January 2024

Happy January! And happy 2024! May the Lord be with us all this year and may we do His will throughout the year, striving to please Him. Enjoy this short review of what has happened this month.

Mama came to visit! To say we were all excited is an understatement. It is always a good time melding my two families.

We visited the dairy farm in Torbeck. I have been here many times but it has been quite a while. I didn’t even realize that Mama had never been. It is always a beautiful and peaceful time out at the farm. We enjoyed oohing and ahhing over baby cows and spending some time with some pretty special friends while there.

Of course, we had to get some work in. Mama spent quite a bit of time at the office. She always loves to see my sweet coworkers and they her. We visited some schools and she got to see her sponsor child for the third year in a row. I got to hang out with my friend, Ashley. This silly one belongs to one of my coworkers, I have spent a lot of time with her since she was born, enough that she will call me her Mama. But she didn’t want to talk to me in front of her friends. You know, first year at school, you gotta pay it cool.

We love to visit other ministries around us and of course spend time with my close missionary friends. We visited Centre Lumiere and got a tour of their growing garden. Mama was thankful to talk to them about how ministry is going.

At the end of last year, Rameau retired from RMI after 30+ years of service. It was a bittersweet time for all of us. I am thankful to have gotten to work along side him and blessed to know him. He is currently still working at my house part time but certainly missed in the office. Mama was able to be here for his retirement party. The staff all had wonderful things to say about him and we had a great time together. Edy made some beautiful and delicious cakes, Rameau loves his sweets.

Oti got in a lot of good Grandma time over the week or so Mama was here. He could tell I was getting ready for a visitor before her arrival and was already excited. He likes that she will play with him and is always thankful for the extra snuggles. He knows when Mama sends a care package that he is getting something in it so to see her in person he could hardly stand himself.

We got to spend 2 Sunday mornings in church together. 1st Sunday is communion Sunday so we took communion with our brothers and sisters. I did my best to translate the services that we attended.

Finally, we had to get in some extra special time with Sabina. Not sure what I would do without this friend of mine. We love her so much. She and I both refer to each others Mamas as Mama and they both consider us 2nd daughters. God provided with this one. We had some other fun times with friends but no pictures were taken. All in all, it was a wonderful time.

During some of our “down time” this month, we have started up an English club. We weren’t able to have the team we were supposed to have and are not in HFKz busy season so we are doing this in an effort to use our time wisely. I enjoy doing these English lessons, I learn a lot doing them and get to teach for a bit again.

Other things happened this month but as I sit here writing this and I can’t remember them all. It was supposed to be a busier month than it wound up being but God knows the reason why. We continue to do our best to get the work done here in Haiti. Please keep this beautiful country in your prayers.