Our Adventures in Haiti

The End of the Adventure For Now

2012-02-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

We apologize for the extended silence on our blog, but it has been for an important purpose. We have prayerfully reached the conclusion that resigning immediately from our position as missionaries with Mission Haiti is in the best interest of our family. We are so thankful to God for the opportunity to serve the wonderful people of Haiti these past two years. It truly has been an adventure, and we will never be the same. We also thank all of you so much for your financial and prayer support, and for simply sharing this unique experience with us in so many different ways.

We also want to personally thank Verlyn and Nancy Raak of Sioux Center, Mission Haiti board members, for their help and support over the last couple of months. They are willing to answer any questions you may have regarding the need for the decision we are making at this time.

Now our family will step away from missions and formal ministry for an undetermined amount of time. Only God knows what the future holds and whether we will ever again have the privilege to be sent out for another adventure. For now we are beginning to look for a suitable place for our family to live and work in the Sioux County area and are open to any suggestions or help you are willing to give.

God Bless,

the Grimms

2011 Financial Contributions Report

2012-01-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

Thank you so much to all of you, our faithful supporters, for again making it possible for us to continue working with the precious people of Haiti this past year. We can't do this without your help, and our family and the people we serve are so grateful for the sacrifices you have made to partner with us in this ministry. Below are the financial figures for 2011 followed by a few comments:

Overall 2011 contributions: 45,502 (2010- 44,844)

-Personal salary 33,421.21 (2010- 36,561) -10%

      (taxes, insurance, US home mortgage,
       vehicle costs, clothes, summer travel,
       vacation, home school curriculum, etc...)

-Ministry expenses 12,081 (2010- 8,283) +46%

(plane tickets, travel expenses, housing,
other in-Haiti ministry expenses, etc...)

Comments:

1. If you've ever wondered if God really cares about and controls finances, consider this...when we stepped out in faith two years ago to join Mission Haiti and raise our own support as missionaries, we prayed that God would provide an amount somewhere near the level Cory was previously being paid on staff at Good News Reformed Church in Sioux Falls. After looking at our total giving listed above for those two years (2010- 44,844, 2011- 45,502), which by itself indicates incredible consistency, can you guess what Cory's final salary was at church? You guessed it, $45,000. God answers prayer, and He DOES care about and control people's finances!

2. We were very pleased to be able to keep our personal salary lower this year and move more money into the “ministry expenses” side of things. This was necessitated by our spending more time living in Haiti in 2011 and was made possible by some great young women (some of whom have traveled to Haiti frequently) renting our home in Sioux Falls during the 2^nd half of the year.

3. We are setting some financial goals for the coming year in keeping with our desire to serve in Haiti long-term. We have never set a target amount to raise each month or year, but we feel strongly that it would be beneficial to continue raising additional support this year for several reasons. First of all, as most of you know we live “by faith” or month-to-month, so to speak, normally carrying over a balance anywhere between $0 to $5,000. We would like to build up a little more of a reserve this year to insure the availability of funds for unexpected costs or emergencies. We don't feel we need an entire year's salary, like some mission organizations require of their missionaries, but somewhere between 3-6 months of expenses would probably suffice.

We also want to work towards being able to afford some kind of very basic health insurance, educational savings for our kids, and retirement contribution. We don't know what these “benefits” would look like exactly, or how much they will cost, but we plan to research these questions and are open to suggestions. As some of you are aware it is very difficult for us to find health insurance for Lynn, so this major hurdle alone will require a great deal of prayer and research. Again, as we look towards our goal of serving as missionaries for a very long time, we feel these considerations will help make that a reality. Most denominations now require their overseas missionaries to raise in the neighborhood of $80-120,000/year, but we hope we won't have to go that high. In the coming year we plan to arrive at a realistic figure to aim for.

We want to say a big “thank you” one more time to all of you for helping us in so many ways. It was a great year, and we eagerly look forward to whatever God has for us in the year to come.

God Bless!

-the Grimms

Update on the Board Meeting

2011-12-31T17:53:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

We are pleased to announce that our meeting with the Mission Haiti board was very positive, and there seemed to be a general consensus that the issues we previously had were addressed and worked out. As you might have guessed, the main problem was breakdowns in communication leading to hurt feelings and misunderstandings.  With us normally in Haiti and everyone else back here in the States, emailing can be non-personal, phone service is unrealiable and expensive, and when our leaders lead teams to Haiti it is challenging to carve out the time we all need to talk through everything on our hearts and minds.  We all agreed to be more proactive and forthright in addressing our questions and concerns in a timely way.

Another key issue was how I (Cory) allowed my disappointment with the delaying of the Bible School plans to spill over into conversations with Haitian people, which was perceived by some to be dissent against Mike and Pam and/or Mission Haiti. We apologized to the board for letting that happen, and we apologize to you, our supporters, as well. Now we are anxious to get down there and reassure people that this ministry is united in serving the Lord, and stronger than ever in our commitment to the precious people of Haiti.

Speaking of getting down there, we will work with Mike and Pam in the days to come to chart our our schedule for the weeks to come.  One upcoming treat will be a visit from Lynn's parents, as well as her cousin and her cousin's son. It might even work out for all of us to travel together.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers! Many of you contacted us with support and encouragement, and we want you to know how much we appreciated it.

Happy New Year! Or as they say in Haiti, Bon Ane!

-The Grimms

Merry Christmas and an Important Announcement

2011-12-24T07:41:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! Wherever you are and whoever you are with today, may you sense the power and love of our Lord who has come to live among us.

Our important announcement is that we were asked by the Mission Haiti leaders and board to return yesterday to the US. It would not be appropriate to give details at this point, but we will be up front in saying there are some serious conflict and issues needing resolve which involve us, the board, the Plasiers, and the Haitian people. All of us need your prayers in the days ahead for the unity of this organization and for the will of God to be clearly known and understood by us all.

Right now we are staying with Lynn's parents in Sioux Center and enjoying this unexpected opportunity to spend time with family. It will also work out to join Cory's family for a get-together in a couple of days as well.

God Bless,
The Grimms

Early December Medical Team

2011-12-16T06:34:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

Greetings this fine December day, just 9 days before the celebration of our Lord's birth. It is quite sunny here this morning, low-80s at 9 o'clock. Last night in youth group was a special night. I was feeling down in the dumps, which I have learned over time in ministry generally means God is about to do something great. We continued our study of Abraham's life, and at the end we built an altar of big rocks, just like he did when God spoke to him. Each of the people at the youth group meeting were encouraged to say something about their relationship with God, or lack thereof. Evens (known as "cookie") mentioned he didn't have Christ in his heart, and evil spirits were grabbing at him at night when he is in bed trying to sleep.

I asked him if he believed in Jesus and whether he was ready to repent of his sins and commit his life fully to Christ. He said he wanted to do that and felt God had spoken to him personally on this night. We talked through a few more things to make sure he was making a strong commitment and understood the implications of his decision, and then he prayed to give his life to Jesus. This was special for me, because ever since my first trip to Haiti over 2 1/2 years ago, Evens has had a special place in my heart. He has been a pet project of mine. He is painfully shy, but a hard worker at home and at school. He also has a fire in him that might propel him to do great things for God. Last night we welcomed him into the community of the saints and celebrated his new life.

About a week ago we were visited by an interesting medical team, mainly from South Dakota. The leaders were Chad Haber and Dr. Annette Bosworth of Sioux Falls. They were here last Fall in the month of September, and you can find a blog post on that visit in our archives as well. Just like last time they brought a huge amount and variety of prescription level drugs, leaving most of them behind afterward for Nurse Sue to utilize in the clinic. They conducted clinics all over our community, even up in the farthest school of Toussaint, where their help is so desperately needed.

We could write a lot more about the week, but you might be more interested to read about it through the eyes of the team members and Dr. Bos herself. Use the following link to check out what they have written and filmed:

www.annettebosworth.com

Have a wonderful day!
-The Grimms

Tarantulas and Deportees

2011-12-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

This may seem like a strange title for a blog post, but a connection can be found here. Both tarantulas and people who have been deported play important roles in Haitian culture, and both of them seem to surprise you, showing up when you would least expect it.

We have had a lot more tarantulas than usual around our property in the last couple of months. Richard got a kick out of it when he was here. He likes to hold them and take pictures, even if they aren't all the way dead yet. We found one hiding behind our propane tank in the kitchen one day, a mostly-grown adult who somehow found a way into our house. I guess he was strong enough to push the screen door open a bit and sneak inside when no one was looking. He experienced the wrath of the broom handle. Then a baby one was crawling on Alexandra one day while she was in bed. When we said, “A little spider is on you,” she jumped out of bed in a flash.

There have been several others in the yard and tons out on the paths in the mountains. One evening after youth group a big fellow was running across the yard with Emmanuel in hot pursuit. He got to a cement step and stopped. This step is 8 inches high, but he was able to stand on a couple of legs and reach a couple of other legs over the edge and begin to pull himself up. That means his span was around 10 inches or so. That is a big spider. Soon he felt the bottom of Emmanuel's flip-flop mercilessly squeezing his life away.

Another fascinating story about tarantulas...Richard and I (Cory) were hiking through the mountains, and as we passed by the village of Jabouim we saw a little tarantula walking happily along the path. He was about 1 inch across or a little bigger. As we were watching intently, suddenly a huge insect flew in, something like a giant mosquito, and attacked the spider. Soon they were engaged in chemical warfare, each one stinging and striking and injecting poisons for all they were worth. The mosquito-like thingy won easily! It was pretty amazing to watch. It made me wish I had a camera for filming this strange event in nature. Tarantulas look so gross and intimidating, but they are virtually blind, very slow, and easy to kill.

Like tarantulas, the people who get deported back to Haiti for whatever reason usually appear more threatening than they actually are. Recently a man named Patrick, probably age 28 or 30, was sent back here from Canada. He has many extended family members in this area, and they seem to be taking care of him for now. He is a big talker and seems to be drunk all the time, and something about him makes me kind of nervous. He is totally fluent in English, and the way he talks to me makes it seem like he would love for me to say something that would justify him (in his eyes) to try enticing me to argue or fight.

Antoine has begun taking Patrick under his wing. Antoine was deported years ago and has managed to give his life to God and make the most of his situation, even marrying a local girl and starting a family. Antoine told me, “Patrick is in that middle place, where he could either ruin his whole life or even kill himself, or he could begin to walk on the straight and narrow and have a real life.” Antoine is probably the perfect person to try to help him, because he has been in the same shoes, so I'm praying that it works out. In the meantime I will probably avoid Patrick unless God says to do otherwise. He just has a little too much hatred towards all white people right now. He is probably harmless, but there are some fangs to contend with if you get too close.

Tarantulas and deportees. Both of them unpredictable, but both provide the potential for interesting adventures.

May Your Adventure Include Interesting Characters Today!

-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Bible School Update

2011-12-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

We don't have a ton of information to write on the Bible School right now. As we mentioned recently, the Mission Haiti board decided to put this project "on hold" for now. We weren't given a full explanation of this conversation or the reasoning behind the decision. The two basic pieces we were told was that when Pam was praying about it she felt like we were running ahead of God and disobeying his guidance by doing this project at this time, and later we were told that Mission Haiti would like to solidify current ministries before undertaking a new, big project like a Bible School.

That is pretty much all we know right now. We weren't given a timeline of when this could be reconsidered, or a list of exactly what needs to be accomplished with current ministries or anything like that. When we heard this news we were completely surprised and even devastated. This may have been discussed previously by our leaders and/or the board, but we were unaware of it. We felt the momentum on this project could not be stronger or more positive, and every day God was opening up new doors for funding, teacher and student recruiting, curriculum development, and campus construction. However, we know that God works this way from time to time, asking us to put everything on hold and refocus on what is important. So we are trying to trust Him and our leaders and use this delay, however long it turns out to be, to continue to work on the vision, language acquisition, and anything else we can to do put ourselves in a position to do the Bible School well when it is ready to go again.

Meanwhile we had to inform the resident directors (a young godly couple who had committed to coming as missionaries here), the professors (who planned to visit for a week to teach a class), and all applicants that the Bible School is "off" for now. That was hard. Also, the main grant for the construction of the campus came from Cory's home church, so we aren't sure how this delay will affect that relationship or their trust in us to complete the project for which they have contributed so much. We also have several other grant applications floating around out there requesting funds for the school. So all of those things are kind of in limbo for the time being. It can be very discouraging and even embarassing to think about, but again, we are trying to make the most of this time.

Each day now we simply look around and see who we can help in any way possible to know God more. We enjoy working with the youth group and the young kids we see each day. That is a true blessing, but we continue to long for a setting where we can invest deeply in the young adults who will impact this nation and the world in years to come, helping them discover, understand, and put into action the deep truths of God found in the Scriptures. So we are living in the tension between what is and what we feel we should be doing, hoping and trusting God has a purpose for this struggle.

Please pray for our family and Mission Haiti during this challenging time of ministry. May God's grace and wisdom guide all of us as we work together and make decisions about how best to help the Haitian people be disciples of Jesus.

God Bless,
the Grimms

A Tropical Christmas

2011-12-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

Family & Friends,

Greetings to all of you blog readers at home, at work, or in coffee shops! As you sit there sipping a cup of something hot, surfing the web, and looking out the window at the winter wonderland, just imagine us sitting on a beach down in Haiti with a gentle warm breeze, the lapping of the water, a cool drink of ice tea, and a background of palm trees. Okay, we don't really do that very often. We just thought it would be fun to make all of you jealous whenever you have to drive on ice or shovel the snow.

The last of our four mission teams have come and gone, and the time has arrived to update the blog on a more regular basis as we march closer and closer to celebrating Christ's birth. For us it will be a tropical Christmas again this here! Here are some posts you can look forward to in the coming days:

“Update on the Bible School”

As you may or may not have heard, depending on your level of connection to the Mission Haiti organization through other avenues, Mike and Pam and the Mission Haiti board recently made the decision to place the Bible School project “on hold” for now. This post will talk about some of the reasons for this move and how it is affecting our family.

“Reflections on the recent Medical Team”

This team that just left, who are traveling back to the US at this moment, included a doctor, several medical students almost ready to graduate, and several other individuals. They did some great clinics and left us with a ton of medicine. We will share some stories from their week.

“Tarantulas”

Everyone's favorite furry creatures in Haiti have been showing up more and more. We found an adult-sized fellow in our house the other day! We will write more about these experiences in this post.

“Music in Haiti”

Cory has had the opportunity to play on the church praise team each week, help youth group members write music, and help the new church youth choir. Through these experiences and others we have begun to learn some interesting things about music in Haiti and the potential to use the arts for ministry.

“School Program Dilemmas”

One of the biggest thing Mission Haiti does is administer the school sponsorship program for about 1,600 students. Part of this work includes trying to oversee four primary schools, which has been a major struggle. Read more about what goes on and some big decisions we need to make.

Here are some other quick updates you might like to know...

Santia (age 8) returned to live in the orphanage again. She had lived there previously for a year or two, left us to live with her older sister a few months ago, and then finally returned here at the beginning of this week. We don't know exactly what details went into that decision, but we are glad to have her back. I (Cory) have been trying to get a hug from her for two years, and she always runs away, but now I can continue that quest.

Mike and Pam are shipping a newer school bus down to Haiti loaded with school food and other supplies. The old bus is already sold to another ministry in Haiti. Please pray for the new bus to get through customs quickly and safely, without anything stolen or missing. When it gets through and our staff person Ronal gets it licensed and ready, Mike will fly down and drive it out to us where we will unload it and get it ready to pick up the next team around the 12^th of January.

Alexandra, our youngest daughter, invited Jesus to come into her heart the other day. After throwing a huge fit and saying a lot of nasty things she felt really bad. She said, “I try to be good but I just can't do it!” After that we helped her understand that she needed Jesus in her heart to help. She prayed for forgiveness and asked Him to come in. Later that day she said, “Jesus really is in my heart! I can feel him!” We had a celebration the next day with cake and other fun stuff. It was for all three kids because Kester and Elizabeth never got a party when they asked Jesus into their hearts a couple of years ago. Of course they all got in an argument about whose piece of cake was the biggest, and mom and dad got frustrated and angry with them, too. I guess Jesus isn't done with us yet!

Richard left with this last team after four weeks here. Sue is back in Haiti after a two week siesta in San Diego with family. The Haitian staff are starting to cycle through their Christmas vacations. We are planning a big Christmas celebration at our house for 200 kids from the village. Cookie has never been more annoying. The “Ti-Riviere Times” has been well-received (click on tab above to download). Everyone here is healthy at the moment. The youth group are all studying for finals. God is good!

Enjoy Your Christmas this Year be it Hot or Cold!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Recent Photos

2011-11-30T18:14:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

THE DECEMBER EDITION OF TI-RIVIERE TIMES NOW AVAILABLE. IF THE FIRST ONE MADE YOUR SIDE HURT, THIS ONE WILL ABSOLUTELY KILL YOU! CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE, AND YOU WILL BE DIRECTED TO ANOTHER SITE TO DOWNLOAD IT. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON "NOVEMBER" IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT ONE YET.

The following photos come from our Thanksgiving getaway to Port Salut (on the west coast of Haiti, but only 12-15 miles from where we live), and an amazing birthday party on Sunday for Francia (18) and Gertrude (36). Enjoy!

Three beautiful girls at Port Salut at sunset

Fun at the pool in Port Salut

The birthday girl... Francia, age 18

Lubin and the other birthday girl... Gertrude, age 36

Two sandy girls at the beach

Striking a pose at Francia's 18th birthday party (Lepe, Rose, Kiki, Lucy from L to R)

Update on the Last Week or so

2011-11-30T11:46:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

DECEMBER EDITION OF TI-RIVIERE TIMES NOW AVAILABLE! IF THE FIRST ONE MADE YOUR SIDE HURT, THIS ONE WILL ABSOLUTELY KILL YOU! CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE, AND YOU WILL BE DIRECTED TO ANOTHER SITE TO DOWNLOAD IT. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON "NOVEMBER" IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT ONE YET.

Wow! Everything just goes so fast down here that the blog can get away from you in a hurry. We had a busy Thanksgiving weekend as many of you did as well, we are sure! Recently our third team of November came and visited and completed many helpful projects. We weren't able to load their pictures very well, so we apologize about that. The internet access here is still a work in progress and probably always will be.

Here are the captions we would have put on the photos:

Larry Van Veldhuizen is a Farmer from Doon, Iowa. “It's not what I did for the Haitians, but what the Haitians did for me.”

Chris Godfredsen is a bi-vocational pastor from Rock Valley, Iowa... “God revealed himself to me in some amazing ways, especially (through) His people.”

Scott Lee is a Farmer from Inwood, Iowa. “With all the 'stuff' we have in the U.S., why aren't we smiling as much as the Haitians?”

Jen Peters (Geri Kraai's grand-daughter) is a teacher from Indianola, Iowa. “Nothing I could say would be enough. I love it here.”

Matt Dibbet is a cattle herdsmen from Sioux Center, Iowa. “No broadcasting...keep it dialed in.” (some inside jokes from the trip)

Bob Huyser is a farmer from Rock Valley, Iowa. “Great to get to know the Haitian culture.”

Scott Gray is a farmer from Sioux Center, Iowa. “Really enjoyed time at Kum-n-Go (Madame Jack's).”

Geri Kraai is here on at least her 6^th trip, visiting from Rock Valley. “What a week! Just keeps getting better.”

Dee Pieper is a counselor from Sioux Center, Iowa. “Loved working with Bible Study with the women.”

Bruce Milliken is on the Mission Haiti board and lives in Sioux Falls. “Working side-by-side with our Haitian brothers and sisters is always great!”

Thanks to everyone for praying for that team and for our family. We are doing well. Next we will try to upload photos from our Thanksgiving getaway and from a huge birthday party we attended on Sunday. We are expecting the next team this Friday, so please begin praying for them and the medical clinics they will host around our community.

Enjoy Your Winter Adventure!
-The Grimms

Cyclones & Hurricanes

2011-11-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

In Haiti the word for "Hurricane" is "Cyclone." They pronounce it more like "see-clone," but the reason we mention that today is that we heard the Iowa State Cyclones played more like a hurricane than a little twister on the prairie on Friday night, defeating the 2nd-ranked team in the nation. Lynn's family are big Iowa State fans, so it was fun to see the headlines about that game, and the mission team visiting us, most of whom are from Iowa, all got a kick out of hearing about it, too. We tend to feel disconnected from the sports world down here, but that headline stuck out for us.

In the next couple of days we will post an update on this team complete with stories from their week, photos, and prayer requests. Just know that we are doing well, and they are all having a good time, too. As always God surprises us with changing our plans and giving us other projects to do. That is just standard stuff on any mission trip, and probably more so in a place like Haiti.

Enjoy your Sunday and week of Thanksgiving. We hear there was an ice storm that hit, too. Hopefully all of you are safe and warm.

God Bless,
The Grimms

PS. Just a reminder to click on the "Ti-Rivier Times" tab above if you haven't already and enjoy some fictional stories about the characters in our village. No one has commented on this yet, so we aren't even sure if it is working for people. If not we'll get that fixed...

November Mission Team #2

2011-11-14T12:31:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

We are nearing the completion of another visiting mission team. Below are pictures and information about each of the members of the team as well as some quotes about their week. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened on this trip, at least from our perspective, though each member of each team goes home with a whole collection of personal memories and photos to share with the folks back home. Sometimes I forgot how world-changing it can be to come here for the first time, regardless of whether or not something crazy happens during the week.

One thing that may stick with me was a simple comment made by one of the team members to Mike Plasier, who is the leader of this team and Mission Haiti's board president. After observing the youth group and the church service she said, “I get it now. It isn't about giving people stuff like toothpaste and whatever else...it is about God working in the lives of the people...” I'm not sure about the exact quote, but it was something along those lines. I think we all have to reach that point, where we discover that though virtually all people here are poor in material terms by American standards, the real point of our work is to help people prosper in their relationship with God. If we need to give them a few physical things to spark that or help them a little bit, no problem, but it will never be the most important thing.

VISITING TEAM MEMBERS:

Jeri Van Den Hoek who works in customer service for Land-o-Lakes Seed Company, from Sioux Falls, SD. She says, “Great team and every trip leaves a different impression with me.”

Richard and Joyce Hildebrand from Milford, Iowa. Richard is a retired teacher who has done a lot of work with Habitat for humanity and now travels to Africa and Haiti on extended work projects. He will be here for three more weeks. Joyce is a Dell computers consultant and will return home after this week. Richard says, “It is hot down here!” Joyce says, “Amazing work is being done here.”

Kathy Sprinkel is from Aberdeen, SD, where she works as a nurse. She says, “You are making a difference.”

Sue Pfeiffer-Hansen is a physician's assistant from Aberdeen, SD. She says, “This is my 3^rd time here, and I thought I had seen it all...but soon found out I had not. Another unforgettable experience to take back home and share.”

Teri Lewis is from Aberdeen, SD. She says, “I am so amazed with the faith in Jesus, especially the youth. The praise and worship music was awesome!”

Arlene Stern is a retired school nurse from Sioux Falls, SD. She says, “I enjoy coming back to see the wonderful Haitian friends that I have made. Love is in this place.”

Nurse Sue will head back with this team and take a 2-week break in San Diego where some of her family lives. On Wednesday we will welcome another team led by Bruce. The next team has members mainly form Northwest Iowa. The car owned by Mission Haiti is back in working order! Praise God. That finishes the story began on the day of Kiki's funeral over two months ago.

Thanks as always for your prayers!

God Bless,
The Grimm Family Adventurers

Clinic Adventures

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

The 2nd November Mission Team arrived safely and on schedule. This week will include more medical clinics in different locations and more work projects. Please pray that God will do great things in and through each person visiting. Also, Richard is on this team, along with his lovely wife Joyce. Richard is the man how comes and stays for several weeks and makes furniture for Mission Haiti.

"Clinic Adventures"

I thought you might find it interesting, if you have never been on a medical mission trip here to Haiti, to read a brief description of exactly what we do and what happens during our mobile clinics. To give you one example of what we do and see, I will describe the clinic we did this past Monday...

Typically we ask a church or school (or both, because they usually share buildings) to host the clinic on a day we agree on beforehand. Normally we give them a few weeks to get the word out to the community that we will be coming. A lot of times the church will sell tickets or charge people a little bit at the door to come, and then the patients receive the medicine for free. I don't remember if I wrote about this previously, but at first I was against this approach, preferring to allow people to come for free. However, I can now say that charging a little something is probably a better approach. The reason is that when people pay something, they appreciate it more, and we tend to see more people who really need it, as opposed to every person in the community who isn't necessarily sick at the moment but hopes to go home with some vitamins and/or pain medication. Make sense? We are always striving to get the medical attention to the people who really need it as opposed to those who can push to the front of the line. This is just a basic principle to follow for any kind of aid distribution.

The clinic on Monday was scheduled for the Church of God in Gaspar, the village between Ti-Rivier and our county seat, St. Jean. It is a nice church building, for Haiti, and a good setting for the clinic because of ample seating for the waiting hordes. Unfortunately, the hordes never showed up there. The team went first thing in the morning and got set up. I had to teach at the high school from 8-9AM and planned to catch up with them later. Sue was working with Pam at other schools. So they were on their own at first. Well, they had Antoine to help them, and after all the clinics he has translated for already, he is practically a nurse himself.

I ended up having to take a tap-tap and got there a little before 10 o'clock. At that time the nurses were seeing a few patients, and only a handful were waiting to be seen after that. I took Chelo, another translator, and we began canvassing the neighborhood to make sure everyone knew there was a clinic. We were asking people if they had heard about it and if there were any home-bound individuals we could visit as well. The answer to both questions was “no.” People weren't really told about the clinic in advance, or at least not the people in the vicinity of the church. Others said they would like to go but didn't have the money to buy a ticket. One other issue they mentioned was that most people were either shopping or working in the market, because it was the day for the medium-sized market nearby to be open.

After awhile Chelo and I went back and talked to the team and asked if they would like to try to relocate to the market in order to see more people. One thing we have learned with clinics is that sometimes you have to be ready to go where the people are. I left them to think about that, and Benson (a guy in the youth group) and I took a motorcycle down to the market to look for a good location. It wouldn't be a good idea to try to set up in an open market booth or out in the open, because the people would probably press in and get unruly. I had in mind a house where we normally park our motorcycle if we are hiking up the mountain from there (this is the place where we go up towards the Jabouim and Toussaint schools). However, when we got into the market I spied an even better place.

There is a nice house whose gate is right in the middle of the market, and I've always wondered who lives there. I decided it was a good day to find out. Benson and I went inside and knocked on the door. It turns out a Cuban doctor lives there with his wife. He commutes to the General Hospital in Les Cayes to work a certain number of days each week. When we started trying to communicate, a little bit of Spanish from high school came back to me. We were able to communicate enough, between my broken Spanish and his broken Creole, to get his permission to run the clinic out of his yard for the day. He was very hospitable and very welcoming. Later on he even participated in the clinic, which was really fun to see...Americans, Haitians, and a Cuban all working together to offer health care. Who would have seen that one coming?

So we packed up at the church and hiked for 15 minutes down to the market area. The team set everything up again and we got started. Over the next 2-3 hours we saw a nice, steady stream of people. We were able to control them at the gate and manage the crowd pretty well despite the fact that it was now free to enter. The team did a great job of giving people quality attention but also quickly moving them through and giving them the proper medications. I actually made the decision to turn some individuals away if they couldn't clearly state why they were there (what sickness they had) and they looked healthy...especially teenagers, young adults, etc... It can be hard to do that, but when you have 80-year-olds and moms holding babies, all standing there in the sun at the gate, that makes it a little easier to make those decisions. The team later told me that there actually were some fairly serious cases, and they were able to help those individuals with the medications they had on hand. Soon we basically ran out of medicine, and the crowd dwindled at just the right time. We packed up and got ready to head for home.

We gave the Cubans a big “Gracias mis amigos!” and they were clearly a very nice couple. Their skin was basically as white as ours, so I'm sure they get treated as outsiders or “blancs” just like us. Most Haitians might not necessarily know how different Cuba and the USA are, exactly, so I imagine it was nice for them to spend some time with fellow foreigners despite the language barrier. It would be interesting to talk to that doctor a little bit more and find out why he is working in Haiti, what his life has been like in Cuba, whether or not he is a Christian, etc... Interesting stuff.

Each clinic we do is a little different, and each person helping in the clinic has his/her own perspective and personal stories to share afterward. You never know what kind of sickness will show up at the door. You have to be ready for anything, as we found out the other day when baby Mishel (closer spelling, I think) was brought in barely breathing. High blood pressure is very common here, as well as all kinds of skin conditions, chronic stomach pain and high levels of acid, joint pain and arthritis, eye and vision problems, cuts and burns that won't heal, lung congestion (sometimes tuberculosis), and too many conditions to name that persist without proper medication and treatment.

One little funny story from this clinic...I was managing the gate and sometimes that means joking with the crowd to keep them relaxed. Learning more and more creole helps a lot. A blind guy came up and asked for a card with a number on it so he could get in. I asked him, “How are you going to read the number on the card?” He said, “You are going to tell me the number, and I'll remember it for the rest of my life!” (everyone laughed) He continued, “Most of these people can't read, either, so just tell me their numbers and I'll remember for them, too.” (more laughter) Sure enough, whenever I would call a number he would say the name of whoever had that number, helping THEM remember that it was THEIR turn. Amazing. I asked him, “What have the doctors told you about your eyes? Are you totally blind? Is there a chance that treatment could help you see?” He retorted, “The doctors? I haven't been to the doctor...why do you think I am here?” (people laughed) I answered, “You have never been to a doctor about your blindness?” He assured me he never had. The guy was probably 40 or so. How sad is that? After that he and I led the crowd standing there in a couple of Haitian hymns. He knew all the words of course.

So if you are a medical person, how about coming down sometime and helping out? As we always say, a paramedic is a nurse in Haiti, and a nurse is a doctor.

Have a Healthy Adventure Today!
-The Grimms

Year #1 of Our Adventure is Complete!

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

Wow! It is hard to believe it has been a year now since we first boarded the plane and left to be missionaries in Haiti. On the other hand, sometimes it seems like the life we lived before this was a very long time ago, somewhat of a foggy memory. Strange how both of those can be true at the same time. Maybe you can relate.

Here is a list of some of our adventures in year #1 in no particular order:

Learning how to navigate the open-air markets
Battling tarantulas, scorpions, cockroaches, lizards, frogs, snakes, and ANTS!
Adjusting to life here and simultaneously accepting the fact that Cookie, or racist watchdog, will never adjust, never change
Various adventures at the general hospital and cholera clinic
Transportation adventures...tap taps, motorcycles, broken-down cars
The political demonstrations and stranded team last December
The machete attack
Enjoying various Haitian dishes: rice and beans, beans and rice, rice and bean sauce, just rice, just beans, etc...
Leaving the car in the mountains during a rainstorm
Heat, Rain, & Bugs
Dropping Lynn's toilet bowl down the outhouse pit
Cory getting really sick
The “Pleasant Surprise” (Lynn's sister Cora and her husband, Marlon, visiting without us knowing beforehand they were coming)
Raising missionary support
Our new pets, the crabs
Homeschooling
Mentoring Youth Members
Starting a church
Starting the Bible School (ALEXIS)
Losing Kiki
Visiting the US for the summer
Christmas trip to Paradise Island
Countless trips to our convenience store, “Madame Jack's”
Adventures with Internet access
Moving from the Mission House to the old orphanage
Lynn's new wheelchair
Various building projects
Various medical clinics
Various ministry ideas tried, some good, some bad
Visiting friends in their homes
Everyone getting sick from time to time, but continually fighting ringworm, diarrhea, heat rash, and other nagging conditions.
Learning Creole
Learning French
Learning to understand Haitian people speaking English
Learning to play guitar in the Kompa style used in Haiti
Adventures in cooking/baking
Adventures in laundry
Adventures in food preservation
Teaching in the High School and English Schools.
Prayer meetings
Spiritual warfare
Healings
Demon possessions
Voodoo
Working with Haitian staff
Working with our directors and board
Sue's adventure
Meeting all the “Neighborhood Characters.”
Staying united as a family
Following Jesus day by day

It was quite a year. As they always say in books written for people thinking about being missionaries (you know, half-crazy folks), if you can get through the first year and keep going, you can stay for a very long time. We feel like our first year was very hard, yet if that is as hard as it gets, we could do this for many years. Of course we never know what God plans for us, what unimaginable trial of tragedy the future holds. This is true for any person, missionary or not. However, we feel more strongly than ever that we are exactly where God wants us right now, the future is bright, and his mercy and grace will somehow carry us through whatever is ahead.

If there was one overarching lesson we learned from year one it was the fact that ministry, or the Christian life in general, is not about us, our dreams, our accomplishments, or our sufferings. It is about God and His glory. This is His story, His plan, His vision, and we are just fortunate to be along for the ride with Him as long as He grants us the privilege. In fact, sometimes I regret the title choice we made for this blog, “Our Adventures in Haiti.” It should be something more like, “Here are some stories about us bumbling along, making a ton of mistakes, and God somehow redeeming our pathetic efforts in order to help people in Haiti know Him more.” That would be along web address, though, so we'll probably keep it the same for now. Just know that year one has taught us that God is in control of this (His) adventure. Somehow when everything around us is dull and grey, He shines through us with vivid colors for all to see (see picture below).

Alexandra walking in the rain in a red dress

What does year #2 hold for us? Well, Mission Haiti has been in such a state of constant change over the past few years that it is hard to predict. We will do everything we can to help this ministry, the people of this community, the staff, the missionaries, everyone who comes to visit, and you our supporters. What that will look like exactly, only God knows. The opening of the ALEXIS Ministry Training Center, including preparations and the actual opening and the first couple of months of running the program, will surely define our next year in many ways as well. Because we are so confident that this program is carefully modeled after Jesus' ways of raising up leaders and the way Paul carried out his missionary work, we believe this will be a huge success in the future, though it will take many years for the impact to be known.

Here are 10 ways you can pray for our family and this ministry as we move forward:

Pray for continued physical health and energy
Pray for continued spiritual renewal and dependence on God for all things
Pray for protection from evil forces and people involved in voodoo
Pray for unity in our family
Pray for unity in the organization we serve, Mission Haiti
Pray for wisdom as we utilize the resources we receive and make choices about what types of ministries and programs to offer the people here
Pray for the success of our ministries- i.e. for many people to trust Christ for salvation, for growth in the knowledge of God's Word, for godly families, for young men and women to be holy and pure, for leaders to be trained and sent out, for God's kingdom to be established
Pray for the ALEXIS project: fund raising, student and teacher recruiting, campus completion
Pray for the staff and children who live with us on this property
Pray for the country of Haiti and its leaders

May Your Adventure Include Reaching Important Milestones!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

First November Mission Team Complete

2011-11-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

The first mission team of the month has already come and gone. Right now they are in some airplane or airport on their way to their respective homes. It was an interesting group comprised of several smaller groups from different communities. The main focus was medical clinics and some building projects in the Mission Haiti compound. Everything went very smoothly, for Haitian standards anyway, and many memories were made. We hope the seeds planted this week will bear a great harvest for God. Below are some pictures of the group, information about each individual, and some of their reflections on the week. After that is a short update about the ministry and our family.

Matt, Tricia, and Kelsey Spading from Charles City, Iowa, with their friend, Elizabeth Baridon (on the left). Matt is a trust officer, Tricia is a nurse, Kelsey is a senior at University of Northern Iowa, and Elizabeth is a nurse in Cedar Falls.

Dean and Sara Stewart from Charles City, Iowa. Dean is a realtor and Sara is a speech pathologist.

Darrel Hansen (left) and Jerry Snyders (right) from Larchwood, Iowa. Darrel works in construction and Jerry does construction and farming. These guys are heading up the building of a roof on a new house here, an addition to our meeting area, and some other small projects. They are staying for 2 weeks.

Diane and Ashley Van Kley from Rock Valley, Iowa. Dianne is a nurse and was on her 4^th trip to Haiti. Ashley is a beautician and a waitress and was on her 3^rd trip. This mother/daughter team wanted to take a trip here together before Ashley gets married next June.

Ty Ford from Sioux Falls, SD. Ty is a musician and student and is on his 2^nd trip here. Previously he visited with his fellow bandmates in the group “Scarlet Letter.” Ty did all of the Bible teaching each night at youth group, covering the “Spiritual Disciplines.”

Michael...fighting for life on day #1 with us

QOUTES FROM THE TEAM:

“This was an eye opener for my 1^st trip to Haiti or any other 3^rd world country. My experiences here included shock, despair, wonder, and hope. Many, many touching encounters this week." -Matt

“Watching God at work was unbelievable” -Dianne

“It was awesome getting to spend so much time with my sponsor child!” -Ashley

“What a privilege to be put in a place to reach out to a people in true need, to look in their pleading eyes and love them with touch, prayer, and medicine. Incredibly humbling to give hope by providing things that Americans take for granted – Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, cough medicine, antacid tablets, bandaids, antibiotic ointment, vitamins. We are inconvenienced by a 30 minute wait at the doctor's office – some of the people we saw walked for hours to reach the clinic...carrying their sick child...up a mountain. An infant very near death was carried in her mother's arms to our clinic only to turn around and ago with us quickly (30 minutes) down the mountain, stopping only once to give syringe-fuls of water to the tiny (4.4 lbs.) 4-week-old who was severely dehydrated and barely breathing, eyes sunken, wrinkled skin. Faced with another 20 minute walk back to Mission Haiti, Cory paid for a motorcycle ride for the mom, infant, and myself. She took small feedings and now continues to improve and is more active after each nap. God blessed this baby and we were there to watch His miracle unfold. One of many stories from this week. Do you feel close to God, alive, and and active in your faith? If not, find someone who is hurting or in need and meet them there – God will be there.”

-Tricia

After baby Michael (not sure about spelling) came here, she weighed 4.4 lbs, as Tricia noted above. After four days of eating formula she was up to 5.4. Nice improvement! She looks much better. The parents came to see her and were very excited and relieved. The story is that the mom couldn't produce milk, and they were keeping her alive on some homemade formula comprised of various ingredients. It really is a miracle they kept her alive that long. We are pretty sure she will be fine after another week or so here and then being sent home with plenty of formula.

Today is our “down time” for cleaning the mission house and yard, going to the city to get more supplies, helping both the American and Haitian work crews in our yard keep on track, trying to squeeze out a few hours of family time, catching up on the blog and monthly ministry reports, and getting ready for the next team's arrival tomorrow. Today is day 365 of our Haitian Adventure, which means tomorrow is the anniversary of when it all began! We'll try to put together a post to look back a little bit at the best and worst moments of our first year in Haiti. Thanks to all who are holding us up in prayer on a regular basis and over this first year. God bless you all!

God Bless!

-The Grimms

Always an Adventure

2011-11-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Rarely does a day pass in Haiti when you don't experience something new. That was very true today. I don't have time to elaborate right now, but here are some small snapshots for you to think and pray about:

The team did finally make it on the first day, and they had the luggage! Thanks for those who prayed. The next day went very smoothly, both for the nurses who did the clinic and for the men who worked on the roof for a new house we are building, though one guy had a little brush with the razor-wire. He is fine.

Today was the team's second full day. The women and a couple of the men headed up to Jabouim to host a clinic in one of Mission Haiti's schools, and it was quite a hike. Everyone managed the climb and got started seeing patients. Pam and I (Cory) headed up to the school in Toussaint for a quick meeting with teachers. When we returned it was time for me to hike back down to head to the city and get a shipment of lumber for the men (this will require a separate post). At that point Sue told me there was a baby not doing well who needed to be rushed down to the house and maybe to the hospital.

To make a long story short, we spent the next hour walking/jogging down the moutain with a 5 lb. (maybe) 1-month old baby who was barely hanging on. At one point the mom started praying out loud. I stopped beside her and saw the baby's eyes rolling back in her head. The nurse with us (who manages an intensive care unit for babies, praise God!) did a few tricks, gave her some droplets of water, and we pressed on. We hopped on motorcycle taxies at the main road, rushed up to our house, and started pumping formula into the little girl named Michael (pronounced "mish-eye-el"). That was my "wow, I've never experienced this before" moment of the day. I am happy to report that not about 7 hours later she is doing really well. She will stay here for the next week to 10 days to make sure she is improving rapidly. After that we will assess what is next. I'll try to carve out a few minutes soon to write more.

The team is doing well, our family is holding together, youth group meetings are great, and we all thank you for your prayers.

God Bless,
The Grimms

An International Adventure

2011-11-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

MISSION TEAM UPDATE....

Just got a call from Pam and the team did make it into Port at about 7AM this morning. Unfortunately, however, the luggage did not come through, so as of noon they are still waiting. Bummer. We hope to get a call any minute that it is all worked out and they are on their way. Please pray.

AN INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURE...

On Monday I (Cory) went with Adrien to Les Cayes to get some supplies and bulk groceries for the entire Mission Haiti compound and for the upcoming teams. As you know our car still isn't working, so we always need to coordinate with Adrien to get a ride to the city to do the shopping. He is very gracious.

Adrien had already been planning to make a trip to town to do some work at his other home there. He and his siblings from the US own a nice home in Ti-Rivier and a very nice home in Les Cayes. The home in Cayes is normally rented out for a hefty sum. For the last couple of years it was rented out to Doctors without Borders, an international organization who ran the Cholera clinics in the area as well as other projects. After they left a couple of months ago, Adrien rented it out to nine Russian pilots working for the United Nations.

The requests for this current rental agreement were somewhat demanding. Each room had to have its own air conditioning unit, and several other creature comforts in the bargain. In exchange Adrien asked for $3000/month, a price they readily accepted. However, a problem came up the other day when some of the soldiers were staying up drinking late into the night. They were making a lot of noise, and two local thugs hopped over the wall and held three of them at gunpoint. After getting some computers and money, the thugs left. You can only assume the Haitians had no idea that these Russians probably had bigger weapons somewhere on the property. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

So the leader of the group called Adrien and asked him to install razor wire around the perimeter of the compound so no one could hop over the wall anymore. The leader placed the blame for the incident on the soldiers who made themselves a target by making so much noise at night and getting drunk. So Adrien was off the hook for any lack of security. Our plan was to visit the property and see if the razor wire had already been installed by the contractor Adrien hired to do the work.

I was a little bit excited to meet some Russian UN troops, just for the sake of experiencing something new. Adrien had mentioned that some of them knew a little English. Then Dan Elliot, the other missionary in the village, called and asked Adrien if he could pick up some guests who were arriving on a bus in Les Cayes. After a little bit of searching we were able to find them. The group consisted of two women and one man, all natives of the UK. After carting them around with us as we picked up the needed supplies, Adrien didn't want to make them wait while he visited his home and decided just to head back to the village and return again the next day. So I didn't get to meet the Russians, but got some Brits instead. I thought about naming this blog post, “Switching from Vodka to Scotch”, but then thought better of it.

On the way home I had make a quick stop at a little grocery store and asked if the guests wanted something to drink. The man declined, one woman asked for a Coke, and the other said, “A bit of sparkling water, if you please.” I wasn't sure exactly what she was looking for, much less whether or not I could find it in a store in Haiti. In the end I bought her a club soda. She said, “thanks, that's lovely”, so I took that as a good sign. The man offered me money and I replied, “Not at all.”

They described their work for us for the remainder of the journey. Their main purpose is to test water and give people containers and chemicals for treating it before drinking. Interesting stuff. Dan had invited them to come to the village and make some suggestions concerning the main water source used by most people here. They did that and later visited our new orphanage to check out our new well. That was nice of them. I thought about offering them some “tea and biscuits” but then realized we didn't have any. They played with the kids for awhile and then headed on their way. Nice people.

May You Meet Some Interesting People on Your Adventure!

-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Introducing...The Ti-Riviere Times

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

We hope you have enjoyed a wonderful October. We definitely have had a great month down here in Haiti and look forward to an even better November. There have been a few cooler days when the high only reached 89 or so. We're thinking about breaking out the jackets.

Please remember Mission Haiti in your prayers over the next few weeks as we host three mission teams and hope to make a positive impact on our community in so many ways. We Grimms will need a big dose of energy, health, and perseverance to handle this marathon of ministry. We won't share a house with the teams like we used to, so that will help us a lot.

In this post we also are excited to introduce "The Ti-Riviere Times" a somewhat true, somewhat fictional, humorous newspaper based on the characters in our village. If you have visited Ti-Riviere on a mission trip or just followed our blog regularly, this should provide you with a few laughs. Just click on the little bar below the main picture, dowload the "November 2011" file, and enjoy yourself. Let us know if it doesn't work for you, either to download or to make you laugh, and we'll give you your money back. Ha! Ha!

We hope you have had a fun Reformation Day, or Harvest Festival, or Family Fun Night, or Beggar's Night, or whatever you are accustomed to celebrating this time of year. In Haiti the whole "Halloween" issue is a lot more black and white. No one pretends it is a fun little party for kids here. They just call it "The Day of Death (or the dead)." Many Christians spend the day praying at church.

We'll try our best to post during the next few weeks, but please forgive us if we get a bit behind. Be careful as the snows start to come, and enjoy some great family time this November and December.

Happy Adventuring!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

How Do You Build a House in Haiti?

2011-10-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

We are quickly approaching the completion of our first calendar year in Haiti as a family. You might remember the whole adventure began last Nov. 9, and it has been quite a ride. This blog is a testament to the variety of challenges we and others in our community have faced in the first year.

One challenge or adventure we haven't written too much about is the fact that most of this past year there has always been at least once major construction project going on around us. During the first two months after we moved here last year a small house was built on the roof of the mission house, right above our heads. For most of the first half of 2011 the orphanage compound, on the other side of our wall, was slowly taking shape. Also, Richard was here for six weeks running his power tools in our yard, and we are looking forward to his return in just 2 weeks!

This year also saw some major construction at three of the schools Mission Haiti directs:

Completion of several classrooms at the mountain school.
The beginning of an entirely new school at Toussainte.
The construction of a new pre-school at Lines School.

Mission Haiti has also funded the construction of some homes, or updates to homes, for extremely poor families in the mountains. Then there was the one-week project of beginning and finishing the famous “Hurricane-proof House” down on the new ALEXIS property. Recently we began the ALEXIS Dormitory, and in the coming months we plan to begin the cooking shed, meeting/eating area, shower/toilet building, classroom, and hopefully the Director House with ALEXIS office and library. You can see that construction has been a major theme here in our first year and will continue into the near future!

What does it take to build a house in Haiti? Right now a second small house is being built on the roof of the Mission House. They are really putting this one together quickly. Unfortunately, they did break through the ceiling trying to attach rebar to the house, but they are planning to fix that little mistake. The process mainly involves cinder blocks, rebar, and a ton of hand-mixed cement. The roof will be a little more complicated, building a frame with wood and covering it with sheets of tin, but these guys look like they could do the cement part of it with their eyes closed.

Below are some of the basic tasks they need to do to make it all come together:

Cutting rebar with hacksaw

Bending rebar against the tree

Laying the blocks...this man is called "Blan" by the other workers because of his slightly lighter skin. When I am visiting they call us "blan & pi blan" (white and whiter)

All the piles of sand have to be sifted by hand to get the bigger rocks and gravel out. After that cement mix is added, plus water, and buckets of cement are hauled up to the roof.

Looking pretty good for morning of Day #2!

It is fun to watch these guys work. You can begin to discern the hierarchy determining who gets to do what jobs. When you see one of the younger guys getting a chance at trying something new, it is easy to see how much pride they take in proving themselves. The pay scale is pretty simple, too. The regular laborers get a set amount per day. The "bosses" or skilled guys get twice that amount, and the contractor of the whole project gets three times what the everyday laborer gets. I suppose all of that is somewhat close (in ratio anyway) to what goes on in the US.

This small house they are building today will have two rooms and a nice porch area, or "gallery" as they call it here. It will house short-term missionaries (individuals or couples) who come to work here for more than the normal week. This is probably the same crew who will build the rest of the buildings for ALEXIS, too. We have been pretty happy with their work so far. At least they haven't tried to rip us off or anything. It will be fun to see how they handle a more sophisticated project like the building we will use for the Director's house and the ALEXIS office and library, if we can get the funds donated for that.

May Your Adventure Include Building Something New!

-Grimm Family Adventurers

Cholera Continues

2011-10-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Just wanted to post a quick note to ask all of you to pray for people in Haiti right now for protection from the spread of Cholera. We have been seeing additional cases in Ti-Rivier, and we hear about more and more being infected in the communities all around us. Just today Patchouko saw three trucks in a row passing through town filled with people hooked up to IVs, traveling from St. Jean (sort of our county seat) to Les Cayes (sort of our state capital) where the good, international Cholera clinic is located.

Dr. Paul Farmer, a highly respected American health professional who has been working in Haiti for many years, recently called Haiti the most-infected-with-Cholera place on Earth at this time. Clearly we are in a danger zone where it could kick into a higher gear and really spread rapidly and max-out the facilities available to deal with the disease. Let's pray that this scenario doesn't play out.

Nurse Sue says we have also been seeing more cases of Malaria lately, about one per day in the clinic. This is a side effect of rainy season and the increase in the mosquito population.

We also expect a medical mission team here in about a week, so pray that they will be protected as they come into conatct with all kinds of diseases and infections in the mobile clinics.

All of us in the Mission Haiti compound....staff, missionaries, and kids...are all doing fine.

God Bless,
The Grimms

Grandma Alleluia Goes Home

2011-10-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

As all of you who read this blog are aware, our good friend and ministry partner “Kiki” passed away in August at the young age of 45 and some odd months. To put that in perspective, a well-known and well-loved member of our community passed away a few days ago at almost exactly twice his age. She was ninety-one, and her name was “Grandma Alleluia.” Actually, as you could probably guess, that was not her real name. That is only what we lovingly called her. Her real name was Electa Gesneste Erival. She was born on July 18, 1920, and passed away on Oct. 16, 2011.

Grandma Alleluia was a fixture at Ebeneezer Church, and I described her in the original installment of “our church” on this blog. She was well-known for energetically shouting “Alleluia! Alleluia!” and jumping up and down if the preacher made a good point in his sermon, or if she just felt caught up in the power of the Spirit. Sometimes she got completely carried away and couldn't stop shouting “Alleluia!!!”, until finally she had to be gently calmed down by the Pastor. Many people who have visited on mission trips here will remember her vividly.

Sadly, she had a stroke (or something like that, because they use that word for a lot of things here) last week and passed away. I don't know if it is exactly accurate, but I like to picture in my mind that she was at home praying, began shouting “Alleluia! Alleluia!”, had the stroke in the midst of her excitement, passed away instantly, and without skipping a beat found herself in the presence of God doing exactly the same thing she always did on Earth. Wouldn't that be perfect? Isn't that how all of us should go? Especially at the age of 91 and having lived a nice, full life.

Speaking of her nice, full life...I decided it would be worth my time to do a little research and find out more of her story. I didn't make it to the funeral, because it was scheduled at the exact time as we were having church. Later, however, I did some asking around in the village to discover who Grandma Alleluia really was. This afternoon I sat down with Robert, local historian who knows English very well, and got plenty of details and a little history lesson thrown in for free.

Back before Ti-Rivier was known by that name only, the area was divided into several smaller villages or neighborhoods, and the place where Electa grew up was called Capasi. It really isn't too far from where we live, maybe fifteen minutes. In those days (1930s, 40s, 50s) it wasn't uncommon for young Haitian men to go to Cuba for several years to work and make decent money. This was what Romain Erival (Electa's future husband) chose to do. Sometime in the late 1940s he decided to return to Haiti to find someone from home to share his life with. He and Electa got married. I'm not sure of the year, but it had to have been fairly late for a woman to get married in those days.

The fact that they married somewhat older seems to bear out because their children who are still living all seem to be fifty-something or maybe early sixties at the oldest. As an aside, it turns out Grandma Alleluia's son is actually Robert, the half-crazy man who keeps trying to sell the Ebeneezer church building to us. For some reason I never put that together. The problem is the age difference. He seems forty years younger than her, at least, so I always thought he was her grandson. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how her passing plays into that whole ordeal.

Back to the story...

So Romain returned to Ti-Rivier back in the 40s or early 50s and they were married. As the story goes, it was actually his mother, Electa's mother-in-law, who saw the need and began the church. They slapped together some coconut tree branches for walls and began to worship in some other location long forgotten by most people around today. The church grew through the years and at some point Romain, Grandma Alleluia's husband, became the Pastor and leader of the whole thing. It wasn't until their son Matthew (now deceased) established himself in the US and began to send home money that they were able to construct the building we see today. The two houses around that property were built there at that time or shortly after as well.

Romain died somewhere between 5 and 10 years ago, so Electa really wasn't a widow for terribly long. People seem to remember her for being quite the laugher, and someone who would mix with all people from all walks of life and think nothing of it. She might have even laughed at a few off-color jokes in her day, surprising those who thought they knew how a Preacher's wife was supposed to act. She sold meat in the market for a living and enjoyed talking with everyone on the way to the market, throughout the day, and on the way home.

Speaking of going home, that is what she did the other day. She really seemed to have a fire in her heart for worshiping God, and it definitely didn't cool down with age. If it did, I can hardly imagine what she was like several decades ago. You don't see many 90-year-old people around here, so she will be missed by all. The funeral was huge from what I hear, and no doubt many “Alleluias” were formed in the mouths of everyone there, flavored with the sweetness of laughter and the saltiness of tears.

May Your Adventure Cause You to Shout "Alleluia" Today!
-the Grimm Family Adventurers

ALEXIS

2011-10-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Just before publishing this blog post we published one about our missionary giving so far this year, which has been solid. Page down to read that information in the next post on this page.

Is anything really worth attempting in life that isn't impossible in human terms, especially when you are talking about ministry and reaching lost people for Jesus? Shouldn't we undertake great endeavors for God's kingdom that will fail unless He works great miracles and displays his awesome power in the midst of our weaknesses? Don't you agree that we are called to live that way, shunning the trappings of fleshly comforts and false security and the avoidance of risk? We still believe Jesus is calling people today to step out of the boat and walk on water.

It is that approach to ministry and life, combined with the constant affirmations from Scripture, that continues to energize us for the Bible School project. I've never been one to be content living life as it has always been lived. This passionate drive to constantly innovate and try new approaches to ministry has reaped both positive and negative results in our life as a family, but it is a constant part of our story, and God has used this character trait to bring us to this exact moment in time. We feel Mission Haiti is on the brink of something truly remarkable. It is something new and exciting, and yet in many ways it is a return to the way things started, when Jesus first told his followers to “go.”

However, we cannot take any credit for reaching this critical point in the journey. We (the Grimms) are only standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before. My missions professor, Dr. Jay Moon, told us an unforgettable story in class one day. He talked about how his family went to rural Ghana for many years and saw a great deal of fruit from the work of the ministry. Churches were planted, wells were dug, and people were very open to the good news of Jesus. He was thankful to God for these blessings, but only later did he find out that they were the fourth or fifth missionary family to be sent to that area. The previous ones had labored long and hard without seeing much result, and Jay's family benefited from all of that sowing of seeds. Jesus said something similar to his disciples one day. He said, “I have sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” (John 4:38)

One of those who has gone before and paved the way for us was Kiki. That is why we are so pleased to announce that that Bible School will be named after him and his father, a former pastor of great influence. The full name of the school will be the ALEXIS Ministry Training Center. Here is a excerpt from the student recruitment brochure we are working on:

“ALEXIS”- The Ministry Training Center is named after two people:

Reverend Alexis- A Pastor in Haiti who labored in the fields to support his family, sacrificed so much for his churches, and raised up many young leaders.

Jean Kuisline Alexis- Rev. Alexis' son who served Mission Haiti from the beginning and passed away in the summer of 2011. Known to all as “Kiki”, he became a successful businessman, processing adoptions to USA, Canada, France, and Belgium. He engaged in ministry through his work but also regularly traveled to the remote villages and countryside of Haiti to powerfully share Christ with all people.

If you read the three part series, “Kiki Goes Home”, you will remember that Kiki once attempted something humanly impossible, and he was successful with God's help. He left rural Haiti as a young man and tried to “make it” in the big city of Port-au-Prince. God had a plan for him and directed his path in so many ways, opening doors and allowing him to positively impact so many lives. It is our hope that the ALEXIS Ministry Training Center will help many people follow a similar path and calling, attempting great things for God.

We have been very busy working out all of the details, with the help of Mike and Pam and the Mission Haiti board, of what the ALEXIS MTC program and campus will look like exactly. We are making great strides in that area lately, finishing the documents any institution for higher education needs to have available: brochures, application, student handbook, etc... We are also finishing the budget and putting together plans and strategies for fund raising and recruiting of students and professors.

A ballpark figure for the next 6-8 months will be something like $100,000 we will need to raise for this project. One significant cost will be scholarships for the students, especially those coming to the program from Haiti (see “10 Adventures in 10 Days: #2- Bible School” for our vision about having students come from around the world to join the Haitian students for study, ministry, and fellowship). Though we already have the land paid for, a house for the Resident Director finished, and the money in hand for the dormitory (if we stay under budget), we will continue to raise funds for several smaller building projects like a cooking and storage shed, shower/toilet building, classroom, meeting/eating building, and other items.

There is also another large building project in the planning stages. About half of the 100K we hope to raise will be budgeted for a new house containing the living space for the Ministry Director and his family (the Grimms), the ALEXIS office and library, and room for visiting professors and other guests to the school. We will attempt to make this home wheelchair accessible, which is something fairly unheard of in these parts. It will be exciting for our family to be able to be in the middle of all of the excitement of campus when this project is completed!

So I (Cory) have taken up grant writing as my new hobby. Time will tell whether or not this will bear fruit for the ministry. File that under “humanly impossible” and we'll see what God does! I will also make at least one recruiting/fund raising trip to the US in the coming months. Soon we will publish a detailed brochure explaining all the ways people can help make ALEXIS MTC great through financial partnerships. The whole project is slowly morphing from a dream and a vision into something we can see before our very eyes. The moment when those student show up next September on the freshly finished campus with all of their zeal and energy for the Lord will be almost too much to take. Only God can make this happen, and we believe with all of our hearts He will...for the glory of God, for the honor of Kiki and his dad, and for the thousands who will one day benefit from the ministries yet to be birthed by the future students of ALEXIS.

May God Ask You to Do Something Impossible Today!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Brief Financial Update

2011-10-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Our missionary financial support has been strong in the third quarter of this year, putting us back on track to make budget, which was a real blessing and an answer to prayer! Two important contributions that helped us a lot were the fundraiser in Herrick, SD, and the decision of Inwood CRC to support us as missionaries. Though we will continue to seek new sources of support from individuals and churches for personal and ministry expenses in the coming year, we feel that our current level of support is a very solid start. In just two months we will complete our second year with Mission Haiti, and your prayers and financial support have helped us so much to make this possible.

In the next post we will talk about some of the planning and fund raising we will be doing for the Bible School in the coming year as well. Below are the numbers for financial giving for this year so far:

1^st quarter 2011- $15,794

2^nd quarter 2011- $5,090
3^rd quarter 2011- $14,902

TOTAL $35,786

(after 3^rd quarter 2010) ($34,500)

God Bless,

The Grimms

Recent Pictures

2011-10-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

We're getting a strong internet signal today and thought it would be good to attempt to load a few recent pictures of what we have been up to...

Dad and the kids went for a hike...stopping for a break and overlooking the bay with the mountains behind and the clouds above...breathtaking

Posing for a photo on the trail

A distant view of the Bible School property...the beach in the middle of the photo is right in front of the 2 acres on which we are building

Lucy's 10th birthday party!

Each kid gave Lucy a gift and received a piece of candy and a hug in return

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #10- SANTIA

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

For the final installment of our 10 Adventures in 10 Days series, I wanted to write a little bit about what Lynn has been up to this fall. She has been mentoring and tutoring Santia, a troubled young woman (age 18) who lives in Ti-Rivier (not to be confused with the 7-year old orphan also named Santia who formerly lived in the Mission Haiti compound). She is an orphan who has bounced around from home to home for many years and hasn't been able to succeed in school. She has a bad reputation in the community and has been abused in many ways. Pam asked Lynn to work with her and see if she is capable of learning. If so the plan is for Pam to relocate her to another community where she can start over and take one more chance at finishing school. Lynn works with her each weekday afternoon. The following is Cory interviewing Lynn about this work she has done with Santia (Lynn says this reminds her of when Cory interviewed her for the High School newspaper almost 20 years ago)...

C: What was your first reaction when Pam asked you to work with Santia?

L: I was excited and happy about the opportunity, because I enjoy the 1-on-1 setting for helping people.

C: What was your first impression of Santia?

L: She is small for an 18-year-old, and appeared relationally immature for her age, but there was something about her that was endearing.

C: What did Pam ask you to do during these sessions?

L: Basically she wanted me to find out if Santia could learn. She has only gotten up to 2^nd grade. We needed to work on math and reading and see if she had some kind of developmental problem or if she really could grasp these concepts with some extra help. It was also an opportunity to pray with her and help her in her spiritual journey.

C: What is your current assessment of Santia's abilities?

L: I'm pretty sure she has dyslexia. I did some research online and the descriptions of that condition seem to fit her very well. I wish I was better trained in how to teach someone with that disability. She is learning how to read, but the math isn't going well.

C: What are the sessions like? What do you do each afternoon?

L: We have some of the books from the schools here, written for the earliest levels of study. We work through those together. I am teaching her how to read Psalm 23 in Creole, but she is also learning to read in French. At the end of our meeting we read the Bible together and pray.

C: Do you give her homework?

L: At first I did, but I found out she was just getting other people to do her work for her. After I told her not to do that anymore, she continued to do it, but before she came she erased the answers her helpers had written, leaving just enough on the page to be able to still see what they wrote and trace over the answer herself during our lesson. Her little scheme was pretty obvious. Now we do all the work here. She can practice reading at home, but we do the math here to make sure she is doing it herself. I encourage her to work on the things she learns at home for extra practice.

C: How is she responding to the sessions? Has she matured at all?

L: It is hard to say, because she seems to be a different person here than she is out on the streets. Her reputation outside our property is that she picks fights, argues, and gets in trouble a lot with her mouth. I haven't heard from anyone that her life has changed much outside of our sessions. She doesn't like anyone else watching when we work together. If they try to listen in, she tells people to go away.

C: What have you learned about her personal life?

L: Supposedly her mother was crazy and dropped her off when she was a baby to some other family. They adopted her and treated her well. However, at some point she took her things and just left them. Since that time she has bounced around from house to house. She says they kick her out, but we don't know if that is exactly true. She has requested to live in the Mission Haiti orphanage, and has told people on the streets that this is her plan, but that is not an option for her and we let her know that. She does seem grateful for our time together.

C: Do you know where she is staying now?

L: Judlyn's house, from what I hear. (a girl in the youth group with a pretty good family)

C: Do you think that could be a good situation for her?

L: From what I know of Judlyn and that family, it could be helpful for her.

C: What do you know about her relationship with God?

L: She says she believes in God and goes to church, but everybody in the community seems to think her behavior indicates otherwise. She sometimes acts crazy to get attention.

C: What have you learned through this opportunity?

L: Santia is helping me learn Creole. It is a challenge to try to teach someone basic skills in another language. I look forward to seeing her every day, and she is special to me already. I hope this will bear fruit in her life and somehow draw her closer to God, helping her blossom. It is hard to know what her future holds. If she does see significant change it might work to put her in a different community to get a fresh start. It might be too hard to overcome her reputation here.

C: How has this impacted your personal walk with God?

L: I'm thankful to God for bringing her into my life. Everything down here improves my prayer life. I constantly pray for Santia. I pray for God to help me overcome my own weaknesses, which become evident when I try to teach others. I ask God to equip me for this work.

Lynn and Santia

Enjoy the Adventure of Helping Someone Less Fortunate!

-The Grimm Family Adventurers

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #9- RAINY SEASON

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Rainy season hit last Thursday or Friday, and the timing was perfect! It was truly a God thing. As you are probably aware if you read this blog regularly, we have begun the building of new facilities for the Bible and Ministry Training School we are opening next fall. We hired Boss Wilner, an up-and-coming contractor in the area who seems to be honest and fairly skilled, to do the first building, a small dormitory. Around September 20th or so Pam, Boss Wilner, and myself sketched out a plan for this building, and he came back with an estimate. We knew the estimate was way too high, based on way too many materials, and at first I overreacted and thought we should look for someone else. But Pam had more experience with this process and thought we could work with it. We struck up an agreement to buy the materials ourselves and save money. He agreed. Pam gave him some money to get started.

His crew wasted no time and got right to work. In just a few days they had the land cleared and leveled for the foundation. The building is built parallel to the slope of the hill, or perpendicular to the ocean, so on one side it is cut into the hill, and on the other side it was to be built up with a rock/cement platform. Pretty cool, really. The workers cut into the hill, dug bigger pits for the pillars, and mapped everything out for the foundation to be laid. After that they began piling in the rocks, cement, and rebar in a furious frenzy of activity. Everyday I would stop by and watch, at a different time each day, and I was very impressed to rarely find them sitting around or calling it quits too early in the day, especially since they get paid per day of work. As we have probably mentioned before, all cement here is made by hand. No cement truck or mixer of any kind can be found here. The workers just open several 94 lb. sacks of mix, combine the necessary amounts of sand and water, and shovel the mixture into buckets to be carried by hand to the next spot that needs it.

So around October 5^th they were completely finished with the foundation, with the necessary rebar pointing up to the sky and indicating where the walls would soon be built. The building will be only one level now, but should be set up nicely to add a 2^nd level in the future. The completion of the foundation was a very nice stopping point, and sure enough, that very night the rainy season kicked in with full force. It was perfect timing, because Pam had only given them enough money to complete the foundation, and we didn't have the money in Haiti to buy the necessary supplies to continue after that point. We never imagined they would finish all of this before the rainy season kicked in. It was more like we figured they would work at it a day or so each week in October, working during the few rare dry patches, and maybe be close to finishing when Pam returned on November 2^nd. But this is perfect. They can just take a break during the next few weeks of rain, and we'll pick it up after that. Praise God for perfect timing!

Rainy season is something to behold here. I don't think we were hit too hard this spring. It was nothing like it has been the last four or five days. It just rains and rains and rains. Bruce and I did some work on the roof in September, which has helped a lot to keep the house dry on the inside. There are still a few drips here and there, but it is much better. Everything shuts down in the community when it is raining, so you need to have a comfortable home to enjoy as you sit around playing cards, reading books, etc... My heart goes out to those who are sitting in wet homes all over the community even as I am sitting here typing this blog...especially those with dirt floors. How miserable.

The air is much cooler when it is raining. It is very refreshing. Heaven forbid the Sun comes out right after a downpour, though. Humid! Another interesting thing following rains is to go out with the motorcycle and drive down our dirt/gravel roads in Ti-Rivier. It feels like you are driving on them for the first time. When you drive here you subconsciously catalog all of the big potholes and ruts and other obstacles you need to avoid. Right after it rains the road is completely different. You are forced to relearn the best route to take on the road, because there is a whole new topography to account for.

It probably won't be too long before a little bit of cabin-fever sets in, but we'll do our best to get by. Pam remembers times when it didn't stop raining for over 20 days here, so we'll see if that scenario repeats itself this October. We'll take advantage of this time to rest, enjoy family time, and get a lot of planning and writing done for the Blog, the Bible School, the Youth Group, and other ministries. Again, God's timing is perfect...so let it rain!

The first half of this blog was written on Monday morning. The following was added on Tuesday afternoon...

What a difference 24 hours makes when you are talking about the effects of rain! Over the past day we have been completely saturated with a constant downpour, and everything has changed. I kept telling Sue, “I wish we had a rain gauge, because it has got to be somewhere in the 10-15 inch range, easily. The first half of this blog almost makes it seem like rainy season is a cute little hiccup in your day, a little tiny inconvenience to deal with and move on. However, last night and into today we have witnessed the raw power of what water can do.

Last night the staff in the orphanage compound came over at about 9 o'clock to get tools out of the tool shed. They told us some water was coming in to one of the houses. I volunteered to go over and help out. I wasn't prepared for what I would see. The whole property was covered with water, and part of the wall highest up the hill had cracked and water was gushing through. At the bottom of the compound, especially by the gate, a small lake was forming. Lubin and Renand's house was taking on water. It was coming in between the wall and the floor, reminding me of basements after big rains back in the region we come from. The toilets were filled with water as well, and the retaining wall was cracked in several places and bulging.

We poked a little hole in the retaining wall by the flooded house, and that relieved the pressure and cleared up that problem. We opened the gate and let all of that lake go down the path out front. Hopefully it didn't end up in the house of someone farther down the hill. Next we all took flashlights and went outside the compound to take a look at the other side of the wall. The compound is at the bottom of a fairly large hill, and the wall actually gets lower toward the middle. I was afraid of what we might see. I imagined the wall holding back a lake of water, like a damn just waiting to burst and cause who-knows-what to happen

There was a lot of laughing as we made our way behind the wall. None of us knew quite how jungle-like it had gotten back there! We took a good look, didn't find any standing water, and then suddenly we all began dancing around and yelling out, “Foumi! Foumi!” (Ants! Ants!) I don't know how they do it, exactly, but they all start biting you at one time. It is like some leader ant gives a signal...”Wait, boys! Don't bite until we all get on their legs and pick a tender spot. Okay, on the count of three. One....two...three...BITE!!!!!” We ran back into the compound, concluding the water situations was relatively safe for now.

This morning we began considering plans for how to deal with the problem before we get another big rain. Meanwhile, Adrien, Sue, and myself decided to try to squeeze in a “bulk run”, which is a trip to the city to get all of the big bags of cornmeal, beans, oil, sugar, seasonings, and other food items needed to keep the meals flowing for everyone who lives here. Adrien had already made the trip to Cayes in the middle of the night to take Dan Elliot, another local American missionary, to the bus station. This morning he went to Port-au-Prince to meet his wife and kids and bring them back to Ti-Rivier. Patchouko went along with Dan to help out.

The bulk run went alright. We found most of the items despite the fact that most o the shops weren't open. Les Cayes is a very low city, near the ocean, and the streets were flooded pretty badly. Driving there was relatively uneventful, and the deepest water we drove through was probably 18 inches or so, and it wasn't moving too fast. We finished up and left town around noon. About that time we got a phone call from Dan saying they, too, were in Cayes and had stopped beside the road because of flooding. The van driver they had hired from Port didn't want to try to continue.

Soon we caught up with the Elliots, and many cars, motorcycles, and pedestrians were stopped at that point. It was unclear whether we could pass any further. We took Dan's wife, Kari, and their two kids in the vehicle with us, and their visitor from Sioux Falls named Todd, and we decided to go for it. Little did we know how big the adventure was about to get!

That first little stretch was probably the scariest. Water was almost up to the headlights of the SUV, and it was flowing across pretty fast in places. I asked Adrien, “Are you concerned about the car stalling out?” He just stared ahead and said, “No.” Later he told me he knew how high the carburetor was, and we were good to go as long as it didn't go that high. People in the car were pretty anxious about the whole thing. Water was pushing hard on the side of the car and coming in through the doors, and spontaneous, audible prayers broke out from more than a couple mouths.

We made it through that test and several more, finally arriving back in Ti-Rivier almost 2 hours later. At one point the few cars making this journey stopped. I walked ahead in about a foot of water to see what was going on. Huge chunks of earth had washed across the road, and the traffic was waiting for some men to try to break down the barrier. Others were carrying motorcycles across by hand.

Finally it opened up and we were able to continue on our journey. At that time, as I trudged back to the car and glance up at the mountains about five miles away, it dawned on me what had happened. I was wondering how the water could get so much higher in the few hours since we had passed there in the morning. I suddenly remembered that we were in a huge plain, filled with rice paddies and sugarcane fields, gradually sloping down to the sea, and it was only at this time that the huge rains from the night before were finally arriving from the mountains. The sheer volume of water was no longer able to soak into the earth. In a way were driving through a gigantic river that stretched about 6-8 miles wide.

We survived the ordeal, and about an hour later Dan and Patchouko showed up in town as well. I still haven't heard how they got a ride through the mess. The real tragedy in this adventure was the countless homes in the flood plain completely inundated with water. We could see the water gushing straight into the front doors of many homes. Adrien had already heard of some people drowning the night before. I wondered to myself, “Does this always happen during rainy season.” Right on cue, as if he was reading my thoughts, Adrien answered my question, “I've never seen it quite this bad.”

Thank you God for bringing us safely through this adventure! Please protect us for the remainder of this rainy season.

ENJOY YOUR ADVENTURE TODAY!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #8- OUR NEW CHURCH

2011-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Our church has undergone a lot of changes recently, and we thought you might find it interesting to read a little bit about these new developments. To get some background on where we have come from, check out the post from February 27, 2011 called “Adventures at Our Church.”

Let's pick up where the earlier story about church left off. The church finally did split. The people had enough of the owner taking the offerings and not keeping the building up, and they finally left. For awhile they met in the high school down the street, but there is no room there big enough for more than about twenty people. We went to church with one of the mission teams, and half the people had nowhere to sit. It was clear the situation wasn't a long-term solution.

Meanwhile the owner of Ebenezer (the little pink church) approached Pam to try to sell his church building to Mission Haiti. We had some interest in the building, because it is smack in the middle of Ti-Rivier, and last spring we weren't sure where the Bible School would be located or hold classes when it opened. There was some thought of renovating that building and the two houses on the property and starting there. However, they came back with an offer of $200,000 US for the property and we just laughed. Pam counter-offered $30,000 and they just laughed. It was clear no sale was going to occur.

In a sense I feel bad for this guy. He is totally convinced that somehow he is going to get rich off of this building passed down to him from his grandfather and father, even though that was probably never the intent of building it in the first place. Pretty sad. Now he lost his chance to sell it at a decent price, and there are and probably never will be any other interested or qualified buyers for this property. We probably wouldn't even take it for free at this point now that we have moved on with plans for the Bible School. In a last ditch effort he did finally fix the roof and try to restart worship services there, but from what we hear no one really attends anymore.

Anyway, the church needed somewhere to meet, and we have a nice little cement pad and canvas meeting tent in the Mission Haiti compound, with several benches and chairs, so it made sense to relocate there. Then Bruce (a guy on the Mission Haiti board) had a vision and some ideas about doing church here, and Torrey Babb (the family who was here all summer) helped to get the whole thing off the ground, too. The idea was that we would never give handouts from this church, never steal members from other local churches, and do everything we can to invite non-Christians and new Christians to an environment that was non-threatening and non-judgmental.

So far it seems to be working pretty well. Pastor Delva is still involved. I am very impressed with him. He was genuinely concerned when people from the old Ebeneezer congregation were staying home on Sundays for awhile and not getting fed spiritually. Though he basically worked for free for the last three years, traveling here each week from Les Cayes and paying his own gas, he has stuck with this whole thing and held on to a calling he felt from God to serve and minister here. He and others share the preaching duties each month. We also have a youth Sunday once a month and incorporate the talents of the youth group and the children. The children's program each Sunday morning, led by Patchouko, usually has 20-30 kids, so that is fun to see. He is a gifted leader.

In the future the Mission Haiti Church (for lack of a better name) will be a great place for Bible School students to practice preaching and other church leadership functions. It is also a good place for us to invite people who give their lives to Christ during outreaches we do. They can come here in any clothes they have, which takes a lot of pressure off. Many still come in nice dresses and suits, so that is welcome, too. Yesterday we were happy to see Esperancia and her sisters, as well as Zoot and his family, two groups of people who were deeply touched by American mission teams and those who donated so generously to the Mission Haiti medical fund.

Our church is not perfect and never will be. We still get started late like any Haitian church, and then we go over the normal finishing time. Those things are hard to change, but they really don't matter so much either. We also aren't sure exactly how we will handle requests for weddings and funerals. We may have to defer to the more established churches when those moments occur. Without a full-time pastor we probably don't do as much pastoral care (visiting elders, sick, grieving, and spiritually struggling people in the church) as we should, but again, that could change when we have the extra help of the Bible School students at our disposal. We just hope our model of church will inspire other churches to be less judgmental (mainly based on clothes) and accepting of seekers and new Christians.

We do the best we can to “do church” in a way that is glorifying and pleasing to God in the setting in which we currently find ourselves. Isn't this what we are all called to do? Wherever you find yourself, in whatever situation, it is good to stop once a week, rest, worship, hear the preaching of the Word, and allow God to refresh and restart your soul for another week. As my uncle Michael often says, “If you ever find the perfect church, please don't start attending there because you will ruin it.” You just go to the church where God leads you and humbly play your part in making the church better day by day. The same is true in Haiti.

Enjoy the Adventure of Serving in Your Local Church!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #7- KU KLUX COOKIE

2011-10-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Our dog is a racist bigot. She hates black people. I wish we had known to ask about that when we were researching breeds and trying to find out their predispositions. We did ask if she would shed. Not very much, we were told. (that was wrong) We did ask if she would bark. Not very much, we were told. (wrong again) However, we forgot to ask if she would be prone to extreme racial prejudice. I guess that never came up in the research and planning. That category never showed up on www.dogbreeds.com. I'm sure the breeders we bought her from would have assured us she was color-blind and it wouldn't matter anyway.

Cookie is a pocket puggle, sort of. On the internet they will tell you there is really no such thing, which is probably true. A puggle is a combination of a pug and a beagle. A pocket puggle is a combination of a pug and any number of smaller breeds, which gives you a small puppy that looks part pug. In Cookie's case she was a combination of a pug and a rat terrier, and the terrier genes really come out whenever Haitian people show up at our door. Out come the snarls, fangs, barks, and growls. She is a one-dog unwelcoming committee.

Richard, our friend from Milford, IA, who came down for an extended period earlier this year and is returning in a few weeks, really got a kick out of Cookie and her strange tendencies. He raises funds at churches for the lumber and other supplies he uses on his mission trips, and he likes to tell stories about Cookie, the racist dog. So he is really the one who inspired us to come up with the name, Ku Klux Cookie. We thought about Cookie the Caucasian-loving, cantankerous canine, but that didn't exactly roll off the tongue. She loves Sue. She normally isn't bothered by Pam. If she is bothered by her, it is only because Pam is always darting about with quick motions and comes in and out of the house in a hurry. Cookie normally doesn't like men, but Pam's dad became her best friend last summer, and of course he is white.

The real proof of Cookie's racial prejudice is her strained relationship with Adrien. He supposedly has some white in his bloodlines, going back to the French, and in fact his skin is pretty light for a Haitian. He seems to be the one Cookie hates the most. She can recognize his voice from a city block away. She starts barking even if he tries to sneak silently past our house. Isn't that the true mark of a racial supremacist? She hates people who are “mixed” even more than people whose heritage comes completely from one ethnicity. The great irony is that she is a mixed-breed herself! What a sick puppy.

So we are thinking about sending her to a Haitian tolerance boot camp. I'm not sure what they do there, exactly. Probably make her sit quietly through a lot of singing, hand-clapping, and dancing. Next they will test her with flash cards, each portraying a person with a different shade of skin. If she doesn't bark at black people, she gets a treat. Finally she will be handed over to Nesli, the rascally 5-year-old at the orphanage who throws toys and soccer balls in the outhouse pit for fun, who will be her personal drill sergeant and force her to endure unmentionable tortures. If she survives all of that her little heart will either be turned to stone or completely softened for the Haitian people.

I guess in a “Signs” (remember that movie?) sort of way we reassure ourselves that her coming unglued every time someone (black) comes to the door will eventually reap dividends if some stranger intent on harm ever comes. In other words, her guard dog qualities might be needed some day. Until then, however, we'll just have to patiently work with her and try not to come unglued ourselves. We keep a squirt bottle handy to douse her snout when she barks. We also try to hold her down as kids from the orphanage pet her. She makes little whines and throaty moans when we do that, like we are performing surgery on her or something.

"Cookie the Racist Watchdog"
(Sung to the tune of “Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer”)

There was....

Francia, Kiki,
Rose, Lepe, Lucy
Schinaider and Nesli
Anderson, Kenny

But the most disturbing young creature of all,
was curled up in a furry brown ball...

Cookie the racist watchdog
Had a very vicious bark
And if you ever heard her

You hoped your skin was not too dark

All of the other orphans
used to laugh and call her names
They never let poor Cookie
join in any mixed-race games

Then one balmy Christmas eve
Cory came to say,
“Cookie, if you bark so loud,
I might throw you in the pound!”

Then all the orphans loved her,
and they shouted out with glee,
“Cookie the friendly watchdog,
Jesus' love has set you free!!!!”

-The Grimm Family Adventurers (and Cookie)

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #6- SACRIFICE

2011-10-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

We write a lot of stories about our adventures all over the village and the mountains trails of Haiti. This post, however, shows how true it is that the real adventure of following Christ is in one's own heart and soul and mind.

Lynn was paging through Facebook a night or two ago (We have internet! Am I dreaming? Somebody pinch me!), and we were sad to see that a good friend from Orange City had passed away. It wasn't a big shock, because she had been battling serious illness in varying degrees for close to thirty years, dating all the way back to a kidney transplant and related complications for life, and ending with many years of battling cancer. I had spoken to her husband in August, and he let me know things weren't going well for his wife and she might not live long. So again, we weren't totally devastated by the news, but it got me thinking.

There truly is a sacrifice that takes place when you leave for the mission field, and it is more complex than you might think. I get the feeling that we are only beginning to understand what it means. Previously we blogged about giving up unknown expectations and dreams we hold way down deep in our hearts and in the inner recesses of our minds...hopes for our future we might not have even been aware of, like being able to watch your kids sing or play Joseph or Mary in the Christmas program at church. There is a sacrifice there, no doubt, but that is not what I'm thinking about this time.

Of course there is the sacrifice of comforts, conveniences, technologies, etc.... That is something we often joke about, and the mission teams who come down here without fail comment both on how hard it is to give up certain things and how at the same time it can be quite refreshing. Letting go of some of those simple pleasures feels a little bit like a sacrifice sometimes, but you get over it pretty quickly. A more sobering sacrifice is giving up reliable health care and putting yourself in a position where injuries and illnesses we would consider moderately serious in the US suddenly become life-threatening in Haiti. But that is not what this blog post is about, either.

I'll tell you what the real sacrifice is when you leave to be a missionary in a different country. It is sacrificing the normal, logical, and healthy continuation and completion of relationships you've been investing in your whole life. There is a real sense of disorientation and loss at the feeling of not being there for our friends' funeral. We should be there. I guarantee you that when we return on some break in the future, especially when we visit Trinity Reformed in Orange City, we will have to remind ourselves that this friend is really gone. We will grieve her all over again.

It isn't like our friend and her husband would have thought badly about us not being there for the funeral. They would be totally understanding and sympathetic of our situation. In fact, we wouldn't be here without their help. When I was youth pastor in Orange City, it was through the mentorship of this man (and the encouragement of Pastor Opgenorth) that I even considered the option of attending seminary. Then this couple, of whom the wife just passed away, supported us financially in seminary and through Mission Haiti. So in strange ironic twist they shared in the sacrifice. By supporting us in this work, they had to sacrifice our ability to be there to support and encourage them in their time of need. They gave up any ministry and love we might have given them at this time as a gift to the people of Haiti.

That is really what the sacrifice is all about.

Years ago I remember my parents talking about how my uncle and aunt (who were missionaries in Kenya) were very concerned about getting “the phone call,” and they weren't sure how much longer they wanted to be missionaries because of this tension. In other words, they didn't want to be in the middle of nowhere when they heard that “mom” or “dad” had passed away. I'm not sure if that sums up the situation fairly, but that is the overview of what I was told. I am ashamed now to confess that when I heard that I perceived it as sort of a weakness on their part, that they wouldn't be willing to make that sacrifice. I now understand a little bit better how that feels, and I am sorry for my ignorance, arrogance, and lack of compassion. It isn't only about how much you love that person. There is something more to the sacrifice. When you are transplanted from one culture to another there is a loss of being connected to the natural flow of life and death that goes on without you in the culture you left.

We have had some talks about this and kind of plotted out what our plan would be if certain people passed away while we are in Haiti. That is kind of morbid to talk about, but in all seriousness, we feel need to have a plan when we get “the phone call” and even make a decision beforehand of who is a close enough relative (and who isn't) for all of us to drop everything and fly back. If we stay here long enough we might also have to miss some really important moments other than funerals. We already have. Just a few days ago Lynn's brother and his wife had their second child. The first time we see him may be when he is tottering along some piece of furniture at Grandma's house. The reality is we will miss holding him as a baby. That is a sacrifice that counts for something. At least we hope so.

When it is all said and done, no sacrifice we make compares to the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. Maybe we shouldn't even use that word, “sacrifice.” Maybe this whole blog post should not be written. However, I think God is very understanding when it comes to these things, and He can more than compensate for any feelings of loss or confusion. The other side to this, of course, is the sacrifice all of you are making in letting us go, especially our parents. Sometimes we overlook or even downplay this reality. We think, “We were pretty boring people anyway, so we won't be missed too much.” But again, it isn't only about how much you back home love us. It is about that sense of missing out on what you feel you should be a part of...losses, rites of passage, great accomplishments, tiny little snapshots of everyday life, etc...

By God's grace may we all embrace this sacrifice in faith that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18) Also, today we remember a truly great woman, Marietta Vandersall. I can think of no better example of a person who suffered greatly from physical ailments and yet put others before herself and made them feel important and special. She had a special place in her heart for Lynn. Also pray for Stan, her husband and my former mentor, a great servant of God and His church, who will somehow go on by God's grace into an unknown future. Do us a little favor and give Him a little extra encouragement on our behalf.

-The Grimm Family Adventurers

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #5- OLGENS

2011-10-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

PART 1:

This post could also fit into the old “neighborhood characters” category, but Olgens has gone way beyond being just another face in the crowd. I first met Olgens on one of my earliest trips here, and he made an impression on me one night after youth group. We had a pretty serious study/talk that night about sin, and afterward I offered to pray with anyone who needed prayer. Olgens came up and asked to talk. At that point all I knew was “bonjou (good morning), wi (yes), and mesi (thank you)”, and Olgens didn't know any English at all. We needed a translator, and faithful Kiki stepped in to help out. That moment will always be a definitive and treasured memory of Kiki for me.

Olgens got right to the point. He confessed to me that his heart was filled with sin. I asked him if he wanted to share anything specific he was struggling with. After a little bit of hemming and hawing, he said, “Okay, I'll tell you. Sometimes when I look at girls I want to have sex with them.” I had to force myself to suppress a little laugh. This is one of those moments when you just have to cherish the relative naiveté and near-innocence of most young people in Haiti. At this point Olgens was about 19 or so, and I assured him that those temptations were very normal for a boy of his age, and in fact it is an issue that almost all men have to deal with throughout their lives. I tried to give him some practical ways to deal with this situation, and he seemed relieved to have confessed to someone.

After that I always remembered his name and called to him on the street whenever I was in town with a mission team. He was always so happy that I remembered him. It was easy to see that his life was hard. He always wore the same old jeans, his head was too big for his body (which generated plenty of ridicule from his peers), he was only in 5^th grade, he tended to mumble when he talked, and let's just come out and say it...he was kind of a homely lad. Speaking with Lynn one day, I jokingly compared him to Quasimoto. That's terrible, I know, but it was done in love, believe me. But the real turning point for Olgens was when Lynn came to visit with me last May. That was the beginning of something new for him.

When girls come on mission trips to Ti-Rivier, all the young men get really excited. No big news there, of course. Sometimes teams will come with a group of cute high school or college girls, and without fail our youth group always doubles or triples in size while they are here. Olgens has always wished that he could hang with the big boys in those moments, the Elyse and Junior-types who are confident, funny, smart, good-looking, and know quite a bit of English. Those are great guys, and Olgens sees them striking up conversations with the cute American girls and gets jealous. But then Lynn came and he found someone who he could talk to and be heard. Of course she was already taken, thank you very much! But that really didn't matter to Olgens, because it was never about the romantic side of things as much as just feeling some kind of self-respect and confidence.

Since that time Olgens has become a great friend to our family and even works for Mission Haiti carrying water every day. He loves to push Lynn's wheelchair when we go out in the community, which is really nice for me. He is still only in 7^th grade at age 21, and may never finish school, but he has a future with us, anyway, as an incredibly loyal and hard worker who can be trusted. One day Mike gave me $20 Haitian ($2.50 US) to find someone to wash the truck. I asked Olgens to do it, and afterward I offered him the money. He said he didn't want it because he didn't do it for money. This is a pretty rare thing in Haiti, let me tell you!

PART 2:

Recently Olgens has gotten pretty good at English, so one day I was planning to go to Les Cayes to run some errands. Normally I would take Chelo or Patchouko with me, but both were busy on this occasion. Olgens was sitting there talking to Lynn, so I invited him to go. He was excited for the opportunity. On the way I asked him if there was anything he needed to buy or do while we were there. He asked if we could stop and visit his mom.

After finishing the errands we headed over to her neighborhood. This was a new place for me to go, and I was so happy for the opportunity to see a whole different type of life I had nver witnessed before. We turned off the cement street and headed down a dirt/gravel road. At this point the houses were quite small, but made of finished cement, with doors and everything. There was a few feet between the houses. Soon we went as far as we could go on motorcycle and had to park. At this point quite a crowd gathered around us. They were obviously impressed that Olgens was was in cahoots with some Blanc (American).

We proceeded on foot. Now the only space between homes was about the width of a hallway in most American homes. The homes shared walls with each other, and most of the “doors” were simply a blanket draped across an opening. The cement of these homes was sometimes unfinished, just bare cinder blocks held together with a bit of mortar. Naked babies and toddlers were everywhere. One 18-month old (or so) pointed at me at said, “Blanc! Blanc!” It makes me wonder how they learn that so early. It must have been her third word after “Mama” and “Papa.”

We reached the home of Olgens' mother, but unfortunately she was not there. Later she would call him and rebuke him for not letting her know ahead of time that he was bring an "important" visitor to her home. I had to laugh. We decided to drive across town to visit some of Olgens' cousins instead. There was an adventure waiting there for us as well.

The next place we stopped provided quite a contrast. It was a nice home with a metal gate out front, bedrooms, a bathroom with toilet, tiled floors, and a nice private garden in the back. I met a few of Olgen's cousins (a very loose term here for any kind of distant relative) and we had a few laughs together. One boy there looked about 11 but his sister said he was 14. He had the TV turned up too loud and was fiddling with some string and sticks. His head wobbled around like there was something wrong with him. He would mumble something and laugh to himself. I remember thinking, “I wonder if this kid will ever doing anything worthwhile with his life.”

I started looking at the variety of paintings up on the walls, assuming they had been purchased from some local artist or shop or whatever. Some of them were quite nice, and definitely interesting in content. After a little while the boy asks me in Creole, “What are you looking at there?” I said, “I'm just looking at all these paintings. They're pretty good.” He kind of giggle to himself. Olgens points at the boy and says, “He painted all of those.” I was dumfounded. I asked to clarify, “This kid right here? He painted those?” Olgens confirmed what he said. The boy giggled a little more.

There were interesting paintings of Bible scenes, nature scenes in Haiti, and many other things. One that really stuck out was a painting of a vase with flowers with three burning candles nearby. Somehow he was able to capture both the glare of the light on these objects and the shadows behind them, and the flowers were very detailed and beautiful. It looked like a blown up photograph. I had to repent of my earlier dismissal of the boy and think, “This kid could do great things.” I wonder if he was autistic or something. More importantly, I wonder who will guide him on this strange and potentially-wonderful path on which God has placed him?

We headed home. Olgens and I had a few more laughs and returned back to our everyday lives where the adventures always continue. Just yesterday Olgens and I met up in the nearby market. It was cloudy and breezy and I asked him, “Eske lapli ap veni? (Will the rain come?)” He said, “No, not now.” Predictably, after about five minutes we got hit with a small monsoon. All we could do is laugh, help people pack up their little stands, and find shelter on someone's porch for 20 minutes. We can never say for sure how long God will allow us to serve here, but we feel like Olgens will be a part of that story for many years to come. He fits well with us, and it all began with a little prayer together a couple of years ago with the help of Kiki.

Olgens and Lynn

God Bless Your Adventure Today!
-Grimm Family Adventurers

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #4- HAITIAN SCHOOLS

2011-10-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

This is an adventure we could probably write 10 blogs about. This fall we feel like our eyes have really been opened to a lot of the issues with the school system in Haiti. This is the first time we have been present for the distribution of the sponsor money to the schools and families. Have you ever been to one of those ponds full of big goldfish where children can buy little pellets of food and throw them in the water? Then the fish bubble up to the top, piling on top of each other and trying to get at the food...with that image in your mind you can understand a little bit about Haitian schools.

WARNING: This blog post might be a huge downer for you, but understand that school is in such early stages of development here, and God can do great things!

When someone chooses to sponsor a child in school here the money goes towards several different things. Probably the biggest three are the actual payment of tuition to the schools, the books, and the uniforms. There are also backpacks, medications, shoes, and other items that kids receive. Mission Haiti currently has about 1500 students at something like 40 different schools, so the master list is always being updated with who has received what, who has transferred to what school, who did and didn't pass last year (more on that later), and other pertinent information.

At every point in the paragraph above problems can and do arise. Take tuition as an example. If you give it to the parents to pay the school, all kinds bad things can happen. Use your imagination. If you give it to the school, all kinds of other bad things can happen. Probably the most prevalent is a complex network of kids saying they go to a school, striking a deal with the director there to pretend they actually go there, and then splitting the money with him. This really happens! Well, the good news is Pam finally reached the end of her rope this year and hired a professional school inspector to make sure the money we are giving out is actually being used properly. Of course this leads to a lot of angry people not being able to work the system anymore, but is should reap big dividends for those who play fairly.

Mission Haiti directly oversees four schools, but even that statement needs to be qualified. Each of those primary schools has a director who is actually in charge, but through the sponsorship program Pam actually pays all the salaries, virtually all of the tuition, and virtually all of the building projects, so obviously she has a big say in what goes on. And yet there is always so much conflict and resistance at every step in the process. It can be incredibly discouraging. For example, she recently gave one fo the schools all of their books for the year, and they turned around and charge the parents money for the books, so many kids don't have books. Sometimes you just want to buy those directors a plane ticket, personally take them on a tour through any decent school in Miami or wherever, and open their eyes to what could be. In their defense, they really have no idea what school CAN be like.

Then there is the parents' support or lack thereof of school in general. Someone could easily write an entire book on this topic, because it is so complex. Many parents would simply like their kids to be home working. That is the reality. When carrying water, doing laundry by hand, and preparing/cooking food takes so much time, it is nice to have many hands doing the work. There are also a few parents at the other end of the spectrum who have an idea of what school can be like, are disgusted with the lack of quality in local schools, and try to come up with other options. Patchouko and his wife fall into this category.

This next paragraph will blow your mind and cause you to pray...

There is also the issue of passing from grade to grade. Some of most difficult times are after 6^th, 9^th, 12^th, & 13^th grades (they do one more year here, like in Europe). The kids in our little community have to take the same exams as the kids in Port who go to big expensive private schools. So the tests are very hard, at least for our kids. Many of them don't pass and have to try again the next year. They can be stuck in the same grade for many years. But that is not all. Then there a times when a student doesn't pass, but can bribe the director with money or other favors (yes, I'm implying what you think) and pass anyway. I hear about this happening in the high schools. We hope it doesn't happen in the primary schools we operate. Then there is one last scenario you probably figured out already which is very hard to prove. Some students are very smart, but receive a failing grade on the exam. When they ask the director about it, he may in an off-handed way ask for a bribe. If the student doesn't comply they don't pass. Some students believe they really did achieve a passing score but were not allowed to move on because of not giving the bribe. May God have mercy on the soul of any directors who have done these things!

Then there is the government's involvement with the schools. The new president has promised to help schools in Haiti be great. Two pieces of evidence seem to indicate nothing has changed. At the end of last year national (public) school teachers stopped coming to school because they weren't getting paid anymore. Now this fall the president moved school back an entire month to begin on October 4^th. This happened last year, too, under the old, corrupt regime. Cutting school is an obvious way to save money at the expense of the children of Haiti. And the tradition in Haiti is to not really start attending regularly until the 2^nd or 3^rd week. So I went in to teach English yesterday at the local high school, and way less than half of the kids were there.

This blog post does not even delve into the lack of resources, books, quality teachers, creative programs, and other obstacles faced by the schools, but you get the idea. Haitian schools are in a sad state. Of course when you meet a young man or woman who somehow find a way to push through it all, master French and other languages, and blaze some trail to a real career of some sort, it is very inspiring. I think Pam and the rest of us at Mission Haiti feel like we have a very long way to go until we can say the schools are “good” here, but there is at least a sense that things are improving year to year.

Please remember the Haitian schools in your prayers today, and the adventure of those of us who are directly involved.

Thank the Lord today for the School you attend(ed)!

-The Grimm Family Adventurers

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #3- CRABS

2011-10-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

One great new adventure this fall has been in the form of new pets for the kids, a crate full of crabs. Three of these little guys were inherited from Jackson and Talix, the kids who lived here this summer while we were gone. They are the kind of crabs who don't have a shell of their own but move from one seashell to another as they grow. Our kids have had a great time feeding them, naming them, racing and chasing them, and keeping track of their constant movements between old and new shells.

One day Alexandra accidentally left the lid open on the crate. Pretty soon the others went to check on the pets, and they were gone! A thorough search of the yard was made, but only two of the rascals were recovered. I'm sure the other one is still telling his new buddies out there in the world of his great escape from Al-crab-traz. Later that day a boy from the community came with an old jug full of six or seven new crabs for the collection, including one really big one. The kids were ecstatic!

Since that time there has been even more interest in the crabs, and the kids from the orphanage like to check on them as well. We have to be a little big careful, because one day Nesli threw one in the fire pit while there was a fire burning. Ouch! There is also the threat of being pinched by their claws. Elizabeth and Kenny have both shed blood after a vicious crab-attack. One individual we don't have to worry about is a crab the kids call “naked guy.” He doesn't seem to want to move into shell. Some call him liberated, others call him a rebel without a cause. Either way, when you open the lid he just runs and hides in the corner. I guess he's not completely comfortable with his nudity yet.

All the crabs are meticulously cared for and nurtured in their eco-friendly environment, which has been carefully designed to mirror their natural habitat. Okay, that's not really true. The truth is they live in a wooden box in the garden and from time to time we pour in a little water and throw in a handful of grass. None have died of natural causes, though! Some of them have quite a temper, and all of them are always quite crabby. I guess that is in their nature....thus their name. Don't try confronting them on their negative attitude, though. That makes them downright surly.

Are your days kind of boring,

     and your life somewhat drab?
Is your house antiseptic,
    like some medical lab?
Are you willing to open up,
     to venture out, take a stab?
Then make room in your home
    for a new pet, a crab!

Crabs are delicious,

     no doubt that is true.
Crabs can end up
     on buffets or in stews.
But crabs have so much more
     they can offer to you.
They'll claw their way into your heart
     if you allow them to.

Have you ever really gazed

into their beady little eyes?
Have you given them a chance
to make you realize...

That behind that hard exterior

are silent, desperate cries...
To come out of their shell
and refute all the lies.

Crabs are not crabby! Nor flabby or scabby!

If you give them an inch, the will never, ever pinch!
They'll come out from that rock if you just let them talk!
Next time you vacation, visit Haitian Crustaceans!

Alexandra, Nesli, Kenny, and the CRABS (before we got the extra ones)

Esperancia, the girl attacked by machete earlier this year...she is doing well

Esperancia's hand

A little boy who came to visit one day

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #2- BIBLE SCHOOL

2011-10-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

We joined forces with Mike and Pam Plasier and Mission Haiti almost two years ago. From the beginning there has been an understanding that we would work towards offering some kind of higher education for young leaders. Mission Haiti had been sponsoring kids for school and operating primary schools directly for many years, and it became time to think about what would come next for some of the older students who were approaching completion of High School. This fit well with our dream to be involved in some sort of theological instruction in a developing country. We have always talked about this future project simply as the “Bible and Ministry Training School.”

The time has finally come for that dream/vision to become a reality! In September of 2012 we will begin the first class of students in the new school. Some land has been purchased down near the ocean, one small house is already built there, and two weeks ago we began the construction of a small dormitory designed for twelve students. Before next fall we hope to complete a shower/toilet building, a cooking shed, an eating/gathering area, and an open-air classroom. Thanks to a sizable grant from First Reformed in Sioux Center, the land and the dormitory should be covered. We will continue to raise funds for the other buildings in the year to come.

What will the ministry training program entail? Young missionaries will come from around the world (probably just US and Haiti in the first year) and join forces for an intense 9-month program of Bible study, ministry, and personal spiritual growth. Visiting professors will teach one-week courses in a variety of subjects. Focusing on the model for ministry taught by Jesus, put into effect by Paul, and described in the book of Titus, students will be trained to enter a community, make assessments of how God is at work, lead people to Jesus, appoint leaders, and repeat this process. Upon successful completion of the program we will send students out to begin new ministries all over Haiti and all over the world. Students will do everything together and stretch themselves through a great deal of prayer, worship, ministry, service, accountability, study, and hard work.

So where is the adventure in all of this?

The adventure for us will be in seeing how God answers so many questions and needs in the coming year. Our current role with Mission Haiti is to direct all in-country ministries including youth group, Sunday worship, daily programs for children, evangelism/deliverance/discipleship in the village and mountain communities, and spiritual guidance of all staff. On top of that we will need to raise funds for the Bible School facilities, scholarships for Haitian students, recruit professors and students in the US and Haiti, organize all curriculum, and oversee the building projects. It should be quite a year!

One exciting bit of news we received recently was the verbal commitment of a godly, young couple in Sioux Falls to come and serve as Resident Directors in the first year of the Bible school. They will live in the house down there known as the “hurricane-proof house” and oversee every aspect of the students' lives, just like a resident director would at a college in the US. Praise God! Also, there is a spot on that property that would make sense for our family to build a house in the future, and Mike and Pam have encouraged us to think about that and raise funds. Three great professors have already agreed to come, many young Haitians have shown interest, and the building project is going really fast so far, so that is all good, too.

The Bible and Ministry Training School adventure will undoubtedly have many peaks and valleys in the year to come, so we would ask you to pray for this as you think about us. We truly believe God will use this to bring a great deal of energy and help to our current ministries and then later a huge impact on people all over Haiti and around the world. We will soon be putting out recruitment brochures and school applications, so if there is a young person you know in the US who might be interested in spending 9-months here, please let them know about this program. Also, if God puts it on your heart to contribute to the building project or the scholarship program, please feel free to ask more questions about that.

(enjoy a few pictures below)

God Bless,

The Grimm Family Adventurers

Riding in "the cage" from the Port-au-Prince airport to Ti-Rivier

Lynn holding Antoine & Jesoula's baby, Melonita

Who knew reading could be so dangerous?

10 Adventures in 10 Days: #1- INTERNET

2011-10-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Wow! We haven't kept up with our blog since returning to Haiti. We are so sorry for our lack of diligence in this area. We know many of you are very faithful in reading this blog and praying for us, so we apologize and pledge ourselves to do a better job. In fact, over the next days we will make it up to you by posting 10 Adventures in 10 Days. Okay, some of these will be rehashing what has happened over the last few weeks, but the point is that there will be a lot more to read and pray about in the days ahead. So check back!

And now we are pleased to announce that we have the capability to blog more often and more effectively, because thanks to our local neighborhood Vietnamese tech-team, we are up and running on the internet! Thank you, NATCOM!

Let us explain....The first of the ten adventures has to do with getting INTERNET at home. As most of you know, this adventure has been playing out over the past year since we first moved here. Rumors of various expensive options would come and go, and in the end the best we could do was to hike down to Adrien's house and hope he was home and his internet was working. That is how we got through our first year of not having internet.

Then we returned recently armed with some new tools. Lynn has a Kindle which is equipped with an experimental version of 3G access, which works to get online a little bit. It is very slow and doesn't always load pages and you can't download anything, but it was a slight improvement anyway (and access is free!). Then I bought an off-brand Blackberry here and got phone service through NATCOM, a Vietnamese company that has come into the area recently. That comes with internet for $1.25/month. Not bad. You can't do much with the internet, but you can ready your emails, check the news and sports and weather, and it is cheap.

Then finally I went to NATCOM in Les Cayes and got the biggest upgrade of all. They sell a USB device to connect you to their 3G network. It was really funny to go there and interact with the combination of Vietnamese and Haitian staff. At one point I saw a large black woman arguing face-to-face with a tiny Vietnamese man, both speaking broken English. It was very funny, and surreal. When you approach the desk they flat out tell you that they don't have the USBs in stock (which was true for several weeks). Then, if you sweet talk them a little bit, they take you in the back room to meet with the big dogs.

We met with the director of the whole thing, a 25ish computer guru from Vietnam who is fluent in English, Vietnamese, French, and Creole. That was pretty cool. A bunch of the Vietnamese staff were huddled in his office near the window AC unit, chain smoking. They rent a house across the street from the office. I wonder if they consider working in Haiti a desirable assignment or if they were all being punished for something they did back home in SE Asia. Anyway, he gave us the hook-up and soon we were ready to head home. There was some concern whether or not it would work all the way out in Ti-Rivier, because it is 13 miles from Les Cayes where they broadcast the signal, but it hasn't been a problem so far.

Last night I crawled up on the roof, logged on, and flipped through various pages on the internet at a furious speed. I am not ashamed to tell you that a little tear came to my eye at finally having web access at home, and at such a strong speed. The only downside is the access is pay-as-you-go, but my estimate is that I can keep it under $20/month if we use it conservatively. Skyping will have to be done sparingly to make that happen, but we'll manage. It is still cheaper than in the US and just as fast. Time will tell if it is reliable or not.

So that is our INTERNET adventure, the first of ten in the days to come. Tomorrow we will update you on the Bible School project. The construction is underway!

Blessings to you and yours...
-The Grimms

Kiki Goes Home: PART 3

2011-09-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Please enjoy the conclusion of this three part series. May God bless your adventure today, even if you find yourself trying to figure out life (your adventure) without someone you love. -The Grimms

PART THREE: Going forward without Kiki...

We left Kiki's funeral and the car was dead. Nice. It was also roughly the temperature of the sun inside the car. After overcoming a few seconds of denial (remember the episode of dropping Lynn's toilet bowl into the outhouse?) we began to address the problem. A Pastor from the church recruited someone with jumper cables to try to help us. That didn't work. Ronal (Mission Haiti driver) was still there, and he is a mechanic, so he took a look for us. His diagnosis was a bad starter, but he also had to leave for Port and couldn't do anything else to help us. The Pastor phoned a local mechanic and asked him to come out and take a look.

We knew life without Kiki would be an adventure, but did if have to start immediately?

The group now consisted of Sue, Mdm. Dominique (MH cook), myself (Cory), Gertrude (MH orphanage director), Patchouko (MH staff), and about five members of the youth group. We found a shady place and started joking around, the standard way to deal with problems in Haiti. We didn't think to pray about the situation just yet. That would come later.

The mechanic arrived on a motorcycle and asked me to pay the driver who gave him a ride. Standard stuff. After a lot of tinkering around, he declared that he needed some other tools. We waited for his assistant to come. Actually, two assistants came, and for the next couple of hours they tried to extract the starter from the car with no success. Mike, on his way to the airport in Port-au-Prince, had assured me on the phone that it was an easy fix. Not in Haiti, I guess. They finally gave up, demanded money for their time, and left.

Next we contacted the only person we could think of in Ti-Rivier with a car who was in the area at the time (Adrien was across the country somewhere), Boss Edens, the contractor who does most of our building projects. The nice thing is that he has been in the doghouse with Pam recently and so we had a little bit of leverage. Fortunately, he was in Les Cayes at the moment and agreed to come. By this time it was mid-afternoon and we were all getting quite thirsty.

Boss Edens showed up and we attached the cars with a 10-12 foot nylon rope. Everyone else besides me piled into his car, and we started the incredibly nerve-wracking process of towing the car back through the traffic-saturated city, out into the country-side, and up the rocky hills to Ti-Rivier. The whole process took about an hour, but it seemed like a day. It might have been my least favorite hour of my life. This is where I made up for the missed prayers earlier.

With the battery not working properly I had no power-steering or power to the brakes, so both of them were continually asking me to provide the power for them. I think there were a few moments when Boss Edens forgot he was towing someone, because we were passing trucks, cars, and other motorcycles just like it was a normal drive home from Cayes. There were actually two times when a motorcycle driver passed me, paused between the bumpers of the two cars (with only 10 feet between), and then passed Boss Edens. Scary stuff. Going over the 15 or so speed bumps was no picnic, and we even snapped the rope once doing that.

In the end we made it home safely, though getting up the driveway took a couple of tries, and we could smell that his transmission wasn't too happy about the whole thing. Over the next week we installed a new battery and that didn't help, so the car is still sitting there out of commission. However, Adrien is back in town, so if we have an emergency with his help (and car) it will be easier to deal with.

So Kiki is gone now, and the adventure continues, but now it feels a little bit like we are acrobats without a safety net. Having Kiki there was a kind of mental safeguard when thinking about all the things that could happen down here at any given moment. I've always pictured that if we had a medical emergency in our family, for instance, we could hop in the car, begin driving to Port, and meet Kiki somewhere to guide us through the emergency, getting us into hospitals or whatever needed to be done. Now who would we call? Mike and Pam do have other missionary contacts around the country, so that would probably be the next best thing, and there is always the US embassy, but Kiki was our personal helper and always available in times of need.

If you want to go back and read an example of what I am talking about, and adventure where Kiki was instrumental in causing a positive outcome, check out the following post on our blog:

"An Adventurous Adventure" from October, 2010

In the end this whole story, this whole adventure is not about us, the Grimm Family. It isn't even about Mission Haiti. In fact, it isn't even about Kiki. It is about our Almighty God, who has a plan, who has a purpose for every one of us, and who will call each of home (who trust in Christ for salvation) at just the right time, and His grace will guide those of us who are left to continue. That is what this story is all about. Kiki would have agreed with that statement when he was here...how much more would he agree with it now from the perspective he is currently enjoying?

Kiki Goes Home: PART 2

2011-09-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Please enjoy part 2 of 3 of "Kiki Goes Home." We are doing well in Haiti and enjoying the adventure. God Bless! -The Grimms

PART TWO: Kiki's Funeral

We took two vehicles to Kiki's funeral in Les Cayes, about 15 miles (but close to 40 minutes!) from our village. Mike and Pam drove the pick-up truck, jammed full of members of the youth group, and I drove the Isuzu Trooper with members of our staff. Because Mike and Pam were planning on leaving early and heading to Port for a flight later that afternoon, I warned the youth that if they went they were on their own to find a way home and would have to pay for their transportation. That didn't stop many of them from going. I planned all along to pay for them to return on tap-taps, but I didn't broadcast that ahead of time in order to thin out the crowd a bit.

We got there a little after the beginning of the 8 o'clock viewing time, and there was already a lot of activity going on. The church was packed with hundreds of people, yet the small parking lot had only twenty or so cars (one of the nice things about living in a poor country). Some ushers were quickly escorting the crowds past Kiki's casket in order to have a chance to say “farewell.” We got in line with everyone else and went to see him.

As we approached the front, where his parents were seated, there was a great deal of commotion. That would become the theme of the day. People were wailing loudly as they fanned themselves and others in the stiflingly hot church. A group of about ten brass band members were playing a sad song that echoed through the rafters. Friends were almost throwing themselves on Kiki's parents, giving hugs, weeping on their shoulders, and then being encouraged by the ushers to give someone else a chance. Behind them was Ronal, Mission Haiti's friend and trusted driver, patting the back of Kiki's Dad and fanning his mom to keep her from being overwhelmed by the heat of the day, the grief, and the well-wishers.

The funeral itself started at 9 o'clock. The brass band had continued to play as people were seated, and then they ended their share of the program by processing up and down the aisles of the huge church. The building could easily seat 2000, I would guess, and it was close to half full at the height of the event. As the musicians walked by, as a former trumpeter myself I couldn't help admiring their tired old instruments. Any high school band program in the US has thrown nicer horns in the dumpster from time to time, without a doubt, and yet they played with such skill and passion, each member deftly sounding his own part that somehow flowed together with the others.

At some point during the funeral I was thinking about how I might describe this unique event to you, our blog readers. The best thing I could come up with was this...Kiki's funeral was equal parts worship service, music festival, and Michael Jackson concert. Yes, I said Michael Jackson concert. At several points individuals were literally carried out by others as they yelled and contorted with either grief or heat exhaustion or both, I'm not sure. That reminded me of a Michael Jackson concert.

It was very worshipful, though. Let me just take you through a few of the highlights. First of all, there were something like 5 or 6 singing groups and choirs who shared a number during the first hour (thus the music festival comparison). All of them had a different style, and some of them were quite good. None of them had robes, thank goodness because of the heat, but some of them had matching shirts or at least were color coordinated. There was a man who played the roles of worship leader and MC as well. He would get up once in awhile and bridge everything together. There was a memorable moment during the singing of one hymn. The power cut off, silencing the sound system (this almost always happens in church in Haiti), and the people responded by raising their voices even higher in a beautiful, multiple part a capella.

I believe Kiki had three brothers who got up and shared something, but the highlight was when one of his young brothers, who is a doctor, gave a speech that was a kind of eulogy. The dynamics of the speak were absolutely off the charts. First of all, he took out a prepared speech and began to read it very softly and evenly. They had to turn up the mike as he read. After that he gradually began to build in volume and intensity. He also began to look less at the notes and share more from the heart. He had started in French and as the speech progressed, he used more Creole.

There was a moment about midway where he shared some funny stories about Kiki. Kiki was a very loud laugher, and would often accent the ends of sentences quite loudly and emphatically. His brother did an impersonation of Kiki, and the whole crowd (whether we really understood the words or not) had a good laugh, because it sounded just like Him! Just moments later, however, something truly electric happened. The brother said something like, “But it was never supposed to be this way...I go home and my mother is still there...my father is still there...but where is my brother Kiki?”

At that moment Kiki's brother lost it, let out a loud wail, and unabashedly buried his face in the chest of the man who was standing next to him on the platform. Cries and moans went up from dozens of women throughout the crowd, and tears fell to the floor by the thousands. The next several minutes included repetitions of these activities in varying levels of intensity. Finally the speech came down off the mountaintop and was finished and the people gave a collective sigh of relief and hunched in their seats. I myself was proud of these people and their absolute lack of shame at displaying emotion. I is truly a beautiful thing to experience.

Next came the first sermon at about 10:30 (yes, the first sermon). Thankfully it was a fairly laid-back speaker who seemed to do a good job of reassuring people of the promises of God, that those who trust Jesus for salvation and forgiveness of sins will spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Scriptures were read, assurances were given, and “Amen's” were spoken by all. The next preacher was a little bit more fiery, and by that time people were ready to exert a little more energy. He finished up, and the whole funeral was over a few minutes later.

I learned a few things from Kiki's funeral. First of all, funerals in the US are way too short. I think we do that to avoid letting it all hang out in front of everyone. There is a tension during those moments as we mix worship and grief. It is good for our souls to experience that uncomfortableness, and yet we want it over as soon as possible. Also, people get nervous and even irritated when family members share embarrassing stuff of get too emotional in the microphone. But this funeral changed my view of all that in some way. Secondly, it occurred to me to thank God that he spared Kiki in the earthquake last year and allowed his family and friends to have such a special and honoring funeral for him. If he had been buried under a pile or ruble like so many it wouldn't have been the same. Lastly, I learned that life without Kiki will be an adventure. More on that in the next post.

People stepped outside and began to surround the hearse. They processed down the street like that, a car in the middle of the crowd. Sue told me she had seen a similar thing once at a funeral in New Orleans once. As they left we headed to our car and began a new adventure...

The Long-Awaited Update, Take 2

2011-09-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you who are so faithfully remembering us in prayers back in the US. We are finally back online and hope to update the blog regularly from now on, though of course you never know in Haiti if that will be possible from day-to-day. Please also enjoy reading “Kiki Goes Home”, which will be uploaded to the blog in three parts over the coming days. Part one can be found below this post.

We have now been back in Haiti for about 11 days or so, and we are adjusting pretty well to life down here. We would be lying if we said it has been easy, but compared to our first weeks here last year it has been much, much better. One huge blessing has been the availability of a private (or semi-private...will talk more about that in a moment) house for our family, where we recently installed a refrigerator and stove. Mike Plasier (Mission Haiti Board President) helped us get the appliances and helped Cory saw off the bottom eight inches or so of the oven for Lynn. She can now see into the pots and pans she is using for cooking! She's never lived in such luxury in all her life!

Also, special thanks to Tori and Heather who lived in this house all summer and made a great deal of improvements including a new, lowered sink (no running water, but still nice), better screening to keep out bugs, a set up for taking lukewarm showers, and many other creative adaptations. Nice!

The journey here was a bit of an adventure. We checked in at the Sioux Falls airport as planned, and the young lady who helped Cory agreed to check our big bags all the way through to Port-au-Prince. That requires a bit of an explanation. As you may remember we had our flight changed, due to the hurricane that hit the east coast, making us arrive in Miami 12 hours and 15 minutes before our flight left for Port the following morning. According to airline policy, if the gap in time is over 12 hours we would be required to take all 10 50-pound suitcases out of baggage claim and with us to the hotel. Not fun!

So she was sympathetic to our situation and agreed to check them through. This required that she hand-write tickets on the heavy suitcases for the baggage handlers. An extra bonus was that she didn't charge us the $30 per 2^nd bag we thought we had to pay (saving us $150). We were elated! We traveled to Chicago with no problems and boarded for Miami. Though we had to circle for almost an hour upon arriving in the neighborhood of South Florida, we were still doing fine and ready to get to our hotel and order pizza.

I wanted to get our boarding passes for the next morning in order to save time, because the flight the next day was boarding around 5:30am. I stopped at a counter and asked about it, and he told us he couldn't print them because our checked bags were only checked to Miami. Ouch! So we went down to the baggage claim, and by this time everyone else in our flight had gotten their stuff and left. Ours were nowhere to be seen. A few more bags came out from our flight, and ours weren't with those either. We left the airport trusting that the bags were still in the system and would arrive in Port as expected, although the downside in this scenario is so much worse than if you were flying domestically. What would it look like if our bags full of our food and clothes didn't show up with us in Port? Would the airline drive them 6 hours out to our village? Probably not.

We had a good night at the motel. However, though we were the first people on the curb for the 4:30 shuttle in the morning, a bunch of people arrogantly walked out of the hotel doors as the small shuttle came up and jumped in ahead of our group, which of course included a woman in a wheelchair and three little kids. Believe me, if we hadn't fit (and we barely did, with Lynn's wheelchair practically on her lap), I would have personally physically ejected all of them from their seats. Probably not a good thing for a missionary to do, but it's okay to pick up a whip and make people move once in awhile, right?

We arrived at the airport and ran into a few more problems. There was a moment where I was pretty sure we were in danger of missing our flight. I had trouble with the self-serve boarding pass machines and got in line to get help. I wanted to ask about the bags, anyway. That line was absolutely not going anywhere, and we were now looking at 30 minutes until boarding, with the security check still standing between us and the gate. I jumped out of line and tried the machine again. This time it worked. We got through security quickly, scarfed a couple of expensive muffins, found out from the gate agent that the bags were good to go, and boarded the plane.

Everything went smoothly in the Port-au-Prince airport after the flight, and soon we were traveling out to the village with Mike and Pam. The kids were exhausted, which took a couple of days to get over, but we were fine, and it was a lot of fun to greet our dog, Cookie. Everyone in Ti-Rivier was happy to have us back and wanted to come and visit us. Even the familiar strangers along the streets greeted us with great passion when they saw us again for the first time. They yelled, “Mwen Blan Yo!” (My whites!)

We just finished our first week of homeschooling, Lynn has been tutoring a troubled young woman, we have already led half a dozen youth group meetings and a church service, Cory has traveled all over the region on the motorcycle, and many many more things have happened along the way. The adventure is off and running. Oh yeah, about the house being “semi-private.” Well, the high school students have to work a little bit for their school sponsorships now. This is a good thing, but we have had faces looking in our windows pretty much all day, every day for this first little while. It drives Cookie, our high-strung, overly protective, racist dog completely bananas.

We'll write more soon. Know that we are doing well, and again we say “thank-you” to everyone for everything this summer.

Enjoy Your Adventure Today!

-The Grimms

Kiki Goes Home: PART 1

2011-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Family & Friends,

Please enjoy the following three-part story about Kiki's passing. Parts two and three will be posted soon. We are doing great down here and blessed by God in so many ways!

PART ONE: About Kiki and the time before and after his death

As most of you are aware, Mission Haiti's most important contact and “right-hand man” in Haiti, Kiki, passed away on Thursday, August 25^th. This blog post and the next two will share the story of Kiki's passing. Included will be the time before his death, the time before his funeral, his funeral itself, and finally the adventure that occurred and is occurring afterward. Before sharing all of those events, however, let me tell you a little bit about who Kiki was.

Kiki is actually his nickname as you might have guessed. His real name was Alexis Jean Kuislin. In Haiti they say the family (or last) name first, so in the US we would have called him Jean Kuislin Alexis. He was born on March 25, 1966, making him forty-five years old when he died.

Kiki grew up a humble country boy in rural southern Haiti, living in a few different small communities as his father was transferred to various posts as a pastor. He had a sister (who lives in the US now) and a few brothers. His father wasn't paid much for leading the church and even had to spend his days working in the fields for farmers. His mother made the bulk of their income buying and selling goods in the market. His parents were strong Christians and made sure their kids got a good education. He always thought about being a pastor when he grew up, but was never able to in a traditional sense of the word. However, as this story will surely illustrate, he did the work of a pastor in his daily life for so many people, encouraging, teaching, serving, and shepherding.

As a young man Kiki moved to Port-au-Prince and tried to make it in the big city as so many people here attempt to do each year. I only know small tidbits of how he rose to the top, but by the time he died he was quite wealthy by Haitian standards and was the point person not only for our small ministry but for a large orphanage in Port and several adoption agencies in the US, France, Canada, and Belgium. One time I called him for help on something and he said, “I'll call you right back...I'm just about to step into a meeting with the US ambassador.” He was very intelligent, and his mastery of French, Creole, and English was something to behold.

Kiki got involved with Mission Haiti and Mike and Pam way back around the beginning, over sixteen years ago. He was helping some other ministry and became close friends with Pam, helping her on her trips out to the country-side. Going out to Ti-Rivier was sort of a vacation for him, despite the fact that Pam kept him busy most of the time. I guess it was a way for him to spend a few moments with people like the simple folks he must have grown up with. He was well-respected and loved by all in our village. He was always willing to stop and talk with anyone, young and old.

Kiki was always doing the things for Mission Haiti that Americans would normally have no idea how to accomplish. He took care of filing the various paperwork with government agencies, he pushed our shipments through customs, he did our visas, he took care of our money in the bank here, and the list goes on and on. Of course Kiki will be missed as an amazing friend and irreplaceable asset for ministry. Those are the most important aspects of losing him, but the prospect of finding a suitable replacement who can be trusted to handle the ministry's business in Haiti is pretty overwhelming to think about as well.

About Kiki's personal life...he was once married to an American woman and lived for a year or so in Chicago, and they had a daughter who is thirteen now. One time at his house in Port-au-Prince I was looking around the office upstairs and stopped in my tracks at his desk. The wall was absolutely covered with snapshots of his daughter and little notes she had written. It was obvious she meant the world to him. Maybe part of his affection for children, which he always poured out on the kids in our orphanage, was an expression of the love he was never able to give his own daughter due to their separation by distance. At the time of his death he had not married again.

The week leading up to Kiki's death was a tragedy in itself. He had meetings in the US with an adoption agency, and he wasn't feeling well. He was experiencing chest pain and other pains all over his body. He was permitted to travel back to Haiti, though looking back things might have turned out differently if he just stayed there in the hospital for awhile. When he arrived in Haiti things didn't improve. He continued to feel sick, but also tried to work during the day. Then one day he was driving an American client, a woman, through Port-au-Prince. They got stopped by a man with a gun, who demanded money. Kiki gave the man his backpack with money inside. The man left and they were fine, but getting mugged jacked Kiki's stress level up even higher. He undoubtedly experienced flashbacks to the time a few years ago when he was actually kidnapped and held for ransom for several days.

After that Kiki went to see a doctor in Port and received medication that didn't really help. He talked to Pam the night before he passed away and asked for prayer. One thing Pam had called him about was trying to find an affordable refrigerator for our family (He really would do anything to help!). The next morning Pam got word that Kiki had died. She called Ronal, another man who works for us, and asked him to go over and confirm that the reports were true. They were.

Mike and Pam flew into Haiti on Sunday, the 29^th, one day before us. They met with friends and family, and then on Monday they picked us up at the airport and we all headed out to Ti-Rivier. The funeral was planned for Saturday, Sept. 3, and during the week we had several memorable meetings with the Youth Group. The group members were very sad, of course, because Kiki was their hero and a great example of how a humble country kid could grow up and do great things. Many of them shared about how important he was in their personal journey of faith.

We also spent two nights searching the Scriptures, talking about death and resurrection according to the Bible, and even praying that God would work a miracle and bring Kiki back to life. In the end we all learned a lot about how God is in control and has a plan for us, no matter how long our life is, and though we miss Kiki terribly, we also have a sense of joy knowing he is rejoicing with God in Heaven. His loud laugh can probably still be heard above the din even among the multitudes there, no doubt.

Thank the Lord today for the friends who share your adventure!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

The Adventure Continues! (Heading Home)

2011-08-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

This Monday morning we board our flight for Haiti. It will be a little strange on Tuesday morning to gather our luggage from the Port-au-Prince airport, head out to the parking lot, and be greeted by Mike and Pam instead of Kiki. It will probably hit home for us in a new way at that moment that he is really gone. We are fortunate, however, that we might get a chance to attend his funeral and spend time with his extended family.

It has been a very good summer for us, and God has blessed us in so many ways. We are truly ready now to get back to Haiti and plunge headfirst into the ministry there and depend on God to continue to energize us for the work. This year our goals will be much more ambitious, and we will need God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to empower and protect us at all times.

Thanks again to everyone who helped and/or encouraged us in some way this summer. It was an adventure! Many positive memories were made. We will now take everything we have received and learned from all of you and carry it with us as a blessing for the people of Haiti.

Soon we will again look down on those barren hills and mountains, the bulging rivers, and the endless slums. We will land, the door of the plane will open, and we will be forcefully confronted by the familiar heat and smells. We will gather our luggage, climb aboard the trusty (and rusty!) old Ford, and drive past a million busy hands and faces animated with hunger, humor, happiness, and hopelessness. And at that moment when we can almost stand the grueling journey no more, we will turn off the highway onto the dusty dirt road leading to Ti-Rivier. The familiar faces will line the streets and peek through our windows as we drive. Our friends will smile as they recognize us, yelling out greetings and running along the road, and we will be home.

May Your Adventure expand your understanding of "HOME"
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Some Very Sad News

2011-08-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

We have some sad news to pass on to all of you. Lacking the emotional energy to write anything more about it right now, we will just pass on the information in Pam's words...

This is a really difficult email to write but many of you have heard or met
Kiki. He is our Haitian Director, best friend, translator, driver, hero to
the kids in the orphanage, and everything in between. Last night he asked
for prayer because he was not feeling well. This morning I received a call
that he had passed away in the night.

Mike and I are leaving for Haiti and will return on the 4th of September.

Please keep Kiki's parents in your prayers as well as all the children in
the orphanage.

Missing Kiki,
pam

As you know we (the Grimm family) will be heading to Haiti on Monday. Our flight was supposed to take us through Washington DC, but we got that changed due to the hurricane situation. Now we go directly from Chicago to Miami (after starting out from Sioux Falls). On Tuesday morning Mike and Pam will pick us up at the airport instead of Kiki.

Please keep Kiki's family and all of Mission Haiti in your prayers.

Blessings,

The Grimm Family

10 Suitcases in the Living Room

2011-08-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

What weighs 450 pounds?

           A. one sumo wrestler
           B.  one small motorcycle
           C. one adult male gorilla
           D. four Miss America contestants
           E. the stuff we packed into 10 suitcases (with 50 lb. per bag airline limit)
           F. All of the above

I think you know the answer. Today we took the big pile of food, school supplies, and other misc. items in the middle of the living room and attempted to fit them into 10 suitcases laid out around the outside of the room. It went pretty well, but we had to make some choices. The size of the suitcase doesn't restrict you as much as the weight limit imposed by the airlines. It is amazing how quickly cans of chicken, books, dish detergent, and jars of peanut butter can add up to fifty pounds.

Yes, we are getting ready to go back to Haiti! What an exciting time. We can honestly say that we are 100% certain about returning for another term, however long that might be. We have a deep sense of peace about continuing this Haiti adventure for the foreseeable future. And to finish that previous sentence/thought, we don't know exactly how long it will be until we come back on another break. As we have been telling people lately, we felt like being gone for the whole summer was too long. Also, Mike and Pam (Mission Haiti Directors) have encouraged us to just take breaks as needed instead of imposing a strict plan on ourselves way ahead of time. We feel that is a wise plan.

We have also been taking time recently to do some fun things (especially activities we can't do in Haiti) with the kids before going back...

Vacation in Minnesota

Goofing around at a park in Sioux Falls

Cory and Kester's annual trip to see the Twins (lost to Yankees 8-4)

Getting ready for "Fun Day with Dad"...Lynn went with her parents to Sioux Falls for the day to get supplies from Sam's club and other places.

"Fun Day" stop #1: Wayside Chapel on highway 75 near Sioux Center. Okay, we admit only missionary kids would have fun here, probably, but we sang a song, told a story, goofed around, etc...

"Fun Day" stop #2: Candy factory outlet in Hull, Ia.

Inside the store Elizabeth feeds her baby lion (named "noil") from a candy bottle.

"Fun Day" stop #3: Bowling in Hull, IA...no kids' shoes available. No problem! Bowl barefoot!

"Fun Day" stop #4: Verlyn and Nancy Raak's (of rural Sioux Center) prayer labyrinth...the kids walked around praying for everyone in Haiti they could think of...they did a really good job.

Fish pond in the prayer labyrinth.

Raak's cornfield...this photo would truly amaze Haitian farmers if they saw it.

A cat jumped off that post and under the eave of the barn. (still at Raak's farm)

We found her kittens inside the barn.

"Fun Day" stop #5: Culver's...don't worry, mom, we did eat more than just ketchup.

We also enjoyed "Fun Day" stop #6: Swimming at the local pool...no pictures available, so you have to use your imagination. The kids are having fun here, but they are also excited to get back on the airplane and head home to Haiti to see our dog Cookie, their friends in the orphanage, and to begin a new year in school.

Please pray for Haiti as they deal with another tropical storm this week.

May Your Adventure today be filled with 450 pounds of fun!
-the Grimm Family Adventurers

Highlights from our Summer Church Visits

2011-08-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Tonight we completed our summer church visits. One week from tomorrow morning (Aug. 29th) we will fly out of Sioux Falls and head back to Haiti. A lot of packing has to occur before that happens, but we'll get that done this week and be ready to go!

We thought you, the readers of this blog, would find it interesting to read a line or two about each of the churches we visited this summer and our experience there. Here goes...

June 12- First Presbyterian Church, Newton, IA.

This is the church where Cory's parents attend. They have been very faithful in supporting us through prayer each week in church. We gave a short update in church and enjoyed and informal "share-time" in the fellowship hall afterwards.

June 26- Community Church, Deep River & Millersburg, IA.

This is the church where Cory's Dad, Norm, grew up. There are still several "Grimm" families who attend there. Cory gave the message in church, giving a basic overview of Mission Haiti and the work we do. They put together an amazing potluck afterwards and were very appreciative of us.

July 3- United Presbyterian Church, Newton, IA.

This church read about us in the Newton newspaper (with regard to our June 12 speaking engagement in Newton) and invited us to come and share during the Pastor's vacation. Very nice people and a truly beautiful church building. We made a few new friends and hope to see them again when we visit Newton.

July 17- Big Springs Baptist, Alcester, SD. (AM service)

Big Springs sent a team down to Haiti earlier this year, and they are already thinking about sending more people in the near future. We came and gave a brief update in church and a longer talk during the Sunday School hour.

July 17- First Reformed Church, Sioux Center, IA. (PM service)

We were amazed to see the large turnout at this evening service! We got started with a nice meal in the fellowship hall and then migrated over to the chapel for a time of sharing. Eric and Karissa Sjaarda talked first about their year of service in Vietnam. Then we spoke about Haiti. Because this church was already knowledgable about Mission Haiti, Cory chose to do more of a question/answer session. It was a fun time.

July 29- Festival of Tables, Herrick, SD.

(See previous post!)

Aug. 7- Inwood Christian Reformed Church, Inwood, IA.

We blogged about this one earlier as well. We had a great opportunity to share a little bit about Mission Haiti and meet afterwards with the church mission committee. As a follow-up, they called a few days ago and let us know they are planning to support us financially. Praise God! As a side note, I believe this new relationship is truly the result of God's perfect timing and providence. We at Mission Haiti want to continue to grow in our quality of education in the schools we direct, including our Bible curriculum. It would make sense to tap into the knowledge of the members of the CRC churches in our area, who have been doing excellent Christian education both in church and school for decades. So hopefully mission-minded members of Inwood CRC who are experienced in education will be open to sharing with us.

Aug. 12- Concert/Sharing at The Lantern, Sibley, IA.

This coffee shop belongs to Cory's brother, Adam, and his wife, Beth. We had a great turnout this first night! Part of it was a birthday party who didn't mind having the concert going on at the same time. Several members of Cory's extended family made the trip from surrounding communities, and Cory's parents made a surprise visit as well. Songs were sung, stories were shared, videos were viewed, and coffee and snacks were consumed. Wonderful night.

Aug. 13- Concert/Sharing at The Lantern, Sibley, IA.

Another nice turnout and another fun night. There were a couple of guest musicians for both of these concerts, including local musical-phenom, Jesse Dagel, who did several of his own songs and backed Cory up on his music. Check out the link below to hear one of his songs and be amazed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52FP8blbGL0

Aug. 14- The Crossing (Church), Sioux Falls, SD.

There was something special and Spirit-led about this night...probably because there is something special and Spirit-led about The Crossing. This church has now sent a couple of teams to Haiti through our organization, and we look forward to a long and productive relationship with them in the future. Cory gave the message, giving special attention to the future Bible School vision. Several young people came up afterwards to express interest.

Aug. 21- Alcester Baptist Church, Alcester, SD. (AM service)

As always we left this church uplifted and encouraged. They generously gathered groceries and other supplies for us ahead of time, and the attentiveness and genuine concern they expressed during the slide show and message were tangible. This church has other missionaries they support, but they have always treated us as if we were the most important missionaries doing the most important work in the world. How humbling and how inspiring.

Aug. 21- New Life Reformed Church, Sioux Center, IA.

New Life has consistently shown interest in us, our ministry, and the people of Haiti these last two years, asking us to come and share at least once a year. They sent a great team earlier this year and are considering another one in the future. The last two times they made a point of gathering around our family during the church service and lifting us up in prayer. It is always touching when they do that.

A special thanks to all who invited and/or hosted us and all who attended these events this summer. It was a great opportunity to let people know what God is doing in Haiti. To some it was the first time they heard about us and/or Mission Haiti. To others it was a chance to hear the latest about a ministry in which they are personally invested. Either way we hope God has used these moments to touch hearts and change lives for His glory.

May Your Adventure Include Time to Pause and Enjoy a Visit with Those who Support You and Pray for You!
-The Grimm Family Adventures

The Wonderful Weekend in Herrick

2011-08-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

As promised we wanted to take a moment and share about our wonderful, late-July adventure to Herrick, SD, where we were the guests at a Festival-of-Tables fundraiser to benefit our personal missionary support. This adventure is really about the amazing people we met, who blessed us in so many ways. We can't say enough about how God is working in and through these people. They asked us to visit and inspire them, but we were the ones who left inspired.

Most people in the world don't even know about missions or the work missionaries do. Then there is another large group of people who are aware, but choose not to support missions or get involved. Next comes the faithful few who support missions in some way, whether through giving funds, going on a trip, or following the adventures of some missionary family and lifting them up in prayer. But then there is a very tiny percentage of people, like the ones we met in Herrick, who grab ahold of their gifts and talents and throw themselves fully into the work of supporting missions and missionaries.

Meet Robyn Waterbury. She and her husband Bob have six kids, farm a couple thousand acres or so, provide leadership in their church, and own and operate a beautiful and comfortable hunting lodge, where we stayed during our visit. Robyn has been to Haiti to serve at the Mission Haiti property and share her creative talents. She has also been busy writing children's books (printed in English and Creole) specifically for the use of our orphanage and schools and is expanding to incorporate the talents of the local High School students in Haiti. If that wasn't enough, she was the mastermind behind this whole fundraising idea, and she personally hosted us and cooked for us during our stay. And get this...she did it all without ever having met us before!

The Hunting Lodge (wheelchair accessible!)

Inside the lodge

Relaxing! (Robyn in background)

Hangin' with the locals at "Bernie's Inn"

We arrived on Thursday night to get settled in, and the fundraiser was scheduled for Friday.  Friday morning Robyn took us down to "Bernie's Inn" in Herrick to meet some local friends and experience the quaint atmosphere of everyone's favorite hangout. I'm sure Robyn would laugh at our choosing the word "quaint." She might describe Bernie's as overly homey, somewhat dillapidated, or even honest-to-goodness rundown and full of clutter. It was part grocery store, coffee shop, liquor store, apartment (the owners sleep there to prevent theft), and antique dealer. I kept thinking the guys from the History Channel show "Pickers" might show up at any moment. But we had a good time and a lot of laughs, and everyone welcomed us and made us feel at home.

Friday afternoon we headed over to a nearby town, Burke, to set up for the fundraiser.  This is how a Festival-of-tables fundraiser works...The organizer recruits a dozen or so other people to decorate a table with some specific theme. Then each of those table leaders is expected to recruit seven people to join them for the evening. Everyone buys a ticket to come, enjoys a nice meal and a speaker, and the funds benefit a certain cause, in this case Mission Haiti and us.

Another key person who contributed a great deal of time and leadership was Donette Lyon. She and Robyn worked together to coordinate the event, and well over a hundred people attended that night! What a blessing for us to look out and see all those faces of people who were formerly strangers, but who share our passion to impact the people of Haiti with the love of God. How humbling and how energizing! Also, special thanks to Pam Plasier (Mission Haiti Director), Nelson Vandehoek (Mission Haiti board member), and Pam's son and two nephews for driving the few hours, spending the weekend, and helping so much with the event. Nelson whipped the kitchen staff into shape and kept everyone running with plates of food, drinks, and amazing desserts.

I (Cory) was honored to deliver the message that night and share a little bit about what God is doing in Haiti, what we feel He plans to do in the future, and how people can be involved. What a privilege to share with people so interested to hear what is going on. They blessed us with hospitality, with their prayers, with great conversations and a chance to get away and relax, and even with a nice check of money to go towards the work of the ministry. And to make sure you didn't miss it the first time, we literally had never met a single person in Herrick or Burke before that weekend.  It was a God thing.

If you are interested in seeing the tables the ladies decorated, look below. There was a lot of creativity and special care put into each one.  A thousand "thanks" to people of Herrick and Burke.

May your Adventure intersect with the Adventures of others, and may you bless each other along the way!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Table #1: "Spring Time" by Marija Hay

Table #2: "Tea Party" by Suzette Johnson

Table #3: "Mother's Department" by Deb Indahl

Table #4: "Life on the Farm" by Robyn Waterbury

Table #5: "Nancy's Custom Machine Quilting" by Nancy Krier

Table #6: "Candy Land" by JeanAnn Bryan

Table #7: "Joy" by Donette Lyon

Table #8: "Riding for the Brand" by Sara Grim

Table #9: "Generations" by Linda Lillibridge

Table #10: "Mother's Memories" by Kay Matucha

Table #11: "Red Hats" by Kathy Kayl

Table #12: "Good Times with Wine" by Sharon Pedersen

Table #13: "Family Affair" by Peg Glover

Table #14: "Summertime Fun" by Lisa Mayer

Table #15: "Take Thyme for Coffee" by Francie Johnson

The kids sat at the "Candy Land" table and ate their fill of candy (they had real food, too).
We had a long drive home that night, so it all worked out!

Join us in Sibley!

2011-08-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

We continue to enjoy a great break here in the States, but are longing more and more to head home to Haiti. Yesterday we returned from family vacation in Northern Minnesota. We had a great time! To think that used to be roughing it up there in those cabins (with water, electricity, kitchens, etc...) Now that feels like the lap of luxury.

Today we visited Inwood Christian Reformed Church and shared a little bit about Mission Haiti. They are considering supporting us as missionaries. Very nice people, and they have already been providing various supplies for the school program. On July 29th we enjoyed an amazing experience in central South Dakota, in the communities of Herrick and Burke. The amazing folks there held a fundraiser for us that was excellent from start to finish. How humbling! We were truly blessed, and we promise to write a post about that experience.

This Friday and Saturday we will be sharing music, pictures, stories, and prayers about Haiti at Cory's brother Adam's coffeeshop in Sibley, the Lantern. We begin at 7PM. It will be the same program each night. An amazing musician and friend, Jesse Dagel, will also share music and back Cory up. Please consider joining us for what is sure to be a very memorable night. Most of our speaking engagements are very formatted and limited in time. This event is an opportunity to reflect on what God is doing in Haiti, share some longer stories, answer questions, and pray. Not only that, but there will be some amazing coffee and snacks available...a little slice of heaven, really.

God Bless,
The Grimm Family Adventurers

The Story of Uncle Ivan Fowler

2011-07-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

God has a way of giving you exactly what you need exactly when you need it. As missionaries we are deeply committed to the calling God has placed on our lives and the people He has given us to serve. However, we are still human, and from time to time we need a new infusion of passion and energy for the work. Sometimes the best way to get that is to receive a clearer vision from God of how connected we are to the big picture of what He is doing in the world. Specifically, God recently gave us a picture of how intertwined we are with the entire tapestry of World Missions in the present, past, and future. Please enjoy this story and be inspired!

I always knew very little about Uncle Ivan Fowler, my late Grandma Grimm's younger brother who died in a plane crash as he prepared to be deployed as a missionary. The most important part of that story for our family narrative had been the way that this shocking news came at a very unfortunate time. My grandparents, Betty Fowler and Dean Grimm, were planning to get married that same week in 1950. After the family lost Ivan everything was scaled back, and in fact it was just the bride and groom, the pastor, and a few others who attended the brief ceremony. Famously, it took place at 7:30 or 7:45 in the morning just before the Pastor had to help out with VBS at church. It was a very sad time.

Last week my dad and I went on a little road trip. He wanted to show me where his grandparents (Fowlers) were buried in a little country cemetery in southern Iowa. On the way we recalled some of the famous family stories and called up uncle Jim, who was Grandma Grimm's (and Ivan's) youngest brother and a a brilliant and impressive man in his own right. Uncle Jim served in the military and was stationed in Georgia. After that he married and took a job as an engineer with Lockheed-Martin. He moved up the ranks and eventually was selected to be a cabinet member of the Georgia state government during the period when Jimmy Carter was governor. My dad tells stories of how after designing and building airplanes and jets, Uncle Jim could take apart any car and put it back together like it was nothing.

Uncle Jim shared more of Ivan's story with us over the phone as we drove. Ivan was a WWII vet, just barely, because he was only 18 when the war ended. He was a pilot. After that he went to Moody Bible Institute and studied for ministry. He was preparing to be deployed for overseas ministry work and was engaged to be married. The part of the story that absolutely blew me away was to hear that Ivan was involved in the early stages of planning a team to be sent to Ecuador, a team that included Jim Elliot and other famous missionaries. This is the very team that famously was speared to death a few years later by the Waodoni Indians, the same people who were later led to Christ by the families of the men who were killed.

Uncle Ivan never made it to Ecuador. In May of 1950 he was taking off with one passenger from a small airport in Illinois to fly to Chicago. The engine of the small plane began to smoke, and smoke began to fill the cockpit. Ivan circled around and tried make an emergency landing. Just before reaching the landing strip he passed out and hit the fence surround the airport. The plane flipped over and burst into flames. According to Jim the family was notified that Ivan had been "seriously injured in a flying accident." They ran from the newly planted cornfields, jumped in the car, and took off speeding accross Iowa into Illinois. Then they heard a news report on the radio which announced the same accident and the confirmation that, in fact, no one had survived. The family was devestated and finished the trip at a slower pace.

After that Jim Elliot and the others continued to make plans, and eventually Nate Saint was added to the team as the pilot, and most of you know the rest of that story. The woman who was engaged to Ivan remained in contact with my Grandma for the rest of her life, telling my dad at Grandma's funeral that she "always felt a part of the family."

It was heartbreaking to hear all of that story, and yet for me 60 years later it was a great blessing from God to learn more about this fellow missionary in our family. I had always felt a kind of connection with Ivan, almost as if my family's calling was a fulfillment of his, but this took it all to a whole different level. Thank you, God!

I hope to find out more about this story in the years to come, even researching the newspaper articles and such that must have been written. I need to find out if Ivan had a journal and if it still exists. If that research ever gets done I'll be sure to keep you posted on this blog. But for now we are just so thrilled to be serving God's people and helping on the front lines of his ever-expanding kingdom. Many have paid hefty prices to have a chance like this, and we cannot take that lightly as we seek to remain faithful to God's call.

May God Energize Your Calling Today!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Resting, Rejuvenating, and Recommitting

2011-07-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

The kids with their cousins on the Grimm side...enjoying some fun at a local park in Newton

At the Des Moines Zoo watching the Lions...Elizabeth's little stuffed lion is happy

Alexandra (with G'ma Grimm) trying to feed a dinosaur at the zoo

Kester got to play for the White Sox in Newton

We enjoyed a day at a state park near Ankeny

We rode the train in Boone, IA...looking out the window over a big bridge

Riding the train and enjoying a breeze on a hot day...the weather reminds us of a certain place!

Family and Friends,

This summer has been really good for us as a family, giving us a chance to spend quality time together and with other family members. In the past month we have been busy with the following:

-Attended Kester's baseball games with the White Sox and made new friends
-Attended a full week of VBS in Newton ("Pandamonium" theme)
-Spoke in three churches locally about Mission Haiti
-Visited the Des Moines Zoo
-Visited the Des Moines Science Center
-Visited Red Rock Dam in Pella
-Visited a State Park near Ankeny
-Attended the annual hog roast (without hog this year) at Cory's sister Mara's home in Iowa City
-Enjoyed a visit from the great-grandparents as they passed by from Sheldon, IA, to Michigan
-Attended the Newton parade, band concert, and fireworks on the 4th of July and stood a few rows behind Governor Branstad as he made a speech to the crowd
-Lots of bike riding (G'ma Marlys is preparing for RAGBRAI)
-Landscaping and painting with Grandpa
-Kester has begun taking piano lessons
-Going regularly to the library (Kester and Elizabeth knock out several "chapter books" each day)
-Visited a handful of old friends who happen to live in this area

In short, we have been a pretty normal American family this summer, and it has been a nice break for us from the life we live in Haiti. The life we live in Haiti is the life we prefer, and this is our calling from God at this time, but our summer break has been a nice change of scenery for the time being. That is something we all need now and again.

I (Cory) had a nice visit with my long-time mentor, Michael Ginn, this past Sunday. He is also my uncle, married to my Mom's youngest sister. Michael is the one who got me started memorizing Scripture all those years ago, and we always enjoy sharing a great conversation full of laughs and deep insights from the Word. I went to hear Michael preach at a church in Des Moines, and afterwards we went to get lunch together and sat for a couple of hours.

(side note: I just finished memorizing the Gospel of Mark and have begun working on Acts. After that all that remains to finish the New Testament is the Gospel of Matthew)

I came away from that meeting refreshed in the work God has for me at this time. As I shared with Michael some of the plans for the Bible School in Haiti, I could see he was very supportive and even envious (in a good way) of the things we are doing. Just talking through some of those ideas with someone who could understand the passion behind it was very energizing. I felt like God used that encounter to help me recommit myself to the plan.

This coming Saturday we will sit down with Mike and Pam Plasier (the directors of Mission Haiti) and talk through the goals and plans for the coming year. That will be a good opportunity for us to get on the same page with each other concerning everything that is going on. With a ministry like Mission Haiti, so much happens from day-to-day and it is easy to get out of the loop in a hurry. I'm sure we will discover that the Holy Spirit has been speaking to all of our hearts in similar ways. That is always how it is with us and the Plasiers which is why we are doing what we are doing in the first place.

This Sunday we will be sharing stories and pictures in Alcester and Sioux Center. The meeting in the evening at Sioux Center has been changed to 5PM, so plan accordingly!

We eagerly look forward to spending time with family and friends in NW Iowa, Sioux Falls, Alcester, and other places for the remainder of the Summer. Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you.

God Bless,
The Grimm Family Adventurers

A Few Pictures and a Mid-Year Missionary Giving Summary

2011-07-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

Playing cards with Emmanuel, our dear friend

Talking with Adrien, the director of the clinic

Lynn's lap is Kenny's sanctuary

Getting ready to play baseball when we return to the US this summer...no nice grass or flat inflields to practice on in Haiti!

Nice photo on the porch of the Mission House

Family and Friends,

The photos above were taken by various members of visiting mission teams, and we thought they would be nice to share on the blog. At this point in the summer we are really missing Haiti, especially all of our friends and neighbors. However, we still have many churches and friends to visit before we head back on August 29th. We also need to pause and enjoy these moments while we have them...and the ability to retreat into air-conditioned homes!

Below is a brief report of our missionary giving for the first half of the year, followed by some comments and explanation. We will put out a more detailed report at the end of the year on how everything was spent for ministry.

Year-to-date giving:     $20,884

                January:     $1,755
                February:   $10,440
                March:       $3,599
                April:         $2,805
                May:          $1,110
                June:          $1,175

First of all we want to say "thank you" to everyone who has sacrificed to allow us to serve in Haiti. It truly means the world to us to have you behind us prayerfully and financially.  God is providing for us day by day, and month by month. As you can see by the numbers above, part of the adventure of being missionaries is raising support. We never know exactly how much individuals or churches will give. It tends to fluctuate wildly from month to month. God has a way of letting you get to your last dollar before opening the floodgates. He's funny that way.

If we take a good, honest look at our ministry support both prayerfully and financially, right now we can spot an alarming trend. For example, back in January and February we were blown away to see an average of 100 people reading our blog every day (these stats are available to us through the blog host), and we enjoyed regular emails and comments of encouragement. There was a real sense of being held up by the prayers of many people. However, towards the end of our term, in May and into June, the number of people reading the blog declined to around 25-30 per day.

The same downward trend can be seen in our financial contributions as indicated on the chart above. During the first quarter of the year we received over $15,000 in giving! Unfortunately, the giving in the second quarter plummeted to around $5,000. Our overall giving for the first half of the year is fine, in relation to our needs, but if the current trend continues and the 3rd and 4th quarters are like the 2nd, we will be in big trouble!

We are new to this whole missionary journey and adventure, so we aren't leaping to any conclusions just yet. We are trusting God to provide for our needs, both spiritually and financially. Part of the downward trend can be explained by the inevitable fact that the earthquake continues to fade from memory for many people. Also, now that we live primarily in Haiti and have irregular internet access at best, we struggle to maintain consistent correspondance with existing donors, much less recruit new ones.

All that being said, we remain optimistic about the plan God has for us in Haiti! As we look to the second half of the year and our future beyond that, we are praying that God will inspire more churches to support us in various ways. The churches where we served on staff in the past have gotten behind us in very tangible ways, and we are so thankful for this, but we have struggled to break ground beyond those established relationships.

We have been and will be speaking in many churches this summer, but we need individuals to carry the torch after we are gone, both through prayer and through advocacy for missionary funding from the church where they attend.  Right now we are still trying to piece together missionary support just for our family, but by this time next year we are hoping that will be firmly in place and we will also have a substantial amount raised for the opening of the Bible School in the fall of 2012. We are counting on God to do some miracles, for sure!

God Bless!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Recent Update from Pam

2011-06-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

We are enjoying a fun day of celebrating Kester's 8th birthday. He got a keyboard we are hoping to take down with us to Haiti. He started taking lessons this summer from Grandma Marlys and has really enjoyed it. The rest of us have had a good time doing summer stuff and visiting various churches. So far those meetings have gone fairly well.

Below is a recent update from Pam, Director of Mission Haiti.  A couple of days ago she returned from leading several teams over the past month. Enjoy...

Hello!

Our 5 weeks in Haiti went so fast. I felt bad that I was unable to
communicate more with everybody while I was in Haiti but the days were so
full. We really enjoyed all 3 of the teams that came to help us out. We
are happy to report all the children are living in the new orphanages and
transitioned well. It was fun to be there on moving day and share in their
excitement. The same day we moved the children out of the old orphanage, we
moved Torrey, Heather, Jaxon and Talix Babb into it. The Babbs will be
working in Haiti thru the summer. They are an answer to prayer so we could
continue our youth and discipleship programs over the summer. (The Grimms
are home for 3 months visiting family and churches) The Babbs have their own
mission called the Mission Ball. They use soccer to teach people about
Jesus. We had our first tournament on Saturday and it was a huge success.
It has been a great tool to grow our evening youth group.

One of my objectives for this trip was to find a home for 5 children that
were in slavery in Haiti. We found a house to rent but unfortunately a
family that was homeless had moved into the house so it would mean I would
have to throw them out in the streets if I wanted to use it. That just
didn't seem right so until we can find a place to rent/build we are going
with plan B, which is taking the youngest one into our orphanage and finding
families willing to take in the rest of the children temporarily.

Updates on a few people: Beenka and Sterlan are doing very well.(2 girls
that struggled with demon possession) They are attending youth group quite
often and we had several opportunities to pray for them and their family
members. Jesula (Patchouko's wife) is pregnant with number 2! Esperancia
(girl with the machete wounds) is home from the hospital. What a miracle!
She looks wonderful. She will have to have at least one more surgery on her
hand since she is unable to use it yet but it is a miracle that she still has both
of her hands and with her hair type, she is able to comb her hair so it covers
the scar. She wanted to say THANK YOU to everybody that prayed and
helped her stay alive.

Prayer requests:
Gertrude-     lady in charge of the orphanages, has asked for prayer for her
                    health. She said at times she does not feel well and it makes her afraid
                    that something serious could be wrong.
Antoine and Jesula-            They are expecting their first baby any day now. Jesula
                    is getting pretty nervous.
Stanley Bouloute-                 a 4 year old boy that we are bringing to the states for
                    surgery on his feet. He was expected to come home with us today but
                    Port-au-Prince had a small earthquake Friday morning that closed
                    everything down so we were unable to get his passport and visa.

More Pictures from the Past Year

2011-06-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth using someone's outhouse during a home visit

Millenium High School, where Cory teaches English (Patchouko did this sign)

A naughty boy (Nesli) cleaning up his mistakes

Peterson (Kester's best friend) learning to be a carpenter

Another photo from our Christmas trip to Paradise Island

A photo taken moments after the now-famous photo at the top of our blog

Some Pics from Haiti We Couldn't Previously Upload to the Blog

2011-06-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

The girls playing cards with Gertrude, the orphanage director

Lynn holding Stevenson, who was born one year ago and weighed only 2 pounds at birth...he is now a healthy one-year-old

Torrey baptizing Robinson. Torrey and his family are staying in Haiti all summer, and Robinson is the young man who overcame cholera.

Kester was in the running for president in this past election...not really, but we made this poster to give everyone a laugh. TRANSLATION: We all agree, Kester Dean Grimm, President, He works here, he lives here, He will bring change here and now

Cory and Patchouko (on the right) baptizing Olgens (middle)

A rusty nail Cory pulled out of his foot...it went through the flip-flog

The Grimms...Coming Soon to a Church Near You

2011-06-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

Gertrude teaches Alexandra to braid "black" hair

"Puggy" meets a real pug in the Dallas Airport on our return from Haiti

Family and Friends,

Day 214 of our Haiti Adventure!

It has been a lot of fun to look back through our pictures of our first year in Haiti and select a few to share with the churches where we will be speaking in the coming months. Sometimes it is hard to choose which ones to leave out for the sake of time. We can see in the pictures the process of development and adjustment that our children went through. They were pretty scared those first few weeks, but by the end they were comfortable living in Haiti. When we go back at the end of the summer they will probably have to go through all of those feelings again.

We want to continue to extend an invitation to the readers of this blog to join us at one of the events listed above. A few more dates have been added, and we have still a few more in the works. We are praying that God will use those events to stir the hearts and faith of many people. It isn't so much about the fundraising aspect for us. We really don't even think about that part so much, because God has always provided one way or another. It is more about seeing people grow in faith as they discover what God is doing around the world. That is the moment when this whole thing comes full circle...when we get to see the senders of the missionaries receive a blessing from the people they have chosen to bless.

This weekend we will enjoy a big get-together of Grimms! We are down in Newton, IA, and Cory's siblings and their children will all come together for a couple of days. We will also enjoy seeing extended family on Sunday for Don Grimm's 60th birthday party (the oldest brother of Cory's Dad). These are the moments you usually miss on the mission field, so we are glad to be here.

Northwest Iowa and the country of Haiti are both battling flooding today, so please lift both of them up in your prayers. Things in this world are more connected than we know.

May God Bless You and Yours!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Decompressing

2011-06-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Day 209 of our Haiti Adventure!

Well, I guess we'll continue to count the days even though we aren't in Haiti at the moment. After all, we can already see that our breaks will be an important part of our ministry. This time in the US is just as much an adventure as the heat and rain of Haiti. We don't want to think of the United States as the good place we get to go once a year, the place of comfort and fun, and we have avoided that type of language with our kids. We want to consider Haiti our home and think of it as a special place to live.

All that being said, it has been really nice to be back here and spend time with family and decompress a little bit from the pressure of living in a developing country. The kids have transitioned really well, both to living in Haiti and now to returning for a break. As we had hoped, they actually were more friendly with their cousins than ever before, having learned how to play well with others while living near the orphanage children this past year. We also appreciate the little things more than ever, of course. Let's face it, hot showers, clothes washers and dryers, and safe drinking water out of a faucet are all conveniences that add a lot to life.

We are preparing to share our story with various churches and groups in the coming months. We invite and encourage you, our prayer and financial supporters, to try to come out to one of the speaking engagements listed above. There may be a couple more added soon, so check back. It is really hard to summarize briefly our experiences and adventures in Haiti, but we will do our best to do just that each time we have the privilege to share. We are eager to talk about what God is doing in Haiti.

Today we visited Trinity Reformed Church in Orange City. We didn't go there to share our slides or anything, but simply to attend church. After all the places we have been in the last decade or so, that is still the church where we feel most at home. We were rewarded with the opportunity to see some young people make profession of faith, a couple of whom we had known pretty well back in our Orange City years.

On Tuesday morning we plan to drive down to Newton, Ia, where Cory's parents live. We will stay there for 5-6 weeks and then return to the NW Iowa area for the remainder of the summer. Then we will depart on August 29 for another year in Haiti. Right now that seems like a long time in the future, but it will be here soon enough.

Have a Powerful Adventure this week!
-The Grimms

Back in America!

2011-05-31T04:53:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Day 204 of our Haiti Adventure!

Just a quick update to let you know we have arrived safely in Florida. Yesterday we left Haiti, and later today we will arrive in Sioux Center, Iowa. Everything has gone very well for us. God is good.

The kids are excited, because today we get to ride on 2 airplanes, one bus, one train, and one car. Should be fun! Last night we ordered pizza for the first time in over half a year. Sometimes the little things are what you miss the most.

We'll write more soon. Thanks as always to everyone who reads this blog and lifts us up in prayers. We appreciate all of you.

The Adventure continues...
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

The Final Week

2011-05-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Day 196 of our Haiti Adventure!

Here we are…we’ve arrived at the final week of our first school year in Haiti. What a strange feeling. We already have so many memories to carry with us, and yet there is a feeling we have barely even begun to scratch the surface of what God wants to do here. As we finish up this first term in Haiti we look forward to a fun and relaxing summer, but we also know we will miss our new friends and eagerly anticipate coming back.

Many mission teams have come and gone over the past half year, and we get to help out with one final group before we go. They will arrive tomorrow afternoon if everything goes as planned. Most of the members come from First United Methodist Church of Sioux Falls, SD. The group includes a number of teenagers from the youth group. Our Haitian youth group always enjoys when teams like that come, so we look forward to big Bible studies each night.

The American youth group is led by Mark and Lisa Johnson, who are friends of mine. Mark was a fellow classmate at seminary, and we were two of the four members in a class called, “Walking with the Poor." That week we walked the streets of Sioux Falls and lived our lives among the poor of that city, and that class was instrumental in our call as a family to be missionaries. It will be fun to find out how God has continued to work in Mark and Lisa’s lives and ministry.

We have been cleaning and reorganizing the mission house, including packing our belongings that will stay behind when we go. The kids have grown out of or worn out many of their clothes and shoes, so we look forward to shopping for some new things when we return to the states. I myself have shrunk out of most things, so I have the opposite problem. Lynn’s ongoing issue is that her shoes never wear out, so she is stuck with the same ones. Maybe I’ll let her pick something new anyway.

We might not have a chance to post or check email this coming week, but we look forward to writing more when we are in the US. At that time we will do some reflecting on our first year here and the process of readjusting to American culture for the summer. Be sure to check the blog in early June to read about those topics and more. If you want to see our pictures and hear our stories in person at some point this summer, we will be giving our presentation at the following places and times:

     June 12-     1st Presbyterian Church, Newton, IA (AM Church service)
      July 24-     Alcester Baptist Church, Alcester, SD (AM Church service)
      July 24-     1st Reformed Church, Sioux Center, IA (PM Church service)
      July 29-     Festival of Tables, Herrick, SD (Evening)
    Aug. 14-     The Crossing, Sioux Falls, SD (PM Church service)
    Aug. 29-     Return to Haiti

We would be very happy to add more dates to the calendar for this summer, so please do not hesitate to contact us to visit your church, your missions committee, or any Bible study or other group that would enjoy hearing our presentation.

Please pray for Mission Haiti, the visiting group, the people of Haiti, and our family this week as we seek God’s guidance and protection for ministry and travel. As always we expect God to do big things in the lives of both the Haitians and the Americans. Undoubtedly through both blessings and trials He will be glorified this week!

Looking Forward to Seeing You All Soon!
-The Grimms

A Quick Update

2011-05-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Day 189 of our Haiti Adventure!

The pace of life is beginning to pick up as we prepare for a big mission team to come and then our departure to the US in two weeks. The team will be here on May 24th, and we will leave with most of them on the 30th, arriving in Sioux Center on the night of the 31st. We know that once they arrive (all 27 of them!) everything will be a blur of activity until we go, so we are trying to do a few things now ahead of time to get ready.

This morning Patchouko and I were transferring a pile of wood to a different location, and as we began to turn over the last few boards the critters went scurrying. The kids all came over and watched the action. We killed one giant full-grown tarantula, three scorpions, countless cockroaches, several frogs, several crickets, a dozen or more spiders, and we just let the numerous lizards run away. Luckily there weren’t any rats.

Unfortunately the new orphanage compound will not be ready for the kids and staff to move in before we leave for America. This means we will not be able to move into the old orphanage house before we go. This is not a huge setback, however, because teams will be here this summer who can help with that transition while we are gone and out of the way. This fall we plan to have the house more accessible, including installing a real toilet and our own stove and freezer. It will take awhile to get used to the orphanage kids being in a different compound, but it will be a little more relaxing for our family. We can go over and see them next door any time we want.

We have declared this week our final full week of home school with our kids. We will continue with some activities this summer to keep them fresh, but we will scale it down. The first year went really well for us, probably better than we could have hoped for. Lynn is anxious to order the materials for this fall and see what we get to do next.

Everyone is pretty healthy here now. The kids had been battling colds, as strange as that sounds considering the climate in which we live, but today they feel better. I (Cory) have been feeling really good lately and have been able to do a lot more hard work and hiking. Lynn has pretty much been healthy the whole time we have been here. Cholera has continued to be scarce in the village, which is a real answer to prayer.

Pam gave us a project to try to gather the last couple hundred school sponsor photos. As you probably are aware, Mission Haiti sponsors about 1,500 students for school each year. Another way to say it is individual donors pay to sponsor these children through Mission Haiti. Each year each kid needs their tuition paid, their backpack and shoes to be distributed, their medications, and their photo taken. A professional photographer was here a couple of months ago to get the bulk of the photos, but it is impossible to get every one because a large portion of students are absent on any given day, and we probably sponsor kids in about 30-40 schools now. So there are a couple of hundred kids we need to track down, wherever they are. We have done a little more than half of those at this point, and we are still working.

One adventure we had while collecting these pictures occurred just this last Friday. Patchouko was busy doing some painting, so I asked Chelo to go with me up the mountains to some schools. We were going to some schools where neither of us had ever been before, and even Pam hasn’t been to these. We hopped on the motorcylce and headed up the highway that goes over the mountains.

At the top there is a village called Mason, and we stopped at a couple of schools there where we have sponsor children. That went pretty well, although not all the kids were there that day who needed pictures taken. Pretty typical stuff. From there we were looking for a school in a village called Debuchet. From the main road they told us, “Just head down this dirt side road and you will get there pretty soon.” In Haiti “pretty soon” might mean an hour.

We did go down that road long enough to start wondering if we were approaching the ends of the Earth. Each time we stopped to ask about the school someone would tell us, “Just a little bit further.” My gas gauge was already below “E”, but we could hear a little bit more sloshing around in the tank. Finally we found the school, and of course the four students we needed were absent that day. Bummer. We headed back to the main road just in time to buy some gas and head home.

We'll keep you updated as our first term in Haiti draws to a close and as we head back to the States to visit family, friends, and supporting churches. It will be interesting to note our feelings as we return to the culture in which we grow up and see it again for the first time. Alexandra already confessed that she is nervous about using a regular toilet, because she doesn't remember how to flush it. We assured her it will all come back to her when the time comes.

May God Bless Your Adventure Today!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

In Search of Happy Endings

2011-05-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Day 182 of our Haiti Adventure!

We continue to think about and pray for Sue and her family, who are mourning the passing of Mom. We are missing Sue around here, that is for sure. I know they miss her down in the clinic as well. We will all look forward to her return with the next mission team on May 24th.

Santia, the youngest girl in the orphanage, threw a big fit yesterday and decided she wanted to go "home." She actually has family in the village, but Pam had taken her out of that negative situation over two years ago. She decided she wanted to go back there so she could have more freedom. Gertrude tried to talk her out of it, explaining how her life in the orphange is a great opportunity for her. She wouldn't give up, however, so after checking with Pam, they decided to let her go. I guess she has done this before and come back. We'll see how this situation turns out.

The lady I wrote about on April 30th (see post, "Back to Normal Life") came home yesterday. Patchouko and I and her brothers went to pick her up after the hospital called and told the family they couldn't do anything more for her. Sure enough, when we got there she looked even worse. She was down to her last few days for sure. That whole situation left me with a bad feeling for many reasons. First of all, her brothers were always doing everything they could to get out of taking care of her and paying for her medicines. It kind of irks me when someone says "I don't have any money" as they are holding a Blackberry in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Also, the wing of the hospital where she stayed was absolutely disgusting...piles of garbage, dirty beds and equipment, indifferent staff, etc...

Finally, and maybe worst of all, I just felt like I myself and the others who work with me just didn't have the emotional energy and the faith to really do anything about the whole situation. We didn't sit by her bed for hours and pray that she be healed. We didn't make sure she had everything she needed (except medicines which we paid for). We didn't help the family rally together to take care of her and grow closer to God through the whole ordeal. We just kind of stood back and watched her die.

One more situation that needs prayer is the new orphanage construction. It should have been finished and ready to move into months ago, but the project just lingers on and on. There is so much work left to do over there, and we haven't seen any workers there for probably a month or more. Pam is working on the phone to try to get the contractor to finish what he started, but everyone here has stopped being excited about the move, because it just doesn't seem like it will ever happen.

So we are in search of happy endings right now. Happy endings are hard to come by in Haiti most of the time. We are hoping the current president's tenure will come to a happy ending. In other words, we hope he hands over the control to the new guy without incident! That would be nice, but everyone is on edge as May 14th approaches. Also, we hope our first school year in Haiti will come to a positive end. We are ready for a break and a chance to visit family and friends and ministry supporters, but we also want to end our time here in a positive way and not miss out on what God has for us in these last days.

Life is always complicated, is it not! What a comfort to know that the biggest ending of all will be a happy one for those of us who are in Christ.

May Your Adventure Today Have a Happy Ending!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Sue's Adventure

2011-05-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Day 181 of our Haiti Adventure!

I hesitate to refer to the following episode as an adventure, because it involves the passing of Sue’s mother back in Minnesota, and I want to be sensitive to the seriousness of that important life event. Maybe after some time has passed Sue will be able to look back on these events and see the adventure in them, but right now they might still seem like more of a trial, an ordeal, or even a nightmare. Anyway, it is a story worth telling about our beloved Sue, the wonderful nurse who lovingly cares for the people of Ti-Riviere…

When Sue received the call that her mom had passed away, on the morning of May 4, we found ourselves stranded in the compound of Mission of Hope in Port-au-Prince. Outside the gates and about half a mile down the road four oil tankers were blocking the highway with their tires shot out, numerous garbage piles were on fire all over the streets, and groups of people were threatening one another with rocks and shouts of anger. Sue came back from talking on the phone and joined Patchouko and I on some benches. Through tears she said, “Mom just passed away, poor thing.” This was not the place and time and situation where you are supposed to receive that kind of news.

Let’s back up…Sue’s mom had not been doing well for quite some time, so she was expecting to have to rush back to the US at some point after receiving this news. She had a chance to say “goodbye” on an earlier trip home, and her mom was no longer able to talk or communicate with people. Her physical condition was gradually deteriorating, so it was only a matter of time. Sue and the other siblings had everything in order for the funeral, etc… So when she received the call on the night of May 3rd that mom wasn’t expected to make it more than a day or so, it was time to put everything into action.

Pam was able to book a flight for Sue the next day at 12:15PM. We toyed with the idea of putting Sue on the first bus out of Les Cayes in the morning with Patchouko, but in the end we didn’t think that would guarantee her enough time to get to the airport. We decided to drive her there instead. We left at 4AM the next morning and made good time to the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Everything was going well.

We should have known something wasn’t right when we passed a long line of busses and trucks parked next to a police station. After that there weren’t many vehicles on the road anymore for the next few miles, but at the time we weren’t putting the clues together that something might be going on down the road. It wasn’t long before we came over a hill and saw a tanker stretched across the road. We could also see a couple of barriers made up of piles of burning garbage. The whole scene could be described as Mad-Maxish.

Some people along the road were motioning for us to turn around, so we stopped to ask some questions. They told us a political demonstration was going on, and it wasn’t safe to wait where we were. We turned around and started looking for an alternate route. Apparently we were close to the river, and there were some side roads that led to a different place to cross. However, as we were exploring those options, a man drove up to us from the other direction and stopped.

Lex turned out to be a real God-send that day. Without him things could have been a lot different. In very solid English he explained to us that the river was too high to cross on that day at any place other than where it was blocked by the demonstration. He had already driven ahead to check it out because he was also trying to get to the airport and receive a few guests. He invited us to come and wait at the compound of his ministry, Mission of Hope, to see if the road would open up soon. The UN wasn’t stationed too far away, he added, so the hope was that they would show up soon and get things moving. It was about 7AM and we decided to accept his generous invitation.

To kill some time we took the grand tour of Mission of Hope. They have an orphanage of 30 kids, a school of 700, and various other programs and clinics they do to help the people. They were in the process of building a new school on their site and relocating the orphans to another compound. It got me thinking about how all over Haiti there are literally thousands of ministries doing basically the same things we are doing back in Ti-Riviere. It was very humbling to think about.

Over the course of the next few hours many interesting things happened. At one point we saw two groups of people having some kind of stand-off and throwing rocks at each other. One girl was hurt, and Sue regretted not having the medical supplies with her to go help. I think this was after she received the phone call about her mom. That shows her commitment to helping the people here, always putting them ahead of herself. We don’t know if any of those people in that particular altercation were involved with setting up the tankers or not.

Around 8:30 the UN went rushing past in a few dozen armored vehicles. I couldn’t help thinking they were probably over-dressed for the occasion with all of their huge guns and tanks and such, but you never know, I guess. We joked that they seemed to be the last ones in Haiti to know this whole thing was going on. I guess they didn’t clock in until 8:00 or something, and after that you have to get breakfast before heading out, right?

A little while after the UN went past, the lines of busses and trucks and cars started to follow. We could tell that they weren’t getting through, though, because pretty soon they were backed up to the gate of the compound and beyond. It wasn’t long before people were getting off the busses, collecting their goods to sell in the market, and attempting to walk through the demonstration and come out on the other side. This made for quite a chaotic scene. Others just got out and made themselves comfortable along the roadside to wait. Right on cue the vendors made their entrance and started passing by with drinks, snacks, and other things to sell to the thousands of people along the road.

By my calculations we were going to need to leave by about 9:30 or 9:45 to have any chance of getting Sue to the airport on time for her flight. Unfortunately, that time soon came and went and the traffic jam still wasn’t budging an inch, and we hadn’t heard for sure what was going on with the demonstration. We were in contact with Pam back in the US, and soon we agreed that we would try to send Sue and Patchouko ahead on motorcycles to try to meet up with our friend Kiki on the other side of the trucks. She probably wouldn’t make her flight on time, but there is always a 3:00 flight as well, and we were hoping there would be room for her on that one.

Sue had to leave her suitcase with me and jam a few items into her backpack to take along. She wasn’t too worried about it and was a good sport about the whole thing. Nothing like jumping on the back of a motorcycle of a complete stranger in 90 degree heat and driving through a political demonstration in a third-world country! I didn’t have a great feeling about the whole thing, to be honest, but Patchouko was there with her, and the UN had already been working on the situation for over an hour, so we said a prayer and went for it.

I waited around at Mission of Hope to receive word that they were through and moving towards the airport. That call came before too long, and I got in the car, made my way upstream through the traffic jam, and headed back to Ti-Rivier. The plan was for Patchouko to come the next day on a bus. Later I heard that after quite some time Sue and Patchouko were able to meet up with Kiki and make it to the airport. She did miss that first flight but was able to board the later one, spend the night in Florida, and make it home to Sioux Falls late the next afternoon. Patchouko also returned safely and on schedule to Ti-Rivier

As I reflect on that whole adventure, or ordeal, or whatever you want to call it, I can see that God’s hand was there protecting us at all times. There were quite a few points where things could have gone bad for us, but they didn’t, and God gets all the credit. On the other hand, at no point did I ever see the police involved with the situation in any way. You just take for granted back in the US that if something bad happens, at least the police and the other emergency personnel will be there before too long. Not in Haiti.

The final feeling I was left with was admiration for Sue. That is why I called this “Sue’s Adventure.” She really showed her spirit and faith and perseverance in this trial. Many people might have shut down and become paralyzed by fear and grief, but in the midst of the fire she glowed pure and bright. She never complained or got angry, and she even managed to keep her sense of humor. That was inspiring to see and won’t soon be forgotten.

Persevere in Your Adventure Today!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Heat, Rain, and Bugs

2011-05-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Kester and Cory being goofy

Family and Friends,

Day 178 of our Haiti Adventure!

And unbelievable adventure occurred yesterday, and we are still sorting out all of the details. We'll get that one posted soon. In the meantime, please enjoy the following allegory about Heat, Rain, and Bugs...

Heat, Rain, and Bugs

There are three bullies in our neighborhood who often attempt to intimidate us. They spend their time trying to annoy us, harass us, and in general make our lives unenjoyable. The ultimate desire of this unholy trinity is to fill us with feelings of despondancy and fear. But we will not succumb to the trio of terror! We will not accommodate our destiny to these devils of discomfort. The bullies in our neighborhood will never prevail!

The other day we were sitting at breakfast early in the morning, and suddenly Heat came walking around the corner. He had a smirk on his face that said, “Ah hah…new people in the neighborhood this summer…Americans…easy victims.” Heat could be described as sort of your classic bully, always giving wedgies and such. His favorite songs are “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C and C Music Factory, and “Mercury Rising” by Sting. He billowed right in to our house and refused to leave until late at night. It was very uncool. As he departed he promised to be back early the next day.

The next morning Heat’s slimy friend Rain washed up as well. Previously, we had been hearing Rain pittering and pattering about at night for the past month or so, but only after Heat began to show up on a regular basis did Rain begin to spatter us with his puddly presence during the day. Rain is more of the cruel-type bully, always pushing you down in the mud, spitting at you, and trying to ruin your clothes, papers, and whatever else you might be carrying. His sense of humor is anything but dry. He has many beloved songs, but his absolute favorite story in the Bible is the one about Noah and the flood. His least favorite song is “Blame it on the Rain” by Milli Vanilli.

After a couple of days of getting intimately acquianted with Heat and Rain, the most bothersome bully of all showed up…Bugs. Bugs is more of the annoying-type bully, always tickling your ears and nose and other parts of your body. He has an incredible repertoire of irritating and disgusting habits, and he truly believes the maddening noises he makes at all hours of the night will attract females. Bugs’ favorite car is the Volkswagen Beetle, his favorite superhero is Spiderman, and his favorite songs are “Ants Marching” by The Dave Matthews Band and the classic, “Flight of the Bumblebee.” Dealing with Bugs really bites.

We’ve been doing our best to fight back against the three bullies in our neighborhood. Each one of them alone is not so bad, but the problem is when they start to team up to break your will. For example, when Heat and Rain work together, you can be sitting there doing nothing, and yet their presence alone can cause sweat to bead up on your forehead. And don’t even get me started on Rain and Buggy together. It’s almost like Buggy takes his cues from Rain. Whenever Rain starts pelting you, it’s never long before Buggy gets all excited and begins buzzing around as well.

Despite the oppression at our doorstep and occassionally in our home, we are determined to overcome the tyrannical triumvirate of tropical torture and live life to the best of our abilities. We’ve made friends with a team of individuals who help us out from time to time…Shower, Spray, Swatter, Fan, and Ice. When things get really bad we jump in the car, roll up the windows, and visit Mr. A.C. The bullies hate Mr. A.C. After that we usually feel refreshed and ready to face up to whatever comes. Let’s just hope the worst of bullies, Hurrricane, never shows up!

Happy Adventuring Everyone!
-The Grimms

Back to "Normal" Life

2011-04-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Day 173 of our Haiti Adventure!

The last few days have felt pretty normal, which is no small feat around here. I was just remarking to Sue yesterday how the things that shock you when you first visit a country like Haiti soon blend in to the background of everyday life and seem almost normal. It is amazing how humans can adjust to different surroundings and lifestyles and carry on with life in new ways. I don’t think we necessarily even know we are adjusting. It just sort of happens. No doubt God helps us in countless ways throughout the process.

Last week was pretty crazy with Easter break. The kids in the orphanage didn’t have school all week, but they did have church for seven nights in a row, three hours each night, including a worship extravaganza on Good Friday from 6-11AM and 6-10PM. Try that one, Americans! We didn’t attend all of that stuff because our Creole isn’t strong enough yet to really know what is going on. That was our excuse, anyway.

We enjoyed celebrating my (Cory) birthday the other day. Lynn wanted to make something special for me to eat, but we weren’t sure what that was going to be because I hadn’t been to the City to get any good groceries for quite awhile. God provided in a strange sort of way. Early in the morning Sue came back from the clinic and asked me to drive a patient to the hospital in the city. I’m sure this story is starting to sound familiar to those of you who regularly read this blog.

So I hopped in the car and headed over to the clinic. This time it was a forty-something woman who had wasted away to almost nothing. They weighed her in the clinic. Sixty pounds. Her brothers were with her, and they were a great help, because she couldn’t walk and could barely sit up. We drove her to Les Cayes and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon trying to get her checked in there and seen by a doctor. They were guessing she had tuberculosis, but we are waiting until the official tests come back today to know for sure. Finally she did get checked in and one of her brothers stayed there to care for her.

All that down time at the General Hospital gave us some time to observe what goes on. Sometimes all you can do is laugh. For example, in the ER some guy was getting stitched up from a machete accident. Pretty typical case for that ER, I’m sure. Whenever he would cry out from the pain, people would come running from the parking lot to see what was happening. Curious, fully-grown adults would just crowd in there, shoving each other around for a better view in that small room, and make comments about all the blood. They even felt free to advise the technician on how to do his job, debating with each other the best approach to the problem…

“Better sew up that spot next…it’s bleeding pretty bad.”
"No, I think that will be fine…better try to attach that finger dangling there.”
“No, that finger isn’t going to make it…just focus on the hand.”

Something else that cracked me up was seeing how they take the X-rays and hang them out to dry on the parking signs outside. I said to Sue, “So much for patient confidentiality.” What topped it all on this day was watching another guy with blood all over his hands go back and forth from the ER to the pharmacy. They kept sending him to buy stitches, bandages, and other supplies for himself. Not having anyone to go for him like we sometimes do for patients we take there, he had to get up and buy it himself, dripping blood as he went.

Since we were in Les Cayes already, and had finished up at the hospital, I took the opportunity to head over to the little grocery store and help myself to some special treats for my birthday and for the family back home. I bought some real cheese and butter. Both cost about 3 times what they would in the US. I also splurged and bought hot dogs, pepperoni, and half a pound of hamburger. I went all out! We ate the hotdogs for my birthday meal, along with a cake made by Lynn. Nice.

That afternoon Lynn and I also had a chance to go over to Adrien’s house to check email. This was probably her third time online since we got here, and for the first time in almost six months she used an actual toilet. How luxurious. We had a nice hour there, and Sue watched the kids back at the ranch. After that the kids and I hunted for little crabs and played cards.

Teaching at school has gone well this week, and we have also been busy painting the new orphanage buildings. We are hoping the kids and staff will be able to move in there soon. A big mission team is coming at the end of May, and our goal is to have the kids in the new orphanage and our family in the old house before the visitors get here. After that we will go back with most of the team to the airport and fly out on May 30th.

Gertrude, the director of the orphanage, is taking a much-needed week off to go visit family and friends in Port-au-Prince. I don’t know how those ladies do it. They are pretty amazing with those kids.

Lots of rain lately! Mosquitoes are hatching at an alarming rate. I guess we better get used to it.

May your adventure occassionally be normal!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Haitian Easter Dinner

2011-04-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Family and Friends,

Day 169 of our Haiti Adventure!

The meal Gertrude cooked for us on Sunday was amazing. That might have been one of the few times I have truly felt full here after eating. Below is a picture of a plate with some of the items we had, followed by a description of exactly what each one is...

Item #1 (lower right)- Beans and rice with a touch of black bean sauce
Item #2 (moving clockwise)- Mashed veritab, or bread fruit, stuffed with cheese and hamburger
Item #3- French fries
Item #4- Tomatoes and onions with a piece of ham (actually spam)
Item #5- Peas, corn, potatoes, and beat salad on lettuce
Item #6- Fried beef with onion slices

There were a couple of other items I didn't take as well, including fried plantains and fried veritab, I believe. It was quite a meal. We won't soon forget it. We hope yours was great, too.

Happy Adventuring!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers