David and Goliath

David said to Saul ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine, your servant will go and fight him.’” 1 Samuel 17:32

Saturday afternoon Sam and I had a great time playing puzzles and memory games with the kids. I also had brought my Storybook Bible and a Creole Bible. With one of the workers and several older kids we got the story translated. The worker narrated as I showed the pictures. Two of the older kids happily acted the parts of David and Goliath. The kids sat in silence for 30 minutes spellbound and silent as the story unfolded.  After the sling swung and the giant fell, the kids let out a tremendous shout! It was a success. J The kids and workers immediately asked me when we could read another story!

Sitting behind the kids in church today, it hit me again how hard things are for them. They have been born with so little. I can’t imagine growing up without parents, and then add being in a third world county to the mix. Many of them have attachment and abandonment issues. Haiti has over 500,000 orphans and the highest malnutrition rate in the western hemisphere. Last year only 30 were adopted.

Every day we hear the Voodoo drums beat. Today an angry mob began throwing stones at each other outside the gate. It’s hard to grasp how little ones so precious could be expected to thrive in such difficulty.  Their lives are filled with struggle and little affection. The tragedy however is not what they were born without. The true tragedy would be if these kids never came to know they are fully loved by their Heavenly Father. He loved them so much He sent His son to die on the cross as a sacrificed for them. He desires a personal relationship with them and to give them endless love and security. He loves them, has a place in His Kingdom for them, and wants to make them princes and princess. What if they were never to know this?

There is much to be done here at EGO. Sometimes I feel the fear of standing before a giant. I was encouraged by Davids words to never lose heart. My Jesus is bigger then any struggle or evil down here. He goes before me and is victorious.  Each day He gives me the strength and wisdom I need. Praise God!

Praises:

-Sam and I are bonding with the older girls and have started a weekly bible study with them.

- Moringa Trees are growing and over a foot tall! Sorry I'll work on a picture for next week.

-9 milk goats we are getting 4 quarts of milk every morning! Lots of milk mustaches this week. 

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-We get manna packs from food for the poor. The kids don’t like the flavor of the soy, so they have been taking it out and feeding the goats. Sam and I’s mission this week was to come up with ways of using the soy that the kids actually will eat. We successfully made hamburgers and goulash out of the whole protein. Don helped us use the wheat grinder to make the protein into flour for use in baking. We made two loaves of bread that were heavy, but tasted great. The kids loved it! This is a huge blessing as it will give the kids better nutrition and save EGO money. 

Manna Packs

Soy Protein

Grinding Soy into Flour

Sam and I are working on organizing the Clinic Depot.

Weddings and Babies

 I was encouraged this week by our reading in Streams in the Desert. 

“He draws close to me in order to mature my wisdom, deepen my peace, increase my courage, and supplement my power. All this He does so that through the very experience that is so painful and distressing to me, I will be of greater use to others….I grow under the load” Alexander Smellie.”

“if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34

As always Babies and Weddings bring about changes. Monday I jumped into the car to pick up Talente for clinic and was informed she was in Labor.  Later that day she had a beautiful baby girl.
Honestly, I had been anxious about the day I had to work in clinic without her.  I’m learning the language quickly. I still was afraid I didn’t have enough for the in depth assessments and teaching needed to give quality care to patients. 

It turned out to be a very busy day at the clinic. Claire Moines, Rose, Joslyn and I united with Christ saw everyone’s needs taken care of. I shouldn’t have worried. I should have known that as always Christ gives sufficient strength and wisdom in needed time.

JohnSony and Claire

 Clinic started right at 9am sharp. Claire had the numbers cards handed out and the patients sitting in order on the benches. Then she said the normal prayer before starting to see patients.  Claire, trained as the equivalent of a nurse’s aid, is very quiet and meticulous. Today she took charge. With Talente being gone I was blown away by how Claire took leadership in organizing the patients, vital signs, and assisting with monitory needs.  The first 10 patients were return visits and were easy to get updates on. Rose, who normally works in the Pharmacy, came at 10am and helped with translation for the new patients.  Joslyn enlisted two of the teenage girls to help in the pharmacy.  Everything ran like a well-oiled machine. I can only attribute the success of the day to Christ’s sovereign grace.

One prayer item for the Clinic: Currently we document patient’s visits in a spiral notebook. Then we make out a notecard for them to bring on their return visit. This needs to change. I am working with Marla on a documentation system. We keep coming back around to the fact it would be good for the clinic to get a laptop with Microsoft Access. If we are able to purchase one before I leave in December, I would be able to do the hard part of setting it up. I would also be able to train Claire, Rose, and Talente how to use a computer.

Saturday Emmanuel and Rachelle were married. As Doris put is “I have never been so happy for a couple in my entire life.” Rachelle is a triplet and grew up here at EGO.  She still lives here and is the director of EGO’s school.  Now that she is married she will live off campus with her husband, but will be here often working. This will be a big change for the kids who are used to having her around 24/7.

Emmanueal has his own business as an English professor.  This is his second marriage as he lost his first wife and two daughters in the earthquake two years ago. The wedding was at a hotel in Gonaives, and was relatively simple in Haitian terms. The fun part was that is was an EGO reunion of sorts. Doris never stopped smiling, she is so proud of her kids!

I had brought my camera and at first was timid about imposing by taking pictures. Emmanuel saw my camera and suddenly I found myself to be the official wedding photographer! During the ceremony I was careful to stay out of viewpoints of the guests. That is until they were exchanging rings and suddenly 10 other Haitians were on stage crowding to get the best picture.  Doris not intimidated, by anything, dove right in for her picture.

Afterwards, they had a beautiful array of Haitian delicacies
This picture is for Pastor Steve!

Clean up continues

My first patient on Monday was a former witch doctor. Two years previously he went into a coma. For three days he laid motionless barely breathing. He said he knew what was going on and was praying to God. On the third day, thinking he was dead they brought the casket and loaded him into the hurse. On the way to the cemetery the casket began to shake. When they opened it to investigate he sat straight up and began praising the Lord. This was his turning point. He renounced Voodoo and surrendered his life to the Lord.

His family was very upset because Voodoo was his main source of income. They tried to convince him to still see patients. Surely, God did not want them to starve. His response “NO! I now serve the Lord and will not turn back to my old ways. God will take care of our every need.”

What impacted me most from his story is that no one is so far lost that Jesus’ blood cannot cover his sins. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

         This was a very busy week. I got my trees all planted, for the third time. J They are in the ground, and have made it 5 days without being eaten. We are going to plants some veggies in between the trees. Might as well use the space until the trees get bigger.

 My crew for milking the goats has been faithful. The kids really enjoy doing this with me! I think I’m going to try to make cheese this week.

         We are continuing to cut trees from Isaac. Monday a crew came in with parts for our chain saw. Another missionary brought us new chain saw. I guess it is the biggest you can get, or the best brand. I don’t know much about chain saws, but the guys are really excited. The Haitian have never seen one work before. I made the mistake of telling Don and Ken I am really good at running a wood splitter. Ken said here is an ax. I should have clarified Hydraulic. 

We had a long week of continuing to clean up after Isaac. For a needed break we took the whole orphanage to the beach saturday. We loaded up everyone except the littlest in a truck, van, and SUV. The insides of the vehicles were packed and still we had the back of the truck full and the top of the van. Then we traveled an hour to go to the free Methodist’s private beach.

It was beautiful! The kids loved it! We had a wonderful morning of splashing and swimming. The water is so clear and blue. The sun dances off it like glass. The little ones stayed close to shore to splash and make sand forts. The older ones ventured out into deeper waters for games, King of the Coral and Marco-Polo. It was a good thing I brought my first aid kit because the coral is very sharp. I had quite the line up of patients. One poor girl stepped onto a spiny coral and had many slivers in her foot.

It was very special to have Francis with us!
He has grown up at EGO, and struggles with
Autism and Seizures. Please Pray for him this week!

 We had sent Ken and Jaclyn for pop and peanut butter for lunch. Two hours later we called them to investigate where they were. Stuck in a roadblock for an hour they were just getting to Saint Marc. We also discovered they had the keys to the other van with them, so we couldn’t get the bread out to snack on. Not a single kid complained though. We passed the time with prayer and singing and then they went and played in the water longer. 2pm the guys arrived safely back with the much-needed keys and peanut butter.

Isaac

Isaac came through Haiti as only a tropical storm. I am very satisfied with its strength and hope to never go through an actual hurricane. I heard winds so loud it truly sounded like a train. Our windows are glass panes that even when fully shut allow some of the wind through. Like Don said the winds came in waves just like the ocean. Every time I would hear it coming I would pray.  I also would lay in bed and when I heard the wind coming I would turn on my flashlight and watch for something flying threw my window. At one point my iron curtain rod fell on my stomach, but thankfully I wasn’t hurt. The fridge on the back porch was moved 5 feet but amazingly did not tip over. Pictures and glass dropped throughout the house. It was a very long night. That morning we woke up to lots of downed trees throughout EGO. The Lord was with us though because all the trees fell away from houses and dorms.  Everyone is safe and sound at EGO! 

In the city there was much damage. Many people are without housing because their tin covered roofs were blown apart. Later we learned that men would come offer to help clean up the tin and then steal from these poor people.  The Church of God is a block from us and their entire roof collapsed. Because of large amount of power lines down it is estimated six months before city power is up and running. Chain saws are foreign here. EGO has a little one that broke after a day of sawing. The boys and everyone else are using machetes to chop up the many trees. They are surprisingly fast at this. Surviving here is hard enough without adding to the obstacles people face.  Please Pray for the community of Dessalines to come together through this trial. 

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Man cutting tree with machete

Clinic has been going well. I am working at learning the language so that when Talente has her baby I'm not lost. Praying that her baby comes the end of September!

 I found out this week why I find so many people with the last name Joseph. Its because when people don’t have a last name it becomes Joseph. Many of our kids here at EGO share the name Joseph.

I just never know what I'm going to see on a clinic day. As my old Director would say "Everyday is a school day!" We had a two month old come in with an outer ear infection that was left long enough for worms to infest her ear. Another lady came in and had her nose almost eaten off from cancer. That however was not why she came to us. She came because an insect bite in her hand had become infected and very swollen. 

Orphan Baby Maddy was brought to me several weeks ago. She is nine months old and weighed 5 Kg. Add diarrhea to her malnutrition and she dropped to 4 KG. Very concerned we sent her to the hospital where they have transferred her to a special facility in Port-au-Prince. She has very long road ahead of her. Thankfully she has a very loving Aunt to care for her.

I see lots of skin conditions. Haitians will sometimes draw with a pen around their rash. They believe that the ink will stop the rash from spreading.

Goats will be Goats. I think Haitian goats are the smartest.  I have started milking the goats and giving it to our littlest ones here at EGO. I love milking and the babies love the milk! Plus I figure it is only fair that since the goats ate my trees I get their milk! Now I need to make a milking stand. Does anybody have a good recipe for goat cheese?

EGO is required by social services to take the kids on field trips during their summer vacation. This week I took a group of younger ones to the first of five forts. There is an actual trail up to the first fort making it do able for little legs.  We had a great time singing up the mountain and having a picnic at the top. On the way down I had two holding each hand and one grasping the back of my skirt to keep his footing. I prayed he wouldn't fall too hard and take my skirt with him. These kids are so precious!!

View from the fifth fort.  This field trip I took with the high schoolers.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27