the base-ics

(*disclaimer* this post will be heavy on the details. i am experiencing SO much new, that i think its really important to record all of it for my own benefit later on! Plus, theres so much to tell, and if i get all the details out now to set the scene, then later, i can just say whats new.)

here is my first pic in haiti! i just took it over my shoulder sitting on the "porch" at the base. see that green field: yeah, that's the one with the 'recycled' water. that wall surrounds the base and the edge of the building you see is the school for the upper grades.

here's a picture of the building that my classroom is in (unfortunately these images are flipped. thanks camera on a mac for not being legit).

the one on the left is actually a covered walk way that leads one school building to the other. so the white building in the first picture is pretty much directly across from the other school building (white on right) in this pic. My classroom is that second dark doorway.

i am sitting on the porch area (covered overhang) outside of the cafeteria (covered under-hang inside these pillars). this is where you can find me for breakfast @ 6:30, lunch at noon, and dinner @ 5:30 (everyday except sunday, where its served at 4:30). we also hold prayer and worship here M-W-F from 7-8; and staff meetings Thursdays @ 4 (before dinner, and then afterwards, women's group from 7-whenev). just getting my schedule straight, and giving you a glimpse into life on the base. where the concrete starts on the other side of the cafeteria (pictured in the back); above that are the dorms, where I am living until the 15th. then I will be moving into the apartments (where the covered walkway from picture two also leads to). by our standards, they are more like efficiencies. fridge, propane stove, three bare bedrooms, one bathroom, and a small shared-living space that contains the kitchen/living/dining room.

today was my first day on the base really. I woke up at 6:30 after an unexpectedly cold nights sleep. voice was still gone, throat still sore, but then a nagging cough and stuffy nose thanks to the cold and dust. i've got to get used to being caged in my mosquito nest (which, tangent: i likely won't get malaria. just worms and dengue. seriously. they told me i'll have to get de-wormed before i leave. am i a puppy? totes awes). fortunately, i had the best ear phones and eye mask (+1 for picking those up when i was home. totes neces). breakfast bell (oh, yes. for all the meals) rang at 6:30, and i had a roll with peanut butter and a banana. there was apparently cornmeal porridge, but i passed. 7-8 was prayer/worship with staff and dts-er's (YWAM slang for discipleship training school program that YWAM-ers go through prior to their outreach). it was a mixture of english and creole, and i was introduced as staff, so voila, i'm totes official!

School started at 8:15 with circle time, where all the grades start off together and just spend a few minutes in discussion about God (today, His different titles). (side-note: just thought someone was sneaking up on me. nope. just a chicken.) then we had a special guest, christian puerto rican rapper named Ruth. totes legit and the kids loved her. so that took up a little bit of the morning. spent the morning sesh with the little ones getting to know their names and observing jenna as she taught (she's been here a week and once we get settle, she will likely move up to upper grades). There are 8 students in my class, although once i get settled they talked about granting admission to others that have applied. several of them are not very good with their english, and they are all used to rote memorization. this is going to be a very hard task to break. no resources, and no store to acquire them from. its going to be a huge challenge, but I'm eager to get started. the morning concentrates on our memory verses, calendar time (which needs a lot of development), and ABCs. we worked on colors, shapes and animals using flashcards. these kids are a handful! sitting still and following directions are definitely not their strong points. so i'm going to have to implement a behavior plan for sure. but they've had teachers coming and going, so i know a lot of it is just a lack of consistency.

i'm just going to spill some ideas here so i don't lose them. feel free to skip this part. collect cans: personal jars for stickers/pencils etc. sharpened/unsharpened pencils. word wall: a MUST. centers, so that we can do guided reading groups. sound cards ANOTHER MUST. calendar, weather (velcro dots NEEDED! and poster board and clothes pins!). maps? classroom responsibilities/helpers. running records: letter recognition, sound recognition, sight words. spelling pyramids.

after a bathroom and recess break from 9:45-10:15, where we get a break too, and the "zach shack" off the back of the cafeteria offers glass-bottled sodas and snacks on the cheap. so i had a coke break today :) back to class we worked on our words from last week, spelling them out loud and on the board, and then writing them on writing tablet paper. its evident there is a variety of learners and skill levels. and possibly 2 add's. Lord help me.

after working with one of the boys on how to write his name for like, half an hour, we worked on some math skills (counting basics) (ooh, idea for dump: counting/adding center activity). then they got to play a little bit with some lego's and then it was 12 and time for lunch.

a schmorgasboard of leftovers. read: what to expect on the base 101. rice. okra sauce. rice and beans. left-over hot dog spaghetti (i heard someone call this the "good spaghetti"). hot dogs on rolls. tomato and onion slices. orange slices. its a good day when you get hot dogs, or so i'm told. i will NOT be losing the weight i thought i would here. such a shame.

after lunch, i had a meeting with keturah, the girl i had been in contact with before i came. learned that there are gourdes and haitian dollars. 40 gourdes (pronounced goo-dz to a Haitian dollar. and the conversion rate is 7.8. so, basically, i have NO idea what things cost, but will be a math genius when i return). since then, i've been talking with new friends (they are all coming and going so much, that its hard to really tell if i'll make any long lasting ones since they all seem to be volunteers on short-terms just staying here) and did my Esther study on the porch in the fresh air. it hasnt been hot yet. thank the Lord its been enjoyable. but the mosquitos are already out. and i hear the rainy season is way worse. i forgot bug spray. going to the market on wednesday afternoon, so excited to experience that. spent the most of the afternoon here on the porch, taking the opportunity to journal while i had it.

the chickens are everywhere. one of the MK's (missionaries kids) was carrying a baby chick around earlier feeding it pancakes. i don't ask. there is a pool at the back of the base near the families homes, might check that out tomorrow. trying to ease into my first week, but theres just so much to talk about. wish i could share this experience with everyone personally. ya'll would love it and be so blessed here.

i've learned to accept that my feet will always be dirty. and that i will have an inexplicable craving for mcdonalds until i leave just because i can't have it.

miss you guys. download skype so we can voice chat! RhiannonDean07

thanks for the prayers too. ya'll are incred with your encouragement and i can feel it all the way down here. so, who's up for a visit!?

left my voice in Ft. Laudy...

i wish I could go through all of the craziness that today has been. but quiet time starts in 15 minutes so i think i'm required to be up in the dorms by then. today has been a day of learning the ropes and the rules. like: if its yellow, let it mellow. also, no TP in the toilets. don't walk on the grass: it's watered with "recycled" water, and that's why its sooo green and fertilized. no video skype. but i think voice chat skype is okay. showers are cold. electric is turned off from 1-5. breakfast is 6:30 on MWF, and prayer is at 7 those days. School starts at 8:15. we get a break from 10-10:15, and my class will end at 12:15. I'm teaching pre-k and kindergarden aged students. there is no curriculum. free reign. which means, i have no clue what i'm doing. quiet time starts at 9, lights out (literally, the generator shuts off) at 10. I have yet to see many electrical outlets. i'm living in the dorms, until i move into staff housing. i will sleep in a mosquito net for the next 4 months. i won't wear white much more often. we wash our clothes by hand. i will learn to like hotdogs, as i hear they are the other food served here, opposed to rice and beans. which i will also learn to like rice. and, hot dogs in spaghetti for sunday night dinners. the water is filtered, but still doesn't taste right. most people are on volunteer teams, that are coming and going on short term outreaches from other YWAM bases. theres 6 teachers. and they are all really sweet and have been very helpful and inclusive.

it is beautiful here. there's dust everywhere, most of the buildings don't have full walls, and my apartment will only have a roof, no ceiling. i can't get over the mountains and the ocean. so beautiful. flying in was perfect. leaving the airport i felt that feeling that I was right were i needed to be. i wish i could go into great detail, and i am really going to charge myself to do that tomorrow after my first day teaching so that i don't forget this very, very special day.

i love you all and miss you guys already so much. especially knowing that i wont be able to vid chat like i thought. stupid bandwidth. keep me in your prayers and def send all the encouragement you feel like!

i'll have pretty steady internet access and will be able to receive texts. love you!

I love how the Lord reminds me that everything happens for a reason. Memories of my trip to Ethiopia and the struggles I had at the airport getting m tickets for my connection in London. The people I came in contact with. The guy I sat behind and conversed with from Seminary in Missouri. The kid I encountered after his ministry time in Zambia, all because my airport shuttle never arrived. The Lord sweetly reminded me this morning of those fond, divine interventions.

Were pushing back now. It hit me in line, as I was about to board the plane.

Bon voyage.
Xoxo

reality tv. minus the whole tv thing.

leaving the hotel lobby in quest for my room, with the chorus of anna nalick's breathe playing in the background, and i'm wondering who's in charge of writing the soundtrack to my life. for just a moments time, i felt like i was on one of those reality shows in which mtv catches real moments in real peoples' lives, in which their about to undergo a really huge life-change.

fortunately, my script has been written by God and not orchestrated by liz gateley. (no offense liz, total fan of laguna, but it's since gotten a little out of hand.)

today has been interesting of sorts. i am not a morning person. i arrived at the airport around 6:30 a.m. and had pleasant interactions with the spirit air people and the TSA agents :) i loved people watching; seeing an asian-american family with 4 kids, including a pair of twin boys, depart on their adventure to denver; another family, with the boys dressed in solid-color matching long-john sets and crocs; observing jersey shore look-alikes drinking beer at 8 a.m. before catching the first leg of their journey to spring break in cancun.

airports are so interesting to me; the coming, the going. the sad, the excited, the bored. they serve as a hinge of limbo, where everyone waits for someone or to finally be off to somewhere. where you hurry-up-and-wait, to get on a plane, to hurry-up-and-wait again.

and there's that moment, just before the wheels lift off the tarmac, where you think of how ephemeral life truly is, and the fact that yours is going about 500 miles an hour and lies in the hands of a pilot that may or may not have had enough sleep this week-- well, for those 5-7 seconds, i am afraid of flying. i admit it. counting connections, i've had to have flown near a hundred times. and truly, it is the safest way to travel. 43,000 people a year are involved in fatal car accidents, compared to the 500-1000 plane fatalities per the billions of flights flown per year. so my odds are pretty good when flying. and why do i only fear take off? who knows if the wing could rip off mid-air, or the engine suck down a seagull, or lightning, or-- you get the point. point is, were not invincible, and flying reminds me of that.

next point: we're made for community. and fellowship. and not for spending the day, and night, alone in a hotel room in which you have limited access to the world, and inadvertently booked a room with two double beds (no wonder mr. accent man at the desk doubly-inquired how many guests were with me). i've since done my bible study, facebook-stalked, watched this week's episode of grey's anatomy, and now, have keyed away this pointless blog.

i'm excited, ready, nervous. i'm tired, lonely, and not ready to leave my life and the people i care about behind here.

i am about to embark on a really insane journey. i don't think the reality of it has hit me yet. i will undoubtedly face some of the lowest-of-low's, and hopefully some of the highest-highs i've yet to see. there's no way i could be ready to face this alone. so thank you, for your support. and i am beyond blessed to know that the Lord has only asked me to go, and promised that He will be with me, the whole way through.

***

please be praying for my transition and acclimation time. also, i got an email from PayPal because I have been using their self-generated "donate" button for my donations. unbeknownst to me, you have to be an NPO to use that button, so they have requested that i send in information from YWAM/Liberty Academy giving me clearance to fundraise on their behalf. pray that this issue is resolved quickly and without further complication. i know that any great task like the one i am taking on in God's name doesn't go without hurdles to try to slow you down and discourage you. for now, if you wish to contribute, please send checks to my mailing address and not to the paypal account. the funds will be released to me once i get all the documentation sent in, but i just got the email from them today, so it may take a week or so to get things figured out on the ground in haiti. thank you all for your loving and generous support. i can't believe this. it is here. God is so good, and so faithful!

***

(just a note from my Bible study that i wanted to share)

Christians are a spiritual city set on a hill. We are called to be the light of the world so that God can reveal the radiance of His glory through our lives. Yes, feel the weighty responsibility of it, but also feel the privilege. Christ is not ashamed of us (Hebrews 2:11). What honor! What relief!

i want my decision to go and position to be viewed as such. i want it to be a testament to my beliefs in my faith, in my purpose, in honoring both how i was created and my Creator. that's a pretty scary things. as humans, we have a tendency to mess it up more than we get it right. but fortunately for our sake, Galatians 2:19-20 assures us that Christ is within us; that our fleshly life has been recommitted to a faith in the Son of God who loves us. that, too, is a reality we too often fail to recognize. praying I'm reminded of that often in my journey.

my thoughts and prayers and love is with you all

bon voyage

xoxo

(LORD WILLING) I'm leaving in the morning!

I can't believe it's finally here..!!! Well, sort of. I leave @ 5:30 to head to my dad's house to drop of my car for its 4-month hibernation. Then my mom is taking me to Tampa for my 8:58ish? departure to Fort Lauderdale. It's a simple, one hour flight on Spirit, my maiden voyage with the airline. Once I get in to Fort Lauderdale, I have 23 hours and 47 minutes until I depart for Haiti. So I broke down and went ahead and booked a hotel. Completely unlike me. I am usually of the couch-surfer persuasion, but I figured the time alone, with a safe place for my stuff, and not to mention my own bed and possibly my last long, hot, shower for a while. Fingers crossed because I'm not good at the whole hotel thing. I booked the cheapest I could find, with an airport shuttle and internet as the only amenities I used in my search criteria (so it could be a complete dive, but at least I wouldn't miss my flight!). Regardless, this is definitely my first hotel stay alone; although I've done the whole single-travel thing in Belize and hostels and couch surfing, but I'm more afraid of hotel comforters than I am of some strangers Peruvian afghans.

I fly out of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, at 9:45 AM, so I have to get to the airport at 6:45 again. If I remember right, FLL is a terrible airport. But I could easily be confusing it with Miami's airport. Actually, half of it was in Spanish. So I'm almost certain it was Miami.

Anyway, please be praying for this leg of my journey. The anticipation is killing me. But it is going to be a terribly long 24 hours tomorrow. Lots of time spent alone, and again, the whole airport-hotel-airport thing. I'll get more specific as the time gets closer :) One step at a time!

Love you all!

xoxo

sermon notes - Feb 28, 2010 FBC Palmetto

in light of my delay, i've finally found some time to get around to posting about my last church service at home before heading out to haiti. i wish i could convey what a heartwarming and blessing service it was. watching the pastor baptize his son, whom we've watched grow from learning to crawl at taco tuesdays in high school, to the young, fun, energetic 9-year-old he is today. seeing pastor allen's proud tears as both a pastor and a father was such a touching moment, and made me look forward to such a moment in my own life when my children (i said a moment, not any time soon!) make a personal decision to choose Christ and walk according to His ways in their own life. what a moment to remember, as a parent and as a believer! what a mighty God we serve!

then to see FBC's youth, lead by the Smith's daughter kaylee, sing "o happy day" backed by vocals of some of my own closest friends. it was a blessing to the ears, and to the heart. it really was a joyful celebration of the Lord, and you could tell the entire church was blessed.

but what stuck with me, was the message. and how it was so tailored to my last service there. the sermon was entitled, God Invited, God Sent. I am so blessed when the timing of such sermons is exactly what the Lord knew I needed. It was based on Exodus 3, when Moses was chosen by the Lord to lead God's people.

these are the rough notes i furiously typed away on my iPhone.

God has to get our attention before He can invite us. What is it that He has to do in our lives to get our attention? To release ourselves to Him? Before He can invited us to serve with Him, we have to be obedient to follow his call. Psalm 109: we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. We say, "why me? I'm inadequate!" (we'll get back to this). But the Lord knows how He's created us. He's purposed us with our quirks and lacks and flaws all the same.

When God calls us, he commissions us. (Verse 10) I will send thee. Before we go, we must go to Him. We must be willing to learn before we can teach. In the preparation, we must acquire the funds, make the reservations, pack, and do anything else in advance. Otherwise everything would fall to pieces. We must be prepared to go. We have to relinquish our lives, be obedient, say, "send me."

He identifies the purpose for us. The purpose of the burning bush was to get Moses' attention. To call us to service that we might be involved in ministering to others in the name of Jesus Christ. God uses us to see others come to the knowledge and saving grace of the Lord. We have to be willing to respond to the invitation.

(Verse 11) Who am I that I should go? Our first concern is that we are inadequate. But it is only our job to be obedient; it is us to the Lord to do it properly. In our haste, we give up before we ever get started. We forget: God chose ME. All the excuses fade. When we say we are unable, we tell God He doesn't know what He is doing. He chose us, He called us, and He will empower us. Each of us question His call when we realize the greatness of the work, and the greatness of our own inability. We must recognize, realize, and rely on the power of God to do it through us, and to get through it. He will supply all of our needs. He proves Himself adequate and faithful to every challenge. I AM, He is called. He is what we need him to be in every moment of our lives. There is no situation that God doesn't have a solution to. We see ourselves lacking what is needed for true success but with God in the situation, it changes and we can do it.

All throughout the Bible, God's people have been placed in opportunities they were pretty inadequate for. (Verse 12) Certainly I will be with you. He will empower those that respond obediently to His call. We are able to witness the saving power and life-changing power of the Lord. 2 Corinithians 5:17 assures us that we are new in Christ. We have assurance. The token is offered, we are the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. His Presence gives us courage. He's still God and will take care of us, is ever with us, will teach us and help us along the way so that we can be the best Christians we can be as we bring glory to God. We must be willing to do, trust, and recognize that the accomplishments belong to Him. He gives us the prospect. As we embark on new ground, learn new and exciting things and learn to rely on His presence more and more; we'll see what God has in store for each of us.

Our response should be with joyful obedience that He has chosen us to serve Him. All He asks is that we are willing to make the commitment to listen to God and respond to his call in obedience.

***

God caught my attention, and He invited me to go. Did I think I could successfully put my life on hold for 4 months? That I could raise the finances? That I would even do a lick of good in Haiti, not having previous teaching experience and being called well beyond my realm of comfort? Absolutely not. But He can, and will. All He was asking from me was that I was obedient to His call, and He would work the rest of it out. I know I am inadequate in my own flesh. But God, working through me? He's got it covered.

***

At the end of the service, I went to the alter to just dedicate this time strictly to the Lord. I didn't go up with anxiety, fear, or doubts. I went up, knowing and trusting fully that the Lord was going to complete a mighty work within and through me. I felt the presence of my close friends surrounding me and praying with me and laying their hands on me. To know that I have both God, and a ton of friends and family supporting me and praying for me, there is no way that I can fail. I am blessed to have this community of support and encouragement. I was completely beside myself up there. With tears of joy and a smile on my lips, I was able to just thank the Lord for all He was doing, and going to do, in my life and of those in Haiti. Send me, I smiled. You'll be with me the whole way.

Flight was cancelled. Delayed til Saturday; arriving Sunday. Totally frustrated and disappointed but trusting in Gods timing. Sorry for the brief update, but having to text these in.