Confession

This summer I get to work with the Haitian teachers at Christian Light School again.  I start every morning doing devotions with them.  Then at noon, after I finish working with my fifth graders and walk them out of the school yard, I've been jumping back in on the teacher training most days.  The school has gone through some difficult transitions over the past year and the Ministry of Education has been working with the staff to make sure that everything is up to their standards to ensure that the school can stay certified.  

Here is the new administrative team: Mrs. Rosemee, Mr. Olritch, and Mr. Elionel.  They would appreciate your prayers as they seek to lead the school in this time of transition!

The training with the official from the ministry has been very productive over the past week and a half.  The secondary teachers have been working on lesson planning, writing objectives, and thinking about the different aspects of a classroom which they need to manage (the physical space, the supplies and materials, the classroom environment, behavioral expectations, content, etc.).  I'm sorry to not be more involved with teacher training this summer, but after five years of running the training program for the Haitian staff, it's nice to be sitting with them and talking through the content together as colleagues.  Even the new teachers are very welcoming of this outsider, for which I am very thankful.

This week I am leading the devotions for the teachers in the morning.  We sit together and sing and talk about the life of faith.  We are working our way through parts of the Heidelberg Catcheism, which I hope is helpful in building up a more robust doctrine in these teachers who identify themselves as Christians.

In Port-au-Prince, as in many parts of Haiti, the culture has been saturated with Christianity.  The public transportation "tap taps" are painted with Praise Jesus in bright, bold letters.  When passing people on the street and someone asks how you are doing, a common response to be heard is "With God, I am fine."  But for all of this religious talk and "Christian-ese", I'm afraid that many people here, just like at home, are holding to a mixture of tradition and superstition and good works to find their hope.  The only problem with this is that tradition and superstition and good works can't give us true, lasting hope.  In the end we feel discouraged with our failures, confused by difficult or painful circumstances, and fearful of what the future might bring.

So this week we are asking questions like The Lords' Day 1:

"What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I am not my own

But I belong, body and soul, both in life and in death

To my faithful savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood

And has set me free from all the power of the devil.

He also preserves me in such a way

That without the will of my Heavenly Father

Not a hair can fall from my head.

Indeed, all things work together for my good.

Therefore, by his Holy Spirit,

He also assures me of eternal life

And makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him."

Many thanks for following along with this summer in Haiti!  Love in Christ, Jessie