Teaching English

Classes begin again at the school in Gramothe (the main village in which Mountain Top Ministries presently works) on Monday the 5th, but we began working with some students in English yesterday morning.  They know more English than we know Creole, but not enough to communicate very fluently.  Stephen, one of the Charles’ sons, went [...]

Thursday, Dec 25 – Merry Christmas!

Christmas isn’t as commercialized in Haiti as it is in the States – which is nice.  We saw Christmas lights strung at a grocery store, heard some Christmas songs, and saw a few gift-wrapping stations set up at stores, but that was about it.  Although it is celebrated, it doesn’t sound like they have as [...]

Tuesday, Dec. 23 – Mache (pronounced ma-SHAY; open air market), Baptist Mission

This morning Beth brought me (Karen) to the open air market that is just up the street from our house and is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  Several ladies come to sell their goods – mostly vegetables, rice, beans, a few grains and fruit.  It was fun watching Beth get into bargaining with a couple [...]

Monday, Dec. 22 – inverter (for electric power)

The electricity was on when we woke up around 6:00 this morning, so we turned the water pump on to fill the container on top of the house.  Electricity went off around 7:00 a.m., so it’s a good thing that was done!
Willem brought us into Petion-ville to get batteries for the inverter.  Now to explain [...]

Sunday, Dec. 21 – electricity and water

Our mattress set arrived last evening (the appliances arrived Thursday evening), so we can stay in our own home tonight!  We will be eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches until our stove is hooked up to gas, we are using flashlights and a candle because the public electric power is off, and we don’t have [...]

Thursday, Dec. 18 – in transition

Yesterday Beth brought us along to Petion-ville (the major town about 15-20 minutes from where we live) to take care of some things.  We were able to buy a stove, refrigerator, manual washer, and mattress set for our house, which the store will deliver.  It was nice to get some major things done our first [...]

Tuesday, Dec. 16 – arrival in Haiti!

We left Indianapolis yesterday afternoon with our total of 4 suitcases and 4 carry-ons, pretty sure (at least hoping) we had cared for the important details in preparation for a year absence.  We had an overnight layover in Ft. Lauderdale and spent the night at the airport since we got in late and were leaving [...]

Car Accident

(Summary of results – neither one of us was hurt, and the car is rather damaged on the passenger side.  At the end of this post are some things for which we are thankful.)
We were headed back home to Indiana on Monday after spending the weekend of Thanksgiving in Minnesota.  Road conditions weren’t great due [...]