Haiti!

Life seems easier now.....

Well hello to everyone, we hope & pray you are all doing well.  We can't thank you enough for all the encouragement/prayer support that you have blessed us with.  Oh how you have lifted us up during hard & trying times.

We were without electricity for 7 days, it was a long 7 days but we made it & are just fine.  It opened our eyes to how our students & Haitian neighbors live everyday of their lives.  It made us more thankful for the small things like a breeze from the wind, a hot meal, a hot shower, a washer & dryer!!

We are almost to our week 2 of no school, we are ready to be back & running again.

Wednesday we enjoyed a motorcycle ride to a hotel near us where we ate a Haitian meal. Lyndlee & Brennan swam in the ocean, I however was not that adventurous!  Lyndlee has grown quite accustomed to life here in Haiti as on the way back she feel asleep on the taxi, I still don't know how she did that, they aren't the smoothest rides/roads!

We have visited some of our students at their homes & were able to meet their families.  Tomorrow we are having 3 of my students over for lunch and a movie so that will be fun.  Lyndlee will love having company over!

Our generator is up & running, we are just praying it can run, we have another part coming in for it this week.  The guys works so hard getting it to work for us!  

We are thankful to be here & be apart of the Lord's ministry here in Haiti.

We miss you all.

The Lord bless & keep you.

For Him,

Janna, Brennan & Lyndlee Jya-Ying

Seriously......

Hello everyone, just wanted to share some recent news from here in Haiti this week.  

Sonlight is the only school in session here in Port de Paix.  All schools are closed until October 6th due to the hurricanes/economy.  So we had a visit from the minister of education earlier this week saying that we needed to close as well. Our director discussed the issue with him, saying our kids aren't affected by these things, that they are all still attending school each day & want to come but that didn't seem to matter. It ended with Sonlight being able to stay open everyday 8-12 "to tutor" our students.  So we have been doing that for the last few days, the students were all still coming to school, they aren't wearing their uniforms but they were all ready for learning!  Well as of today, they came to school again, & gave our director no choice but to close until October 6th.  This was very hard for our students to understand, some did, some however too young to understand what is going on.  Some of the older students don't understand & kept asking Brennan in class why they are getting punished & school taken away from them.  We don't understand as teachers why the board of education here in Haiti would want all their children sitting at home for 2 weeks doing nothing, when instead they could be learning everyday in school, doesn't make sense.

So that is the latest here.  Also, we are still waiting for fuel so have been limited on electricity, the guys have been working hard when the generator goes out.  The roads were destroyed from the hurricanes so we are waiting for the roads to get rebuilt so the fuel trucks can come through to bring fuel. We have enough to last the rest of this week.  Please keep praying for us all here at Sonlight. Pray for our students during this break from school & for their safety.  Pray for all the teachers here as well.  We love you all & miss you greatly.

Janna, Brennan & Lyndlee Jya-Ying

First Week of School

So we had our first week of school, we had only 3 days this week. It went great. We were nervous at first but all went well.
I love my students, all 32 of them! They keep me busy, I have been so overwhelmed this week with emotions. They have brought me such joy already! They make me pictures everyday, they always greet me with a kiss & say goodbye with a kiss/hug.  One student had a birthday this week, her name is Baldine.  The next morning, she brought me a piece of cake wrapped in a cloth.  I thanked her & asked her if she had gotten a birthday gift.  She told me her cake was her present & that she wanted to bring me a piece.  I started crying & just kissed her!  And when my students pray, oh I cry than too!  We pray in the mornings, before snack & before we leave for the day.  One day my student named Lovena prayed before snack & this is what she said:  Dear Jesus, thank you for this bread, thank you for this peanut butter, thank you for my cup of water.  Jesus I love you, please love me, Amen.  

They are so precious, so grateful for what they have, so content!  

Brennan has really enjoyed teaching at the Bible College & getting to know his students there.  Lyndlee goes to preschool in the mornings for an hour & loves it.  Her teachers says somedays she will sit with the kids & listen, other times she wanders around the room!  All we know is that when Brennan picks her up & takes her home, she is so happy & hyper.  She will sing & say different things!  She also is very big on cleaning lately from watching our maid.  And she also is wanting to be a teacher I think.  She always wants a pen & paper to draw & talk with!  I think she has watched us too much at night as we sit with our books to make our lesson plans up!

We have had several hurricanes pass through Haiti, if you are watching or paying attention to the news, I am sure you already know.  We are safe, we get heavy winds/rains.  There is flooding that happens here too but we are doing great.

We love it here in Haiti.  We love the people.  They are such loving, friendly hard working people & we have learned so much from them.  We feel blessed to be here & ask that you continue to pray for us!  Thank you, we pray you are all well! 

Much love to you all!

Janna, Brennan & Lyndlee

Beautiful Haiti

We have been so busy getting our house set up, getting our classrooms ready, working on lessons plans that today we decided to take a little break.  So our friends Amanda, Brice & Naiyah took us to the beach to swim.  Both Lyndlee & Naiyah loved it & it was so sweet to watch them both.  The water was so beautiful, I got to take some really beautiful pictures & video which we still hope to share as soon as the generator gets fixed here.  Please still pray about that, we are down to one & it keeps Roger & John so busy.  

We start school on Wednesday, we are so looking forward to meeting our students.  Brennan has started teaching at the college & loves it!  Lyndlee is doing great, she loves her little friend Naiyah so much & says her name, they like to hold hands & walk together too!  

There are lots of dogs here so we always have to wave, say hi, & say dog although she calls them gogs.  She is so friendly when we are walking around, just waves & waves at everyone we pass! 

We have met more people & more students which has been great.  My teacher aides are teaching me Creole everyday, although they laugh a lot at me trying to say things, they are sweethearts.

All is well with us, the Lord continues to bless us.  We love you all & miss you!

Haiti

We made it safely to Haiti.  All is well, Lyndlee did great traveling, what a trooper she is.

We are very limited on internet usage right now so we will give a better update later & hope to post pictures.

Just wanted to let everyone know we made it here.  Thanks for all the prayers & support.

We love & miss you all!

Janna, Brennan & Lyndlee

Only Days Away.......

I can't believe that in only 3 days, we will be heading out for Haiti.  We are so excited, ready, nervous, scared, & sad.  There are too many different emotions all at once to try to explain what we feel.  We are so ready to get there, to meet all the wonderful people we will be working alongside, to meet all the wonderful people of Haiti.  We can't wait to meet our students & their families, to see where we will be living for the next 2 years.  We can't wait to start unpacking & stop living out of our suitcases!  We can't wait to start working & just let the Lord use us for His ministry there.  We know we are going to teach in Haiti but also know we will be the ones learning everyday!  We are ready to learn & to soak up all the Lord wants to teach us. 

The goodbyes have been hard, so hard but we know the Lord is right alongside us every moment of this journey.  We rejoice in the Lord & all that He has blessed us with.  He has given us so many things, so many blessings, so many wonderful friends & family that have been such a great encouragement to us.  We know this move will be hard for everyone involved so we just continue to ask for prayers, for wisdom & strength from the Lord.

We have had a great last 3 weeks, visiting with friends & family.  I wanted to include some photos from our time.  Probably the next time we write will be from Haiti, from our new home! I am hoping to be able to upload videos/photos to show everyone where we will be living! Thanks again.  We love you all!

For Him,

Janna, Brennan & Lyndlee Jya-Ying