My Birthday!

Having a “summer birthday” when you’ve always had winter ones is quite a new experience. I was just looking at some pictures of Chilliwack and it seemed so different seeing all the snow. Here the temperature is in the mid to low 20’s (Celsius) and the sky is blue. Jason took me to the beach for my birthday, which we all really enjoyed. After being so busy with moving, setting up our house and language school in the village, it was a great being able to relax and enjoy some time at the beach. Rather then me trying to describe it, you can check out our pictures on our website. Hope you all have a nice day!

"Home" for Christmas

I stuff the last piece of bread still from breakfast in Jayden’s mouth as I step into the gator. It’s still early in the morning but we are running late so as soon as I’m sitting and hanging on, Jason starts it up and off we go. The roads are extremely bumpy and filled with potholes so I hold on tightly with one arm as I clutch Jayden with the other. This little vehicle has no functioning seat belts so it’s important to hang on tight. The good thing is, is that there are almost no other vehicles on the road here in Pignon, and the roads are bumpy so you can’t go fast even if you wanted too. Sand and grit blow over the plastic windshield and I’m thankful for the sunglasses I’m wearing. Here in Pignon my sunglasses are multi-functional. They keep the sun out of my eyes but even more importantly the dust out of my contacts. We’re on our way to the airport to catch a flight back to Port-au-Prince where we will spend Christmas, but getting ready took a little longer then planned. However, since we are the only passengers on the MAF flight back to Port-au-Prince I highly doubt that Mark Williams, the program director and Pilot for the flight would leave without us. I smile and tap Jason on the arm. “Don’t worry,” I say, “he won’t leave without us”, but Jason can’t hear me over the din of the motor so he just shrugs and smiles. I have to laugh! You would think we were missing an international flight or something the way we were acting. I relax and let the early morning sunrise warm my now rather dusty hair. I don’t care if it’s dusty I think to myself, the wind tugging at my clothes, the warm sun, the palm trees scraping against the blue sky…it’s all so beautiful and I just take a moment to soak it all in. Fifteen minutes later we arrive at the airport and find out that MAF hasn’t even arrived yet. We still have plenty of time so we explore the tiny airport. It consists of one very large grass strip runway and a small airport building, if you can call it that. It’s a small beautifully painted cement structure and probably the only building in Pignon that actually has a tile floor. The door just consists of a metal gate and the breeze blows right in. The only thing inside are some chairs to sit on and a bathroom. A little later we hear the whir or an airplane approaching so we go outside to look. Sure enough, there comes Mark. The little plane circles overhead and then comes in for landing. It lands smoothly and minutes later passengers and cargo unload. Then we put our few things in the plane and climb in. Before long we are airborne. The flight back to Port-au-Prince is beautiful. I stare at never ending rolling mountains and valleys in all shades of yellow, orange, green and brown. Glistening rivers reflect the sun rays and sparkle brightly. Cattle graze on the slopes, and every now and then we see the thatched roofs of dozens of little huts. After 20 minutes we catch sight of the ocean and the sprangling city of Port-au-Prince. As we prepare for landing Mark slows down the plane as much as he can and the stall warning starts to go off. I peer infront of me and see a large 747 sitting in the middle of the runway. Puzzled I look at Mark, but he appears calm and continues to advance. Seconds later the 747 has turned and left the runway giving us plenty of time to land. I sigh and relief. As the plane advances closer and closer to the runway a sudden gust of wind lifts us up and I brace myself as we land with a jolt. We then proceed to taxi to the terminal and are greeted by the other MAF pilots. Home for the holidays!

Making Juice....

I balance precariously on a branch and stare for a moment at the ground beneath me. Then determinedly I lift up my other flip flopped foot and climb higher into the grapefruit tree. Tantalizing ripe grapefruit sway in the breeze way above my head. Holding tightly onto a fork like branch that I’m carrying in my other hand I stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Sweet blue eyes look up questioningly beneath m.” Ba?” Jayden says, meaning ball! I smile and nod. “Mommy will be right down,” I tell him reassuringly. Then I tackle the task ahead of me. Since we make all our own juices here these grapefruits will be just right for the juice I plan to make with tonight’s dinner. The only problem is, is that we’ve taken all the ones within reach, or within the sticks reach. Now it’s time for some monkey business! I climb a little higher and then push my forked stick through the thick foliage. Wham, wham, wham. I shake a branch laden with fruit but nothing happens. Wham, wham, finally a massive grapefruit breaks off the branch and falls to the ground with an earth shaking thud. “Ba?” Jayden says again and goes running for it. He picks it up excitedly and carries it under his arm like a football. He tries to run with it but it is pretty heavy for his little arms so he doesn’t get very far. From my vantage point I can still keep an eye on him so I carry on. After several more unsuccessful attempts I finally get 3 more down. There is still more up there, but by now my arm is getting sore and I’m not sure if my flip flops have survived the awkward position. I jump down and bend the deformed flip flips back into shape. Then together with Jayden I carry our treasures to our little kitchen. Yummy grapefruit juice with dinner tonight!

Another Dark Night ...

I take the last bite of dinner and sigh. That Bami sure was delicious. Thanks Dad for giving us all those packages to bring with us! Although we can’t make it exactly the same way as we did back home we have come up with some good alternatives and it’s what we call a delicious, nutritious meal! Jayden is racing around the room, since somewhere between Port-au-Prince and Pignon his high chair has gone missing. As soon as he’s finished his meal he slides off his seat and runs laps around the room. I watch him and smile. Just then everything goes dark, pitch black. The batteries must have run out. Jayden starts crying in panic and we feel around in the dark for him. Seconds later I find him sitting on the floor and I hug him close. Todd, who happened to being carrying a flashlight with him turns it on and after passing Jayden to Jason I proceed to light some candles. Earlier today we had run completely out of water, so the generator which normally provides electricity at night and charges the batteries that we were using just now, had been brought down the road to pump water from the cistern. It took quite awhile to bring it there because the generator is fairly heavy and we still don’t have a vehicle. The pump house is a good two kilometers down the road as well. At least by dinner time it had pumped the water back to the camp, so even though it was just a trickle we did have water. By candle light we wash dishes and then I heat a little water on our propane stove for Jayden’s nightly bath. Since there isn’t a lot of water here and it’s expensive on gas to pump it, everyone usually only takes a quick shower once or twice a week, but Jayden is still small so it’s easy to bathe him in a Rubbermaid. He really needs it too. It’s incredible how dirty he gets everyday. Even though it’s only 7:30 as soon as Jayden is in bed we get ready for bed too. Normally we play games, read books or study at night, but without light it’s just not very practical. Our candles need to last for the time we are here so we can’t afford to keep them burning for too long. After brushing my teeth I make my way to our bedroom only to be surprised by another creepy visitor. A large black spider is frozen to the wall under the beam of my flashlight. At three different times I whack it with my shoe, but each time it gets away. Finally we can’t find it anymore and we give up. Later as we are falling asleep Jason and I whisper jokes to each other about what that spiders is going to do to us while we’re sleeping. I move as close to the middle of the bed as I can and pull the sheets up to my ears. Keep your mouth closed, keep your mouth closed, repeats itself over and over again in my head as I drift off. I know what I’ll be dreaming about tonight.

Until Next Blog,

~The Krul Family~

Some more Pics..

Here we are taking the 1hr + hike into town to get some internet!


Will getting a hand with the laundry.


Jayden running free in the acres of open land

An Early Morning Visitor!

I roll over sleepily and pop open one eye. Suddenly both eyes pop open! What was that? Out of the corner of my eye I see something big and creepy. Very slowly , so as not to disturb our visitor, I turn over and nudge Jason. “What?” He mumbles sleepily. “Wake up!” I whisper. He sits up in bed and I point at the large, black, hairy intruder. ‘Gross,” he says. Some how the spider had crawled its way into our mosquito net while we were sleeping. I shiver. “What if my mouth was open while I was sleeping? Eww.. "Get a towel", Jason whispers. He’s been married to me long enough, and knows how I feel about killing little creatures. I carefully move the mosquito net aside and slip out of bed. I grab the nearest towel off of another bunk bed in the room and fearfully make my way back to the bed. Spiders don’t bother me so much normally, but this one in our bed is pretty freaky. I wrap the towel around my hand and inch forward. Wham, the towel covers the spider and I close my hand around it, then I dash for the door. Morning is dawning, so there is enough light to see. I shake out the towel. I missed it! The spider is nowhere to be found. I run back to our room. “It got away, Jay.” He had been laying down, supposing the spider was gone, but when he heard it wasn’t he immediately sat bolt upright. “Are you sure?” he says. “Yes, it wasn’t in the towel.” He crawls back out of bed and we go hunting. Finally I see it behind a rubbermaid container. “There it is.” “Are you going to try catch it again?” Jason questions. “No way!” I said,” "I’m going to get the skeeter beater. I’m not taking any more chances!” I stumble into the kitchen and find the fly swatter. “I wouldn’t use that,” Jason says. Jayden sticks that thing in his mouth. “What are we going to use then,” I wonder aloud. “How about a clothes hanger, Jason says. He reaches for one and squeamishly walks towards the spider. “Where did it go now?” I gingerly flip over the Rubbermaid and seconds later uncover its hiding spot in the lid. There it is! Wham, Jason got it this time. We drag the Rubbermaid outside and using several napkins clean up the wet, juicy mess on the inside of the lid. Then I bury the spider, so Jayden won’t pop it in his mouth when he goes exploring tomorrow morning. Poor thing!
That begins another buggy morning in Pignon.

A Day at the Market

Smoke from nearby cooking fires swirl upward as I gingerly make my way through the crowded market. I dodge a woman carrying a large basket on her head and feel a warm arm nudge me on my right. I move aside to let a boy pass and look down just in time to side step a rather flattened dead rat. “En dollar, dis dollar, sache? sache?” Voices swirl around me all demanding my attention, but I hurry on searching for Pam and Jennifer. I soon find them, since although the market is crowded their pale skin is hard to miss in the sea of dark bodies. People carry chickens under their arms, baskets of rice on their heads, and herd their bleating goats to the “meat department”. Little sheets, garbage bags or blankets are laid out everywhere and woman, children, and the occasional tied up duck, sit on them proudly displaying their wares. Onions, potatoes, rice, tomatoes, garlic, and plantains are some of the more common goods people sell. We stop and barter for some potatoes and then go on to buy rice, onions and eggs. As we stop to examine some bananas I suddenly let out a small shriek. Something sharp just stepped on my toe. I quickly pull my foot away and look down just in time to see a rooster on a short string held by his master straining to eat some kernels of corn between my feet. A lady sits close by with a large bowl of corn on her lap, ready to scoop up to sell and when the rooster spots this it makes a dive for the bowl. She shoos him away and then says some choice words to the owner. He shrugs picks up his rooster and is soon on his way. We continue to squish and squeeze our way through the throngs of people and animals to buy the last things on our list. Towards the end we pass through the meat department and I shudder. Since there is no refrigeration, meat is killed every Saturday morning at the market to make it as fresh as possible. I watch as a woman puts her hands elbow deep into a large pot of yellowish brown soggy meat. I try to hide my horror as I smile at her and she smiles sweetly back. A few steps later two men wrestle with the carcass of a pig. What bothers me even more is the line up of cute little goats, bleating in horror as they await their slaughter. My stomach turns and I focus only on peoples faces, so I don’t have to look. Finally we’re back at the vegetable section and I let out the breath I didn’t even know I was holding. Relieved I look around and then go in search for some pineapple. Just then two large tap taps (taxis) come barreling through the crowd. Jennifer pulls me to the side and I watch as women frantically pull their goods out of the path of the large dump truck like vehicles. As soon as they pass, the wares are placed back out, and we make our way back to Pam’s truck. Ahh.. done with the market till next week.
As we drive back from the market, Pam realizes she still needs oranges. Seeing some sold at the side of the road, we stop to buy some. One of the two policemen in Pignon happens to be standing close by and as we stop he walks up to the truck. License and registration he demands gruffly, in Kreyol. Pam fishes in the glove box for her paperwork and hands it over. We soon draw a crowd and people surround us. Pam groans. “You don’t have the proper licence plates on your truck,” the police officer says. Pam fishes for her phone to try to call Matt, her husband, but there is no answer. “You better come to the police station,” the officer says, as he climbs onto the only motorcycle the police force in Pignon own. We follow him, and as we drive, Pam explains how they had spent a lot of money trying to get the new license plates, but to no avail. Since they were still working on their Haitian residency papers, they have not been given them. Knowing some of the struggles Pam and Matt had gone through in their two years here in Pignon, I feel like crying. When we arrive at the police station Pam goes in and Jennifer and I stay with our food in the truck. A few minutes later, I decide to join Pam. Although I speak only a little Creole I figure she could use some moral support. “We are going to confiscate your truck” the police officer says. Pam pales even more and grabs for her cell phone once again. She really needs to get a hold of her husband, but he’s not answering. In the meantime I study the police officers. Pignon only has two officers on duty at one time and I take my time examining them. The one who “arrested us” is wearing dark blue pants, a cream shirt, worn black boots, a gun holster with a gun and a flashlight holder minus the flashlight. The other officer is only wearing plaid shorts, sandles and a white polo shirt. The police station is a tiny concrete structure. It has some kind of desk but it is bare. There doesn’t even seem to be a light in the place. The only other thing in the small room is two empty cells with padlocks. Taking up the whole yard is a giant school bus painted blue and white. I guess that’s their police cruiser! I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Pam explains about the paperwork and licence plates but to no avail. They want her truck. She then explains that she has a baby back home that needs to be fed and if she can come back later with the truck. They shake their heads stubbornly and tell her she can walk, but the truck stays here. At this point we are both trying to hide our anger at their injustice and are near tears. Jus then Pam’s phone rings and she walks off to answer it. When she leaves, the police officer wearing the shorts, points out to his friend wearing the worn out boots that they shouldn’t let this opportunity slip out of their hands. They both really could use a new pair of boots. I stare at them unbelievingly, but they ignore me completely. Feeling helpless, since I speak so little Creole, and not knowing what to say, even if I did, I close my eyes for a second and take a deep breath. There is one thing I can do, I think to myself. I could pray to God who promises in His word that He is a very present help in time of trouble. I pray that God will touch these men’s hearts to return the truck. I pray for Pam and Matt that this new set back won’t discourage them even more from the mission work they are doing here and that some how this can all get resolved. Then I look up and wait. Pam continues to try to reason with them, but they continue to shake their head. No, No, they say. You can go, but we will keep your truck. Discouraged, I looked around. “There’s Pastor Memish”, someone in the crowd surrounding the police department says. I look up to see an older, Haitian man making his way through the crowd. Was this who God has sent? I look up hopefully. He greets us all and then softly begins to speak to the police officers. He is so calm, that it is amazing to watch him. He speaks to the police officers for about 10 minutes and then turns his gentle eyes on us. “You’re free to go,” he says in broken English. Our mouths drop open in amazement. He hands us the keys and walks us to the truck. As I slide back into the passenger seat I silently thank God, an ever present help in time of trouble.

Around our house in Pignon

Here's a short clip of Will playing with some Haitian kids around our house in Pignon.

Our house in Pignon





Will in front of the gazebo where we can study in the shade!




The Edgerton Family's house (across from ours)

A Long Walk for Technology!

Hello guys!

Just so you appreciate what a blessing it is to have a motor vehicle, i thought i would share with you my experience today.

Since it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a willing driver (or even a working vehicle for that matter) and I dont do so well with donkeys, Todd and I decided to walk to the airport where we could get an internet connection to send a couple emails. Two hours of walking at a face pace under the beating sun just for 3 emails - now thats dedication!

I posted a video below of us driving through town in the back of some guy's gator. (I hope the video works for ya)

Blessings
Jason

Driving in Pignon

Hello All!

Here's a short clip of us driving in the back of a gator through the hectic streets of Pignon. It sure beats riding a donkey!

A Morning in Pignon

1:30 a.m.

Bark, bark, bark. I roll over in bed and cover my ears, hoping the noise will stop. Then after several minutes of hearing the incessant barking, I groan, roll over and push open the side of the mosquito net. There’s no power on, so I reach clumsily for my flashlight and then stumble my way into the kitchen to find the pan of leftover sphagetti noodles that I had put on the counter the night before. The light from the flashlight is dim and as I open the door and step outside into the cool darkness, it does nothing to lighten my path. Blindly I make my way to the outside camp kitchen area, and finally my flashlight illuminates a small, pathetic dog. I dump, the pan of old noodles in front of him, tell him to stop barking, so we can sleep and then make my way back to our “camp house”. I shut the flashlight off and crawl into bed, then I close my eyes tightly and listen. Quiet, not a sound can be heard. I sigh with relief and then drift back to sleep.

4:30 a.m.

Bang, bang, bang. Jayden is awake and is banging the sides of his pack and play to make sure everyone knows it. I pretend I don’t hear, but after a little while I crawl out from under our mosquito net again, and carefully fold open his. “What do you want Jayden?” I say. He looks up at me hopefully and says “ba”, meaning bottle. I grab the flashlight again, stumble into the kitchen, grab a bag of water and search for the can of milk powder. I give him his bottle and he lets out a contented sigh “aah”. After he’s finished he calls for me again, so I take him out grab some blankets and cuddle with him on our makeshift couch in the kitchen. I hug his little body close and sing softly to him in Dutch, till he falls asleep again. I lay him back down and crawl back in bed.

7:30

Cock-a doodle do.. Cock-a doodle do... Roosters are crowing, Bark, bark, bark… Dogs are barking.. Swish, swish, someone is sweeping outside our window. Bang, bang, bang, Jayden is awake and ready to get out. Since Jason took him out the last two mornings, it’s my turn today. I quickly put on his shorts, boots, and jacket and then get dressed myself. Once I step outside all thought of returning to bed leave me. The blue sky beckons, the sun kisses my cheeks and the breeze gently pushes the hair out of my face. I smile and look at Jayden and as I hold his precious little hand we walk side by side to the meadow. The goats are excited to see us and we pick hand fulls of grass which Jayden holds carefully to their mouths. Every now and then a tugging contest ensues and I smile. Then together we hike to the river. The path is small so Jayden walks up front of me and touches the plants that are leaning onto the trail. We carefully make our way down to the river and stare into the fast flowing water. The vegetation is amazing. A half an hour later we make our way back our stomaches rumbling.

8:00

Breakfast consists of a peanut butter and jam sandwich. We finally got a stove we could use but we don’t have any pans. After breakfast we feed the chickens and then look for one of the camp workers. In broken Creole and sign language we explain we need a pan, finally he understands and brings us three.

9:00

Jayden is in bed and we are studying. We are learning body parts in Creole and are having a lot of fun. Who knew that your tongue was actually your lung? And your chest your stomach? And your neck was a koe (dutch for cow)? We study till lunch time, and that ends a beautiful morning in Pignon.

Update ...

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? We’ve been enjoying your comments, but haven’t had time to reply yet since our access to internet has been very limited. I’m typing this at the camp where we are staying right now, (Camp de la Grace) and Jason hopes to go to the school this afternoon to post this on our blog. We are thankful to say that Jason is feeling much, much better. He completed taking the malaria medication on Sunday and is now feeling a lot more like himself. Jayden has had an upset stomach for the last two days, but seems to be doing much better today. I got sick last night, so I’m not functioning too well right now, but I can still sit behind the laptop and type so I guess it’s not too bad. It seems like we’ve been here much longer then 5 days! We’ve been adjusting well and had some neat experiences. Since we are living in a small isolated village, we are able to observe village life all around us. We’ve also seen all types of interesting little animals and bugs. Just the other day we found a giant tarantula. It had been hibernating in a rock pile, but had come out when the sun peaked through the clouds. The Edgerton children had been waiting for just this thing and had their bug aquarium ready. It was gross looking at the big hairy spider, but also very interesting. We took all kinds of pictures and hopefully we will be adding those to our picasa picture gallery, if the internet connection is strong enough to let us upload pictures. If you want to check, just click on our website and then on photos. Every morning Jayden wakes up early, like 4:30 and although we try to keep him in bed till 5:30 he’s raring to go outside. He chases the chickens around, feeds the goats, and picks up all types of interesting rocks, pieces of mud, etc and tries to eat them! This is a little disturbing, so one of our Hatian friends recommended a muzzle. Apparently they use them on their little kids here. Although that idea at first really appalled me, today he was picking up goat terds, thinking they were droopies (mmmm...droopies.....), so I don’t know! No wonder he had an upset stomach!
Yesterday was our first day of language school. Our instructor’s name is Jacquline, but she speaks almost no English. Our book is also very ancient, mice have had a few dinners out of them, and they smell like moth balls, but oh well. We’ve been learning a lot of new words, and it’s amazing how much we can understand Creole already! The weather today is nice. Although it has been cooler then we expected, its probably around 20 degrees today, with some clouds.
Besides learning Creole and bug hunting , we’ve also had time to go on some beautiful hikes. The vegetation, rivers and mountains are beautiful. Along the mountains wild potatoes grow, which we eat for dinner. Cows graze along the river banks. Tall sugar cane plants sway proudly in the breeze, and majestic palm trees reach up high to touch the ever changing sky. Jeroen, you would totally love hiking around here, and Jaap you and the girls would love all the unique bugs! I miss all of you and hope to write more soon!

CHECK OUT OUR "LIFE IN PIGNON" PHOTO ALBUM
http://picasaweb.google.ca/jwkrul/LifeInPignon#
We hope to update it regularily.

Life in Pignon

Hello All,

We are doing well in Pignon! Jason is over his malaria -PTL! We had our first Kreyol lesson today which was pretty cool. We have uploaded a few pictures on our website of Pignon so you can check it out. We hope to write more tommorrow.

Blessings!

Pignon!

Hi Everyone! I have about 10 pages of stuff I would love to write but i only have about 5 minutes. We arrived in Pignon although we almost had to turn back because of the cloud cover over the village. Fortunately we found an opening and the 3 MAF planes made it through safely. Our surrounding our extremely poor. We are sleeping on a mattress balancing on a couple of bricks on a dirt/cement floor. Very little electricity, cooking over a fire etc. Jason apparently does have malaria so he had a rough first day in Pignon. We visited the hospital, but it kind of freaked us out (we only saw the public ward and there were just people all over the place). Apparently the private wards are better but we didn't get a chance to see it. Since Jason had all the classic symptoms of malaria, and you can only be tested when you have the fever, which is in the middle of the night, Caleb, our helper decided just to pick up the medication. Jason has taken some already and feels a lot lot better! I do too, because I felt really bad for him coming to a new place with a lot of adjustments, and having to lay in bed, in the dark, under a mosquito net, not sure of what kind of bed bugs might be crawling out of the mattress in any second! ;) Anyway the people here are so friendly, and the stories they tell of life in Pignon are amazing. Now that Jason is doing much better we are much happier too. :) One funny thing was that Jayden woke up in the middle of the night and thought he was a chicken. Suddenly we heard "tok tok tok tok tok". When I told him to be quite since it was 3:00 in the morning and there was a work team sleeping the building with us as well he just giggled and kept on going. I really kicked myself for teaching him the chicken noise. There are lots of chickens here and I guess my love for chickens rubbed off on him! I will write some more soon, probably Monday. Please pray for us as we adjust here.

Our last night in Port-au-Prince!

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? We are doing fine! Well Jayden and I are doing fine, but Jason is a little under the weather. He spent the day in bed today with a fever, aches and chills. I keep teasing him that it’s just a man cold, but our program director said it could be Malaria. If it is, we will find out tomorrow. We hope to leave tomorrow for language school and cultural training in Pignon and there is a hospital close by there. Apparently you can take a simple test and find out if it is malaria or not. There is a treatment available there too. Today was a very busy day for me. With Jason in bed, and Jayden getting into all kinds of trouble (J) I was left to pack for the next 3 months. Good thing for me I have become a pro packer. With all the moving around in the last year, I barely have to think about what we need and how to pack, so that’s a good thing. Except this time we have to bring flashlights, mosquito nets, bug spray, powdered milk, etc, all those things we didn’t need to take on our other moves. I just noticed I have spots all over my arms and legs again. Apparently it’s fairly common to get minor allergic reactions to some of the plants and insects here, since we haven’t come in contact with them before. It doesn’t bother me that much though. If it does I just take some Benadryl and that takes care of it. Tomorrow we get to experience our first MAF flight and we are very excited about that. Our language studies will be done in a small village. I’ll write more about it when we’re there! There is a school nearby where we can check our email and write blog entries so we hope to keep you posted what life is like in Pignon.

Acclimitizing!

Here we are in front of our new home!

This is the family who is living with us, and are taking care of the house. Their names are Anoud & Denise and their two children are called Nicolas and Sabboule.

Here is Jayden sharing his toys with his two new Haitian brothers!

Another picture of us, this time with a larger view of our house.

Nicolas & Jayden.

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Hello everyone! How are you all doing? We are doing fine! How’s the weather here? Well warm as usual. I think every day it’s been around 30 degrees or so and we’ve been acclimatizing pretty well! At least we’re not sweating so much anymore! We are thinking of all of you shivering in cold Canada and the USA. ;) It’s hard to believe it’s actually November and Christmas is just around the corner!
The Edgerton family arrived today and we were very happy to see them. They are the other family that’s joining MAF Haiti. Their names are Todd and Jennifer and they have two children Kyle and Meagan. Jason and Todd, always joke about being “the other half”, since all the career staff in MAF Haiti are both Pilot and Mechanic. In our case Jason is the pilot and Todd is the mechanic. We’ve done several classes with them when we were in Nampa Idaho and really enjoyed spending time with them. We’d better because they are now living in the same place we are! The house we are staying at right now, is actually their house, since we are still waiting for electricity and a few basic appliances to be installed. It’s really nice having them here. I guess we are just used to our little one bedroom apartment, and the house we are staying at now seemed big and empty but now that the Edgertons are here and unpacking their things it feels more cozy.
Except for the couch, stove, fridge and two beds, which are all sitting in Customs, we’ve unpacked and set everything else up in our own house. It’s a lot of fun, finally being able to unpack after being on the move for the last year. However, next week we move again, this time to a small village in Pignon for 3 months of language and cultural studies, but at least our things are unpacked and most of our house is set up. As we mentioned earlier, a family is currently employed as care-takers of our home and we have included some pictures. They live on our property and Jayden plays with their two little boys. Their names are Anoud and Denise and their two children are Nicolas and Sabboule. We’ve included pictures of them and our home and hope you enjoy.

Ants!

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? We want everyone to know we appreciate your comments on our blog and your emails! Things are going well here in Haiti! We're acclimatizing to the warm weather and adjusting well. Today I had a little suprise! I was putting Jayden down for his morning nap and I noticed that part of his bottom sheet was turned up. When I reached down to adjust it I noticed some little dots running around. As I took a closer look and lifted up the sheet a little more I let out a horrified gasp! There were red ants everywhere! They were just teeming under that sheet and borrowing into Jayden's little foam pad that I placed into his pack and play to make it more comfortable. I grabbed Jayden out and yelled for Jason. Then I got to work. I gingerly lifted out the sheets and held them as far away from myself as possible. Then racing down stairs I shook it out outside. Bad idea! Soon I was covered with tiny, biting little red ants. I jumped up and down a couple times and frantically shook them off. Finally after having gotten most of them off, I felt a little better. I decided to just leave the sheet on the patio, since I didn't want to take it back in the house. Then I got to work on the mattress. I scrubbed, disinfected and rinsed, but the closer I looked the more I realized that they had made little holes into the foam pad and were hiding inside. Finally I just pinched out all the little holes, taking some of the foam out with the little ants and managed to get them all out. Phew, what a job! Anyway I felt much better once I knew they were all gone. Jayden is sleeping under a mosquito net so I hope they won't get in again. Plus, no more milk bottle to bed at nap time. I'm sure the little drops of milk were what attracted them in the first place. How is Jayden doing through all this craziness? I'm happy to report really well! He's gotten used to drinking water instead of juice, powered milk instead of fresh milk and bread instead of waffles. He doesn't mind the heat, and still runs around with the same amount of energy. He does sweat a lot though so I shower him off a couple times a day. Unfortunately the water is really cold, so he is not to happy about that! I think the whole neighborhood thinks I am murdering him, every time I rinse him off! Tonight I took pity on him and warmed up two big pans of water on the stove, like they did in the olden days, and let him sit in a little blue tub. He liked that a lot, and I felt better too now that he actually enjoyed getting clean. I included some pictures, so I hope you enjoy. Tomorrow we will write more about the family we are helping and other aspects of life in Haiti. We appreciate your prayers and support and don't forget to leave your comments! We love to read them.

School Collapse in Petionville, Haiti

As many of you have already heard on the news, there has been a collapse of a large 3 story Christian School here in Petionville (less than a few KM away from us). The death toll is now rising above 100, but is highly expected to rise as there were approx 600 people in the building when it collapsed! Hundreds of children and teachers are still trapped beneath the rubble, and there is virtually no heavy machinery nearby to assist in the rescue efforts. Please pray for Haiti as they suffer yet another loss / setback. Our Haitian neighbor lost 2 nephews and another with severe trauma in the collapse. We have not yet been able to get to the collapse site as tens of thousands of Haitians crowd the streets near the scene, and make it impossible to get through. The UN forces along with the Red Cross are working steady to rescue/retrieve as many victims as possible with the meager equipment available. Here is a video clip that shows a little more..

Welcome to Haiti

Rain is pouring down in buckets, lightning is flashing and the thunder is so loud it sounds like bombs are exploding all around us! We thought we had escaped the rain when leaving Chilliwack but apparently not! Wow, what a weather! It was a warm day again today but right after dinner the clouds gathered and now we are finding out what rain is really all about. As soon as I heard the first drop, I ran to the door and raced onto the patio. The rain is really a blessing here today! I actually wanted to stay standing under it for awhile. With the amount coming down I figured I would have a better shower this way then inside. The water here just trickles a little, so the pressure of the rainstorm was quite a big deal! I didn’t stand there to long though, because I didn’t want my clothes to get too wet. Doing laundry here is a real specialty to right now so you have to wear your clothes as long as possible. My whole idea of clean has gone right out the window too! I’m not sure how long I’ve been wearing the clothes I’m wearing now and I have no idea when the sheets on our bed that we are sleeping in were last washed. Everything gets dusty and dirty here pretty quick, but for some reason it doesn’t really bother me. I’m not sure if it’s just because my survival instincts have kicked in, and I realize that none of that stuff really matters in the big picture or if I’m still not functioning quite right because of the long time I’ve gone without sleep! Since our house doesn’t have power yet, we are currently living in another home. This morning we walked to our house (takes about 5 minutes from where we are staying), and as we began to unpack I really did look forward to actually cleaning everything, so I guess I haven’t lost that Dutch blood in me just yet. So what else can I tell you about Haiti? The Haitian people have been very friendly. I don’t feel scared or worried at all, like I thought I might. The MAF staff here has been great! Every night this week we are invited to eat dinner at one of their homes, and they have all been very welcoming and friendly. One more thing, Julie White, one of the MAF staff took us to the two nearest grocery stores. Stepping into them was like stepping into the US. They both had air-conditioning and had almost everything you could buy back home. Even toys and gifts! They also were set up in much the same way as grocery stores back home. However the cost was a different story. We bought enough stuff to make three basic, easy meals and it cost us $80! I guess we have to rethink our ideas about what meals are all about. We bought things for pizza, spaghetti and tacos, but from now on we go back to the old-fashioned Dutch way of cooking. Sorry Jason, but vegetables and potatoes from now on! J And occasionally some rice and beans thrown in!

Arrival

The flight to Haiti was fairly uneventful. As soon as the plane took off Jayden fell asleep. I myself was up for over 30 hours before I had that privilege. I chatted with some of the Haitian people around me and was glad to see how friendly they all were. The flight lasted only 1 hour and 45 minutes, so before I knew it, I saw Haiti. First impressions? It looked bigger then I thought. The water around it was a cool blue color and I could see the coral reefs. The land looked a mix of browns and greens. Jayden woke up minutes before we landed and we felt a real thud, thud as the plane bounced on the runway. It took a bit of time to gather my things, but with the help of a friendly stewardess I was finally able to exit the plane. A metal stairs had been rolled to the entrance of the plane. As Jayden and I made our way down the stairs he cried! The bright sunlight and the wave of hot humid air was just to much for him. As I gently soothed him, he began to calm down, but he did cling to me.. after waiting for 20 minutes outside someone had finally found my stroller, which I had checked in before I entered the plane and we were ready to walk to the airport! Mark Williams, the program manager of Haiti was getting worried, so he came out of the airport waiting area to make sure we were alright, since it had been taking so long and to welcome us and help carry our things. As we entered the airport music played and shiny dark faces smiled and waved at me. Although the line up at customs was long, and I was a little worried since I had filled out some of the paperwork wrong, scribbled on it and rewrote over top, the girl at the desk took no notice. Very importantly she opened my passport, and stamped it, and then without even glancing at my papers stamped those too and waved me on. Then it was time to pick up our suitcases. Evidently two of my suitcases had been misplaced, but finally after 45 minutes I had them all! From then on, Mark Williams guided me through the crowd and we made our way outside to the waiting area, where Jason was waiting. He was glad to see us and we were sure glad to see him! The drive from Port-au-Prince was an experience! The roads were full of people, animals, buss', parked cars, tap taps, garbage, etc. There were huge dips, and holes in the roads, and some roads were actually partially dried up river beds. Since I had been expecting poor road conditions I guess what surprised me most was that I wasn’t afraid at all! It seemed like we had many “narrow misses” with other vehicles, people etc, but we were going so slow even if we had hit something it would have hardly mattered. Apparently people don’t use car seats either, although I had brought one with for Jayden, now I kind of understand why. The driving is so slow that although many vehicles have dents and scratches I doubt that many people get really hurt. Our first stop was to our house. We were surprised and excited to see that it had been well maintained, and to meet the Hatian family who had been taking care of it for us. Since they have no other place to stay we plan to have them live with us. There is a separate little house for them with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen, where they live. Their names are Arnold and Denise and they have two little boys, a 3 year old and a one year old. We just ask everyone to pray for this young family, and that we may received guidance from God, on how best to help them. I’ve got more to tell, but Jason’s getting antsy (he wants to use the computer) and this blog has gotten pretty long. I’ll write more later.. bye for now.

Our Departure for Haiti

Monday, started bright and early. Both Jayden and I were quite excited as we packed our final things into the suitcases and tried to close the lids. The truth is Jayden was trying to unpack, and I was scratching my head wondering how in the world all our stuff was going to fit, but we had fun! Natalie came over in the morning and showed me how to roll up all our clothes to save space and it really worked! I didn’t manage to take everything, that I had planned, but with some thoughtful consideration, I chose some of the items I thought we could do without. Once packed, each suitcase weighed around 50lbs so I was happy. We left Chilliwack at 3:30, and arrived at the Seattle airport in record time. There were no problems at the border for which I was very grateful! I had a huge package of paperwork which explained where we were going and what we were doing, but the friendly border crossing guy didn’t ask for any and after a few simple questions and then an incredulous, “wow”, he waved us through. Traffic on the way to the airport wasn’t bad either ! When we checked in at the Seattle airport they weighed each suitcase and one was 2 lbs overweight and another one was 6 lbs over weight. If I wanted to keep them that way I would have to pay a $100 fee. However Jayden and I were both eligible for a carry on as well. I had only packed one big backpack because I also had to carry Jayden’s car seat and stroller. However, I really didn’t want to pay $100 extra so I pulled out another bag filled it with 8 lbs worth of stuff and carried that as well. Since our flight didn’t leave till 9:30 I had plenty of time to get through airport security. When I arrived at the boarding area, I quickly spotted a friendly looking older couple and spent some time talking with them. The older man helped carry my stuff onto the plane which was a big help! Jayden did well on the flight and slept 3 out of the 5 hours. We arrived in Miami at 6:30 a.m.. From there I had a long walk all the way to the other side of the airport to where the international flight gates were. I looked pretty funny with all the stuff I was dragging, but the airport wasn’t busy and Jayden and I did enjoy ourselves. Although it was a little stressful traveling by myself with an active little monkey, we both stayed relaxed and had fun! Since the layover was 4 hours I weighted at the Port-au-Prince gate for a long time. It felt a little strange being the only white people , sitting there, but Jayden didn’t feel the same. He just walked up to people and “petted” their clothes. Gave his rubber ball or threw it at them and chattered and laughed, so very quickly we made friends. One lady gave us all her personal information, in case I ever wanted or needed to contact her. We did experience one funny incident. I was waiting in line and there was a lady in front of me, who previously had been holding a little boy, younger then Jayden. Anyway she wasn’t holding him anymore, he was no where to be found and instead she was pulling 2 suitcases. When the airport attendant asked for her boarding pass and passport she pulled it out of the front of her shirt! Much disturbed the man barely dared to touch it! Then a lady came up to her and said, “but ‘so and so’ where is your baby?” Her hand flew to her mouth and she went running off leaving her suitcases behind, blocking the aisle for anyone else to get past. Minutes later she came running back with her little boy, grabbed her suitcases and trotted on board.
(I hope to write another post tonight with my first impressions on Haiti and what we’ve been doing since we arrived)

In Haiti!

Well, after a long day of traveling, I'm finally in Port au Prince!

I woke up at 5:00 AM this morning and drove to the Fort Pierce Airport to catch my flight with Missionary Flights International. After checking in my baggage, I boarded the WW2 era DC-3 and the adrenaline finally hit me - IM GOING TO HAITI! I had spend so much time thinking about packing, US Customs, and the long drive that i didn't have time to get excited. We had a 2 hour flight into the Bahamas where we stopped for fuel and best of all - a Bahamian Breakfast! From there we flew 1 hour into Cap Haitien International Airport in Northern Haiti. As we descended through the tower cumulus clouds I was immediately struck with the sight of the immense poverty below! It felt like i was descending into completely different world, but I was stunned by the contrast of the beautiful Caribbean beaches surrounding such a poverty stricken nation! I stepped out of the cool aircraft and onto the hot humid tarmac. Sweat began running down my body and i felt as though i was in a sauna. I walked into the terminal and up to the immigration desk fearing the worst, but they simply took my passport and stamped it without so much as a glance at me! From there I re boarded the DC-3 and flew to Port au Prince. Again i was shocked by the poverty, deforestation, but also the natural beauty I stared at below. After we landed in Port au Prince, I was escorted by a Haitian security guard hired by MAF, and bypassed all line ups, and simply waved through customs. All 60 of our Rubbermaid containers, boxes and other personal items came all at once through the baggage claim area, so we worked like crazy to load it all on baggage carts. After showing Haitian customs my inventory list, and having a Haitian friend talk to the officer, we were waved through customs again with paying a penny! We loaded everything onto a large flatbed truck, and i experienced Haitian driving first hand - NO RULES! We weaved in and out of traffic, but were stopped by the police. The police officer argued with my Haitian driver and others in Creole, so i have no idea what they were saying, but I knew that the officer was just looking for a bribe! After a 10 minute argument, we simply drove off. We off loaded everything at my new place, and settled down for the evening. Its been a long journey - but Im finally here thanks to your support!!

Day 8

Monday, 6:00 AM

1400 KM

13.5 Hrs

We got up bright and early this morning so we could hit the road at 6 AM. Still half asleep, I stumbled into the passenger seat and slept for another hour on the road. Our 13.5 hour drive took us through the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, a quick dip into Alabama, through the busy streets of Atlanta, Georgia, and finally, to our much awaited destination - Fort Pierce Florida!! Praise the Lord for our traveling mercies driving over:

- 65 hours

- 6500 KM

- Across 17 States including: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

Day 7

Sunday: Clarksville Tennessee

120 KM
1.75 Hrs

You don't really thank God for a day of rest until you realize how much you need it! Spending most of this week in a truck has proved to be fairly draining. On Sunday morning I attended Todd's Church in Clarksville, Tennessee which I really enjoyed! The Pastor's message was on how to discern God's Call in your life, which proved to be a very applicable theme. After church, and a short rest after lunch, we packed up and drove to Todd's brother's house in Nashville, TN.

Day 6

Saturday, 8:00 AM

980 KM

9.5 hrs

We left Lees Summit, Missouri at 8:00 AM, and it was another day on the road. Fortunately this was one of our shorter days, so we took it easy. We were doing great for time until we hit St. Louis, Illinois and the highway was shut down with no detour routes. We struggled through what seemed like rush hour traffic until we were back on our way down to Clarksville, Tennessee. It was a beautiful drive through Missouri, Illinois, the Arkansas' Ozarks, over the Mississippi River, past Steven Curtis Chapman's house in Paducah, Kentucky, and finally to Clarksville Tennessee.

Day 5

Friday, 7:30 AM

1200 KM
11 Hrs

We departed Cheyenne, Wyoming at 7:30 AM for yet another day of driving! I cannot believe how big this continent is!! Just when you think you've reached the horizon, the rolling hills of desolation continue for as far as the eye can see. We drove through Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, and let me tell you right now - They all look the Same! We arrived at Todd's cousin's place in Lees Summit, Missouri at around 9:30 PM.

Day 4

Thursday, 7:00 AM

1300 KM
14 Hrs

At 7 AM Todd and I left Nampa, Idaho for Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was a very scenic drive through Salt Lake, Utah, and most of Wyoming state! At 9:30 PM, after more than 14hrs of driving we wearily stopped for some dinner and got a hotel for the night.

Day 3

Wednesday

I got to spent most of the day with Dad at the MAF HQ in Nampa. I had the day to rest a bit, finish some odds and ends and then drop Dad off at the airport in Boise, ID. After that, I got the privilege of experiencing packing/loading all over again as I went over to Todd Edgerton's place to help him pack and load. The Edgertons are another MAF family who are also moving to Haiti the same time as us, so I plan to share the drive down to Florida with Todd.

Day 2

Tuesday, 4:30 AM

1100 KM
12 Hrs

Dad and I left Chilliwack bright and early for Nampa Idaho. As expected, we got stopped at the US border, but after about 45 minutes of answering questions, cross-examination, and reviewing paperwork, we were let across! We drove 12 hrs through Washington, Oregon, and finally arrived in Nampa Idaho at 6:30 PM. It sure was nice to have Dad along to share the drive with!

Day 1

Monday, 7:00 AM:

190 KM
3 hrs

I left Chilliwack, BC to Bellingham, WA to pick up our 23ft Penske truck that we would later load half full of our personal belongings and furniture. No problems at the US border - Praise the Lord. After driving it back to Chilliwack, we spent the rest of the day/night packing and loading the truck.

On the move ...

Hello All!

As most of you know, we have begun our move to Haiti, but not without A LOT of driving first! The above map shows our route across the USA to Fort Pierce Florida, where Jason will catch a cargo flight to Port au Prince Haiti, and I along with Jayden will join him there via an airline flight.

(flags mark our stops)

Desert Evening

The Goodbye Desert evening on Saturday was a great success! We want to thank everyone for coming and for sharing this special time with us. We also want to thank all those who helped plan, organize, bake and set up. We will treasure these memories!

Cultural Dinner

Here's a picture of us with our dear friend Pastor James Yang, his wife and his neighbors as well. Last night as part of our class we had to participate in a inter-cultural dinner experience. We were assigned to spend the evening with Pastor James and his wife to experience a Taiwanese dinner. He evidently invited his neighbors as well, so we got a little American culture too! Tofu, peppered shrimp and Chinese green tea were the new foods for us.

Im now sitting in the Boise airport waiting to take off to return home to Chilliwack. See y'all at the dessert social tomorrow evening!

MAF's Relief Work in Haiti

Here's a short video clip from a local TV station showing the impact of MAF's Relief work in Haiti! Check it out...

Final Week Of Orientation

Fall Orientation Class of 2008

This is our last week of classes here at MAF before we finally leave for the field! Last week we had seminars on Dealing with Spiritual Warfare, Keeping Yourself Spiritually fit on the Field, Safeguarding your Children, Healthy living, MAF Security, and much more! It has definitely been a busy week of profitable learning. As I mentioned before, this is our last week here in Nampa, and on Friday we travel back to Chilliwack for the weekend. If you have not recieved our invitation some way or another, you are invited to our Farewell Dessert Social to come say goodbye before we head off to Haiti! The details are listed below.

When: Saturday, October 18th Open House between 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Where: Chilliwack Free Reformed Church

Back from the Backcountry

Im officially done with MAF Flight Standardization! After over 5 weeks of flying, I have been approved for field service. As many of you know, I have just come back from a one week Idaho Backcountry trip, where we were required to put to use every skill that we have aquired over the past few weeks! Landing on some of the shortest, ugliest strips out there was some pretty good preparation for whats to come.

Here are a few highlights of our trip:

Landing at Mackay Bar

Landing at Allison Ranch

Navigating through the Cascade Mountains

A Crazy Day

The morning started good... I was up early and finished all my last minute packing, although the packing did take a little longer then expected. Since Jayden and I were taking a domestic flight from Bellingham to Boise Idaho, and we hadn't payed for a seat for Jayden we only could take one bag for the two of us. I think I repacked the suitcase about six times, before I only had the "real essentials" in and could close the zipper. Anyway, I had enough time to tidy everything and I put Jayden down for his morning nap early, but I think he spotted the suitcases so he was much to excited to sleep. We were picked up on time by my sister-in-law, and the drive across the border was pretty uneventful. The customs officer hummed and hawed a little but let us across anyway. Well at 12:30 we were about 15 minutes away from the Bellingham airport, according to our GPS, so we decided to quickly stop by McDonald's to grab a bite to eat. At 12:45 we were back on the road. Unfortunately the 15 minute drive to the airport soon grew to 45 minutes and we were still not there. Construction on the road, heavy traffic and having to stop at every single red light all contributed to the delay. At this point, I started getting worried. I really did not want to miss that flight. When we finally arrived at the Bellingham airport there was no parking upfront so we just parked in the middle of the road. Some people honked but at that point we didn't care. I jumped out, grabbed my suitcase, Jayden's bedroll, diaper bag, purse, laptop case, stroller and Jayden and stumbled through the door. My sister-in-law after finally finding a parking spot came running after me. "Well, I don't know if you'll make the flight", the lady behind the desk said, as she frowned at me. "Well, I'm going to try I said, as I hastily threw my bulging suitcase on the scale. At least it wasn't overweight! She gave me my boarding pass back and off I raced to the security gate. I gave my sister-in-law and niece a quick hug and then I stumbled on. The security guy wanted to chat and asked how me and my little brother were doing today. A little annoyed I brushed past him (come on, I'm 22, Jayden's not my little brother!). Then I started frantically throwing my things on the conveyor belt so they could be X-rayed. No one offered to help. All 5 of the security people just stood there and stared! I quickly unzipped my laptop bag, took of my shoes and Jayden shoes, collapsed the stroller while holding Jayden's hand so he wouldn't run away, and threw his blankie and Coco his doggie into one of the bins. Then to make matters worse, they made me empty my entire diaper bag that I had packed so meticulously and was bulging with everything I needed for Jayden on the flight. At that point I didn't care anymore, I just dumped it out in a bin, grabbed Jayden and raced through the metal detector. Then I slipped my flip flops back on and crammed everything I could back into the diaper bag. The security gaurd watching me said "I bet you didn't think about all this before you had him". I guess he thought I was this single teenage mom or something. Just then I heard my name over the loudspeaker. "Horizon Air is paging Crawl Willona" Laughing I raced across the tarmac looking back every few seconds to make sure I hadn't dropped anything. Then we ran into a new predicament. I had to collapse the stroller while holding Jayden and all my stuff. Well I managed, but Coco, Jaydens doggie and my purse both landed in a puddle. Anyway, I made it on the plane just seconds before they closed the door. Phew, we made it! From then on the trip was uneventful, Jayden was very well behaved in the plane and we arrived safely and on time in Boise, Idaho. Jason was waiting for us so we had a happy ending to a crazy day.

I Passed!

Just thought id let y'all know that i passed my FAA Written Exams with a whopping 95%!

Praise the Lord

Back in Idaho

Hey Folks!

Yup that's right - I'm back in sunny Idaho for final training. Apparently some dates got mixed up with MAF, and so i sat at the airport for about 2 hours waiting for someone to pick me up. It was a good time to study for an exam ive got to write tomorrow. I'm converting my licenses to US FAA licenses, so every spare minute goes into cramming for that! (I strongly dislike tests!!) Ill let you know how things go....

Blessings

Jason

Relief work in Haiti

Here is a short video of Hurricane Gustav when it struck Haiti.

Please continue to pray for the people & country of Haiti as they struggle through the aftermath of several severe hurricanes. As you can tell, there will be an abundance of work for me when i arrive!

For more info, pictures and stories about the hurricanes in Haiti, visit MAF's website at http://www.maf.org/

What a mess!

When I close my eyes at night I can still see it; bins, cardboard boxes, packing paper, baby clothes, our cutlery set, camping stove, pillows, papers, books and much more. In actual fact, its everything we own packed in one room. Every day when Jayden is either napping or in bed for the night, I spend time trying to pack and organize, but when I come back the next day it seems like it's an even bigger mess! There's actually so much stuff packed haphazardly in that room I can hardly turn around! So far I have packed 14 large Rubbermaid containers and one box, so I'm getting pretty close to done, but to get through customs every single item I pack needs to be written down and then typed on to a spreadsheet. This takes time, but at least we will have a complete inventory list and down the road when we need to unpack or are looking for something, it's just a matter of looking on our list and then finding the box with the corresponding number. Anyway my goal is to be done packing this week. I can't wait!

We're back in the Wack!

After a long 9.5 hour drive through the night, we made it back to Chilliwack, BC. We left immediately after Jason was finished his flying for the day on Wednesday, and made it back to our new home on Thursday morning. It weird to think that we will be flying back to Nampa, ID in a few weeks for our final training! Praise the Lord for the safe travels and for not having any car problems.

Home Stretch

Well, we're on our final week of training here in Nampa - time sure flies! Please continue to pray for us as we complete this phase of training. The flight training is extremely demanding, with little room for error, so pray that the Lord will help me in this final week. Above is a photo of an airstrip called Oneway, and its not called that for no reason! Its a 8% sloped, gravel runway, with a large cliff near the end, making it possible to takeoff and land only one way. You can read a little more about what we've been doing here in Nampa on our August Newsletter that we just sent out. If you would like to be on our mailing list, please send me an email, and we would be happy to add you to our list! You can also view our past newsletters online at http://www.mafkrul.com/ and click on about us.

Just so you know, we plan on driving all the way back to Chilliwack some time this week (depending on how my training goes). We'll see ya then!

A Taste of Training

Its been a great week of flight standardization. We practiced up slope landings, terrain flying, air drops, emergency procedures, and much more! On Thursday we went to a large dry lake bed where we could practice a whole range of maneuvers and emergency procedures. You can see in the photo above that its over 5 miles across, so after we landed there we setup a runway using orange cones. This allowed us to practice maximum braking, aborted takeoffs and landings, as well as low level maneuvering! Lots of fun! We also setup a target on the ground to use for airdrops to see how accurate we could get. After a bit of practice I was able to consistently drop the packages within 50 ft of our target - good thing to know! The hardest part is compensating for the strong winds - they were gusting over 18 mph that day. The nice thing about practicing at the lake bed was that if anything happened at any altitude, we would just land! You can imagine how dirty the plane was after a full day of having fun!

Groundschool Complete

Here's a picture of our Standardization class including the instructors. On Friday afternoon I completed the ground school portion of standardization, which means that on Monday I begin flying!

Last week we were very excited to have my parents along with my sister, Esther, come visit us here in Nampa. We had a great time together!

Help Ship our Belongings!!

(photo taken by fellow MAFer Michael Broyles)

We have begun the painstaking task of packing / purchasing all of the items that we will need for the move to Haiti. We have been told that most household items are much more expensive in Haiti or not even available. Thus we have begun looking for appliances, small furniture items and more that we will be needing to live in Haiti.