Thursday's Adventures

Thursday Aug 5^th

Another amazing day in Haiti!

Haiti is a beautiful country. The views of the lush greenery and the mountains are breathtaking. We have spent a lot of time in the mountains as our guesthouse and orphanages are there. When we go down to the tent cities the heat is much greater, and it is almost unbearable inside the tents.

Rolande, Cathy, Norlande, and Kelley went to a “Tent City” that is set up on a golf course/country club owned by Sean Penn and taken over by the government after the earthquake. Tonya, Russ, Sage, Greg and Jean drove quite some distance to build a pre-fab home provided by Samaritan’s Purse for a woman with 7 children. Three 12ft bunks will hold the family of 9. The construction team visited a wonderful orphanage for lunch. It was a real encouragement to see an orphanage running well. Greg, Sage, Jean and Russ had not had an opportunity to interact with orphans until today. Amanda and the medical team visited three orphanages today to de-worm kids. Last night we had an answer to prayer when the med team was able to find 4000 of the necessary de-worming pills and the doctor was able to procure them for free! Praise God for His incredible blessing.

1.5 million people in Haiti are displaced and living in tents. There are tents covering every flat park or country club in Haiti. The place we went today is almost indescribable. Mud underground, trenches for sewage running between the tents, ruts and stones, and tarps and tents of all sorts on every square inch. Kelley, Cathy, and Rolande went with translators house to house to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, to encourage the people, listen to their stories and to pray for the their requests. It was amazing that they did not ask for money, clothes or food. Rather they asked for God to help them raise their children to know Him, to change their lives and heal their sickness. Such faith was amazing. It would be so easy to look at their circumstances and despair. But we trust with God they can have peace and joy in the midst of their circumstances. Please pray for the people of Haiti living in the tents. They need the body of Christ to intercede for them.

We’ve enjoyed working with 2 other teams from Virginia and Arkansas. The Virginia team has a caterer on their team so we’ve been eating some delicious food.

There is a Haitian cook here and she’s been learning to cook American favorites like chicken & stuffing, chili, and Sloppy Joes. Tonight we had grilled chicken with grilled pineapple. We’ve been eating interesting fruit like Haitian apricots, mangos, cinnamon apples, and quenepe.

Thanks for praying for us. We feel your prayers and feel in perfect peace here. None of us have ever felt unsafe. We are all well, no sickness!!

Looking forward to what God has for us tomorrow!

Cathy and Tonya for the team.

Wednesday's Activities and Blessings

An awesome day was had by all! Thank you for praying. God is keeping us safe as we drive these crazy roads.

Our teams split up again and went on three separate ways. Our construction team went up the beautiful country mountain to finish building a home for a family whose house had crumbled in the earthquake. We got the job completed fairly quickly. Russ and Sage finished putting wood on the tops of the walls, while Jean leveled the ground for the cement that was about to be poured. Meanwhile Greg built two doors for the house. After pouring the cement, it was early afternoon with plenty of time to minister to the families and the kids gathered around us, just watching us build, like it was TV. One of our hard working team members looked up from cutting wood. He hadn’t really noticed the crowd starting to form, his face in awe, he said, “I feel like I’m working in a stadium.” Jean gave an incredible French sermon to the growing crowd, while a translator translated to us in English. Jean truly touched the lives of everyone there including his team members. He gave a great message about Jesus, working hard, and told the kids how important it is for them to keep going to school. Jean prayed and blessed the house that we built. He also prayed for the six people that are going to be living in this 14 by 9ft house. The husband and wife were so incredibly appreciative. Tears were welling up in the husband’s eyes and rolling down his cheeks as they thanked us over and over. They blessed our lives.

We knew there was a great demand for shoes, so in the morning we packed all the shoes we had and gave them out. They were so thankful and didn’t care what size they were. Too small wasn’t a problem for them. There was one guy that had been working very hard with us for two days, and he was just a neighbor to this house. All this giving man had was a pair of old flip-flops that were falling apart. He asked if we had any his size. He told us he was a ten and a half. Looking around discouraged, we were about to break the bad news that we did not have any, but then all of a sudden Russ said, “There’s a reason I’m wearing a ten and a half right now.” And he took the shoes off his feet and handed them to this hard working incredibly grateful Haitian man. We are all so truly blessed to have been there today, God really was working though each one of us for his glory.

Kelley, Norlande, and Rolande were part of the orphan care and street ministry team led by Bob Sjogren. They started off the day in the tent cities where they got to visit with people and talk about Christ. The tent cities are just like they sound: thousands of people are living in cramped quarters with deep drainage ditches running all throughout. There were long lines to pump water into old jugs. Many people were interested in sharing their faith and we used small handouts to discuss the question “Who is in the driver seat of your life?” (Jim Leggett would have been so proud of us!) Though the diagram was in English, the Haitian people really enjoyed this discussion; many confessed that though they believed in Jesus, they had not given Him full control. What a joy to be sharing Christ with brothers and sisters in a different language and nation!

Then the team spent the afternoon at the In God We Trust orphanage, where they fed the kids homemade spaghetti and sang songs. At the orphanage, Rolande had the opportunity to give a children’s Bible lesson in Creole; it was special to see someone from America speaking their language.

Cathy, Tonya, and Amanda went out with the medical team today. During the morning, they visited two different orphanages where the doctor followed up on children they had seen earlier in the week. It’s hard to even express the feelings of hopelessness that we all experienced. The children are in this environment that lacks any hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, or signs of future improvement. Many of their caretakers seemed uninterested in loving and caring for the children. We are still learning to trust God for these children. But we have hope. There is always hope with God. Lord send help.

Our afternoon was spent near a small tent city running our clinic. First, we welcomed the patients and assessed their needs. They then saw the doctor and proceeded to our makeshift pharmacy to receive our medications. After that, we prayed over them with a translator. It was amazing that every person would stay and wait for the prayer even if there was a long line. Glory to God.

Thank you for continuing to pray. We are so comforted by your prayers.

Tonya and Amanda for the team!