Last year's Thanksgiving feast at HAFF happened in my back yard. There were about 40 people from 3 or 4 different countries and several different missions, including the UN military mission to Haiti. There were 3 or 4 languages flying around the tables! And there was LOTS of turkey and stuffing and all the trimmings! Look at that table groan!!! This year, we are keeping it simple. It will just be the 5 of us who are here at HAFF right now. We are doing more quick and easy things like canned ham and stove top stuffing. But one thing will be the same. Our thanks and praise will still go out in gratitude to a gracious God.
May this Thanksgiving be a time of remembering all your many blessings and a time of warm fellowship and time with those you love.
May God bless us one and all!!! 
In the photo below, all the way to the right, you can see an image on a screen. This is a scene from The Jesus Film.
Last evening the new season of HAFF's Jesus Film Ministry began. The rivers are down and the roads are finally dry enough for the team to travel to the outlying churches that request the film.
The Jesus Film is produced by Campus Crusade for Christ and has been translated into many languages, including Haitian Creole.
They have done an excellent job with the translations and the film has been a huge blessing in this area. It is a visual telling of the life of Christ according to the Gospel of Luke. The Lord has used the film to bring many to a saving knowledge of Him.
Sometimes as many as 3 or 4 times in the week during the dry season, the Jesus Film is shown. The Jesus Film team consists of Greg and Zach Van Schoyck, Fabnot Jean, Joesse and Dr Jerry Pennington, when he is in country.
The Ministry is simply a help to the churches in the area. The team just goes to show the film. The host church is responsible for any service before and any altar call afterwards. And the host church is completely responsible for any follow-up of new believers. This is just another way that HAFF is suporting and helping the churches in the Central Plateau reach the folks in their area for Christ.
Here the Jesus Film is being shown to the students at BTI several years ago. The team goes to some area schools during the day as well as to area churches at night. HAFF has acquired a copy of the Jesus Film For Children now. It is in English, so when the team shows it, someone interprets in Creole for the film.
Below are the photos of a trek with the Jesus Film to an area so remote, even the 4 wheel drive pickup couldn't get there! Look and see how they got the job done!!!
HAFF's vehicles are not just used to transport supplies, cargo and visitors. Several times a week HAFF is called upon to drive someone to the hospital in Pignon. I just spent an hour and a half today in this truck doing that. I took a woman with extremely high blood pressure. She may have had a stroke. Please pray for Mme Rochenel and her family.
At the hospital I encountered 2 ladies from our neighboring orphanage. They had been there all day with 2 of the orphans -- a 21 month old pair of twins. I was able to give them a ride home. And on my way out of Pignon, I was flagged down by a man asking me to take 2 large bags of small bags of treated drinking water to a former student who has a small store across the street from HAFF. It is rare that any of the HAFF staff goes into or comes out of Pignon alone!
Mme Gesson, our Godly Woman class colleague, got news today about her husband's eye. He was able to get to a good eye clinic in Cap Haitien. They told him that he would not regain the sight in his eye. And amazingly enough, it wasn't the mule kick in the eye that is the problem. It sounds like Fr Gesson might have glaucoma. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and comfort for the family. It may be a bit odd, but the mule kick may be responsible for saving his other eye, if it caused them to discover glaucoma and if they can start treatment if the second eye is involved too. Please continue to keep them in prayer.
My laundry lady, Mme Deces came to do my laundry yesterday. She said that Neltha has a burn mark starting from her right temple, right down the front of her body leading to a wound on each hip. She said the burns are starting to itch -- hopefully a good sign of healing. And Neltha has a severe headache, but she can walk and talk. Please continue to keep Neltha in prayer as well.
Last January a group of students from Gordon College in Massachusetts came to HAFF. They came with ECHO to study Agricultural Development. But while they were here, they shared about servant leadership with the Young Leaders Class. The culmination of their lesson was a foot washing ceremony. After the Gordon students washed the feet of the Young Leaders, the Young Leaders told Barb Van Schoyck, "Now, we want to wash their feet!" And that is what is happening in the photo.
Monday, 7 November, was the first day of the second year of the Young Leaders for God Class. The class is coordinated by Barb and former BTI student Derold Mompremier. That first day, 13 BTI students met to start the session with praise and prayer. Barb and Derold then gave them an introduction to the course and to Biblical leadership. The class teaches the students the principles, guidelines and responsibilities of Godly leadership in the home, the church, the community and the nation. The students also do several service projects during the year. Last year they built two brick benches in the BTI school yard, did some clean up work at a local park and painted the doors, windows and benches at a remote church.
Wednesday was the second meeting of the Young Leaders Class. The day focused on a round table discussion with local pastors about servant leadership. Barb reported that it went well. "They really got it!", she said. Please pray for these young men and women that the things they are learning would become traits that can enable them lead in their homes, churches, communities and nation, to the glory of God.
This photo is from 2 years ago. The woman in the white blouse is Madame Bibit. She does the most exquisite embroidery in the area. That is why we invite her to teach embroidery to our Godly Woman Class.
This photo also well illustrates the activities of 8 November 2003. That was the first day of the 2005 - 2006 year of the Godly Woman Class at HAFF. It was a busy day. It started out with 11 of the 12 women, Barb Van Schoyck, our colleague Madame Gesson and me singing a hymn of praise. We introduced the course and outlined the expectations. Then followed a time of getting to know eachother. We introduced ourselves, learned about one another and played two games that break the ice and show how we can depend on one another and how when we work together, we can accomplish our goals.
Then the really serious work of the day began. Barb lead an in depth study of the godly woman of Proverbs 31:10 - 31. We talked about the activities she is involved in, what parts of her body she uses and how she uses them. And we stressed that it is only when we are founded in Christ that we can become like this woman. After a coffee break, we had several women from the community come and share about women they know in their lives who exemplify the character of the Proverbs 31 woman. I moderated the round table discussion.
After a lunch of beans and rice, Madame Bibite and a former Godly Young Woman Class graduate, Sister Lauriana, came and taught the ladies embroidery in the afternoon. The group worked well together and there was a spirit of peace and eagerness throughout the day. The ladies are still somewhat shy, but I am sure they will soon become a close group of friends. Please continue to hold these women in your prayers. Sister Michelene Amicy Germain was the only one of the ladies to not come for this first day. We do not know why she was not there. Please pray for her that she would be able to come to all the other classes. The next meeting is November 22nd.
This is Mme Deces. She does my laundry on Mondays and my marketing on Saturdays. Wednesday evening, her daughter Neltha was struck by lightening. She has burns on her body, a wound on her hip and her whole body hurts. At first she could neither talk nor walk. Thursday morning her speach returned, but she could still not walk. By Thursday evening, she could walk with help. Please pray for comfort her mother and the family. Pray that the doctors would have the wisdom and she and her family would have the faith and the diligence to do all that is necessary for her to regain full use of all her faculties. Pray that this would draw them all closer to the Lord and that the Lord would restore Neltha to full health. Thank you so much.
This is Madame Gesson who works with Barb and me to coordinate the Godly Woman Class. Her husband, Fre Gesson, was kicked in the eye by a mule a month or so ago. He got treatment right away, but he still has no sight in that eye. Please pray that his spirit would remain strong and that his vision would return completely.
This is Lila Clark, HAFF and BTI (Bohoc Training Institute) founder. She is working with Maccene Limpreux, former BTI student and current BTI teacher. Lila was a master teacher certified to teach everything from Kindergarten through 12th grade and from mentally handicapped to gifted and talented. She was convinced that Maccene was a gifted student.
Lila was instrumental in Plateau education from long before she founded HAFF. She started the first primary schools, the first Sunday schools and now, with BTI, the first secondary school. She taught Bible classes, English classes and translated Sunday School lessons in the 1950's. Now, there is a primary school in just about every church and there are I think 5 other secondary schools in the Pignon area. She has left a huge legacy.
BTI has been a part of the Bohoc/LaJeune community since the beginning. The parents are pleased to have a secondary school of BTI's quality in the area. Before BTI, parents were required to sacrifice for high tuition, room rental and food for their children to go to school in Hinche or Cap Haitien or Port-au-Prince. So, BTI helps the community in that way.
But, BTI helps in other ways as well. The rooms and grounds are used for other seminars and meetings and will even be used for a wedding in December! The most remarkable of these events is shown in the photograph. This is 18 May 1986, Haiti's first Flag Day since President for Life Jean Claude Duvalier got kicked out of Haiti. It was a day of joy and high patriotism. Flag day is normally a day of celebration. It starts with a mass at the local Catholic chapel. Afterward, marching groups from various primary schools, who have been practicing for months, lead a procession to the local soccer field. There, the flag is raised, the groups show off their synchronized moves, there are speeches, skits and band music. In 1986 the people added a stop. They raised the flag at BTI!
In the fall of 1986, I was not the only American Science teacher at BTI. Liz and Denis Lincoln from Vermont trained with me and arrived in Haiti on the same plane as I did. We started teaching Science together. Liz taught Biology, I taught Geology and Astronomy and Denis taught Physics and Chemistry. Later, after the Lincolns went back to Vermont, I taught them all.
This photo is of two 8th graders using one of our hand made spectroscopes. By using the spectroscopes to observe the spectra of several kinds of light, the students learn how scientists identify unknown materials and even the composition of the stars and other bodies in space.
When I came to HAFF, 10 student microscopes arrived soon afterwards. Most of them are still in good shape. The humidity during the summer does not treat lenses well, so a few of them have mold growing on the lenses, even though there has been silica gel packed with them.
But the microscopes have given good service. Each year the 9th grade looks at human cheek cells, onion cells and attempts to see live protozoa in stagnant "pond" water. We have also looked at stomates in tree leaves, blood cells and malaria carrying mosquitoes.
With visiting veterinarians and local veterinary agents, we have looked at intestinal parasites and blood. We have also shown them how to do stool samples. All this in the attempt to show God's creation in all its wonder and to help the Haitians better understand their bodies and how they work, so they can take better care of themselves and their animals. And all this is a way to show God's love and care for us all.
Thanks to the San Bernardino California Amateur Astronomers Club, BTI has a 6 inch reflector telescope. When we can find a dependably clear night (harder and harder each year), we invite a BTI class to come and look at the stars, galaxies and planets. We have seen the rings of Saturn, 4 of Jupiters 5 Galileans moons, the Orion nebula and the Andromeda galaxy. We have shown people (with suitable precautions) sunspots, solar and lunar eclipses! The Heavens DO declare the Glory of God!
During stargazing nights, the students have used home-made starframes to help them find the constellations in the night sky.
A starframe is a piece of clear plastic attached to a wire frame. The positions of the stars in a given constellation are marked on the plastic with correction fluid. When the frame is held at arm's length, the dots on the plastic match up with the stars in the sky. The young woman holding the starframe is Anthiode Desrosier nee Francois. She was another student Lila considered to be gifted. She started at BTI at the same time as Met Maccene. She is now a BTI Math teacher.
