We are thankful to Norma for yummy Thanksgiving food!

We are thankful for our family and the blessings God has given us!

We are thankful for our supporters who make it possible for us to live and serve in Haiti!

I’m thankful for Mykeldine and the other girls in my class…Alaina

I’m thankful for fun fifth graders…Mme Scott

I’m thankful for my grades and friends…Anessa

We’re thankful for Christmas decorations!

I’m thankful for the donations so we can go to Missouri for Christmas…Anessa

We’re thankful for rain and cool weather to enjoy chili and hot tea…Scott and Alicia

I’m thankful for my health, even though I have a cold right now…Alaina

I’m thankful for my comfortable home…Alicia

I’m thankful I get to do something I love…Scott

We’re thankful for electricity and oxygen…fifth grade students

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

This year we’ve started studying Bad Girls of the Bible and it’s been interesting to see how we can learn from the stories of different women in the Bible. There’s been lots of discussion about the relationship between a man and woman in marriage, what’s right and what’s wrong. I pray that they will make wise choices when it comes to boys, and I hope they can help support one another in making good choices with boys.

Also at the beginning of this year I asked them what they wanted to do this year as a group and the Number 1 thing was have a sleepover! So, thanks to the graciousness of my wonderful husband, who cooked and cleaned the whole night and next day, they were able to come over and eat, watch movies, dance, sleep for only 2 hours, but have lots of fun! The next day they wanted to go downtown to a little restaurant and eat together, so one of the girl’s mom sent a truck to take us there and back. We had yummy chicken, tasso(beef), or hot dogs with fried banann or french fries, yummy! It was really great to spend time with these girls and get to know them and build a relationship with them. I love each one of them and they’ve been such a blessing to me to see how God is working in their lives.

Please join me in praying for Anne, Farah, Gerdeley, Sabina, Marie Christie, Rose Kerline, Rose Yveline, and Rose Glendine!

Our day was last week. The power was off for a while, then it was back on. Except it wasn’t all back on it was just about half back on. We had only one leg of our 220 so about half the outlets in the house worked. With enough extension cords I managed to get the refrigerator and freezer running. After being off most of the day though, they were pulling too much for me to also try the run much else. Needless to say, it was a long, muggy night.

After many hours, spanning two days, of troubleshooting it was almost back on. We just couldn’t seem to work out the other leg of the 220. We had working before, so it should work again. And then Voila! We thought we were in business, but no. We found the missing 120 volts, but they ended up on the same line as the first 120 volts. Zzzap!  I was pretty sure we’d killed the water pump, washer, freezer and refrigerator.

This kind of electrical experience is a great teacher. After this misconnection, we know exactly which wires were providing each leg of 120v.

I spent the rest of the day teaching and silently wondering and praying about how many things might be burned up at home.  In the end, we lost a water pump, a coffee maker, an ethernet switch, a power strip and a power supply for a video game. Not too shabby all things considered.

I use the extra time it takes to make coffee(on the stove) each morning to think about how blessed we are to have what we have. The pump has been replaced, I found an old ethernet switch and the power strip and video game part can hopefully be replaced over our Christmas travel.

God is good even when we’re angry and unappreciative. His love doesn’t remove the junk of this world from our lives.  It reminds me that this world is not my home. I have my eyes on a better place.

PS: Thank you, John,  for all you do. You’re a blessing.

I really missed this October.  It was full of experiences to be sure. During the month, we finished the first quarter of school, attended a funeral in Anse-a-Foleur, gave the SAT test, started up chess club, lost a generator, had a staff Halloween party and best of all, a student baptism.

I guess the only problem was how fast it all seemed to go by. Days and days that seem so full and then, when you get a day or two to catch your breath you don’t know how best to spend it. Should you rest and recharge or refocus your efforts to try to get ahead of the work and better prepare for the next day? If you spend your day off with that great book you’ll feel like you wasted valuable time. If you spend the day planning and prepping for projects, you’ll be exhausted and mad that you didn’t take a day to refresh yourself. In the end, I’m a fan of the ‘waste the time relaxing’ method. I keep reminding myself that God created the Sabbath for rest and that Jesus spent time alone in pray (and rest I hope!).

Please pray for our new Christian brother Henrico, for our remaining generator and that however we all spend our time we do so in a manner pleasing to God.

Then there’s my lower back. If I were Rip Van Winkle, my lower back would play the character of Dame Van Winkle. If you haven’t read RVW by Washington Irving or just haven’t read it lately, I’ll wait right here while you fetch that copy of the Norton Anthology of American Literature from the shelf. Yeah. That’s how frustrating my lower back has been this week.

Next up is the heartache. One of our staff members’ mother had cancer surgery yesterday. They didn’t get it all and chemo treatments will start soon. Watching your friends experience heartache is hard. My own Grandfather spent some time in the hospital this week and we’ve all been worried for him as well.

And finally the Pothos. I have a golden Pothos plant in the yard here that I’m really fond of. Seriously, it’s a specimen to behold. It had really been spreading this past year, up the trunk of the coconut palm, along the wall and up the wrought iron. It adds some real green to my world, provides a bit of privacy (nice, when you live on a corner) and I just really like Philodendrons and Pothos varieties (all kinds of epiphytes really). Long story short, the man downstairs who owns this house (and vacations here in Haiti) cut a LOT of my plant out and off of the wall. He didn’t ask us about it, we just came home and a lot of it was gone. He’s here for three months of the year and he’s messing with my plants. This is the same man who was responsible for us having to get rid of our dogs. Please Mister, go home.

I want to be like Christ. I want to love others like Christ. I want my compassion to overflow like Christ. Every once in a while I get a glimpse of what that looks like in my life. Sometimes it happens in the classroom other times in the streets. When it does happen, I feel that I’m moving in the right direction, ‘pressing on to take hold’ as Paul says in Philippians 3:13. But then a week like this one comes along, and I find myself  getting frustrated in the classroom, hurting physically and emotionally,  and angry at another person because they cut down a plant.

My maturity in Christ always seems to be two steps forward, one step back.

Please keep our families and the work before us in your prayers.

Alaina and Anessa First Day 2011

We had a wonderful first day at Sonlight Academy! All the hard work we’ve put into getting our classrooms ready (painting, cleaning, organizing) and teacher planning was worth it! Alaina has been organizing her backpack for the last week, wrapping all her supplies with rubber bands and putting them in ziploc bags. Anessa was very helpful in the 5th grade classroom painting and writing names on books. They both enjoyed the time leading up to school with playing games, watching movies, reading books and seeing their friends.  Here are some highlights from the first day!

First Day Prayer before Pledge, 6th grade girls Eveline, Fernande, Tasha

High School Girls, Chnida, Eddlie, Kashna, and Farah are ready for a New School Year!

Lourdes, our sponsor girl, is ready for a great day in 1st grade!

Sabina, Rose Glendine, Marie Christie, and Gerdeley (my Bible study girls) ready for their first day as Freshman!

Alaina, Mykeldine, and Yael are already working hard in French class.

Alaina is excited to be reading novels in French this year. The first one is The Count of Monte Cristo. Today they copied the biography of Alexandre Dumas.

Anessa with all 12 girls in 8th grade.

Anessa’s teacher, Mr Jonny, handed out treats on the first day! Bath & Body Works hand sanitizer, Disney Channel lip balm, and bracelets. (Thank you Mrs. Wessel!) There are all girls in her class this year. Good luck Mr Jonny!

Thank you all for praying for our first day!

Norma kept us all well fed for breakfast and lunches. I haven’t jumped on a scale yet, but I hope I’ve shed a pound or two.  Maybe if I can lose a bit I’ll reward myself with some Haitian food.

I’ve been rearranging my classroom and getting some great help from Alaina  as we setup and configure computers.  She soaks up knowledge like a sponge. Maybe I’ll be able to turn over my classroom computer support to her at some point.

This was our first Sunday since we’ve been back and it was exciting to see church so crowded. God is doing great things at Sonlight Christian Church. Honestly though, part of my body felt like a visitor sitting on that metal chair. The singing was great and the guest  speaker (though hard for me to understand) was quite good too.

Tomorrow is our first teaching staff meeting and that means that lesson planning is right around the corner.

Please pray:

• for the safety and health of our students.
• for lesson planning and preparation.
• that we’ll get a little bit of TS Irene, but not too much.
• that we’ll remember that it’s God work.

The packing is done(I think.). And the work is about to start again in earnest.

Please continue to pray for us, for our families and the Sonlight staff and students and families of Port-de-Paix.

Our email address is sabridges@gmail.com and…

Our mailing address is:

Thank you to all of you who made our summer special in so many big and small ways. We love you.

Scott, Alicia, Alaina and Anessa

My three favorite things about summer in the U.S. are:

1. Attending church and worship (in English)
2. Visiting with friends and family
3. Eating

My  least favorite things about this summer in the U.S. have been:

1. Heat
2. Gas prices
3. Political melodrama

I am just about ready to be back to Haiti. I’m ready to be teaching and praying and learning and following and serving.

As we spend the last few weeks preparing for the end of the school year, we want to briefly share with you about the school year and ask for your prayers for summer.

At times the school year seemed to drag on; students struggling with a concept, students having a hard time practicing the golden rule, Alaina’s struggles with getting homework done, Anessa’s struggles getting along with classmates.

At times the school year seemed to go very quickly; having short term groups in visiting and getting vital tasks done in our classrooms or spending time with the girls. We’ve enjoyed spending family time playing games or swimming in the ocean. Celebrating an awesome anniversary with a special dinner.

We recall times we are amazed at God’s faithfulness in so many things; the generator needing major repairs but still we have electricity, visitors that are kind and share their time and things (like keeping our toilet from leaking when the septic is full), unexpected relief for Scott’s back from a visiting doctor, supplies coming when needed, encouragement from a fellow staff member.

We are amazed that despite our shortcomings as parents our own daughters have grown in their faith as well; Alaina practicing hospitality and sharing her precious corn dogs with friends. Anessa requesting prayers at Sunday night staff church for our neighbors who are without food, who we as adults were unaware of, and delivering food to them.

And always we are amazed in the growth of faith in students, students that come from utterly hopeless situations, living without parents, or without much food or material things. Students sharing the little they have with someone that has less, and students that are sharing Christ and their faith. We are reminded of the reason we are here as they make decisions to follow Jesus, eleven students this year baptised. This encourages us to continue planting seeds.

In all things I am reminded of how fleeting life is, how we are only here for a little while and we must look to the things we are thankful for to get through the things we struggle with, and in all things depend on Christ and His strength to endure this job of “life”. We must use His strength to follow through with what we know is right to do, but may not feel like doing. I am thankful for the opportunities we have here as a family to live as Christ in action, for having good friends visit and share in the life we live and the work we do, and affirming why we’re here.

We are most grateful for you! You are our partners in this work, without you we could not be here. It takes prayers and money to continue here.

We know in our hearts that as we ask in faith for prayers, God will exceed our expectations, but still we stress about the things we need to plan and get done.

We would appreciate you lifting these things up in prayer for us:
-Graduation process and the futures of the graduates.
-Packing up our house and planning for the summer and return this fall.
-Health and safety for students over the summer.
-Healing for the woman who was burned outside the school gate and the family of the woman who died
-Raising support for the next two years here at Sonlight.

We are looking forward to seeing and visiting personally with each of you this summer and share in more detail about our ministry at Sonlight Academy. Let’s coordinate schedules! mail@bridges4hait.org www.sonlightministries.org

Love,
Scott, Alicia, Alaina and Anessa Bridges