First Day of Classes in PILAT

Josh and I had our first day of classes today!

"PILAT" introduces you to a new way of thinking about language and language learning.  The classes mostly center around linguistics/phonetics and language learning techniques.  Today, we learned that there are 44 sounds in English but there are infinite sounds that your mouth can make.  We are learning to get our mouths to make sounds that we aren't accustomed to so that when we start learning our specific languages we don't automatically try to make the brand new sound conform to one of our English sounds.

For example: in Spanish, the "l" sound is produced in a different part of the mouth than in English and a lot of English-speakers just say "l" the way they are used to instead of the way that Spanish-speakers say it.

The language learning techniques so far have placed the focus on listening instead of always trying to speak the language as soon as you hear it.  Our "prof" referred to James 1:19, "You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry," and said that that can easily be applied to language learning!!

After classes finished today, Josh and I and our new friends Anna (going to China), Stephanie (going to Thailand), and Katie (going to the Dominican Republic) all went on a hike up to the actual "Palmer Lake".  It was beautiful, but incredibly COLD!  We definitely have a lot to get used to.  Josh and I are thrilled because we were able to check out a humidifier from the office to use in our room and that should help us get used to the altitude.

We are both pretty tired and are having to get used to being in class again.  It is truly wonderful to be surrounded by fellow missionaries (and to-be-missionaries like us) and hear their stories.  We are blessed to be surrounded by so much encouragement and we want to take advantage of it!

Love and God Bless,

Mission Training International!

We are thrilled to have made it safely to Mission Training International in beautiful Palmer Lake, CO!!!  (www.mti.org)

We had orientation today to meet each other, and to learn more about the facilities and the program.  The first two weeks of our time here will be spent in a program called "PILAT" (Program In Language Acquisition Training).  The last three weeks of the program is called "SPLICE" and focuses more on adapting to and living in a new culture.  We are extremely intrigued to find out exactly what these programs entail.  We have heard that in PILAT we will be learning about phonetics and linguistics, and we've heard a lot about "drills" . . . Sounds intense :-).

There are 43 other participants from a variety of backgrounds who have plans to go to countries all over the world: India, China, Ukraine, Dominican Republic, Somalia, Kyrgyszstan, Honduras, Turkey, Thailand, Uganda, and Ecuador of course!  Some participants have been in the field for 10 or more years and some are brand new missionaries like us.  We are amazed and humbled by the strength and faith of the couples here with their children - even children less than a year old.  God calls and you must go!

Josh and I are very excited about the extra-curricular activities as well - this part of Colorado is really beautiful.  We've already seen some snow and we hope for some more.  If we have time, we'd like to ski, hike, horseback ride, and explore the area as much as possible while we're here.  What an adventure!  I'm sure I will have much more to share tomorrow after our first day of classes.

Love and God Bless

Back from Haiti

What a miracle that everything worked out for us to go to Haiti!  In less than 1 week, God provided 4 private jets, a group of 23 doctors, nurses, coordinators and translators, a guesthouse for us all to stay in, and so much more to enable us to go and care for patients in Cap Haitien, Haiti.

When we arrived on Thursday, we went to the clinic where we would be working.  It was just being finished and still needed some finishing touches - windows and AC in the Operating Room for example!  We settled in at the guest house where we were staying and had a delicious dinner!  Meg and Wilbert Merzilus run the house and also run a wonderful organization called Living Hope Mission (http://www.livinghopemission.org/).  We couldn't have asked for better accommodations or friendlier hosts.

 When we arrived at the clinic the next morning, the OR was finished and all that needed to be done was some organization and some cleaning up in order to make it usable.  The group was divided up into two teams: one team saw patients needing medicines and treatments for ailments relating to internal medicine, Optometry, or OB/GYN and the other team performed surgeries.  We saw a mixture of cases - some directly related to the earthquake and some not.  Regardless, we were able to help people who ordinarily might not have received care.

For two days we worked in the clinic, I estimate we saw somewhere around 70-80 people.  The mood there was slightly somber, but also determined.  It seemed that the people of Cap Haitien recognized what had happened but wanted to push forward toward the future.  The people that we saw had such a strong faith in God - it was inspiring!  In speaking to Wilbert, Meg, and Tim who all live in Haiti, the struggle for the country now lies in finding the wisest use of gifts and money that are pouring in from all over the world.  The people of Haiti need a helping hand right now, but continued handouts are developing a culture of dependence and the people don't know how to do for themselves.

Medical Ministry International will be building a permanent center in Port au Prince to provide continued help there, but as Willie Hunter (head of MMI) told the group, MMI is not an emergency relief organization like the Red Cross, and our goal is the long-term rather than immediate disaster response.  MMI will be continuing short-term mission trips to Port au Prince in the coming months, and they will post them on the calendar at www.mmint.org.

Josh and I are so thankful to have been a part of this trip.  We were given the reigns in a lot of situations and we learned a ton!  We were able to talk to Willie in depth about his experiences and his vision for us and for MMI as a whole.  Tim, the MMI Country Leader of Haiti gave us a lot of insight as well into the day-to-day of the position.  After discussing with Willie, and experiencing the frustration of not speaking the language when trying to get things accomplished, we have decided that we will be lengthening our time at language school from 3.5 months to 1 year.  Achieving fluency is vital to effectiveness in a role like ours and we don't need to cut short a time devoted exclusively to that end.  It is an idea that we are still getting used to and we pray that our donors will understand the importance of taking this extra time.

I am hoping to get a lot of pictures from people on the trip and as I get them I will try to post them on the blog.

We leave for training in Colorado 1 week from TODAY!  I can't believe it's almost here!

Thank you so much for your prayers!!!

Love and God Bless,

Mission Work is Messy ;-)

Whew!  What a day . . .

So, some bumps appeared in the road, but we are all still very excited about the trip to Haiti.  As of now, everyone will be departing tomorrow for Cap Haitien rather than today.  The pilot needed some extra time to do some work on the generator on his plane, but we didn't put up a fight - we want that plane in tip-top shape!

We believe (fingers crossed ;-)  ) that we have all of the passenger information that we need for the pilots, and we spent a good deal of today divvying up all of the supplies that we have received.  The outpouring of donations from individuals and hospitals has been tremendous!

Being the introvert that I am (wink, wink), I just didn't know what to do with myself when the cameras and reporters showed up from the TV station!  Somehow I ended up being interviewed along with my dad, our transportation coordinator, and another doctor who will be going with us.  You might see me on News14 tonight!

Even with the stress, Josh and I are so happy and grateful to be taking such an active role in this project.  It really allows us to get a feel for how we will work together on MMI projects in the future.  We are constantly learning and we feel that we are definitely up for the challenge!

God willing, we'll be flying out to Cap Haitien tomorrow morning.

Love and God Bless

Helping in Haiti

I have thought and prayed and thought some more about how to begin this blog. A blank page is very intimidating! God has initiated a turn of events which has allowed me to skip the drawn-out ponderings and explanations and skip straight to the important stuff - helping his children around the world!

Josh and I were in Wilmington last weekend celebrating my birthday with my family. We were watching TV one evening when my dad walked in and said that some surprising doors had been opened and that he was going to start getting together a limited number doctors, nurses and organizers to go to Haiti that same week to provide medical aid! As of this evening, the team has been assembled, supplies and three private planes have been donated for the trip, and we are all planning on leaving for Cap Haitien, Haiti tomorrow afternoon. Wow!

From what we understand so far, Cap Haitien is a tourist town on the northern coast of Haiti, and is about 80 miles from Port au Prince (http://www.maplandia.com/haiti/cap-haitien/). We should be a relatively safe distance from the site of the earthquake, but still close enough that we can provide much needed medical care to victims. We don't know exactly what to expect (do we ever?!) but we are prepared to do whatever we can to help the people there.

Josh and I feel particularly blessed to be able to participate on this trip as we are leaving for missions training in Colorado on February 8th. We feel that this may give us a taste of what our lives in Ecuador will be like and we cannot wait to get our feet wet! I will keep everyone posted!

Love and God Bless