Thank you so much

Hello everyone,

This is my first personal writing to you. first of all, I want to thank God for this opportunity that He gives me to write you today. And I am so thankful for what God has done for me, and what He keeps doing in my life. One of my favorite Scripture is Psalms 113:7-8 : "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people." today I can frankly testify that He sets me with the princes of his people. He gives me a family that loves me so much and also teaches me how to love others. I really have no words to express my gratefulness to J@n and Paul Dav1s for the great love that they share with me and the wonderful treatment that I receive from them as if I was their own begotten; it is really unbelievable the love that you show me my dear Mom and Dad and I know that God will never cease overflow His blessings upon you and the wonderful work that you are doing through Mustard Seed Missions,Inc. Thanks to all of you that are supporting the work that MSM is doing to help people in need especially in my country Haiti. If it wasn't for MSM, today I would not have the chance to meet this awesome Davis family that gives me the privilege to respond to the call of God for my life by attending F.G.B.I. to pursue my study in the word of God.

In spite of all difficulties that I could face, yet, by the grace of God, I finished with success the first semester of my study. And I thank so much all of you that have prayed for me; I very thankful for my great family in the Monday prayer meeting at College Church. I do see and live the results of your prayers. Thank you soooooo much my dear fellows.

Yet , the first step is done; I achieve my first semester. I am free for about two months and half. wow! What a wonderful joy to be on vacation! isn't it? However, a Christian soldier can never rest because our enemies never stop fighting against us. The Bible says: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking who he may devour." I Pet. 5:8. Hence my brothers and Sisters, as a soldier in the army of the Lord, now it is not vacation time for me, for there are plenty lost souls that I am called to win and bring to the Lord by being a witness to Lord among them. That is why, for this summer vacation I feel a burden in my heart to go out and be witness for God. Thus, this Sunday, I will go back to my country ( Haiti) to continue my work with Mustard Seed Haiti (MSH) and also in the same way preach the Gospel to the people in my native area. So my dear friends, and all of you that supported the work that Mustard Seed Missions and MSH are doing, I entirely count on your prayer and your support to see that this work grows and brings good results for the glory of Christ. Please lift me in your prayers and continue to give support to these organizations. May God bless you all and make this work bring fruit.

Returning to School

Today it's time to pack Witchner up and return him to school. This morning he was really surprised that it was time to go already. He still has some homework to do. Tonight he'll leave on the bus and this time he'll go through Albany, Buffalo, and Erie. It's a 17 hour trip but he wanted to try it. When he returns in May he'll be coming back on the Amtrak Train. We went online last night and watched YouTube videos of trains and he's really excited about trains.

This evening he asked about the "Subway" sign on Route 5. Paul tried explaining it was a sandwich shop, but then the explanations got complicated because I'd told him about subways in NYC (underground transportation). Paul added "submarine" to the explanation in order to try to clarify why the sandwiches were called "subs"....I'm not sure that Witchner completely understood.

On the way to the bus station they also had a discussion about large animals (bears, deer, wolves, etc.) Witchner was astounded that people didn't own each animal. He told us that all of the animals in Haiti, even the free-ranging rabbits, were owned by someone. He couldn't believe we have animals that didn't belong to anyone. The concept of "wild" is new.

Haitian Potluck

Today we planned a potluck party, inviting people who know Witchner. Early in the day we drove to Hadley to the international market to buy dried shrimp for the rice. On the way to Hadley we drove under the Market St. trestle where a train was passing overhead. Witchner was startled by the sight and had no idea what it was, turning back to look at it as is continued along the rail.

I described what trains were and how they were similar, but different, than subways in cities. (This discussion on "subways" comes into play on Sunday.)

We also had a discussion about bears - I was telling him about how it was just about time to get rid of the bird-feeders so that they wouldn't attract the bears. I went on YouTube to show his what black bears looked like and how large they were. He was completely amazed and asked if we had ever seen them. He was a little taken aback when I told them we sometimes have them in the neighborhood.

About 20 people came to the party. Witchner made luscious rice and beans with a shrimp sauce. He guided me through making the beet and potato salad; all of the blans at the party were surprised by how much they liked the beet salad! It was a really fun party because many of our friends from church got to meet our extended family (The Boufs) and some of our Haiti team as well. We had a great time! There were pockets of people everywhere in the house, including a fiddling session with hymns in the music room, and a Jumping Wald1r session in the living room, not to mention a Haiti slideshow on the computer. Paul later told me they played "Danny Boy" on the violins and piano and Witchner sang along, only he knew it as the melody to a hymn!

Boring, but welcome, week

It was a pretty boring week for Witchner since Paul and I had to go to work each day, but that was OK with him because it gave him a chance to sleep in late and then be on his laptop all day long. We encouraged him to do some homework, but because it's only Wednesday, he's not feeling an immediate need to yet. He made diri e pwa for us for dinner tonight. It's soooo good.

There are a few things that are new to him. He was amazed when I told him that we eat beet greens. Although they grow lots of beets (betwouj) in Haiti, no one eats the greens. He looked pretty skeptical when I told him that we did. To prove it I steamed some, put some salt & pepper on them and had him try them. To his surprise he liked them. It sure seems like this would be a natural for increasing the vitamin/mineral intake for Haitians.

Snow duty

The snow on our garage and house was so deep and so heavy that we took advantage of Witchner's strong arms and legs to help us shovel them off. He got in a good workout on a nice winter day.

Spring Break!

Witchner arrived at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, CT at 6:30. Paul and I were there to meet him. He walked down the passageway so confidently that we weren't even sure it was him coming towards us. This was his first time flying on Southwest Airlines (i.e., no reserved seating), also his first time flying out of Pittsburgh and getting a connecting flight at BWI. He managed it all on his own without any telephone help. He's now been to 6 airports in two months!

As we drove home he used a common expression among college students at spring break: "I'm free!" Shortly after we got home he turned his computer on, got a cold drink and was IMing with Marie back in Haiti. At his bible school he's not allowed on the internet, so he was really anxious to be online.

Lots of Studying

Witchner's life has become so full that he has little time to email anyone. He has called a couple times, but is even pressed for time to do that. Last week he had a cold, so he struggled through that while studying. He said he doesn't have enough time to study. They go to church three times a day. He's taking 4 courses during the day and then there's an assigned study hall after dinner. At 9:00 they head back to the dorm and have to be in their rooms by 10 p.m. with the lights out at 10:30. They come around and do room checks at midnight. Unfortunately, his MP3 player has stopped recording, so I made an emergency trip to the store to buy him a digital voice recorder so that he can record his classes. I mailed it to him today. He said that recording classes was very helpful.

When I ask about his exams he hesitates and says "not too bad". He got a 95 on his first exam; he had to write an essay persuading an atheist that God does exist. Tonight he called feeling bad because he got an 85 on another exam. I think he's set very high standards for himself. He needed encouragement that he's doing just fine; after all, he's only been in the country a month and only at the school for less than three weeks.

One birthday and one exam

Witchner's birthday was Sunday; he turned 29. We talked briefly on the phone. His roommate offered to let Witchner use his phone because he had free weekend minutes. It sounds like he's got very nice roommates.

Today was his first exam; I know he was concerned about it. He said it went "not too bad". He was up until 2 a.m. last night finishing up homework in his top bunk using a headlamp. He said his roommates didn't mind.

When he phones, the calls are very short. He keeps a tight schedule. Tonight he was going off to study some more. He's taking four classes right now. I can't imagine how hard it must be taking classes in full English immersion like that. He uses an MP3 player to record some of his classes and download them onto his computer so he can listen to them. (That's a far cry from the old cassette tapes, isn't it?)

Nose to the grindstone

Witchner's days are pretty full now. Here is his most recent email -- after his second day of classes. It speaks for itself.

As you say, I'm completely tired. lot of thing to do
in a short time. the whole day is for school and the
break time is for researches and readings.So, Thanks
to God, I use the MP3 to record some classes. Next week
I will have exams so I have to study very hard to pass
it.

My roomates names are: James and Steve they are so
kind help me a little bit.And also my Haitians'
brothers help me so much because they were here before
me.One of them is the list of the best student who
have the greatest grades for the last semester and he
is willing to help me.

I use my sleeping bag and i am so warm now. thank you
so much.

the lady who has given me the french dictionnary sent
me a wishe card and i am soooooooo happy for that.

tomorrow the freshman class will be fasting. so
tomorrow no food for me.

Changed rooms

I phoned Witchner at 2 p.m. today and he'd just gotten back to his dorm following their church service. He has changed dorm rooms and has 2 American roommates again. He also has the top bunk again. He missed going shopping yesterday because he was moving from one room to the other.

One of the things he wanted to shop for was a blanket, but it turns out there was another miscommunication. We bought him a new rectangular sleeping bag so he could open it up and use it as a comforter. One of our concerns was the limited amount of luggage he was able to carry. We figured a blanket and a comforter were more than he'd be able to fit in his luggage, but a sleeping back in a stuff sack would do the trick. Unfortunately, despite showing him how it unzipped and opened up flat, I guess we didn't make ourselves clear about how he could use it. Hopefully he'll sleep better tonight. Good thing he's had the top bunk where the air is warmer!

Last night was a welcome dinner for all of the new students; he said there were about 10 new students. He thinks there's about 12 international students on campus, including the 3 other Haitians.

His classes start tomorrow and he said he has a lot of books to read. I think he'll be putting in a lot of study-time, especially as he begins to get more comfortable with reading everything in English.

American football and roommates

When I phoned Witchner this evening I could hardly hear him. He and his roommates were watching American football and having what sounded like a rousing good time. There was lots of laughter in his voice. He sounds perfectly fine and settled in and his roommates sound like they've included him right in. They were kibbitzing on the phone.

Today he got all of his books and he's started reading one of them. He told me something about a grading system with 100 points, but I couldn't make out everything. Perhaps it's the system we're used to, but one that is new to him.

Tomorrow they are moving him to the room next door, something about freshmen (a new word for him, I'm sure) being placed together, and guys with good grades being put in the same room because they're allowed to stay up later. (??) There's a 10:30 lights out rule. At this point, I sound more confused than him. He seems to understand the system. I think someone is taking him shopping or on a tour of the area tomorrow so that he'll know what he has access to. It's too bad he doesn't have a digital camera; I'm sure the photos would be interesting.

When he returns on March 1st, I'm going to have to give him blog lessons again so that he can contribute to this.

Safe in Pennsylvania

Witchner made it! In the last two weeks he has navigated two really tricky travel spots - Miami International Airport, and the NY Port Authority.

Last nite he got to the Port Authority before 8:00 p.m. and phoned us at about 10:30 p.m. to say that he had found the correct gate for his Greyhound bus departing to Pittsburgh. He arrived in Pittsburgh and phoned us at 6:15 a.m.

By 10:00 a.m (when I next talked to him) he was riding in the car with one of the teachers from Free Gospel Bible Institute who had come to pick him up. He sounded comfortable.

This afternoon I phoned him at 4:00. When he arrived at the school he heard kreyol and lo-and-behold there are 3 other Haitians there. They connected immediately and I'm sure they gave Witchner the low down. He knew the answers to lots of questions:

• "Yes, I can go home to Haiti on vacation"
  
• "Yes, I can use my cell phone at school, but it has to be off during classes."
  
• "We DO have internet at the school, but it's only for email."
  
• "I need to get a ride if I want to go shopping." (The town is a few miles away; I'm sure his Haitian friends have got it all figured out already. They've been there since August....plenty of time to have learned the ropes.)

He was settling into the dorm room that he shares with two Americans. He hadn't met them yet (I think they were at class). His dorm room has one twin bed and a set of bunk beds. No surprise - he has the top bunk. However, that's where all of the heat will be, up near the ceiling, so that's not a bad thing. He said he hadn't unpacked yet because the other guys had used up most of the space. There's only one closet and one dresser to be shared between three guys. I guess they'll work it out.

Chapter 2 - Off to Pittsburgh, PA

Witchner started Chapter 2 in his Life in the USA today. This afternoon at 4:30 p.m. he boarded a Peter Pan bus in Springfield. He travelled to New York City, the Port Authority, where he changed busses to a Greyhound Bus bound for Pittsburg. He spent the day at Paul's office and then Paul took him to the bus station. I meant to take a picture of him getting on the bus, but I got there just as he was boarding and, instead, just wanted to hug him and assure him he'd be OK. He wasn't smiling. This is a big step for him and the unknowns are looming out there. At least when he left Haiti he knew there were people he knew at the other end.

Final packing

Witchner spent the day at the house, doing some final translating. He was able to catch Amoce on IM and they IM'd for a long time. I think he was quite thrilled to be able to do that; a little homesickness may be setting in.

When I asked if he wanted rice for dinner, he said no. He said he's changing his diet, so instead we had that good old American stand-by ... hot dogs and baked beans. Doesn't fit in very well with our talk about eating healthy, does it? We've been having talks about nutrition - he likes really, really sweet stuff. He put 8 packets of sugar in a medium sized Dunkin Donuts coffee and said it still wasn't sweet enough.

Tonight, on one of the news alerts that I subscribe to, there was a video about a garment factory in PAP that makes the Disney clothing. The laborers make $2.40 a day. Witchner was very upset, really sad, watching it. He feels so bad for his people; we had a talk at dinner, but I can't begin to know how he's feeling. We prayed a bit and talked some but I'm not sure that I can help much. He said to me "I need to know this." It's clear that there is a lot about his country that he is just beginning to learn.

8:30 p.m. Packing is a challenge -- he can only carry a backpack and two suitcases, each of those can only weight 50 lbs. So far we're not doing too well.


9:00 p.m. Success! One of the Haiti duffel bags did the trick. He's fully loaded and just about ready to go. What you don't see is the backpack with his laptop. He'll need to manage that also.

We never did get around to teaching him about the health insurance we bought for him. Paul will have to do that tomorrow.

Presenting at Missions Prayer

Witchner gave a talk about Mustard Seed Haiti at Monday Night Missions Prayer tonight. He spent about 2 days writing a brochure that is inspiring because it tells his own story about how Mustard Seed Haiti came to be. I learned things that I didn't know. Rivenson phoned him from Haiti just before his presentation so that was a nice boost for him.

He has had the really unusual opportunity of meeting and hearing from several missionaries while he's been here - Nate Hull3y and Pascal from the Congo, Chung Ho from Korea, Rose Ih3digbo from Nigeria, David Butl3r who is working in Ghana, and Christ1an Abbott from Mexico. He is learning a lot about the wider world and missionaries from the rest of the world. He's seeing commonalities and getting inspiration from them as well.

Witchner is learning more about his country while he's here also, and we're learning about the need for broader education both for him and for us.

Sunday night was packing night. We managed to fully pack one duffle bag with the stuff that's least likely to wrinkle. We'll do the final packing on Tuesday night. It was a difficult decision for him to decide what to take and what to leave behind. He's not used to having so much to choose from. We settled on putting some of his belongings into a storage bin and he can exchange winter clothes for spring clothes when he comes back at the end of February. It's nice that he'll be back in about 6 weeks; it will give us a chance to re-assess the situation as far as what belongings he does/doesn't need.

We're still trying to figure out his bus transfer at the Port Authority in New York. We've gotten some advice from friends at church and we're trusting that he'll be able to navigate it successfully.

Completing our lists

We enjoyed a little bit of sleeping in today since we've been keeping a pretty packed pace. Once we were up, however, we began attacking our final lists of "to do" things prior to Witchner leaving. We started out at Staples to buy the required school supplies he needs. How does one stare at the display wall of pens and choose 3 colored pens? The choices are overwhelming even for me, much less Witchner. Next was the drycleaners where we picked up his Kennedy clothes that now look really sharp and pressed. I could tell he was looking forward to wearing the suit and sports coats. Next was CVS to buy vitamins for Marcia. I dropped off a prescription so I was able to show him what an American pharmacy looked like and how that procedure works. We poked around looking at vitamins and discovered tomorrow they go on sale, two for the price of one, so we will go back tomorrow instead. In the meantime we picked up some infants and children's tylenol, some acetaminophen and tums - that was a quick $48. Witchner was surprised at how expensive the over-the-counter meds are. We also had a lesson on store brands being cheaper than name brands.

Once home we opened the mail; he got his first supply of checks from the bank, so we had check-writing lessons.

He spent most of the rest of the afternoon translating some health education materials from Honduras (spanish to kreyol). I didn't realize he spoke spanish so that's a real gift from God. I'll print the training materials and laminate them to bring down for Marcia.

We took down all of the Christmas decorations . Witchner was so surprised to find out that our Christmas tree was not real, and even more surprised to find out how it came apart!

Afterwards we headed to MoshiMoshi (a Japanese restaurant) for dinner. The owner/chef is Korean, so we were treated to some of MamaSan's kimchee, and other delicacies that she makes. We had a grand time with Sam (the owner) and Witchner hitting it off. Kimmy, Sam's wife, showed Witchner how to use "training chopsticks"; he had a tricky time mastering them. Sam told him it was alright to put the bowl to his face and just scoop it into his mouth like other Koreans. Witchner came home with a card that has his name written in Korean; he was pretty fascinated to see another kind of script. He loved the food, especially the Don dish (lots of rice, no surprise there), but wasn't especially fond of wasabi. I think it's probably because he mixed too much of it into his soy sauce.

Tomorrow it will be time to begin packing him up for his move to Pennsylvania. He's going to have to store some of his things here in a plastic bin and he can switch out his winter clothes for spring clothes when he comes back at the end of February.

A Day at the Office

Witchner came with me to LPVEC where he spent most of the day working on his laptop in my office. He was preparing the material for a presentation at Monday Night Missions Prayer for January 7th.

I introduced him to the people I work with and took him on a tour of our state-of-the-art career and technical education center where he was astounded that this school was for high school students. It seemed like he really couldn't believe it wasn't a college. I told him Americans were amazed by how nice the facility was also.
We hit Stop and Shop to grab a few groceries and a sandwich, then back to the office. He got a couple of phone calls from Haiti while there, including a nice long one from Amoce.

At home he helped start the woodstove, and watched in fascination as I vacuumed the living room carpet. He had never heard of a vacuum cleaner and was surprised at how it worked. I unplugged the hose and had him hold his hand up to the vacuum, so he could feel how it sucked. It had never occurred to me that he wouldn't know what a vacuum cleaner was.

We just downloaded Google Earth and he's entranced with poking around and looking at his country. I expect he'll spend a good part of the night doing that.

We had a Mustard Seed board meeting at the house tonight. Mark, Jean and Zach came. Zach and Witchner enjoyed seeing each other again. The report on the board meeting will be posted on the Mustard Seed blog.

From Rice Man to Ice Man

Thanks to Paul, Witchner now has a new nickname. In Haiti we call him RiceMan because he likes his rice sooooo much. Today Paul took him to work with him. It's a frigid day -- 4 degrees Fahrenheit; (-16 ) Celsius. That impressed Witchner! They drove to Litchfield County, Connecticut where Paul had to do some field work and Witchner went out in the field with him. He's a hardy trooper as you can see from the photo! Don't you think he's earned the nickname "Ice Man"???

Before work, we went to breakfast together and Witchner got to participate in our small group where we discussed the incarnational church. Witchner also got to try sausage links and bacon for the first time. We also tried to explain all of the different kinds of eggs that you can order in a restaurant. He ended up ordering scrambled eggs, which are called fried eggs in creole. Try explaining 'sunny side up', 'over easy', and 'over hard'....it's tricky!

For dinner we had steak "broiled" (new term) and served "rare". Nothing in Haiti is served rare so that was new, also. He likes both A-1 sauce and Worcestershire sauce. So far we've found only one food he didn't care for, and that was hummus.

Tomorrow Witchner may go to work with me. We'll see what the evening brings.

Wednesday - Home Alone

Today Witchner stayed home alone. We left him in bed while we went to work. He got his own breakfast, kept the woodstove going, brought in a new load of wood from the woodpile, and learned how to load music onto the MP3 player. We went to Monday Night Missions Prayer (on a Wednesday night, mind you) where Nat3 Hull3y presented about his work with Hop3 International. He brought along a Congolese man, Pascal. Witchner and Pascal immediately tuned in on each other -- the only black faces in the crowd. Not only that, they both started speaking French. There were fast friends in minutes! Then they began singing the same hymn in French...a Haitian and a Congolese. The world really is small. It was such fun!

Bon Anne - a quiet New Year's Day

Today was quiet as we all slept in and caught up a little with the hectic pace we've been keeping. It started snowing again about 11 a.m. It was a beautiful day for us all to stay inside and enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

Tuesday (Day 5 of Living in the USA)

• Today was Laundry Lessons. Witchner learned how to sort laundry and how to use the washing machine. People in Haiti have no electricity; therefore no machines or appliances of any kind. We had bleach, detergent, washer speed, and spin lessons.
  
• After the washing machine, he learned about the dryer and was truly amazed that clothes dried in the machine - he felt them afterward, surprised at warmth. In Haiti the clothes are spread over rocks near the river or over bushes in the sun.
• We found the manual for the MP3 player and he began ripping CDs of worship music onto his laptop. He loves contemporary worship music and is familiar with a lot of it.
• Another appliance lesson: learning how to use a microwave to reheat food and surprised that every household has a microwave. He was very surprised that I wouldn't know how to cook a meal over a 3-rock fire.
  
• Paul and I began searching for medical insurance for international students - a real necessity for him in this country.
• He'll be taking the bus to Pennsylvania next week. We are trying to figure out how to help him navigate the long distance bus system especially since he has to go through NYC.
  

There is so much to explain, it's getting overwhelming to me, and it must be hard to take it all in. Not only that, I feel like we live in an alphabet world - ATM, I-91, MP3, PCP. One night soon we'll begin trying to explain medical insurance to him -- explaining that you have to pick out your doctor, he has to accept you, and you can only go to him.

Witchner cooked us a great Haitian dinner of Rice and Shrimp with hot pepper. I loved watching him cook and finding out some of the secrets.

After dinner we watched a couple of Haiti DVD films that we have, and he looked at a Haiti photo book (a coffee table book). He remarked "I really don't know my country." The experience here is definitely broadening for both him and us.