To all of you, please pray for kara she's been sick last two days only getting  up to go to bathroom and to throw up. And she's very weak .  she has giardia. We were trying to decide how to treat her since we're not comfortable with antibiotic yet. Giardia is passed tru bad water or contaminated vegetables so we're also concerned about rest of the family. Kara has been treating our vegetables with bleach or saltwater but now found out iodine kills it- not bleach.  We researched natural treatments and found that tincture of garlic, onion, and horseradish and coconut as well are good for it. So she's taking supertonic on the hour and coconut milk. At 1st she threw everything up but last 2 doses it's staying down. She's feeling slightly better now and not so dehydrated.  Thanks for your prayers it means alot to us. thankfully there's a rainy day today and daddy's not so busy so he can take care of the children.


Eugene 😎

.....Day by Day.....

The longer we are here the more opportunities we have to rub shoulders with the national people. We face so many various types of needs...whether to loan a friend a couple dollars... if I should agree to be a God-parent to a young boy for his baptism...how to handle a local childs' constant requests for a gift...the ability to protect my boys from feeling overwhelmed by local children wanting to touch or hold them or bark at their feet like wild dogs and yet instill in them a respect and love for them at the same time...how to manage my time and care for my families' needs as well as the household demands...
Should I take the time to let one of the young neighbor boys come in the fence and sit with me on the hammock as he requests...How do I respond when I am taking a much needed nap and then called out to talk to a local lady- groggily I go out, trying to keep Tabitha asleep who had been at my side in bed- greeting in the typical way does not bring out what my friend has come for- They often don't come right out with their request, proper greetings and social etiquette is very important... (I forgot we had planned for her to come get money to buy a chicken for me at market). Was i still needed... what did she want from me?  Soon, Tabitha awakes and starts screaming in spite of trying to keep her relaxed to fall back asleep before she becomes too stimulated. Feeling overwhelmed with the whole situation and not sure if there still is a need I haven't met I just retreated back into the house with my distressed little girl trying to deal with my roused emotions... Ahh, flesh- how fleshly you are! Finally she rocked back to sleep and I sent some SOS's up to the Lord. Reluctantly going back out, I took some laundry off the line and my friend came over and let me know why she had come. Sheepishly I remembered our previous conversation about the chicken money and took care of her. 

We went on a walk as a family just to spend a little time away together and see what we could see. As we walked down the rocky road past Clinic we saw a neighbor man we know working with a wood laithe. He and his helper were in the process of fixing it when we stopped in and asked if we could watch. The lady of the house gladly brought us chairs to sit on. Apparantly their belt had broken, so they repaired that and then needed to put

 it back on the makeshift wheel. It wasn't 

quite tight enough- causing the belt to slip so they tried to tighten in by moving the laithe a bit. Eugene assisted them with the heavy piece of wooden equipment and soon the wheel was spinning more properly. Eugene marveled at what they could do with something so primitive. At the moment the man was using a sharp blade to carve a grove into the circulating leg of a table or chair. The helper manually turned a handle round and round to keep the wheel spinning the leg. The woodworker showed us a bed head he had beautifully carved, sanded and varnished. A work of art. He also pointed to a table he had fashioned. Nearby he had a few animals tied in typical Haitian fashion. Eating what they could find to forage on and waiting their daily pile of cut grass or banana leaves that must be cut and carried to them from some other location. The goat he had probably never drinks water... ,I hardly believed it when someone told me their goat won't drink even if offered. I guess it is a mercy of God that these rugged beasts don't require the pampering we give them in the States. Cows are watered daily, either by being taken to a stream or given a bucket.) After enjoying the cultural experience for a bit we bid our good-byes and headed a bit further down the road where we saw a cabbage patch, full of young cabbage plants ready to be sold to transplant into someone's field. Cabbages are one of their crops here. I love to see their gardens full of the blue-green heads neatly poka-dotted over the field with the mustard flowers from a local weed springing up here and there adding quaint beauty. Being among the people is something special when you take the time to sit where they sit and walk the trails they walk. They love it and we find a new appreciation of who they are as people with red blood that flows just like ours

Lydia butchering a chicken from market
for Hutterite gaeshtle soup.

Lydia making coffee the
Haitian way

Lydia and Tabitha at
Rhonda's one Sun eve.

Lydia made a hutterite meal last week so we bought a live chicken from market and she boiled it to make mouldoushen. It was fun having a traditional meal for the group here. She plans to make one more meal next week with the rooster I bought who will be butchered this morning yet for gaeshtel. She's looking forward to the end of this week when she flies home with very mixed feelings. We will definitely miss her. :-(

Thursday or Friday I was closing the little shack door where I had Lydia's hen waiting her doom when a large, tan, creepy arachnid slid out from between the hinges in my direction. He was one of those fast ones with a big black mark on his back and I'm sure a set of wicked fangs. His diameter was probably pushing 2 in. I sent off a scream of alarm as I shrieked my disgust for spiders but by the time anyone came to investigate he had moved on to other devilish intents. The girls were genuinely concerned, but the guy who heard me passed it off as a non-life threatening sounding cry.

Eugene has helped with some mechanic work and continuing the gazebo(sitting place) project. He drove out to T-Guoave the other day with Julian-which was a charge for him.... he has that trucking blood you know! :0) This time though, he had taken Stephen along who was not interested in anyone else holding him, so Daddy held a sleeping little man most of the bumpy trip there.  The boys love going with Daddy whether it's taking rice up to the school on the ATV or going out to town with the truck.  I have to commit them to the Lord and pray that they will be safe.... I know Daddy is careful and they try to hold on tight, but these        mountains... suffice to say I prefer to walk certain places.  

Matid a neighbor lady with Tabitha

Fre Polver's family after church
on our porch

Today at church I enjoyed catching more of the sermon and singing as I caught the words for the songs we sang from memory.  They were a lively bunch today- true Haitian style!  As I watched a couple of the energetic, dear, older, local men(any of you know Fre Noress?) that I know I was reminded of David when he danced with all his might.

Be careful now... don't let your conservative bend cast too dark a shadow over their characters.  :-)  Eugene was there for part of the service and then went back to the house with the boys to listen in to our home message in English.  Tabitha slept on my lap for most of the time so I was really able to focus.  I don't catch everything said, and sometimes I have to think of a different word I know to get across the message I'm trying to express but the more I'm exposed to the language the more I brush up.   Connecting with old friends after the service was a special joy... their smiling, welcoming faces and kisses on both cheeks as we embraced showed their genuine love. 

......A Laboring Mama......
Well, That was fun!  This evening our family stayed home with one of
the nurses while the rest went to visit Rhonda's family about 20-30
min drive from here.  The nurse, Kindra was just closing the gate
after saying goodbye to a few little visitors who came to see her... A
man stopped her to say his wife was coming in labor with a group.
Sure enough after a bit a large group of people came- some carrying a
cart with the woman on it and her brother who was supporting her.
Since Kindra is still new at births I got the privilege of assisting
her as we assessed the situation.  Supposedly the lady was 9 months
and in labor but after looking at her records and questioning them
out, as well as doing a checkup we leaned hard towards thinking she is
6 months and having pre-term labor- threatening an abortion.  So far-
baby's heart tones were good so we just needed to quiet the
contractions.
It was very sweet to talk to the lady and share about Jesus in Creole
and pray for her and her baby and family.  I had to hunt in my mind
for a word sometimes, but being able to communicate for the most part
was a priceless gift!  We had the privilege of being able to call the
group at Rhonda's (something we couldn't do without climbing a
mountain for service when I was here) and talk to Whitney- the head
nurse about the situation.  We decided to try and get her to relax and
wait for the others to get back to make final decisions.  Transporting
to T-Guove 2 hours over very bumpy trails didn't seem a viable option
when we need her to relax.
After we got the family settled in the hospital room Eugene sent Met
Gerard over to walk us home since he happened to be visiting at the
time.  (The mission has a rule that the laies shouldn't walk alone to
or from clinic at night, but Eugene was at the house with our three
children so the local pastor-Met Gerard came in his place to escort
us.)   It was quite the charade for Eugene to communicate this to him
since neither knows the others' mother tongue very well.  I tried to
talk over the walkie talkie in Creole to Gerard, but it crackled
inconveniently at the time so it didn't help matters any.  With a
phrase Eugene had learned just a day or two earlier “prale nan clinc”
(going to clinic) and some signs and wonders to show us walking back
with his fingers Gerard got the message and gladly complied.
The new clinic is definitely much improved since I was there.  It's
bigger and nicer and more accomadating all around. It was fun to be a
nurse for a little bit again while Daddy watched the children.
When the crew got back Eugene and I went over to clinic with the other
nurses while Kindra put Tabitha to sleep and kept an eye on the boys
in case they woke up.  We discussed various possibilities to see if
there was any angle we were missing that might help shed light on her
situation.  Had she maybe been in the Ra-ra last night and gotten
worked up or had a curse put on her?  Had they assumed she needed to
have the baby and given her a tea to induce labor...  was she
pre-ecclamptic?  Had she been hit or fallen???  Mally talked to the
local midwife who was along but nothing seemed to point to any clear
answers so we  made her as comfortable as possible and gave her
another dose to relax her before leaving for the night.  Contractions
were seeming to have stopped, and the only immediate problem was
vomiting so we hoped for the best and left them to rest.
The next morning she gave us good news that she had had no
contractions all night.  She didn't feel strong enough to go home so
the clinic staff let her stay there for the day.  I visited with them
and could see she was doing better.  I encouraged them again to seek
the Lord.
The following morning Whitney radioed me to let me know they were
discharging her.  I went down with Theodore while Janelle – the able
house help here- took care of Tabitha and Stephen. When we arrived the
threesome in our ladies room all greeted me with warm smiles.  Even
the lady who had been in labor smiled shyly.  She was obviously doing
great now.  She had almost seemed out of it up till now, making us
wonder if she was just trying to cope with her situation or if she was
a little slow... The mother of the lady told me she had asked for me
to come so I could pray with them before they leave.  I was thrilled
to do this.  After some exhortations to them spiritually and
nutritionally our little group touched heaven as I asked the Father to
bless them and help them to serve Him with all their might.  I don't
know how those little seeds will do in their hearts, but it was a joy
to place them there.   Even in these troubled mountains of Haiti there
is no situation too hard for our Master!  Hallelujah!

A looong post for those who like details :)                               Sat. March 14, 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

It's been a busy few days here. Last night as I sank into bed I pondered all the events of our day and marvelled that so much had transpired since the sun peeked over the horizon. On Saturday we plan a brunch for mid-morning, and knowing I would have a busy day I asked the young ladies to take care of that meal. As a family this gave us more time to spend together after the children awoke... traditionally a very special time for us. So, when our three little ones had crawled out of their blanket cocoons we dressed them and headed up to the flat depot roof (a storage building built in recent years that sits next to our house). The boys were thrilled to dance in the treetops and mama and papa had to quickly establish some rules for the daring little acrobats who would love to peek over the edge of the wall-less roof. This put me at peace a bit more and we enjoyed the view of the waking sky and surrounding mountains. The trees pranced occasionally as a bird landed on the outermost flimsy branches to enter into the green covert. Tabitha happily crawled on the concrete surface until Mama felt it wise to suspend her to the pink blanket where the boys had also been grounded. We visited and enjoyed just being the five of us, ignoring the fact that we were still in plain view of the encircling neighborhood—pretending to be hidden in seclusion. After awhile we made a couple calls to the States. We appreciated the advancement of technology... only 6 years ago we had to climb a nearby mountain to enjoy the privilege of a phone conversation.

While we enjoyed our family time, the nurses had been summoned to the clinic for an emergency call. A man was brought in with head injuries. He had been transported from Besace- a nearby Clinic that is glad to send their harder cases our way. The limp man arrived draped over a moto, tied to it for his own safety. The suffering soul seemed dead. The girls examined him and called for Hans- our young man here who had been an EMT in the States. Together they determined he was beyond their scope of care and called for an emergency helicopter. (Just days before a non-profit group had come back here to explain to our clinic how they could help us with their chopper service...transporting just such tough cases as we had now to Port for swift medical help.) With help on the way they prepared to drive the ATV to the soccer field where the helicopter would land. Meanwhile the story continued to unfold as to why we had this man in such serious condition. He had been in market the day before(Friday), drunk. A woman was sitting in a little shack nearby, holding a baby. For some reason he happened to go in and decided to take a swipe with his machete at the innocent little one. Instead he whacked the woman's hand- almost removing her fingers. This incensed the people and they beat him, intending to leave him lifeless. Rather, he went unconscious with a soft spot in his skull... Both families transported their wounded people to the nearby Besace Clinic. The following morning he was carried to our small hospital, hoping for better care.

At the large grassy field, the emergency helicopter help drew near from the air to meet the group from our mission on two ATV's with the wounded man and a couple family members. As the chopper landed an incensed crowd gathered intending to thwart the clinic staffs' efforts to save this life. The people had tried once to kill him and they didn't intend to see him rescued. They reasoned with our young people that if they would also take out the woman with the injured hand then they would allow the man to fly also. However, we had not seen the woman yet and the flight crew would only transport one injury at a time. The three helicopter personnel walked over to discuss the situation... the Haitian man among them tried to calm the mob but only a temporary calm ensued. Someone called for a machete to take matters into their own hands and finish the criminal off if anyone tried to load him. Seeing they were losing ground and endangering their own safety the helicopter group took to the safety of their mechanical bird and headed back on their 15 minute journey to Port. Our people made a hasty exodus too, with one of the man's family members running after -begging not to be left behind to the mercy of the angry mass. 

Back at the mission we heard the 'copter return back overhead, assuming that the man was on his way to higher care. Meanwhile, the nurses at Clinic soon discovered their quiet Saturday was not to be.... the lady with the mangled hand was now here to be examined and stitched and the sound of the mission vehicles brought the injured man back into view. The family of the man causing all this adieu soon made tracks for the local Kayzak(Judge), realizing if they didn't get protection the crowd would come and do as they pleased. The (former) Kayzak who is now a worker in our Clinic as a secretary came down and gravely instructed our staff to quickly get both of these injured people out to T-Guove as quickly as possible. Apparently this man has a warrant out for his arrest and was in trouble from another area where he used to frequent. Direk didn't want trouble for our clinic from holding such a criminal. He felt sure if we would agree to help both the man and the woman by taking them out to a larger hopital there would be peace. The people agreed with this arrangement and soon both the attacker and attacked were loaded with family members from each party. The man had been slowly coming to... even saying a few things and showing focus from his eyes. One of the woman who had been so riled up at the soccer field now sat near the man she wanted killed – helping the nurse adjust his pillow and resettle him more comfortably. It is dangerously evident that crowds breed trouble when emotion builds upon each others irrational reactions.

Having safely seen these two off, the rest of us unwound from the excitement.  Those who hadn't eaten the prepared brunch of creamed eggs and toast, mango shake and coffee cake came home to do so. Our little boys took a nap and I worked on supper preparation, hoping to make good progress before we headed up the mountain to visit Grandpa Harold. Lydia accompanied us as we exersized weak muscles over rocky terrain. Our little men were delighted with the outing, but had a number of minor tumbles before we arrived back home. Some parts of the trail were relaxing but others were a series of huffs and puffs as we hauled ourselves and our little charges up to the top. At Grandpa's we had a pleasant time chatting and enjoying the view of the surrounding mountains. Theodore and Stephen gave Mama a few scares with their lively monkey antics. Finishing our visit we declined Grandpa's kind offer to drive us back to the mission and started the descent. Greeting smiling Haitians along the way added enjoyment. Lydia and Theodore took the lead and a little girl latched onto Lydia's hand as she passed by. The two made a sweet pair until they parted at the gate.

Home again, I moved into high gear, rolling my prepared tortilla dough out for our evening meal of chicken fajitas. Janelle had seasoned potato wedges for oven fries and made carmel pudding to go over EllaMae's peanut butter bars. We gathered our smaller group together -wishing our two on the trail could join us. (Julian and Kindra came back later and ate what was left of our evening meal.) Those who wished to- gathered around our table to count pills into sachets(bags) for clinic. This gave a relaxed atmosphere to visit after the kitchen was cleaned up.

Well, I got the bathroom cleaned today and a few other areas polished as I had planned, but the main floor will have to wait for another day to be swept and washed like I had hoped to. Days don't always go as expected...neither in the States nor here.  The girls washed up the tea cups before heading to their house for the night and we wound down with our boys. They enjoyed some Daddy and Mama time before closing their tired eyelids for needed sleep.

After we dropped into bed we slept until some nearby community sounds awakened us off and on throughout the night. It's Ra-Ra season. This means the local satan worshipers relish opportunities to gather and worship their evil god. Dancing, swaying, chanting, tooting on conch horns or droning from bamboo pipes... their devilish festivities interrupted our peaceful night as they marched past our houses and up the mountains. Tabitha was restless so she appreciated being snuggled in by Mama most of the night. Amazingly, we slept better than some nights despite the unwelcome serenading.   

Our Sunday was a welcome day of rest... especially restful in the afternoon and evening compared to some busy Lord's Days around here.  It seemed a special benediction from the Lord who knows our need for rest.

Lydia has been a real blessing here.... helping with extra domestic duties such as hanging laundry, scrubbing floors, meal prep, dishes....and just being someone familiar from home. She has also helped at Clinic with taking blood pressures and such. This has been nice for our nurses with their busy days the first week we were here- as well as good (but stretching) for Lydia to get a crash course into Haitian culture and language. She had been with us before when we came here two years ago to help build the house for Don's but this is a lot more of a real Haitian experience for her. Not knowing the language is one of those natural frustrations in a foreign culture... So Lydia is thankful for every little bit she picks up on. I'm not sure how we will get along without her servant heart around here. Janelle (the expert house help young lady here) is very good at doing a lot of work to keep the houses running smoothly, but with my extra little ones we've really been glad for Lydia :)

The other day we took a family walk mid-morning. We stopped at a local man's house whom we know and watched him and his helper working a wood laithe. It was amazing watching how he made very primitive tools turn out beautiful bed heads, chairs and tables. No motors or electricity were used.

I've had some days where I could do school with the boys and other days where an extra project took it's place. As parents with young ones in the midst of such a busy place we have to keep our pulse on their hearts to know when they just need to spend time with Daddy and Mommy. Tabitha has had some fairly rough nights being up more than usual. We did notice she popped a tooth through successfully and then she slept very well, so hopefully that will continue. Being up a lot with our little one makes for days with a little more fuzziness around the edges....

                   

                     Tabitha couldn't figure out how to keep
                            this slippery mango seed in her hands
                   so she finally managed to hold tight
                         this way.

Theodore helping Daddy prepare  to
make cement for the gazebo steps
where they plan to group the young
people or children who come for
Bible classes or such.

We have been very anxious for rain. Some of the dear people are very concerned their bean crops will fail if we don't see some soon. We have been very grateful to see a few small showers lately, but we sure need more.  Your prayers are appreciated!

      

Kindra Stohl sharing her Green Heron
chick pet with my very pleased boys.
We've enjoyed feeding and playing
with it.

Our boys examining a large Katydid
with a beautiful iridescent blue belly.
It stayed in our house as a pet for a
couple days until we gave it freedom.

My dear Sweetheart winning my heart all over again by picking Moringa leaves so that I can tincture them.  This is a very healthful tree that I had planted when I lived here.  The leaves have all the essential vitamins and minerals humans need.

Hello from Haiti!

We are safely here at the Ailegue mission.  Our two days of travel were exhausting -as might be expected, but our family didn't miss any flights and we were able to spend the night at a hotel in Florida which was refreshing after being in airports all day.  Lydia, however wasn't able to travel with us as hoped.  We had an unexpected problem with her tickets and she actually had to sit in the SF airport from 5a.m. when we arrived together until 5:30p.m. when she finally flew out.  We met up the next morning at the Florida airport where we flew together to Haiti.  Poor girl was very ready to meet up with us.

Our trip through Port was one of running errands, weaving through typical Haitian traffic, escaping a near miss with a big Mack truck that would give us no room but to veer off the road.... Ahhh! Poor Julian- our driver- was gracious with my involuntary exclamations. My(Kara's) later exhaustion might have been equally from stimulation as from lack of sleep - ;-).

Here at the mission we are finding our place after getting unpacked and rested up.  The children are thrilled with the play place they have.... The compound is fenced and there are lots of aunts and a couple uncles to interact with.  There is even a playful puppy and a cat to run with.  Life at home might seem pretty tame when we go back. :-). They like to watch the goat, pigs and rabbits by turn too.

Tabitha is doing great also.  She has done surprisingly well with the Haitian people holding her.  She had become pretty shy at home, but somehow she prefers the black skinned friends here and loves to be held and jabbered at by them.  We think it might be because of Eugene and my personality being similar to their animated conversation.  The children are learning some Haitian greetings and brushing up on how to speak respectfully.... Good opportunities to keep forming life skills and character.

Eugene has been learning the ropes doing a little of this and that... He fixed the faucet in our kitchen here and sharpened a local man's axe head, did something with some tanks of propane.  Soon here I think he will be taking the boys and going for an errand with one of the vehicles.

I(Kara) feel more settled as I am finding a place for everything and getting a feel of the schedule and my responsibilities.  I made breakfast for our crew today which felt good.  We had visitors for supper and breakfast... Grandpa Harold came with his daughter Esther and her husband Eldon Shenk.  They were a joy to host.

By the way... Internet is quite a challenge here so if we don't post often or don't have pictures uploaded it's probably due to connection problems.  It has taken us a lot of spare moments to get this far with the blog.  We are also trying to get our list together so we can notify you of updates when we have them on here.  Thanks for your patience and prayers!  The staff down here is having a very busy time with Clinic.  They are spending long hours there every day.  They have some Cholera patients again as well so that creates a new dimension of care with hydrating and sanitizing.  We are hoping it doesn't spread more.  Haiti is also having demostrations again... this means anything from planned protests to bus burnings, forced road blocks, etc.  The people get outraged due to high gas prices or no electricity or mistreatment in some other area of life.  Hans Hertzlers' brother is due to arrive Tues of this coming week and Rhoda Eshbach is due to fly out the same day.  We found out there are planned demonstrations planned which mean the people will be trying to force everyone to stay off the roads.  It could be dangerous for those needing to drive...  Your prayers are apprciated!

Eugene & Kara Waldner Family

Hello Friends and Family!  This is our little spot in the web world where we plan to make posts while we are in Haiti.  We are excited about our time but also very conscious of our need for the Lord to walk with us through this special time as a family!  

I'll give you a quick over view of what we plan on doing in the next couple months....

Add caption

The picture below shows the current group of missionaries at the Ailegue mission where we will be serving.  The couple with the baby- Donovan and Thea Hostetler are coming home due to some complications with her pregnancy.  Their baby that is due within a month or so is breech and seems to be very comfortable in that position.  Since they can't get it to turn they decided to be safe and come home to the States to deliver.  We will be a married couple there in their place as a support to the young people serving in the Clinic or as compound personnel.  Donovon's and one young lady are already gone and one more young lady I believe will be leaving within the month.  Another young man will be coming while we are in Haiti as well.  

We will be sharing our home with 2-3 young men.  The girls live in the other house on the compound.  We share all of our meals.  One night a week we have to ourselves as a family.  On the weekends the group either goes up to Rhonda Reinfords or Don Weaver.  Each morning we have devotions as a group and then everyone scatters to their various responsibilities.  It should be a very interesting time.  I'm sure there will be stretching moments as we go from our little family of 5 to 15 ;-) .  We grew up fast!

 We do have a few specific prayer requests for those of you who would like to support us in this way.

1.  Pray that we would not neglect our personal time with the Lord in the busyness of being with so many people and activity.  We know from experience that to neglect our Lord is to plan to fail.  We feel keenly our need for the Spirit of God to guide us in everyday life here in the States and we know that Haiti will just increase our need for Him.

2. Pray for our marriage that it would remain close and vibrant and would not be stressed by the constant interaction with others.  We will need to carve out alone time strategically.
  

 3. Pray for unity as a family and security for our children as we share our home, meals and life with about 10 young people.  We want our children to have very special memories of the friendships they build there and also keep heart strings tied with us.

 4. Pray that we would be a real blessing to the young people serving there at Ailegue.  We want to do what we can to make it easy for them to fulfill their roles of clinic work and compound upkeep and errands.

5. Pray for our interaction with the Haitian people that it would be with humility and love. Kara already has a pretty good handle on the Creole language since she lived there a year before she got married.  This really helps with good relationships with the people.  We would love for Eugene and the children to start to get a grasp of Creole too.

Stitching a finger on my beloved...We have some very special memories of Haiti...
some more traumatic than others...