission planning. We're in our new mission home.

We just found out there are 15 ladies so far who have signed up to learn how to knit.  So looking forward to spending time together with them ... Gloria

24-Hours Away

I know I am so excited about tomorrow's departure, and so is the rest of the team!

One quick update....sadly, our youngest team member, Faith, is no longer able to come on the trip.  We'll miss her and look forward to sharing our experience with her when we return.

Which reminds me what missions often requires -- FLEXIBILITY!  We've encountered faulty duffel bags, a loss of a team member, work-related obstacles, and power/Internet outages at our host's home and town.  But GOD IS BIGGER THAN ALL OF THIS!

In response, God provided a newly found duffel bag (thank you Mauro!), acceptance of our reduced team size, perseverance, and restored power/Internet at David & Christine's home.  Yet, we'll remain flexible, and look God for provision continually.

That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Cor 12:10

We would love prayers for:

• learning Creole, especially friendly phrases
• translation and good communication of knitting lessons to the Haitian ladies
• God's presence during our Bible story-telling times with the ladies
• traveling mercies

~Terri