Gauvreau en Haiti

Monday, September 12, 2011

This morning, I heard that Stanley, a young man that we know, got in a motorcycle accident. A
car who doubled in a curve hit him. He is now at the hospital and we are waiting for more news.

PM: Stanley has no fracture but may be internally. We are waiting for the result of the Scat Scan.

At 4:00pm, the doctors have found a fracture of the sternum. I do not wish this for anyone. Finally, he went to the States and the doctors have told him that he has nothing except cuts and bruises.

Very often I would say that in Haiti there is not a day without incident or accident. It is hard
mentally and emotionally.

I had on my heart to share this following with you. When God send you for a mission we must follow
his call. But the calling is not always “glamour”. We work in serving the orphanage in their needs (repairs, construction, inventory). Certain persons will think that it is not worth it to leave his country and family to do the things we can do in Canada. The goal is to serve the Lord where He wants us and the peace and joy are unmeasured. His grace and love we feel them every day. We would not like to be anywhere else than to be in His will.

I can tell you that we are at the right place, because the spiritual battle is very strong. We have
many attacks on our thoughts and if we would not hold God’s hand, we would live everything to come back to Canada. I can tell you that my faith has grown tremendously in the last year. I am listening the voice of God more and more and not mine. His way is perfect even if that means to get difficulties and pitfalls. But the peace and the love that we feel are more valuable that all the troubles.

Rain

In the last days, we had a lot of rain because it is the rainy season. In 3 days we have had 15
inches (38cm) of rain. Our water cistern is full to the rim and would overflow with each rain coming. But it is good to have rain from God to wash the dust and the garbage. The things around seem clean for a few hours.

Wednesday, September 14

We just received this advice in an e-mail. I think there is something serious going on in Port-au-Prince. I am so happy because I do not have to take the plane today. I will pray that next Wednesday will be calm.

“All U.S. citizens are advised by the U.S. Embassy that there is a violent demonstration occurring in downtown Port-au-Prince near Champ-De-Mars. The protestors have erected burning barricades and are throwing rocks and other objects. The Haitian National Police (HNP) are on scene and have dispersed tear gas. Confrontations are expected to continue and therefore all travel to downtown Port-au-Prince should be rescheduled and all travel to Cite Soleil, Carrefour, Croix des Bouquets, and lower Delmas neighborhoods should be rescheduled as well.”

Wednesday, September 21

Everything was calm in Port-au-Prince and we were able to take the plane without any problem. The cause for the demonstration is that the Haitians want the MINUSTAH out of their country. There were some abuses from some members of the UN Forces, so they want them out.

We read in the news that the MINUSTAH (UN Forces) will be back to their normal amount of troop, the same they had before the earthquake.

Monday, October 10

Today, it is the Canadian Thanksgiving. Tonight we will celebrate it at Pastor Brandon and Nikki. All the Canadians working at the orphanage will be there and even the Americans. I am looking forward
to it. (See photos Sept. and Oct. 2011)

Last Wednesday, we came back from a two week vacation in Quebec and we had a wonderful time. We are bringing back plenty of beautiful memories with us. We have seen our two sons and our daughter-in-law, who is pregnant, our families and long-time friends.

Now, we are trying to get back into the routine if we can say that we can have a routine in Haiti.
Georges has almost finished the guestroom that we hope to finish before Mireille and Jean-Marc, a couple from our church on the South Shore of Montreal, arrive on November 3. We are looking forward to it.

Tuesday, October 25

Today, I have someone to clean my house. She is Pat and Hollie’s cleaning lady (they are on vacation for the week). It is nice because I could not maintain the house clean especially with Georges trying to finish the house and the guestroom. There is always dust and dog’s hair.

We discover that we have a mildew problem in the two bedrooms. We washed the walls with bleach and water. We must find something to give some heat in the house. Now, I have the ceiling ventilators on in each room, and hopefully the air will circulate enough to clear it out.

On the blog I downloaded some pictures of our vacation especially pictures taken while we were on the plane. Also there are pictures of small goats that live on the orphanage’s land and they are in front of my living room window.

Yours the morning, O God, yours the afternoon.

As I make my pilgrimage through the day,

reawaken me to your presence, your wisdom, your wonders.

from Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God's Creation by Sam Hamilton-Poore. ©
2008 Upper Room Books®.

We wish you a wonderful day!

Cordially,

Jocelyne and Georges