What's Up, Doc ?

I'm sorry that I don't get around to posting on the blog very often. It seems as though we're only posting when we travel or something...just from time to time. Life is a bit hectic and looney sometimes. We haven't been great at just posting the day-to-day happenings in Haiti. It feels somewhat cold and distant to pull out a phone and snap pictures with the people we're around day-in and day-out. And to be honest, we're really busy simply doing what we're doing without the photo-ops. On the positive side, we don't have administrative costs and overhead. Yet on the negative side, it's just us out here without the security of a big supporting organization.

Ron continues to assist with the rebuilding of the Church in Nouvelle Terrain. It's been a long process, but we're so appreciative of your prayers in that regard since its destruction during Hurricane Matthew. Everything is such a slow process and it seems there's just one disaster after another. It feels--at times--that Haiti simply can't catch a break. We've been blessed to receive an incredible donation from Operation Blessings to assist with the rebuild in Nouvelle Terrain. They had some leftover funds from their hurricane relief efforts. Praise God! I love that ministries can work together and help one another! It's something we don't always--or even often--see (unfortunately).

Linda continues to assist with medical care (within Haiti as well as Guatemala and Ecuador) and provide mental health services in a dizzying range of ways (She's doing so many things she's spinning 'round and 'round). We had a small group travel out to Nouvelle Terrain (this is the very remote village where we assist in Haiti) and operate a mobile medical clinic. There, one of the American CNMs (certified nurse midwives) in the group has agreed to help provide training to the matrons (the men and women who help with the births in the villages). The organization of this training is still in the works (pray for guidance!). We are often pulled into various medical things from HIV testing and follow-up treatment to simply trying to figure out what is going on with individuals in order to get them the help they need. We had one man in the village who was suspected of having syphillis, but it turns out that wasn't accurate and nobody could figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, a sad part of what we do here sometimes involves seeing people who we try to help die from "unknown" causes ("unknown" here with the limited testing available to us, but in the USA the causes would be so much more easily diagnosed).

The processes of so many things are incredibly complicated and time-consuming. For example, we assist with transporting some of the babies (and their parents) to a malnutrition center where they get excellent care and they generally recover, BUT....then there are long term details involved with assisting that family in developing a long term plan to increase crop production or with the village regarding their strategy for feeding their children. Otherwise, the children will simply return to the malnutrition center in the same condition (or worse) many months later. The resources are simply not there for the many elements where we see needs. Storm upon storm washes away crops in the villages, creates mudslides, causes homelessness, which in turn contributes to starving and severely malnourished babies and children.

On the mental health end of things, Linda still has her office in Pétionville 2-3 days a week and is in her office in Tabarre also 2-3 days a week. This makes for a busy schedule especially when a few days ago it took 4 hours to get home from her office. The traffic this month has been horrific. There's been an increase in robberies and kidnapping (you know how it is, things like that), so not only does that add some stress in the commute, but also an increase in the need for mental health services since many people are suffering from trauma and anxiety that live and work on the field.

We so appreciate your continued prayers and patience with us. If you don't see us posting often, know that we're working hard, and we're praying daily for strength and direction in what God's doing here in Haiti. One amazing thing that the Lord has provided for the 4 and a half years that we've been living in Haiti is the clear calling of being here. It's been tough and we've been tired and stressed, sad and mad, but we've yet to feel that God doesn't want us here. We are confident that we're exactly where the Lord has placed us to be. He doesn't say it will be easy, but He does say He will not abandon us (praise the Lord!).

Thank you for your financial support as well. We have no idea how God's going to work out the funding of each and every day. We are so very low on funds that I don't even know how to address that. We are praying for an increase in our monthly support in order to bring down some of the stress of the unknown on a day-by-day basis. We were so on-fire while moving here and just trusting in the Lord that He'll provide. We believed (and still believe) that we need to walk in Faith and not by Sight. We are doing that, but it also doesn't mean the Lord could not outline some of the resources in advance as well (pretty please? haha...).

If you feel called to assist even with a very small monthly donation, please know that we will use those funds to the best of our ability to help those with the greatest need. One of the hardest parts about living here is seeing the needy everywhere yet knowing we can't help everyone. We are so blessed by having World Outreach Ministries to handle our home office. This has allowed us to spend more time actually serving versus working on administrative details. Tax deductible donations can be made either one time or on a monthly basis in these ways:

1. DONATE ONLINE!

https://www.worldoutreach.org/index.php/missionary-support-2
(Select our name from the list and follow the prompts)

2. MAIL CHECKS TO:

World Outreach Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box B
Marietta, GA 30061
(designate for Ron & Linda Sheppard #546)

3. BILL PAY - via your online banking

World Outreach Ministries, Inc.
(designate for Ron & Linda Sheppard #546)
P.O. Box B
Marietta, GA 30061

(if you don't like the editing, blame David *haha*)

Juggling Multiple Roles as a Missionary

Office in Petionville, Haiti

Hmm...people keeping asking me to outline what a "typical" day in my life looks like. Oh my gosh. It kinda makes me want to laugh because I don't know that there is a "typical" day in my life or a "typical" day in the life of really anyone that lives in Haiti, or a typical day in the life of a missionary, but I'll give it a try.

Our life is very complex. We wear so many different hats and have to adapt to changes perpetually. I will try to outline just an example of what our schedule looks like when things go well in Haiti (or in our lives).

I work/serve/volunteer in my office in Petionville 2-3 days a week (usually two specific week days and every other Friday). This depends on details of unrest or being called "on the scene" I guess you could say at times. On a good day, it takes 20-30 minutes to get to my office from our home. On a bad day...hmmm...well...maybe hours.

Play therapy area for children

Processing Grief and Loss

In my office in Petionville, I mostly see individual clients (or couples). I have fish that I am thankful for and I kinda/sorta have air conditioning in that office (which perpetually does not work- in fact my ceiling fell down the other day, but that's a minor detail). It's a nice little relaxing atmosphere when things go well. Some of the clients I see are children, missionaries struggling with transitions, expat/ngo workers with a range of variables, victims of sexual assault is not uncommon, victims of shooting or witnesses to shootings is also not uncommon, individuals that have been held hostage, individuals with a whole range of trauma that I guess I'd rather not go into detail about.



It can be ultra sad stuff to be brutally honest. But one good thing that I hold onto is that this life feeling HARD is a really good thing. The reason it is good, is that I do still care. I am not numb to the suffering of others or the serious concerns of trauma on the field. Being numb would maybe make it easier, but I also realize that is a dangerous place to be (when we begin to no longer FEEL what we do on the field).

Trauma Workshop for Teens

I also assist with marriage counseling, couples therapy, adoption therapy, attachment therapy, and on and on.  These things are actually "less" stressful and help to give me a more balanced work load to prevent burnout in myself. It is difficult for me to share "what" I do because of confidentiality, but on the other hand, I want to be transparent with donors. We NEED funding and people do need to have a general idea at least of the types of things that we do. Probably under 20% of my client base are paying clients (some at very reduced rates). I'm pulled into a lot of unique situations that do not have specific funding (trauma related situations of evacuating individuals with mental health needs or crisis situations). I am not "good" at saying no, but that is a whole different topic. I am getting better at saying no and we are certainly praying about what we can do for "free/volunteer/reduced rate" compared to the percentage of full pay clients with overhead and we need to actually eat also.

On the other two weekdays (and every other Saturday), I work in my new office in Tabarre (which is upstairs from Pizza Amour). This is all the way across town where it is HOT and dusty. Usually it takes me about an hour and a half to get to this office, but it can take three or more hours when there are issues. In that office, we have hired an amazing local social work student/staff who is assisting with group therapy, research studies, individual therapy, and helping with a range of workshops we are currently offering. I'll attach some examples. I'm excited about what we are offering in this location. As Stephana begins to work more directly with the local population, we will increase our ability to offer more mental health services. We work within sex trafficking, sexual abuse/assault, orphan prevention, transitioning out of orphanages, transitioning into independence, parenting classes, men's groups on respecting women, rape prevention, trauma healing groups, etc.

Teen Trauma Workshop

So...five or six days a week I am doing therapy essentially in one form or another. I continue to see clients on Skype in the evenings or early mornings and have begun to have clients in various countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Online, I work mostly with missionary/expat families that are raising children with trauma on the field (often through adoption) as well as teen adoptees and adult adoptees. It is a unique niche where I think there is a great need. I would appreciate anyone spreading the word regarding my Tuesday night Free Live Streaming from The Chance to Dream Facebook page https://web.facebook.com/thechancetodream/?ref=br_rs  as well as the availability of appointments for services. https://www.schedulicity.com/scheduling/AAFRZU

Assessing children for Malnutrition

As a family, the bulk of what we do is sustainability in a range of ways and preventative services.  I'm sorry to so blatantly say this, but there is essentially NO money in preventative or sustainability programs. The resources we "used to have" and the resources we have now are night and day different. We NEED your help! If we were to step in and "save" the orphan child, it pulls at heart strings, but doing programs to prevent children from being poverty orphans doesn't get much funding. If we are stepping in to "save" a child from sex trafficking, there is a different ability to recruit funds than if we are working with the girls/teens/boys years after they we removed from abusive situations. These children and adults are are still working through their trauma and conditioning that has developed due to their early history. Without this long term support, they often go back to where they were before they were "saved" from whatever fate they were in.

Medical Care in Haiti- with Vanessa and Julia
This is someone bringing a baby to our house
which is not uncommon

When we step in and "save" children from starvation and feed them and show a starving baby and now a healthy baby, there is funding for that (and we do some of that as well), but there is essentially NO funding for preventing that baby from starving in the first place or funding for long term job creation programs so families can feed their kids. If we step in and open an orphanage and "save" children from the streets, there is funding for that, but if we are seeking out the families that have placed their children into orphanages when they were not in fact orphans at all and we try to help assist the family in parenting their child, there is essentially no funding for that. If we open a medical clinic and we serve hundreds or thousands of patients and bring in US doctors to prescribe medication and "save" patients from eminent death, there is funding for that, but if we go out to villages and do preventative medical care without prescribing medications that cannot be purchased here anyway, there is virtually NO funding for that.

Hiking to Noevelle Terrain

We used to work in orphanages and adoption for years. I worked in medical clinics for years. I held the dying babies and "saved" the dying babies, but the Lord has really opened our eyes to the "how can we prevent this" thought process. What can/should we be doing BEFORE it reaches that point?? Our focus now is very educational and preventative.

View from the hike to Noevelle Terrain

We do also serve in two different villages way up in the mountains in Haiti. We work alongside two local pastors in their services of these villages. We do not take "ownership" for our service in these villages. This is also confusing to people. Where is YOUR school or church or clinic? Hmm...yes, we have helped to build a school and a church (or two) and a clinic, but they are not OURS. They belong to the villages. The villages built and are instrumental in the projects. We are in the villages and we are hands on. We continue to provide funding when we are able to.

We try to hike into Noevelle terrain every month and offer educational training as well as provide periodic medical clinics, working on a plan to get not only clean water, but actually a water system to the village (since they lack water entirely , help with agriculture, we've done a TON of building assistance, and we assist with discipleship and evangelism as well. We "try" to go to the other village every week and help with a range of projects, but we are very intentional about being on "the side" in these villages. We want to enhance and support community ownership instead of promote a continual handout and produce amazing things (schools, churches, clinics, feeding programs) that would all completely fall apart if we were not here. And no- we don't have any intention of leaving Haiti, but we do not want to develop programs that are dependent on foreigners in general.

Medical Team in Ecuador September 2017

Ron and the kids assist in all kinds of projects for both of these villages (some of kids build and translate and pack supplies and help with clinics or VBS). I mostly stick to the organization of implementation of medical care within these communities (bringing out teams when we can, transporting some starving babies to malnutrition clinics, HIV testing and follow up, blood pressure clinic, following some on chronic conditions). We are hopeful to have an amazing friend/missionary who is nurse midwife that may be doing some training within the local matrons to help reduce infant and maternal mortality rate by increases prenatal care and education of the community. I still do medical teams to Guatemala 2-3 times a year and once a year to Ecuador as well as implement training with first responders (fire fighters, paramedics). 

In Home Visit with Dr. Diane in Guatemala

Teaching Gymnastics for Missionary/Expat Kids

I do a lot of workshops and training on Sustainability and Self-Care and so part of that would be why I am involved with coaching gymnastics and teaching crossfit. We have Crossfit and Poker every Sunday night at our house. I also teach at a dance studio every week and offer homeschool gymnastics and gymnastics for expat kids periodically. We hope to rent the Olympic Stadium possibly four times this year and do classes for expat kids. There are not a lot of healthy outlets (or outlets at all) for missionary kids to sustain on the field.

Teaching Gymnastics at the Stadium with Children's Home

We NEED your help to keep doing what we do here on the field and throughout The Caribbean and Latin America. We do not draw a salary from The Chance to Dream or from any other organization. We are blessed to be a part of World Outreach Ministries which serves as our home office for personal funding. This connection allows us to do more on the field and spend less time with administrative details. We need your help in serving and helping many organizations serve more effectively on the field. Would you consider partnering with us monthly? We are doing a strong PUSH to increase our monthly donations in order to stress less about how in the world is the Lord going to work out these details of our own survival.  We know that God is good and is BIGGER than finances, but we urgently need your help today!

1. DONATE ONLINE!

https://www.worldoutreach.org/index.php/missionary-support-2
(Select our name from the list and follow the prompts) There is an option to set up monthly donations.

2. MAIL CHECKS TO:

World Outreach Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box B
Marietta, GA 30061
(designate for Ron & Linda Sheppard #546)

3. BILL PAY - via your online banking which can set up monthly donations as well

World Outreach Ministries, Inc.
(designate for Ron & Linda Sheppard #546)
P.O. Box B
Marietta, GA 30061

Please email us: Haitimissionaries@gmail.com  or Linda@aafcs.net or Message us on Facebook: The Chance to Dream just to let us know if you begin to partner with us monthly. We want to thank you personally, but this also helps us track donations appropriately and see where we are at with recruiting funds. We are seeking 60 partners in 60 days and are in need of 50 more partners currently. God Bless you and thank you for your continued prayers, love, and support!

Love,

Linda for The Sheppard Family in Haiti (Ron, Christelle, Talitha, Billy, Roseminique, Melissa, Jordan, Steevenson, and Noami).

Joseph, Kenneth, David, Phuong, Maliya, and Julia are doing well stateside. David is set to move to China in three weeks! Praying for him as the Lord leads him to serve in my mother's homeland. Julia is pursuing nursing at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. We appreciate your prayers for our grown children as they navigate life independently.

Naomi's milestone and ours

As any parent can tell you, there are certain milestones in the life of your child that are more difficult than others.   First words, and first steps are joyous occasions, but happen at unexpected times with little to no warning.  Other times are well planned, like a wedding.  One of the most difficult days for a lot of parents is the first day of school.  For many children, this will be the first time they are not under Mom or Dad's wing.  Their first venture into independence.  The excitement and uncertainty can be difficult. This day is often described by many parents as the most difficult day in parenting.
As many of you know, we homeschool.  Most of our 14 children have never attended either a public or private school.  However, a few minutes ago, Naomi started her first day of school here in Haiti.

Naomi ready for her first day of school

As most parents will say, this is a stressful day for any child, which generates stress for the parents.  Here in Haiti--and specifically for us--there are additional stressors involved.  Naomi is currently sitting in a classroom in a school that is being taught in French.  Naomi does not speak French, or very much Creole (the language most people here speak).  And none of her teachers speak English.  She is also quite likely the one white student in the school.
As I brought her to school this morning, the school graciously allowed me to enter beyond the point that they allow parents.  I escorted Naomi to the playground where all of the other students were playing until classes began.  It was like a seen from a movie as 150 or 160 kids of all grades stopped what they were doing to see the little white girl.  Naomi's excitement suddenly turned to trepidation as she realized that I would not be staying with her all day.  She grabbed my hand and held on tight.  I told her that everything would be fine and I would be back to get her after school.  I showed her where her classroom was and that I wanted to hear all about her new friends, her teacher, and her day.  It was difficult to leave, but I made it with no tears (at least on the outside).  Please pray for Naomi (and us a parents).

God Bless,

Ron

Hurricane Irma Prep

As I sit here typing this, we are waiting for the arrival of Hurricane Irma.  The traffic is much lighter than normal, and a strange calm.  I have seen reports of the devastation this storm has already caused.  They are reporting that this is the most powerful hurricane to ever come out of the Atlantic.  The last report I saw, it has sustained winds of 180mph and gusts to over 220mph.  Irma will pass about 100 miles North of where we are, so I hope that it is not too bad here.  We are however 4000 feet higher than Port-Au-Prince.  

We have tied everything down that we can.  I have used car tie down straps for the solar panels on the roof. When Hurricane Matthew came through last October, I had used a 3/8" rope to tie the solar panels down.  It worked, we did not lose any panels.  After the storm however, the rope was broken and the racking for the panels had broken.  Since Irma has much higher winds, I thought it would be a good idea to be safe and use something stronger.  Hopefully the anchors into the concrete roof stay in place.
We have pulled everything away from windows, mostly over a concern of things getting wet.  The homes here are not sealed.  No caulking around windows, so heavy rains will come in around window frames.  We are expecting some rain to get into the house, so we have towels, mops, and buckets ready. 

Our furniture pulled to the center of the room

My tools are in small rooms downstairs.  We are expecting those rooms to flood, so we placed everything on pallets, hoping that this will be sufficient.  We have brought some tools into the house for easy access if needed.  We have a small chainsaw that is ready to go.  Although there are not many trees here.  I have rope and shovels ready if needed.

Watching the news, I see many needs.  Recovery from Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and the fires in the Columbia River Gorge and all over the Western States. 

Add caption

So please, pray for those that have been impacted by these events and for those in the path of this storm.  Also, pray for those that will be helping with the recovery.  Seeing this type of destruction is very emotional.  please pray that they have the strength they need and help them to know that helping others in need is the right thing to do.

God Bless,

Ron Sheppard

How Dancing for Donors Reduces Self Care and Increases Burnout on the Field

This is such a tough balance here on the mission field. I try to help many missionaries, but most of them express the continual challenge of balancing self care and dancing for donors expectations. What elements of our life do we have to hide for fear of judgment with donors? Should we feel guilty for spending $20 on ourselves? I know this seems to be a semi-hidden topic, but it is certainly one that many individuals are conflicted about. And I have to admit that I am a part of that conflicted group of concerned individuals. We need money, but should we "hide" fun and only post pictures of starving babies and all the tough stuff we do on the field?

Me and Roseminique at the Beach in Haiti

I STRONGLY encourage everyone to evaluate their daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual burn-out prevention plan. What are we doing each day outside of ministry? What are we doing each week (date night/day), each month (taking the kids to the beach maybe), each quarter (getting out of the area where we serve and are swarmed by requests for something every moment), each year (maybe visiting a location across the country to see something different). What happens though when we post a picture on facebook of us sitting on the beach sipping a fruity adult beverage? God forbid I would be wearing a bikini. Yikes! 

Often we essentially receive the thoughts- Oh wait- I thought you were missionaries, but you are just sitting around lounging having a good time. We get comments such as, "I wish I was you"....."You sure are living the hard life...lol"......and sure is a "Good thing we did that campaign to fund your social time"....and on and on.

This past month, we started a Friday night gathering with Happy Hour. One of the reasons we did this was to help prevent burnout on the field. I see so many missionaries that really have become "closet" addicts in many ways. They are not allowed to drink or fraternize or relax or unwind. But I will tell you truthfully, many come to me with a bottle of rhum under their car seat or porn addictions or other unhealthy coping mechanisms in order to survive on the field.

I also got a little bit of kick back from doing the Friday night gatherings or possibly from posting "those" events on my facebook page. And then also I had people say to me they would really like to come, but other people cannot know that they drink. Basically we are pushing people to hide in a hole to escape for fear of judgment by donors or fellow missionaries. Now, I'm certainly not an advocate that everyone should drink and I have no issue with personal opinion or theology with abstaining from alcohol. I did in fact go to a Baptist college and honestly drinking has not been much a part of my life historically.

Poker on Sunday Nights

The concern that I have is that people are hitting their limits and then RUNNING to a NEED for some sort of fix instead of planning a healthy relaxing evening on a consistent basis. We have poker night every Sunday here at our house (as well as CrossFit). Some play poker and some of the rest of us sit around and eat. Some will have a prestige or a drink once in a while, but certainly not all and not every time. We don't play for money, it's just a relaxing time with no specific agenda. It is separate from us being "on" all the time with community and with outside opinions on how we should or shouldn't be doing things on the field.

Actually, some of the time we end up having theological discussions during poker, but the key is that there is no specific agenda and it is not for a specific mission organization. There's so much territorial separation on the field that it's sad. Much of this has to do with fighting and battling over funding. Satan will attack us within and we must be aware of the elements that are geared to separate us from one another to reduce the work of the Lord.

I really don't know the answer to any of this, but I would appeal to those off the field to be gentle with us at times. If you see us having fun, consider giving us a thumbs up now and then for self care. We can be plagued with guilt over all we should be doing and some of the comments hurt us deeply. Yes, we need to be held accountable for actually serving on the field and not just living it up having a good time, but really....very few are "living it up" on the field.

Prior to moving on the field, I honestly struggled myself with judgment in this aspect. I would see some missionaries and I thought "gosh...how come they appear to be living better in a third world country then we live in the USA?"  Now I realize that looks can be deceiving. We may have this huge shell of a home because there is no "middle" in this country of haves and have-not's, but much of this is a facade. We have a home with cold water and off and on electricity (when we're fortunate) and of course cockroaches, rats, tarantulas and millions of tiny ants that come and swarm when we smash a cockroach on the floor. We have an AMAZING view, but seeing that view day in and day out through bars on all the windows and gates to keep us safe changes us. It wears on our hearts and on our spirits.

So, if you see those you support relaxing, please encourage them to stick to a regular schedule of self care and not hide their "fun" from the outside world entirely. Help them (and us) to embrace the fun and relaxing times. Help us to care for ourselves so that in turn we will be more equipped to care for others. And always...always...always...continue to pray for us when you are able to. We NEED you!! We really do.

We need your love, your support, your financial assistance, and your thoughts and prayers.

If you would like to donate, please consider even small amounts monthly. Having people committed on a monthly basis certainly reduces much of the stress on the field of wondering each and every month how the Lord is going to pull it together this time.

I have to be honest, I'm tired. I was on the roll. I jumped in head first with 14 one way tickets and absolutely no idea how we would live day in and day out, but confident that the Lord would make a way. God called and we showed up. Well...four years later and we're still here. God's calling is still strong and we have continued to show up. I'm realizing though now that sometimes showing up also means plopping my behind in the sand on the beach (hopefully) once a month to recharge.  After all, God called us to this amazing Caribbean island, but we were not really seeing much of any of it because we were a gerbil running in a wheel.

We still don't know every month how it all works out and how funding will happen. But we are blessed to say the Lord is good ALL the TIME. And we are thankful for YOU!

TO DONATE ONLINE either Monthly or One Time visit:

https://www.worldoutreach.org/index.php/missionary-support-2
(Select our Sheppard, Ron and Linda from the list and follow the prompts)

Or MAIL CHECKS TO:

World Outreach Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box B
Marietta, GA 30061
(designate for Ron & Linda Sheppard #546)
 

security reminder

As with most things in Haiti, security can often time be precarious.  In an effort to provide some much needed income, we have been doing some side work and projects.

I was recently at a building site on one of these projects.  I was walking through a 50 acre construction site with an Architecture student, reviewing the progress of the buildings.  As we were standing near the end of a building, we heard several gunshots coming from the entrance to the facility.  We were on a hillside about 150 yards away and could see the security guards firing into the air and running in our direction.  The student walked out past the end of the building to see who they were chasing up the hill, as he told me to have a seat and stay out of sight.  As he was looking around, he was telling me what was happening.  After a few moments, I saw them escorting a man in handcuffs back down to the gate.  A police pickup arrived and he was taken away.

looking towards the gate from my viewpoint

As a group of us sat there watching, the student was asking the construction workers who the man was and what had happened.  Apparently, he is a local "labor boss" (aka "mafia boss").  He had beaten the security guard at a ministry across the street to protest that he had been brought in from out of town (about 5 miles away).  As we were discussing this, a small group of young men outside the facility began attacking the ministry across the street in protest to their "boss" being arrested.

They broke down the fence and tried to break into a couple of shipping containers that probably had tools they could use to do more damage.  They were unable to get into the containers and things settled down within about 10 minutes.  In the middle of their attempt to get into the containers, we also noticed a dad enter the facility with a baseball bat looking for his 20-something year old son who was also making trouble.  As we watched the dad waving the bat and yelling for his son, we could see the son hiding in the Banana trees and running for the exit.  The son got out without being caught or seen by the dad, so I don't know how that played out later.

Although I never felt as though I was in any danger, this is a good reminder that security in Haiti is fragile at best.  Please pray for our safety as we continue to serve here in Haiti.  Thank you for prayerfully considering supporting us financially.  God Bless

Ron Sheppard

God Can Fix Stupid

As many of you know, I recently returned to Haiti after almost 7 weeks in Oregon.  Prior to our move to Haiti, I was working for Permapost in Hillsboro.  Since moving to Haiti, Permapost has been very generous in providing some part time work for me to do on my computer.  This has been a wonderful blessing for us.  So, when I heard that someone had left and they were looking for another employee, I felt the need to assist if I could.  I spoke with Linda and we prayed about what we could do.  I offered to return to Oregon to assist Permapost with their transition.  To my surprise, they accepted.  They purchased a ticket for me to fly to Oregon and also a ticket for Julia to fly to Haiti, as Linda would be traveling for part of the time I would be gone.  It was a wonderful trip.  I was able to visit many friends I have not seen in years, eat, visit some churches I have not been able to visit, eat, do some home repairs for the kids, eat, drive faster tan 25 MPH, eat, and many other things that are difficult to do in Haiti.  Although it was good, I had a difficult time being away from home for so long.

Preparing for the trip:
With only a few days before leaving on an extended trip, there was a lot of preparation work I needed to do.  I spoke with both of the pastors we work with and let them know I would be gone for a while, but that I could be reached on my Haitian cell phone (it only cost $15/month for my Digicel phone number to work in the US).  I needed to make sure we had propane for cooking, our cistern water was treated, we had plenty of beans, plenty of rice, plenty of flour, plenty of sugar, the oil was changed in the generator, the batteries that provide electricity for the house had water, the solar panels were cleaned off, and the cars were in good running condition.  With all of these things to check and only a few days, I was bound to miss something.


This never happens in Haiti:
I had an early morning departure from Port-Au-Prince heading to Miami, then to Dallas and arriving in Portland just before midnight (approximately 19 hours).  Linda and Naomi graciously got up very early to take me to the airport.  They dropped me off outside of the airport and I hauled my bags inside to check-in.  I walked up to the kiosk to check in and I placed my passport on the screen, and it said it could not find my ticket, so I searched by my name.  It asked me to scan my passport and then immediately told me this passport is expired. I thought to myself, "no way" but as I read the expiration date of Jan 2017, I thought "oh this is not good". I called Linda to turn around and come get me.  I had to stop twice on my way back out through the entrance to explain, through my embarrassment, why I was going out through the entrance.  Linda and Naomi returned to pick me up and we headed home to see what we could do to fix this.  As soon as we arrived home, I emailed Permapost that I would probably be a few days late arriving and then I began looking for the documents I knew would be required to renew my passport.  Linda was checking the US Embassy website for other details.  She noticed that if you have an expired passport and a flight within 48 hours, you can get a temporary passport.  I found the documents that I thought were needed, as well as a set of photos that I could use.  Linda began filling out the forms online and I printed those and headed to the embassy.  For those of you who have never tried to go to the US Embassy in Haiti, it is not like the movies.  You must have an appointment to enter, even with US citizenship.

The Embassy website indicated that no appointment would be necessary for an emergency passport.  As I approached the entrance, the guard asked for my name.  I told him I didn't have an appointment, but I needed an emergency passport.  I handed him my expired passport, and he said NO, you are not on my list.  I asked him to check with someone inside, that I did not need an appointment for this.  He looked very confused that I would not need an appointment, but went inside to ask another guard.  The second guard came to me and asked why I did not need an appointment.  I explained, and he said come with me to the security screening.  Once we arrived there he called someone inside the embassy, spoke for a moment and then handed me the phone.  It was clearly someone who spoke much better English than the guards.  I explained the situation and he said, no problem and asked me to hand the phone back to the guard.  You cannot take cell phones into the Embassy, so I had to check my phone outside the security station.  Once inside the process went very well.  I would get a temporary passport, good for 90 days, and if I renewed within a year I would not have to pay again.  They told me it would take about 1 hour to process, at this point it is just after 9am.  I walked back out to security to use my phone and call Linda. She had been on the phone with the airline attempting to get a new flight.  Although, we had travel insurance, the airline essentially told Linda that the insurance didn't cover "stupid". If you missed the flight for a list of reasons out of your control, that was covered. But if you missed the flight for your own incompetence, they could do nothing about that. They wanted more than the cost of the original ticket to re book.  They did suggest that we go into the airport and ask the ticket counter to be merciful.  So as Linda is explaining this to me, I am letting her know that I should have a passport in about an hour.  We agree to meet at a pizza place to leave a car there instead of at the airport.  The owners live near us and said they could bring Linda down the next day to get the other car.  By 9:30 I have my temporary passport.  In Haiti this is nothing short of a miracle!  I head over to Pizza Amour and call Linda. She had just left the house, so I decided to eat while I was waiting.  She arrived and we went to the airport arriving just before 11am.  I walked up to the ticket counter and told the man that I had missed my flight.  With no hesitation at all, he said he would get me on the next flight, leaving just after noon.  He booked me on standby for the next 2 flights and said that I should be able to make them all.  Again, in Haiti this is a miracle.  The concept of customer service in Haiti is nothing like in the US, so this was not the response I was expecting.  I would be flying the same route: Port-Au-Prince to Miami to Dallas to Portland arriving at 12:30am.  Leaving 4 hours later and arriving 1/2 hour later than originally planned, at no additional cost...God can fix stupid, Thank you Lord.


Traveling to Oregon:
 Now that I have a passport, and a Ticket, I get through security and to the gate.  I look at the status of the flight and it is listing the passengers on standby.  I am number 32 of 35 people waiting to get on his flight.  I was certain, I would be calling Linda back to pick me up.  I believe that I was the last person to get on the plane.  Once I arrived in Miami, I needed to get through Customs and Immigration before heading to my next flight.  It took me a couple of try to get my nice new passport to scan at the kiosk in Miami, but it worked.  This however would be a hint of my return trip.  After getting through both Customs and Immigration, I headed to the gate for my next flight to see if I would be able to get on the flight.  I explained that I was on Standby and asked if I would be able to get on the flight.  She looked across the terminal and said she wasn't sure, but there was a seat on the flight right over there that leaves for Dallas now (1 hour earlier) and I could go on that one if I wanted.  I would be arriving in Dallas early, so that would give me time to eat before the next flight. I quickly rushed over and again I was the last person to board the plane.  Arriving in Dallas with about 1-1/2 hours to eat I ended up at this place called the Twisted Root Burger.  I ordered a burger, and instead of asking my name to call when the order was ready, they handed me a card with an actors name on it and said they would call that name when it is ready.  It appeared to me as they were calling names out that they were using actors from Westerns.  They called Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and I had Slim Pikens.  Apparently they could not find too many actress names from Westerns, because they called Mae West and the next woman's name was Lady Gaga.  Not sure how that fits in.  I ate my burger, headed to the gate and boarded my flight to Portland.  The flight went well and we arrived early, so after all of the stuff that happened, I arrived in Portland 15 min after I was originally scheduled to arrive.  Julia was there waiting for me.  It was good to see her.  God was making things happen for me to get there.

Time in Oregon:
I will not go into much detail regarding my time in Oregon.  I was able to do some work on the house where 4 of our adult kids are living.  Very good to see them.  It was very interesting to wake up each morning to David sitting at his computer teaching English and seamlessly switch from English to Mandarin and back mid sentence. It felt very strange to drive faster than 25 MPH, and not have potholes everywhere, and tap taps stopping in the street, and motos weaving through traffic.  It was a very nice break to not have people asking for money every few minutes simply because they are actually starving.  I do not blame them for asking, but it was nice to not feel that burden for a few weeks.  I had the chance to visit with some people I have not seen for many years, and to visit some churches that are very special to us.  God is good.  I was also able to assist Permapost with their transition and exercise some of my mostly forgotten Excel abilities.  Of course, I purchased supplies to carry back with me.  I believe it was a productive and restful trip for me, two things that are very difficult to achieve in Haiti.

Return Trip:
I was very excited to return to Haiti.  I had not seen the family for almost 2 months and had missed a birthday (Naomi's 7th) with another arriving soon (Talitha's 17th).  Fortunately the return trip was less eventful than the trip in.  with the exception of every time someone wanted to see my passport.  The passport would not scan at the kiosk in Portland.  When the ticket agent asked why I had not renewed my passport while I was hear, I had to explain that all of my papers were in Haiti.  She said she had never seen a passport like this (it looks like a regular passport to my untrained eye).  She went on and on about how the passport would not scan, until I asked her if she could type the number in manually.  She looked at me like I was from a different planet, and then did exactly that.  Then I was off to security.  The first TSA agent took my passport, felt the pages like they didn't feel right and tried to scan it.  It did not scan for him either, he looked at it and asked me what is this?  I told him it was a temporary passport that had been issued by the US Embassy in Haiti.  He asked me to step to the side and wait there next to him as he continued to check other passengers through.  He called for a coworker on his radio and another TSA agent came and took my passport back behind the scanners.  He returned with another TSA agent to ask me questions, they all kept feeling the pages as if they didn't feel right, but they couldn't figure it out. After about 25 minutes they finally let me get into line for the scanners.  Just as I was getting through and ready to put my shoes back on a supervisor came from someplace and asked the TSA agents who had the questionable passport, and three of them pointed at me.  I showed him my passport and explained where it came from and he said he had seen this before and was not surprised they had not.  I made it to the gate 1/2 an hour before my flight and the rest of my trip was pretty uneventful.  By the way my passport scanned just fine when I arrived in Haiti.

Back in Haiti:
I arrived at the house in Haiti to a car that needed work, house batteries that would not charge, propane almost gone, and food supplies nearly exhausted.  It is good to be home.  Now that I have taken care of those issues it is time to focus on the next hurdle.  Next month we need to pay our annual rent payment.  This is a struggle for us every year as it is difficult to ask people to support us living in a home that the average Haitian could not afford.  However, we are seen as wealthy Americans and it would not be safe for us to live in a house without a wall and razor wire around the perimeter.  Many people in Haiti believe that all Americans have access to unlimited amounts of money.   And comparatively we do.  With a cost of living that is higher in Haiti than the US (for a similar standard of living), and 59% of Haitian live on less than $2 per day (according to World Bank in 2012).

We are looking to raise funds this month for our rent for the entire year.  Please prayerfully consider supporting us and our work here.  If you are unable to support us financially, please support us in prayer.  Prayer is the greatest tool that God has given us.  We serve a God who is bigger than the finances.

May God bless each of you,

Ron Sheppard