Thoughts

The day is finally coming to a close. We prepare tediously around this day. We make good plans, and execute as well as we can, and yet we still get tested. American Airlines changed baggage rates Feb. 10th. It is so frustrating when my greatest struggle in helping in Haiti seems to be on American soil at the airline terminal. I know that is not fully true, but at times it sure feels that way. We made it through with an added $160.00, passed through security, and had smooth flights. We arrived on time, and went through customs without an issue. A bright spot was that as we were trying to get the bags together, I heard a familiar voice and turned to see Robinson inside the terminal there to guide us out! What strings he had to pull, I’ll never know, but it made for a very easy exit with the team. There was less yelling and prodding and arguing, and my helper at the airport, a one armed man named Jackson got his pay for he and his men and gave me a hug! I was so grateful, I almost wept on the spot. One thing that alarmed me as we were coming in for the landing is the actual increase in the amount of tents and tent cities around Port. It is stunning. Fifteen months after the earthquake and it seems worse. These people are getting next to nothing for help. Yet they carry on in the midst of their suffering with a resolve that seriously puts mine to shame. The ride up to St. Marc was uneventful for the most part. We arrived at the house just before dark, and set to gather up the items necessary for our first night. That is where we met a bit of frustration again, as the house was a sweat box, people were hungry, the house was full of people, Naromie, her mom, a friend from Desdunes and her son were all ill. Adalaine has an ear infection; the stove would not cooperate and light, we ordered some bread only to not have enough, and had to send for more. When we finally got over to the property, there was a small miscommunication and we didn’t have an air pump for the mattresses. The ‘All in a day’ saying was an understatement for this day. Karen shared a short devotional on ‘bringing every thought captive’, and I think we all failed on this at some moment today! Now most are asleep, exhausted, but so grateful to be here. God has once again provided, and I am certain this week will be filled with ministry opportunities. Pray we are able to be the hands and feet of Jesus. No matter where we are, that is our job. It is a delight to be with our Haitian friends once again, we look forward to the day tomorrow. The weather was a little mild for a bit when we first arrived, but was short lived! It takes a couple of days to adjust, so we will have to grind our way through it! We’ll see how everyone does! Exhausted, but grateful from St. Marc. The picture is... you guessed it, baby Vladimir, as it turns out he likes us white people!!! Blessings tonight.

Orchestra

Day one has past, but not in Haiti where we had planned to be experiencing it! One good thing about constant setbacks, after a while you become accustomed to them happening. That may sound a little pessimistic, but I actually don't mean that. The testing of our faith works patience, and as patience grows, so does our tolerance to the ever changing landscape of our ministry and lives. And as I experience these scenarios, I gain more faith that it is not the 'devil in the details' but 'God in the details'! He has purpose and design to all He allows and disallows in our lives, the sooner we stop fighting those things, the quicker we gain balance to our walk of faith. To fight them wastes our energy and distracts our attention from where our focus is meant to be. Working with the Haitians, and more specifically Robinson, I see this more clearly with every passing day. So today was quiet, with special team sharing times. This is going to be a good week no matter what happens. The circumstances behind all the preparations is divine, and God is in charge of this trip. Whatever He means to accomplish, He will. My spirit is calm tonight. Morning looms just five short hours away, but we are ready. We will rise at 2:30 am, quickly get a few things together, get the 26 suitcases out to the front of the motel with all our 11 day packs, deliver our vehicles to the parking lot, load our transit buses, we will travel to the AA terminal, check in, and move through security, all under the direction of the Divine. This is not our orchestra, it's His, we are the instruments playing, and we just need to work on staying in tune! So as we shared today, our instruments became more tuned to each other, and it was good. As we carry 'His Hope' to these wonderful people, harmony is important, and we have a harmony that is special. Not more special than any other group, but a harmony specific to this team and trip. Pray for safety in the air and smooth transitions through each of the airports and flights tomorrow, for a safe trip up to St. Marc, and that we stay healthy! Time to end this post, and time for bed, this will be a short night! Thanks for following, and thanks for all the prayers! Blessings always!

Resolve

What a day! Many do not know that a huge fire did massive damage at the Miami airport last Wednesday, and has canceled out hundreds of flights. We checked this afternoon before we left and the flights were all still on. We made it an hour down the road and the first leg of our journey was canceled. We pulled over and Deloris spent 45 minutes with AA and finally we had flights on Tuesday for 7 of us and Wednesday for the Reyhl's. We decided to forge ahead not certain of what God was doing, but trusting anyway. We met up with the whole team in Ann Arbor this evening for a bite to eat and discuss strategy with the changes. (Not that we are in control of any of it!) We made another call and now we are all back together again scheduled on a flight out Tuesday! We extended our stay one day returning next Tuesday. We are reminded every trip that this is a struggle of epic proportions, for our Haitian family it is a struggle for life itself, for us it is a struggle that tests our resolve. Our struggle is the lesser of the two, and I am reminiscent again tonight that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of the air! We are reminded at every turn of our incapability and finiteness, but at those moments we turn to find an infinite and unswerving gracious God who will cause His plans to prevail. I am not sure what tomorrow holds, but I am sure of who holds tomorrow! As we write tonight, we are all settled in, the suitcases are safely stored behind the front desk of the hotel, and we have a little time to catch up on some much needed rest before we commence the journey to St. Marc. I'm not fully certain of the reason for the delay or why, I found out a couple of days ago there is a national strike in Haiti on Monday, everything will be closed. I was not too happy with the situation because if anything would have happened our recourse's would have been very limited or perhaps non-existent. Whatever the reason, it is His reason, and we are simply trusting that. Pray as we go forward, we do have limited time, and hope to prevail in spite of the setbacks. So now to rest a while! Joyful in the journey! Blessings tonight!

Four Weddings and a Celebration

The picture in the last post drew inquisition. It is a startling piece, though a bit unclear. It was the evening of our Haiti churches ten year celebration. The grounds were packed most of the day as they celebrated the ministry and growth of this wonderful church. It started with 12 of the orphans who had been with Robinson in the orphanage years ago, and 12 people from St. Marc. They are now running over 600 and still growing! Each year they do a special thing for the community, they perform a free wedding ceremony, including everything needed for the wedding. They pool their resources and actually rent the wedding dresses for the brides, suits for the men, they arrange travel for the brides to the property, and fix a wedding meal, all at no cost to the couples. It is a way to help the young couples who have been living together and cannot afford a wedding to be able to get married. This year Robinson and the ministry team married four couples at the same time! It was a highlight of the community. Ladies can you imagine sharing your day with three other couples and a rented dress. When you think economical, do you even consider such a thing?! Now there's a new perspective on desperate! The ministry has gained high favor among those who we seek to minister too. Together with the orphanage, the giving out of thousands of gallons of water, the feeding of the poor, medical attention to the afflicted, children being put into school, and the preaching of the great hope of the Gospel, lives are being changed in incredible ways. That we all have been able to be a part is stunning and humbling. God is famous for taking little, blessing it, and delivering much! We have pretty well finalized our daypacks today, stitched up several lose ends, and double checked lists. Robinson let us know our newest orphan, baby Vladimir has been very ill, but seems to be doing a little better. They took him to the hospital as he had been vomiting and had diarrhea. They will have test results tomorrow, they have been a little anxious. In Haiti these symptoms are a grave concern, as they are common killers of infants. Something we take so for granted here anymore, has life-threatning implications there. They lack so many of the common treatments there, and symptoms so easily diagnosed and treated here, can bring devastation quickly in this land of the deprived! Keep them in your prayers. Just a couple more days and we head toward Detroit again. We are excited about what we will be able to accomplish this trip in. It is always daunting, but we rise to the challenge as we have been blessed and graced by God's infinite love. We have much more to share, but will do so in more posts! Blessings tonight!

Department Store

Suitcase, baby clothes, food, pump, computer, Tylenol, Shoes, pants, dresses, hats, welding helmet, wire, baby seats, soap, Bible, crafts, crayons, candy, sunglasses, popcorn, bumper pads, clothe diapers, tool sets, fans, lotion, mattresses, pillows, pictures, playpen, soccer balls, DVD's, utensils, projector, kid's clothes, microphones, you name it, we've got it packed! I feel like a mobile department store, except all the goods we carry are going to be given away! 11 people, 37 suitcases, and a wallet of cash. Does that sound like an adventure? Sign up today! We are blessed to be journeying into the land of Haiti again, and God has provided in unbelievable ways. What can we say, except thank-you again to all our wonderful supporters and laborers on the ground raising funds and bringing in goods to continue to drive the message of hope and love to these suffering, but steadfast people. My mind often wrestles to grasp a hold of the ruthlessness of life, and the compound struggles that are part of it. But we are grateful to be part of carving away at the devastation armed with God's love and the generosity of many hearts! What a difference a little can make. When you see a smile wash over the face of one of these desperate souls it looks like a cleansing away of years of crusty and haggard exposure to the dusty trail of injustice and hopelessness. In a moment hope crushes despair with a simple act of love, and shadows flee before it's ebb and flow. What a honor and privilege it has been to be the hands and feet, taxing though it is at times, what joy and satisfaction reside in such labor. In just a few days we will be wheels down in the country, we will endeavor to keep you up to speed on our progress through the blog. Stay tuned.

Retrospect

One year ago today, January 12th, 2010, 4:55 pm, in an instant life changed in Haiti. Terror and confusion gave way to sorrow, and agony, and suffering beyond what can be imagined. Almost a quarter of a million people died in the blink of an eye. I just got off the phone with Robinson and he was sharing that there are going to be special meetings and services all over the country today. He is having his people stay at home for the 4:55 time frame to give God thanks for sparing them and their homes. The church will then be open for those who want to come there and pray. They are also having a big meeting going on downtown at the park. There are several events taking place in Port; they are meeting at the mass burial site to remember those who lost their lives, they are also going to name the site and plant some trees in remembrance as well. People ask how much has changed in a year? Truthfully, not a lot. A few months following the earthquake, quite a bit was done in the way of cleanup and shoring up of buildings, but the actual rebuilding process has been marginal. There are still around 1,000,000 people displaced, living in tent cities, or worse. But how do you define worse? So many were already living in conditions hard to describe or even conceive. They are a people who have learned the true definition of survival, who have to fight for life every moment of every day in ways they themselves don't understand. Will things get better? For the lives we touch they do! There are no guarantees, but there aren't guarantees for any of us. We don't know what today may hold, but with God's help, we will make a difference even if it's only one life at a time. For a 32 day old baby orphan just taken in, it's the chance of a lifetime. For our four other orphans we have taken in, there is great promise, they sleep in real beds, with real blankets, they get real food, love, schooling, and tender care. How do you measure success? I measure it one life at a time. And working with all the wonderful people giving and going into this country, I am confident of improvement. We live in a culture of the have it your way, and have it now. We are impatient with process, with change that is not instant. I realize more and more the value of due process. For it's in the struggle we grow and truly change! God took some incredible people in the earthquake, He spared some incredible people from the earthquake. He left them behind because they still have work to do, lives to change, love to share. I am grateful in the aftermath of the earthquake for the goodness that flows to and from the country of Haiti. These are a marvelous people, deserving of the best of what we can give. I intend to continue to do what I can with the responsibility left on my shoulders with those who God has spared! May you rejoice today as well with the goodness that is yours! May we reflect with these people and be thankful for what we have, remember those who were lost, and press forward for healing that which is broken! Blessings today!

Addition

I wanted to let everyone know, it's official, we have our first baby orphan! He is 25 days old now, and after seeing the doctor this morning, suffers from malnutrition, runny nose, and is recovering from having been given some bad food by those attempting to take care of him. Not intentional of course, Haiti is an unforgiving culture and climate with severe deficiencies. His mother died shortly after giving birth to him, she was from our church family and lived on the mountain behind the church property, a very impoverished area. The father came to Robinson and wanted him to take him into the orphanage because he has no way of feeding him and taking care of him. We took him officially yesterday morning, the transaction has been in the works for a few days. At this point Rob and Naromie have taken him to their house because of the work to take care of an infant is very intense. Naromie is very happy though, as they have not been able to have a baby yet. There is a chance they may adopt him, but that is something down the road. Right now they are in serious adjustment mode! I asked him how they slept last night and he said, "not enough!" Any new parent can relate! We are very excited to be able to be a part of this deliverance. For such a time as this God has readied us and now we are His hands extended again! The baby's name is Vladimir, we don't know how the parents came to name him this, as it's not a common Haitian name, but as you can see in the picture, he is a cutie! Continue to pray for Robinson and the work in Haiti, they continue to struggle with the Cholera epidemic, election corruption, and financial crisis unknown to us. Without our intervention, this baby was destined to an early death, the strangle hold of poverty is ruthless and relentless, and claims it's victims without remorse. We are thankful God placed us here to help deliver this one, and God only knows what He has in store for this life! We will keep you updated. Blessings always!