Generic Update

[[Insert Generic Update Post here]] 

For those who have been reading our blog already, this might seem a little repetitive. But for our supporters who haven't been reading it and would like a quick update, we've got one!

I am writing this (and emailing it to some) to let all of our church supporters know that WE MADE IT! Ryan and I arrived at Emmaus Biblical Seminary in Haiti on Monday, February 17th. Please share this with your congregation and anyone else who is interested in keeping updated with the Weavers in Haiti!

We are so excited to be here and I have a few exciting things to share with you all! First and foremost, by mid-January we were 100% funded for our first year here at EBS. Praise God! 

Second, our communication in the Haitian Creole language is coming along very well. We spent 5 months studying Creole under Sharon Mishler at NorthRidge Church in Sabetha. Sharon was raised in Haiti and her help with our language acquisition has been a tremendous blessing! As soon as we arrived we were able to start talking with the students and professors here at the seminary. We have started Creole lessons here and will spend time with our tutors 5 days a week. With lessons  and just living and working among our Haitian brothers and sisters daily, we have high hopes of acquiring valuable communication here - which is key to relationship! (Especially in such a highly community-oriented culture.) 

Third, there have been so many hardworking, talented and humble men who have been working intensely to complete our living quarters. There are several men living here on the campus that have been working on the apartment for months on end and there are also men who have come for short term trips to help use their talents to turn one end of a men's dorm room into a beautiful 2 bedroom apartment! They are nearly finished and as I am typing this email they are painting walls, turning on the water and hauling in furniture! Watching them spend their days working on this apartment and seeing it transform day to day has really helped me appreciate all of the hard work that is going into making this place a home for us (and future missionaries!). We are so thankful. 

Fourth, Ryan and I both jumped into our roles here nearly as soon as we arrived! Ryan began teaching his class on the Pauline Epistles last Tuesday with the help of a translator. I am already in the finance office and have learned so much about the "behind the scenes" that goes on in the finance department here. I also get to interact with the students a lot because I am also helping out with the financial aid department. We are thankful to be working so closely with the students and (even while we are having a pretty tough time remembering names) it is already such a joy to get to know them personally. 

We are keeping busy and are SO excited to see what God has in store for us here at Emmaus. Ryan and I cannot thank you all enough for supporting us financially, emotionally and spiritually. We are truly blessed to be a part of such a large group of Christ followers. You all paint us such a beautiful picture of what CHURCH really is. 

Thank you for just loving us! If you would like to pray for us, please pray for quick language acquisition! We are spending a lot of time focusing on learning Creole and are praying that we will be relatively fluent by summertime. Also pray that no matter what, God's will shall be done through our lives and that we will constantly remember the sole reason we are here: to train disciples who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples... :)

Love,

The Weavers

Ryan and Cheyenne

First Week at EBS

SO much has happened in the first week of being at EBS! I don't even know where to begin.. but I do know that my previous worry (prior to arriving) of not having enough to do has already been wiped out of my mind. There is always plenty of things to do around here! :)

I really should learn to do shorter, more frequent posts so that I don't have to try to upload 9 million photos on one post! And also so that I can write a post without feeling like it is just a catch up! But here is the beautiful, glowing view outside our current living quarters:

I really don't know where to begin! Ryan was able to jump right into teaching classes with Matt the day after we arrived. Friday I started shadowing Stacey in the finance department and I have already learned that there is a LOT going on in that office! Stacey has a lot going on, for that matter! So I can't wait to continue to learn and be able to take many of those burdens off of her shoulders since she is already way busy with other things! I've also been recruited to take care of a library cataloging project so I am definitely not lacking things to do. :)

Between everything else, our plan is to sit in on as many classes as we can to soak up the language. And starting tomorrow we will begin creole lessons. I'm excited for that!

Thursday we spent the entire day in town with Matt and got living room furniture, a table and chairs, a stove AND paint for our apartment. That was very exciting and very shocking that we were able to get everything in ONE trip! Below is a quick picture of the apartment-in-progress, taken from a corner of the living room and looking into the kitchen/dining area (by the glass doors). The guys here have been working SO hard and have completely transformed on end of a men's dorm building into a beautiful two bedroom apartment. There have been several challenges along the way, but they are quite inventive and have done a fantastic job. We are all *hoping* it will be liveable within a week, with running water and working appliances. Again, we are hoping. Until then, all of our new furniture (minus the stove) is sitting in the Ayars' sunroom. Not a pretty sight for them, but at least it kind of seems like a jungle gym for the girls, right? (Just trying to make it seem a little more pleasant, even though I feel bad they have to stare at a big pile of furniture for another week, lol! Thank you, Matt and Stacey!) 

These pictures were taken at the beginning of last week and it has already come a long ways since then! Including new BRIGHT colors in the bedrooms and bathroom.

Below is our big pile of STUFF that arrived last week!

These photos are in no specific order except in the way that my computer uploaded them, so they are not exactly chronological... But below is a blurry picture of Ryan speaking in chapel on Friday. Luckily, chapel services are in English on Fridays so it wasn't too far of a stretch for him in his first week.. even if he did only find out he was preaching two days prior. ;) [Chapel is MWF, Mondays are in Creole, Wednesdays are in French and Fridays are in English.]

Does the photo below take you back in time? The first time around, hanging clothes to dry was kind of enjoyable. However, I'm sure it will get much less enjoyable each time. :P

This morning we went to Giseline's church because Matt was invited to preach. I haven't had the chance to really get to know Giseline yet, but she is referred to as "Granny" and everyone here adores her. She is such a sweet lady! She works in/runs the kitchen here at Emmaus. I would say that the message was great, but considering that I didn't follow all of it, I'll take everyone elses' word for it that it was great! Even though I didn't fully grasp everything Matt was preaching, worship is one thing that a barrier cannot be fully built up, even with a language difference! I just love the atmosphere of a small room full of spirit-filled Christians who are praising the Lord through their loud voices. Even in a foreign tongue, it doesn't get much better than that..

The Ayars ladies on the way to church this morning :)

Blurry photo of Matt preaching this morning at Granny's church

The photo below was taken right after the church service.

I can't get over how cute this photo is! That's Lily Ayars in the middle, and Giseline on the right:

And Giseline (I'm sure that I'm spelling her name incorrectly) invited us over to her place right after church for some fellowship and coconut juice straight out of a coconut! That was a first for me :)

And here is one of the beautiful views of mountains from the front door of the apartment:

And here are some more beautiful mountain views just outside of the campus:

This evening we ended the week with a bonfire! Everyone munched on hot dogs (which seems to be a big deal around here:) and I (the lucky duck that I am!) munched on leftover crab and lobster from last night. The others found out about my love for seafod and were sweet enough to leave me some since Ryan and I ate in Vaudreil last night. Hotdogs and seafood around the campfire... that goes together well, right?

Pretty little blue eyed, curly blonde-haired beauty, Biga! 

Lily and Ryan 

Cammie Aberle 

The Heckmans!

We have been SO blessed our first week here. The other missionary families here at EBS and also on the Vaudreil campus down the road have been so welcoming and loving. Even though I can't wait to get into the apartment, I am so thankful that we have gotten some downtime with the other families around here. It has been a real blessing to sit down and have meals full of delicious food and blooming friendships. I feel so at home here and these people that I've known for one week I feel like I've known for a lifetime. 

Between running around like chickens with our heads cut off (in a good way.. if that is possible:), eating meals with other families every night and painting away in the apartment this past week I haven't been able to catch everyone up. I hope to get some time this week to write a bit and not feel like I have so much to throw at you all. :)

It's been such a great week and God is so good. 

We Made It!

We made it!

We are officially “home.” Over the summer I remember writing a post about not knowing where home really is. But I think I may have figured it out, or at least for the time being: Emmaus Biblical Seminary (EBS)! We’ve only been in Haiti for 2 days, but somehow this just feels like home. And that is saying something considering that we are currently staying in a one-room dorm space, depending on other families here for every meal, and haven’t even moved into our apartment yet! :)

Within the past two years, every single move we have made was ONLY with the thought of coming to EBS in mind, whether it was to move back to NE to save money or move to Canada for language school or move to Sabetha to get more involved with our church. I suppose that after a few years of talking about moving to Haiti, maybe this mindset of already feeling at home is not so unordinary. And I’m so blessed for our joyful transition!

 Airport Ride

I was pleasantly surprised that IBC Airlines got a new airplane that is much of an upgrade from the previous rickety planes I have heard so much about in the past. :)

The airport extravaganzas and plane ride were nice and uneventful, which means that it was a very smooth process and everything worked out perfectly! We arrived at the EBS campus Monday, February 17^th at 9 in the morning, thanks to Matt and Phil who picked us up at the airport and got us out of there as quickly and painlessly as possible!

Flying into Haiti

Just before the landing

Our apartment is coming along quickly thanks to all of the teams who have already come and gone (and some still here) to work on it, to the guys here on campus and to the others who have helped. It is BEAUTIFUL and I am so excited to move in! Another huge blessing is that much of our home supplies that we shipped arrived today and there’s only a small amount left to get here. That is such a blessing because I didn’t expect ANY of it until the very end of February. Awesome!

Don and Rod (visitors) working on kitchen cabinets for the apartment!

We have been settling in and learning about life here at EBS and figuring out what our roles are. Ryan taught part of a class this morning with Matt Ayars translating. We are trying to jump in and get a lot of creole into our days (without being too overwhelmed).  We are hoping to get a tutor very soon and looking forward to getting better at speaking the language!

I will get some pictures of the campus within the next few days to show everyone (that hasn’t already seen it) what it looks like. I did happen to catch a cute photo of Mr. Ryan Lady’s Man Weaver surrounded by a sea of girls who adore him. :)

Ryan surrounded by the missionary kid girls :) 

I think that’s all for now; we are doing great and are so happy to finally be here. Blessings to all of you!

Airport Post

Well - the day is finally here! We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport at 4:00 this morning, thanks to our chauffeurs Jessie and Jason. It was pretty hard watching them leave! The reality is (sort of) starting to sink in.

I figured while I'm sitting here in the airport I would do a quick post of photos because by the time we arrive in Haiti it will all seem like old news in the midst of all of the NEW. :)

Above are all of the ladies who attended cross training (minus Lonnie!), and below are all of the men (minus James!). The pictures were taken Friday morning right before we were all officially commissioned into One Mission Society.

We left immediately after the ceremony, and as soon as we got in the van to make the drive from Indiana to Florida, it started snowing! We were hit by quite a bit of snow, heavy rain and spent a cumulative of at least an hour at a stand still during traffic jams. But, alas - we made it to Plant City, FL on Saturday morning at 4 am. We then picked Jessie and Jason up at the airport at noon the next day and spent the last day and a half being treated to some sunny beaches, yummy food, and most importantly, some last minute quality time with these two gems of friends!

And now is where the plethora of beach photos begins. :)

The first day at the Gulf was pretty CHILLY and windy! But still beautiful :)

 Above is the last photo from the Gulf and we got to walk along a neat pier that warned us of manatees, which we unfortunately didn't get to see that day!

Then on Sunday we spent the day at Vero Beach, which was much warmer and more enjoyable. :)

Ryan was thoroughly convinced that his sunscreen was rubbed in PLENTY enough. Whatever floats his boat :)

The guys dived head first into the waves and had a lot of tiring fun even though the water was really cold!

Aw, I'm married to such a handsome fella :)

Jason and Jessie make Cat Castles... Macey and Kaden would be so proud of their parents :)

Haha, I had to post these two; they were too funny. I think that these guys could go into modeling, don't you?

^^Big Red! This bad boy got us all the way from Kansas to Indiana to Florida filled to the brim and now (hoping) that it makes it back to Kansas.

And, lastly - here's our departure photo. Bittersweet! Looking forward to what God has in store for us in the next days, weeks, months, years.. Our lives are in His hands!

As I'm typing, Ryan is pretty excited to be speaking Creole to all of the Haitians surrounding us at the airport. Maybe I should join!

We love you all. Thank you so much for being a part of this amazing journey! Pray that we will do good for the Kingdom and that we will remember the reason we are there every minute of every day.