Sheppard Family Update

Sorry for the lack of blog posts this past month. I'm still trying to find the balance between "doing" and "writing about doing". When we're incredibly busy, just know we are less likely to be active on the blog.

November was one of the busiest months we've had so far. I had the great pleasure of attending the Caribbean Psychological Association Conference in Suriname. It took me FOREVER to fly to Suriname (which is a small country on the northeastern part of South America). It is considered part of the Caribbean because it is on the Caribbean Sea, but I really knew next to nothing about the country. I would have "thought" that they spoke Spanish, but low and behold, they actually speak Dutch. You learn something new everyday! It is an amazing country that I hope to visit again someday (Lord willing).

Thankful to be a part of promoting mental health services and networking with others on the best practices within the Caribbean. Sophia and I (another Walden PhD Student) were able to help with tracking and distributing CEU credits to participants. We're both praying that we finally graduate this summer! Would appreciate your prayers in this area.

There are virtually no mental health services in our area in Haiti. We're really praying about the best way to proceed in assisting with the promotion of mental health services. Since I left my position at Mountain Top, I've been contacted by various organizations to assist with training staff, developing safety plans, as well as providing mental health services for missionary families and expats. It has been a blessing to now have the time to provide some of these services. Previously I was too busy in the role of clinic administrator to really do much of anything with mental health. My background is in mental health, so it's nice to be able to serve in this area.

I received a full scholarship to attend a training at Texas Christian University and a three month course on Trust Based Relational Intervention. I am now going though the process of becoming a trainer for trainers in this area. I am also beginning to volunteer with Crisis Care Training International (a division of WEC international) on planning a trauma training in Haiti. Many ministries have contacted us and are seeking help in working with children with trauma and training their staff to work with children with trauma.

I was also honored by being invited to participate in a Scholar's of Change panel discussion in San Diego in November. It was wonderful to share ideas on how to promote sustainable social change worldwide. One area that we feel passionate about is sustainability. If there is anything that we do in Haiti, we hope that the project or implementation of change does not depend on us. It is one of the things we discuss frequently. Often the "white people" show up and implement a project, but sometimes that project is dependent exclusively on outside funding. The people in the community may look towards outside funding to sustain projects instead of finding ways to make sustainable change within a country or community. It's not an easy task and generally there does need to be a phase out plan, but we are blessed to be in contact with other ministries that have accomplished this task and continue to promote this way of "helping" others throughout the world.


Thanksgiving was a blessing to spend together with friends and family. We had some missionary friends over as well as a local Haitian family and another Haitian friend that we've known for many years. We're blessed to have so many close friends that feel like "family" to us. Joan flew out on Thanksgiving back to Oregon to spend time with her family and will be returning this week with Phuong. Joan will stay with us long term (yay) and Phuong will spend a month with us in Haiti. Since I went into the states twice in November, I was able to bring many needed supplies back to Haiti with me (including a turkey, ham, and some cheese)!

We're getting to know more and more local families and will have a few local families over on Christmas day. Sometimes it "feels" like we're not doing enough and other times it feels like we're dong "too much". It's hard to describe. We are in process of finding that balance between serving and just being there to get to know people in order to evangelize and develop disciples. It is so easy to get caught up in doing, doing, doing. We have to continually remind ourselves to slow down and focus on developing relationships with people, increase our understanding of the language, continue to learn about the culture, and share our relationship with the Lord. After all, our main reason for being anywhere is to spread Christ to the nations.


Please join us in prayer for finding that unique balance! Our pastor at the church we attend here in Haiti reminded us that they used to send missionaries in the field and for the first 4 years they really didn't do anything except integrate into the community. When we first came, we hit the ground running and were very busy in our "roles" serving.  Now we're backtracking a bit and focusing on really developing those close relationships.

Ron continues to hold down the home front when I travel and serves in the village of Belot. Joan continues to homeschool the kids. She is a tremendous blessing for our family. Thank you Grandma Joan! The kids continue to serve in various capacities. We are getting to know other missionaries. I'm teaching gymnastics with the homeschool group when I have a chance and we're involved with a Third Culture Kid group. We're not nearly as isolated as we were last year now that we have a truck to get around. Haiti feels like home to us and we are so very thankful to be here!

And good news for our family on the horizon: Joseph (our oldest) will be here in January, our oldest daughter will already be here for the month, and our second oldest daughter (Maliya) may be coming as well. Now we only need Kenneth (second oldest son) to travel here in order to have our entire family in one place!