I'm Home

Hi everyone! For those of you who do not know this yet, I'm home! I was getting torn apart by living conditions down there and frustrations with cultural differences and the like and couldn't focus, so they decided I should come home early, it was nothing bad (lot of people ask me what the real reason is, and this is it!). Thank you for all your prayer and support I had an amazing experience down in Haiti and learned alot that I will never forget! Maybe one day God will call me back there, I do not know, for I still do have a heart for the Muslims in Turkey. Right now I'm trying to find jobs back home and trying to figure out if the next step is to take the last class I need for my Associates Degree, or finish out my Bachelors. Keep me in your prayers!

Pre-DTS

Ugh, I've really gotta stop waiting to write a whole week's worth of stuff. Lets see, Thursday night I...don't remember. Friday...don't remember...Saturday... In the morning I went to the clinic and helped clean off the roof a little and play with the kids. In the afternoon I went to Philipson's Aunt and Uncles house and got to meet his cousins and hold little two month old Carl. He cried at first but then I had him laughing a little, lol he reminded me of Carl from the Simpsons. Sunday I hung out at the clinic for like an hour and then went to the beach with some of the nurses and doctors for a little over an hour, then Monday I helped with Registration. I had to operate the computer and read (very badly written French) papers filled out with basic info that we plugged into the computers. This was very very very frustrating. Some of the papers were not fully in print, or fully in cursive, they were mixed, some even in the middle of a word switched from cursive to print and back again. Plus when trying to ask another Haitian for help, they don't pronunciate the letters the way we do, so I had to stop doing the computer after lunch because I was getting to frustrated. I went to cutting the id's down to size with a huge paper cutter, and ended up slicing into my thumb. A pretty good amount of blood flowed out till I was able to bandage it up lol. Anyway, that Monday night, Freeman and Wayne sat me down to talk about how they felt I wasn't fully ready to do the DTS unless I went through the Pre-DTS first. They gave me the night to think and pray about it. That night I went out with some of the guys to Epidor and just had a good time having a "guys night". Tuesday morning, I told Freeman and Wayne that I would be joining the Pre-DTS. I am the first non-Haitian (and Caucasian) to go through the Pre-DTS down here in Haiti. This meant alot of changes for me down here. Because of the focus on ministry and such, I would have to wear clear spacers, and not wear sleeveless shirts so that the Haitians would not focus on my tattoos and earrings and listen more clearly to my message (I could still wear shorts, cuz lets face it, it's hot down here lol). Also, anytime I go off the base, I have to ask one of my leaders first (Freeman, Wayne, or Philipson). Every morning I have to be ready at 6 am and in a quiet spot where I can do some personal devo's for half an hour till breakfast at 6:30 (on weekends I can sleep in as long as I still do it before breakfast for at least 30 minutes, cuz breakfast is at 8 am on weekends). Then after breakfast, on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, we have prayer/worship (on Friday's its a prayer walk to somewhere in the city) from 7 to 8, and on Tuesday and Wednesday us guys in Pre-DTS have a little group prayer time/journal reflections (also from 7-8). Then we work till lunch at 12 and at 1pm we have 2 hours of class time, then work again till 5. On Saturday and Sundays we have off, but we can still help in anyway we want. Then at night (Weeknights on the base at 9 is quiet hours, and 10 is lights out and Weekends its 10 quiet hours, and 11 lights out, but you can still be downstairs and chat) we DTS students have to be in our rooms an hour before lights out, and have to be in bed at lights out, in order to practice and learn discipline (There are of course some nights that are exceptions, like movie nights). This bedtime schedule is especially hard since I haven't had a set inforced bedtime for about 3-4 years, and especially a bedtime at 10 which I haven't had since about middle school probably lol. Anyway, if I pass this pre-DTS, which I certainly hope to do, but it's an extremely stretching (in a good way!) experience, I will continue on to the DTS in July. Anyway, so I had my first class time Tuesday and it was awesome, this week we have been learning about negative things and the opposite qualities of them. We then figure where we our on a scale of numbers in these areas, and how we can work towards being better in those areas. Wednesday morning about 1 am I woke up and started a long 4 hour process of extreme vomitting (never had it that bad my whole life, was literally in tears after each time) then at 4 the diarheaa started, and at 5 the vomitting ended and the diarheaa continued. I spent that day resting and ate Ramen noodles for lunch (life saver!) and skipped dinner and had Ramen noodles at about 9:30 at night. Thursday was a normal day of registration (either cutting ID's or laminating them) and class and I felt alot better except my inner muscles were extremely sore from all the vomitting for about 2 days. Friday was registration and class and then we helped unload a trailer of food, and clothes, and basically almost anything lol sent down for the base staff and also relief for victims. Oh yea and Monday or Tuesday night I got the Haitians hooked on Avatar: The Last Airbender, so every night this week till last night we watched a couple episodes from Season 2, and now that it is over they want my family to send down seasons 1 and 3 lol. Anyway, today I helped move some rice and beans then went to Epidor for a cheeseburger and fries and a coke with Alain. Then we came back and it has been raining basically all day and so when we came back I just played around on my iPhone downloading apps, watched the only episode of the Simspons I have on my computer (family your sending down two seasons next time stuff comes down, I can't take it without my Simpsons!! lol). Anyway, then I took about a 2 hour nap and then had dinner and now I'm on my computer writing this blog lol. So now I'm caught up! I'm thirsty, gonna go get a drink. Later!

Discovering God's Plan for Me

Let me just start out by saying that I am not going to be coming back in May. I have decided to stay till July and then start the DTS down here that YWAM offers. It stands for Disipleship Training School. It's about 3 months of classes for about 4-5 hours a day and then service before and after those class times. After the first 3 months of classes, it turns to outreach where we will be going out into Haiti and serving in multiple areas and places. The last month is spent in another country and it is possibly going to be the Dominican Republic but I do not think they have decided that yet. Why do I want to do this you might ask? Well, I've been on a huge spiritual decline over the past year and a half. I've been doing alot of things I shouldn't be doing and being a terrible witness for Christ. When talking with Wayne Snow about the DTS program he said it is a chance to wipe your slate clean and became a totally new and changed person. Others have told me it's like taking a vacation with God and you grow so much spiritually and He strengthens your weaknesses and you really learn to depend on Him in everything you do. This is exactly want I want in my life and that is exactly why I am going to take part in this DTS. I also wanted to serve in Haiti longer and when thinking about what would stop me from doing it, I could only think of selfish things like wanting to see family and friends and go pig out at a chinese buffet or have McDonalds again lol. It means alot of the things I normally do like Creation Festivals and Purple Door and Reach Workcamps and Blue Marsh and all that stuff I have to give up, which is not easy to do. But I really want to have a better relationship with God and I know He wants to have a better relationship with me and I know this will help. So what I ask of all you reading this is to continue to prayer for me daily, and if you feel inclined, to support me financially as well. (Or you could get together with my family and send me a box of junk food ;) lol). So anyway, this means I will not be back till around January of 2011! Now having said that here's my blog update:

So I've pretty much decided its impossible to blog every night lol. Also I've realized that everything that happens each day doesn't necessarily have to go into this blog, only the important things that will I want to remember (plus do you really want to read that at this time I drove to this place to have a soda or went to the bathroom at this point of the day? lol I don't think so). Anyway, Thursday of last week I don't remember what I did, as well as Friday. I'm sorry but after about 3 days everything before those last 3 days blends together. Oh yea, something amazing did happen Friday, Saturay, and Sunday. Haiti (and not us foreigners or any outside organizations) got together and organized a national weekend long prayer and fasting and worship! This has NEVER happened in Haiti and I am so glad that God has allowed me to be down here to witness it. We were not allowed to go into the park in St. Marc where they were rallying because we did not want to be a distraction to the hundreds and possibly thousands of Haitians reaching out to God for help and restoration. Friday night though, I did get to pass by on the way back from the market. It was about 9:30ish and there were still hundreds of Haitians outside praising God and dancing (It was only scheduled to go from 7am to 6pm!!). Saturday I got to go into the United Nations base to load up 300 boxes of MRE'S (Meals Ready to Eat, each box had 12 meals in them) from the military to hand out to the refugees. It was pretty cool being in there without being of any importance and just freely walking around in there and seeing all the "interesting" things lol. Sunday I went in to Port au Prince with a bunch of people. Wow. You know you see all the news on tv and video footage and hear all those terrible stories, but when your there it's just so different. Of course there are no dead bodies just lying around on the streets or visible anymore, but the destruction is still there and there is alot of it. It just feels so different seeing it real life. I really don't know how to describe it. On the way there on the outskirts of the city there were so many tent cities, and there were so many tents in those tent cities. It was just so different then the first time I went through Port au Prince just 8 months ago. We got to see the Presidential Palace, but only from a distance because when we tried to get out and walk up to it, there was just too many people because of the national prayer and fasting. We then went out to the orphanage right beside the airport, and we were only there for 10-20 minutes, and I didn't want to leave! There were so many kids there that I just wanted to stay and play with them forever. There was this little boy named Jeremy who was around the age of 7 I think, and he was just so adorable, and he could speak English! I was like "Hey, what's your name?" and he goes "Jeremy, what's your name?". So we talked and I was thinking in my head "if he's here by himself I want to adopt him!" lol. So when I asked if he had any brothers or sisters there he said "Yea, Sammy". I asked if it was his sister and he said yes, but I don't think he had fully understood me because after I left him I found another little boy in the orphanage who when I held out my hand for a high five he ran up and hugged me so I picked him up and held him (he was probably around the age of 4) and we got a picture together then walked around while he held my hand and I asked him "what is your name?". He said "Sammy". I asked him if Jeremy was his brother and he said "Yes" and I thought to myself "awww I want to adopt them both! lol. Anyway, we met Jude there before we left, which was an awesome surprise and then we went to visit the new YWAM base they are establishing in Port au Prince. We came back and to St. Marc then before church and when preparing for church I still had a headache from earlier (bus ride was very hot and brutal, almost passed out from the heat) and I felt like I was gonna throw up plus I was having really bad stomach aches (worse than the usual I have been having). So I didn't make it to church and went to bed about 8ish and slept almost straight through to 7 am. I went out to the fifth section that day to play with the kids all day. It was great we just did little things like see how far we could throw rocks into the river and how many times we could skip them or arm wrestle or throw a ball back and forth or play little games they had thought up. I don't remember if I mentioned the little 10 year old girl that is there before or not, but she has a handicap and from what I understand was born prematurely. They tie her at the foot with a rope to a tree and that's where she is all day. She has been on my heart for the past 2 weeks and when we are there and done with our food we have brought we normally give it to the children who watch us eat, but she is all the way in the back and can't get any of the food by herself, so for the past 2 or 3 times at the fifth section I bring her what I don't eat. And the last two times I've brought her some fresh clean water that I only let her drink when I pour it into one of the villages cups. Well Monday when I brought her water for the second time, they wanted to give her to me to take as my child. I obviously couldn't do that, one because of short notice and would need support, and two I can't possibly have a handicap child by myself because all my time would be spent with her. Then we went to the village that I went to in June with my church to build a house for the village to pick up a lady so she could go to the hospital in Port au Prince. I was able to finally see the completed house (we were unable to finish it in June do to so much rain) and hold the baby that was just born last June that my team and I laid hands on and prayed for her protection. Also, some of the village remembered me and I remembered some of them so it was a really cool experience to see them again. When we went to leave they tried to give me that little baby to take as my own as well, and of course I had to say no again. Tuesday we went and helped set up tarps for a local 3 day prayer rally and then in the afternoon went to the clinic and prayed for the people there and worshipped there. I stayed back when the rest left and played with some of the kids and talked with the nurses till dinner. That night I woke up with terrible stomach aches twice in the night, and then attempted to work Wednesday morning but was having to go to the bathroom very frequently so I just spent the rest of the day in my bed sleeping. Today (Thursday) I have been doing more of the food distribution, and it has been going extremely slow. So slow that I have been reading a book I brought down as well as writing this blog and doing other things on my computer. Well I think I've caught you all up with what I've been doing and just want thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with my blog and praying for me and supporting me! Oh and also, I will miss everyone alot and if you have skype my username is zachariah.dietrich so chat with me sometime!

1 Weeks Worth of News

Wow, It's hard to believe I've only been in Haiti for a week! It already feels like an eternity has passed. First off, sorry I haven't updated this since last week. Let's see where did I leave off? Ah yes, Thursday. Thursday Matt and I went back out to the fifth section to put the finishing touches on the forms we worked on the day before. We were done fairly early and I really do not remember what we did when we got back. I think I went out to a restaurant with people but not really sure. Friday, Matt, Kevin, Alain, 2 Haitians doing pre-DTS, Chad, and I went out to start mixing the concrete. We got there about 9 o'clock and figured we would be doing about 27 batches of mixed cement (3 for each column). It takes 3 buckets of sand, 2 buckets of gravel, 1 bucket of cement, and about 2 buckets of water for each batch. Alain and I were covered by the time we were done, which was between 1 and 2! We definitely didn't think we would be done that early! We came back to the based and Kristian Snow and one of the Press guys interviewed me for Saint-Marc's Television Station. The interview was to show that YWAM was still having a presence in the 5th Section even with the earthquake. We got back and I think I helped a little with the construction of the upper apartment. Saturday we stayed on the base and I helped with cleaning up some of the grounds area around the construction site on the base (upper apartment) and also moving the refugees into the old UN building down the road that others cleaned up to make into a clinic. Saturday night Philipson, Bill, and I went out to KAY FOUNE again (my favorite restaurant here lol). Then Sunday a bunch of us went to the beach nearby for some nice relaxation and fun. Later, we had church at 6 and man was it awesome! The worship was sooooo energetic and the message was great! People kept showing up even during the message and it was packed! Then after church I felt God telling me to talk to Caleb (Freeman's 12 year old son) about why he stood up when someone was talking about a vision of a pot overflowing with God's love and tipping over and whoever stood up would want to receive that love. We chatted and then went and got the girl who had the vision and prayed for Caleb and he said he had a vision of that pot pouring over him and spilling out through him onto others! He is such a little blessing! After church we unloaded a whole truck load of MRE's to hand out to refugees! At about 10:30 pm Philipson and Alain and I took one of our friends motorcycles to Philipson's mothers house in St. Marc and had this drink made of sweet kernels, milk, and flour. It was very good! Monday morning I was late getting started and so I missed the bus to the clinic (they had asked if I would be a part of the children's ministry they wanted to start there). Oh yes and I can't forget, Freeman came up to me and said that morning "I had a word from the Lord concerning your future here". He had heard that I have been planning on staying here longer than the initial 3 months. Anyway, Freeman asked if I would think and pray about taking charge of the tool shed and 4 or 5 tool trailers since I will be here long term. It would mean that I have to reorganize everything to have a specific spot and then come up with some sort of sign out sheets to keep track of the tools and materials that are used everyday and make sure those tools come back every night so they are not constantly losing and buying more tools. This does mean that I would be tied down there almost every day and wouldn't be much involved in some of the other ministries. I am still praying and thinking about it, but I do have some good ideas if I do take the responsibility! Anyway, I missed the truck that went to the clinic so I decided to ask for permission to walk alone to the clinic (about 15 minute walk). They said yes! So off I went to go out the front gate. There's one problem though. We have been doing refugee registration on the base and there are about 40,000 refugees from Port au Prince in St. Marc. We register the victims who have at least some sort of proof they were from PAP and they go through this long line once through the gate where they fill out papers then wait about an hour or more to get processed and given an ID card with which they can then get aid, shelter in future tent cities, and possibly even jobs in the future. Now, we can only let like 100-200 in at a time so there are literally hundreds outside the gate desperately wanting to get in. So here I go trying to go out the gate and the security guard says go out this door out front. So they open the door for me and I see a big crowd but thought it was only about 3-4 people deep but very wide. So I step up on the step to step into the crowd and there was 100's of people! One of the security guards starts yelling at people to get back but that doesn't work so they send one ahead of me to literally push the people out of the way while one comes behind me to keep me safe. I step into the crowd and realize this is practically impossible. Plus, I start thinking about how I have money in my wallet, my iPhone and my camera in my shorts, and also food and water in my backpack. Then I start thinking what am I gonna do if they realize this? So I start yelling at the guards that we are turning around to come back and when we get back in so do like 20 people who push the security guards down. The guards start rushing over and yelling and the one actually hit a guy in the leg with his police baton. They got everyone back outside and closed the door but it was bulging from the pressure of all the people fighting to get in! So I went out the back gate and took a small detour down to the clinic then played soccer with the kids, and arm-wrestled practically all of them (like 30 to 40) then did random stupid stuff with them. Then Colton and I walked back for lunch then I helped with food distribution with the refugees getting registered on base. Then that night a bunch of people staying on the base for 1 night to get stuff off the ship at port the next morning went out with me and Philipson and bought us dinner at a restaurant above the new Deli Mart. Tuesday morning we went back out to the fifth section to get the columns out of the forms and then repair them and refill all 9 of them with cement again. We thought it would be till after dinner that we would get back (dinner is at 5:30) because of how bad the forms were we thought they would get destroyed when we took the columns out. Well we got there at 9am, and amazingly the forms stayed fairly nice! We got done at 12:35 and that was even after we had stopped to have lunch!! It was so awesome because alot of the people helped us after Alain had a long heart to heart with them about their role in helping us build the houses for the community and how our hearts are for God and we were not getting paid. We came back and then kinda just relaxed because of being very sore and tired. I was also able to have my first fresh coconut and oh my are they amazing! They are practically bursting with coconut milk (which is so much better fresh than store bought) and eating the coconut was heaven! Then I hung out with Caleb and Clay and played with Nerf guns with them and Colton joined us too. Last night was the first night I went to bed before 11! It was great to have all that sleep lol. This morning (Wednesday) I helped clean up the guys dorm then a couple of us went to the clinic to play with the kids and then Alain showed up on our friends motorcycle and I said I wanted to ask our friend when we got back if I could drive it sometime. Well, to my surprise, Alain said I could drive it back to the base! Now let me tell you something, I haven't driven a motorcycle ever, only a dirtbike and that was like 4 or 5 years ago. Also, I've never driven in Haiti, and if you don't know, it is utter chaos and practically no rules, anything goes. Plus the roads are very bad. Not exactly motorcycle material. And the last thing, I've never driven a motorcycle with someone on the back. Now even with all these factors, I actually did really good!! It was so much fun and can't wait to do it again! Then after lunch I helped with some more food distribution and then did some brainstorming about the children's ministry we are doing at the clinic. Well I'm finally all caught up on my journaling! Hopefully I will not let this go unattended for too long again. Later.

BUS RIDE TO HAITI/YWAM HAITI

So yesterday morning at 5am Dominican Republic Time (it was 4 am in Haiti and America) we left the YWAM base in Santo Domingo for the base in St. Marc. It was about 5-6 hours till we got to the border, where we spent a good bit of time trying to find out who was going to Port au Prince and who was going to St. Marc. After splitting up, we were on our way to St. Marc. I fell asleep (thank God) for the first time on the bus, and woke up when we were on the outskirts of PAP. We didn't go through it, just around it so we didn't see much destruction but I did see places that had crumbled and buildings that had fallen. Further outside the city, we based a huge piece of machinery dumping dirt in a huge hole. The bus driver informed us that it was one of the mass burial sites. As I let those words sink in I felt sadness for the people, and also felt emotions I could not describe. After I bit, I was able to fall asleep again, and woke up and fell asleep several times before we finally reached St. Marc. Oh yea before I went to bed in the DR Monday night I was able to talk to my brother Philipson (one of the Haitian Staff at St. Marc) on the phone! It was so awesome to talk to him. Anyway, we arrived at about 3 pm at the YWAM base in St. Marc. I walked up to the cafeteria and there was the founder and director of YWAM Haiti, Terry Snow. I said "I made it back!" with a huge smile on my face, and he says something to the effect of "He knows how to run the cement mixer! Send him to the fifth section!" So one of the other leaders asked if I could head out tomorrow (Wednesday) to the fifth section and of course I couldn't resist the opportunity to get back out there! I then went and found Philipson and said hello and chatted then said hello to some other Haitian Staff I knew. Then I went and got the box of beads I got for little 9.5 year old Lillian. She is Dominican and a daughter of one of the staff. She likes to make bracelets and necklaces to sell to volunteer teams down here and when she saw I had brought them down for her she got really excited and gave me a huge hug! Some of the other children of the full-time staff were with her and we walked around the back property just chatting about what they were learning in school and what I had been up to. We then went and visited their art room and I got to see some of their art. Then they wanted to take me to see the refugees on the base and afterwards we climbed the big tree in Terry's yard and played Monkeys. Then we ate dinner together and I spent the night trying to Skype with my college roommates and it was very frustrating but also rewarding. Then Alan and Philipson and I stayed up till midnight chatting and shooting a laser pointer off in the distance and raiding the kitchen fridge for leftovers. I woke up at about 6:45ish today (Wednesday) and we had a time of worship and prayer. It was an awesome time and very energizing. Then Matt (he lived here for 2 years, but it was 10 years ago) went out to the fifth section to start the very long painstaking process of making forms to pour cement in to make columns for the houses to be built. Oh, the fifth section is the poorest part of Haiti, if you were there and a lion roared you would think you were in Africa (there is no lions here btw lol). It's practically in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, what should of taken us 2-4 hours, took us from 10 to 4:30 because all the wood was bowed and the wood also had nails and screws in it and we only had one hammer and the wood would split when we hammered in new nails. And we had a half charged battery for a saw and drill, and of course it died when we needed it the most. We had to cut up more wood by hand and try to unscrew a couple screws by hand which didn't work all that well lol. We went out for more supplies in a small village that was very close to where I was at in June. We didn't finish the forms, we only did 8.5 and we needed to get done 9. We came back and I took a very refreshing shower and then ate dinner, caught up with Bill Fitch and Nikki and Lynette who just got back from PAP (they got on the wrong bus in Santo Domingo). Then I went and played soccer with some town kids and refugees, then went to the pool with the staffs children and played a version of tag they invented called "Disease". Lol I love those little kids and am going to try and hang with them for at least half an hour to an hour every day. Then Philipson and Patrick and I went out to get ice cream but they were closed, so we got sports drinks (like slimfast lol) then bought some food from a street vendor (grio and patte, very good food!). Then we came back and Philipson and I chatted and I mentioned that I will most likely be taking next semester off as well and staying here longer and that this trip is going to be the deciding factor on if I should serve full-term in Haiti. I told him I would love to adopt a Haitian child and live on the base. He said he sees me marrying a Haitian woman and having lots of kids so I don't have to adopt! lol. I feel so much stronger spiritually while I'm down here, and everything is just so amazing and I love helping the people here. I can't wait to see what God has planned for me. Keep me in your prayers please. Goodnight.

YWAM DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Well earlier today while charging my iPhone at the charging station at the airport, I met 3 guys, 2 of which also had iPhones and the one guy didn't have an electrical charger since he was going to be in Port au Prince and bought a solar charger. So I let him borrow my 2nd charger, and we all chatted about what we would be doing and also about awesome apps. On the plane I basically just slept and watched an episode of The Simpsons and a little bit of an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Getting off the plane, I immediately noticed the awesome temperature and beauty of this country. Walking through customs and picking up my bags I was able to chat some more with those 3 guys from earlier. After getting everything, I went outside with all my luggage and grabbed a taxi and road about an hour away to the Dominican Republic YWAM Base. There I met up with Bill Fitch, who came down here with me last June. We had dinner and just sat around and talked with the two girls he brought from the Ephrata area, Lynette and Nikki. Now the three of us (Bill went to bed) are on laptops checking facebook and all that stuff us youngins do lol. Anyway, its 9:10 pm here (DR is an hour ahead of Haiti and the U.S.A.) and we leave for our 8-10 hour drive to the YWAM base in Haiti at 5am tomorrow. Well I'm gonna work on uploading some pics and a video, so later! -Zach

Airport

2/1/10 8:15 A.M.
I'm sitting here in the JFK airport now, and I'm feeling alot of different emotions right now. Missing alot of friends and relatives, excitement for my trip as well as nervousness, boredom from being at the airport since 5, lol. My flight leaves in about 3 hours, so I have a good amount of time to spare. After my grandmother, mom, and sister (Hannah) left me about half an hour ago, I went to my gate and pulled out my Bible. I read Psalm 23 and 27 and it talked about fearing nothing but God and putting trust in Him. Psalm 27 was practically a prayer to me because it dealt so much with what I'm experiencing now. Well I'm gonna go look around for some food to eat, I'll write more when I arrive in the Dominican Republic.