March 14, 2012

The medical team from Maryland came from Pierre Payen to Borel on Sunday.  We visited Ti Riviere, then took a long drive north through the countryside.  The next day we were in Pierre Payen.  I asked how they had slept and one doctor’s wife said not well, “I kept thinking about all that we saw.  The needs went on and on.  You think maybe you are just seeing the worst part and when you go over the hill, it will be better, but it is not.”   The stories of struggles and blessings go on and on.  This week David, the water filter expert for the water project, arrived.  He is a Canadian who has lived all over the world working on clean water projects.  We‘ve enjoyed his stories and information on Haiti and other countries like Peru, Chile, Honduras, Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan.  One of his projects involved reviving reservoirs from Biblical times in Jordan.  On Thursday we took Seth and Jess to the airport to return to the United States.  They have worked the past year at HATS, Karen’s orphanage in DeChapelle.  We will miss them terribly and pray that they continue to follow wherever God leads.  Everyday includes something different: hiking to the mountain churches of Borne and Gresseau; trips to the hospital; assisting a woman who just lost her son; unloading a 5000 pound generator; hauling supplies; feeding hungry kids; driving to the heart of Port-au-Prince in the middle of the rubble and squalor that remains two years after the earthquake. Many of us struggle with that overwhelming feeling that you can’t really make a difference.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that we have a responsibility to share the blessings God has given us, but the purpose for our being here in Haiti, or in the United States, or wherever we are, is to share the love of our Lord Jesus Christ with those around us.  Our prayer is that we never get distracted from the message.

Romans 1:16-17 (The Message) – It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews then right on to everyone else!  God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”