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(OM P ~I L E D F ROM
THE LETTERS OF
PAUL RJAL
Haiti Diary
The intimate story of a modern young missionary couple's
first two years in a foreign country.
Compiled from the letters of Paul Orjala and
edited by 63 -/6 ?/
Kathleen Spell
BEACON HILL PRESS
Kansas City, Missouri
FInST PaImTIG, MARCH, 1953
SECOND P TINrmG, AUGUST, 1953
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17
LA TIN
A"VF' C
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
LATIN
AMERI C
TO ALPINE
EDITOR'S NOTE
HAITI DIARY has been compiled from the letters of
Paul Orjala, young missionary to Haiti. Paul, with his
young wife, Mary, arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in
the fall of 1950 to take over the native work which had
become affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene in
1948. The intimate record of a pioneer missionary's
first struggling years is best recorded in his daily journal
or in his personal letters to those closest to him back
home.
In compiling the diary from the letters, very few
changes have been necessary. The dates are all authentic.
Deletion of certain items of purely personal interest was
necessary of course. Space restrictions dictated other
omissions. Diary form required an occasional change of
word, and in a few rare instances an abridgment in the
editor's words was thought expedient for the sake of
brevity.
The editor is indebted to Paul's mother, Mrs. Gertrude
Orjala, of San Diego, California, for graciously lending
her letters from Paul; and to Dr. Remiss Rehfeldt, gen-
eral foreign missions secretary of the Church of the
Nazarene, for giving access to the file of Paul's letters
to the missions office.
Special thanks are due to Paul for allowing his letters
to be used. A more modest and unassuming young man
it would be difficult to find, and he was apparently some-
what startled at the request for the use of his letters.
His answer indicates his attitude: "About the idea of a
reading book composed of our letters-we never dreamed
that there was a chance of our becoming notorious at
such a tender age! How would we ever be able to face
the world when we are back in the States on furlough?
... We are not opposed to the idea ... but since we
didn't write them originally for open publication we
would . like to check them over . before they get
out into the wide, wide world.... Just be sure that you
keep the adjectives concerning our work and problems
fairly mild because we are really not making any sacri-
fices and we actually haven't done much."
And so the intimate picture of a modern young
pioneer missionary couple is presented with the thought
that their first years in the field are somewhat typical,
and the hope that through this means the reader may
become more acutely aware of the prosaic and unheroic
but nonetheless bitter struggles of all beginning mission-
aries.
K. S.
September, 1952
CHAPTER 1--"... up to our necks in official business"
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Aug. 26, 1950-We are getting more eager to sail every
day. We feel so definitely that the Lord is preparing
the way before us, and we are trusting in Him.
Sept. 11-The Lord has blessed us in the services we
have held. We had wonderful services at Long Beach
First Church yesterday. The offerings have been ex-
ceedingly generous and interest responses great.
We are getting more and more anxious to take up
our work in Haiti, and our burden for the people is
growing.
Sept. 24-We are anxiously waiting to begin our service
in Haiti, studying French in our free moments. We
are sensing more and more the Lord's direction and
presence as plans are materializing.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
Oct. 4-Arrived safely in Port-au-Prince yesterday noon.
After we had gone through customs we looked for
Mr. E- [national leader of our young work in Haiti
which the Orjalas went to superintend], but no one
had heard of him or seen him. Went to the American
Embassy, where we were directed to the hotel Mon
Reve ("My Dream"), formerly a private dwelling
converted into a small hotel catering to people who
wish to stay on a longer visit than most tourists.
Prices are about half that of the tourist hotels,
which is still high enough--$4.00 per person per day
on the American plan.
Called Mr. Jack Scott, whose mother-in-law we
had met in Kansas last spring. He invited us to his
lovely home for dinner that night and we gave him
the "third degree" with our questions all evening.
Among other things he suggested that we check
with the immigration office as soon as possible for
obtaining a residence visa, which the New Orleans
consul said we could obtain without any difficulty
after we arrived.
Oct. 5-At the immigration office we were told that the
consul should have obtained a residence visa for us
before we left the U.S.A. Have written the minister
of foreign affairs to straighten things out. Have also
written the minister of religion to check on the official
standing of our church with the government.
So, at least we have the slow-moving machinery
in motion.
This coming Sunday is the day for presidential
election. Our hotel is just across the street from the
presidential palace and other government buildings.
We may have a box seat for the fireworks-political
or otherwise.
Yesterday afternoon we found E--'s address on
a map and went to visit him. E-- claimed that he
was at the airport at the time we arrived and waited
until two more flights had come later that afternoon.
[Later they learned that Mr. E-- had thought they
were to arrive on October 2 instead of October 3.]
We had a good time of fellowship and prayer with
him and his brother. It took us a few minutes to
accustom ourselves to his "English," but we under-
stood his spirit from the start.
To date we have spent $241.52 of the $250 for
travel expense. In Shreveport we held five services,
one on Haiti.
It is more and more evident that it is almost im-
perative that we have some means of transportation-
taxi service is the only means of transport in the city
and is most undependable.
We are encouraged. It will not be easy, but it is
not easy anywhere. We feel that we are in the center
of God's will and that puts God "on the spot" in a
sense, as long as we obey Him and follow His direc-
tions. We plan to learn Creole first and then work
also on French.
The welcome service last night was very nice-
spirit was very good. We sensed that most of those
who called themselves Christians really knew the
Lord. The local W.F.M.S. ladies gave Mary two bas-
kets of roses. The people were very friendly.
Friday we go to our out station in the suburbs of
P.-au-P. [Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti]. Popu-
lation of P.-au-P. is about 150,000.
I'm sure we will love it here. After we get our
residence visa, the next thing will be to get a house.
Oct. 7-Except for mosquito bites we are O.K. It is
quite hot but we don't get outside into the sun unless
we have to. Mary has been a little homesick, I think.
I have not had much of a chance to be yet-with so
many new things to see and learn. However, the
U.S.A. does mean more to us than before we left it
last Tuesday morning.
This am. Mr. E-- came over to our hotel to give
me some information. He has things much better
organized than I had supposed. Has about 15 different
congregations in Haiti if I understood him correctly
as I took down the localities and preachers' names.
He has a school for children here in P.-au-P. and one
in the north at Gonaives.
Houses are rather hard to get-so it may take us
a while. Our hotel is nothing grand or large, but
very adequate. Food is good but very different. We
can hardly get ourselves to drink Haitian coffee. The
variety of dishes has been excellent. We have espe-
cially enjoyed the avacados. Have had mangos and
papayas and pineapple locally grown. Last night had
delicious steaks.
Oct. 9-Election day is over-with lots of activity. All
day long crowds were gathered all over the city in
political frenzy for CoL Paul E. Magloire, who is
certain to be elected. Haven't even heard the other
candidate's name. Magloire was the head of the junta
government that ran the country from last May until
this first popular election for a president.
Saturday evening I visited the Methodist mis-
sionary and his wife to get the book on learning Creole
which he wrote. Drove through town where we saw
long lines of men standing in the rain to vote.
This morning I had another conference with Mr.
E---. He has worked with terrific odds against him.
He is a very exceptional man, and he does have his
faults, and he is a Haitian-but I am sure he will
develop into the best type of native leader. We are
very much encouraged.
Oct. 11-We are (scratch, scratch!) both fine (scratch,
scratch!) except for the mosquito (scratch, scratch!)
bites. The old-timers say that they (the mosquitoes)
are just here for a short time-which must be true,
because almost none of the houses have screens or
glass windows-just a hole in the wall, plain or with
lattice or grill work.
We feel so funny when we have labored to make
ourselves understood in our 10-word (or more)
French vocabulary and the person to whom we are
speaking answers us in English! We are studying a
book on Creole by a Methodist missionary, so soon
12
we might be able to get along fairly well in Creole
(which everyone here speaks), if we study hard. It
seems to be much easier than French-sort of "Pidgin
French" with a few English, Spanish and African
words. We are trusting the Lord to help us.
Oct. 13-Our faith is high. We are expecting the Lord
to do even greater things in the future than He has
in the past. The Lord has been so good to us in pro-
tecting us from harm and expense and in giving His
rich blessings.
Oct. 15-Have been house-hunting. Studying Creole in
our spare time. Haven't made appreciable headway
in Creole, but then we've only been studying it a
week or so. Well let French wait until later.
Have contacted some missionaries-Wallace Turn-
bull and his wife, who are just about our age, were
married just a few months after we were, and have
a 16-months-old boy. They invited us to their place
for the evening and dinner. They live out from town
15 miles quite high in the mountains-about 4,000
feet I believe.
After dinner we sat around the table and talked
about all the characters who live in P.-au-P. (sup-
posed to be some former Nazis here) and voodoo.
Very interesting. (Drums going now, I can hear.)
This a.m. we had our first baptismal service. They
all wore white gowns over old clothes and it was
quite a spectacle. The worst thing was that it started
raining when they were half through and everyone
got pretty soaked. Back at the church afterwards,
we officially received the baptized Christians as mem-
bers of the church.
We are praying about our relations with E--.
We're going to have to "crack down" on his idea of
the abundance of our American money. There are
also other problems.
Oct. 18-I have often wondered what it would mean to
actually face the situation of losing my means of live-
lihood or being estranged from my wife because I
chose the Lord's way for my life. Theoretically, in
entire consecration I have passed through such a de-
cision. And actually, God has worked out my life
in such a way that my work and my life partner are
a part of His plan. But two of our Haitian women
have faced such problems this week and have chosen
God's way.
Baptism in Haiti is of utmost importance as the
final witness that the convert has cut off all ties with
Catholicism and Voodooism. One man attacked his
wife with a hammer when she returned from baptism.
We are praying that these who are suffering persecu-
tion for righteousness' sake may remain true to the
Lord, and that their testimony may help win others
to the Lord.
Mary surprised and pleased the congregation re-
cently by speaking a few words in Creole, which we
have been studying in our spare time.
Gas-42c gal. (regular).
We have tramped over nearly every section of
P.-au-P. and still have not found a suitable house.
It seems they have either hovels or mansions-very
little in between.
The ship with our goods will probably be delayed
due to the hurricane.
Oct. 24-We have both been quite sick with some kind
dysentery, probably from the water the doctor said.
Mary got hit first, starting with diarrhea a week ago
Sunday, but it cleared up somewhat until last Thurs-
day when her main siege began. Mary didn't go to
church Thursday night and I came down hard with
it on Friday. Saturday and Sunday we were both
quite sick, and I ran quite a temperature-103*-104.
14
Saturday night my temperature came down quite a
bit. It seemed that the Lord was definitely helping-
particularly to give us strength to do what we needed
to do yesterday. Aren't completely over it yet, but
we're so much better, and we have a little strength
now. The people who run this hotel where we are
staying have been very nice to us in helping us, etc.
They say that this dysentery is not serious and is
very common among new arrivals in Haiti. One grad-
ually builds up a resistance to it. And next time well
know and be able to check it with our medicine be-
fore it gets too advanced. So there's nothing to worry
about-now that we know what the score is.
Thursday we looked at a house and made ar-
rangements for renting it. It is new and is quite nice
judging by Haitian standards. Has a bathroom with
a shower and toilet but no washbowl, so we made
him agree to put in a washbowl before we moved
in-since this will probably also be our sink too for
a while. Practically no Haitian house is built with
a sink in it. They wash things outside and cook in
an outside kitchen with charcoal.
Also made the landlord agree to paint the ceilings
-a thought that had never once entered his head!
Haitian houses have not one stick of built-in closets
or shelves. It is the cheapest house we have seen
that we could live in-$60.00 a month plus water
and electricity and gas. It has 2 bedrooms, one of
which we can use for an office and study.
E-- went down with me Friday to help me
make my declaration. [Customs.] He got some man
down there to try to help me. The declaration form
was in French, English and Spanish, and so I could
easily have filled it out by myself. Mr. E--- and
the man insisted on my writing down items that I
knew were wrong. I protested, but I figured that
they ought to know something about it. Then I got
suspicious and wondered if the man were a broker.
I told E-- to ask him how much he was going to
charge me to help me through customs. He said
"$10.00." (He later came down to $8.00.) That did
it. I got a duplicate copy of the form I had filled
out and picked up all my papers and left. The Turn-
bulls [the young missionary couple] helped us. We
couldn't have gotten through customs for days with-
out their help. And besides, we were both sick. They
typed our papers and filled them out properly and
turned them in for us. Then Monday, the Lord gave
us special strength and they took us down in the
morning and got us through customs in three hours!
They knew the director quite well and also knew
the inspector who checked our stuff. It cost us only
$2.93! Everyone, even the Turnbulls, were very
much surprised at how easily we got through. Of
course, it was the Lord!
Well, things are brighter looking now, even if we
aren't all well yet. Our stuff is up at the house, and
we can at least imagine ourselves unpacking it. Now
to get a good maid to help Mary, and a yard boy!
Oct. 28-I'm going to try to get some lumber and build
some items of furniture, like closets and drawers for
our bedroom and kitchen. The rest of the furniture
will have to wait, I guess, until we can afford to have
it made or buy it outright. The furniture made here
is of beautiful mahogany, but the styling is both
uncomfortable and ridiculous. I wouldn't be caught
dead in some of it. They think any queer angle they
can use gives style-comfort is completely out of
their line. American-made furniture is out of reach.
Good news-avacados are only one cent each;
bad news-all American foods sell at about two times
or more than the price in the States: oleo, 50 cents
a pound; coffee, $1.50 a pound; small can tuna or
salmon, 70 cents; milk, 20 cents a quart.
Have ordered 2 rugs of matting and that should
begin to help the cement floor problem. We might
have them by Christmas-who knows!
Are practically over the dysentery, but we are
still a little weak.
CHAPTER 2-". . still in the dark as to everything
that is said"
Oct. 30-Roads here really aren't roads, they are mule
trails with accessories.
Our strength is slowly increasing after the dysen-
tery, but we are not quite up to par yet. The Lord
is blessing us personally and there seems to be a
good spirit in the services though we are still quite
in the dark as to everything that is said. But we
feel that God is leading and preparing the way before
us.
Nov. 4-We are both feeling fine now. We take a little
nap every day and try not to have to be in the full
sun too often at midday. We just have to take it a
little bit easier here until we get adjusted to the
climate-which actually means that we'll have to
get used to going slower permanently while we are
in Haiti.
The other day a taxi driver tried to overcharge
me, thinking I was an American tourist; but I just
stood there waiting until he gave me the proper
change. When he gave me the change, he said,
"You're not an American, you're French!" and the
only French word I had said was "ici" (here) in-
dicating where I wanted him to stop.
Have borrowed a table and 2 rocking chairs from
the landlord until we can find some chairs and a table.
Friday morning the refrigerator we ordered from
Firestone was installed, and we should have the
apartment-sized gas stove in a week or two, as soon
as they get a shipment. [They actually waited two
months.]
We have many nice plants and flowers. Orange
colored cosmos almost grow wild in some places. We
have the plain sansevaria growing practically wild
in our back yard on the edge of the ravine. Have
potted a few plants to put in the house. There are
many plants grown here for their colored leaves,
many I've seen in florists but don't know the names
of. The crotans come in all shades and styles of
leaves. I've gotten slips of about 6 or 7 kinds of
crotans from the hotel proprietor where we stayed.
I hope they grow.
I've made cabinets (?) out of 3 crates and boxes
so that we have one in the kitchen for dishes, etc.,
one in the dining room for linens, and one in the
bedroom for our clothes. Also I've made a bookcase.
I have planed off the shutters so that even Mary
can open and close most of them.
We are planning a conference of all of our preach-
ers in Haiti. It will start one night and end the next
night with four services-evening, morning, after-
noon, and evening. We are planning this conference
in lieu of an immediate trip to visit all the churches,
so that we can get acquainted with the preachers
and try to get some spiritual and instructional ideas
across to them. We don't plan to tour all the churches
until we have the jeep.
Since the Gospel of Luke is the only Creole
scripture available from the American Bible Society
so far, Mary and I are making a special study of
Luke so that we will be all the more familiar with
the text. We are following the plan I suggested to
the church people of reading one chapter every day
for a week. We are reading a different translation
every day, and one day I supply the translation from
my Greek Testament. [Paul taught beginning Greek
in Nazarene Theological Seminary while taking his
work there.]
One thing E- surely needs, and I'm sure the
other preachers also, is a careful study of the
Scriptures. Not that he hasn't studied the Scriptures
-but he sometimes gives the most outlandish inter-
pretations of Scriptures. He has inherited some
customs and forms from the church in which he was
converted, like women always wearing hats in church,
and always repeating the Lord's Prayer in unison
after a season of united prayer in every service. And
he always uses the same form in every service. The
first time that we are going to depart from that is in
this conference in which I will be in charge-what a
revolution! Man! how we wish we knew Creole-
it's almost impossible to explain some things in Eng-
lish to E- .
Nov. 13-The jeep will have 10 per cent duty. Duty is
one of the chief sources of revenue of the Haitian
government.
Well, we are now the proud possessors of a servant
girl Ugh! Give us the good old U.S.A. where we
can do our own work! But the little girl we have
hired to do our laundry and other miscellaneous
work seems like she will be very helpful when Mary
gets her trained. Her name is Oxane Nazaire, and
she says that she is 14 years old, though she looks
about 10 or 12. We pay her $4 a month and give
her room and board. So far, about all she has done
for us is wash dishes and go to the store. She speaks
no English so we (Mary in particular) are learning
Creole fast-at least the words we need to tell her
what to do.
Were invited to the Scotts for dinner Saturday
night and had a very nice time. They have the
nicest piano I have played in Haiti-only one key,
a low F in the bass, sticks; and the touch is very
even-but my fingers are really getting stiff. [Paul
was "Showers of Blessing" pianist for about two
years.]
Our landlord has been nice to us. Saturday he
went with me to the open market and we got some
furniture: a kitchen table for $2, a table for ironing,
$.70, five Haitian chairs at $.60 each, a wicker clothes
hamper for $.70.
We are both feeling well.
Nov. 15-We do thank the Lord for the way He is
working out all of our problems.
Sometimes we wish we had come to a country
that spoke one of the languages we have studied, as
Spanish, because we would be getting along quite
well already. We are trusting the Lord to help us
learn both languages well enough to be able to get
the gospel message across to the people effectively.
Nov. 18-We'll have to take a trip to the mountains
after the jeep arrives so we can use the heater!
Mary is measuring for curtains.
We have practically no fog or cloudy weather
here. We have clouds when it rains and a few fleecy
ones usually blow down from the mountains every
day, but otherwise the skies are usually quite clear
like a warm summer day. We try not to be out in
the sun too much at midday because of the heat,
but mornings and evenings are just wonderful.
Haitian money: 100 centimes equals 1 gourde, 5
gourdes equals 1 dollar U.S.
Half the time we don't know what our directions
are exactly in P.-au-P. because none of the streets
(except those in a small section downtown) run in
a straight line. They all turn and twist and with
the heavy traffic on such narrow streets it is a wonder
that half the peasants aren't killed each year-there
are remarkably few accidents, and pedestrians do
not have right of way. The cars honk at every inter-
section to let any approaching car or pedestrian know
that they are coming. The taxis honk at every likely-
looking prospect to let him know a taxi is coming
his way. There are traffic cops at about a half dozen
corners and it is remarkable how they keep traffic
progressing just by gestures.
We haven't seen a newspaper since we moved
into our house (except a glance at last Saturday's
paper from Miami while at the Embassy last week),
so we hardly know what is going on. We haven't
much time to listen to the radio, and the only stations
on which we get good reception are Haitian and
French. (We also get Dominican Republic stations
fairly well in Spanish.)
Had quite an experience today. A taxi driver
tried to overcharge us and wouldn't give me the
right change back. So I told him to take us down
to the police station (we were in the courtyard of
the American Embassy), so he acted like he was
going to and drove us out of the Embassy grounds.
But he stopped at the gate to argue with us and to
try to get a man nearby to agree with him. But the
man smiled because he knew we were right. I just
said, "Take us to the police station," and he wouldn't
because he knew that his license would be revoked
if the police caught him overcharging. He swore at
us and gave us the proper change. In a way, we
look at it as a joke, but such instances which almost
every tourist experiences make him never want to
return to Haiti. The rates are set by law, but they
still try to overcharge a foreigner. It is all just part
of the total economic pattern which we are gradually
getting used to.
There are very few stores in Haiti which have a
fixed price on their goods, and their prices are quite
high. In Haiti it is just assumed that the seller
doesn't hope to get the first price he asks and the
buyer also doesn't hope to get the item for his first
offer. Except for a stranger or tourist, both the buyer
and seller know what the price should be, but it is
a game to see which will hold out the longest or get
the best of the bargain.
Once you know what prices should be, it isn't
bad to bargain. I've tried it just for fun in the open
market and have gotten the price down to what it
should be with little trouble. When they say their
first price, I emphatically say, "Tropcher" (Creole
for "too much" or literally "too dear"). Then the
next stage comes when they ask what I'll give for
it. They refuse my price and I start to walk away-
their price comes down farther and farther as I go
farther away. When they hit my price, I turn around
and look interested and buy. But they usually have 2
prices, one for Haitians and one for Americans, so
it is better to have a servant buy for you since they
can always get things cheaper if they are good at
bargaining.
We are thinking of getting a cook who can market
for us and save us money. We can get a good cook
for $8.00 or $10.00 a month, and then we wouldn't
have to get a gas stove immediately, since they cook
on charcoal. We just wish the culture pattern was
such that we could do it all ourselves, but here you
just can't. There are no vegetable markets, no 5 and
10 stores-each shop carries a different stock, in
many cases, and you have to "learn" each individual
store. We're not complaining-it's very interesting
to us.
Nov. 21-It is very difficult to extract financial data
from Mr. E--, or any exact statistical data. When
we do not get the desired information one time we try
another approach and a second or third time. I believe
it is largely because he does not understand exactly
what information we are after. I'm sure that he
suspects our motives to some extent, and hence he
is somewhat "cagey" about giving us personal in-
formation even when he does understand what we
want to some extent.
It takes so long to do everything here. Scarcely
anyone goes by the clock-or calendar for that
matter.
It will be a long, hard road ahead for many years
before a thorough foundation can be rebuilt here.
But we know that this is the Lord's work, and His
interest in it far exceeds ours. We know that we are
depending on One who will not fail.
Nov. 24-Activities which we hope to begin in the near
future: A Bible training school or program for our
preachers; a literacy campaign in every congregation
(to teach the people to read Creole), and the pro-
duction of printed aids in Creole (for Sunday School
and church). This may seem like a big program,
but we read in Luke 1:37, "With God nothing shall
be impossible"!
Nov. 25-There is a Haitian fable that all Americans
are made of money!
The work here could blow up at any time accord-
ing to the disposition of Mr. E- But in view of
his actions and attitudes in the past, we do not be-
lieve that this is probable. But Mr. E-- is a very
difficult person to figure out; he is a Haitian, but in
addition he has some personality quirks of his own.
We are, however, depending on the Lord for wisdom
and guidance-and He is helping us.
CHAPTER 3-" . the Lord is supplying all our
needs . ."
Nov. 26-On Thanksgiving we decided to splurge and
buy an American frozen chicken, which we had
heard were really wonderful compared to the scrawny,
tough Haitian fowl. So we ordered a chicken, and
also a pumpkin pie from the same place which caters
to Americans. Thanksgiving Day noon I went to
collect these items and they hadn't been able to get
the frozen chickens out of customs yet, so I took the
pie home with me, having made arrangements for
the chicken to be delivered as soon as it arrived.
They thought they could deliver the chicken in the
early afternoon, but at about 4:30 in the afternoon
it finally made its way up the hill to our house. That
was too late for us to have it for dinner and get to
the church for prayer-meeting by 7:15, so we decided
to eat a little piece of pumpkin pie for dinner that
evening and re-celebrate Thanksgiving Day the next
day with chicken dinner at noon. And so we did.
Mary fried the chicken to perfection-it was out of
this world, so tender and tasty. The whole dinner
was just right and we really enjoyed it.
Mary is figuring out our account and she just
read off two figures which demonstrate the topsy-
turvy economics of Haiti, $1.65 for a rubber sponge
and sieve from Firestone, and $1.40 for 3 Haitian-
made chairs. Of course, there is a difference in quali-
ty, but probably many more man-hours went into
making the chairs. Well, that's Haiti.
Now have the house fairly well organized. The
living room is absolutely bare, but we want to wait
until we can get some permanent furniture for it-
we don't use it now anyway, probably because it has
no furniture!
Our bedroom has the clothes closet I made out
of the crate which had our springs and mattress in
it, a clothes cabinet with 3 shelves, a rush rug 6 by
10 feet and a couple of throw rugs, our bed with a
counter at the head made up of four foot-lockers
stacked two deep and covered with some old drapes
I had at P.C. [Pasadena College.] (On this counter
are our radio, records, books, Kleenex, etc.)
The dining room has Mary's sewing machine, a
9 by 12 rush rug, a table and four chairs. The table
is taberneau (somewhat like mahogany but usually
finished lighter) which I got for $10, and the chairs
are Haitian (picturesque but irregular styling with
rush bottoms and all unpainted) which I got for 60c
each at the open market. I plan to paint them.
The bathroom is practically complete now. Mary
put up little curtains of dotted swiss (?) (with the
fuzzy dots). We also have a Haitian clothes hamper
of bamboo strips and a foot-locker which has our
medicines, etc., in it.
The kitchen has the refrigerator, a cabinet for
dishes and food, a table, a linen cabinet on top of
which is our two-burner hot plate and a cannister
set we got at Firestone for only $2.00.
After we get the jeep and can haul things, I will
get some lumber and 3-ply and make Mary some
permanent closets and cupboards and see if the car-
penter in me will really come out. If I were to judge
by Haitian standards, I am already a master car-
penter. There are good Haitian technicians, but they
are few and far between. Any guy that begs, borrows,
or steals a hammer and saw calls himself a carpenter.
Mary is having quite a time training our little
girl, Oxane, but she is learning. Who? Mary or the
girl? I guess both. Really, I think Oxane is quite
intelligent, but they all have to be watched and
directed.
Finding enough time for everything is a problem
here because it takes so much longer to do everything.
We haven't gotten as much out of our French lessons
as we ought because we haven't had enough time to
study. And we seem to require a little more sleep
which shortens the evenings. We also usually try to
take a little nap after lunch too; if we don't we some-
times get a headache in the later afternoon. We
try not to walk in the sun for a very long time around
noon; that also gives a headache. We hope that we
will soon get acclimated so that we can be a little
more energetic.
We now have four African violet plants.
We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new
jeep. We are anxious to get out into the country and
see what the other churches and preaching points
are like, so we can have a better idea of the total
work and need here.
We now may order an accordion. A man in Ohio
gives missionaries a special offer of $175 for any of
his accordions up to around $500, so we are getting
a letter off to him tomorrow with a $175 check from
our equipment fund. I am already working on ideas
of accordion arrangements. [Paul and Mary are ex-
cellent musicians.]
Really Haiti is a very small country; you can
drive to any point from P.-au-P. in a day or less.
We would especially like some good tomato seeds.
Man! but we'd like to sink a fang into a juicy, home-
grown tomato! The soil here is quite rocky, but some
of it is fairly rich. We can hire a boy to dig it up for
a very cheap price.
We had a good service at church this am. It
seems that two services are almost too much for us
to take now. After the four services of the conference
for the national preachers, I was just about done-up.
We were very much satisfied with the conference
in many respects; we found out about the state of
some of the churches and the problems and possi-
bilities, and we got acquainted with four new preach-
ers. We are going to have to visit some of them just
as soon as possible as some groups are doing their
utmost to proselyte and discourage the people from
staying with their preachers.
Got word that Mr. Reza (our former Spanish
teacher and now editor of Spanish publications for
the church in Kansas City) drove our jeep from
Kansas City to New Orleans where it is awaiting
shipment to Haiti. We may have it in a few weeks,
we hope.
Dec. 2-This afternoon I began teaching our little servant
girl to read Creole, with an ulterior motive-so that
I can learn some Creole from her and the government
Creole primer. She is quite intelligent, and I hope
soon to learn enough Creole so that I can introduce
her to the Lord Jesus.
Dec. 3-Today is the two-months anniversary of our ar-
rival in Haiti. In some ways it seems longer than
that. An awful lot has happened, and the change
between here and the States was quite radical. We
are getting to like it here more and more as we get
better acquainted with the country and people.
As soon as the jeep comes, we will run out to
the Damien Agricultural School and get some of
the plants we have planned to put in. The first priori-
ty is for a hedge in front to give us privacy when
we want to start using our porch, and a hedge along
the side to keep out the stray chickens and turkeys
that we are forever chasing out of our back yard.
With just a little water almost anything will grow
like a weed in Haiti-in fact most growing things
are weeds.
Since we have been here, except for a few hours
during rains, we have had only about three days
of cloudy weather in a row. The rest of the time it
has been like summer in the Midwest, beautiful
mornings and evenings and hot in the sun at noon.
We couldn't ask for better weather really.
Flash-we've had an addition to the family-yes,
the Scotts brought "Toby" to us tonight and we're
getting used to our adopted dawg. He is very fat
and cute, all black except for his white shoes and
vest. We can't decide whether "Toby" is from "toby
or not toby" or just plain short for Tobias.
At the time of the first preachers' conference,
November 15, 1950, there were reported thirteen
congregations and two preaching points in Haiti,
fourteen preachers, and two teachers (elementary
schools held in the churches at P.-au-P. and Gonaives
with twenty-seven pupils each). Only three of the
preachers have had more than an elementary school
education. All read and write both French and Creole
with varying degrees of skill. The total reported
membership in all congregations is 734.
We hope the jeep arrives this week, otherwise I
will have to go up to Gonaives with E-- in a native
bus next Sunday. And that would really be an ad-
venture. Native buses carry everything-human
beings, chickens, goats, vegetables and wares to sell
in the market. They are trucks with a series of plank
seats, sides, and roof built on, and gaily decorated
with different patterns in paint. In the jeep, we could
drive up Sunday a.m. in 3 or 4 hours; we would
have to leave Saturday noon if we go on the camionn."
The citrus fruits here are interesting. They are
all picked green, I guess, as Mary says, so that you
can get them before your neighbor does. All have
an overabundance of seeds. There are limes (and
some lemons)--the Haitians seldom distinguish be-
tween them. There is the "shaddock" [English name],
sort of a cross between an orange and grapefruit in
flavor. I like them very much, but they are some-
times a little sour for Mary or perhaps bitter.
Other fruits we have here are bananas, mangos
and papayas in season, pineapple, and corossol (sweet-
sop or custard apple) and soursop (like corossol but
smaller and not so flavorful). The corossol has the
most refreshing flavor. You mash the fruit into a
pulp, strain to get the seeds out and fibers out, and use
the remainder (like strained apple sauce) to make
a drink like lemonade or to make ice cream. For
ice cream we just add sugar and a little milk with
perhaps a few drops of vanilla. It makes the cream-
iest, richest tasting ice cream you ever ate with the
most refreshing flavor.
Dec. 4-Monday morning-the orange tomatoes are up,
but no yellow ones yet.
Dec. 8-In spite of, and probably because of, the diffi-
culties we face, we sense the Lord's presence and
guidance. And that's enough. [Mary was ill.]
Dec. 10-Sunday afternoon. The lettuce and tomatoes
are both quite healthy in spite of the fact that a
chicken stepped in the box once and the puppy once
too. I'm sure that anything will grow in Haiti, if you
give it a little water.
The peas here look like good old American peas
on the outside of the hull, but when they are shelled
you can see that they are smaller and harder, probably
because they aren't picked at the right time. After
they're cooked they are even worse, so we only use
them for cream of pea soup, which is good, with
onions for flavor. Yum!
The puppy is getting along okay, used to us and
the house by now. But I'm afraid he's a little too young
to house-break. I've really got him cowed when I
talk rough to him. But he's awfully cute-naughty
and nice at the same time. Right now he's at the
stage where he wants to chew up everything. We
just try to keep everything out of his reach-includ-
ing our hands and fingers. He has a plastic bracelet
to chew on, but he prefers live meat.
Dec. 15-Urgent need for a visit to Gonaives to improve
the morale of the people in the churches in that area.
Finding the work here so much more extensively
developed than we had supposed, we might easily
have asked for a much larger budget. And we may
not be able to hold our own on the budget we have
asked for. But we would rather suffer an initial
setback than to overspend in assisting preachers and
churches financially. We are confident that the Lord
will direct.
Honestly, if we didn't know that the Lord is on
our side and we on His, we would have quit this
business trying to obtain a permanent visa long ago.
But now it's getting to be humorous.
We got word today that the reason why we don't
have our jeep is that it is being held up in New Or-
leans until they get a permit to send it here.
Very exasperating here! This noon (and noon
is not their busiest time) it took me almost an hour
to deposit two checks from Kansas City on our check-
ing account. I had to go to five separate places to
five different men to deposit those two checks, and
I had to go to one of them twice. It's no wonder
that we can't get much done when it takes so much
time to do everything. But we're almost used to it
now. If I have to go to town to get mail, mail letters,
and do business at the bank, I just don't plan on do-
ing anything else that a.m.
30
I'm taking a trip with E- in the camionn" [bus]
to Gonaives this week end. I need to go up there
for the sake of the morale of the people who have
been suffering from the group who have told them
that we were not going to stay in Haiti but were
going back to the United States and other stories.
The camionn" is a truck with benches built on it
and a roof. They are usually gaily painted with fancy
lettering for the name and destination of the bus.
But, my aching clavicle! and it will be aching by
the time we get to Gonaives. We will have several
services on Sunday, including a baptismal service,
and return early Monday morning (about two or
three), arriving in P.-au-P. about dawn (six or
seven). That's when I'll have circles under the circles
under my eyes. But I am anxious to make the trip.
I will be able to meet several preachers who could
not get down here for the preachers' conference last
month, as well as seeing the situation up there.
I'll take some chocolate bars with me and some
dysentery pills, drink only bottled pop or cocoanut
milk, and take a shot of adrenaline before each meal!
Really, I don't think it will be so bad-it will be
quite an adventure. I hope to get some good pictures.
Our dawg is quite a puppy. Sometimes we think
he's learning to be housebroken, and then sometimes
-well he's just a little puppy. But he's doing better,
we think. But he's awfully cute. Can he ever use
his eyes! And his tail gets a continuous workout.
He has a few destructive tendencies. Our servant
girl brought us some cannas to plant and we left
them under the faucet until I could get them into
the ground. Well, Toby makes the great discovery
and, whammo, he latches onto a nice juicy fat canna
and begins stripping the leaves down. It probably
would have been okay for him if he didn't get caught,
but the silly little puppy brings the thing he's chew-
ing on right into the room where I'm typing letters
and gives the canna the works practically under my
feet. I suddenly become aware of the world around
me and, whammo, puppy gets a resounding whack,
drops the shredded foliage and scampers away with
his head looking back over his shoulder as if to say,
"Whadija hit me for?" Well, it's a dog's life-for
the dog owner!
Had to put the seed flat on legs to keep the
puppy and chickens out. My next problem is to devise
some fencing to keep both named animals away from
them when they are planted in the ground.
CHAPTER 4-".. a good Christmas season . ."
Dec. 22-I made a trip up to Gonaives last week end,
and it was very interesting to see the Haitian country-
side-so different from this urban area. The homes
were so neat and clean, even if the houses were all
mud-plastered sticks with thatched roofs, just like
pictures of Africa. The fields of sugar cane, sisal,
millet, maize, bananas, and cotton were very inter-
esting to observe since there is little mechanized
farm equipment here. We have the most beautiful
little whitewashed mud church with thatched roof
just ten miles outside Gonaives.
Took quite a few colored slides. We're hoping to
build up a series of a couple of hundred first-rate
colored slides on all phases of Haitian life to use on
deputation work on our furlough in the States. There
is enough charm and local color here that we should
be able to collect a very interesting as well as in-
formative series.
The Lord certainly is helping us. He has kept us
from some serious mistakes which other missionaries
have made, partly by getting us informed about
their mistakes. We have made friends with quite a
number of missionaries here and also businessmen
who have helped us in a number of ways. The most
important thing for us now is to learn French and
Creole quite thoroughly. When we have done that
to a sufficient degree, well be able to make tremen-
dous strides in developing this mission field, because
then we can begin intensive training of preachers
who can go out and build up the churches. We are
depending on the Lord for guidance and wisdom.
Dec. 23-Last night we had chayote-au-gratin, mashed
potatoes, sirloin steak, sliced tomatoes, corossol ice
cream and cookies-pretty good menu, eh! We have
steak about twice a week-just small pieces-because
it is only 40c a pound. Hamburger which we have
more often is only 28c a pound. But anything im-
ported from the U.S.-wow! bacon at a dollar a
pound, ground black pepper at 50c for one of those
small containers.
Beef is the only meat we eat here. Pork isn't too
safe from what we hear, nor lamb and mutton, I
suppose. We have pretty good garlic down here too.
I wonder how we smell to our friends?
Man! could we ever use Tommy and Lucky [the
horses of Paul's sister and brother-in-law]-Haitian
horses have as much spirit as a rag rug; you have to
beat them constantly to keep them going.
Dec. 24-The tomatoes and lettuce have not yet been
set out because I haven't figured a way to keep them
from the perils of the field, but I'll have to put them
out this coming week because they are so big. Maybe
I'll just harvest them in the flat!
We haven't bought each other anything for Christ-
mas yet. We have already spent some of our Christ-
mas money for needs here on the field for which we
have no budget funds. It seems like emergencies
are always coming up. The wife of one of our preach-
ers needed to come here to the hospital for medical
assistance during the last couple of weeks of her
pregnancy. The preacher at Gonaives (Canal Bois)
needed a new saddle blanket for his horse and re-
pairs on the saddle. Of course, we can't give money
for everything, but sometimes there are things that
are really necessary. We're very careful how we
spend both the mission money and ours too. In fact,
in some quarters here we have a reputation for being
stingy! But that's good-it has scared away some
mercenary preachers who wanted to join us.
Yesterday morning I was writing letters and Mary
yelled from one of the front windows that there was
a "marchande" [street vendor] in front of the house
with Christmas trees. We had given up the idea
of a Christmas tree (even though we have our lights
and decorations with us) because we hadn't seen
nor heard about any at all. But here were some
peasants who had brought them in from miles away
in the "Foret des Pins" ("Forest of Pines") in the
south toward the Dominican Republic border. I
rushed out in front and began looking them over. I
soon found a shapely little pine (no firs or spruce)
and haggled the "marchande" down to 60c for it (4
feet 2 inches high). This morning we took it to
church with us only to find that E- had one al-
ready there gaily decorated with tinsel and balloons.
So we brought it back home with us and decorated
it in our dining room where it looks very much like
Christmas. We have received about 70 Christmas
cards. We're enjoying them so much.
I've had a sore throat for the past several days
and today after getting home from church I felt sort
of weak. So this afternoon I was in bed most of the
time and I feel better now. Gargling with hot salt
water helps too.
Tonight we have a late Christmas service, as is
traditional with the churches here. It will start at
about ten and run until about midnight. At this
service I will play the accordion for the first time
(we got it out of customs Monday) for the accompani-
ment of the Christmas carols. Also, tonight I will
use the slide projector in the church for the first
time to show a roll on the birth of Christ. E- will
translate the English titles. He was very much
impressed and delighted that we could have the
pictures for the Christmas Eve services. He said it
will be the first time for many of the people to see
such a thing.
Dec. 27-We have had a good Christmas season with
a late Christmas Eve service and children's program
Christmas Day. We expect to have a blessed New
Year's Eve watch-night service.
Dec. 29-The old year is almost finished! It's hard to
realize all that has transpired in this past year, such
a variety of experiences and radical changes. And
the future-well, that's in God's hands too.
We really hit the jack-pot on Christmas cards
this year-91 so far, and half of them from people
we've never met.
We can buy the New York Times here just a day
or two late; we get the week's news summary in
Time and some nights, like tonight, we can get gulf
state radio stations quite clear (because it's winter-
time) and we got the 6 p.m. (E.S.T.) news very
clearly from Tampa, Florida. We have some nice
music on now-I'm writing with Mary across the
table water-coloring flannelgraph figures. Toby has
been bad, chewing up the rush rug, so he's been
35
locked up in the "den" and we hear him whining
occasionally. We have our Christmas cards strung
up around the dining room, and the Christmas tree
lights are on. We are planning to have the Salvation
Army captain and his wife here for New Year's
dinner and treat them to an American spread with
fried chicken. (They are Swiss.) We were at their
house for Christmas dinner.
Wednesday evening we planted the 23 tomato
plants and unnumbered lettuce plants in a plot back
of the house that I dug up that morning. So far they
are doing famously and I think almost all will live.
The mountains back of P.-au-P. aren't wooded
except for a few sparce pines-they may originally
have been wooded, but not now. But they are very
beautiful and green. They are close to town-you
could drive to Kenscoff in about 40 or 50 minutes.
All along the highway poinsettia plants were brilliant
with bloom. The peasants of Kenscoff grow truck-
garden vegetables to sell in P.-au-P. and an American
couple have quite a business growing flowers and
flying them to the States for sale. It is much cooler
up there-almost cold in the late afternoon.
We got Mary's lab result today and she is normal
except for a slight red cell deficiency or slight
anemia.
Jan. 5, 1951-We got an extension of our visa for a
period of 60 days (until March 3) and we were told
we can get one more extension only. It would not
surprise me if we have spent a third or fourth of our
time in and around government offices.
We are encouraged, and we sense the Lord's
working. We are getting our teeth into the languages,
but we haven't quite taken our first bite. We can
make ourselves known, very painfully, in Creole and
even occasionally in French. And we can get the
gist of most of the French that we read. But we find
Spanish still easier occasionally when speaking with
a few of our preachers and members who have lived
in Dominican Republic or Cuba.
The New Year's Eve watch-night service went
okay. We showed a filmstrip on Daniel in the lions'
den, which I'm sure was a blessing to the people
from their periodic "Amens." We prayed over the
midnight hour. At the close of the service, the preach-
ers individually expressed their New Year's greet-
ings publicly to us. Mrs. -- said that she hoped
that God would give us a "babe" in the new year-
which rather startled us-but which we fervently
hope for.
Wednesday I went down to the immigrations office
to get our visa renewed. It took all morning, and
when I was three-fourths of the way through I dis-
covered that they hadn't included Mary and found
out that she had to get hers separately. So Thursday
morning I took Mary down, and they finished hers
up in about half the time-that's the way they are
about white women down here. I think I'll get Mary
to do all the business, and I'll stay home and cook!
It looks like we'll have to go over to Ciudad
Trujillo, Dominican Republic, to get our residence
visa, according to the Haitian law that a residence
visa cannot be issued to someone who is in Haiti.
Mayonnaise is one of our extravagances (often
we use just salad oil and lime juice)-it is 80c a pint,
so we use it somewhat sparingly. A regular box of
salt that I got today was 20c, just twice the price we
used to pay in Kansas City.
Only one of the lettuce plants has died so far-
it got broken off-all the rest of the lettuce and
tomato plants are living. We now have four kinds of
coleus plants.
The puppy is getting cuter all the time. We've al-
most got him so he doesn't chew on us except when
he's excited.
Jan. 8-If we had the trained leaders we could do almost
anything. As soon as we know enough Creole (late
spring or early summer, we hope) we plan to start
a Bible school-perhaps alternate semesters at
P.-au-P. and Gonaives. We have opportunities for
receiving independent churches all the time and new
places opening up for starting congregations, but
we're taking it easy until we "know the lay of the
land." There have been too many sad experiences
of groups in Haiti who tried to expand too fast.
We will have to balance evangelism with educa-
tion in the right proportions, because public education
is not available to all in Haiti. If we want our con-
gregations to be able to read, we will have to be the
ones to teach them or they won't be taught. We plan
to have reading campaigns (to teach them to read
the phonetic Creole script) as an integral part of
the program of every church. The emphasis is that
it is imperative for every Christian to learn to read.
Jan. 12-Last Sunday night we gave the people a real
surprise. Mary took her violin for the first time and
played a solo. The people really liked it. In fact,
they like a solo instrument better than an accompany-
ing one which plays harmony, especially the country
folks. They're not quite used to harmony and I think
it confuses them a little. They're also not used to
singing in regular time. It just about drives us crazy
sometimes, but we're getting used to it. We're just
glad they don't know any more songs than they do
so that when we teach them new ones we can teach
them the right time and melody.
Tuesday Mrs. Scott brought us a forest of
"paresseux" ("lazy") trimmings from their hedge.
38
I planted them five inches apart across the front of
our lot. If they're kept wet, they should take root.
We should have a good hedge by spring. I also stuck
some hibiscus cuttings in the ground all along our
north fence. So we may be able to landscape our
house without buying anything.
Today was a very good market day. Oxane got:
12 eggs (.24), 2 cucumbers (.08), 1 cashima (.03),
4 shaddock (.04-like grapefruit), 2 bunches of rad-
ishes (.04), 9 tomatoes (.13), 5 onions (.05), 10 limes
(.03), 2 bunches of carrots (.04), 1 pineapple (.12),
8 bananas (.08), 4 oranges (.02), 6 heads of loose-leaf
lettuce (.06), and 3 tiny bundles of pitch wood for
starting charcoal fires (.01). Of course, many of
the fruits and vegetables are not up to the quality
and size of the States. We pay Oxane $6 a month
total ($4 plus 50c a week for food), that is 20c a day.
We could never bargain for all those vegetables at
the prices she got. And besides, she washes the
dishes, washes some of the clothes, irons some, sweeps
and dusts the house. But we don't work her too
hard. She has had lots of free time, and we let her
go home just about whenever she wants, especially
at night.
We've worked out a schedule for ourselves (which
we are having difficulty keeping) and we are actual-
ly getting in more language study. It's hard to keep
a schedule because there are so many interruptions
that change the day.
Got a $90 check as Christmas present from some
member of Long Beach First Church today. That's
a lot! Well, the Lord knoweth what things ye have
need of! We're not worried about anything. The care
He's been taking of us is too good.
CHAPTER 5-". . can understand and use more Creole
now"
Jan. 15-Our church in the north near Gonaives is sit-
uated out of town in the country district of Canal
Bois. From P.-au-P. to Gonaives we traveled in a
fairly modern bus, and to Canal Bois in a truck.
Returning, we could not get a truck ride so we rode
the 8 miles into town through the brilliantly moonlit
countryside on a spiritless Haitian nag. From the
front seat of a truck we got an excellent view of
the central coast of Haiti as we returned to P.-au-P.
the next morning over the 90 miles of rut-ridden, un-
predictable Haitian "road."
The country church in Canal Bois was as pretty as
a picture, surrounded on three sides by a neat vege-
table garden and with a towering mango tree in front
shading the clean-swept earth. Over 100 people
crowded into the mud-walled, thatch-roofed sanctuary
for the service. Preachers from this church hold
services in four outstations regularly, so you see it
is really a missionary church.
Jan. 19-Mrs. Scott gave us a whole stack of her rose
cuttings which I have planted in a plot back of the
house for rooting. If they all grow (which they won't,
of course), we would have no room for anything else.
This evening we had the first of the lettuce. No, it
isn't really ready yet; but since we had none on hand
from the market, we picked the biggest leaves and
ate them-very good and tender. But the chickens
and dogs just about have them all dug up or broken
off.
Monday our little girl started to school and her
mother started working for us. Mary can hardly find
enough work for her to do. She does the dishes in
less than half the time her daughter did and she irons
quite well. Of course, she has her faults, but as a
whole it is quite an improvement.
Today we had an answer from the consul in Ciudad
and found out we have to have a police record for
the past ten years-so we've written to police de-
partments in all cities we've lived in for ten years!
We may get the residence visa yet. We found out
the jeep is held up because the United States re-
quires an export license for 4-wheel drive vehicles
now. We may get the jeep yet!
We may start in a Creole class which is beginning
February 1 to speed up our learning process.
Yesterday and today were special days of prayer.
We're expecting God to answer.
Jan. 24-The missions department was very generous
in giving us more than we asked for. [Requested
appropriation for the mission work for the year 1951.]
Now we hope we'll soon get the jeep and our resi-
dence visa so that we can stay around and spend it!
Jan. 26-Three months ago today we moved into our
house-it seems much longer than that in some ways.
The stove we ordered is here. We will buy it tomor-
row and it will be delivered Monday. It will save
lots of time and work to have four burners and an
oven. We still haven't a stick of furniture in the
front room, and I'm not going to do anything towards
it until the jeep gets here-unless it is delayed in-
definitely!
Taxis are different here. The driver picks up as
many people as the taxi will hold all along the line
and delivers the people in order. Sometimes it takes
15 or 20 minutes to get to a place where you could
drive in 5, because there are other people already
in the cab when you get in.
Mary was in the kitchen this morning and some
tiny bits of cement started falling down from the
41
eaves. (Our kitchen has no ceiling, just open rafters,
and corrugated aluminum roofing above and an open
space between the wall and the eaves.) She looked
up and there was a beetle crawling down the wall.
He was only about 3 inches long. She called the yard
boy who impaled him on a nail. He had two huge
mandibles that would be good to pinch you with. We
have aphids, scale, mealey bugs, cutworms-on plants
and in the ground. I'm going to get some bug spray.
Right now our weather is like the best San Diego
and Long Beach weather that there is. When it rains,
it rains and quits and the sun comes out. There is
usually a little wisp of a breeze and a few fleecy
clouds in the sky. Lovely mornings and evenings.
Just a few nights that we have wanted more than
one blanket over us. We have no storms that amount
to anything. We seldom have much wind. The storms
are almost all dissipated by the time they pass Cuba.
We live 500 or 600 feet above sea level.
We have drums every Saturday night and on holi-
days. They aren't always all voodoo drums but just
the rhythm for their "Saturday night dances."
We have all the city noises (cars, sirens, ship horns
in the harbor, radios too loud) plus chickens, roosters,
and dogs with the addition also of street vendors'
cries and chants.
We have to boil all our drinking water. Today a
doctor told us that we should also boil our "pasteur-
ized" milk to be safe.
We are starting a series of revival efforts in the
Port-au-Prince area in which the people of the Central
Church go out once a month to a different church
to assist in evangelism. For February it is Merger,
a crossroads to the west along the bay (10 miles from
here). Ten miles sounds like just a short way, but
once you get out of P.-au-P. you have left civilization.
Feb. 2-Wednesday the stove was delivered, and Mary
is really enjoying it. Last night she baked some tart
shells and filled them with something that tastes
almost like spicy apple sauce. It was made from
grenadine, a kind of melon, which our girl got us,
for the first time. Very good! Of course Mary added
some other things, like lime juice, etc., which the
recipe called for.
Last Sunday we made a trip in the morning to
Merger, about 10 miles from P.-au-P. It is just a
tiny village on the side of a steep hill close to the
bay shore (Port-au-Prince Bay). The place of wor-
ship is just a brush arbor, but the view of the bay
and palm dotted landscape is magnificent.
We got there early and they sent a boy up a
cocoanut tree to knock down some cocoanuts for us.
A young boy deftly whacked off the outer husk, and
cut a hole for us to drink the juice. We like it fairly
well It is clear, slightly sweet, and almost tastes
carbonated. E-- can drink cocoanuts by the half-
dozen. Two filled me up completely, and one Mary.
We had a good service with over 50 people there,
many coming from a long ways. The man in charge
of that congregation has seven sons, all Christians,
and six were in the service. We're hoping the Lord
will call some of them into the ministry.
We're getting so that we can understand and use
more Creole now. French will take longer. Tuesday
I did my first Bible translating into Creole-the Sun-
day School lessons for February 4th and 11th. I
translated from Greek but very carefully consulted
the French in order to include as many cognate
words and phrases as possible. E--- is proofreading
it today. We hope to hektograph about thirty copies
for use in the Sunday School
Our electric bill was less for last month, only
$8.62.
Feb. 8-Our hektographed leaflets in Creole were very
well received by the people of P.-au-P. Central
Church.
We leave everything we cannot do or control in
the Lord's hands. He's better at working out things
anyway.
Feb. 9-Dr. Vanderpool is going to visit us the last week
of this month. We will certainly be glad to have
him come, but it is a shame that we won't have the
jeep by then. Well, we'll do the best we can. We
won't be able to see much outside P.-au-P.
Tonight we are having the E--s and his mother
[who is also a preacher] over for dinner. Afterward
we are going to show them our kodachrome pictures
which we took in the U.S.
We started a Creole class Monday and think that
it will be good. It will keep us busy with the French
class in the morning on Monday, Wednesday and
Friday, and Creole class in the afternoon on the same
days. One way or another well get so that we can
communicate with these Haitians.
I'm getting more familiar with the accordion and
enjoy it more. But I do miss a piano. We're still
having lovely winter weather.
Feb. 15-Brother E---is suffering from some sort of
nervous disease with beginnings of facial paralysis
on the left side. We are getting the prescribed medi-
cines for him.
We are sure that the Lord has an interest in these
matters, and special prayer for Brother E-- cannot
but bring results in accord with God's all-wise plan.
Feb. 16-It's Friday night. Mary is in the kitchen clean-
ing the defrosted refrigerator. We had some good
spaghetti for supper. For dessert we had some cocoa-
nut ice, sold in ice cubes by our landlord. His wife
44
makes it by shredding fresh cocoanut, soaking it in
water, squeezing it in a ricer for juice, adding sugar
and freezing. Very good.
Had a letter today from Dr. Rehfeldt saying that
Dr. Vanderpool was cancelling his Cuba and Haiti
trip, perhaps coming later.
Prices are rising here as they do every time there
is a price rise in the States. Some items will be im-
possible to get here too because they are forbidden
for export from the States. The jeep agent says he
will have no more 4-wheel drive vehicles for sale.
I just hope that they can get our jeep out of the
States. We've heard nothing more on it yet. But
the Lord can take care of it if He wants us to have it.
With the $6 Mother Orjala sent and $5 from
Mother Bowerman [Mary's mother] we had just
enough to get the $11 worth of medicine which
Brother E-- needs very desperately. Just a few
days ago a doctor told him that he has some sort of
nervous disease that is currently giving the symptoms
of partial facial paralysis. If it is not checked im-
mediately, said the doctor, it will spread. He is
also suffering from undernourishment and malnutri-
tion. We are going to see what we can do about that
too. Most of the Haitians, including the E--s,
because of their ignorance and poverty have gotten
so that they don't like vegetables and prefer the
cheaper and more filling starchy foods like rice,
beans, plantains, and sweet potatoes. We pray that
the Lord may heal him and also that he may take
to re-education and new dietary habits. We love
Brother E-- and we can't afford to lose such a
valuable man.
It's dry here. When it rains, it all comes down at
once, rushes down the gullies, and very little of it
sticks around to do much good. The mountainside
farms of the peasants are terribly eroded. It is a
tragic problem. Haiti needs dams and irrigation if
it is ever to ride over the crest of poverty and over-
population.
We don't have a hot water heater. We heat our
water on the stove for washing and shaving and take
our showers in the afternoon when the sun has some-
times warmed the water in the barrel on our roof.
There are all kinds of queer people here on crazy
passports. A friend of ours (an American negro here
for the U.N. health education program) was thrown
in jail the other day for conspiring to overthrow the
government. The man he lived with had constructed
an incriminating letter supposedly by our friend to
someone in the States and had brought it to the
police. After questioning, our friend was released
and the man he lived with was arrested and it was
found out that he wasn't a doctor as he claimed,
wasn't using solicited money from people and the
government to start a blood bank as he claimed, had
a criminal record a mile long, and was here on a
false passport. You never know whom you are talk-
ing to here!
The sewage system here isn't equipped to handle
anything more than wash water, if that. The only
sewage system I know is the open gutters in every
street that drain into bigger underground pipes oc-
casionally and empty eventually into the bay.
Our St. Paulias are blooming now with nine blos-
soms on one plant. Mary takes care of them.
The first Time magazine came yesterday. Latin
American Edition.
Sunday night we are going to try to teach the
people a new Creole song and I'm going to try to
give a short message in Creole if I can muster up the
courage and find time to work on it. I think we're
getting quite a lot out of our Creole classes, and we're
at least being goaded to learn new vocabulary.
46
Feb. 26-We are going to try once more to get our visa
without leaving the country. Captain Egger [Salva-
tion Army] talked with his neighbor, a doctor, about
our situation and he said that he thought a letter
from the American consul or ambassador would do
the trick. So we're going to try. We've also written
the Haitian consul in New Orleans to see if he can
do anything.
Oh, everything here is like a jigsaw puzzle. You
never know what government offices will do or
won't do or how long they will take. It's as bad as
Washington, D.C. Our first visa extension is up
Saturday. We will get it, wait about three weeks;
and if the jeep hasn't arrived, we'll make plans to
leave the country some other way. If the impossible
happens, we may get our visa right here.
I stopped by the shop of the carpenter who's
making our chairs, today. He had not followed our
patterns exactly. He cut the side pieces too short,
making the chair less deep than intended. The sides,
front, and back were not on the square on one chair.
But I guess it will be okay. We didn't expect period
furniture when we got him to make the chairs. We
just want something to sit in in the living room. If
it is slightly off the square, it will match the rush
rug and the rest of the house.
This a.m. we went through the covered market
looking for some wooden basins to plant some begonia-
like plants to put on the front porch. We didn't find
any like we wanted, but the market is always such
an interesting place to look around in. They have
practically every kind of vegetable there is for sale
on one side. In the middle are the cloth and hard-
ware merchants with their mill ends and enamel
ware. On the other side in one quarter are the mer-
chants with baskets, pottery (crude flowerpots and
water jugs, etc.), straw hats, leather sandals, and
the other quarter of that side is for merchants with
different kinds of grain and dried beans, peanuts,
tobacco. Along one wall are the chicken merchants
with all their birds' legs tied so they can't walk, just
sit. On another side are the meat merchants-every-
thing in the open and handled by everyone. All
around the outside of the market there are merchants
in the streets selling everything imaginable.
We have started taking a little French newspaper,
"La Nouvelliste," and we're learning a lot of French
that way.
There is a good spirit here-spiritual and progres-
sive-among the people and preachers. We are not
in the least unaware of how huge a task is before
us, but with the Lord's sure help and the co-operation
of the people we hope to get into high gear with a
program of advance in a few months. The Lord is
helping us to get a little grip on the languages, and
His blessing and presence in our lives makes us know
that "with God nothing shall be impossible."
CHAPTER 6-". .. a plan of attack for getting our
residence visa"
Feb. 27-Government regulation requires that perma-
nent residence visa must be applied for outside Haiti.
We might go to Ciudad Trujillo-but it might take
many weeks. One missionary we know has been
there for six weeks without success yet.
We are sure that the Lord has a way of working
out this problem, and we want to find His way.
March 4-Saturday, after going to only five offices, I
think we finally got enough information to formulate
a fairly definite plan of attack for getting our resi-
dence visa. First of all we had to get our final visa
extension at the immigrations office. We had trouble
48
there-the man in charge didn't want to give us our
full thirty days coming (only fifteen), but I knew
that we had at least thirty days coming. I guess when
he saw that he couldn't bluff us, he said that he
thought we had been here for the full six months
and were asking for an additional extension. After
that he was glassy smooth and we got our extension
in just a few minutes. He is the same fellow I had
seen a couple of days before to find out where would
be the best place to get our residence visa. He said
that the best place would be for us to go back to the
United States to our home town! I got the implica-
tion; but I countered that the Haitian consuls in
the U.S. didn't seem to know anything about Haitian
law and if they gave us the wrong information the
first time what might not hinder them from giving
us the wrong information the second time?
We still have our Creole teacher working on the
possibility of seeing someone high in the government
and getting the visa here. We'll know tomorrow.
This week Mary tried fixing breadfruit for the
first time. She cooked it in the pressure cooker,
mashed it, and then fried it in patties like mashed
potatoes. It was quite good, but Mary wants to use
a little imagination and find some better ways of
fixing it.
We've had another type of fruit but I can't re-
member the Creole name. It is round like a baseball
and about that size and smaller with a shiny, smooth,
leathery skin. You eat the meat inside which has
several black seeds about the size and shape of
loquat seeds; the meat is about a cross between a
fig and a persimmon in consistency. I can't describe
the taste. I like it but Mary doesn't like it too well
because of the milky sap in the skin like figs which
gets gummy and sticky when it dries and is also a
little irritating if you get much in your mouth.
We're working pretty hard on our languages, and
we're beginning to feel like we might one day be
able to "make it."
We hektograph the Sunday School leaflets in
Creole, give our testimonies in Creole, and on Sunday
night we teach them new Creole choruses which we
have hektographed too.
We feel like the Lord is working and we keep
watching for the opportunities which He has to give
us. The Lord is very good to us, and we feel the
imperative necessity of our being at our best with
Him and for Him.
March 5-"Things that are impossible with men are
possible with God." That's what Jesus told His dis-
ciples, and He ought to know!
March 6-I'm waiting for E- to get here this am.
for a conference on a few changes which we want
to make, over which we have been thinking and
praying for quite some time. We don't anticipate any
difficulty, for E- seems to take almost all our
suggestions very well.
Two hours later-Well, we had a good talk and I think
E- got the idea on several things. We never hope
to get everything straight in his thinking, but if we
get a few ideas across we are very happy. Gradually,
I think we can get him and the people around to a
good position.
Our Creole teacher said last night that he thinks
he can possibly get our visa right here through one
of his friends and is still trying for us. We really
appreciate it. We're not concerned about the visa,
though; we know the Lord will work out the best
plan.
Mar. 13-The natives are really taking to the Creole
choruses we have been teaching them, particularly
"Oh, Say but I'm Glad" and "Every Day with Jesus."
We thank the Lord for His help and direction.
Mar. 14-Saturday we got word that the jeep export
license was received, so we will probably get the
jeep the last week of this month in time to drive over
to Ciudad Trujillo for our visa if we don't get it here
before then. We thank the Lord for this.
The other day we got some little (and I mean
little!) strawberries that grow wild here I think.
They took us hours to clean, but they have a good
flavor. We got a little basket full (about 3 quarts)
for 20c and I think we could have gotten them for
10c if we had bargained long enough.
Our tomatoes will soon be ready to eat.
We are doing a little interior decorating. We got
so tired of the drab dark finish of the woodwork in
the house that we got some Walltone (Firestone's
version of Kemtone) and we're doing a little bit in
the evening, when we don't have to go out or aren't
too tired out. It is such an improvement-sort of a
light gray-green.
We can hardly believe that we will soon have
the jeep. It will completely revolutionize our lives.
We'll be able to get out into the country to visit all
the churches and keep contact with them. We'll be
able to go to several parts of town in the same morn-
ing, instead of keeping our errands within walking
distance of each other. We'll be able to go to church
at night knowing how and when we'll get back home
(instead of worrying about getting a taxi). A car
is about the most essential material item needed in
Haiti-that's what every American and European
says-and we've found it out the hard way. But I'm
not complaining. If we were not getting a jeep we
would just keep on doing what we could the best
way we could. But it will be such an improvement,
and we thank the Lord for it.
Easter is close at hand. Mary is going to give the
Easter story with her flannelgraph in Sunday School.
At night we will give a running commentary on the
Easter story in Creole to match Mary's story in Creole
in the morning. We are trying to do something
tangible in Creole-though we haven't been here six
months yet. Sometimes we feel sort of useless when
we can understand and speak so little in church, but
we're gradually understanding and speaking more.
March 20-We can't tell much of any improvement in
Brother E- 's paralysis yet, but he is taking the
medicine faithfully. I gave him a little booklet in
French on proper nutrition and hope it will do him
good.
March 21-We got one of our preachers a well-paying
job with an embassy department ($480.00 a year is
very good for here).
We've both had the Haitian grippee" which is
a mild, long-lasting combination of a sore throat and
laryngitis. Mary's over it, but I'm still croaking
around. We've been drinking lots of juice and when
we first came down with it we got some extra rest.
It should soon be over.
We have often wondered how the board happened
to send us here instead of a more mature couple with
former missionary experience. But we're learning a
lot, and we're enjoying it.
March 27-We ate our first orange tomato today. It was
very good, not bitter at all as we had feared. We've
got a lot of them that will be ripe in a very short
time. If we have to leave for Dominican Republic
soon, most of them will be ripe when we are gone!
sob, sob!
I checked the manifest at the ALCOA office today,
and our jeep was not listed on the boat that came in
port this afternoon or evening. So-o-o-o, we hope to
get word in a day or two that they were able to get
it on the next boat which arrives here about April
9-then we'll go to the immigrations office and try
to get them to let us stay until the jeep arrives (our
visa extension expires April 4). I don't know whether
we'll have any trouble or not; probably no serious
trouble, just petty officials that want to give you a
bad time. But then, we know that we have the Lord
working out things, so as long as we trust things to
Him they will work out for the best. We're not wor-
ried.
Tonight we started reviewing Spanish, hoping to
revive enough to get along on our trip over to Ciudad
Trujillo. It is nice that we can take advantage of
this period of good will between the two countries
[Haiti and Dominican Republic]. Just a few weeks
ago, Magloire (Haiti's president) and Trujillo (presi-
dent of D.R.) exchanged visits just across the borders
and expressed their desire to be friendly and co-
operate.
Today Mary finished (almost) the cushions for
our chairs. She filled them with horsehair which our
neighbors gave us. Now the pillows accentuate how
short the depth of the chairs is due to the carpenter's
mistake. But I guess it will be okay--as long as you
sit up straight there is room! I may try to do some-
thing to these chairs to help out. Really it is better
to do things for yourself. They will always turn out
better, and they will probably cost less and take
less of your time than if you watched over someone
enough to make him do it right. We're not disillu-
sioned-we're just realistic!
It is just after 8:30 and it has started to rain. That's
the way it will do just about every night for a month,
usually between 9 and 12-then it is clear and lovely
in the morning and a beautiful day. Sometimes it
really comes down hard and makes such a racket
on our tin roof that we can't sleep. The other night
we had about ten people on our front porch for over
an hour waiting for it to subside.
March 31-Invited to spend Sunday, April 8, with the
San Juan, Puerto Rico, church on their tenth anni-
versary to help in the special music. Have written
Doctor Rehfeldt for permission. We expect to be in
the Dominican Republic at that time getting our
visas.
Letter from our shipping agent in New Orleans
stated that the jeep was shipped on the ship that
arrived here Thursday of this week. I could hardly
believe it because I had looked at the manifest in the
shipping office last week and hadn't found our jeep
on it. I don't see how I missed it, but maybe the Lord
didn't want us to know that it was coming because
of the information which another letter contained.
The other letter was another invitation from Reverend
Lebron-Velazquez to come to San Juan, Puerto
Rico, (from Ciudad Trujillo, where we had told him
we might be next week) to provide music for the
tenth anniversary of his church, both of us as their
guests. Well, I guess the Lord knows what He's do-
ing after all!
Our visa extension runs out on Wednesday, the
fourth.
Our budget isn't any too big to finish out this
fiscal year. We'll just have to depend upon the Lord
to give us ingenuity enough to make it stretch enough
to cover the present program-and He will do just
that!
April 1-We feel like we have gotten the foundation of
our language study built. This a.m. I spoke in Creole
to the congregation telling them that our jeep was
in customs and that we planned to make our trip
to Dominican Republic this coming week-and they
understood me! Without notes too!
It is amazing how the Lord has worked out every-
thing right down to the last minute almost! [regard-
ing visas]
It is not impossible that we might someday have
a church among the better classes that could quickly
become self-supporting and even missionary in its
outlook, like the big Methodist and Baptist churches
here in town.
April 2-Monday a.m., 11:30. Just paid $404.66 duty on
jeep and am going now to get it. It is grey and looks
nice.
April 5-We hope we can get out of the country ahead
of the police and customs officials! [Still waiting for
permit for car so they can drive to D.R.]
April 9-Have just bought tickets to San Juan, Puerto
Rico, where it seems best to go to apply for the visas
after a week of inquiries including the foreign min-
ister.
It is our opinion that we should insure the jeep.
SAN JUAN, PUERTO Rico-[Arrived April 9]
April 10-Sunday a.m. our neighbor and landlord (who
has been a big help to us) went to see the minister
of foreign affairs whom he's known since childhood
and found that we ought to apply for our visas from
American soil-Puerto Rico or Miami. After thought
and prayer it seemed to us like the Lord had closed
the door to D.R. and that ultimately there might be
less expense and certainly less risk in flying to San
Juan where we would not have difficulties, being
American citizens. And with the advice of the Haitian
foreign minister himself we felt that this was the only
way that the Lord had left open without any doubts
and uncertainties connected with it.
We have friends who will do what they can to
get it through quickly, and we are trusting the Lord
to smooth out the road. We have tried to do what
we thought best, earnestly seeking the Lord's direc-
tion.
We've learned a lot and trust that it will be valu-
able in conducting the Lord's business in the future.
The whole experience has made us rely on the Lord
more than we ever have before.
We are hoping we can do a little good here while
we must stay, perhaps in helping a little with music.
[Paul is a pianist and organist; Mary, a violinist.]
CHAPTER 7-"More than ever we sense God's direc-
tion."
April 11-We had a nice flight to San Juan. We feel
the Lord has been with us and helped us. Dozens of
other Americans have had the same experiences we
had, but many of them just pulled out of Haiti and
left for good. This a.m. we put all our application
papers and documents in the hands of the Haitian
consul here, so it's up to the Lord now to work things
out His way.
As soon as we arrived we called the pastor and
superintendent of our Nazarene work here (he had
invited us to come to stay with them when we thought
we would be in C.T. [Ciudad Trujillo] earlier), and
he came by and picked us up and drove us home. He
started his work here independently and later affiliat-
ed with our denomination. It [San Juan First Church]
is almost altogether self-supporting. They have a
very nice First Church building with a Wurlitzer
organ, and school which is practically self-supporting.
They have a nice apartment.
Coming here is just like coming to the States, ex-
cept that Spanish is the language here. San Juan is
just as modern as any U.S. city-such a contrast to
P.-au-P. Mary was able to get some violin strings
(she has been playing it with only three for a couple
of months), and we hope to get a few other little
things we can't find for love or money in Haiti.
I don't know how long we'll be here; if it length-
ens out too much we'll try to move out gracefully to
a hotel so we won't be a burden. We like it here, but
we're anxious to get back home; we have so much to
do, and things will pile up while we're gone.
One of the first things we want to do when we
get back is to put the bee on our preachers for teach-
ing their people to read Creole and supply them with
the materials from the education department. It
won't do any good for us to have Creole Testaments
and literature if the people can't read it, and most
of them can't. We're not discouraged at all, but we've
got to work hard and get things rolling now that we
can get along fairly well in Creole. It was so won-
derful to have the jeep for all the rushing around
we had to do in trying to leave the country. It almost
seems too good to be true. We'll be able to get out
to the country to visit the churches as often as time
will allow-and we plan to do a lot of traveling to
try to establish firm contact with the preachers and
people.
We both lost a lot of weight last week; our clothes
hardly fit us; maybe we'll gain a little here.
April 19-Monday we went on a drive through the south-
eastern section of the island, and it was really beauti-
ful. The countryside is well kept with fields of sugar
cane and grazing cattle. There are lots of pretty little
hills and mountains that remind us of some sections of
California. The palm-fringed southern coast with all
shades of blue and green water (according to the
depth) was just "enchanting." Along a high mountain
drive (lined with overhanging trees and hibiscus
hedges) in the east-central sections there are beauti-
ful summer homes built on the steep cliff-like slopes
with all kinds of plants and flowers that we usually
see only in florist windows in the States.
The roads were good paved roads, if a little nar-
row. The towns we passed through were well-kept,
each with the quaintest little plaza with trimmed
trees and shrubs (like pictures of Spain) and inter-
esting old Catholic churches. It is such a contrast
to Haiti.
We still don't know just how long we'll be here.
We are going to make arrangements to help pay for
the food and other expenses which we are causing by
our stay.
We have been able to help a little, speaking several
times and playing the organ. We've asked the pastor
to let Mary do some of his English correspondence to
help him out a little. So maybe we won't be wasting
our time completely.
We got a letter from E-- yesterday and every-
thing seems to be okay in Haiti; the government had
asked for some statistics and other information; either
they are trying to straighten up their files or else
the Catholics want to get a better idea of what the
Protestants are doing. Both may be true.
As we start thinking about different situations of
other missionaries we know about, I guess our ex-
perience isn't too unusual.
April 20-We are anxious to get back to our work and
people in Haiti. With the jeep and the new budget we
feel like we are just beginning after a bothersome
delay for red tape and introduction to the languages.
We are praying that the Lord will help the Haitian
officials to process our visa application quickly.
We appreciate the hospitality of the pastor and his
wife, but we are doing all we can to help them and to
keep from interfering with their regular schedule of
duties. Have preached some and played the organ. We
hate the feeling of uselessness though I am sure the
change will be good for us.
April 23-The price of gasoline in Haiti now-43c a gal-
lon. In our new budget we have $25 a month for
transportation, but I don't know whether that will
cover all the gas we will have to use; we'll have to
wait and see. The gas for a trip to our farthest church
will cost about $10 round trip, but we will not be
going there every week!
We've started a class for some of the young people
of the church to teach them to read music. I just use
what Spanish I can and get someone to interpret the
rest for me. We are recalling and learning quite a
bit, but we don't expect to be jabbering it like natives
very soon.
The water [ocean] here is so beautiful; we notice
the breakers because the bay of P.-au-P. is as smooth
as a lake. On a bright sunny day, the blues and
greens plus the white spray of the breakers is very
beautiful. We are enjoying Puerto Rican food which is
very different from Mexican or Haitian food except
that it is predominantly carbohydrate like them. We
have not heard anything more about the visa-we
might have to wait for a couple of months.
April 29-Today we got a letter from our landlord and
neighbor [Lebon in P.-au-P.] saying he had traced our
visa application through the foreign office and immi-
gration office; he thought we would still have to wait
another week or two, but he's keeping tab on it and
doing all he can to get it through quickly.
We keep Doctor Rehfeldt completely informed
about everything that happens or might happen-
poor man! We are afraid he gets more fan mail from
us than from any other field.
We may be able to get "Showers of Blessing"
from a Puerto Rican station when we get back.
The other day Mary and I went shell collecting
for the first time since we have been here in the
Caribbean area. I got some very interesting ones
but not a whole lot-the tide was too high. [Paul has
collected shells for years.]
We are trying to do little things to let our hosts
know that we appreciate their hospitality. We are
taking them to hear Marion Anderson tonight; she
is the famous Negro contralto. Every once in a while
we sneak some groceries into the pantry.
The church service last night was very good. There
was a good crowd, the church was just about full.
In the a.m. there were 311 in Sunday School. There
is a good spiritual tone in the church.
April 30-Hoping to get visas in a week (will have been
away from Haiti a month by then).
May 7-Doctor Vanderpool is very nice-he has juris-
diction over Haiti and had visited Haiti the year
before we arrived. He feels sorry for us-guess he
didn't have too pleasant a stay on his first visit; he
doesn't know how well we are fixed in P.-au-P. now,
though it was a crude struggle getting settled, etc.
We are anxious to get home, but don't and can't know
when our visa will be granted. All we can do is wait,
while our friends in P.-au-P. jog the memory of the
officials occasionally and do all they can to get our
visas through.
We are wondering how our plants in Haiti are
getting along. Before we left we put them all in the
ground so they would have a better chance of escap-
ing theft and of remaining alive. Our maid is sup-
posed to water them, and our landlord is going to
check on her. This is rainy season there, so they will
probably be okay, if they don't get washed away!
I have preached two Sunday nights, spoken twice
at the Friday night young people's meeting, once for
the Wednesday night Bible study service, once for
the Tuesday night combined W.F.M.S. and men's
meeting. Last Thursday and Saturday I taught the
music classes almost entirely in Spanish, though I
used the same words over and over again and had
to ask for words I didn't know.
There is only one thing that I would hate worse
than having to speak through an interpreter, and that
is to do the interpreting for someone else. But I
guess I'm doomed to both for some time yet.
I discovered some blisters on my arm this a.m.
that look like poison ivy; it was last year at this
same time I had it. Hope it is something else. [Paul
was hard hit with poison ivy after a cleanup day at
the new Seminary grounds at Kansas City shortly
before the time of his graduation in 1950.]
May 14-Good news. Yesterday afternoon we picked up
the mail at the post office and there was a letter for
us from our neighbor and landlord. Here's what he
said, "It was a very hard thing, but I won, I am sure.
I was waiting until a firm reply before writing, and
the official said he has seen the Minister, he will
speak to him again and all will be done on Friday."
The "Friday" was last Friday, so we may get our
visa this week, if P.-au-P. gets the confirmation to
the consul here quickly.
Last Thursday we went to the beach, to Luquillo
on the northeast corner of the island. We have hardly
ever seen a more beautiful, typical tropical beach
with a palm grove fringing the circular shore.
Friday we went to Ponce (named after Ponce de
Leon, the famous explorer). The drive through the
Puerto Rican countryside is always beautiful, es-
pecially now since the rains have made everything
green. The occasion was the fifth anniversary of the
Ponce church. They had a big crowd with people
from almost every denomination visiting. After a
lot of speeches, etc., I finally got to preaching about
nine o'clock. I didn't preach long, needless to say.
In some ways things have not been going so well in
Haiti since we left. From the letters, I think E-
is a little discouraged by our absence. But our trip
here has given us a new perspective and I'm sure
we are profiting by it in many ways which will also
aid our work in Haiti. Sometimes it is good to get
away from problems so that you can get a look at
the total picture-and that's what this trip has done.
We will probably never know just why the Lord
planned things this way, but we are beginning to
understand a little. I think we will be able to return
to our work with renewed vigor and insight and
confidence in the Lord.
May 18-No word yet.
May 21-We still have no official word about our visa.
I'm over the dysentery, was only down a couple of
days really.
The lesson on music reading went very well on
Saturday-at last, I think they are learning some-
thing. Poor people have to put up with my horrible
Spanish, and learning to read music isn't easy either.
We are anxious to get back to Haiti. Thursday is
our third wedding anniversary-we both think we
hit it about right; and that's pretty good these days
after three whole years!
May 24-We have just gotten our visa for permanent
residence in Haiti! After over six weeks in Puerto
Rico.
May 26-We feel that the acquisition of our visa is a
direct answer to prayer since we know with what
difficulty it was obtained. More than ever we sense
God's direction.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
May 29-Had a good trip home and found everything
in order when we arrived-except for the inches of
dust on everything in the house, mold on the shoes
and clothes we left behind (it was rainy season while
we were gone), and giant-sized weeds all over the
yard.
Captain Jacques Egger [Salvation Army] met us
at the airport and we drove home in our own jeep
station wagon. [Captain Egger had kept it for them.]
When we arrived at the church, Brother E-
was whitewashing the walls-together with some of
the men in honor of our return. It will probably take
us about two weeks to complete all our official gov-
ernmental business, but we now have the indispens-
able document-our residence visa. It will take us
a couple of weeks to stop trying to talk to people
in Spanish and an extra couple of weeks to get back
into Creole and an extra month for French.
At the close of the service Sunday night in San
Juan, they gave us a number of presents: candy,
brush and comb, shirt, ties, stockings for Mary, and
a suit for me.
A woman in Oklahoma has given $500 for a me-
morial chapel in Haiti in honor of her husband.
We are both well and feeling good.
The Eggers are living with us for a week or two
while their new house gets the finishing touches.
They are very congenial, and their baby cries very
little, not at all at night.
How wonderful it is to have the jeep station wagon!
It hardly seems true. The Lord has been very good
to us.
June 5-Some specific items for definite prayer: 1st,
a real revival among our people; our language study;
plans for a Bible school for training preachers; cam-
paigns in each church to teach the people to read the
New Testament (now printed with the Psalms in
Creole); the development of native leaders and call-
ing of preachers; adequate locations needed for
several churches. We're expecting God to work
miracles in Haiti in answer to prayer. "For with God
nothing shall be impossible."
We now have a post office box-and an easy
number to remember too-444.
I don't know when we'll get all our government
business done, but most of it will be completed this
week. I have yet to be sworn in as a minister.
We need desperately to make some trips out into
the country but we can't until we finish everything
in town with the government. On top of this, I need
to find time to make some kitchen cupboards and a
linen closet for Mary. We've been living with things
just stacked around and no place to put them for
so long that I just must get something permanent
made so that we can live somewhat normally.
Monday night we went to the second informal
meeting of missionaries of this area of Haiti. After
one missionary couple returned on furlough to the
U.S. and didn't know any of the missionaries of other
denominations when people asked about them, they
returned and decided to invite all the missionaries
to their house so that they could get acquainted. We
sang and prayed and then several of us were asked
to give a testimony of how we happened to come to
Haiti. They plan to have these informal meetings
every month. We hope to have one of them at our
house in the near future. But where will they sit?
CHAPTER 8-"Our sights are being raised .. "
June 6-I overheard a conversation between E-- and
an official of the Department of Religion who didn't
think I understood French- (and I didn't get it com-
pletely). He tried to get E-- to say he didn't want
us in Haiti and didn't want us to take over his work.
But E-- was very loyal to us.
After some difficulty I succeeded in getting the
official name of our mission on government records
corrected from "Eglise des Nazareens" to "Eglise du
Nazareen" [The Church of the Nazarene] for legal
reasons. E-- didn't want to admit that he had in-
correctly translated the name into French and also
tacked on the title "Foreign Department Mission."
Property cannot be held in the name of the Gen-
eral Board in Haiti, but we can hold the property
as representatives of the General Board. We have
this on good authority, but I will check the laws
myself if possible before we buy any property.
June 18-We finally wound up all our government busi-
ness relating to our residence. We now have our
"permis de sejour" (which is like a little passport
giving all the information about our residence and
status in Haiti as missionaries and U.S. citizens),
"Carte d'identite" (identification card to be carried
at all times since we are alien residents), auto license,
and drivers' licenses. And believe me we really had
to hustle to get those documents and licenses. If
we had not had the jeep it would have taken us a
week longer to get things done, since we had to go
back and forth from one office to another getting
different certificates and paying fees. Now all that
remains is for me to be sworn in as a minister recog-
nized by the government, and that is just a matter of
course.
This week we are starting on our schedule of
regular language study, since we don't have to be
gone almost every morning to the government offices.
We are also starting a schedule of visitation to all
the churches and outstations, planning for at least
one congregation every two weeks on Sunday. It
is almost like we were beginning all over again, since
we did not have facilities to do all this traveling
before we left and had to stay in town most of the
time trying to get our visa through. We feel like
we are permanent and ready to go ahead for the
first time.
Our sights are being raised, and we are beginning
to see that E-- is a man of too small vision and
ability to remain the permanent native leader of our
work. Our only hope is going to be in developing
a new generation of young people-we have little
hope that the old people can ever change enough to
develop a truly Nazarene spirit in our churches.
They are set in their ways and cannot learn fast or
well either. We're going to spend the rest of this
year in spying out young men who have ability and
feel a call to preach. We are going to spend most of
our time in training them during the remainder of
our first term here.
We have lots of trouble with ants. We don't dare
leave anything out where they can get at it. For-
tunately we have mostly grease-eating ants, not many
sweet-eating ants. We sleep under mosquito netting
all the time, but we still get some bites during the
day. It is pretty hot nowadays, but cool in morning
and evening.
June 23-Visitors to P.-au-P. often form erroneous im-
pressions of many important phases of the Haitian
life and economy, as we did when we first arrived
but which we have now changed to a better approxi-
mation of the truth, we trust.
June 26-Yaws is a disease very closely related to syph-
ilis (but not a venereal disease) which produces
open sores on the skin that don't heal very easily.
The new drug, streptomycin, is doing even better
than penicillin in curing it, and it cures syphilis at
the same time.
We have lost a little weight mainly because of the
heat. We don't get too hungry for a big meal except
once in a while. But we aren't skinny. They say
that it doesn't get any hotter than it is right now, so
we are quite relieved. We can stand it all right; it
is just difficult to avoid being out in the sun once
in a while during the middle of the day.
Our time, as far as what might be called working
hours, is very irregular. We just can't keep a regular
schedule of any sort, because there are always things
to interrupt us. Part of that is because we have to
be 2 or 3 persons in our duties. Occasionally business
and governmental matters (e.g., banking, getting
things out of customs) take most of our mornings.
We are having great difficulty to find time for lan-
guage study now, just when we need it most, because
we are supposed to be superintending the work, visit-
ing churches, deciding where to build new churches,
checking on our preachers and finding out informa-
tion on building costs and property. In addition to
that we have to live. I'm trying to get a few cup-
boards and closets built for Mary (our house isn't
completely furnished yet), and it takes quite a bit
of Mary's time to do the cooking. If we can work
it into our budget, I think we're going to have to get
a cook at least for a while, so that we'll have more
time for language study. I don't know just how we
will find time for a Bible school when we start one
(in the fall, I hope), but I guess we'll just have to
neglect other duties because a Bible school is the
most important thing for our field right now.
One of the biggest difficulties with everything in
Haiti is that everything goes so slow. You can't just
order something and expect to have it delivered;
you can't just hire someone and expect him to do the
job; you can't just go to an office to see someone and
expect to see him the first time you go or get any
satisfaction if you do see him-you have to go back
over and over again and seemingly get nothing done;
you have to keep tab on everything yourself and
see to it that it gets done. It seems like we are always
in a morass of unfinished projects and business.
This morning we went to a little village called
Riviere Froide ("cold river") named after the stream
that runs by it. It isn't far from town (probably not
more than 5 miles), but we had never been there.
It is a very picturesque and typical Haitian com-
munity. All up and down the river the women were
washing clothes. There were little "shops" along
the way, and every once in a while a little "market"
where several peasant women had gathered with
their produce for sale. We were happy to come across
a group making the "cassave" cakes (sort of a cross
between a tortilla and a shredded wheat biscuit); one
woman was rubbing the flour (made from a vegetable
root) through a basket which acted as a sieve, and
a man was putting them on a piece of tin which
served as a grill over a fire forming the round cakes
68
by sprinkling the flour inside a tin ring that may
have come off the top of a coffee can or something;
another lady was stacking up the cooked cakes and
selling them to passers-by. We like them toasted
with some butter on them. Every once in a while
we were passed by women going to market in town
with baskets of mangos and vegetables balanced on
their heads and going in the opposite way were men
on their way home or to the fields to work. In the
country most of the peasants are very polite and will
talk with you and answer your questions. They get
a big kick out of any white person who can talk
Creole with them. The whole area was very cool
and refreshing with a nice cool stream and many
tall trees shading-nice place for a picnic.
Sunday we had a nice if tiring morning holding
two services at two stations about 25 miles from here.
They were up north. In getting to one place we had
to follow a footpath making our own road [for the
jeep]. It is right in the middle of a big banana patch.
The other place had a terrible road with the arbor
for the church situated on a bank of a stream. (Not
as idyllic as one may imagine it-streams are all
muddy here, and there are people living everywhere.
The more we travel in the country, the more we are
amazed at how populated the place is. We have read
that Haiti is overpopulated, but now we have seen
it.)
We gave E-- the shock of his life on the way
home Sunday. We told him that we had worked
our own way through college and seminary without
a single cent of help from the General Board of the
Church of the Nazarene. He thought that we had
received a regular monthly salary from the church
all the time. He has been hoping to go to the Colored
Bible Institute in West Virginia, and we had the
task of telling him that if he went he would have to
earn his own way since it is the policy of the General
Board not to pay the way of foreign students to state-
side Nazarene institutions.
He was really surprised when we told him that
most of the college students in the U.S. work part or
all of their way, their parents helping them if they
can, and a few students receiving scholarships to
help them. Some Haitians think that the American
is naturally rich or received his money as a free gift.
Well, they're learning, and so are we!
July 4-Today is the fourth of July; and tonight there
is a reception for all Americans at the home of the
American Ambassador. We are planning to go just
to see the place-supposed to be very nice.
We have both been (and still are to some extent)
sick with intestinal flu. But we are feeling better
if weak.
We had a good trip up to Gonaives and good
services there at the Canal Bois church. There were
twenty-four to be baptized-that's a pretty good in-
crease for a half a year about. There were over 200
at the main service which was held outside under
a big mango tree because the church was too small
They have a big group of young people and even had
a special choir number. Our preacher there is a real
worker and he has a good staff of preachers to help
him. The big problem is to work out a system where-
by we can give them some real Bible training.
Sometimes it is very discouraging trying to help
the Haitians. Last Saturday a man who is a member
of our church at Canal Bois came and asked me to
give him some money so that he could get his identi-
fication card which he needed to apply for a job. He
needed 3 gourdes, sixty cents. We just happened
to need to have some grass and weeds cut and have
our hibiscus trimmed and the car washed. I asked
70
him if he would like to work for the money and told
him what we wanted done. He agreed to it. He cut
the grass and trimmed the hedge but it was too hot
and no shade for him to wash the car, so I gave him
2 gourdes and told him to come Tuesday and wash
the car in the late afternoon, and I would give him
another gourde. He didn't come last night, but this
morning with another fellow to help him. Before
he got started I asked him again if he wanted to do
it for a gourde (20c, which is a good price here) and
he agreed. But when he was almost through, while
he was scraping the mud from under the fenders, he
was complaining about how hard he had to work.
When he finished he wasn't satisfied with just one
gourde and gave the one gourde bill which I had
paid him to the fellow whom he had brought with
him to help. Then he was going away hurt without
any money for himself. Well, we can't afford to let
anything like that happen, because he would spread
stories in the churches that we had cheated him, etc.
So I gave him a lecture about how he was afraid to
work-wanted money without working for it-and
he had agreed to do it for the set price and now
wanted more money because the job had been just
a little harder than he had anticipated. I asked him
if he wanted me to give him another gourde, and he
remonstrated and said if I wanted him to wash my
car for only one gourde, he would do it (trying to
slant the blame toward me). "Well," I said, "all
right I'll give you another gourde." He said no, and
started walking down the street with the man with
him. I didn't have change and went next door to
the store to get some, but they didn't have any.
Then Mary found a 2 gourde bill in her wallet. I
took it and hurried down the street a block to catch
him and forced it on him-he didn't need much
forcing-and I had given him the shirt on his back!
July 10-We still aren't quite normal physically yet.
I'm feeling better than Mary but I still have diarrhea
quite a bit of the time. Mary has it all the time still
and is sick to her stomach. A lot of the Americans
and other foreigners are complaining about the same
thing. Mary was going to go with me, but she just
isn't able. And I need to go in order to visit some
new outstations preparatory to deciding where we
are going to build two chapels for which money has
been sent
Last night we went to the missionary fellowship
meeting. We have invited them to meet at our house
the next time, on August 14. Well have to borrow
some chairs or else line them up on our rush rugs
like Indians.
Today Firestone got some of their all metal iron-
ing boards and we got one. Mary is really happy with
it. Imagine, she doesn't like to iron on a regular
table!
This afternoon on our way to Gonaives, we will
stop off at Petite Riviere d'Artibonite to check on
some problems there. (We have a real problem-
preacher keeps asking for money all the time and
won't work-says he needs some money to start a
business!) I dread these trips because the roads
are so terrible and it takes 4 or 5 hours driving time
each way, but we need to get the business done. The
consoling fact is that the government has already
started the proposed highway from P.-au-P. to the
Cap Haitien, and it is within the realm of possibility
that they might actually pave the road within the
next few years. That would mean a new day for
Haiti-and for missionaries.
Mary is baking some oatmeal cookies for me to
take with me on the road, and do they ever smell
good! I'm also taking my own boiled water and a
couple of cans of Campbell's pork and beans as a
safety measure. I always eat some of the native food
and try to fill up on fruit (like bananas or oranges)
which have the least possibility of contamination.
They appreciate it when I eat with them, but I wish
I had never heard of the germ theory of disease when
I brush away the swarms of flies and other insects.
E-- is quite taken with the idea that we Americans
aren't as strong as the Haitians in warding off diseas-
es (we get diarrhea and stomach upset easily), but
I think that they are actually sick more often than
we are. They are like the Spanish mananaa" with
their "demain" when it comes to work. If you get
one piece of business done, why crowd another into
the same day? You might not have anything to do
tomorrow!
July 16-Have both been ailing for a month. Started
with intestinal flu. Heat seems to affect us more
now than at first. We might be going through some
bodily adjustments to the climate. May have to try
living at a little higher elevation where it's cooler.
Plan a limited Bible school in October.
We can see very little future in Haiti unless we
train some preachers.
July 17-We don't seem to be able to stand the heat
as well as when we first came. We tire very easily.
But we're taking it fairly easy. You have to in Haiti.
There is no earthly way of doing anything fast in
Haiti. For instance, this morning I tried to pay a
garage bill again for the third time and they didn't
have it made out yet. So- I'll go back tomorrow
and the next day until they finally get around to
doing it. It is the same way with everything else.
It gets on your nerves if you aren't careful. But
after a while you just learn that you have to slow
down too.
July 27-We have adopted two little girls-blonde, blue-
eyed, and white-skinned so the mission board won't
object. They are two and a half and four and a half
years old, and their names are Susan and Martha
Scott. Of course, we will have to give them back to
their parents when they return on Tuesday from
their vacation in Jamaica, but until then we are stay-
ing with them at their house and it is just like we
were vacationing at the most luxurious hotel in Haiti
(if we didn't have to watch out for things down at
our house and attend to affairs of the mission which
are necessary).
I'm writing on the "galerie," which has the most
beautiful view of P.-au-P. there is. We have five
servants to care for us: a nurse-maid for the children,
a cook, a laundress, a yard-boy, and a house-boy.
We have been having some of the best meals we
have ever eaten. Maybe we will send the Scotts a
wire and tell them to stay in Jamaica an extra month
or two.
Last night I gave my first "full length" sermon
in Creole, which turned out to be only about 15 min-
utes long. But I got along fairly well-I just said
two sentences which were entirely opposite from
what I meant! I'm giving a series on prayer every
Thursday night and an evangelistic message Sunday
nights through the middle of August.
CHAPTER 9-"What we need is a miracle"
July 30-We must move to a larger, better location for
the P.-au.-P. church as soon as possible. What we
need is a miracle. Last night I actually preached a
half hour to my surprise. That is really too long
to preach, the way I "murder" Creole. But it is en-
couraging to me to find that I can now speak that
long. I am quite dependent upon my notes, but more
experience should give me a little freedom. We still
hope to start some Bible instruction in October.
Aug. 5-"You can only do one thing at a time"-my
mother wrote me. But in Haiti you can't even do
that-it takes three or four times to do one thing!
Actually you just have to cut down by about half
or more of what you would do in the States as far
as actual work is concerned.
There is money in Kansas City in the amounts of
$1,000, $500, and $100, for three memorial chapels.
In September we will make a trip up north to visit
the rest of the stations where we haven't yet been.
After that, we will decide where to build the chapels.
In the process of several months we will gradually
get the first one and then another started, and I hope
to put the weight of the responsibility on the pastors
involved.
Yesterday we got a little black kitten which we
are calling "Cindy." Toby doesn't quite know what
to make of her and he is somewhat jealous. But I
think they will make up in a few days. Sometimes
Cindy will let Toby come over and smell her, but
she usually makes him keep his distance by acting
ferocious and spitting. Cindy has one little white
triangle on her tummy, otherwise all black except
for a few stray white hairs here and there. We've
gotten her to get rid of the mice we have seen run-
ning between the dining room and kitchen in broad
daylight.
I've been sick again, since yesterday afternoon-
headache, fever, and diarrhea. It seemed that the
Lord touched me this morning so that I could go to
church for the communion service which I had
charge of.
Aug. 14-Happy to learn that there is $1,633.57 in Kansas
City toward the $5,000 for building P.-au-P. church
facilities. Just possibly might be able to get some
suitable property cheap from the government in a
newly developed section of the city.
Aug. 27-October 1 is set for the opening of our Bible
school. Perhaps will have six or more pupils. We
are feeling more and more that this will be the most
important phase of our service here. Of the dozen
or more preachers only E-- is halfway qualified
to be called a Nazarene preacher. I think he will
develop eventually into a good Nazarene preacher
and Bible school teacher.
Aug. 30-We went on a little trip into the country and
I've gotten something that is exactly like poison oak.
I have some on my fingers so I'm afraid I won't be
able to type in a few days. I don't think it will be
too bad a case (like last year at seminary commence-
ment time) but any case is bad enough. So far I
haven't been able to find out what plant it is that
causes it. Perhaps the Haitians aren't allergic to it.
I got the shock of my life yesterday when I found
a thermometer and discovered how hot it is now in
Haiti. I returned from walking around town and
entered the office of the garage where the jeep was
being repaired, and it felt so cool in there. They
had a thermometer there in the office, and when I
saw it I asked if it was working because I couldn't
believe that it was 90 in that "cool" office. They
said it was right and that it usually got up to 940 in
the afternoon. In that case, I'm sure that it is well
over 1000 in the sun from 11 a.m. to about 3 p.m.
Where we live is several hundred feet higher than
downtown where the garage is and it is probably a
little cooler, but I would not doubt that the tempera-
ture in our living room gets up to a high of at least
85* or 90 every afternoon. Every afternoon and
evening I usually perspire very freely whether I
move or not. But we don't feel it too badly.
Our trip out to the country on Tuesday was very
interesting. When we got to the "habitation" (rough-
ly equivalent to "ranch" or "homestead"-meaning
an inherited family plot of land) we were going to
get some horses and go up into the small mountains
close by. Finding no horses, we made it on foot to
the "ranch house" (just an ordinary country mud
house) where we got one of the "hands" to guide
us up into the mountains. The "guide" was manag-
ing a crude sugar cane press when we arrived and
quit his work to go with us. The press was very in-
teresting, horses going round and round to turn
the wooden gears and drums in the center between
which the stalks of cane were directed. That part
of Haiti wasn't so tropical, somewhat like a slightly
wetter California with the richest soil I've ever seen.
They farm mountains that slope at about a 30 or
450 angle, and sometimes steeper. Along the way,
our path went through a dry stream bed (about
four feet deep in the rich soil) with over a half
dozen kinds of ferns growing on the vertical banks
(including two types of maiden hair fern) with trees
overshading the whole. That was very beautiful.
There was also wild ginger growing in some places
and that "plant of life" that sprouts plants from a
leaf so easily and has the funny kind of straw colored
flowers on a stalk-we used to have it. Everywhere
in Haiti-just about-you find occasional mango
trees, avacados and calabashes (which have a fruit
like a gourd which is used for water and other things
like the American Indians used them). Somewhere
along the way I scratched my arms with some plant
that made me break out with this "poison oak" the
next day.
Yesterday we decided to splurge and get a ham.
It was a Danish ham and was simply wonderful-I
should say "is" because we'll be eating it for the next
several days until it starts coming out of our ears.
Good meat that is tender (beef) is almost impossible
to get, so it is hard to know what to take a chance
on when you are having someone for dinner.
We may invite the E--s over for dinner while
we have the ham, since they probably have had ham
but very few times in their lives if at all
I've been hunting houses and land for our P.-au-P.
church, and the prices are very high for what there
is. But we are going to have to move to a better
location, with a bigger church building or hall-we
can't expand where we are. Acquiring land is a big
problem; we may have to have a Haitian corporation
(of which I can be a controlling member) and that
makes it complicated. I'm not sure whether we can
form a committee of Haitians which I will feel are
entirely trustworthy yet. For that reason, I feel that
the Bible school is the most important thing on the
agenda. With a Bible school we can get to know
the men intimately while we are training them into
the type of preachers we want. We're anxious to get
started with the classes.
I'm getting a slight bit more liberty in preaching
in Creole. The last time I preached I ventured out
on my own (not following my notes) several times,
and made it back to my notes without too much dif-
ficulty.
Tonight I'm supposed to preach, but I don't know
if I can keep a coat on with this poison oak.
I'm hoping to get the notes in order for the courses
I will teach, some notes in French and some in Creole.
I have borrowed two very good books in French from
the Salvation Army captain (one each on the Old
Testament and New Testament) and I have bought
some books from a local gospel bookstore which I
will use as a beginning library for our students.
Mary and I are doing a very interesting bit of
Bible study in connection with our family worship.
We are reading through Paul's epistles in two modern
speech versions (Goodspeed and Moffatt); each
morning Mary reads a chapter out of one to me and
I read the same chapter out of the other translation
to her. We are getting a lot out of it, and sometimes
we start discussing some of the problems and it takes
us a while to get through. If we can't have the Lord's
guidance and blessing we may as well go home. There
is too much work being carried on without much of
either for us to add to any such confusion.
Sept. 6-Tomorrow morning at 6:05 the Walkers [mis-
sionary couple of another denomination] plan to
arrive at our house and we will start our trip to
Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic-adding an-
other country to our list.
It will take about 6 or 7 hours to drive over
(about 200 miles) because they hold you up at the
border with formalities and inspection of baggage
and the roads aren't too good either. I think we'll
have a good trip and a good change, if not a rest.
The poison oak disappeared almost like magic with
a combination of potassium permanganate baths and
terramycin salve.
This afternoon our landlord was putting water
into our kitchen. He doesn't want to get us a sink-
wants to make us a concrete sink.
We bought a bed for Dr. Vanderpool to sleep in,
so we'll have to get the extra bedroom fixed up for
him a little.
Things are progressing quite smoothly for us.
Several of the other missionaries [other denomina-
tions] are having considerable difficulties and are
involved in lawsuits. We wouldn't say that the Lord
sent the other missionaries ahead of us for our bene-
fit, but we hope that we will profit by their difficulties.
We still hope to get a government grant of land
in a slum area which is being cleaned up and where
we have quite a group of members.
CIUDAD TRUJILLO, DMINICAN REPUBLIC
Sept. 13-We're having a really good change and vacation.
Ciudad Trujillo is very interesting-just about
like a U.S. city with a Spanish accent-very much
like San Juan, Puerto Rico. They have an interesting
museum with relics from the times of Columbus and
Indian relics that date before that. James Beaty,
whom we're staying with, has found some very old
Indian pottery right here on this land in the country
where their house is built. The palace that Colum-
bus' son built is still standing in a state of ruin. And
we saw the tomb of Columbus in the cathedral which
is the oldest in the New World. The cathedral was
very interesting-we went all over the place.
When we get back to Haiti, we're really going to
be busy. I've got a lot of visitation to do, planning
for Dr. Vanderpool's visit, and the Bible school be-
ginning in the first part of October. But we have
things planned out roughly. In a way we are looking
forward to it all. When we get the Bible school actual-
ly started, we'll feel like we have at last gotten some-
thing worth while started. There is nothing that is
needed more.
The Lord has His way of working out things.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
Oct. 15-The Bible school [opened Oct. 3, one year from
date of arrival in Haiti] is off to a good start with
seven enrolled-that's the bright light in our work
now as far as we are concerned. It does keep us
extremely busy. We don't have very much material
in French to help us, so we have to arrange what
we have and work up the rest ourselves which takes
a lot of time. The students just don't know how to
take notes, so we have been typing carbon copies for
them to keep for study and now we are going to
try to hektograph them again; and that takes time-
Mary has been doing most of that, however, which
is a big load off my mind.
It amuses us somewhat to see the reactions of
the Haitians-it is like a bunch of kids playing
"church."
Dr. Vanderpool comes two weeks from last Fri-
day, so we're in a rush to fix up the house too. Yes-
terday I bought a Haitian table at the market, cut
a hole in the middle and dropped in the sink our
landlord bought us so he can attach it soon.
Time for breakfast so I'll stop, naturally!
Oct. 16-We can't quite understand why writers who
come to Haiti for from a few days to a month or two
think this is such an exciting, mysterious place-
wild and dangerous! People who live here and call
it home hardly feel that way. I think I feel safer
anywhere in Haiti day or night than I would in San
Diego south of Broadway at night or on Main Street in
Los Angeles. Of course, I wouldn't particularly relish
being any of those places alone after midnight, nor
in some places in Haiti. But for the most part, the
people are extremely peaceable and gentle, especially
the country people. Some of the city people hate
the whites, and the beggars and lottery ticket sales-
men are quite obnoxious, but we get used to that.
After the first month or two, the drums on Saturday
night hardly enter into your thinking except to re-
mind you that it is Saturday night-probably not one
in ten are connected at all with voodoo, if that many
-just a Saturday night dance. We do hear some
powerfully weird stories, usually about voodoo, that
are supposed to have happened recently, but by the
time you discredit them for the exaggeration and
effect of transmission changes due to the known
processes of gossip, there isn't too much truth left
to them. There are some stories vouched for by
friends of ours that will make the hair on your neck
stand up if they are told in a lonely house late at
night. They are the sort of thing that give tourists
a warped idea of the "wild and dangerous atmosphere
of Haiti." After you understand the people and their
customs you get used to them, and it means no more
to you than the customs and people that live next to
you in the States. After all, people are people the
world around. They may be different, but the dif-
ferences are not really so great nor so important as
the likenesses and similarities.
The Bible school is really keeping us hopping.
The longer I teach, the more I realize the horrible
necessity of teaching the preachers the Bible and
doctrine. I'd like to teach them a course in logic
too if I thought it would do them any good. Some-
times I want to laugh, but so far I've been able to
restrain myself to a grin.
Recently we took a little lunch and went with
two other missionary couples up into the mountains
to eat our dinner. It was nice and cool at an elevation
of almost 6,000 feet where we ate. It was lovely
there. There were some pine trees on the side of
the mountain (most of them have long since been
cut down) and they made us really nostalgic for
our California mountains. And the view, on one
side of the mountain, of Kenscoff (a mountain resort
town where the rich have their summer homes) and
part of P.-au-P. and the bay beyond was very beau-
tiful. On the other side of the mountain was the
view of the rugged mountains and valleys that never
ceases to fascinate me-tiny little houses here and
there, and an occasional terraced field of maize or
another crop on a hill so steep that we would have
difficulty keeping our balance, let alone climbing it.
The road from P.-au-P. to Kenscoff is one of the
few paved roads in Haiti. We are quite used to dirt
roads by now, and I guess I'd make a good rural
pastor if I ever returned to the States to pastor.
Oct. 25-The Bible school is really keeping me busy.
Right now I'm teaching just two courses, Old Testa-
ment survey and doctrine of salvation. It is amazing
how little some of the Haitians know even after they
finish high school, like two in our class have. They
know so little about science, geography or world
history. I don't know what they do know.
We have written a "First Year's Report on Haiti"
for Dr. Vanderpool and Dr. Rehfeldt, and we hope
it doesn't shock them too much. I haven't the slight-
est idea how they'll take it, but we just wrote a com-
plete analysis of everything that has happened so
far so that they would know. It's going to take at
least another half year to get everything straightened
out on a firm legal and governmental basis so that we
won't be likely to have any difficulty later if we
should have any trouble and get involved in a law-
suit.
Oct. 26-Dr. Vanderpool arrived and everything seems
to be going fine, except for rain tonight which might
hinder the service a little.
CHAPTER 10-"Bible school really keeping me busy ..."
Nov. 5-Halloween in Haiti is not like in the States; it's
the real thing! The "fete de morts" ("all souls'
festival") is celebrated for more than a week with
All Souls' Day (Halloween is the evening before
that) right in the middle. It is somewhat like Me-
morial Day in that they whitewash the cemetery
walls, clean up and paint the graves, and put wreaths
and flowers on the graves. They also burn candles
on the graves, and at night you see thousands of
little candle lights all through the cemetery. The
people talk to their dead loved ones just as if they
could hear them. They spend all day and sometimes all
night at the grave. There are special Catholic serv-
ices and also lots of voodoo services every night.
Where the spookiness of Halloween comes in is that
the people believe that the spirits of the dead are
liberated on that night and can revenge wrongs and
possess people. In early evening, just as we were
finishing the Bible school last week I heard some of
the people screaming as they thought the spirits of
the dead were possessing them, so the students said.
I think that probably E- believes it too.
We usually spend our mornings these days in
study, answering correspondence, working on ac-
counts, typing out Bible school notes and duplicating
them, and the like where we can sandwich them in.
Our schedule calls for a French lesson from 8 to 9
on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday which often lasts
until 9:30 or later. I often have to be in town for
business from 11 to 12. Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday I have the Bible school classes from 4 to 6
in the afternoon. Thursday night is the only week
night that we have a habit of going to church in the
evening, and I usually preach on Thursday and
Sunday nights.
But most of the time this schedule is disrupted
by urgent business. Sometimes E- drops in to
talk about some important matter that needs our
attention. There are occasional trips out to stations
during the week to take care of trouble that has
arisen. We don't ordinarily do much pastoral visi-
tation, but occasionally we have to go out to see
someone who is sick or in trouble. Government
business cuts in on our time every once in a while,
as well as banking and customs. And, of course, we
have visitors drop in once in a while. We plan to
take more time for study if it is at all possible.
We enjoyed Dr. Vanderpool's visit very much.
He thought we ought to buy property for a mission
home as soon as possible. We feel that he has a real
interest in our work.
Our little black kitten died Saturday. It was the
first time Mary had ever seen a little animal like
that die, and she took it kind of hard-she doesn't
want another, at least not for some time. But we still
have Toby, and he's a pretty good dog.
It has been about a year and a month since we
took that 3-hour flight from Miami to Port-au-Prince
which was the shortest, biggest transition of our lives.
After six months in Haiti we had to leave for Puerto
Rico to fix up our visa difficulties. The seven weeks
of waiting in San Juan were anxiously but enjoyably
spent in the home of the national pastor, where we
learned what real Latin hospitality is. Our jeep came
just a week before we left for Puerto Rico, so
after we returned we were happy to make a quick
adjustment to our private automotive travel after
six months of walking and precarious trips by Haitian
trucks and taxis; it was like a new world! With the
jeep station wagon we have been able to average better
than one visit every two weeks to an outstation and
still keep up our language study and pressing govern-
mental and business matters which required our pres-
ence in P.-au-P. September was an especially busy
month. With the letup of the summer rains we were
able to make a long-planned visit to all our stations in
the north around Gonaives. For about a week we
went out into the plains and mountains spending an
average of about six hours on horseback each day.
That month we also took a last-chance vacation for a
week in Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic, before
we settled down to the routine schedule of the Bible
school we were planning to start in October.
We opened the Bible school with seven students
on October 3, the first anniversary of our arrival in
Haiti.
In a year or two, as the Lord provides, we hope
to develop a full-time schedule of concentrated in-
struction with classes five days a week in the morn-
ings.
October 26th Dr. Vanderpool arrived for a 5-day
visit with us which we enjoyed immensely. It was
almost like a visit home. We enjoyed the spiritual
fellowship with him, especially praying together. He
was quite surprised at the scenic beauty of the moun-
tains back of P.-au-P. where we took him one morn-
ing. We bounced him 100 miles up the rough road
to Canal Bois, where we have our main station in
the north, and he said the road was a little worse
than he had expected. The Haitians are still talking
about the messages he brought while he was here.
The language barrier is largely gone now, as far
as Creole is concerned, even if our French is still a
little wobbly. It will take a long-range program for
the proper development of our field and people-flash
evangelism is not enough. But the Lord has helped
us in every one of our problems in the past, and with
Him we can see a bright future.
Nov. 15-Have had a cold or flu and thought I was over
it, but had to go to bed again yesterday afternoon
instead of going to teach the Bible school class. I've
been in bed this morning and afternoon and feel
somewhat better, but I still have a headache and
can't do anything.
We had the biggest missionary meeting we've had
so far at Walkers' on Tuesday night. There were
twenty-five there, representing twelve different mis-
sions. We had a lot of good testimonies and met quite
a few missionaries we had never seen before.
Right now Mary is finishing the pillows for our
chairs in the living room. Everybody thinks they
are very nice and make very comfortable chairs.
Mary also made Susanne (our maid) a dress with
some material Susanne shyly asked her to make into
a dress for her. We have been quite fortunate with
her; as far as we know she is absolutely dependable.
We have just secured a yard boy who attends
our church. He is one of the rare Haitians who just
goes ahead and works even when we're not watch-
ing him; and I don't always have to tell him what
to do-he just goes ahead and does it (not always
just like I want him to though, and I have to show
him and teach him). He is only 15 and feels called
to the ministry. He is attending our Bible school
classes.
Nov. 20-Got back our blood test reports. Both fairly
good for Americans who live in Haiti. We were both
high on white cells-which may indicate infection.
(For me, it was probably my cold.) Mary will have
the doctor check for her. My hemoglobin was normal
(100), but Mary was down to 90-however, the doc-
tor said that is good for Haiti, so there is nothing to
worry about there. Neither of us has any signs of
malaria, so I guess we'll still keep on sleeping under
mosquito nets.
Dec. 29-We fixed Christmas treats for 72 (complete with
candy, popcorn, and a mirror) and about 15 or 20
additional for some of the adults with just popcorn.
We paid for it with gifts that have been sent to us
through the mail; the Lord always works out things
like that.
Jacques Egger just came by and reminded me
that we were supposed to play at the Youth for
Christ rally tonight.
Our Christmas Eve service at the church was
scheduled to begin at about 10:30 and when we ar-
rived the church was full and there were people on
the porch. I showed Christmas slides and told them
the story with each picture in Creole which I found
quite easy to do this Christmas. After that I led them
in singing a lot of Christmas carols most of which
were new to them. I taught them to the Bible school
students. After the service I took Mary home (she
had been sick with a very bad cold) and then went
to the home of another missionary couple who have
a loud-speaking system which they use to "broad-
cast" to the city of P.-au-P. with gospel music and
scripture. There were over a half dozen of us, maybe
10, and we practiced Christmas music, both vocal and
instrumental, to record on tape and send out over
the loud-speakers. We finished about 2:30 and got
home about 3:00. That was our Christmas caroling.
The children were really happy with their treats
when we distributed them after the children's pro-
gram Christmas afternoon. Next year I think we'll
do about the same things rather than have a different
toy for each child as E-- had done before-to avoid
the riot caused last year when some of them wanted
what the others had gotten.
88
We had a very nice Christmas season, and I think
our Haitian Christians understood better than ever
that the significance of Christmas was Christ's com-
ing as a babe in the manger in order that He could
become the Saviour of each one who trusts in Him.
And that is really a new concept for those who have
formerly been Catholic or pagans.
New Year's watch-night service will keep the
schedule just as full next week as this has been. Then
the day after New Year's we start a two-day preach-
ers' meeting up north at Canal Bois, near Gonaives.
The week after that we are hoping we can take a
little vacation up in the mountains with a missionary
who has invited us to come. We need a rest before
starting up again with the spring semester.
Jan. 7, 1952-In Haiti the first and second of January
are both holidays-New Year's Day and Haitian In-
dependence Day.
We had a very good watch-night service from
about 10 to 1. We showed them some kodachrome
slides of Haiti and they were really thrilled when they
saw people they recognized and a few saw themselves.
We closed with a communion service and there
seemed to be a very good spirit.
During our preachers' conference at Canal Bois
we had a baptismal service with 43 baptized. The Lord
gave us real liberty in preaching the first night to
a full house (around 200 or 250), in Creole of course.
Jan. 28-Mary has been sick. Fortunately I was back
to normal so could let her stay in bed and take care
of her and do the cooking for us all too. We have
decided that we both had a mild attack of malaria
and we have taken treatment for it-will continue
to take a regular preventative dose of paludrine every
week.
We have gotten our approved budget for next
year (beginning May 1). They appropriated $6,000
for building a missionary home and $5,000 for a Bible
school. We're happy about these two items.
Mrs. Louise Chapman is coming for a visit Febru-
ary 14 to 20. The last week in March Dr. and Mrs.
C. Warren Jones will visit us for several days.
This is the dry season-haven't had rain for weeks
and weeks. The boy has to water everything every
day and still things are kind of drying up. The dust
from the road is bad, but we keep the front door and
windows closed most of the time so we don't notice
it except when we see the layer of dust on the furni-
ture. The temperature has been nice enough-very
nice especially in the mornings. I plan to plant some
more zinnias soon so that we can have a few nice cut
flowers most of the time. We keep the place with
green things around it--elephant ears and cannas
that hardly ever bloom, plus some other tropical
plants.
We've gotten about 2 dozen boxes of used cloth-
ing in the past few weeks, most of it from Michigan.
We start [the new semester of] the Bible school
a week from today (Monday, February 4).
I'm getting anxious to start in the Bible school
again. I really love the teaching. I want to get Mary
started in teaching them a course in health education.
Jan. 30-When we were returning from a trip in the
north on December 11 in the afternoon, a boy on
horseback galloped around a corner on the wrong
side of the road and turned his horse directly into
our car while we were swerving to avoid him. The
horse died shortly after striking its head on our wind-
shield, but the boy had only a bad gash just above
the knee. Surely God's hand of protection was with
us to prevent a much worse accident which could
easily have happened. Again, God took a hand in
matters when we were able to make a settlement
out of court with the boy's mother a few weeks later.
Insurance took care of all expenses including the
repair of our jeep station wagon.
Friday, December 21st, we closed the first semes-
ter of the Bible school. We feel that this is the most
important single aspect of our work in these formative
years, and we are very much satisfied with the results
even at this early stage.
January 3 and 4 we held a preachers' meeting
and convention in the north at Canal Bois. We took
several preachers from the south up with us and it
did them a lot of good to see the work up north and
fellowship with the other preachers who have never
been south. The second day there were 43 converts
baptized (and there were about 30 baptized just a
few months ago), which indicates how our work in
the north is progressing. What we need now is more
time and strength for closer supervision, but that will
have to wait until another missionary couple can be
sent to help us since we already have more than
we can do.
We have been trying unsuccessfully to get away
for a brief rest before opening the Bible school again.
Mary is in bed again now under doctor's orders
and observation. We are trusting the Lord to take
a hand and bring us through triumphantly in Him.
For a little over a week we have had a couple of
missionaries as our guests; they were both here in
town for medical attention. The husband has just
found out that he has a fairly serious heart disorder
because of overwork here on the mission field for
only about two years-and he is only thirty-three.
Things like that make us realize that we really need
to take our full vacation and get a real rest each
year. So far we've only had time to take off one
week (in the Dominican Republic) since we have
been in Haiti. This year we'll just drop everything
and go.
Feb. 1-A gift of $50.50 from a lady in San Diego, Cali-
fornia, for a much needed desk. We'll probably have
the desk made as it is next to impossible to find one
ready-made here.
CHAPTER 11--"... don't know how I'll find time ... "
Feb. 9-We opened the Bible school this week, so we've
been keeping busy. I am now having classes every
day. Mary has been in bed for ten days now. She
is kind of discouraged.
Mrs. Chapman is bringing us two air mattresses
to use in the country and also a new sapphire phono-
graph needle. We will take her to a different place
each day. She was a missionary in Africa for about
twenty years so she'll know what to expect.
We're going to have to get busy on the plans for
the Youth for Christ campaign in March. I'm to head
up the music. I don't know how I'll find time-I tried
to resign, and did, but they just ignored it. I'll just
have to put other people to work and do the best
I can.
Toby is getting along pretty good. We've wormed
him and just since then he has been getting fatter. He's
awfully spoiled, though, and affectionate, and he
scares our friends half to death if he doesn't know
them, especially Haitians. But he's the "only-est"
child we've got, so we put up with him.
Feb. 21-We plan to leave tomorrow morning for the
north and plan to stay about five or six days. If the
weather is good enough, we will make the horseback
trip to the Citadel (big fort built by King Christophe
in the early 1800's on the top of a mountain, took 14
years to build and 10,000 slaves).
Mrs. Chapman's visit was a great blessing to us
and to our people. She is really a woman of God and
we had wonderful services. I translated for her and
it was good practice for me. She will also continue
to do us good by her influence as a member of the
missions department of the General Board. She was
in Africa for twenty years and she knows missions
as almost no other person in our church. She realizes
our limitations and needs as well as our possibilities
and opportunities.
The Alabaster giving plus General Budget giving
have made possible the following funds in Kansas
City for Haiti: $6,000 for a mission home, $5,000 for
a church in P.-au-P., $5,000 for a Bible school, $2,000
extra for equipment, $1,000 for furnishings for the
Bible school. Now we have the problem of settling
our legal basis for buying and holding property in
the name of the General Board. When that is done,
we will buy the properties that we hope to find in
the meanwhile.
Feb. 28-Had a wonderful trip to the north. We visited
several other missions and stayed at the Wesleyan
Methodist compound at Port Margot (pronounced
"por Margo").
Monday we hiked to the Citadel, a colossal fort-
ress which King Christophe built shortly after 1800.
I just couldn't get over how anyone could build such
a huge, huge thing on top of a rugged mountain like
that. It defies imagination.
We took a neuro-surgeon with us to the north
whom the Ortlips [Wesleyan missionaries] had met
at their hotel, and he became just like one of the
family. He wasn't a Christian and was just ignorant
of the gospel. We had many good times talking to him
about the Lord and real salvation which is such a
new thing for him. But we believe that the Lord is
working on him and we hope to see him come to the
Lord before he returns to the States in about a week.
Sunday a.m. I preached at one of the Wesleyan
churches and we had a fine service with probably
a couple of dozen who came to the altar for various
needs. The doctor was quite touched with every-
thing that happened, and I'm sure he is hungry for
the Lord.
We have decided that just as soon as it is possible
(if they send us another missionary couple soon)
we want to move north to Gonaives to live so that
we can give more supervision there and start train-
ing the preachers there. It is possible that we might
decide to locate our Bible school there. We pray
that we may find the proper location for our Bible
school, and also property here in town P.-au-P. for
a house and church.
April 1-We are trying to find a house in Petionville
where it is coolor-near P.-au-P. but higher.
As far as we are concerned, we are completely
through with E---. He wrote a letter to the Swiss
Salvation Army captain asking him to intercede in
his behalf to get some things explained to me, and it
appeared as if E- were trying to come back to
us-of course, he never wanted to leave us, except
that he didn't want to accept the conditions I had to
give him and wouldn't admit what he had done
against us and the mission. Things are going much
smoother now. We don't have all the people in [the
church in] town with us, but we have a good faith-
ful group on which to build. We are teaching them
how to act a little more civilized in the services and
they like it. All of the other stations (including the
northern ones near Gonaives) and preachers have
stayed with us. Of course, we don't know if they are
all staying with us for pure motives, but we'll never
be able to be sure of that. The fact is that E-
wasn't as indispensable as he thought he was-or
even as we thought he was! We honestly were sur-
prised when we discovered that practically all the
people were loyal to us, though I think it was due to
their distrust and dislike of E-- rather than to the
fact that they loved us so much more than they loved
him. These people are strictly opportunists. In all
this I am not discounting the power of God, for surely
He helped us to hold the thing together. But you
have to understand these people or you'll get really
fooled. You need zeal and knowledge. But we feel
like this is the dawn of a new day for our work in
Haiti. We have now gotten rid of our one greatest
hindrance to progress, and we are trusting the Lord
to help us establish and develop our field for His
glory and the salvation of souls. We have written
Dr. Rehfeldt that there is an imperative need for
another couple here if we are to keep our work in
the north. We are organizing our work now so that
we can get the south well enough developed so that
the new couple could supervise it several months
after they arrive and so we can move north to
Gonaives to live and get that work established in
the north. We hope we can move up there by next
winter or a year from now. Of course, we'll have to
make frequent trips to P.-au-P., but we'll let the
new couple attend to a lot of the business here.
A week ago today (Tuesday) we made a "flying"
trip to Gonaives and back. Before that we didn't
know for sure if Cauvin and company were actually
with us. We took two preachers with us to help explain
what had happened regarding E- and to verify our
story. Cauvin told us that E- had said that we had
abandoned them, and that was all. He was really
amazed to find out all that had happened, and he said
that he hadn't given his stations into E--'s hands
but into the hands of the Church of the Nazarene and
would remain with us whether the people did or not.
Of course, they all say that they are with us "until
the end" and "until eternity." But at least, Cauvin
is with us now and that makes it still possible for
us to get at his young preachers and prospects to
train them for the ministry-that is the chief value
of our work in the north, the large number of prom-
ising young people.
Wednesday a.m. Dr. and Mrs. Jones arrived. We
took them out to Merger for an evening service and
had the other evening service here in town at La
Saline. They were very nice and seem to be taking
their traveling well. From here they go to Puerto
Rico.
Yesterday we had the car in the garage (and
today). Jacques Egger got our mail for us so we
didn't even leave the house. In the afternoon and
evening when we were reading we played some
records and we really enjoyed them. We don't play
our own records all the time, but every once in a
while we get kind of starved for some good music.
Quite often we play the religious records on Sunday
just so we won't forget what good church music
sounds like. Really, the Haitian singing isn't that
bad, or maybe we've gotten used to it by now.
I've got an idea that I'm going to suggest to the
American cultural attache; that is, there are just
lots of Americans and Britishers here in P.-au-P. who
are experienced in choral singing, and I'm sure that
there would be a lot of interest in starting an annual
presentation of "The Messiah" for either Easter or
Christmas. There would be no problem in getting
an audience, but the most enjoyment would be in
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getting together and singing it. And, incidentally,
one of my biggest motives in trying to get it going
would be to get the message of the "Messiah" into
the minds of some of these worldly Americans who
never give God a thought. The words of "The Mes-
siah" are all Scripture and are really quite evangelistic
bringing in the basic claims of the gospel And it
would also help to get the missionaries in more con-
tact with the other Americans. We have a real burden
for them. Most of them aren't really happy and need
the Lord badly.
April 9-Monday was the "Festival of Sanitation." They
paraded the school children, garbage and trash trucks,
and public health vehicles around the city hall down-
town.
Sunday I went to Gonaives for their "Harvest
Festival" (something analogous to Thanksgiving).
There were between 300 and 400 there, including
about 50 visitors from other churches. The church
holds only about 250, so they built a brush and palm
arbor by the side of the church and had it under that.
It is their custom to bring in a part of their harvest
as a gift to the Lord (on the order of a tithe); the
church then sells the produce and puts the money in
the treasury. This time they are starting a fund to
buy metal sheeting for the church roof. I was really
very pleased with the whole thing. There was a good
spirit, and it seems that the people are really with
us. We can't wait till we can live up there and start
training those young people. There are over a half
dozen preachers and about the same number of good
prospects among the young men of the church who
would be enrolled in the Bible school when we start
it.
There is a good chance that we will get another
missionary couple appointed to Haiti in June at Gen-
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eral Assembly time in Kansas City when the General
Board will meet.
Yesterday I went to see a lawyer about register-
ing my power of attorney with the Haitian government
and getting everything fixed up so that we may safely
begin to buy land and build. He didn't think it would
be too difficult to fix it up since we had not yet
bought property and there were no complications. He
is also going to check on our standing with the De-
partment of Religion regarding E- We will try
to get all of these official matters cleared up as soon
as possible.
This week I've been working on Bible school ma-
terial I wrote an English missionary in Paris to ask
him to help find us good books for the Bible school
in French.
Right now I'm working out a course on the life
of Christ, using a Gospel harmony as the basis of
the study. The second part of the course will be on
the teachings of Jesus. I'm having a lot of fun, but
it takes time. But I guess it's a good way to learn
French. I have Captain Egger check everything and
that way I learn by my mistakes. Another thing we
want to do before the new missionaries come (we
hope, we hope) is to work hard on our French some
more. When we get moved to Gonaives we'll not
have much time for study for the first year because
we'll have lots to do to get things reorganized. We
can already speak Creole about as well as many of
the other missionaries, but we don't have enough
ability or confidence with French. We can both read
French okay; it's the speaking and writing we need
to improve.
E- wrote to Kansas City informing them that
he was leaving the church. We got a letter a day or
so ago from Dr. Vanderpool saying that he "painted
our picture with black paint." But he and Dr. Rehfeldt
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assured us that we had their confidence. I'm glad
E---- wrote a letter to Kansas City, because he has
been trying to cause confusion by saying that he
was still with the Church of the Nazarene. But I
think we are about through with the trouble he can
give us. He's sorry he overplayed his hand now and
wishes he'd been a little more careful But we aren't.
This has been the Lord's deliverance.
April 18-Have switched to another lawyer to get us
legally prepared to buy property and build. I don't
know how long it will take to do everything, but I
hope that we can get a definite idea soon so that we
can get started. We don't exactly know what to do
about building. We've looked at lots and have found
some we like, but we hate to go through the grief of
building only to move to Gonaives in a short time.
What we are trying to do is work out a plan so that
we can have our cake and eat it too!!
We've been trying to decide what my title ought
to be here in Haiti. They don't use "Reverend" and
I didn't think I ought to call myself "Eveque" ("bish-
op"). So Mary helped me out and we decided that
probably around Christmas we could start calling
me "Father." This time we are taking careful pre-
cautions. The doctor doesn't want Mary to do any
traveling except what she has to do in town. I think
the Lord is going to see us through this time.
I enjoy visiting in the mountains. The people are
so nice and the country is beautiful. I just hope the
rains don't start or I won't be able to visit any but
the stations in the plain. Next year, I'll plan my early
visit in the winter, maybe March.
April 19-The Lord has just led us through the biggest
crisis of our work. During the months of February
and March it became evident that we could not con-
tinue with our Haitian leader, Brother E- Dur-
ing the first two weeks in April the problem came
to a head, and Brother E- chose to leave us
rather than fulfill the conditions which we felt im-
pelled to present him. These few lines relate just a
culminating part of a complicated story that began
before we ever came to Haiti. This has been God's
doing. We may now begin the work we came here
to do. The miraculous thing is that the Lord did not
allow this crisis until we had completed establishing
relations with the Haitian government (in January).
We pray that Brother E-- may get right with the
Lord. All the other preachers and stations have re-
mained with us. At present we have all our services
in the capital at our La Saline slum station. (We
closed the church E-- was pastoring.)
The promising work near Gonaives in the north
remains with us and we will be there for a week of
station visitation in the near future.
Easter and spring always bring a forward look as
we realize the resurrection life we have through
Christ Jesus. And so with us-we are encouraged.
The Lord has certainly brought us through these
"winter experiences" so that our work may have a
spring of new spiritual life and development as never
before.
During the period between now and the end of
fall we are praying and planning for special training
and revivals at each of our stations here in the
south-a month of concentration at each station.
CHAPTER 12-" . stations seem to be growing . .
quite a number of converts"
April 20-E-- is no longer with us. The inevitable has
happened, and it marks the beginning of real progress
in our work. It was E--'s intense pride that de-
stroyed him. We are convinced that the only reason
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