Pearls from Jane's pen

It's been a busy week here but many things have happened since we last talked, so I thought I would bring you up to speed. But first, I hope you are all well and not stressed about the upcoming holidays. It's really odd to see Christmas decorations here like those inflatable balls with snow scenes, and wicker reindeer, garland over doorways, some Christmas lights on homes and of course the big displays in the local stores selling all sorts of Christmas merchandise. The sun is shining now after all the rain we have had lately and the temperatures stay in the 25-28 degree range. The nights are a little cooler so sleeping is quite comfortable with only a sheet and maybe we pull on the blanket in the wee hours of the morning.

On Friday we went to the airport to pick up a group from Marshall United Church in Ancaster and who do we see at the airport getting off the flight also but Sam & Nancy Voorberg from Ancaster CRC. They were quite surprised to see us also and today we were able to get together with them and take them on a tour of our work here. God sure knows how to send a ray of sunshine at times when you feel homesick and tired. We also received an email last week from a school buddy of John's (Ken & Jennifer Sipkens) who are here for a vacation also. More sunshine!

There are 6 ladies who joined me at the sewing shop on Monday & Wednesday to help teach the local women how to sew on the machines. We started making small drawstring gift bags that will be filled with toiletries and gifts for the group's visit to the patients in the public hospital on Thursday. Our visitors were surprised and overwhelmed with the enthusiasm, commotion, and lack of basic skills these Haitian women possess. Even sewing a straight line is a challenge because they all think that the faster you make the machine go the better it is. Each group member was paired with 2 Haitian women at one machine per table and given the opportunity to work closely with them. Of course, many of the ladies who were in my embroidery class that were not chosen to use the machines came to watch and socialize. Chaos multiplied many times over. Finally I had to tell them they could watch for 5 minutes only so we could get back to work. It's really awesome when you see these Haitian women helping each other with their sewing. They made the 75 bags needed for the hospital ministry. Good work to all!

Sometimes life is frustrating here but we know things can always get worse. Last week for 4 days we had no running water in the house because the pump that draws the water up the hill burnt out. This affected the 10 homes that all rely on the pump. You don't realize how precious a commodity water is until you don't have it. No showers, no laundry done, rain water for dishes and toilet flushing, ugh! I think of the village we are working in of Los Algodones who has gotten water for the first time in it's existence just recently. How did they do it? Also, the cellular network was experiencing difficulties in our area so we had no phone service during the same period. Add to that the fact that hydro comes and goes regularly for 4 or more hours at a time made for quite a stressful week. At least it's not cold here. But all things are now back to what is considered normal again. Thank you, Lord.