The Uganda Bike Project

Months of prayer, planning and a little more prayer found me in Uganda last month training bike mechanics in a joint venture between Dakota Wesleyan University and Esperance Education Institute (EEI). Our team of ten people was made up of six DWU students, one DWU faculty (Joel Allen), one Morningside College student (Joel's daughter Johanna) and one RN (who also happened to be the parent of one of the DWU students). We set off with several ministry objectives in mind, but the one that was undoubtedly mine was the bike project.

The goal was to work with four or five people to train them in basic bike maintenance in order to help them acquire the skills they would need in order to begin to do bicycle repair as a source of income. We relied on Adonai Ministries International (a ministry out of Bugiri run by Dr. Charles Oundo) to find local candidates for the program, primarily drawing on people serving as pastors. The training would be taking place at Adonai alongside a training for pastors that Joel was the primary instructor for, with me leading some sessions about discipleship and spiritual formation (more about that in another post).

For the bike project though, we wound up with four men as a part of the project, three of who were from Bugiri with one from Busia (about 45 km away). We had hoped to have at least one female member of the project as well as EEI has placed a particular emphasis on equipping and training women, but Dr. Oundo said that those who he had invited to take part had declined. He said the reluctance seemed to be primarily cultural surrounding traditional gender roles.

My preparation before the trip consisted primarily of fund raising with the goal of purchasing two bike tool kits and one bike repair stand to go along with the one repair stand and floor pump that had been donated by my friend (and Fusion member) Paula Platz from her late husband's collection. Paula's husband Bill was a great guy who I had met on a few occasions and who would love the fact that his tools were being used to help others this way.

We were able to purchase the tool kits and one bike stand with funds donated by EEI and Palace City Pedalers (our local bike club in Mitchell, SD). I had been assured that we would be able to purchase tools in Uganda, but I was a bit reluctant to leave that to chance since there were bike specific tools like cone wrenches, crank pullers and chain breakers that I was not as optimistic that we would be able to buy locally. I didn't doubt that we would be able to buy more general use tools (hammers, wrenches, screw drivers...) in-country and hoped that between what I brought and what would be easier to find locally that we would be in a good position to be able to accomplish what we had set out to do.

As we arrived in Entebbe and gradually made our way through Kampala and Jinja as we headed east toward Bugiri. With it being my first time in Uganda, I was soaking in everything, but I was especially attentive toward the bikes that I was seeing. Most of what we were seeing as we left Entebbe and passed through Kampala were basic mountain bikes, much like we would see in the US. As we passed through the heart of Kampala, we actually saw a group of roadies (riders of road bikes for those not familiar with the lingo) on bikes from Trek, Specialized, Bianchi and Merida (much like you'd find in the US...okay, maybe not Merida so much). Needless to say, I felt very much at home.

As we got farther away from the population centers though, the style of bike began to change from what was familiar to something out of the past. While probably 90% of the bikes in the population centers were very familiar to me, the ratio began to shift more and more toward cargo bikes. And not modern cargo bikes, but bikes that were designed 60 or more years ago that still used cotter pin cranks, very heavy steel frames, and a frame geometry that made handling the bike a bit more challenging.

Dr. Joel Allen on a local cargo bike

We saw these cargo bikes hauling people (it's actually a very common mode of local transportation), produce, benches and even (I kid you not) and axle off of a car. They were obviously the workhorses of bike utility and they were everywhere. By the time we reached Bugiri, the ratio had switched to 90% (ancient, outmoded) cargo bikes and 10% standard mountain bikes/basic commuter bikes. I began to wonder what exactly we would have to work with when we got started with the mechanics.

I anxiously awaited the first day of our training where I would not only be responsible for getting the bike project underway, but would also be leading some teaching sessions on discipleship and spiritual formation. The original idea that had been floated was to have me do just a few sessions of this with the 30 or so pastors that had been gathered while DWU student Amy Zeller did business training with the bike mechanics. I would have then worked the discipleship and spiritual formation topic into some of the time that I spent with the mechanics. It became pretty obvious early on that this wasn't going to be quite as workable in reality as the schedule had shifted somewhat. This wasn't completely unexpected, though it did change some of my approach with the mechanics. Instead of working the discipleship/spiritual formation conversations into our mechanics training, I simply invited the mechanics to join the rest of the pastors for the teaching sessions that I did.

This actually worked to our advantage in a few ways. First, it allowed for some flexibility to work with Amy on the business part of the conversation whenever she was available instead of forcing her to work within a schedule that we only barely had a say in ourselves. Second, it allowed the mechanics to actually get something out of the pastoral training since none of the guys spoke English very well and we only had a translator for the opening session of our bike workshop and the business training portions of the project. I think the language barrier would have made working these topics into conversation an impossibility for this trip, but could be incorporated in future efforts by ensuring that we would have a translator on hand.

Showing off some of the tools

We finally set about the first session of the bike project with the great benefit of having Betty Oundo (Charles' wife) translating. Betty has a degree in economics and was going to be instrumental in helping Amy figure out the best path forward from a business standpoint because of her understanding of how local culture and business practice would influence the shape that the project would need to take in order to be viable.

The first session was very much a "getting to know you" session where introductions were made and some basic expectations were stated. The four gentlemen that we were working with were Michael (from Busia) and Luka, Benard and James (all from Bugiri). Michael said he had a little bit of experience with bike maintenance (which turned out to be an understatement) and each of the others had learned a few basic fixes from friends. Michael also was a bit older (probably around 40, give or take) while the other three looked like they were within a few years of 20. I showed the guys the tools kits we had brought with and acknowledged that some would get very little use, but that others were hopefully going to prove to be go to items in their tool kit.

They, in turn, went through the parts of the bike with me, letting me know the local names for the parts such as "horns" (handlebars), "arms" (fork), "engine" (crankset),  and "wires" (spokes). Little did I know how much this basic introduction was going to expedite some of our sessions by helping us overcome some language barriers as the week went on.

Amy did a short session on business with Betty's translation and we had an opportunity to hear from the guys about what they hoped to get out of the training for the week. For some, the business skills were obviously a much needed piece of the puzzle, but mostly, they just wanted to get a better sense of how to fix bikes.

The one skill that came up though that would be a limitation to our training was welding. One of the reasons that these cargo bikes have held on so long in this area is the ability to find parts from old bikes and to keep piecing the things back together. Case in point was that both of the bikes that had been secured for us to work on needed to have weld work done on them. I considered us fortunate that we had both a local cargo bike and a more standard mountain bike to work with because a lot of the skills we planned to cover would apply for both bikes. What was less fortunate was that both bikes were in such poor repair that they pretty much needed to be completely overhauled. Normally this would not be such a big deal except that in order to fix a bike, you need to have parts to fix and both bikes were coming up short in that category.

This bike needed everything except a new seat and frame

The cargo bike they set us up with needed new brakes, pedals, at least four spokes in each wheel, tires, tubes and bearings all around. To make matters worse, the weld had broken where the right brake lever would attach to the handlebars (horns) of the bike which meant that even if we had the parts to fix it, we'd have to do some welding, which is not a skill I have.

The other bike was only marginally better, but at least it would give us a fighting chance to have one bike that was ridable by the end of the week. It needed a ton of work and an equal amount of parts, but at least our success wouldn't be completely contingent on our ability to weld. To be fair, one of the front brake posts was missing and would require a new post to be welded on, but at least we'd be able to run the rear brake and have a ridable bike, even without the front brake.

In hindsight, I think we might have been better served by purchasing two new bikes to work with so that we would be able to show how everything was really supposed to work instead of taking two bikes and trying to come up with solutions that would make them work just well enough, but this was the hand we were dealt and we were going to play it. I think Amy and I both left that first session feeling a little underprepared and wondering what the next few days would hold for us.

I knew that it would be a few days before we would be able to get Amy back with the mechanics due to other projects that she was involved in on the trip, so I dove into some basic repairs. We started with tubes and tires before moving on to hubs and headsets since those were things universal to both styles of bike. The guys picked up on these adjustments very well with me demonstrating how to do it properly, misadjusting it again, and letting them readjust. We did discover that the mountain bike that I was placing so much of my hope in had a cracked hub on the front wheel along with three or four missing spokes. We tried adjusting things as best we could, but it was never going to work exactly like it should.

Making matters more interesting was that the bike had originally had a multi-speed freewheel of some type on the rear wheel that had been replaced with a single speed freewheel. Necessity is the mother of invention in Uganda and you do what you need to do to keep your bike on the road, but this particular fix managed to create a whole new set of problems as whoever had put the single speed freewheel into place had obviously hammered it onto the hub, destroying the threads that we would have used to put a new five speed freewheel on the bike. Because the threads were shot, we had no choice but to replace the rear hub (along with the standard 3-4 broken spokes).

We also were going to need new brakes, a new chain, new freewheel, new shifters, new front and rear derailleurs and all of the cabling to actually make all of the new stuff work. So, in other words, about the only things that worked on this bike were the frame, handlebar and cranks. At least we were a step ahead of where we would have been with the cargo bike.

If your shop doesn't have chickens, it's not a real shop

Thankfully, Michael proved to be more than a little experienced with bikes. It turned out that he has actually been working on bikes to one degree or another for 25 years or so, so not only was he the one that spoke the best English (which was still pretty limited), but he also understood bikes the best. This actually proved to be a huge advantage in the absence of a translator as Michael and I could usually muddle through a question or an explanation well enough to understand each other simply because we both understood bikes. So anytime I needed parts, I would ask Michael how much he anticipated the parts costing and I would send him to the shop to pick them up. He was always very good about his estimations and provided receipts to verify what he had spent. The added plus was that because the muzungu (white person/aka me) wasn't with him, Michael was able to get a good price on the parts that we needed.

Michael also proved to be a good trainer for the other three mechanics as well since there was no language barrier and he knew quite a bit already. I actually let him do the sessions on wheel building since we needed to rebuild both wheels with new hubs and spokes paired to the original rims. I was able to add a little bit of technique to tensioning the spokes and truing the wheels, but Michael was showing himself to be someone that had the capacity to do training in the future without us having to wait to send someone else from the US.

Over the next few days we gradually rebuilt the wheels, put on new brakes (for the rear at least), added shifters and derailleurs, and adjusted anything else that we could to make sure that the bike was rideable. Thankfully, some of the new parts also allowed me to demonstrate how to properly adjust them and how to use some of the tools that we had brought with where a hammer and screwdriver would have been the only substitutes available to them. By the middle of Friday morning, we took our first ride on the bike and even though there were things that I would have loved to have done better (mostly because of the quality of the parts), it was at least safe enough for someone to ride without having to fear for their safety.

Amy and Betty doing some of the business training

Amy had been working hard since the first session to try to put together a business plan for the project, incorporating some of the things she had observed during our first week in Uganda. I was incredibly impressed with Amy's ability to take the principles that she knew and adapt them to the things that she was learning about the culture. She did as much as she possibly could to prepare in order to make sure that things were organized while still having enough flexibility to change things as she received feedback from the mechanics or from Betty. Amy put together a rough draft of the business plan, took feedback from the mechanics and Betty and by the end of the project, had a working document that the project members all agreed to that included monthly meetings with Betty who could provide some continuing ed on best business practices, as well as an understanding of how shared resources would factor in and how things could be developed on a personal level should the project prove to be successful for individual members. I could not have been happier with the work that Amy did and was reminded of just what a special community of students we have at DWU.

The only thing in the business plan and member agreement that I had a hard time getting on board with was the name of the project. I had hoped they would come up with something that represented the more missional focus of the project or be more bike specific to speak to the general intent to provide good, knowledgeable service for anyone that would seek out the services of one of the mechanics. Instead, they really wanted a name that would help them remember their trainer. They were rather insistent, so I reluctantly accepted when they named it the "Matt Bicycle Repair Project." I don't know too many other people that have a bike shop named after them in Uganda, but it definitely makes me feel responsible to make sure that it gets established and grows over time.

I have already had some conversation with Alisha Vincent (founder of EEI) about next steps and we are in agreement that a good next step would be to get the guys some welding experience. Whether that comes through us sending someone on a future trip or us funding someone like Michael to be able to travel to get the training needed, I think we are recognizing the need for this particular skill set to round out the knowledge that the mechanics would need to have in order to be successful.

My hope would be that if we were to send Michael, that he would be able to return to provide follow up training to the others. There is the continued need for additional equipment if we are hoping to teach the mechanics to weld and we will continue to evaluate the needs of the project and address them through continued business development or micro loans as appropriate.

Regardless of the path forward, I was so glad to get the chance to share some skills with the guys in the project and have already talked pretty openly about my next trip to Uganda. My hope is that we are able to establish this project in such a way that it does not become dependent on our ability to send me for further training, but that we will be able to establish more localized training with supplemental instruction from anyone that we are able to send that has skills in bike maintenance.

The full bike project crew (L-R- me, Amy, James, Luka, Benard, Michael, Betty)

Ugandan Art

So, I just recently returned from two weeks in Uganda (which I'm sure I'll be writing more about), but I spent this afternoon remounting a piece of art that I bought while I was there and wanted to share both the piece and a few thoughts I have about it.

I should begin by saying that I had no intention of picking up any artwork on this trip. Being the son of an artist, I don't lack for pieces to display at home. Instead, I intended to simply buy a few gifts for family. So, when our team arrived in Jinja and began to do some shopping, I was looking primarily at soccer jerseys for Xander and dresses and skirts for the girls. I really didn't intend to buy any art. But then I met Ben.

Ben was an incredibly energetic, affable guy in his early 20's and he did a much more effective job than any of the other street vendors of getting my attention and getting me into his shop. Ben proceeded to tell me he was an artist and showed me some of his pieces that were pretty obviously pieces created to sell to tourists and to put some food on the table. I really liked the guy and agreed to buy a small piece thinking I could afford one small piece for my office to support a guy scraping out a living with just his charisma and a little bit of paint.

As I was settling up with Ben though, another piece in the corner caught my eye. This one:

I asked Ben if this was another piece he had done and he told me it had actually been done by his friend Mike. I asked him how much it was going for (more out of curiosity than anything) and he told me it was 170,000 Ugandan schillings (about $50). I was actually a little shocked at how cheap it was and I was genuinely interested at this point, but (again) I hadn't intended to buy any artwork on this trip, so I told him that I was going to give it a little bit of thought.

Ben began to panic and took my genuine intent to give it thought as some sort of haggling technique and called out to the street where Mike was hanging out nearby. Ben asked how much Mike would be willing to let it go for and Mike said 150,000 schillings (about $45). I felt like I almost had to buy it before they just gave it to me and so I wound up buying two pieces that night instead of the zero pieces I had arrived intending to buy.

Ben and Mike posing with a few pieces

Once I agreed to buy this piece, Mike started showing me other pieces of his in the shop. Mike is a self trained artist who makes his living by selling his art to tourists. The other pieces that he showed me are pieces I imagine he would have an easier time selling to a larger number of people, but I don't think any of the other pieces I saw that night came anywhere close to showing the talent and potential that this guy possesses like the piece that I bought. I honestly believe this piece is closer to his heart as an artist than any of the other pieces that he has to crank out to be able to earn a living.

I definitely considered myself lucky to find this piece that will not only remind me of my time in Uganda, but also give me plenty to chew on when it comes to the kind of work artists need to do to make a living vs what they need to do to continue to grow and express themselves creatively. My hope for Mike is that he'll continue to find people willing to buy the pieces that express his more creative side and that eventually he'll be able to create only the art that he wants to instead of the work that he needs to.

Lent and fasting

Today begins the season of Lent which is a season of purposeful reflection leading up to Easter. It's also a season where some people give up something. Some people give up coffee. Others give up social media or TV. Some might give up smoking or another bad habit they really know they should kick. But Lent is meant to be more than a second shot at New Year's resolution style behavior modification. 


While changing bad habits is always a change I would encourage in people, if it becomes the end goal of Lent, then we've lost the path somewhere along the way.

I did a devotional during Lent several years ago with the subtitle, "Fasting from the world and feasting on God." I think that's a great perspective to bring to the season of Lent. Anything that I give up for Lent should, in some way, help turn my thoughts toward God in more intentional, reflective ways. A social media fast might mean that instead of spending a half hour (or more) on Facebook, I spend a half hour (or more) reading the Bible and in prayer or committing some of that time to volunteering somewhere. Fasting from coffee or from a particular kind of food might mean that when the craving hits, I take a moment to acknowledge in prayer that I want God more, that God is sufficient for me, that He is my food and my drink and that no sacrifice I make compares to that which was made for me.

If observed this way, Lent can be a powerful time of communion with God that makes the culminating celebration of Easter that much more meaningful because we've changed our normal rhythms for the new, God centered rhythms. I would love to invite you to consider whether God would have you fast from something in order to feast on Him during this season. 

Changing Seasons and Growth

Copyright Bruce A. Morrison

Adjusting to new seasons seems to be a theme for me over the last several months. Adjusting to a new community, a new home, a new church family (that we love, by the way), a new church role, new schools, new hangouts, new friends... Seasons like this can leave you with a feeling of being a little unsettled at times. Have you ever experienced that?

I know that our church is experiencing a similar season of adjusting. New pastor, new worship leader, new school year where we've seen new faces join us while others that we love have graduated and moved into their own new seasons... My sense is that while the core of who we are as a church is solid and secure, God is still preparing us for a new thing.

Life with God is always one of change and growth because living things grow, and if we're alive through the Spirit of God, we should grow as well. Sometimes growth is easily evidenced through externals like the four inches that Maia grew between the beginning of May and the end of August. Sometimes that growth is harder to define and discern, but the ripples of growth are disturbing the surface waters enough to let us know somewhere, deep down, something is happening.

My prayer for us as a church is that in this season of adjusting, that we'll be seeking growth as we seek God. Growing in our own faith, growing in how we do what we do, and growing in who we are as a church are all hopes that I have for us all because living things grow.

Last day in Sioux Falls Schools

It's crazy to think that today is our last day with kids in the Sioux Falls Public School system. With our move to Mitchell coming up late next month this is the first last day of school that has carried this kind of emotion for me. For starters, it's our last year at All City Elementary which is a place that our kids have thrived and where we feel like a part of a community. We've spent time in the classroom, know the staff, know the families and have worked alongside them all in service to the kids that we have grown to love as we've watched them grow. It's an experience we wouldn't have traded for anything and knowing that we would have been moving on to middle school anyway makes it a little bit easier to say goodbye.

Xander is also wrapping up his freshman year at New Tech High School which has been a place that he has enjoyed and will miss a ton. We know that he'll get a great education in Mitchell and that he's the kind of kid that can succeed just about anywhere. It'll still be hard to see him have to say goodbye to this great school, especially knowing that it was our call to make the move. Unfortunately, God doesn't always call when it's convenient and sometimes we're asked to sacrifice in ways that we don't enjoy and that don't seem fair. We just continue to pray that God will bless Xander through relationships, opportunities and experiences in Mitchell that he wouldn't have experienced had we stayed in Sioux Falls.

Thanks, Sioux Falls Schools for taking such great care of our kids, introducing them to great opportunities and for giving us a chance to know so many great people in ways that have left us changed for the better.

A New Chapter- Mitchell Fusion

Making a major, life changing announcement is always a challenge and while social media has a lot to offer by way of dispensing information quickly to a broad audience, there are so many things that can't be captured in 140 characters or less. My hope is that this post will give a clearer picture of our latest, life changing announcement as we transition into a new season of ministry.

At the end of January an opportunity was presented to me to consider taking on a new ministry role a the Lead Pastor of Fusion Church in Mitchell, SD. After several weeks consisting of prayer, fasting and seeking counsel from trusted friends and mentors, we decided to accept the offer and we will be making the move sometime this summer. The Lord continues to make me more and more excited about the opportunity and I can't wait to meet the people of Fusion and to see where God will have us journey together.

While there were many things that factored into the decision, the first thing I want to make absolutely clear is that there was absolutely nothing negative impacting my decision to move to Fusion from Embrace. I have been on staff at Embrace Church in Sioux Falls since August 2010 and have been able to be a part of a growing, thriving, innovative church and served alongside people that I love deeply and will miss terribly. In fact, Adam Weber (my Lead Pastor) has been a huge source of encouragement and one of my biggest cheerleaders in making this move, not because he's glad to see me go, but because he wants to see me grow.

Embrace has provided me a place to engage in different ministry areas (care, prayer, service/outreach, small groups, missions, worship) and to grow in my capacity as a leader and to heal and mature in ways that were incredibly necessary in order for me to be able to pursue an opportunity like this. I'm sure I'll continue to learn from what Adam and Embrace are doing and you can bet that I'll be one of their biggest outside supporters as the church continues to work to reach the next person for Jesus Christ.

So, the next natural question would be that if Embrace has been such a great place to work, why would I choose to leave? If I was being completely honest, I would say that the role of senior pastor is one that has been in the back of my mind for some time. I have had people ask me if I'd ever thought about being a pastor many times over my 18 years in ministry. Sometimes the question would come from people that I had only briefly encountered and sometimes it would come from people that had worked closely with me who had the time and proximity to see things developing in me that I hadn't seen myself.

Over the last few years my role has been as the Care Pastor for Embrace which has allowed me the opportunity to exercise certain areas of pastoral gifting in ways that have confirmed a sense of pastoral calling, but have not necessarily afforded me the opportunity to explore others. I have been incredibly honored to be able to provide counsel to people in crisis, help people to connect in areas of discipleship, walk with people through health scares and to help people during times of loss and grief. These have certainly confirmed my heart for people and are some of the most cherished conversations that have ever been entrusted to me.

While those pastoral roles have been important for this season of ministry at Embrace, I have also had a growing desire to teach and to be more involved in big picture decisions in ministry. Both are areas that I feel I have some gifting in, but both are also areas where Embrace has great people already in place. In fact, Embrace has been gifted with some great leaders that fill these roles in a way that has made it one of the fastest growing churches in America. Because of this, I have put those desires on hold and have sought to learn patience and humility until such a time as God would allow me to step into a role where those gifts would be needed from me. I believe that the opportunity at Fusion is one that God has been preparing me for and that this is the right time and place for me to take on such a role.

Much like our move from Hanfield UMC to Sioux Falls 10 years ago, this is a move that is incredibly bittersweet. We leave a church that we love with people that are among the dearest friends we have ever had in order to pursue something that we believe God is calling us to do. Thankfully, this move will not take us as far away and will actually put us closer to some of our family (Amy's dad, brother, cousin and step-grandmother all live in Mitchell) which should help ease the transition some.

We're excited to start a new chapter on a journey we never expected to be on. God has been so incredibly gracious to allow us to experience the things that we've experienced along the way and our hope is that the lessons we've learned and the things that we have seen would make us more effective in ministering to the needs of the people of Mitchell.

Ways you can be praying:
-Pray for Xander. In many ways, we feel like Xander is giving up the most in this move. He leaves behind friends, a high school that he loves that is unlike anything Mitchell has to offer, and his FTC robotics team that he's been a part of for several years (Mitchell has no FTC team). Pray that he would be able to find meaningful activities and good friends in his remaining three years of high school. I've told him that if God is calling our family to Mitchell that God has something there for all of us, including Xander.
-Pray for Maia. Pray for a good transition from elementary to middle school while also adapting to a new community. Pray for great friends and opportunities to continue to engage in all things artsy in a community that actually has quite a bit to offer her.
-Pray for Fusion. Pray that God would lead and guide this community of believers into a greater understanding of who He is and who He has created Fusion to be for Mitchell and the surrounding area.
-Pray for Brandon Vetter (the founding Pastor of Fusion) and his family as they make the move to Bismarck Legacy in Bismarck, ND. Brandon did a great job in establishing a solid foundation for the future of Fusion and we're excited to see how God will continue to use him in his new season of ministry as well.
-Pray for Embrace. Pray for new leadership in the area of pastoral care and that the right person/persons will emerge to provide for this growing area in the life of Embrace.
-Pray for Amy as she determines where to engage in things in Mitchell. Our thought right now is that she will still be teaching voice at the University of Sioux Falls once a week (it's only an hour's drive), but she will be closing her home studio and assessing how to best use her gifts and talents in our new community.
-Pray for me. Pray I would be faithful, humble and effective in carrying out the call that God has given me and that I would continue to remain teachable so that I can grow to be the leader that Fusion Church needs.

Great Things and an Unexpected Worship Moment

In 18 years either leading or serving in worship ministry, I have had a lot of moments where I have seen God clearly at work. I've seen him at work in churches, in fields, in pole barns, and in living rooms and I've watched him heal past hurts, answer prayers, give encouragement, and breathe new life into hopeless people in ways that leave them forever changed. Even so, with everything I've seen, there are still moments when he does the unexpected and surprises me.

Have you had these kinds of moments? These are moments when He completely captures your attention and puts a living, breathing testimony to his faithfulness in your line of sight and reminds you that these are not just words that we sing, but they are our prayers, hopes, dreams and stories as well as our testimony of who we know God to be because of the ways that he has met us in the depth of our need.

Sunday we introduced the song Great Things (Worth it All) by Elevation Worship. We had already played three services, but at our 605 Service I looked across the stage to see my beautiful bride Amy with one hand on the keyboard and one hand in the air. This is not an uncommon thing as we're both pretty demonstrative in our expression of worship, but this moment is one where God spoke to me so clearly through her worship that I encountered him in completely unexpected ways.

Photo courtesy of Jason Currie-Olson

For those that don't know, Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly two years ago. She caught it early, but it was a fairly aggressive form that necessitated a summer's worth of chemo and surgery. She handled it with strength, grace, humor and a lot of prayer and every check up since has been a reason for us to celebrate. You can read more about her journey on her blog. It's worth the read.

Most days, we wouldn't even think about the cancer if it wasn't for the scars left by a bilateral mastectomy and subsequent reconstruction surgeries. They are scars that are prominent and scars that she finds ugly, but they are also signs of life and reminders of the journey that we've been on.

The moment that I saw Amy worshipping, hand in the air, we were singing:

Thank you for the scars I bear

They declare that You are my healer

How could I have seen Your strength

If You'd never shown me my weakness

Amy personified this lyric for me and I was immediately brought to tears as I was reminded of God's faithful presence with us through her cancer. I was reminded of how he answered prayers for provision through friends, family and strangers when she had to take the summer off from teaching. I was reminded of how he answered prayer for improvement in her platelet levels even though they had dropped throughout the course of her treatment. I was reminded of the countless times that his presence brought encouragement, strength and peace as I pleaded for her healing. God's reminders to me were so strong that I could hardly see through the tears and could hardly sing as my voice broke in thanksgiving.

I'm sure that Amy had been expressing her heart to God all day during that song. I'm not sure why it took me all day to see it. Maybe I was caught up in trying to play the right chords. Maybe I was too focused on the function of leading worship to pay adequate attention to the One I was intending to worship. Maybe it was because I needed to open up my eyes and look for the work that God was doing in our midst. Maybe it was because I needed that moment in that moment so that I could fully take it in and allow it to do the shaping that God intended. No matter the reason, I'm so glad that he surprised me.

I'll leave you with some of our beautiful Embrace Church family singing a simple version of Great Things. Hope it's an encouragement to you.

Haiti Trip 2014 Sunday

The morning started much more relaxed than the previous days as we slowly awoke and had breakfast before heading to church. Aubrey, Art, and I worked through a couple of simple song arrangements to do for the service and I was finally going to get to do the sermon that I had written (and rewritten and rewritten some more). We took the familiar walk down the road but didn't have to go quite as far as the church we attended last year. I was thankful to not have to climb that hill again given how sweaty I had been after that climb so that I could avoid appearing like a stereotypical, sweaty preacher on this particular occasion.

We were ushered to the front and filled the first two rows where we observed the service and participated as best as we were able in the singing. They had a small band with electric guitar and drums and the guitar player was particularly interesting as he played in the background of almost everything. Since he was behind the worship leader and main speakers, time and tempo were fairly relative throughout.

Patchuoko translating during my sermon

Gretchen got to do a brief introduction of our team and then invited Aubrey, Art, and I up. Art played guitar and I played djembe while Aubrey led us in worship. We sang "Oceans" and "10,000 Reasons" with the chorus in Creole since Aubrey had been learning it from Darline. When we finished, it was time for me to speak with Patchuoko as my translator. I spoke from John 4 and landed on the promise and hope of Jesus offering us living water. Writing the message was a challenge as I tried to keep things somewhat concise for time and kept language simple and consistent for Patchuoko's sake as a translator. I figured if I ran into a key word that Patchuoko didn't know, I wanted to be able to find an alternative word and plug it in easily throughout the rest of the message. While I would have written the message completely different had I been giving it at Embrace, I felt like it suited the congregation in Haiti well.

After church, we headed back to the compound for a little lunch and hangout time I also took a little time to work on the bikes for Liza again that had been done the previous day because both had flat tires by the time Liza was ready to give them to the girls. I only had one tube left, but Mike had a patch kid that I was able to use as well. My only fear was that I wouldn't be able to patch either tube and while I couldn't locate the leak in the first tube, the second was easily located and patched so we were able to get them up and running.

The boats arrive

The only thing on the agenda for the afternoon was an excursion out to the island. We all suited up and walked down to Robert's house where three boats would haul the team and several of the youth out to the island for a little playtime. I rode in Robert's boat with Kristen, Jenna, Julie, Tom, and Elysee while Robert and another gentleman rowed us out there. It was a fairly breezy, but pleasant day to wander the sandy/trashy beach and wander out on the reef to the drop off. We saw urchins, sand dollars, starfish, and a hermit crab that some of the guys let crawl around on them. I also watched an osprey diving for fish and a white crane for awhile while the rest of the group was on the other side of the island.

Art becoming one w/ the island

I wandered back to the group where a few of the youth were doing a musical performance with some of the trash from the island serving as a microphone and some instruments. They were also beginning to bury Donald in the sand. He was flashing his huge smile until he was pretty much buried, but he was less excited when one of the guys put the hermit crab on his face. He scrambled to get out and some of his friends grabbed him by the hands and feet to help toss him in the water to clean off. Next, it was Art's turn. He was a pretty eager participant until he was covered and guys kept putting more sand on him without keeping in mind where they were touching him.

Finally, we climbed back into the boats for the return trip. Because the wind was up, the sails went up and we cruised back toward Robert's house. Our boat was fairly far ahead until we hit a shallow spot and felt the boat lurch and halt. Immediately Robert was climbing to the back of the boat because the rudder had come off and he scrambled to retrieve it before it got away. We were still hung up on the rocks and the wind was filling the sail to the point where we watched it slowly bend the bamboo boom on the main sail. When it snapped, part of it hit Jenna's thigh, the other sail began to turn us, and I thought for sure we were going swimming. Somehow, we all stayed in the boat and were able to gather everything in so that Robert and his friend could row us in. The other boats had easily passed us, but we managed to get in with Jenna's leg and Robert's boat being the only casualties.

Robert, Elysee, Kristen & me

I was glad to have been in Robert's boat because he is a highly entertaining, talkative guy and the girls on the boat only served to amplify that. He talked about anything and everything and, through it all, showed his great love of his home. It was plain that he had all he needed and a paradise to enjoy it in. It was truly an honor and a blessing to get to see Haiti through his eyes, if only for a little while.

We got back to the compound and hung out until dinner. There was another movie planned for that night and most of the team decided to go down for it, but I stayed back with a few others for conversation. Once the rest of the team came back, we did high/lows and hung out a little more. Liza shared that she was finally able to give the girls their bikes and they were thrilled. I was so glad to have been able to help get those ready and to help make her high point of the day happen.

We settled in for what would be the last night at the compound for most of us and began to consider what and how to pack as well as what we might leave behind that might be a blessing that the mission could pass on for us to meet a need someone might have.

Haiti Trip 2014 Saturday

Our final morning in Jabouin had us running right away. We needed to get things set up for the festival for the kids and there was a lot to do. We had several carnival games (though we couldn't call them that as Carnival has a completely different, darker connotation in Haiti) and each team member was going to be in charge of a game while the youth were responsible for taking groups of kids to each of the games. I was responsible game where the kids try to knock down a pyramid of cans by throwing a bean bag. It seemed simple enough, so I set up my station and had my buckets of prizes (candy, bouncy balls, and necklaces) ready while kids started filling the school yard.

Our little green friend

As we were still setting up, we watched a small, bright green lizard climbing one of the poles in the big tent that helped support one of the peaks of the tent. Someone had said they would need to keep an eye on it so that it wouldn't drop down on them, so a little while later when Jenna was standing under the spot it had been climbing earlier, it was too tempting an opportunity to pass up. I talked Art into making her think it had jumped onto her shoulder. Worked like a charm.

Also as we were setting up in one of the other classroom areas under the same tent, I caught sight of a small scorpion. I stepped on it, but the thought of the preschoolers that had been sitting right there the last few days, some without shoes, made me even more thankful for the classrooms that were being built.

photo courtesy of Gretchen Shafer

We got into position as the groups ranging in age from probably 3 to 12 (or so) started coming around. I had underestimated how involved my game would be as every kid there knocked down the cans. I had to reset the cans, locate where the bean bags had gone, and grab a prize for each kid which meant I was constantly on the move. For most kinds, it wasn't much of a challenge, but some of the youngest kids couldn't hit the cans on any of their three throws (from just a few feet away). When that would happen, I'd reach over, sweep the cans off of the table with my forearm and give the kids a prize anyway. By the time I was done, I was sweating more than I had on the hike to Jabouin on Thursday.

To my left was Aubrey's station where they had to pick a rubber duck from a small pool to win a prize. Aubrey had her game usurped by Joshua (Patchuoko's son) who was giving the instructions and directing the activities so that all Aubrey had to do was hand out prizes. It was fun to watch this four year old kid owning that game and telling everyone what to do.

Joshua and his helper Aubrey

There were a couple of great moments near the end of the festival. Darline had found the girl from the road on the home visit day (Thursday) and her hair was done up in a bunch of hairbands. The smile on Darline's face was a delight as she picked the girl up for Aubrey to take her picture.

The other moment was after nearly all of the kids had been through the games. There was a grandmother and grandson (about 3 years old) who obviously had a developmental issue and they had been standing off to the side watching the other kids play the games. The grandson didn't have a goodie bag of his own which meant that he hadn't been a part of the festival and hadn't received any of the candy, necklaces, bouncy balls, or other treats like the other kids. Julie obviously noticed as well as I caught her approach the grandmother to see if she could give him some bubbles. She was very grateful for the kindness shown and I was blessed again by the hearts of the people I was serving with.

Things wrapped up pretty quickly and we were soon headed back down the mountain to Ti-Riviere with the intention of returning for one more day of VBS with the kids in Jabouin on Monday. It was much easier going headed down the mountain and there was more conversation since we weren't having to work as hard to catch our breath. Art even got to kill a small tarantula on the road with Lucy egging him on. "You do not want it to grow to be big or it will bite you." she said, very matter of factly.

We made it back to the compound and had a little bite to eat before hitting the showers. I hadn't showered since Thursday, opting instead for baby wipes, Gold Bond, and a lot of deoderant. It had made the last few days a little uncomfortable (with all the activity we had going on), but at least I didn't have Art terrorizing me while I took a bucket shower in a tent while tin sheeting rained from the school roof.

There wasn't a lot of downtime for me as Pam had arranged for a bike clinic at the coffeehouse at 3:00. I worked on a few bikes at the compound that Liza had picked up for her sponsored girls prior to leaving (with a little help from some of the youth) and assessed what we had for parts. After finishing Liza's bikes, we had a few tires and tubes, two chains, two sets of brake pads, and some break cables and housing. I packed these up with a few tools and hopped on a motorcycle with Patchuoko and Joshua to head to the coffeehouse. Several team members decided to come down as well, but were stuck walking with a few of the youth. When we got there on the moto, I had to laugh a little at the 25 or so "bikes" that were there and decided that they probably needed a faith healer more than a bike mechanic. I knew we'd be pretty limited in what we could do, but we would take it one bike at a time.

A quick tutorial before we started tearing into the bikes

We started with a little tutorial on changing a tube and chain with Patchuoko translating and then we launched into fixing what we could. Patchuoko was helping some, one of the youth who had come along had proven helpful with Liza's bikes and took charge of helping another group, and I was hopping from bike to bike trying to fix bikes without the right parts or tools. There was a lot of improvisation going on which meant that there really wasn't a lot I could have the team help with when they arrived. I felt bad about that, but at least I provided them with a little entertainment not only by scrambling from bike to bike, but through displays of clumsiness as well. I had left my bag of supplies with the team so that I wouldn't have a ton of people grabbing parts and tools. At one point, I went to fetch something from the bag and was climbing the poured concrete seating up to the team when I missed a step that was poured at a different height and went down. I caught myself with my left hand, but thankfully didn't hurt myself. Ten minutes later, I did the exact same thing, only this time, I felt and heard a pop in my wrist. I froze for a second fearing I had broken it, but I was able to move it. I knew it would hurt later, but I got back to business and kept working on the bikes while the adrenaline kept the pain at bay.

Some bikes had more hope than others

All told, we worked on bikes for three and a half hours without a break. One of the bikes that I got to do was one of the bikes that we had given away last year at Millenium after the classes I had done with some of the students there. It had definitely been ridden. A lot. Hard. I replaced one of the brake cables and a set of brake pads that I had replaced a year earlier. The bike was also missing the rear derailleur that I know had been on the bike (and working) when I had seen it last.

I had to tell a lot of folks that I didn't have parts to take care of some of the issues the bikes had. I hated to turn them away, but they are so used to doing without that instead of being upset or expressing any frustration, there was acceptance. One team member told me that they didn't see anyone that left mad. I think that if we did something similar in the US  and had to send people away empty handed, the response would be much different. There is definitely something to be learned there.

As we wrapped up the bikes, the screen and projector were being set up for movie night. Pam asked if I'd be willing to give a short message before the movie since we'd be watching "Mr. Bean's Holiday" and she wanted to make sure there was something of a spiritual nature that happened that night. I gve the same message as I had given in Jabouin, only with Patchuoko's translation and a few less details for the sake of brevity and clarity.

The movie was a big hit with so much physical comedy and it was a great night to spend in the company of the youth of Ti-Riviere. When it was over, we headed back to the compound for highs/lows and I was finally able to take some ibuprofen for my wrist and put a brace on that I had brought with me.

As we prepared for bed, some were making preparations for the next day's activities which would include a trip out to the island for a little recreation. Art managed to get his hands on some flippers and a scuba mask and was walking around the mission house talking about how he was going to wear his "Scuba Steves" out to the island. As usual, he had everyone rolling. I was laying on my bunk listing to his antics in the store room which also doubles as the entrance to the mission house. He was mid sentence when Mike walked in. Without missing a beat, Art stopped what he was saying and said, "So, what happened was..." which was Art's battle cry throughout the week anytime he had to explain his antics or was caught doing something questionable. It became easily one of the most quotable lines of the whole trip because we heard it from him so often.

It was a great way to cap a very busy day and I had no trouble at all falling asleep that night.

Haiti Trip 2013: Monday & Tuesday

Here's the final post from last year's Haiti trip. I'll be posting about the 2014 trip shortly.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Seth on the kitchen roof

Our final morning in Ti-Rivier was going to be one of dividing & conquering. I had another bike class at Millenium, a group was going to do school photos, Julie was going to get a tour and spend some time helping at the clinic, and Seth, Brent, and Taylor were working on putting a new roof on the mission kitchen.

For the clinic, we covered brake cables and brake pads. The cables and housing allowed the students a good opportunity to participate for those that were interested, but presented a bit of a challenge for me as I was dealing with three different brake types between the two bikes and the pads that I had were V-brake pads which would simply have to do for the cantilever and center pull brakes that were on one of the bikes. My biggest concern was that I would have to go over the brake work myself before I would trust the students to ride them. Somehow we managed to get through all of it and they were in good enough shape for us to do a drawing among the students to give the bikes away. The clinics were a definite highlight for me and I hoped that I had done enough to equip a few students to do some of their own work.

We headed back to the mission house where the guys were still hard at work laying new tin on the small roof of the kitchen, did some chores, packed some bags, ate some lunch and said our goodbyes.

We left just after lunch and planned to spend the night at Ronald's house with is usually less than an hour's drive to the airport. The house is one that Mission Haiti built to house teams in transit and to give Ronald a base of operations closer to Port au Prince and shipping ports in the north of Haiti. The ride itself was fairly uneventful with the exception of Taylor feeling absolutely miserable. All of us had dealt with digestive issues to one extent or another given the drastic change to our diet over the previous week. I had been bound, bloated, and miserable for a few days, but Taylor had self medicated a bit and things had kicked in with a vengeance, so I guess our team experienced some gostrointestinal extremes.

Ronald's house was down a narrow side road with a tall wall and large gate enclosing it. The front yard had a large area to congregated and there were showers and a toilet along one side of the house. Inside was a main living area & kitchen with a few rooms for Ronald's family on one side and two bunk rooms on the other where team members could stay when in transit.

Taylor has the look of a man committed to his art

We gathered in front of the house for a time of worship and sharing. The worship time was especially sweet as Aubrey shared "Your Ways" with us which was a song she had recently written. Taylor also shared a song which was especially cool as I had no idea that he even played. We ended our worship time with Revelation Song and the Spirit's presence was especially strong as we dwelled in an attitude of adoration and moved into a time of prayer.

I felt especially urged to speak some words of encouragement to both Aubrey and Julie. I told Aubrey just how proud I was of her and the growth I had seen in her life. We have known Aubrey since she was a student of Amy's in high school and she is definitely dear to the Morrison family. Watching her grow in her faith, calling, and artistry has been an absolute joy. With Julie, I shared how much I appreciated her heart, both for Haiti and for her friends grieving at home. I knew she was still struggling with not being able to be there for them and encouraged her to trust that God was working in her absence to minister to those that she was burdened for and that she did not need to feel the weight of that burden anymore.

We hung out, enjoying each others' company and Pam shared with us the story of the guy who had ridden with us for security. When Mission Haiti had bought the new bus, they bought it in the US and shipped it to Haiti. When it arrived in Port, they sold the old bus and went to get their papers for the new bus as they had a team coming in. Without these papers, if the bus was stopped, they would be subject to having it taken away from them. When they arrived for the papers, there was no power to have them printed and they were told to come back the next day. They arrived first thing the next morning and ran into the same problem and were told to come back again the following day. Because they had a team coming in, they absolutely needed it that day. They were in a tight spot and decided to see if the police would write up temporary papers for them so they could travel that day. They were told no and left dejected.

Shortly after they left, Pam received a call from a gentleman claiming to be with the police who could get them papers. It sounded a little iffy, but they really had no other options. When they picked up the papers, the officer asked to ride along. Pam was reluctant, but decided they would need to do so in order to secure the papers. They eventually found out that this was one of the highest ranking police officials in the country and one of the most famous faces in all of Haiti. He was better than any papers that they could carry and would keep the team from any roadside delays where the authorities were concerned.

He told Pam that he was more than happy to ride along anytime she had teams traveling from Port to Ti-Rivier and this was the same man that had ridden security for us the entire time we had been on the bus in Haiti. We were absolutely floored by this story and felt even more secure after hearing it.

One final incident sums up my journaling of the trip pretty well. I had been writing constantly at any opportunity that I could and was many pages, but only a few days, in by the time we reached Ronald's house. Seth needed to relieve himself and the facilities were occupied. He decided to pee by the bus and as he did so, he said, "Put that in your novel." Pretty much sums it up.

Tuesday, February 26, 2003

Public transit on our way to the airport.

We got up fairly early and were on our way in the bus by 6:30 for what should have been a 45-60 minute drive to the airport. For whatever reason, traffic in Port was especially slow. There were places where it took us ten minutes to travel a city block and we began to believe that we might miss our flight. Traffic was so tight that Ronald actually made contact with another truck as wheat had been four lanes, merged into three. They did little more than yell at each other as we kept crawling along.

We arrived about 25 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave and I'm sure they had already begun to board. We gathered everything quickly and headed to check in. I was the first to arrive and the lady at the counter said in a very amused voice, "You are late." I told her, "I know." and gave her a smile as I gave her my passport. Thankfully, things moved quickly and we were able to board. We took off for Fort Lauderdale thankful beyond words that we had made it.

This tap tap pretty much sums up our trip

The only other thing of note from the travel home was that I got hit on by a drunk, deaf guy at the airport in Fort Lauderdale. An interesting experience, but I only mention it to remember how funny it was, not to etch it into my memory. ;-)

We arrived back in Sioux Falls at about 10:30pm to a welcoming party of family and friends. We were much relieved to be home, but much changed by those we had met and by the start of a beautiful new mission for us in

Haiti Trip 2013: Sunday

Here's another post from last year's trip with Mission Haiti. I'll begin posting more from the trip in February of this year once I have finished last year's posts.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

The path to the church

We woke on Sunday anticipating going to one of the local churches. Aubrey had volunteered to make pancakes for breakfast and we enjoyed a pretty relaxing morning before heading out.

We dressed for church (polos & Khakis for the guys, dresses for the girls) and started the hike down the road. Aubrey and I planned to do You're Beautiful by Phil Wickham and Troy was preaching, so Aubs and I made plans along the way. We arrived at Antoine's house and took a left off the road and headed up the path to the church. After a fairly lengthy climb on a warm morning we arrived at a pink building inside the skeleton of a larger building where worship was already well under way. I'm not sure if the larger building was something being built or was the remains of something falling down, but we stepped over the cinder block threshold into what seemed more of a courtyard at this point.

We were guided around the side of the church and brought in a side door where we could fill the first few rows and a good number of seats on the platform. I was soaked in sweat from the walk and was glad for the slight breeze coming in the door while Aubrey and I finished our planning. The Haitian worship was spirited and incredibly loud with songs usually lasting close to ten minutes. One gentleman was playing a tambourine that was missing several of its bells and looked like it could fall apart any time he would strike it.

The time came for Aubrey and I to do our thing. I played guitar while she sang and one of the reasons that our planning took so long for such a simple song was that we had originally planned to trade verses, but decided that it would be best to put it in a key that worked well for Aubrey's voice. Of course, she sang beautifully with me adding harmonies. The congregation quickly caught on to the interlude of "oohs" and joined in after each verse. It was absolutely gorgeous to hear them carry those parts and when we reached the end of the song, we let them sing those out as an expression of their worship.

Troy & Patchuoko working through a translation issue

At that point, Pam did a short lesson followed by Troy's sermon, both with Patchuoko translating. After church, there were many hugs and kisses from the Haitians before we made our way back down the hill and back to the mission.

Our only activity for the afternoon was to head out to the island for a little play time. We headed down to Robert's house where three boats with blue tarps for sails were to carry us to the island. We loaded 5-6 of us in each boat and did all we could to stay out of the pilot's way. The boats rode incredibly low and watching the other boats, there were times we worried that they'd take on water. The boat ride was about 20 minutes long and took us to a small island that was mostly sand with a little bit of brush, a few trees, and a whole lot of trash.

We made our way around the island to scope things out and found a jellyfish that had washed up. The jelly was a deep purple and was moved to the brush where it would be out of the way as we began to explore the waters. The water was only knee to waist deep for at least 100 meters before a large drop off that you could see the waves break against. We were on the lookout for more jellies and also urchins which we had been told we might encounter. I wandered out with Aubrey and eventually we did find an urchin. I took a shoe off, scooped it up and we got a closer look. We enjoyed the sunshine, the breeze, and the surf in the background as we hung out near the drop off for awhile before heading back to the island.

We all began to congregate on the landward side of the island where some boys were diving and bringing up starfish for us. They were a red/orange mix and were mostly 8-10 inches across and before long we had a collection of ten or so on the beach. Aubrey proceeded to get down on the sand with them for pictures and was absolutely in heaven. We took a group pic in the water in front of one of the boats before piling back in and heading back to the mission.

Once back to shore, we were walking back to the mission when one of the youth invited us to see his home. We proceeded to go through the gate and, before we knew it, we realized that his mother was just outside the house doing laundry. Completely naked. We stayed for an uncomfortable minute or two while she did her best to cover up and we did our best to respectfully avert our eyes.

Once we got back to the mission, we played a little more basketball with the kids before stopping for dinner. It was shortly after that when we received word from back home about a family from Sioux Falls Christian that had died in a car accident back home. We had two people on the team who knew the family well. Julie worked with the mom at Sanford and Brent's son was in one of their son's class at school. It hit them both very hard and it was a long, sobering night where we all processed loss and helplessness as we thought of friends and family back in South Dakota.

Haiti Trip 2013: Saturday

I'm continuing to recap last year's Embrace Church trip to serve with Mission Haiti. After I've finished with the 2013 trip, I'll get back to posting from the 2014 trip. This one is also much shorter than the previous post as it was the first of the journal entries that I finished in Haiti this year. ;-)

Saturday, February 23, 2013

The first event of the day was the 5K we were hosting. The course had already been mapped out and the hope was to get going before it got hot. My job was to stick with Pam in case she was needed for anything. This proved much harder than it sounds as there were multiple times that I turned my back for a second only to find Pam 50 yards away walking quickly in the other direction.

Taylor nearly ran down Elisee 

The race course had been measured out and an ATV was to go out to serve as the turn around for the runners. We had several members of our team running and most of the rest of us were either taking pictures or cheering runners on. Seth was doing balloon animals for the kids which was fun to watch as kids would just light up when he gave them the balloons.

The race started and they were off like a shot. We began to relax a bit and wondered how long it would be before they would be back. It turned out to not be very long as the first runner came back around the corner after about two minutes. We obviously knew that they hadn't done a full 5K, but we scrambled to be ready for them at the finish line anyway. It turned out that the ATV hadn't gone out as far as planned, but since everybody played by the rules and ran the same distance, we decided it was as official as the results were going to get.

Julie & Rachael were good running partners

After the race, we had a little downtime before heading to Antoine's house for a prayer visit. Antoine runs the coffee shop where we would host a movie night later that day and also has a daughter (Melanita) who had suddenly become unresponsive several months earlier. She had been taken to the doctor a few times, but they were unable to find anything medically wrong with her. They were either dealing with a condition unfamiliar to the local doctors or there was a spiritual element to it. Pam wondered if it was a matter of a voodoo curse that had been placed on Antoine's family. That may seem strange to our enlightened, educated, American minds, but there is a reality to spiritual battle that we have become numb to that is very present and much more out in the open in Haiti and it is more than simple superstition.

Jeff had been teaching on voodoo and spiritual warfare and took us through a time of prayer for Melanita. We left fairly certain that we were dealing with a curse of some kind and were unsure of how or when God would answer our prayers for this sweet little girl.

From Antoine's house, we walked back toward the mission, passed the turnoff, and went to a piece of property that Pam had acquired to build a new school for Ti Rivier. Jeff again gave us some instruction and we began to walk the grounds, praying for the work that God would do there.

Me and Totes, my goat

When we arrived back at the compound, we found that the prizes for the 5K had arrived in the form of 8 or 9 goats and a handful (almost literally) of chickens. The goats were tied around the yard eating any vegetation in their reach and the chickens were tied and hanging by their feet. The plan was to bring them all to the coffee house (about a two mile walk) and give them out before the movie started.

We had a little downtime before we headed out, but before we left, we all staked our claim to livestock and made sure to get plenty of photos with our new friends. When it was time to go, we started the herding process and paraded our goats down the road. I can only imagine what was going through the minds of the Haitians as all of the crazy white people took their goats for a walk.

Brent & the boys

Adam & Gretchen in the Coffee House

We got to the cafe and found places to tie up the goats while we made final preparations for the movie and hung out with the kids. The movie would be projected onto a bed sheet and we would all sit either on plastic lawn chairs in a few rows in front or on the poured concrete seats of the amphitheater overlooking the hillside that led down to the water. Before the movie started, the prizes were distributed to the race winners and the seats filled for a showing of Courageous dubbed in Creole. The place was packed and it was fun seeing the Haitians laugh at the Americans in the movie, especially during any of the police chase scenes.

Once the movie was over, we helped clean things up and Adam finally had a chance to give away the glow sticks he'd brought with. We then headed back to the mission house in the dark to grab another night's sleep to the sweet serenade of the rooster chorus.

Haiti Trip 2013: Friday

No, I did not make a mistake on the title of this post. I got a little sidetracked (what, with Amy's cancer and all) and never quite got around to writing or posting most of my journal from last year's trip. I was finally able to revisit it on this year's trip and finished it while I was in Haiti in February. The combination of good notes and being in that environment again brought things back with a surprising amount of clarity. So, the next few posts that I do will be from my 2013 trip.

You might ask, "Why bother to post them after so much time has passed?" Well, partly to share them with other team members as well as the family and friends that helped to send me there, partly because there are lessons that I'm still learning from that trip, and partly because some of the settings I described in last year's journal showed up in this year's journal as well, only with less description.

So, revisit the first two entries from last year's journal here and here and then follow the next few posts to wrap up last year's trip. This year's journal has been finished and will resume here sometime in the next few weeks, so no worries, I won't make you wait until 2015 to share in this year's experience.

Friday, February 22, 2013

We were up early because we needed to get the team on their way to hike the mountains to visit a few of the more remote mountain schools that Mission Haiti sponsors kids at. The hike was definitely one of the more hyped parts of the trip as it would be several hours of climbing mountain trails that promised to be exhausting. I, however, would not be going.

One of the projects that I had been working on was providing a few basic bike maintenance classes with one of the schools close to the mission. Day one of classes was scheduled for today and, while I was bummed to miss the hike and the experience with the team, this was the project that was uniquely mine and that I had been getting more and more excited for as the trip got closer. If it meant missing the hike, I'd have to be okay with that.

Thankfully, it had not rained that morning which would make the hike for the team a little less arduous and the team set off at 7:00 leaving me and Scott (who had agreed to help me) to prepare to go to Millenium school at 8:30. The game plan was to wrap up by 10:00 with the class so that Scott and Patchuoko could take a motorcycle part way up the mountain and catch up with the team in time for their second school of the day.

Over the last month, I had been working to put together a wish list of items for the bike class that I wanted to take with and secured a few donations of tools from Scheels and my friend Chad Pickard at Spoke-n-Sport. Additional parts were purchased with funds from the team and Embrace's Missions fund. My wish list was whittled own quite a bit, but we had tubes, tires, brake cables & housing, brake pads, chains, master links, lubes, multi-tools, tire levers, chain breakers, spoke wrenches, two pumps, and some pedals. Anything we didn't use for the bike classes would stay at the mission where people would have access to come to use them and where they could be used for future trips by bike mechanics for continued training and other repairs.

At 8:30, Scott, Patchuoko, and I took the two bikes, a few bags with tools and parts, and my mechanic's stand that I had brought with me. In fact, when Adam went to check the bag that it was in before we left Sioux Falls, they asked him what it was and he had to admit that he had no idea.

When we got to the bottom of the hill, Patchuoko hopped on the bike we was herding to ride it the rest of the way (less than a quarter mile). Half way there was a small section of the road that was washed out and had water running over the road the entire time we were there. Patchuoko went to grab the brakes before hitting the water and it was at that point that I remembered that I discovered the brakes didn't work during my brief examination of the bike the night before. At all. Not even slightly. I wasn't concerne about it at that point because I knew we would be working on the brakes for Monday's session. I realized the brakes wouldn't work at almost the exact moment Patchuoko did. He quickly put his feet up and did his best to keep out of the spray he kicked up as he coasted through the water.

When we arrived at the school, the director of the school came out and we discussed our plans for the morning, Monday's schedule, and where to set up. The school had one small classroom visible that we knew probably was not going to cut it, so we considered going across the road to the director's home where he had a small porch with a little yard to work in. He decided fairly quickly that his place was his place was not going to be ideal either, so we crossed the road again and headed around the side of the school to a spot that he thought would suffice.

Photo courtesy of Scott Johnson

As we came around the corner, we saw a cement pad with a tin roof and a makeshift partition made of curtains and chalkboards that served as two outdoor classrooms. There were 20 or so students on either side of the partition sitting at tables, just a stone's throw from the water of the Caribbean Sea. I proceeded to set up fro the class on the north side of the partition while the director gathered the last few students that would be joining us.

The plan was to cover tires, tubes, an chains for the first class and brake cables and pads on Monday. I started with a few words of introduction while Patchuoko translated and told them what we would be covering. I went through some basics with tires and tubes by showing the students how to remove the wheel, tire, and tube and how to check the tire for anything that might be causing a flat so that it can be removed. I then told them to partially inflate the tube, put on a new tire, put the tube in, finish putting on the tire, and replace the wheel.

Bike clinic photo courtesy of Scott Johnson

Once I had done the full process, it was time for the students to get their hands dirty. I had enough tire levers that had been donated to give each of the students three of them to keep. The students took their new tools, grouped in threes and fours and set about removing wheels. Both Scott and Patchuoko helped students as they worked to put brand new tires and tubes on these bikes that would only be good for parts back home. We were going to do the best we could to recondition them with the parts available so that they could be safely ridden by the time we were done.

As I had been doing my demo, the director (who stayed for the entirety of the class) suddenly stopped me saying, "Stop! Look! Dolphins! Dolphins!" Sure enough, I looked out just in time to see the next one make an appearance only about 50 yards out. Judging by the director's reaction, this probably isn't a very common sight. In fact, when I mentioned it that night during our team time, Pam exclaimed, "Dolphins?! You got to see dolphins? I have always wanted to see dolphins here, but I never have!"

As the students worked,  took a bit of a mental inventory of things these bikes still needed to have done that I would need to do on my own. The only issue was that a lot of what I was seeing would require some creativity and I didn't exactly know what I had to deal with back at the mission by way of tools and parts.

The students were fun to watch as they were more than eager to have a part in the action. Some would furiously tackle wheel removal while others stood a the ready with tire levers ready to take the old tire off and still more unboxed a fresh tube and pre-inflated it so it would be ready when their time came. Thankfully, things rolled on without a hitch and Scott, Patchuoko, and I simply got to help by directing the efforts when needed.

Once things wrapped up with the tires, I showed the class how to remove and replace a chain. I explained why a chain might need to be removed, showed them how to use a chain breaker to remove the old chain, how to use the old chain to measure the correct length for the new chain, and how to install the new chain using a master link. I then spread out the chain tools among the students and gave hem a chance to remove pins from the old chain to get a feel for the tools. I opted to only do one chain partly due to time and partly due to the fact that I wouldn't be able to give equal time to the students if I let one or two help with the second bike.

All told, I felt like it was a good session and I had ideas already about what we would do for the next session on Monday. The students seemed to enjoy it, were respectful, and did a great job of diving in and getting their hands dirty.

The only challenge we really had was getting everything back. We had given the students the tire levers to keep, but had to track down a few of the other tools. We mentioned to the director that we were short a few things and while we looked around and students took turns riding the bikes, the director managed to "re-acquire" the missing tools saying that one of the students had been taking them to the office." I had been noticing this student pocketing pretty much anything scrap that he could get his hands on (I think he even wound up with one of the old tires and an old tube) so I wasn't surprised. I was glad to get everything back and get back to the compound.

Once we got back, Scott and Patchuoko set to work on getting what they needed to get out to the rest of the team. They planned to take a motorcycle part way up the mountain and hike the rest. They were underway in about 10 minutes and I was left on my own to continue working to make the bikes rideable. I set up my work stand on the far end of the porch where I would be out of the way of traffic and could keep my mess contained.

I realized very early that I would be improvising a lot of the repairs as I didn't have the right parts or tools for some of the issues I encountered. The only one issue that really gave me much trouble was that the rims were in pretty rough shape and the beads of the tires would not stay seated on the rims under very much pressure. That wasn't completely a surprise as cheap steel wheels can have that problem, but I couldn't even push the pressure of the tires (rated for 40-65 psi) over 30 psi or the bead would slip, the tube would bulge under side wall, and the tube would blow if I didn't catch it soon enough. The first time I did it, I wasn't expecting it and the tube blew about a foot away from my face with a loud blast that caused my ears to ring and lose hearing for about 15 seconds. After that, I exercised more caution and found I needed to keep the pressure extremely low (20-25 psi) to prevent it from happening again. They would ride soft, but since none of the students were anywhere near my size, they would be sufficient for getting from point A to point B.

I kept working on the bikes but left the brakes & housing unfinished on one of the bikes for Monday's class. I cleaned up, packed a small tool bag with what we would need for Monday and called it quits for the bikes for the day.

It was now approaching 2:00 and some of the other team members began trickling in from their long hike. Most (if not all) caught a ride on a tap-tap once they hit a main road and all were physically exhausted. As tey arrived, most congregated around the picnic tables or began considering when to hit the showers and almost all reached for a bottle of pop since they were the only cold drinks available.

Digging the well at Jabouin photo courtesy of Rachael Weiland

They hit two of the mountain schools (Jabouin & Toussaint) for photos, but I heard mostly tales about the hike which included some fairly steep trail climbs as well as a few chance encounters. The encounter that seemed to leave the greatest impression was with three gentlemen who were digging a well part way up the mountain. There were two guys at the top and one guy working 40 feet down to dig the well (by hand) with the dirt being brought up in a bucket that also served as their means of transport in and out of the hole. The hole was only about three feet wide (large enough for them to fit in) and they had been digging for four weeks at a rate of about ten feet per week. They were expecting the well to eventually reach a depth of 120 feet which would equate to roughly three months of digging for the three of them.

It also sounded like the mountain schools presented some unique challenges for the team, although I didn't hear too much about the details until we had our team time later that night.

The reset of the afternoon passed with showers, naps, and conversation while we waited for youth to start. Tonight's youth meeting would be a little different as it would also involve some preparation for the next day's 5K race. Last year, Gretchen had put the groundwork together for a team triathlon in Ti-Rivier complete with training programs along with other detailed plans to help athletes prepare and to help the event run smoothly only to watch those plans change at the last minute because of the sheer number of people that showed up to participate. They were forced at the last minute to scrap the tri and do a 5K to accommodate all that wanted to participate and it turned out to be a great event. So, this year, the 5K was the plan from the start and we were game to help out in any way that we could.

The evening started as we watched people begin to arrive. We knew we'd have a pretty good sized group, but the 80+ youth that showed up was a group buzzing with anticipation for the race and the evening ahead. Patchuoko again led worship and the number of voices raised in Creole was electrifying. Aubrey then followed with the second part of her lesson on Esther. It was a blessing to see Aubrey get to serve in this way and the hear the word that God had laid on her heart for this community that she knows and loves.

After Aubrey was finished, Gretchen laid down the ground rules for the 5K and let the runners know about the goodie bags they were going to get. The bags consisted of cinch sacks with a 2013 Mission Haiti 5K shirt, a few energy bars, and a water bottle for the older runners while the younger runners received a shirt, toothpaste and tooth brushes.

Gretchen, Taylor, & Seth feeding the crowd

Before we gave out the bags, we had a meal together. Feeding everybody that was there was crazy fun as we did our best to serve the Haitian spaghetti (pasta w/ peppers) in as orderly a fashion as we could manage with such a large group. The team members made their way through with plates, forks, and the huge serving bowls full of food. Youth were sitting on benches, standing, or even sitting on the ground to eat and some were sharing a single plate between them or sharing any extra they had so that everybody had enough to eat. It was quite a night that we capped off by giving out the race bags and made some other race preparations before highs/lows as a team.

It was at that point that I heard more about some of what had taken place at the schools with the rest of the team. The team was taking pictures for sponsorship packets and had taken bracelets with to give out to the kids after their pictures had been taken. Unfortunately, there were a lot of kids that were pushed and punched while older kids took their bracelets from them and team members had a hard time keeping order at times. It left several team members shaken and disheartened, but gave us a better understanding of some of the need in the mountain villages.

It had been a huge day with some definite challenges, some fun, and a lot that left an impression on us for the days ahead.