God's Purpose

Sometimes I unfaithfully question God’s will and purpose for my life. Why have you brought me, an inexperienced 23 year old, to Haiti? Can I really do anything here? How can you possibly use ME? I am pretty sure God just laughs at me constantly… Laughs, in a good way of course, at my ridiculous prayers and sometimes unfaithfulness. With Haiti comes bad days, good days, bad weeks, and good weeks. Haiti is so unpredictable… You never know what your day will hold and what crazy something or other you’ll encounter. These things, issues, crazy encounters make you question your purpose. Am I really getting anything accomplished? I’ve quickly come to realize 1. It’s not about me and 2. It’s God and only Him who can accomplish anything through me.

As I boarded the plane to come back to Haiti after an awesome Christmas break, I was extremely excited. A peace rushed over me that I know and believe only God can give. That unexplainable feeling when you’re right where you’re supposed to be! To be honest, I didn’t think I’d be excited to come back, but boy was I so wrong! God knows what He’s doing in our lives. He is so confident in His will for us to be in Haiti. So, it’s time for me to be too!

With that said, Christmas break in the States showed us that we have A LOT of work to do before we come back in May. Issues that I honestly didn’t know existed until we came home… Long-rooted issues that we’ve always subconsciously struggled with and never really knew they were struggles. For example, with a lot of girls, we struggle with our looks and constantly comparing ourselves to others. Well, I guess you could say I knew I struggled with this, but all girls have this problem don’t they? So, why deal with the issue if it’s always going to be a problem? WRONG! God calls us to be free from that! We are PERFECT in His image and His view on us is ALL that matters. I can honestly say that Haiti has freed me from that! It’s not a struggle, EVER. Seriously, living here has been sooo freeing! I don’t worry about what others think; I hardly EVER put makeup on, and wear Nike shorts and a t-shirt everyday! And it’s SO nice! But you want to know that sad part about all of this… The minute I stepped off the plane in Miami I IMMEDIATELY began to compare and lust after others… The latest fashion trends, beautiful purses, perfect tailored look. It was bad… And it frustrated me so much! Unfortunately, while I was home, I didn’t go a day without putting makeup and looking my best. UGH! How quickly I fell right back into Satan’s lies! Now, don’t get me wrong… I don’t believe it’s a sin to dress nicely and wear makeup! It’s just the sin that comes with it that gets me!

With this, also came a lot more struggles in the States that we don’t deal with here… our expectations that shouldn’t be expectations, our desire to please others before our desire to please God, our inability to slow down and have quiet time, endless distractions, and the list could go on and on. The USA is a wonderful, easy, and convenient place to live… Because of all these things, it left me dependent on myself instead of God. Ughh… frustrating, frustrating, frustrating!

Russell and I are asking for you to join us in prayer for ourselves. We had a huge eye-opening experience coming home. It showed us HOW MUCH work we have to do while we are here, before we come home. We do not want to come home and conform to the “American Dream” and live a normal life. We desire to live a radical life. A life that creates disciples. A life fulfilling God’s purpose, not our own! We have A LOT of work and just ask for prayer as we began to work on ourselves. It’s funny how we came to Haiti to “help” them, when really they’ve helped and taught us more than we’ll ever know.

 So thank you God. Thank you for bringing us to this amazing country. Thank you for the Salvants. Thank you for the precious children at New Hope. Thank you for your church. Thank you for our friends. Thank you for our supportive family. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

-Jessica 

Give Me Jesus

This past week Russell and I were blessed with the presence of some of our favorite peeps. My sissy and Caden took off work for week to come to Haiti! Wow, so thankful for that! During the week leading up to their arrive, I was busy preparing the house, stocking up on groceries, praying to God that He’d keep Ed’H on so we’d have A.C., and constantly looking at my countdown on my phone. We were super excited to say the least and somewhat nervous also. I had no idea what they expected, and had no idea if they were going to like it! But of course, they were such troopers, and I am pretty sure they had a good time :)

Immediately after the arrived Friday afternoon, we took them to one of our favorite restaurants. It’s owned and operated by some of our friends, the Lotz family, in their front yard. It’s called Pizza Amour! So, pizza it was… It took about an hour to get from the airport to Pizza Amour, which is two miles, so they quickly got to experience Haiti traffic… bumper to bumper chaos in other words… Cars coming from every directions trying to cram into any space they can, street kids begging for money, people trying to sell you anything and everything, UN tanks, swat teams, and much more. They saw a lot in the first couple of minutes… but they seemed to handle it just fine!

After yummy pizza we headed home to meet the Salvants and rest up for the busy weekend ahead. On Saturdays Russell and I teach 3 English classes. So, they got to meet all the kids at New Hope, which was a lot of fun! The kids absolutely loved them of course. New playmates are always fun! Rachel and Caden immediately hit it off with the kids… It was so cool for us to watch them finally meet the kids that Russell and I have grown to love SO much. I can talk them up all I want, but it does not do them any justice! You just have to meet them to know what I am talking about! After classes were over, we headed to “the field.” Such a fun time for the kids and us! We grilled out hotdogs, worshiped Jesus, played soccer, and watched the sunset!

Sister and I hanging out at the field! 

My two favs eating hotdogs on a stick :)

Best buds forever ;) 

Saturday came and went quickly… We woke up the next day and headed up the mountain to church. Big shout out to the Lotz family for letting us use their spare car! So so thankful J Anyway, church was awesome as usual! Next stop was Epi’Dor. Epi’Dor is about the only restaurant in Haiti that serves cheap food! We ate some steak sandwiches and blue bunny ice cream and climbed the mountain even more to the lookout. The lookout is one of my favorite places to go in Haiti. It overlooks the whole city of Port-au-Prince. It’s absolutely breathtaking and can’t be described in words. God’s landscape, as you probably know, is indescribable… There aren’t many places where you can see the ocean, mountains, lakes, rivers, and a HUGE city all at one time.

Beautiful downtown! 

Somethings never change!

Monday began with school for us and the Salvant kids and some catching up on rest for Rachel and Caden. We visited the orphanage almost every night during week and had the best of times playing games and just hanging out with the kids! As usual, every night we were welcomed with smiling faces and hugs from every child… That picture reminds me of the love Jesus has for us. Everyday He opens His arms to us with a big smile ready to conquer the day for us. Often times, I ignore His loving hugs and presences… Why? Who knows! But, it has amazes me HOW MUCH these children remind me of the love of Jesus… pure, innocent, unconditional love! These kids love with their whole hearts despite their brutal and unthinkable pasts. If you get the chance, you need to come to Haiti to visit the New Hope kids. I promise it will be a life changing experience!

Caden and his new buddies! 

Sister and her best friend for the week, Joel! 

Beautiful ladies!

Sorry for my tangent about my kids! I just can’t say enough good things about them! Moving on… Friday came quickly, which we were excited about because that meant beach day! We woke up early Friday morning and traveled up North about an hour and a half to Indigo Beach. It’s a beautiful resort right on the beach. We enjoyed a relaxing day by the beach! Oh was it a good day. It brought back so many memories of the many beach trips that we took together over the last 4 years… although we were missing one person, T-Rex!! It wasn’t the same without you shim!

Sis and Russ hanging out by the pool! 

So thankful for these two! 

Love this man with my whole heart! 

Bestest friend! 

Although our 10 days together seemed to fly right on by, God refreshed and renewed my spirit. I was so excited and proud to show off the country and people I’ve come to love so much! We were so blessed by their energy and eagerness to want to know all about Haiti! It made the trip that much better!

Rachel and Caden with the kids the night before they left! 

The Lord is awesome and powerful! As the holidays draw near, don’t forget to be thankful for the little things… like your family, friends, electricity, food on the table, health, healthcare, and running water! Such constants and expectations in American, but such rarities in a country like Haiti. Praise God for your abundant blessings. Praise God that He chose to love YOU. Praise God that He will NEVER give up on you or me or the orphans that I’ve grow to love so much.

I challenge you to wake up tomorrow with a renewed sense of spirit, a spirit-filled with praise and thankfulness to our Heavenly Father. We all are blessed no matter our circumstances, because we worship a God who will never forsake us. A God who’s love is NEVER ending. A God whom will never forget you even in the darkest of times!

I want to again thank everyone, especially my mom, sister, Claire, and Cheekwood daycare for all the supplies, food, time and effort that was put in to getting all the stuff to Haiti! The Fraziers and the New Hope kids are so grateful! Praying for everyone in the States… I pray that you will meet Jesus today in a radical way!

                                                                                                                                  Love,

                                                                                                                                     Jessica 

P.S. Here is a video of the kids singing "Give Me Jesus" by Jeremy Camp! So so sweet! There is just something amazing about children worshiping Jesus! 

Salvant School

I have realized that I have filled most of the blogs with everything but the teaching of the Salvant children... Well this one is going to be about that! Russell and I began teaching at Salvant School on September 5. Still in shock that we are two months into school! I think we have finally worked out the kinks and are in full swing!

Our schedule could seem quite hectic to others, but it works perfectly for us! Our mornings start at about 7:15 with coffee and breakfast, devo time, getting ready, and lesson planning... And then the school bell "rings" at 8:30. We haven't had to many tardies yet ;) The school day starts out with Russell teaching Jeff (6th grade), Caroline (7th grade), McKenna (5th grade), and David (4th grade) science. They just finished their unit on birds! They've had to construct 3D birds, build their own nests, and do a bunch a research projects! They definitely love science and their science teacher :) They just started a unit on space, so they're pretty excited! For the rest of the day, each kid does their subjects by themselves. I am in charge of the English and math, and Russell is in charge of science and history. The kids are doing so well and I couldn't be prouder to be their teachers.

Haiti is full of difficulties... And one of them has been teaching! My brain has definitely been tested on it's creativity. Trying to keep learning fun and exciting can be difficult sometimes, but we're doing the best we can!  To keep the kids motivated, we made a deal with them! All A's on their open book tests and a B or higher on their Unit test = PIZZA PARTY AND NO SCHOOL!!! Oh... that got them so excited!! We had our pizza party a couple of weeks ago, and it was quite fun to have a day off and relax!

This past week Russell had the kids do a presidential debate. Caroline ran as the Republican candidate with Dave as her Vice President, and Jeff ran as the Democratic candidate with McKenna as his Vice President. They each had to come up with a speech, slogan, and signs to promote their President! They all did SUCH a good job! Rachel and Caden contributed to the votes, and they came out even! So, Caroline and Jeff will both be the Presidents ;)

Working with my husband has been one of the biggest blessings! Who's lucky enough to teach alongside your hubby? Not many people... His joy and passion for teaching these children is contagious! He runs a tight ship at the Salvant School, but does it with so much joy and compassion. The kids know when Russell means business :) Below are just some pictures of the daily life at the Salvant School! Stay tuned for my next blog post about Rachel and Caden visiting Haiti! That will be up in the next few days :)

-Jessica

McKenna with her signs!  

Vice President and Mr. President

Caroline giving her speech! 

Jeff giving his speech! 

All the kids!! 

Looking good!!  

School on the roof! 

Pizza Party pizzas!! 

The Field

Yesterday, we traveled a couple miles down the road to a field... a plot of land with four concrete walls surrounding it! Ohh.. and it had GRASS!! In Port-au-Prince there isn't much grass, so it's a treat when you get to play in it! To many this wouldn't be exciting place to go, but to us it was AWESOME! We had a BLAST with the kiddios! It was so much fun getting to play with them outside of the orphanage!

While Russell played soccer with the boys, the girls and I cheered them on from the sidelines! I just can't get over these kids! I can't say enough how much I love and treasure all of them! Most of them come from horrible pasts, but yet they still have so much joy and love to offer! Thanks to all our family and friends who have supported the ministry of New Hope! Trust me it's worth it :) The kids appreciate it too!

Amos being silly!!

Daniella hanging out with Ziggy!

The most kind-hearted spirit you'll ever meet! I love Nehemie :)

Nehemie and Phara!! 

Beautiful Erline!

This girl has my heart!! 

Harrison being his usual silly self!

Cutest brothers in the world!

Russell and Diderot!! 

The oldest and the youngest!!  

Where's Ziggy!?!

The Honest Truth

Two months ago we stepped out of a plane to a place with a lot of unknowns. At that moment in time, this place was not our home. The home we knew was tucked in a valley surrounded with beautiful landscapes, endless opportunities to do just about whatever you wanted, the best of friends, and even more best friends and family 2 hours north. What were we doing here? How were we going to call a trash-filled, poverty stricken country our home? At the time, we had no answers. We had no idea! But somehow, someway we managed to muster up enough courage early one Friday morning on August 3rd to board a plane to a place we were supposed to call home.

With 4 large suitcases in tow and wide-eyed, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. What was Haiti like? What was the Salvant family like? Was our new house livable to our standards? We'd had a couple of skype tours of the house and a couple of chats with April and Scott, but that was it.... We really had absolutely no clue what journey God was about to take us on. As we arrived at our terminal, Russell and I both sat silently in our seats awaiting for what felt like our destiny. Had we choosen a good one or a bad one??? With butterflies in our stomach, we stepped off the plane and entered one of the best decisions of our lives....

I would be lying if I told you life in Haiti was easy. It's a daily battle to stay a float. Constantly battling all types of insects and little creatures to trying to maintain the basics such a running water and electricity are somethings that no one really signs up for... A lot of days are filled with frustrations dealing with the crazy world around us. Keys that won't open doors, music blaring at all hours of the night, mosquitos buzzing in your ears, getting in the shower only to turn on the faucet to nothing, boiling noodles only for the gas to go out, internet being so inconsistent, poor communication, endless traffic, and much more... You definitely have to roll with the punches in Haiti, because they come daily in full force. But oddly enough, we've come to love our frustrations and our punches.

I'd be lying if I said we don't let frustration get the best of us... because often we do! BUT if you just take a second and look at your neighbors who live in a house the size of our bedroom with no running water or electricity, or the house across the street that is now just ruble and completely unlivable to our standards, you appreciate your frustrations. The fact that we have running water most days and have electricity most of the time to run our fans and keep our food in the fridge fresh is amazing. To most people we know in the States, that's an expectation. To us it's a blessing and a privilege. I never would have thought that running water in the faucets would be considered a privilege, but it is here.... So go thank your local electrician or water company today! They're working around the clock to make sure millions of people have clean, running water and electricity constantly. Or you could even thank God. It truly is a blessing to have such things...

Russell and I spend most of our days locked behind 15 feet walls... Some days are harder than others. Most of our days are filled with teaching until 2, Netflix for a couple of hours, working out, surfing the web, social media, dinner, showers, and bed... Oh and going to the grocery store once a week, walking do to the orphanage a couple times a week, and church on Sunday! To most, it would be a very boring, pointless life. But to us, it's our life. It's the life God has called us to do. A lot of times it's not rewarding and pretty, but it's our life... And because of that we can't dwell on the fact that most of friends are successfully getting jobs, moving into their our places, etc. We aren't making any money. We're actually living off other people's money, which in turn is kind of difficult. It's a battle that I fight a lot, but I am then reminded of God's grace and His purpose for me right now.

Haiti has made us so much more appreciative of the things that we thought we never had to be appreciative about... running water, constant electricity, tons of restaurants, a roof over my head, etc. Those were all constants for us and never had to think about any of those things being taken away. Life here can be tough, frustrating, boring, and saddening. But God has so much grace to offer to cover those emotions. His Spirit is alive here. He is doing work currently as we speak. It's whether or not we want to dwell on our personal frustrations or dwell on the fact that the Lord is doing amazing things in this country. I strive daily to try to dwell on the Lord's work instead of my own.

Today, I challenege you to look past your daily struggles and frustrations. Look past the dress that doesn't fit right today and the coffee stain on your dress... Look past the fact that you're running late for work or you forgot your lunch at home! God is so much bigger than all of our petty struggles. He wants to show you today, right now all the things that He is doing in your life and others around you. Yield to the Holy Spirit  and be blessed by His presence. It's truly is amazing how much He wants tell us! He has so much to say.

I apologize for the assortment of topics in this one post... Kind of scattered brained at the moment! Haha but hope all is well in the States! I know we say this a lot but we truly do appreciate all the love, prayers, and support we continue to receive everyday!

We love you all,
The Fraziers

Hiking with hubs and some great friends 

The beautiful mountains of Haiti 

Beautiful butterfly on our hike

I love this girl, K.C!!

Ready for their first day of school

Mac loves his picture to be taken! :)

April doing some piano lessons!

Russell and Amos!! 

Websterson and I hanging out! 

And the best picture of all... The kiddos all dressed up for their first day of school :)

Ohhh happy days... Ohh 50 days!

Today marks 50 days that we have been in a Haiti. Woah… crazy right?!? I can’t quite believe it myself. This blog post is going to be a little bit different than the rest. Hope you enjoy :)

The 50 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Haiti

1. Sweating while drinking coffee at 7 am is completely normal.
2. Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew are hard to come by. So needless to say, when we find it, which has been once, we stock up J
3. I get excited when I see a white person. Something about it makes me happy!!
4. Cokes in a bottle are so much better. They are less carbonated here making the burning sensation not as strong. It’s kind of bad thing though, because this makes it a lot easier to chug.
5. Haiti’s currency is gourdes… 100 gourdes= $2.50 in case you were wondering!
6. There is always someone selling something on the street. So if you’re hungry or thirsty while stuck in traffic, no worries! There are plenty of options … except when you’re craving something specific, you can never find it!
7. They love speed bumps, and they always seem to be in the most random places.
8.  A lot of the stores aren’t the type of stores that we are used too. Here, you walk up to a little window with bars and tell the lady inside what you want! Not really much “shopping” here!
9. You eat rice and beans daily. There are a staple Haitian food! They love their rice and beans.
10. Ed’H= electricity/ power company. Ed’H has a mind of it’s own and comes on whenever it feels like it. So, we get SUPER excited when it comes on, because you know what that means?!?! Air conditioning in the Frazier home! Woop Woop
11. Mosquito bites are expected, especially around your ankles.
12. Haitians love to dress up and look nice all the time. They’re definitely putting my daily wardrobe of Nike shorts, t-shirts, and frizalicious (a.k.a frizzy) hair to shame! I love though that they take pride in how they look.
13. Haitians bathe before most meals, which means they take a shower at least two times a day! Cra Cra!!
14. Dusting your home is a full-time job here.
15. Bug spray. Bug spray. Bug spray. Enough said!
16. The orphanage kids are so brilliant. Like a lot of people in Haiti, they all know at least Creole and French. And a lot of them know English AND Spanish!! I wish I were trilingual. Oh wait… I am not even bilingual L
17. I have a love-hate relationship with the rain. Love the cool air that it brings, but hate the thousands of mosquitos that come after the rain from every country in the world to drink my blood.
18. You get a 5% discount if you spend $100 at the grocery store. Cha Ching!
19. 1 ½ gallons of milk costs $12. Yeah, hasn’t stopped us from buying milk though… we’ve stayed faithful to our milk and cereal routine.
20. Food is extremely expensive down here!! A box of cereal ranges anywhere form $8-$12! A big plastic tub of ice cream that you can usually get for $5 in the states costs over $20 here.
21. It’s common for people to take nightly walks around the neighborhood with their cows and bulls on a leash. No biggie!
22. People’s goats and pigs roam freely in the streets. And somehow they keep up with them!
23. Two feet deep potholes in the roads are the norm and always to be expected.
24. Along with potholes, traffic is always to be expected too.
25. No traffic rules here. So drive as fast as you want. Oh and you can even drive up on side walks and pull out in front of who ever you want too. Well, it’s actually expected every time you jump in the car that you do it!
26. It’s common for it to take 2 hours to drive 8 miles.
27. Sunsets are beyond amazing here. I can’t take enough pictures and talk about them enough!
28. In the nearby mountains, you can expect it to be at least 10 degrees cooler. Still a little bitter about that ;)
29. Stray dogs are EVERYWHERE
30. There are lottery shops on every corner. And when I say every corner, I mean EVERY corner. They love the lottery here for sure!
31. No vacuum cleaners sold here.
32. Most doors in Haiti don’t have handles on the outside of the door. A key is required for entry! Luckily, we’ve only locked ourselves out once when Russell broken the key inside the lock! Haha oh Freezy....
33. Mottos, a.k.a motorcycle taxis, are on every corner… and there are a lot of corners in Haiti!!
34. Let’s just say burgers aren’t quite burgers here. Stale floury bread and extremely thin “meat” make for a interesting (I am being nice) tasting burger!
35. There are three American chains here in Haiti: Dominios, CVS, and Best Western. Some of the my favorite chains in the states… Oh wait! Pizza hut, Walgreens, and Hampton Inns will always be my fav!
36. All the grocery stores carry different things. It’s very common to have to go to three different grocery stores to find what you need…
37. M.S.C.- a knock off Home Depot! Such a great store! The prices are even in US dollars! AWESOME J No calculations in this head needed!
38. Self-serve gas stations don’t exist here! Someone kindly pumps the gas for you J
39. Houses in Haiti don’t run themselves… It’s a full-time job keeping electricity on and running water in the house.
40. We learned the hard way :( Cheap and on sale cereal means that it’s expired and stale before you open it. Big bummer!
41. Haitians LOVE bright colored paint! Peachy, bright greens, and royal blues are some of their favorites…
42. Showers are MASSIVE and curtain-less.
43. A good temperature in Haiti is the upper 80’s, lower 90’s.
44. Expect to wait 20-30 minutes to get your drinks and 2 hours for your food when you go out to eat…
45. Okayy.. so as you can probably tell the roads are horrible here! BUT, that doesn’t stop Haitians from buying Mercedes, BMWs, Land Rovers, Porches, and other expensive cars! It kind of blows my mind…why would you put a nice car through soo much torture?!?
46. In Port-au-Prince most houses have 10-foot walls around their properties with a massive metal gate!
47. Fans are always on… you’re sweating usually if one is not blowing directly on you!
48. Movies and Netflix are our favorite past time!
49. Lizards are everywhere. Inside your closet, behind your toilet, on your ceilings… Surprisingly, they don’t faze me anymore.
50. And lastly, even though a lot of those things about Haiti are crazy and ridiculous, we love everything about this country! We have been blessed by all the people we have come in contact with and all the crazy situations we have encountered. Needless to say, WE LOVE HAITI J

Until next time,

            The Fraziers