Light trumps darkness!!!

I am home today and I have a chance to update my website. But I'm sorry, I don't have any new pictures. I am waiting on my battery charger to get here. Sam is going to Port au Prince today to pick up a group and he should be able to get the mail, and my battery charger. I am looking forward to hosting my first team. A group of 6 guys is coming to work on wells and do some other things too. So I came to stay with Delores and Tinana for 2 nights so they won't be alone. We do have a guard that is going to sleep in the depot. That is what a night guard does here.

I have driven alone for the third time today. Two of the 3 times I was an ambulance. Tuesday or so I had a man with a broken hip we think. He couldn't walk or sit. He laid in the back of the truck and I took him to the hospital. Today we had a little "gran" (old lady) come to the house. She had been attacked by 3 dogs and bitten bad. Delores bandaged her up and I drove her home on the 4-wheeler.

I am on my 3rd language teacher. My teacher now will stick, I think. He was basically my teacher before but he wasn't paid for it. I thought it would be nice to have one friend that wasn't paid and didn't ask me for things. And we wanted to stay with girls. But Joslin is great. He lives right above me and works with Sam a lot. For class the last 2 days we changed the bushings on the truck. Since the roads are so bad the bushings and shocks wear out fast. Few people have cars so no one really knows how to fix them. It was fun. I like stuff like that. It seems that being an ag major and having to be around lots of guys has come in handy. The girls here my age all have kids and are busy. But the guys aren't that busy and they seem to think it's cool that I can drive and play guitar and can get on a horse with no problems. It seems the number of guys in our english classes is growing. I'm working on some girls but they are like 12-14. Even then they are so busy with household chores they didn't have much time for school or classes.

My favorite little neighbor just came down with malaria. I was able to bring her to Delores for medicine- to the`clinic Delores insists we don't have. We are the only people in town and the only ones they can afford. We did have to shut the gate this week and not let people in. There were too many people coming and going and some spark plugs dissappeared from the 4-wheeler. Someone managed to get their hand in my window during church and rearrange my books from my table too. Nothing was missing. Even though my discman had been played with, they put it back. CD's havn't made it here anyway so they probably didn't even know what it was. It was my fault for leaving the window open but luckily they weren't too serious since they didn't take anything, just curious I guess.

We finished T4T training in Savanne Plat this week. We started teaching them the storying songs. They are picking them up fast and are doing really well. They love them. I have sort of fallen in love with the kids there and I am sad they will be going back to school on Monday (or so). Last week they gave me 6 mandarines and 8 eggs. Eggs are really expensive so I felt humbled by that gift. I wasn't sure what to do but I took it since they wanted me too. They started having a little worship service this week so be in prayer for them. I pray they wouldn't be influenced so much by the outside churches and the strict rules but would have a natural, New Testament church that glorifies God and suits the people in Savanne plat.

We also had a group approach us about a new church in Doko a little area only a fifteen minute walk from us. We had the first class on Monday. It went really well. Just like in Savanne Plat we had a packed house. They had made a 3 walled shelter out of palms that looks off this beautiful mountain. It is a great place for a church. By the time it was over we had 19 people. Of the 19 we had 4 people who said they wanted to become Christians and prayed with us to receive Christ. Pray for direction in a leader for that church. Sam has asked Joslin, my teacher, if he would think about leading it. He lives just 15 minutes or so from there. Joslin is only 19 but has been through the T4T twice with Sam. They couldn't wait to get started with their church and had their first service last Sunday by reading the Bible and singing. God is working in them. After we had the first informal meeting with these people the guy who's house the church is by and wanted to do this came to our house with his wife. She was not a Christian. Immediatly after the meeting she got really sick and couldn't walk. She had a bad headache but Delores could find nothing physically wrong with her. The woman was not a Christian but she prayed with Sam and Delores and received Christ. She was able to walk home! She was still somewhat shaky but she could walk rather than being carried. Satan has a strong hold on a lot of people here but God is infinitely stronger. Pray also for their hearts, that they could be opened for the people living in darkness around them. Pray for the 4 new Christians as they seek the know more about God. And pray for them as they go through the T4T training with Sam and Joslin.

A couple guys came over a few nights ago to play guitar for me. They of course wanted to hear me play. But I didn't have my song book and can't play many songs without it. However, Woz Falen had come to english class that week and I had taught them "God is so good." By her suggestion we got out the papers I had given her. There just happened to be a lady stopping by on her way to or from a voodoo ceremony. I could tell by her clothes. Since the song isn't hard to translate, after each english verse, we sang it in Creole. God is so good. He cares for me. I'll do His will. He answers prayer. She didn't stay for the whole song but I felt good about being able to give her that testimony in her heart language.

I know this has been long but I have one more quick story on this subject. I was walking to Leonel's after dark the other night. It was the first night I had done so alone. Usually about 6:30 he shows up here to escort me home if I'm not there yet. So anyway, I was walking all alone with my flashlight. Usually, everytime you meet some one here you greet them. This was probably the first time someone has totally ignored me. Then I meet this teenage girl. She asks me "Ou pa pe job?" She asked me if I wasn't afraid of the devil. I told her no. I wanted to tell her more but I had tried talking this girl before and I couldn't understand her very well. The people here are scared of the devil and darkness. They need God and light in such an indescribeable way! Pray for this hold to be broken, light to break loose. Pray that I can learn the language so that I can tell them that when you have THE LIGHT in your heart darkness has no hold over you!