Julie in Haiti

Family Love

2011-05-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

My closest friends in Haiti are a wee family which I am sure you have heard me talk about, Dr Rodney his wife Vedane and their 3 kids, Wood, Ollie and Alisha. Dr Rodney works in our clinic and they live on a wee house on the compound which is how I got so close to them. Dr Rodney has an amazing testimoney which I will share a little with you.

Dr Rodney grew up in Vaudrieul, and was very involved in his local church, so much so that people started to call him Pastor Rodney before he even left school!!When he was still at high schooll with his family struggling to pay the fee's for high school Rodney got a part time job translating at Bethesda medical clinic for visiting doctors and nurses. It was during this time he felt God calling him to be a doctor. However he came from a poor family and had no means of getting to university.

However Rodney with the strong faith that he has, and still has today, had saved up all his money each week from translating in the clinic and used it to get his passport and visa to go to the Dominican republic to talk to the people in the university there. The language is spanish in the dominican and the univeristy advised three months of language before staring university especially as the entrance exam is in spanish. Due to some circumstances Rodney couldn't attend language school he also couldn't attend the only day the exam was on. However by a miracle the university agreed to let Rodney sit the exam at a different time.

Remember at this point, Rodney has not been to language school or does he know one single word of spanish. He passed the exam and was accepted to study medicine in Univeristy in the Dominican Republic. During his first term he found another Haitian student who could translate the lectures from Spanish into Creole or French for him. However in saying this Dr Rodney's best marks throughout his 7 years at university were in his first year.

Rodney has many many stories of God's faithfulness and provision to him over his 7 years at university. There were many times when he had not a single penny left to eat, to wash his clothes, to pay for electricity and to pay his university fees. During those times he would go into his room and close the door and praise the Lord for how He had saved him and what he had done for him. Every single time over those 7 years God provided all that he needed, he would get a phone call from western union or somewhere else saying someone had transfered him money through. He told me he had just one pair of trousers and one pair of shoes through the whole 7 years and each day when he came home he washed his one pair of trousers and I even think he has that one pair of shoes!!! Just one example each month someone from the states sent Rodney $100, Dr still even today doesn't know who sent the money but they sent it faithfully every month. One Rodney's last month at university the person sent a message with the transfer saying their financial situation had changed and they were unable to send money anymore. What the person didn't know was that this was Rodney last month at uni and he would no longer need the money for rent.

Dr Rodney and his wife left a 'nice' life in the DR to come back to Haiti.With no where to live and a baby they lived with Rodney's mum. Since then Dr Rodney has been working at Bethesda Medical Clinic at OMS. Rodney and Vedane now have three children, 2 boys of their own and one adopted (a baby which was abandon at the clinic).

Rodney believes God has called him back to work among his people, his heart is for his own Haitian people. One day he wants to open a hospital providing a high standard of quality healthcare and showing God's love to people who come.

Right now Rodney is in Canada, his first time off the island of Haiti. He is working with a Canadian organisation called empower global (http://www.empowerglobal.org/). He is working on fundraising and speaking about their project. The project is three fold, firstly to open a medical clinic with affordable, quality healthcare. There are many clinics in and around Cap Haitian, however many of them are expensive, others are run by 'doctors' who have never been to medical school, others are just a money making scheme which do not help patients. Secondly to run mobile clinics out into areas where there is no doctor, where people die from simple illnesses, many of these places will also have never heard the gospel. For pictures of the vehicle to be used for mobile clinics click this link https://www.empowerglobal.org/initiative/124/. The vehicle is fully equipped to drive over Haiti's pot hole covered roads and even has oxygen in it ( It is difficult to find oxygen even in hospitals!!!). Thirdly to provide education on healthcare and prevent the same diseases occurring over and over again. This will happen by providing education to schools, educational institutions and communities.

If you look back at Rodney's life you would never imagine he would be where he is today. It is exciting to see how God has led him and has used many different people along the way. Please pray for this stage of the project which is fundraising.

I will keep updating as I find out what is going on.

Back for a visit

2011-03-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

I am just home from just over a week in Haiti. As you know I left a month early and very quickly due to a couple of circumstances and I really felt I never got a proper chance to say goodbye to alot of people and see them before I left. So that is exactly what I went back to do. On top of that I also got to take my fiancee back with me for him to meet my friends there.

I just got to spend a week in Haiti, not very many people knew I was coming so it was exciting to see their reactions when I walked into the clinic when they had no clue that I was coming. I got lots of time to visit with different families who I was close to when I was there. I worked a little in the clinic, some physio, some cleaning, some pill counting and we also got the chance to do a mobile clinic.

Our mobile clinic was just an hour's drive away in the church of one of our ECC pastors. It was a bit of last minute planning but with the help of lots of people we got it all organised. We ran the clinic with both Dr Rodney and his mum (who is a nurse) consulting, other nurses taking blood pressure, a few in the pharmacy, Pastor Jean-Marc and Pastor Devacoeur sharing the gospel. While the patients were waiting we had Rachelle, Kate, Wadner and Gesner running a kids club.

As soon as we arrived and set up some people brought in a wee 5 year old boy who had really swollen leg. Turns out he had fallen just about a week ago and the family had no money to take him to the doctor (which would have been a 15 minute walk and over an hours motorbike ride). Dr Rodney knew immediately that his leg was broken, so he splinted it up and when we left for the day we brought him back to our clinic with us. Hannah took an X ray and Dr Rodney was right he had a very bad break in his femur which will require surgery. We gave his family some money and sent them off to the hospital in town for his surgery. No matter how long I live in Haiti I will never get used to the suffering people go through due to poverty. This wee boy had been in agony for over a week, unable to get essential medical care because of money. At the end of the clinic the pastor's told us three people accepted the Lord that day.

If God only sent us to do the clinic for that one boy then it was worth it. I'm not sure what would have happened if we weren't there, he may have got an infection, he may even have lost his leg but the Lord's timing is perfect. For both Hannah and I this was a very last minute trip and one of the things we wanted to do was a mobile clinic.

This was a big thing I saw the whole year I was in Haiti, God's Providence and his plan. How he puts you in situations with different people so you can be used by him all for HIS glory.

One of the things I enjoyed the most was spending time with my wee family, Dr Rodney, Vedane, Wood, Oly and Alisha. None of them knew I was coming (although it may have been better to tell them, Oly was shocked and didn't talk for the whole rest of the day that I arrived!!) it was exciting to surprise. I was down at their house every night just spending time visiting and playing with the kids. They have some very exciting news which I will share about in the next blog.

I left Haiti on Tuesday, feeling ready to go home but also sad to leave. I have no idea if God will ever call me back to Haiti I am just trusting in him for his plan he has for the future.

1 year later

2011-01-12T14:39:00.000-08:00

12th January 2010........a date not one single person in Haiti will ever forget. One year ago today the 7.3 earthquake hit Port au Prince and devestated the whole country. In just 35 seconds......

Over 300,000 people died
Over 500, 000 injured
Over 1 million left homeless......still homeless one year later.

I don't think I will ever forget where I was when I found out, I had just left home on my way to Haiti stopping at Greenwood Indiana for cross cultural training before heading to Haiti. That night I checked my email wondering why people were asking if I was ok, then I saw online what had happened.

It was devstating to watch, every night I was trying to find out as much information as I could, check if my friends and other missionaries were ok, then all I wanted to do was to be there to see what I could do to help.

I remember just thinking why?After living in Haiti before I knew how difficult life was........already, how terrible housing was........already, how terrible the health care was........already even before the earthquake Now things had just got a million times worse. And I couldn't get my head round it, I questioned God and couldn't understand why God would let this happen to an already suffering nation. I arrived in Haiti on 3rd February and was straight down to Port to help with some mobile clinics. The scenes were awful, the smell was awful but the people proved to be strong and resilient. I would say between being in Port and working in Milot hospital with patients from the earthquake I have spoken to over 350 people who were in Port on 12th January and not one single person said why did God let this happen. Not one. Every person I spoke to said 'Its only by God's grace I am alive today.' What a challenge.

Since then I heard miracle upon miracle of how people lived through 12th January. One young girl, Rose Marie in Milot trapped under rubble for 15days with no food and no water yet survived. A friend of mine, Anice traped in the 3rd floor of his school, found at midnight that night and amazingly amidst the chaos was found by his family two days later after sleeping in the street again with no food and no water. My wee friend Sterlina lived 6 months thinking her whole family was dead and was placed in an orhanage then found by her family who were all alive and well. Joesph who lost both his legs, now walking with 2 prothestic legs by himself.

Baby Jeffely born 6 months after the earthquake after his mum was trapped under the rubble for 5 days. The light on the hill.....Where we ran our mobile clinics with over 600 people coming to the Lord. The church is going strong with people getting baptised and growing in the Lord. Right up their in the middle of tent city. A miracle.

I am praying for Haiti, God is the only thing that will change Haiti. Please join me in prayer, not just for physical help but for spiritual help. Haiti's roots are in Voodoo and only the Lord can change that. Pray for all those people who gave their lives to God after the earthquake that they can raise up a new generation who can change the beautiful but suffering nation of Haiti.

Great is thy faithfulness

2010-12-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

Due to a couple of personal circumstances I have decided to leave Haiti a month early before my term ends and head home. I am going to try and keep writing on my blog experiences I have had and ways I have seen God move even as I am at home. There have been so many things I would have loved to have shared but just didn't have time to write.

When I begin to look back at this year the big thing that stands out to me is God's faithfulness. This year has been difficult for me, maybe even to be honest the hardest year of my life and it started right from the beginning. I left home on 9th January to go to Greenwood Indianda and on 12th January I heard news that my granny had died and also Haiti had suffered from a huge earthquake. I wanted to be in either of those places and instead I was in the states. When I think about the situations I have been in this year, if you had have told me before that I would be able to cope with them, I would have said no way I could never do that. Situations like listening to stories and praying with people who lived through the earthquake and lost everything they had including their family, going on trips to Port to work in tent villages, sharing the gospel boldly, working with patients with Cholera to simple things like driving a 15 seater van (with 15 people in it), being brave enough to kill cockroaches and sleeping in the same room as a rat (one of my least enjoyable experiences). YET God was faithful and give me the strength for all these situations and many many more.

I like to think I am tough but I am not really, watching the film My Girl or ER makes me cry and this past year I have spent each and every day with people who are suffering, suffering because of the earthquake, because of cholera, because of poverty, because of illness, because of death YET again God had given me the strength to build relationships with these people, to help them physically and spiritually and to help carry some of their burden. Before this year I have never really experienced death in my life and this year I have experienced to much death that I care to even remember........I have even watched a 4 year old child and a 23 year old girl die of cholera right in front of my eyes, YET again God remained faithful and unchanging giving me the strength I needed to cope with those situations.

To be honest there are many things about Haiti which I will not miss, the pothole covered roads, wearing skirts, bean sauce, the smell of cholera, flip flops, sweating, the sound of car horns, motorbikes, wheelbarrows, chickens, goats, pigs (basically all those things which are on the road which should not be there!!), mosquitios and hearing Celine Dion's my heart will go on at full volume!!

Saying all that there are many things I will miss, Haiti is so very close to my heart and God has given me a love for the people rather than the actual country. I find it hard to love a place where people are suffering so much everyday but I love the people, I love speaking and listening to Creole and usually if I am not feeling very good walking down the street and someone saying 'Bonswa Cherie' to me usually brings a smile to my face. The thing I will miss the most are my good friends Dr Rodney and Vedane and their beautiful kids. I probably spent time with them everyday, Vedane has become one of my very best friends. I will miss going down to their wee house and Oly greeting me with ' Hello missionary.', Alisha's huge smile as soon as I walk in the door and Wood jumping on top of me as if he hasn't seen me for months. Dr Rodney is a very special man clearly chosen by God to help his people. He has taught me a lot about Haiti and its culture. He has also made us laugh so many times with his Dr Love consultations!!!

Even though the next wee while is going to be difficult I know God will remain faithful as he has been in 2010 and will give me the strength I need for each day. God promises he will never give us more than we can handle and I know that to be true. Here are some of God's promises I have had to depend on over and over again this year.

Psalm 46 v 1

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Isaiah 40 v 28-31

Hvae you not known, Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth

He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable

He give power to the faint and to him who has no might increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted

but they who wait on the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not be faint.

1 Peter 5 v7

Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

Psalm 46 v 10

Be still and know that I am God.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my father!
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not:
As thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see: All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

Loss

2010-12-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was a hard day for us in the clinic as we lost three patients. We went down to the clinic on Wednesday morning and the night nurses told us we lost one of the old ladies during the night. The lady had been there from the day before and was continually pulling out her IV fluids. Later that morning we lost another patient, another older lady who had come the morning before severely dehydrated and it took a long time to find a vein for an IV. A few times throughout the day we had to change the IV for various reasons and we just couldn't get fluid into her as fast as she was losing it.

Later that afternoon we lost a little girl who was just four years old. This was the hardest for all of us, she came in that morning dehydrated but awake, drinking and talking....screaming even while the doctors were trying to put an IV in. They tried and tried but couldn't get one, we continued to give her oral rehydration solution continually. Around 3o'clock her dad told her to the bathroom, had diarrhoea and she lost all the fluid she had in her wee body and stopped breathing right there, the doctors worked on her for nearly an hour but sadly there was nothing we could do.

It was a particularly difficult day for all our staff and especially the families of those patients who died. Please lift them up in your prayers. It just showed me how awful cholera is, I always thought once you get to a hospital, get fluids in you will be fine however that is not always the case. The key is time, as soon as someone gets sick they need to get to a hospital as soon as possible. And we need to keep working on educating people on how they can protect themselves against cholera.

It reminded me how fragile life is and how at any moment for any of us we never know what is going to happen. One minute that little girl was sitting up talking and drinking and just a few minutes later she had stopped breathing. Life is so fragile and not just here in Haiti. We really need to have an urgency about telling people about God and about what He has done for us and how He alone can save people.

On a different note Hannah and I are thankful to have a team here this week from the states, the team includes 2 doctors and 2 nurses. I don't know what we would have done without them this week. On Tuesday the results of the election were announced and people weren't happy. Wednesday and Thursday brought rioting and roadblocks in town meaning very few of our clinic staff could come to work. Which would have left me, Hannah and Dr Rodney in the clinic but thankfully God knows what you need in advance. Things are quiet in the cholera 'hospital' this morning and Hannah and I are taking the opportunity to have some rest before the team leave tomorrow.

We really need some more help down there, the cholera problem isn't going to go away anytime soon. If you are a doctor or nurse or a physio who knows how to change IV bags and flush out IV's would like to come on a short term trip to help in our clinic please get in touch with me. We need people asap and I would say willl be needing them for at least the next couple of months.

On days like Wednesday its hard to look at the positive side of things, but we have treated well over 100 patients some of whom have come in very close to death yet they have got better and walked out of our wee hospital which we praise the Lord for. On little girl, Neissa was there last week when she came in she wasn't very very sick but we got her IV in and kept her in, she got worse and worse with cholera. Basically you have to let cholera run its course through your body and staying hydrated with IV fluids, antibiotics don't do much because usually patients just throw them up again. Anyway she had 3 full days of being very sick gradually got better. I was out in Vaudrieul the other day and I heard this litte girl say hi Julie, I looked at her said hi and walked on. I never think much when people do that, they always say hello Julie and I never have any idea who they are or I can't remember them!!Anyway I thought about it and figured she just was one of the loads of kids who know who I am. I stopped to visit someone at their house and she came in. I looked at her and said 'Neissa' she said yes Julie. I couldn't believe it she looked like a completely different child I didn't even recognise her.

So we are grieving with those families who are grieving over their loss but also rejoicing with those who get completely better. I am thanking God for his strength, if anyone knows me they know I need a lot of sleep and I don't have very much stamina!!!However the only place I am finding physical and emotional strength from is in the Lord and he is enough for what I need. Every now and then I just look at the things I have done in Haiti this year and if you told me that before I came I would have said no way I could never do that. Yet when you are open and willing to be used by God he gives you what he need for what he has called you to do.

I have quoted this verse a few times but Im just reading through the Christmas story and it comes up right there.....
Luke 1 v 37

'For nothing will be impossible with God.'

Christmas, Culture shock, Cold and Cholera!!

2010-12-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

After being at the clinic for too many hours everyday and night working with our patients who have cholera I hadn't even thought about Christmas. However on Thursday Hannah, Matt, Stacey and I had to go to the Dominican to renew our visas. We have to leave Haiti every three months and unfortunately for us the quickest and cheapest place to go is the Dominican Republic. Hannah and I were more than ready to go on Thursday afternoon when Matt and Stacey came to get us as we were both in need of some rest.

We got through the border no problems even though Hannah and I had been working with cholera patients just a few hours beforehand. As we were driving through the DR it started to get dark and then I saw the first Christmas tree. After that every time any of us saw one it was like look at that one, look at those decorations....it was like we were kids again and amazed at everything. We had the Christmas music on looking at the Christmas trees, then we arrived at the ridiculously cheap all inclusive hotel. As we pulled up we saw this huge Christmas tree, straight away we had to get out and look and take photos of the tree.
of course then as soon as we got back home we put our Christmas tree up in the house. Its so hard to even think about Christmas in Haiti especially with people suffering so much. The other reason is because it is hot and sunny and it really only feels Christmas at dark time when the Christmas lights go on.

Our christmas tree

Back to the hotel, while we were waiting for our rooms to be ready the guy at the desk told us to go and eat. We went into the huge dining room and all 4 of us just wondered around for a while (Im sure we had our mouths open) before we even knew what to do. There was so much food, we didn't know where to start so we started with the drinks. Hannah was the best, she went over to get some coke, it was like the drinks machines you see at Mcdonalds. Hannah filled one glass up, drunk it and continued to do the same thing over and over again....it was hilarious!!Finally we chose something to eat, thing we could not get in Haiti.....Pizza, pickles, fries, cucumber. and strawberry ice cream.

Talk about culture shock. On paper the Dominican is a third world country yet I felt like I was in the States. The roads were all paved, all the houses had electricity (with christmas tress!!), there was road signs, traffic lights, the shop was about the size of Tesco's and you can find everything you need. It was just overwhelming to go from working in our cholera clinic and just that morning seeing a little girl arrive with cholera who was already dead in her dad's arms. To a place where we could eat whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted and lie by the pool, go to the shop and find what we needed or just what we wanted (granny smith apples!!). It actually made me wonder how the human mind copes with that sort of change in just a few hours. I felt so far away from Haiti........yet it was just a 5 hour drive away.

One of the things I find hard being in Haiti is being a 'blanc' and all the things that come with that. No matter how long I live in Haiti if I speak Creole perfectly, carry things on my head, hand wash my clothes do everything Haitian I will always stand out just by being white. Being in a resort full of 'blancs' it was so nice not to stand out. Saying that we were the only people wearing jeans and hoodies in the evenings when everyone else was out in their summer dresses!!! The next day it was cloudy and overcast, still crazy british people were out by the pool in their swimming stuff and then us, the missionaries from Haiti feeling cold!!Jeans and hooides again for everyone.We were sitting by the pool with Lily (Matt and Stacey's daughter who is just 22 months), there was a lady beside us reading a book and Lily went over and said 'is that your bible?' It was too cute and she was very dissapointed to find out it wasn't, the lady actually apologised because Lily looked so sad. Maybe we didn't blend in as much as we thought!!!

The trip was mainly to renew our visas but we also got a time of rest, we had lots of fun together especially as we dont see Matt, Stacey and Lily much because they live in Sakenvil at the seminary. We were also able to buy lots of supplies for the clinic thanks to a very generous donation to some people from home. There are so many supplies which we need in the clinic which are so difficult to find in Haiti and if we do find them they are very expensive. We were able to buy lots of baby formula, nappies, baby bottles, baby wipes and sheets all of which we desperately needed.

We are back to work in our chlolera clinic which still has a steady flow of patients. In the past 2 weeks we have treated over 60 patients and all of them have got better and been sent home. Thankfully this week we hae two doctors and two nurses here on a team which is great. We are thankful for the rest, for the supplies we were able to get for the clinic and that we had no problems getting there or coming back.

More on Cholera.....

2010-11-29T10:57:00.000-08:00

Cholera is the thing everyone is talking about right now. It is now present in all 10 departments of Haiti with the North department (where we are) being the worst affected. People are so scared of getting cholera because of what they have heard and seen of people dying quickly. As I have said before educating people is going to be the most important thing. People are believing all kinds of things they hear on the street and they are willing to believe them because they are so scared of getting cholera. Here are some of the things I have heard.....

If you drink lots of alcohol you will be protected against cholera.
You can buy a medicine in the street which will protect you against cholera.
You can get cholera from the dust in the street

Where we put our first patients

Which all of course are not true. This week Bethesda began to treat cholera patients. At first we had put them in a tent outside which was fine for one day but not good enough. One of our other missionaries Jane had the idea of using one of the old houses which is just beside the clinic. When we went to look at it, it was perfect for exactly what we needed. On Wednesday we arranged the house and brought over all the supplies we need. Thankfully we were able to get more IV fluid in town, this is the main treatment for cholera and last week we we unable to buy any in Cap Haitian.

our new 'hospital' for paients

Since Wednesday we have had a steady flow of patients, mostly children from a number of different areas, and mostly brothers and sisters. We have had a few difficult cases where they have been so dehydrated it has been really difficult to find a vein to put the IV fluids in. One little boy I would like you to pray for especially, he came on thursday morning severely dehydrated and it took our nurses over an hour to find a vein to place an IV. He was given fluids all day and all night and seemed much better on Friday afternoon he was also drinking alot. However he continued to have diarrhoea through the night on Friday and by saturday morning he was severely dehydrated again, as our staff worked on him they couldn't find a vein as he was so dehydrated. We continued to give him fluids by mouth as we were able. Dr Rodney then had an idea of IV into the bone which I have never heard of before but he did it (it was his first time ever...he had just read about it!!). Thankfully we had the equipment and with alot of praying going on at the same time Dr Rodney got it in and the IV started. Since then it has been running, we have been giving him oral fluids aswell all through the night however he is still having continuous diarrhoea and is losing alot of fluid. Please pray today we will be able to find a vein, give me another IV which is so desperately needs so we give him more fluids than he is losing.

Its scary how quickly cholera can dehydrate someone, especially kids. The continuous vomitting and diarrhoea removes all their fluid very quickly. If someone gets cholera time is really the important thing. Friday we had a young girl come in who just started getting sick that night around midnight and by 8 am the next day she was very very unwell. Dr Rodney started two IVs and within 20 mins she was awake and talking. Her mum was crying as her big brother was in the clinic aswell, as soon as she woke up she said 'mummy don't cry for me just pray to God for me,' It was very cute and today she is a million times better eating and drinking.

Thankfully all our other patients are responding well to treatment. My role in the clinic had definitely changed from just a physiotherapist!!Please pray for us as we treat patients, for continuous supplies, for strength for our staff especially Hannah, Dr Rodney and I (please!!) who have been in the clinic long hours and though the night.

This week Bethesda is starting two special weeks of 'Combat Cholera'. Each day the patients will be educated on how they can protect themselves against cholera. Each patient will be given soap, A bottle of chlorox (bleach) and oral rehydration powder. We also have a fixed price of 250 goudes (about $5 US) for each consultation and any medicine which patients need. We expect to have alot of patients and on top of treating cholera patients its going to be hard work!!However we will be able to educate alot of people and give them materials on how they can protect themselves and their families agaisnt cholera. Plus we have a medical team arriving next Saturday from the states which will be great.

**I wrote this yesterday and didn't have chance o post it. Today we have even more patients and our 'hospital' is nearly full. Please continue to lift us up in prayer , also among the business we will have time to share the gospel with our patients.

Noise!!

2010-11-19T13:11:00.000-08:00

I never thought I would be happy to hear the sound of a horn on a huge truck in Haiti. Just to explain a wee bit.......driving in Haiti is a bit crazy and the rules are, if you want to be seen beep your horn, if you want to overtake beep your horn, if you want someone to move beep your horn......if you just feel like it beep your horn and for as long as you want!!!. The other rule is if you are bigger you have right of way!And what generally happens is these huge trucks come along with their hand on their horn for a good 15 seconds to get everyone else in their way to move. Everytime I drive past one or hear the horn from my house (which is often) it does my head in, there is no need for it to be that loud and that long....its not like we don't see the HUGE trucks coming!!!

When one of these drive towards me with their hand on the horn I very quickly move out of the way!!

Anyway today we have heard lots of loud horns and cars and people and Haiti is back to being noisy!Which is great, all that means, things have settled down after 4 days of rioting in and around town and after people being confined to their homes it nice to hear some noise outside. We have heard the rioting is mainly due to the cholera outbreak and people want something done about it and also there are rumours that the UN are responsible for bringing cholera to Haiti and most of the rioting was against the UN.

We thank God for the peace today, please pray it will continue. Pray for elections which will take place next Sunday (28th), pray that the right people will be chosen for the positions here in Haiti.

Cholera

2010-11-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

Just as I think life in Haiti cannot get any worse, it does. When I think the people cannot cope with anything else they find the strength to. 12th January brought the earthquake in Port au Prince, November brought Hurricane Tomas which caused mass flooding and now cholera.....on top of life as it was in Haiti and all in the same year.

As you have probably heard on the news Cholera is spreading fast in Haiti. After beginning in the central plateau in Haiti, cholera has now spread to all 10 regions in Haiti. Everyday we are hearing of more people dying from Cholera here in Cap Haitian. They have opened the local gymnasium in the centre of town to recieve patients and Milot hospital has received over 50 patients just over the weekend.

Bethesda and OMS as a mission is trying to provide as much education as possible to the community. It is very easy to protect yourself against cholera and education will be the thing that will stop it from spreading further. So far we have had education sessions with over 1500 kids, our seminary students, the local church in Sakenvil and with our pastors. We are encouraging everyone who hears the information to pass it onto people in their own local community. The pastors and studnets have taken the information back to their churches. Dr Rodney has also made an announcement for Radio 4VEH which has up to 1 million listeners each day.

One area which has been badly affected in an area called Souffriere. Souffriere is where we have a done a few mobile clinics before. Souffriere is a very poor area, the only water they have is from the local river and there is no place to use the bathroom. Now the river is infected with cholera yet the people have no where else to find water. Its easy to give advice but if people have no means to follow the advice they don't have any other chocie, they have over 30 people who have died in that area.

Yesterday Dr Rodney talked in the clinic about the numbers or people who are sick, the numbers of people who have died, to be honest it is probably alot higher than what has been reported. He explained how the situation in Haiti makes it easy for cholera to spread. The piles of rubbish by the side of the road breeding bateria, no clean water, people having no toilets to use, people not washing their hands....all these things contribute to cholera spreading here. His conclusion was the ONLY thing which can stop this is the prayers of God's people. Humanly speaking its going to be impossible, however we serve a God who can do the impossible and we trust in him to change Haiti.

I will be honest sometimes it is so hard to see how this country will ever change. We hear news about the extent of cholera in Haiti, also yesterday and today there are demonstrations and violence against the UN in Cap Haitian because of Cholera, people are scared, people are tired of suffering and they want something done about it. On top of that the election for a new president will take place in two weeks time (28th November). So far no-one I have spoken to is going to vote...not one single person because 'there is no one worth voting for.' Things are always a bit unstable around election periods with some people rioting, saying that we will not be going anywhere near town over the next few days!!

I am sorry to sound so dismal but this is life in Haiti right now. God is the only person who can ever change this country.

Please keep praying for this nation.....its needs miracle upon miracle to change it.

Luke ch 1 v 37

'For nothing is impossible with God.'

Babies......

2010-11-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

Just before I went home Vedane and Rodney has adopted Alisha and I had asked my dad if anyone had any old baby clothes that I could bring back for her and some other babies that would be great. I was amazed at how generous people where and I actually had to say no to some of the clothes because I wouldn't have enough space to bring them back. Hannah had also been home and came back with loads of baby stuff and we had a team here from Indiana who also left us lots of baby clothes. Here are just a few of the many babies we were able to help.

My bed full of baby clothes....and this is only about half of them.

First Alisha.... two months ago Alisha was living with her dad, her mum had died when she was just 3 months old and she had nothing. Now she has a family who love her and she is getting spoilt rotten!!When Vedane took her she had no baby girl clothes at all and now I think she has more than she can even use. Its amazing how God can change a wee life of even someone so young. Who knows where Alisha would be right now if she hadn't have been brought to the clinic and she is really is such a blessing for Vedane and Rodney and anyone that meets her. She is a really happy content wee baby.

Her brother Ollie with his new shorts.

This is Daniella with her baby Florcy. Daniella is just 18 and came to our clinic in early September looking for baby formula as she was unable to feed her baby due to an infection. At the time we didn't have any and I knew Hannah's mum was sending some down so I told her to come back in October. She came back and we were able to give her a big box of formula, I got talking to her and she told me she doesn't have any family just a sister, the baby's dad is gone, she and the baby sleep on a cement floor of someone's house who they don't really know but she has no where else to live. Daniella also told me Florcy wasn't very well so I told her to bring the baby the next day. Thankfully just that morning Jane (one of our missionaries) had brought down a big box of baby blankets to the clinic so we were able to give her some blankets for the baby to sleep on and a box of baby formula with a couple of bottles. The next day she came back with Florcy who was 6 months old at the time. I got her chart and noticed she has been here 3 months before where she weighed just 4.69kg, I took her to weigh her and was shocked to see three months later her weight had dropped to 4.29kg. She was consulted and put on the feeding programme, we were able to give Florcy and her mum some clothes and a wee bit of money to buy some food. They came back just 4 days later and the difference in Florcy was amazing, before she was very lethargic and unhappy, however now it was looking at a different baby, she had much more energy and was laughing and smiling. We have a fund in our clinic which is kept for people who really cannot pay to come to the doctor and this is how we were able to treat Flory.

Her first visit

Just 4 days later, like a different child.

This is Roseleud with her baby Miklen. Miklen is 18 months old, her dad died in the earthquake in Port and since then things have been a real struggle. Again the clinic was able to pay for her treatment, we gave Miklen some cartons of milk and some clothes. Right at the end of her consultation Roseleud asked if she coule become a christian and we had the priviledge of praying with her and giving her some guidance about finding a church close to where she lives. They came back around 5 days later and again Miklen looked like a different child, smiling and laughing it was great.

This is Jeffery and his mum. His mum was in Port during the earthquake and had to have her lower left arm amputated. Since January she has been in Milot hospital and wee Jeffery was born at the end of July. He is really lovely.

This baby is very special because she is named after Hannah and I (well her middle name) is Julianna. She was born at the beginning of Septmeber. Her mum is called Rose Marie and she lost her right leg in the earthquake.

This is young girl is just 16 and has just had her little baby. To be honest Farah is a typical teenager, she think she knows best about everything. We have been able to help her alot with her baby with clothes, nappies and Farah is on our feeding programme in the clinic.

This is my friends wee neice, Sandra happy with her new wee shorts.

We would appreciate your prayers for all these babies and thier mums, most of them are single mums and life is really difficult.

So thank you very much to people in Bangor, Northern Ireland, Bend, Oregon and Colombus Indiana. There are many many more babies we will be able to help.

Bethesda Medical Clinic

2010-10-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

We have just started a new facebook page for the clinic so you can be kept up to date with what goes on day by day in the clinic. Here is the link below

www.facebook.com/BethesdaMedicalCenterHaiti

Port au Prince trip

2010-10-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

On Thursday morning the 14th October, three missionaries, four member of staff at the seminarary and eight of the students took the 8 hours journey down to Port au Prince. Thankfully they have been working on the road and the last four hours of the journey was all on smooth (mostly) paved roads. Coming into Port I sort of expected things to be different. It has been 10 months since the earthquake yet to be honest I did not see alot of change. There is a bit less rubble by the side of the road, a few buildings have been rebuilt and a few new houses have been built however in general there are still thousands upon thousand of people homeless and sleeping outside in tents, in makeshift homes which are made of a tarp yet have a tin door with a wee padlock.

We drove right up to the top of the hill and arrived in Diquini to be greeted by Junior (our seminary studnet who has lived there for six months to lead the church) and several members of the church, one of the teenagers came over hugged me and said 'hi Julie'which amazed me, its been six months since I had been in Diquini. That evening we started with a service I think there were around 100 people there with a lot of people sitting outside the actual church 'building'. Matt preached the gospel clearly and simply and 12 people came forward at the end of the service to give their lives to God.

Over the next two days we spent the morning in the local community praying with people and sharing the gospel with other people who didn't yet know. I was out with one of the pastor's and it always amazes me how open haitian's are to talking about God. Like we just arrive at their house and everyone is sitting outside anyway and ask can we come and have a chat and they are like yes sure. We didn't have one person who didn't want to talk to us. One young guy we talked to was sitting with his friends and they were all very 'cool', long hair, ears pierced etc. We shared the gospel with the group and asked them what they thought, the young guy said he knew God was there after he saw what God did for him because he wasn't hurt in the earthquake. However I went on to explain its good to say thank you to God for those things, but what is even more important is that we are sinful and God did something even greater he sent Jesus to die for our sins and now we can have forgiveness and a relationship with him. The guy said he wanted to be saved but he had to wait until he was a better person, until he cut his hair and took out his earrings and until he had some 'nice' clothes for church. It was great to be able to tell him he can come to God just the way he is, he doesn't need to change first that it is God who will do the changing within him. Right there in front of his 'cool' friends he got down on his knees and prayed. He asked God to forgive him of his sins and said he wanted to Serve God with his life.

Later we went to the house of a lady called Marie. She had just become a christian recently and asked us to come into the house to pray with her, while we were there one of the pastors asked if she had anything in the house which she wanted to get rid off. He asked this because she was very involved in Voodoo before she became a christian. She went into the corner of the room and pulled out a bag of something, she explained she had been sick and had gone to a witch doctor for 'medicine' to help get her better. She didn't want anything to do with Satan anymore and therefore didn't want it in the house anymore, we agreed to take it and burn it. Then we prayer for her and over her house...a place and a life which has belonged to Satan had now been changed to a life for God. That night she got up in the service and explained to the church how God had changed her life.

Burning the stuff from the witch doctor

The other thing which Junior has been doing with help of some people from the states is building houses for some of the families. I can't exactley remember but I think they have built 12 houses. He bought the materials and the people built them themselves. Marie has one and they really are nice, they are made of blocks and cement and have an nice tin roof.

The house in the distance with the new tin roof is one of the new houses

We also ran a kids club on friday and saturday where we had singing, a memory verse, a story from the bible and some games. It was really great and the kids remembered the song we taught them in English from the time when we were there in April.

The first day of the kids club

Word got out on the second day and we had over double the amount of kids.

Even though we had a great trip with many lives changed for God and the church encouraged, the situation is still desperate. There are so many people sleeping in tents still and from what I saw of the city it doesn't look much different to how it did in April when I was there. Every night we were there it rained and when it rains in Haiti it really rains heavy. The Saturday night there was a huge thunder and lightening storm, it was the loudest and longest thunder I have ever heard in my life. I was staying inside a building on a bed dry and safe and I was still scared. All I could think of was the thousands of people who were sleeping outside under the cover of a tarp or a tent....I can't imagine it would provide much protection from a storm like that. The thunder and lightening lasted for a good hour and it rained most of the night. When we got up the next day we heard that one of the families 'homes' on the hill had blown down in the storm. Please continue to pray for the people in Port, pray for Organisations who are building homes for people, pray for the government which actually will be changing this month as it is election month and pray that the money which has been pledged from so many other places will be sent and used wisely to help the people of this country.

Driving out of Port after the rain

Cholera

2010-10-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

I am sure everyone has heard on the news about the Cholera outbreak in Haiti. The outbreak of Cholera is mainly confined to the central plateau that is between Saint Marc and Gonaives. So far there have been reports of 284 deaths (as of 27th October) and over 3000 people hospitalised. There have been a few cases in the North here in Haiti and there have deen designated hospitals which have been set up to treat anyone who is infected. What is happening right now in Haiti is education to prevent the spread of Cholera to anywhere else in the country and obviously treat those people who are infected.

Handwashing Demonstration

Cholera is easily prevented with the correct precautions. Already this weekend Dr Rodney in our clinic has made a plan of how our clinic will respond to this outbreak. Information leaflets in both English and Creole have been printed out to give to local schools, churches, pastors, employees of OMS and the missionaries. Supplies which are needed to treat the disease are being brought in and if needed Bethesda medical centre will provide a 24 hour service for patients who are being treated with Cholera.

However our main aim right now is to prevent the spread of Cholera and educate the community here in the north. Dr Rodney has already given information on Radio 4VEH, OMS's radio station which is on air each day and has up to one million listeners each day.

Dr Cader explaining how cholera affects your body.

This morning we had 2 educations sessions with pupils from the local schools in the Vaudreiul church. In Haiti there is a high illiteracy rate in adults and often to educate the children is much better. We had around 1500 kids aged between 5 to 20. Each child was give an information leaflet and listened to Dr Cader explain what Cholera is, how is it spread, how it affects you, what to do if you think you or someone in your house has cholera and most importantly how to prevent yourself from getting Cholera. The kids were also taught how to wash your hands correctly and each person was given a bar of medicated soap to take home to their house and pass on the information to their friends and family.

Some girls with their information leaflet

We gave out about 1500 bars of soap

Listening carefully to the doctor

Giving out the soap to all the kids.

Tomorrow we will do the same thing in Saccenville where OMS have their seminary. Dr Rodney will go and educate the students who can then take the information to their churches. We are also holding an education session in the local church for the community.

Praise the Lord!!

2010-10-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we were on a 4 day evangelism/church encouargement trip to Diquini, Port au Prince. Diquini is the area where OMS were running medical clinics after the earthquake and as a result hundreds of people became christians. After that OMS planted a church there and sent one of our seminary studnets, Junior to lead the church. We had a trip back in April and this trip was follow up. The main aim was to encourage the church and also to do some evangelism in the local area. We had a great few days, each morning we went out into the local community to pray with people and share to gospel with others who didn't yet know. Then in the afternoons we ran a kids club which was great and we had services in the evening. Over the four days between 20 and 30 people came to know the Lord and we really encouraged the church. It was great to be back to see the growth in the people and in the church. I will write more about the trip when I get a chance.

A while ago I wrote about a young man named Berlota. Here is a quick idea of what has happened so far, I was in a village called Balan in June translating for a team from the States who were doing radio distrubtion. I was in a group with a pastor and we went in to pray with a young man who was sick, he had fallen out of a tree and was paralysed. Since the accident he had been at home lying on a cement floor and as a result developed a huge pressure sore on his back which was full of infection. I couldn't get him out of my head all weekend and knew I had to do something about it. That monday Hannah and I went out to get him and took him to Milot hospital, the very first american doctor who saw him said his condition is terminal. Anyway to cut a long story short, God provided all the funds needed for his medical care in a miraculous way and 4 months later Hannah and I had the priviledge of taking him home on last Monday.

Remember Haitians do not like to smile for photo's he is infact happy!!

About 4 weeks ago he had a small operation which put a skin flap over the sore and over the last four weeks it has healed really well. Just last monday I went to talk to both him and his mum just to see how they were. Since being in Milot hospital they have both become christians. Berlota said told me that he sees how God saved his life because he was so sick and if it wasn't for God he would be dead. Because of that he decided to give his life to God and his mum said much the same thing. It was really exciting to talk with him, what amazed me the most was that the whole time I never had to say anything. I think just the first day we took him into hospital I asked if they were Chrisitans and they said no, after that I didn't say anything apart from I was praying for them. Yet God was able to work through the situation to change their lives.

Berlota with his mum

Monday then, we put him in the back of the car ,sitting up and headed for his house, stopped off at my house to get his wheelchair which had been sent up from Port au Prince. While we were driving along all I could remember was when we went to pick him up at his house in June. The chaos it was to try and get him in the car, how he looked so ill, how he had to lie on his tummy with his legs bent up and the smell of infection in the car. Yet here we were four months later with him sitting up in the back of the car looking really healthy travelling back to his home.

When we arrived in the area of Balan, where he is from people started to say 'Look there is Berlota.' By the time we arrived at the house there was around 30-40 people there to welcome him home. Sometimes in Haiti if there is something going on there will be heaps of people just to see whats going on. However this was not the case, all these people were there to welcome him home, it was very cool. We went into his house and he was sitting up on his new bed.....again all I could remember was in the same wee room in a mud hut, him lying on a cement floor on a single sheet with that huge sore on his back where I could literally see his insides. Yet now sitting on his new bed with all his nephews and neices sitting round him laughing. We spent some time with him and his family and friends with people coming in and hugging us to say thank you. We prayed with him and the family and left them to celebrate him being home.

It was literally a miracle. Or heaps of miracles all put together!! A miracle that I was in Balan on that Friday, a miracle that I was in the same group as the Pastor, a miracle that I went back to Balan that Sunday, a miracle that we got him to Milot hospital, a miracle that someone from Northern Ireland who I do not even know paid for all his medical treatment, a miracle that he is alive today. And the best part that through all those miracles.............the biggest miracle that God has saved his life twice, physically and spiritually.

It was an absolute priviledge to be a part of what God has done in his life and to see how God has provided all that he needed the whole way through the experience.

Then Tanya the young girl with breast cancer has left for the states. It was amazing how everything came together from flights to funding, absolutely everything has been taken care of. I cannot imagine how she felt when she landed in the florida and stayed in a hotel last night. She is from a poor family, all she has known her life is life in Haiti which is miles away from the states. Please pray for her as she settles into the US and as she starts her treatment, I don't think she has any idea what is ahead of her but I do know she is trusting God completely.

Tanya

2010-10-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

A few weeks I asked for prayer for Tanya, the young girl who is in Milot hospital with breast cancer. She is just 23 and has surgery four times and is in desperate need of chemotherapy. Me along with a few other people in Milot have been working hard to try and find a hospital in the states which will accept her for treatment. I have been praying and praying that she would be accepted somewhere and praise the Lord we just found out on Monday a specialist breast cancer centre has accepted her for treatment in Baltimore.

However it is not just that easy, everything needs to be thought of flights, visa and living expenses when she is there. Thankfully everything has fallen into place so far, flights and someone for her to travel with, we are working on the visa application now to get her and her mum to the states for treatment. The estimation is she will be there for about a year. The reason I am writing is to thank you for your prayers and ask for your continue prayers for the visa application. Also the hospital has found a place for her and her mum to live on campus so they will not have to travel to the hospital however this will cost $100 per day which will include all their meals. We have a few people who are trying to raise funds from different places to support her during the year, if you would like to help financially please get in contact with me (juliebriggs7@hotmail.com) so we can arrange a way for that to happen.

I can see clearly how God has opened doors in this situation and have no doubt He will provide fully that which is needed. When Tania first came to me about needing to go for chemotherapy and asked for my help, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. I didn't have the first clue about where to start, but God put people in my path and contacts so that everything could be arranged. Everytime we hear another piece of news Tanya is praising God for his provision.

From one beautiful country to another.....

2010-10-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last 2 weeks at home for a wee break. Northern Ireland and Haiti are miles apart, not just in distance. Nearly everything about Haiti is completely different than Northern Ireland from the weather to language to driving and being the only person from Northen Ireland here is hard. Yet there are small similarites between Northern Ireland and Haiti which make me feel at home here.

In Northern Ireland we love to have a bit of 'craic' basically we love laughing and Haitian people love to laugh too. Even though life is so difficult and for most people everyday is a struggle yet you will always see people laughing and smiling. The main way they do that is by making fun of other people which we love to do at home too. Also if you know anyone from Northern Ireland you will see we love using the word wee. Although wee doesnt always mean little for example if I was waiting for someone for a long time I could say I was waiting for a good wee while. And in Creole people say exactly the same thing, the word for little in Creol is ti. They will say 'fe yon ti chita' which means have a wee seat, which is exactly what we would say at home. Its wee things like that which I love here because they remind me of home.

Just going between the two has reminded me how much I love home, when I was growing up I never wanted to leave Northern Ireland, I was going to get married, have a family and stay in Northern Ireland forever!!Yet God had completely different plans for my life, 5 years ago I didn't even know Haiti existed and for now I live here, it amazes me what God can do with your life if you let him and be obedient to him. And as much as I love home, I have complete peace about being in Haiti for right now because I know this is exactly where God wants me to be.

I also want to thank everyone who is praying for me here in Haiti, when I think back over the past wee while and look at some of the stuff I have been doing I almost can't believe it. But it is completely only in God's strength that I am able to do that, from praying with people who were in the earthquake in Creole, being bold in sharing the gospel in Creole to killing a huge flying cockroach and driving a 15 seater van in Haiti!!Things that is you told me I would be doing I would not have believed you!!

Philippians ch 1 v 3-5

'I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.'

I was just about ready for a rest when I left Haiti here and I had a great time at home, I can't say I rested alot but it was just lovely to be at home and spend time with my friends and family. It is also nice to be back in Haiti and being where God has me for now.

Be open to God's plan for your life, I can't imagine where I would be now if I hadn't have been open to God's plan and direction in my life. The way God has directed my life has been unbelievable and it hasn't been easy. But when I see how God has used me to change peoples lives in some circumstances, not so I can say that was me who did that but so God's name can be glorified and people can come to know him and have the same freedom, purpose and peace that I have in my life.

A wee blessing

2010-09-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

Meet Dalundy........

On Tuesday just after devotions in the clinic Ms Ketelie called me over to see a wee baby who had just arrived with her dad. She was crying and crying so I lifted her up to try and calm her down and we sat and talked to the dad, He told us he left his house at 3am this morning to come here, the baby's mum died about 2 months ago and he was left with the baby and he didn't know what to do anymore, he didn't know how to look after her. We asked if she was sick, seeing it was a clinic he came to. He said no, he didn't think so she just cries alot. So we asked him why he came here to our clinic we are here to provide medical care, we don't have an orphanage or anything like that. So we got the baby some clothes and I fed her a wee bottle of milk, the first few times I tried to give it to her she could not use the bottle at all. So we asked what the dad what he had been feeding her, he said cows milk with a spoon, butter and flour. We kept her for a while to feed her and calm her down, meanwhile Dr Rodney had come over to see what was going on and he said to me I will take the baby, I said what about Vedane (His wife) so he told me to phone her and get her to come over to the clinic. Immediately she said yes and came to see the wee baby. Vedane talked the dad and they went to sort out the legal side of things, the dad had brought everything with him he needed to give the baby away.

That was it!!I asked Dr Rodney how did you make such a big decision like that so quickly. He said he knew by the way the dad was talking that he wanted to give the baby away and he felt like he should look after it. After I asked Vedane the same question, she told me just the night before she had a dream she was with someone and there was a baby there for her to take, however someone came along and asked for the baby so she didn't want to fight she said 'ok take the baby, God is going to send me a beautiful baby girl.' So when Dr Rodney told her about the wee baby in the clinic she knew straight away that it was from God.

They are going to change her name to Alisha but for now she is Dalundy or just 'tibebe' (wee baby!!) She is such a blessing to their family already, everyone who comes to see her loves her and she is so good. She smiles all the time, eats well and sleeps well. And even after what her dad has been feeding her she is healthy. Obviously Vedane didn't have any baby stuff in her house but already some of our missionaries had some old baby clothes and stuff and Hannah just got back from the states yesterday and she brought back stuff for the baby. Here are some photo's of her...........

Three girls for your prayers

2010-09-07T21:01:00.000-07:00

I have three girls who I would love you to pray for. The first is Tania.

I just met Tania over 2 weeks ago in Milot she was admitted with Breast Cancer, she has had 4 operations already but the tumour keeps growing back. They told her at the hospital she needs to go to the states for chemotherapy but so far has no possibilty of doing that. She came to me to ask for help and see what I could do. Haitian's know that alot of times when they send patients to the states its the 'white' teams that come in who organise it and being able to speak Creole often they come to me. I really didn't even know how to start doing anything like that, but I have been in touch with a few people from Milot and we are trying to see what we can do. Please pray that things get sorted out, without the treatment she will die, surgery is not an option anymore because the tumour just keeps growing back. Alsp pray for Tania, she is a christian and is really trusting in God to help her, pray for strength and courage.

The Second is a girl from Balan, Her name is Wistna she is 28 and was in Port during the earthquake at school. She was trapped in the building for a while, slept in the road for a few days before returning to Balan(which is here in the north about 20 mins from where we are). She had broken both her wrists however had no money to go to a doctor so she didn't. After a few months her family noticed she just wasn't the same, she was very quiet and withdraw, she missed her friends who she lost in the earthquake and then in June she drunk a bottle of bleach and washing powder. They took her to a hospital for some medicine but she is still not coping. There is not really any psychologists in Haiti and she hasn'thad any counselling or any help in how to cope with how she is feeling. I have a friend who lives in Balan and it was him who brought her to me last week because of her hands. We did X rays and thankfully her both wrists have healed well even though they had no casts on them, I knew to look at her she still wasn't well psychologically and everytime I asked her a question her mum answered. I had to take her over to X ray and I had a wee chat with her on the way so see if she would tell me how she was really feeling, I explained she needed to see a doctor and we have one here if she agrees so I sent her over to one of our Doctors Dr Rodney who is a great doctor and a wonderful counsellor. Please pray for her as Dr Rodney counsels her and helps her recover from the trauma she has been though. One of the difficulties with psychological problems in Haiti is that voodoo and Devil worship is so prominent here that is anyone is will psychologically people assume it is Satan and an evil spirit they have within them which is not always the case.

The third girl I would like you to pray for is Sterlina. Sterlina has left Cap Haitian and gone back to live with her family. When they found her family (which she thought were dead) she didn't know if she was even going to be able to visit. Now seeing her mum and dad are both alive she cannot stay at the orphanage as it is for kids who have no parents. Then they told her she is going and not coming back, she left 2 weeks ago and I have been chatting to her on the phone, she is glad to see her family but she is not overly happy. Her dad is ill and cannot work and there are 6 or 7 other kids so she doesn't always eat and she won't be going to school this year as her family don't have the money to send her. Pray for her just to settle, she wasn't happy in the orphanage either I think she is also trying to still cope with what she has been through this year.

Special day number two....

2010-09-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

This Saturday we headed out on a mobile clinic in an area called 'La Violete' which is actually just about a half hour drive from where we are. Initially I asked ms Prudence, so do we need to walk to get there or can we go in the car? She replied ' No we can go in the car.' The area is very close to the town centre of Cap Haitian, however the picture below is the view from where we were and we definitely did not drive up there in the car!!After a good wee walk up to the top we arrived at the church.

For being so close to Cap Haitian the area is very very poor, the church is a mud floor under a tarp. Alot of the kids we saw had the red tinge to their hair which generally means they are malnourished. When we arrived at the church there was around 50 people waiting patiently for us, we started off introducing the team and told the patients the reason why we were there and what we were going to do which was to provide medical care for people also we had 4 of our seminary students who were going into the local area to pray with people and evangelise. We sang together and prayed before we started anything. It always amazes me how open Haitan people are to the gospel and to singing and praying before everything.

The church

Part of the pharmacy

We saw around 250 patients and were able to give each patient bread and butter and a tampico (Haitian drink which is just like sunny delight!!). Before the clinic started we also did some education about TB, HIV and other diseases. Kate and I were in the pharmacy which was a tiny wee table and a box of medicine, it was pretty crazy and things got a little chaotic at one time, but then we are in Haiti and it wouldn't be Haiti if there wasn't chaos!! We were also able to give out worming tablets to nearly heaps of people, I can't remember but I think between 250-300. Our seminary students, Gesner, Devacoeur, Nicole and Yolene went out into the local community to evangelise and pray with people. They found 34 people who accepted Christ as their Saviour that day which is really the main reason why we were there aswell as providing the medical care. The local pastor is then able to follow up with these people and disciple them.

One of the things we did was HIV tests for 100 people. This wee girl tested positive, she is just 8 years old both her parents are dead from AIDS. Things like that are really sad and difficult to see but now she knows we can get her treatment. Please pray for her. Also we were just about to get into the car to go home and a lady called me over to talk to her, she has a wee boy in her who is 9 years old, she took him in because he didn't have anywhere else to go he is HIV positive but she hasn't told anyone else in the area. We told her to send him to our clinic because we have a HIV programme there and we can get him started on medicine. And he came on monday so we were able to put him in the programme and get him started on medicine.

Evidence of the mud floor!!although part of that is my lovely tan!!

On the way down we stopped outside a house where a mum was giving her wee daughter a bath, the wee baby must have been about 8 months and she had 2 necklaces around her neck, which in Haiti is very often a sign of voodoo. Ms Prudence stopped to talk to the mum, asked her why she was putting necklaces like that on her wee baby. The mum told us she was born into a christian family but it was the baby's father who put the necklaces on to protect the baby from sickness. Ms Prudence and Nicole continued to talk to the mum telling her she is basically handing her child over to satan and what was she going to do about it. The mum quickly ripped the necklaces off and said she wasn't going to put them on again, Prudence and Nicole prayed with the mum and the baby asking God for his protection against voodoo and satan.

I had spoken to a lady who had a little boy who was 15 months and wasn't walking yet so I told her to come down and see me. She brought him yesterday and I had a wee look at him. In Haiti mum's really worry if their child doesn't walk by the age of 1 they think something awful is wrong. Anyway she brought him in to the clinic to see me and he was so cute. He just is developing a little slower then some other babies but thankfully nothing serious. So many of the other kids I get like that have cerebral palsy and its difficult to tell their mum's that. This wee one is just not quite ready to walk, it was lovely to be able to tell his mum she doesn't need to worry just keep encouraging him to walk and stand.

The view from the top

Special days

2010-08-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

There are a few things going on between our community and the clinic which we would value your prayers for. Anyway because of that I was really very discouraged at the beginning of this week but God gave me a really couple of special days this week reminding me why he has called me here and how he is working despite the difficulties.

We had a great team here from Canada these past two weeks and they were just willing to do anything we needed them to do. I was organising a mobile clinic for Saturday and was planning to count all the medicine on Friday because I didn't have any patients booked in, even with that over 10,000 tablets to count I didn't think I was ever going to get it done. I turned out to be fully booked and has patients right through until 2.30pm and thankfully the team came and counted all the medicine for me otherwise I definitley would have been up all night. As you know I am not the most organised of people and for some reason I always leave things until the last minute, so I am very thankful for the team.

There was a lady on the team who felt God was calling her to sponser one of our seminary students but she felt strongly that it should be a woman. She asked if I knew anyone who needed help, we only have 2 female students and I am really good friends with one of them Nicole. So I arranged for Nicole to come over so they could meet each other, Nicole has a powerful testimoney of how God has worked in her life and called her into seminary. I did write part of it before here, to write her whole testimoney would take me forever I will just pick out a couple of bits for you or give you the shortened version.....

'My mum was 15 when I was born and when I was 9 months old she left me in a box close to my fathers house. My grandmother found me however she did not know my father had any children, later when my father came home he told her he was my father. My grandmother brought me up until I was 4 and then she died, after that I returned back to my father's house to live with his new wife and family. I had a difficult childhood, my stepmum was always jealous of me. I grew up got married had 3 children of my own and adopted 2 more. One night I had a dream, me along with all the leaders of my church were going to the ambassadors office to collect our visa's to go to the states. A man came down to collect the papers and took everyone's, when he got to me he said no you are not part of this group. I was surprised and asked him to go and talk to the ambassador. He went, returned and said the ambassador said You are not to leave, he has work for you here, go across the road and find Pastor John (this is not his actual name but to be honest I cannot remember the name of the pastor!!) tell him I said he has to take you to seminary and enroll you there. That was the end of the dream. The next day in church the leaders were having a meeting and one of the leaders stood up before us and said 'God is calling someone here who is it,' I didn't say anything, he asked again, again I didn't respond and the third time I replied it was me. Then for 6 months nothing happened, one day in the school I had in my house one of the kids brought one of their books to me and when I opened it the person who has signed the book was called pastor John. Immediately I asked the mum of the child if she knew this man, she said yes and I asked her to take me to him.

I went to see him and explained my dream, he said ok I see God has spoken to you however he has not spoken to me, give me your phone number. One week later the pastor phoned me and asked me to come to his house. He said God has spoken to me, come with me so I can enroll you in seminary. I was in my 3rd year on 12th January when the earthquake hit, I felt the earth shake but by the grace of God I was unharmed but my house fell down completely, I slept out in the road for a few days with my 5 children. When a friend of mine who lives in the north sent a car down to bring me back to where she lives. After a few days I was frustrated, I had nothing, no money, no food nothing I wanted to go back to Port au Prince. I had a dream with God telling me to stay here, the next day I went out into the area evangelising. The area has alot of witch doctors and alot of people serving Satan but i preached the word of God. The next day sunday I went to church, the pastor stood up and said we had someone evangelising in this area yesterday if that person is here can they stand up and tell us who they are. I stood up and explained to the church who I was. The pastor came to talk to me afterwards, later that day another pastor, Pastor Exalus (who is actually the chaplin in our clinic) phoned me. He asked about my story how I got here, he told me OMS have a seminary who is accepting studnets who were in seminary in Port for free if I wanted to go he would take me on Thursday so I agreed. The next day God woke me up at 4am and told me to go to seminary today,I packed me bag and called pastor Exalus and told him I need to go today. He said no I can take you on Thursday. I said no God told me to go today, he replied 'Ok if God told you to go, you should go,' I said ok where is the seminary. Saccenville he told me. I did not have any idea where Saccenville was, I got on the tap tap and asked people to let me know when we arrive in Saccenville. Pastor Exalus had told me to ask for Pastor Vilmer, thats what I did when I arrived. I told my story and he looked at me. He said if you had have come on thursday we wouldn't have accepted you, class starts for everyone tomorrow. He gave me a room and I started seminary the next day.

I love emmaus and when we left in June I told Ms Stacey I will be returning in September not having any idea where I would get the money from. (Our students all have sponsers who help with the tution fees however on top of that the students have to pay some at the start of the year themselves). I have been praying all summer and I need to pay the money by next Friday or else I cannot return. I had stared to get a little worried but I know God is faithful and he will provide for me. And I see today how he is providing for me.'

It was a very special afternoon as I was translating her testimoney I was getting goosebumps in the ways God has worked in her life. The other thing that I love is that all 3 of us where from different countries, one from Haiti, one from Northern Ireland and one from Canada and God has put all 3 of us in the same place at the same time to work together for his glory. I love that. We can never understand how God works, why Nicole had to live through 12th January 2010 and lose everything she has, yet I can see many ways he is using her here, where he has put her right now. She has been on a few mobile clinics with us and God is using her to bring people to himself.

It was a very special afternoon and that evening I went down to talk to Vedane and Dr Rodney (2 of my very close friends here) and I was telling them what happened, we spent the whole night just telling stories if how God has worked in our lives, I even didn't get home until 10pm (thats late for Haiti!!)

The second special say was Saturday but that will have to wait for another day........

Update from Milot

2010-08-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

Things in Milot are really getting quiet, from starting out with around 350 patients in 5 huge tents, we are down to around 40 in just 2 of the tents and they aren't really full. This is Marie-Genese, she is in her early 20's and lost her arm and her leg in the earthquake. She has prothesis for both and is just getting to the stage where she is walking all by herself. Every morning her and a few of the girls in her tent spend about an hour singing, worshipping God then praying. It is lovely to hear everyday and still amazes me what they have been through yet their prayers are full of praises.

We have 3 patients who lost both their legs in the earthquake, admatha, Joseph and Margaret. All in their early 20's. They were all given prothesis in June and with the girls it has taken a bit or persuasion to get them up walking on them but they are getting very good. The girls are both walking with a stick and their prothestic legs but still need a wee bit of encouragement to get up and practice.

Joesph on the other hand is probably the patient in milot who has put in the most effort with everything, always wanting to do physio and to practice walking. Where he lost his left leg is really high up so it should be pretty difficult for him to walk but he tries really hard with everything and is walking with the stick and in between the bars in walking by himself. He is also able to get himself on and off the floor. Joseph has one prayer request, he doesn't want people to feel sorry for him or have pity on him but he wants God to provide a job for him so he can provide for himself.

Joseph

Magaret

There have been about 3 babies born in milot and to me its just miracles God is bringing out of something so awful that has happened. This wee baby jeffery is just 10 days old in this photo and maybe the cutest baby i have ever seen!! His mum was in Port and lost her left arm just below the elbow but she manages so well. There is another wee baby due this week, and its mum was trapped under rubble for 3 days before anyone found her yet the baby survived under all that and everything looks good for the birth this week.

We had a special time with the girls this week, a friend of mine Kate who is from wales married to a Haitian guy but they live in the states. Anyway kids from her church in England had written cards to give to people who were in the earthquake, I have had them in my house since June and have actually even taken them to Milot but have left them in the car!!However I am glad I waited until now to give them out for a couple of reasons first there was one for each girl in the girls tent and secondly to still have people praying for them 8 months later means a lot to them. Here are some of the comments from the cards.....

'The people of haiti are in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.'

'Never give up'

'The world is a small place when we pray together.'

'We are praying for hope for the people in Haiti.'

'May God help you at this difficult time, you are in our hearts.'

I was getting goosebumps translating them for the patients, knowing it was kids who wrote this and knowing how much it meant to the people there that other people were praying for them. Everyone in Haiti knows where the states and maybe Canada is but outside of that not really. One thing that really shocked them was that these kids were from England which was so far away yet cared about them.

Please continue to pray for people in Milot as they heal not only physically but emotionally. The trauma they have been through is unbelievable and with no real professional help it is going to take a long time to get over it especially as they return to Port. Saying that one of the things which has been amazing to see in Milot is the emotional recovery which has taken place. I remember the first month I was there, the tents were full, people just lying in bed all day everyday trying to comprehend what had happened, trying to deal with losing friends and family, their houses, pretty much everything they owned. Seeing alot of people crying, not being able to eat or sleep yet slowly but surely over the last 6 months I see a big change in almost everyone. Some of it began with getting out of bed, up walking, spending time outside but most of it came from talking with others who had been through the same thing, making friends with the people around them and almost everyday I would hear a group of people singing and praying together and I firmly believe that is where their healing has come from.

I just had a friend over today, Nicole (I actualy wrote her testimoney on here a few months ago) she is a student in the seminary she was down in Port for a week during the summer visiting her husband who is still there and really says everything is much the same, everyone is still sleeping in a tent which when it rains it floods and when it rains in this country it really rains, they still haven't cleared away much the rubble and people are hungry and desperate. I really don't know what it is going to take for Port to recover but they people really need our prayers. This year is election year and they are choosing the canditates right now, it would be wonderful if Haiti could have a president who wanted to do the best thing for the country and for its people. And its for that I am praying.

Outside of things going on in Port au Prince so many other situations in this country are just desperate.This is Jackson, he is just 14, well he was 14 on 10th august. He was admitted to milot the 2nd week in July, he has epilepsy and took a seizure and fell into a fire. He was at a different hospital before he came here but found out they could do skin grafts here in Milot, he had 3 grafts and really needed daily physio which wasn't available. We had been working with him as much as possible but it wasn't enough, like a wee before this photo was taken he was able to open his eye fully. His burns are healing well but they his skin is so tight. But praise the Lord a hospital in Boston with a special burns unit accepted him to look after all his treatment. His mum died when he was young so he lives with his dad and a couple of brothers and sisters. Him and his dad left last week to go the states. I can't even imagine what it would be like for them, his dad cannot read or write, they come from way out in the country in Haiti and have never left before. It will be quite an experience getting the plane and arriving in a hospital in the states, I hope they arrived safely and he is getting treated well and is much better.

Some other peeps....

2010-08-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

Apart from physio in the clinic and in Milot there are some other people I try to go and see each week. One of which is Sterlina....I hadn't been too see her for about a month for a couple of reasons but I got the chance to go see her on Wednesday and she is doing really well actually. She is really growing and is almost taller than me which I guess isn't that hard but she is only 14. She still is not really liking where she is living I think she would much rather be with her family in Port but as I explained before her family say there is nothing they can do for her and she is much better where she is. Her wee foot is still not totally healed yet but when it does they are going to give her a prothestic foot where she lost hers. She also doesn't want to start school because her foot isn't healed yet, although I have been trying to tell her she doesn't need her foot to go to school!!!Please continue to pray for her, that she will settle better where she is, she has had so much to cope with over the past 8 months being in the earthquake, thinking her whole family are dead then finding out about 6 weeks ago they are actually alive but they don't want her. Continue to remember her please.

Mono is a wee boy I go and see every week. He has CP and lives just about 10 minutes walk away from our compound. He has a really lovely wee family, his mum works for the mission and they have 6 kids, 3 girls and 3 boys. He does very well with his CP, his is mobile and does lots of things for himself. So I have just been going to teach his mum and dad lots of exercises they can do to help him abit more.

Carlos is doing really well and so is Rosette. I had been going to visit them in their house and just this week Rosette has been back at work just this week. Last time I was here she cooked and sold food out the front of the clinic then after her daughter had been sick she got really sick and was just at home. I was so happy to see her back at home, there are 10 people who live in her house and she is providing for them all so it is great she is well enough to be back at work again. I have another wee friend who comes to see me his name is Phaly, he is only 9 and he used to come visit me in the clinic with Carlos. A while ago he came to me and asked if I could help him with school because his mum died last year and since then he hasn't been able to go to school. So I talked to him and his brother, turns out he is Carlos' cousin and his granny is also Rosette. We managed to get him into starfish and my sister is sponsering him to go to school, its just cool how they are from the same family and now both my sisters are helping Carlos and Phaly to go to school through starfish.

Junior- Junior lives in Saccenville where our seminary is, in May Stacey (one of our missionaries here) told me she had someone for me to see. A young guy who was totally fine and now he is paralysed and cannot walk and they are not sure why. Hannnah and I and Dr Phil who was here at the time went out to see him. He is a young guy who used to live in the states and was sent back to Haiti, however when he came back to Haiti he became a christian and turned his life around, now he is married and his wife is about 6 months pregnant. So he told us he was totally fine the one day he got up and his legs felt itchy and funny and then he felt something go through his body and sure enough after that he could not walk his legs were really weak. We went to check him out and that is what we found, he was really weak with abnormal sensation and unable to stand. Neither Phil or I were really sure what was wrong so we brought him to the clinic the next day for some blood tests. I assessed him properly from a physio point of view and it really looked like something neurological but I wasn't sure what. We got him standing at a frame and I give him loads of exercises to do at home and have been going out to Saccenville to continue treatment in his house. He is now walking with the walker and takes a few steps by himself but is pretty unsteady. Everytime we go he is just thanking God for how much progress he is making.

X ray

2010-08-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well I think I said in the prayer letter we have our X ray machine up and running. Our last X ray machine broke in January of 2008 and then there was one sent down sometime last year but when it was put together they could not get it working. There were a few people who worked on it and each got a little further but not to the stage where it was working completely. There is also another X ray machine which has been on its way for a while but has not yet arrived but God has provided.

There was a lady and her husband here from the states, Denise and Kevin in September of 2008 and Denise reallt felt a burden for the clinic and the X ray machine. Just this year she began communicating with Hannah seeing what exactly we need in the clinic and got pretty much everything. She sent the machine down the first week in July, then Denise and her husband Kevin were here for 5 days from 15th July. The machine is actually a portable but didn't have a stand so Bud (one of our missionaries here) attached it to the other machine. They spent about a day training on it and now it is up and running.

It really is great to have X ray in the clinic. Finding somewhere that does X rays in the north of Haiti is not very easy. We have been sending people to a clinic around 10 mins away from our clinic, however to have an x ray there is 1000 Haitian goudes or more in some cases, so many people just do without if they really need one. In Bethesda we charge 300 goudes for people who are patients in Bethesda and for patients who are sent from other doctors it is 500 goudes.

The Dark room

The first X ray....its my back!

We give God thanks for sending us a new X ray machine. Hannah is especially pleased as this is what she came here to do. Hannah and pastor Daniel are both working together on the X rays. The word is still getting out that we have X ray which is working so things aren't too busy yet but I don't think it will be too long before they are super busy. Many people have been praying for this for a long time and now God has answered so we give him praise.

Prayer letter

2010-07-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

This is my June prayer letter which I could not get uploaded to send home because of internet or lack of so a few bits are a bit out of date I will update them a little as we go along!!

Milot Hospital

Things are still busy at Milot, there are around 80 patients still there. There are less visiting teams so more work for me!A lot of the patients are ready to go home but have no possibility of getting there. The prosthetic lab has been up and running and teams have been coming in for 5 days at a time and working really hard even through the night to make the prosthesis for the amputees. All of the kids got their’s done, it was great to see them walk with their prosthetic leg for the first time. Just last week, Maragret and Joseph who are double leg amputees got both of their prosthesis. They were a little anxious getting up on their new legs for the first time however once they were up they felt great. They are doing physiotherapy everyday to get improve their walking. Joseph is 2o and was in Port for university during the earthquake, his family are from another area in Haiti. He is a Christian and he asked me to pray for him. He says he wants me to pray that God will provide for him in finding a job. He doesn’t want people to feel sorry for him or be given hand outs for the rest of his life. He wants to find a job so he can provide for himself.

*Just this week another 3- patients left there are now around 50, half of whom are amputees and all have their prothesis. I am the only physio there for this week and next so things are a bit busy, its great though. The 3 patients who are double leg amputees all are walking around with their prothesis and crutches*

We have another Joseph in Milot. A 17 year old guy who lost his whole family in the earthquake, mum, dad and 4 siblings. He had a broken knee which has healed and a fractured elbow which was operated on and he now has infection. Right now he doesn’t live at the hospital but it supposed to come everyday for his antibiotics however he doesn’t want to come. I went to talk to him about coming to Milot and taking his medicine . He told me he didn’t care if he came because he didn’t care if he lived or died. He has no family left and doesn’t know what he is going to do. I spoke to him for ages and shared the gospel and had the privilege of praying with him and leading him to the Lord.
*Please pray for Joseaph I really felt he was convicted the day I talked with him and prayed, however no one has seen him since or knows where he is, please pray that God will protect him and bring him back to milot*

Radio distribution in Balan

At the beginning of June there was a team here from the USA who were involved in giving out solar powered radio’s and I got the opportunity to go along and translate. Radio 4VEH has been in Haiti for 60 years and through the ministry of solar powered radios thousands of people have to come know the Lord. We went out into the local community in teams of five. Each team consisted of three people from the US one person from the local church and a translator. Each house we stopped at someone shared the gospel and then gave the family in the house a radio. We had the opportunity to pray with believers, to encourage them and over 20 people accepted the Lord that day. The radio is on air 24 hours a day and for some people this is the only time they will ever hear the gospel. For some others 4VEH is their church and where they listen to sermons and bible studies.

The new building in finally finished and being used! It looks great inside and we are using it for the AIDS clinic and also the TB clinic.

Just this week a portable Xray machine for the clinic. Hannah is pretty excited! Now we are just waiting on all the other things she needs to arrive so we can actually get X ray’s up and running!!There is a lady coming in on 15th July to bring the other supplies and to show Hannah how this particular machine works.
*so it is past 15th June and our X ray machine is up and running!After 2 and a half years of no Xray. Things have been picking up as word gets out that Bethesda has a machine. X rays are difficult to find here in the north of the country and also in The clinic ours in half he price of the other clinic which is close by which is much better for patients. *

Our ultrasound machine is still not really being used, please keep praying for someone to come for a short period of time to do some teaching.

The ‘Physiotherapy Department’ has been busy. I have been treating a lot of strokes and thankfully they have all been getting better. About 4 of my patients the first time they came they were completely paralysed down one side and now all of them are walking.

I also had another wee patient, Stephanie who was in port at school during the earthquake. The first time I saw her someone carried her in. She has damage in some nerves in her legs and I wasn’t overly sure what to do with her. However now just 6 weeks later she is walking completely by herself.

Just this week we had a very sick wee baby in, he has been sick for 5 days with diarrhea , he came back everyday to be given a strong antibiotic for 3 day. Ms Ketlie was looking after the family and spoke to the father who told her the baby was sick because of voodoo, someone had cast a spell on him. Ms Ketlie explained it was not that but just an infection she also shared the gospel and the baby’s mum became a Christian. The father wants to but says he is not ready yet. *Since then the dad has accepted Christ and the couple are planning to get married and begin a new life with God*

Mobile medical clinics

We have run mobile clinics in two different places, Soufrierre and Roque. The aim of a mobile clinic is not only to provide medical care but also to reach people with the gospel and encourage other believers.

Our team to Soufrierre included Dr Phil who was here on short term from N.I, Ms Prudence and 5 of our seminary students. We saw 200 patients in one day! The students had the privilege of leading some people to the Lord. The also prayed and counseled other patients. The earthquake really has affected everyone all over the country. Soufrierre is in the middle of the mountains about an hour away from Cap Haitian yet we found people living there who has been in Port on 12th January. Four of our students were also in port on 12th Jan and were able to pray and counsel those patients.

Roque is a very special place where OMS has been doing mobile clinics when Dr Gavin was here. However it has been nearly 2 years since they have had a doctor there. From Friday afternoon to Saturday evening we saw 320 patients!!I really do not know how the people in Roque survive, they are literally in the middle of no where and they have nothing yet they have content people because a lot of them have the Lord. The impact being in Roque has had on our team in amazing to see. Wadner was in Roque with us in 2008 translating , he came back this time to pray with the patients. After church on Sunday he was upset and I went over to see what was wrong. This is what he told me ‘Julie when people from the states come to Haiti they say they take everything they have for granted, that is how I feel about people in Cap Haitian. I just feel so blessed to be able to come here.’

The walk up to Roque

Praises
For both the medical clinics, the patients who were seen and those who committed their lives to the Lord.

For the new building being finished and being used.

For God’s faithfulness and how he is providing in every situation.

For the patients in Milot continuing to heal both physically and emotionally

The portable X ray machine arriving. *and now being used!*

Prayers

Patients leaving Milot hospital and returning to Port au Prince to live in a tent.

For a mobile clinic we are running for a week in Diquini, Port au Prince. *the clinic was cancelled due to unsafe conditions in Port, please continue to pray for the situation in Port*

For the country of Haiti, its government as they continue to rebuild

Sister's visit

2010-07-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

My sister’s have just left after spending 2 weeks with me here in Haiti. I went over to the Dominican Republic to meet them and we took the bus over to Cap Haitian. It was a very long journey but we finally arrived. Leah and Claire had left home on Sunday morning at 5am arrived in the international airport to find out their flight to London was cancelled. Fortunately my mum found a flight from the city airport to London and they just about got on the flight to the Dominican. Anyway they finally arrived at my house in Haiti at 7pm Monday night and were pretty wiped out!!

I brought them to the clinic to meet everyone here, seemingly they have a brother, a couple of sisters and heaps of cousins in Haiti after only being here for one day!!We took a tap tap into Cap Haitian to go into the market and have a wee walk about. It was quite the scene, there are not normally a lot of white people walking about in Cap Haitian and there was the 3 of us, plus Hannah and her mum!!

This week we have also spent a wee bit of time in the clinic, Claire and Leah have been given a few jobs to do. We also visited the Citadelle which is this huge castle which was built by Henri Christophe, who was king at the time. He built it in case of attack, there were thousands of people died in the construction of the Citadelle and it was never used. It was so hot and the citadelle is right up on top of a mountain. I had to drive a 15 seater van up these steep hills, then walk up what felt like even steeper hills in the heat, at some points I definitely didn’t think we were going to make it, both in the van and while we were walking. But we did and the view from the top was amazing so it was worth it.

We also had lots of people just to go and visit. Leah’s starfish kid is my wee friend Carlos and we went to visit him a couple of times. Starfish is the ministry here which sponsers kids to go to school.

Claire and Leah did a lot of work sorting our depot out. It was pretty much a mess and full of boxes which needed sorted out. Even with the ‘killer cat’ in there (the Cat is there to kill any rats which may be there) they worked flat out for about 4 days, I think its probably because it is one of the very few rooms we have here with an air conditioner!!No really the depot looks good now.

We also spent loads of time with my close friends Vedane, Dr Rodney and their two boys, wood & olly. Mum sent over these wee Northern Ireland kits for the boys, they are so cute. They came walking up to the house in them chanting 'Irlande du Nord!!'

Vedane, Dr Rodney with their two boys wood and olly and Vedane's cousin Freddo who lives with them.

My friend Wadner's family, his sister's and his wee neice Sandra.

The view from the Citadelle.

The hole in the gospel

2010-07-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

I am reading a great book called ‘The hole in the Gospel.’ By Richard Stearns who is the president for world vision. Anyone who knows me I hate talking about money and discussing money things but at the end of the day it is important. The book is about how we as Christians want to follow God yet there are so many of his commands which we ignore. We are completely ignorant to what is going on in the rest of the world when there is so much we could be doing and so much God has called us to do. Don’t get me wrong there is no doubt the most important thing is to go and share the gospel and to make disciples. However if we read numerous passages in the bible about our actions, in particular Matthew ch 25 v 31- 46 God clearly asks us to do more. This book is very very challenging and also gives some stastics which I could not believe. I normally don’t share things here but I really feel I want to and even though most of it is about money I think it is important. Richard Stearns says ‘The bible devotes twice as many verses to money as it does to faith and prayer combined and fully 15% of Jesus’ recorded words dealt with money.’ All the statics are based on the church in America......

• If your income is $25,000 US per year you are wealthier than approximately 90% of the world’s population.

• Of the 6.7 billion people on the earth almost half live on less than $2 per day.

• 93% of the world’s population do not own a car therefore if you do you are in the 7% that do.

• The total income of American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion, it would take just a little over 1% of the income of American Christians to lift the poorest one billion people in the world out of extreme poverty.

• If every American churchgoer tithed, there would be an extra $168 billion,they could literally change the world. Universal primary education for children would cost $6 billion, clean water to most of the world’s poor $9 billion, basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world, $13 billion.

Here is a letter he has written to the church directly from the words words of Jesus. Before he starts he also says ‘I realize this violated every rule of sound biblical exegesis, but I think you will agree that it works-it speaks to us with truth and with bluntness.’

These are the words of the one who holds the seven stars and walks among the golden lamp stands. I know your deeds. You live in luxury and self indulgence because you have forgotten your first love. I hold this against you. Woe to those of you who add house to house and join field to field til no space is left. Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.

Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but you have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded you wealth in the last days. You say ‘I am rich ;I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ Yet it is those who are poor in the eyes of the world that are rich in faith. I have chosen them to inherit the kingdom I have promised to those who love me. Therefore, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy. And thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Seek first my kingdom and my righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you aswell. Remember, even I, the Lord Jesus Christ, though I was rich, for your sakes became poor, so that you, through my poverty might become rich.

Why do you call me, ‘Lord Lord,’ but do not do what I say. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says, for whoever obeys my commands-that is the one who loves me.

What does the Lord require of you, you ask? To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. In fact the entire law is summed up in a single command, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

There will always be poor people in the land. I command you to be open-handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in the land. Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless, maintain the rights of the poor and the oppressed.

Now let’s talk about fasting. You cannot fast as you do today and except your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? It is only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? No, this is the fast that I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke. It is to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him.

Even now, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and he relents from sending calamity.

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Why spend money on what is not bread and labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Then you will call and I will answer: you will cry for help, and I will say, ‘Here am I,’ If you do away with the yoke of oppression with the pointing finger and the malicious talk and if your spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become as noonday. I will guide you always, I will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Therefore my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in Vain.

I am coming soon, My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

The book really challenged me about what I am doing with my money which God has blessed me with. God has put us where we are for a reason,I often wonder why did I deserve to be born in Northern Ireland instead of Haiti. Where I was able to grow up in a nice house, with my family, able to eat everyday, able to go to school and if I was sick I was able to go to the doctor. Why did I deserve that compared to the kids I meet here in Haiti everyday who live in a small mud hut, not having much to eat, not being able to afford to go to school or the doctor if they are sick. And I’m not just talking about Haiti, add on Africa, eastern Europe, South America, China and even areas of our own country.
So..........what am I going to do about it?

I believe as christains it is our responsibility to help the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and heal the sick. We get so consumed with stuff and at the end of the day when we die we cannot bring any of it with us. Yet with the money we use to buy ‘stuff’ there is so much more we can be doing which God can use to change lives. We can send children to school who have no other means, pay for medical care for people who cannot afford to, help a family start a small business so they can support themselves, provide clean water for a village, help build a house/school/ church, pay for bibles for people who cannot afford them, pay for airtime for Christian radio stations, I could go on...........maybe your thinking ok that’s good but how?

There are so many Christian organisations which have these sort of opportunities which need support and prayer to fund these projects so they not only preach the love of God but also show the love of God through their actions ( Tearfund, world vision, Abanna are just to name a few).

Richard Stearns really writes much better than me so I will finish with some of his words....

‘When historians look back in one hundred years, what will they write about this nation of 340,000 churches? What will they say of the church‘s response to the great challenges of our time- AIDS, poverty, hunger, terrorism and war? Will they say authentic Christians rose up courageously and responded to the tide of human suffering? Will they write of an unprecedented outpouring of generosity to meet the urgent needs of the world’s poor?

Or will they look back and see a church too comfortable, insulated from the pain of the rest of the world, empty of compassion, and devoid of deeds? Will they write about a people who stood by and watched while a hundred million died of AIDS and fifty million children were orphaned, of Christians who lived in luxury and self indulgence while millions died of food and water? Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a church that had wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals and clinics? In short will we be remembered as the church with a gaping whole in the gospel?

For your Prayers...

2010-07-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have told a few you about a few people and just wanted to give a quick update about how they are doing...

Sterlina- My wee friend from Milot who was in Port on 12th Jan. She had been told her whole family were killed and so after being in Milot they sent her to live in an orphanage in Cap Haitian, I have been going to visit her every couple of weeks. I was out last week and she just found out her family are actually all still alive, her dad is ill but he was ill before the earthquake, her mum was hurt in the earthquake and is still healing and all 6 of her brothers & sisters are fine, they are also all together in Port right now. She spoke to her family on the phone, her mum said to her, I already have 6 kids who I cannot look after, I cannot do anything for you, you would be better staying where you are. I asked her what she would prefer to stay somewhere where she is well looked after with food, clothes, somewhere to sleep and school to go to or be in Port with her family where none of that is guaranteed. She just told me she didn’t know. I’m not sure what she was thinking though. But she is having a hard time, having grieved for her family who she found out are now alive but she has no way of seeing them.

Berlota- He is the young guy I met who had fallen out of a tree and had been lying at home and developed a huge pressure sore on his lower back. He is still in Milot, they cleaned out the wound, give him anti-biotics for infection, and are changing the dressing’s every day. I had a chat with him the other day about the future what he thinks will happen. Education, especially health education is very limited in Haiti and he really had no idea he would ever be able to walk again. I had to explain to him why not and what he could do once his back heals. He has been sitting up by himself over the edge of the bed which is great. There is a plastic surgeon out in Milot this week and they may do a procedure to help it heal much quicker. Please continue to pray for his healing. Also praise God for someone from home who has donated money to pay for his medical bills.....God provides. Especially when we obey him, the first time I met Berlota I knew I couldn’t not do anything yet I had no idea who I was going to pay for things, immediately God provided a way without me even doing anything or asking anyone.

Auguste- This is the lady I met with the sore hip. I sent her to Milot hospital to get an orthopaedic opinion. She is really in a bad position, she has had infection in her hip probably for a couple of years and her hip replacement is not in a good position at all which is why she is in so much pain. I spoke to the doctor (he was an American) he explained even if she lived in the states it would be very difficult to find a hospital to give her the treatment she needs. Our only option here in Haiti is painkillers and some antibiotics which will maybe probably not do much. She has 5 kids and I have been trying to talk to her about a way to find some sort of work to do. Even though that is going to be really difficult, but she has to otherwise I have no idea how she will live. Please pray for her as she accepts there is nothing we can do here in Haiti for her from a medical point of view. Also pray God will give us a way to find some sort of work for her to do.

Ashkala- Its really her mum I would want you to pray for, her name is Myrlene. She came to see me today to let me know her husband who had been really sick for a couple of years just died on Wednesday. I had talked to her about two weeks ago and she told me she thought he was close to dying. Then she told me she took ashkala over to an orphanage on Friday. She told me not because she doesn’t love her, because she wants the best for her, and maybe by putting her there they can look after her well and provide better medical care. Myrlene is really an amazing lady, I told her if all the things that had happened to her I do not know how I would be sitting there talking to me. She replied ‘it is only by God’s grace that I am able to sit here and talk to you. I used to go to church then I left but as all these happened to me, I had 4 children and they have all died, just ashkala who is still alive but she is suffering alot, but everytime I see her I give God thanks for her because out of all the children I had have she has lived the longest. I came back to the Lord, began going to church again and God has given me so much strength to keep going. It is only by God’s grace that I am alive today, that I am able to come and talk to you today.' Myrlene has had such a difficult time and everytime I see her or talk to her she never asks me for anything other than to pray for her which is unusual for Haiti really. She is such an example of faith, so many people in the same situation would question God why he was letting her suffer so much. Yet she does not look at it like that, She is a strong strong christian and an amazing example of God's faithfullness and strength.

Mobile Clinic, Roque

2010-06-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

On the walk up

One of the places I went with Dr Gavin when I was here before in 2008 was Roque and before I even got back to Haiti I knew I would try to do another mobile clinic there. We were joining together with Tim Randoph a Lab Tech from the US who has been to Roque a few times with Gavin. I had planned the dates with Tim a long time ago but here in Haiti I could not get hold of the pastor, I was lying in bed one night 2 weeks ago thinking I need to figure out somewhere else to go because if I cannot find Pastor Christianne then we cannot go. Then next day he came to the clinic and said he heard I was looking for him, only in Haiti could that happen.

Crossing the river

We just went up to Roque this past weekend and had a wonderful but difficult weekend but also feel extremely blessed to be there. We had 9 in our team, Dr Rodney, Tim, Lori, Christiana, Melissa, Erin, me who were all working in the lab, taking vitals, working in the pharmacy, then Betty and Wadner who were praying with people. We left Vaudrieul here at 5.30am and after about a 2-3 hour drive over awful roads, we arrived at the bottom of the mountain. Roque is right on top of a moutain so after 2 hours walking uphill we finally arrived. Roque is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in, as you are walking up the scenery just gets better and better, about half way up you think it can't get any better until you get to the top!!

The school

The church now, before the walls were sticks and they are beginning to build a church with blocks. However for each block to be brought up the mountain it is $1 haitian. To put it into prospective 8 blocks would cost $1 US, just to be carried thats not including paying for each one.

We had a quick break and quickly got set up. Very often in Haiti when we run clinics people 'fe dezod' which basically means they go a bit crazy pushing, shoving, shouting to make sure they get to see the doctor which in some circumstances is understandable considering they have no other means to see a doctor. But the people in Roque are not like that. I'm not sure how I can describe Roque, I have no idea how people live there to be honest. Their closest doctor is 5 hours away, they have no where to buy food, clothes or anything else they need, no where to even make money. They live off the ground, if they plant potatoes, everyone eats potatoes, if they plant corn, everyone eats corn. To make any money they take anything they have grown down the mountain on a donkey, go to the closest 'big' town which is Baron sell what they can and with the money they make they buy some rice to take back to Roque. When I am in Cap Haitian I can look and see the people here are poor and don't have very much but in Roque those people literally have nothing. Nearly every single child has the red tinge to their hair which is a sign of malnutrition. Yet despite all this, despite them having nothing the people who live in Roque are content. Not one person asked me for anything....it is very unusual to go somewhere in Haiti as a white person and not be asked to give someone something. Nearly every child can say 'give me 1 dollar'!. Not in Roque, the people there have never had anything, they do not know what it is to live having money and the most important thing most of them have is God and because of that they are content in the situation where God had placed them.

Waiting patiently for the doctor

Friday we saw 100 patients, and Betty and Wadner prayed with almost everyone. Alot of the people who came are already christians and we were able to encourage them. Friday evening we had a short service in the church we heard at the church there was a girl who was just 17years old and 9 months pregnant who was not well and the pastor asked us to pray for her. That evening they brought her to the church around 11pm, she was in a seizing and very unwell. Dr Rodney knew straight away she had pre eclampsia, she was not responding to anything and was seizing. We did not have the medicine with us she needed, it was the middle of the night totally pitch black and the top of a mountain, 5 hours away from the nearest hospital. The only thing we could do was basic first aid and pray. The whole church was outside praying and singing. At around 1am we decided we have to get her to hospital. So explained to the family, gave them money and they carried her down in the pitch black, hired a car at the bottom and took her to the hospital. We did not sleep at all that night just worried for her. Despite that the next day Dr Rodney worked like a trooper, and we saw 220 patients in just one full day. Dr Rodney's rule was we were not finishing until all the medicine was gone. At one point it started to pour and Haitian people being Haitian they hate the rain, so no-one wanted to leave. I think we had around 100ish probably more people in the church, with Dr Rodney still consulting and us giving out medicine in the pharmacy yet it was totally fine , the people were just great.

The rain!

By the end of the day I couldn't even stand anymore!!Giving out medicine at the pharmacy.

Sunday morning then we had church service, Dr Rodney preached wonderfully on God has not forgotten you. We came down the mountain on sunday afternoon and back home on Sunday evening. We heard news over the weekend, the young girl who is called Diana was taken to the hospital, they did a Caesarean section and the baby had already died. Diana was still alive but has not yet began to speak so please pray she will make a full recovery from this.

There were a few things which happened before the weekend which made me think it wasn't going to work out. But it was so obvious that God wanted us in Roque that weekend, when they brought Diana into the church I really couldn't understand. It had been nearly 2 years since a doctor had been there and the one night there was a doctor there was nothing we could do for her, at least not medically right there at that time. However we were able to pray, we were able to give her family the advice about what to do and we were able to give them the money to do it.

We just praise the Lord for the weekend, for all the people we were able to help medically and spiritually. It has also been amazing to see the effect being there has had. Wadner one of my Haitian friends said to me after the church service....'I always hear american people say they take for granted what God has given them and that now after he has been in Roque he feels that is how people in Cap Haitian are, they take for granted what God has given to them.'. It is very humbling to hear that. Also in the clinic on Tuesday Dr Rodney preached on phillipians where Paul says he is content in all situations whether he is poor or rich. He talked about the people in Roque not having anything at all yet they are content because they have God and he challenged us to be the same, to not look for or want material things but to be content in what God had given us and what he has done for us.

Prayers

2010-06-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

I have a few specific things I would love you to remember in your prayers. It seems like everyone I meet and talk to recently, life is just getting more difficult.

The first person I would like you to pray for is Ashkala and her mum. I talked about her before. Her mum really needs prayers for strength, the kind of supernatural strength only the Lord can provide. Incase you don't know this lady (I'm bad with Haitian names and cannot remember!!) misscarried 4 babies, her 5th was born normal, Ashkala and at 2 and a half year she had a big seizure and has been left unable to walk, talk or basically do anything by herself. She is still very ill and is continutally having mini seizures everyday. I met her in the street on friday and she just asked me to pray for her. So many people ask for money, ask for food but she never does, the only thing she ever asks is for prayer. She told me if it wasn't for God she would already be dead, it is only by God's grace that she is able to live. Her husband is really ill and she thinks he will die very soon. She is also thinking about putting Ashkala into an orphange where she thinks she will be better looked after and they can maybe fine her more medical help. Her words to me where, I am still her mother and she is still my daughter and I love her but I cannot do anything more for her, I need to find some help from somewhere. please continue to lift her and her family up in prayer.

The next lady is a lady who came to see me to ask for help for her kids, she is just 40 and(again I cannot remember her name) she has 5 kids, 3 from her husband then he died, then she lived with another man and she had 2 children with him. Ten years ago she had to get a hip replacment I am not too sure why and then 2 years ago she started to feel pain in her hip and has been walking with a walking stick and unable to work. The father of the youngest 2 kids told her he was leaving because she is like an old lady and he was going to find someone younger. Now she is on her own with five children, unable to work and in alot of pain in her hip. I have sent her for an X ray to see if we can find out what is wrong with her hip, if we can sort that out then maybe she can find some work to support her family.

The last person is called Berloca, sorry this is a bit of a story of how I meet him and what is going on....
On friday I went out with the team to a place called Balon, they were giving out solar radio's and I went along to translate for a wee group. Our team was with the Pastor and on our way back to the wee church the pastor stopped in with someone who was sick to pray with them, I saw him lying on the floor, the pastor told me (word for word translated) 'he is sick in his legs' so I thought maybe I could help him being a physio. I went in and they told me he fell out of a tree and is paralysed. Then they took a sheet of his back and he has this huge pressure sore on his back. I talked to them for a wee while to get the story they had gone to the hospital in town and were told they cannot do anything, they need to take him to the Dominican and sent him home. He has been at home lying on a cement floor, no mattress, nothing soft just a couple of sheets. So the pressure sore developed. I honestly have never see anything as bad in my life, there are 4 grades and his is grade 4. He also had a small on on his knee and one on his foot.

He was in my head all weekend, I was thinking I cannot see him then not do anything. But I had no idea what I could do, I do not have the money to look after him or even begin to send him to the DR. On Sunday I took Vedane (my friend) to go and visit her family and I had no idea where we were going on the way, I asked her and she said 'Balon', I couldn't really believe it, I had never been there before Friday. So I went to see him again and told his family we would take him to Milot with us monday, that I cannot promise they can help him but we can try. This morning, it was pretty crazy, it took 3 guys to lift him put him in the back of the car lying down on his tummy because he cannot lie on his back because of the sore, while the whole community is watching. We arrived at Milot and of course a crowd of people gathered round to watch them try lift him out of the car into the hospital. I spent the whole day with the family and trying to figure out what they will do and how much things are going to cost.

They gave him some antibiotics and tomorrow they are going to do a debridment, basically remove all the dead tissue. After that I am not sure what will happen next. He really needs an operation with a skin flap, Im not sure if they can do that in Milot.
Please pray we can find a way to help him. If they can get the sore better and we can educate his family he can have a good quailty of life as a paraplegic. It just amazes me how God puts me in places where he needs me and where he can use me. I went to Balon first because someone asked me, then I was put in the group with the Pastor, then I had agreed to take Vedane to her visit her family about 2 weeks ago I said we would go on Sunday and I had no idea where we were going.
Things like that do not happen by chance, God plans things in advance and his timing is perfect.

Happy Birthday radio 4VEH

2010-06-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

This last week was the anniversary of our radio station here 4VEH. The radio had been broadcasting for 60 years here in Haiti. There have been thousands of people who have been saved through the radio station, OMS gives out solar powered radios all over the north of the country and for some people this is the only time they will ever hear the gospel, for others who have become Christians through the radio this will be their only access to hearing the word of God.

The Crusade

Last week we were running a big crusade right in the centre of town and Saturday night was the big night to celebrate the anniversary of the radio station so Hannah and I went along. The big attraction on Saturday night was ‘Ti Bob’…Haiti’s biggest Christian artist!!! He really is big in Haiti and everyone loves him. I was just standing there listening and watching, if I was at home right then I would have probably been at the snow patrol concert in Ward Park along with thousands of other people with their hands in the air almost worshipping Gary Lightbody and his band. Yet here I was, the complete opposite, in one of the poorest countries in the world, standing in a square with thousands of people with their hands in the air except they weren’t there to worship a man they were there to worship their God. The God who saved them and has given them freedom and life. In a country which looks so hopeless these people have hope.

Throughout the week they had alot of people come to the Lord including a witch doctor one night. Please pray for these new believers, that they wouldn't just have made a decision in the moment but that the decision would have truly changed their lives. Pray that they will be disicipled well and find a church with good solid teaching and be able to be a witness in their families and their communities.

http://www.radio4veh.org

Here is a personal testimoney....

'No one knew Evodie was making plans to kill herself. Except God. And just wait til you read what happened next.
Feeling ashamed and humilated by the father of her unborn child, Evodie went to the market and bought 2 sachets of rat poison. Back home, she ripped open the sachets, emptied the poison into a bottle of coke and prepared to drink.

As she put the poison to her lips, the electricity came back on after one of the frequent power cuts in Cap Haitian, and she heard the voice of radio 4VEH presenter Louisa Destine, in her programme, time for comfort, saying 'I greet you all in the name of Jesus'
Evodie listened as Louisa began speaking directly to her: 'You with a drink infront of you, you have put something in the drink to take your life. This is not God's will for you.'
Convicted by the holy spirit, Evodie says of that moment, 'I fell on my knees before my Lord and asked forgiveness for what I was about to do.' In her time of need, the Lord intervened and saved her life, and that of her unborn son. God spoke directly to Evodie in a way she would understand-through Radio 4VEH.

Here is another story from a book called Let the rocks cry out with gives the history of 4VEH. It really is amazing how the radio has touched so many lives.

'Let the rocks cry out is bringing more people to Christ than perhaps any other single program on 4VEH. Since its beginning in November 1996, scores of conversions have been reported, many of them young adults. According to one listener, when the program is aired , 'every radio in Haiti is tuned to 4VEH'
The hour-long broadcast is Creole on Monday and Wednesday evenings features gripping interviews with people delievered from the bondage of Satanism and voodoo.
In May, Radio 4VEH aired the powerful testimoney of Mr Ludovic, a former voodoo priest converted 8 years ago by the witness of the woman now his wife. Ludovic was well known in Haiti for his satanic activities and murder, even of his own family members.
Now he was speaking out for Jesus Christ, telling of God's power that freed him from the bondage of fear and evil under voodooism. Response to his testimoney was electrifying, listeners requested tapes of the broadcast.
In the village of Port-Francais, ten miles south of Cap Haitian, a voodoo priestess heard Ludovic's astounding testimoney of God's transforming power. 'If God can save Ludovic He can save me!'. She did an abrupt spiritual about-face and accepted Jesus as her personal Saviour, challenging her allegiance from Satan to Jesus. Years earlier, a 4VEH pre-tuned radio had been used by God to plant a church in this area.'

Yesterday, Friday I had the opportunity to go with the team out to go and give out these solar radio's. I was going as a translator and it was a priviledge to be a part of it. I had heard so many stories of solar radio's being given out and people becoming christian's through radio 4VEH in a remarkable way but this is the first time I had been directly invloved.
We met at a wee church in a town called Balon, the church was planted in 2008, after a pastor evangelising in the area and alot of people getting saved. They were travelling far to go to church in Goden and the Pastor of Goden had a vision to plant a church in Balon. But they had no where to meet. For 7/8 months they met outside under a tree. Then someone in the community offered a room in the middle of their house for them to meet. It is a wee tiny room and each sunday they have around 50 people meeting. The Pastors words were ' we have to cut our service short (2hours!) because it gets so hot inside people are dying!!'. I was in it for about 10 minutes and it really was roasting, I cannot imagine what it would be like with 50 people inside. Right now the church is praying for a new place to meet with more space and somewhere a bit cooler!

The wee church

We split up in 5 groups, 3 people from the team, 1 translator and 1 local person from the church. Actually the pastor was in our group. We visited about 10 families in their homes and with each one shared the gospel, that God had sent Jesus into the world to die for our sins, and if we continue to live in sin, to live without Christ then they are lost. But if they accept God's gift of salvation then they will have eternal life. Alot of people we meet already know the Gospel. Within the 5 groups they spoke to between 50 and 60 people, some of who were already christians, some who were prayed with. Alot of people have made a decision to accept the Lord but don't really believe they are saved and need the encouragement. We also spoke with around 18 (I can't remember exactley) became christians, and they were encouraged to choose a church in the area to start going to. Also the Pastor will continue to visit these people. Each house we went to visit we also got the opportunity to give them a solar radio which is tuned to Radio 4VEH.

Giving the radio to a family (I don't think all the kids were from the same family)

It was a really great experience and amazing to see how solar powered radio's are changing people lives all over Haiti.

mobile medical clinic

2010-06-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

The walk up through the mountains

This weekend ten of us went off to do a mobile medical clinic in the mountains in a place called Suffriere. We had a team of 12 of us, me and Hannah who ran the pharmacy. Dr Phil who is from Northern Ireland he is here for 3 weeks he was consulting along with Ms Prudence who is a nurse in our clinic. Wadner, a good friend of mine who lives in Vaudrieul close to our compound. We also had 6 of our seminary students come with us to evangelize/encourage and pray with patients. Our seminary students were Nicole, Yoland, Jean-Marc. Jean-Marie, Devacoeur and Gesner. Four out of these six students were studying in Port au Prince before the earthquake and their seminary’s were destroyed. Our seminary had an announcement on the radio saying there were offering places for free to students who were in Port during the earthquake. The pastor of the church is Ms Prudence’s husband, they have been working in that area for 20 years and he goes there every Sunday. It is a very very poor area and the people have nothing. Their closest medical care is probably down here in Cap Haitian.

Our team

One of the men from suffriere who carried our medical supplies

Going through the river

We left at 6 on Saturday morning and went to pick up Ms Prudence and her husband, they put their stuff in the back of the truck and the next thing to go in was 2 chickens with their feet tied up, obviously going to be one of our meals over the weekend. We stopped off along the way to get some Tampico (Haitian version on sunny delight), then to the ‘ice factory’ to get a big block of ice. And after an hour then it was time to walk, 2 hours up the mountain but it really is a lovely walk. Some guys came down with a couple of donkeys to take all the medical supplies up. So after 2 hours we arrived at the church where the clinic was going to be held.

They turned out to be dinner on Sunday

The crowd waiting for us in the church

Inside the church was pretty crazy, we think there was maybe around 400 people there who had come to see the doctor and there was no way just between Dr Phil and Ms Prudence they were going to see them all. Ms Prudence went round and give tickets to those people who were most sick so they could be seen. We The clinic actually ran very well, people got their dossier (a wee card) and waited in line to see the doctor, then were sent to the pharmacy to pick up their medicine, then sent over to speak with the pastor. We also gave each patient bread with peanut butter and a tampico while they were waiting. There were a lot of people there who had been in Port during the earthquake and it was great because a few of our students had been in Port on 12th January (the day of the earthquake). So they were able to counsel and pray with those patients. One lady was in her house with her 4 children and she was able to run out with one of her kids but she lost her other 3 and her husband and is just struggling.

Dr Phil, clearly enjoying his job!

I just had to put this photo in cos this wee lady was so cute. I am not the tallest person in the world but I felt tall beside her.

We took a short break at 2 o’clock and just about 5 minutes before it started to rain, like really started to pour. Which actually was a good thing for us because a lot of people left and just the one minute before our wee break finished the rain stopped and the sun came out. So we were praising God for the rain and for the timing of the rain. We finished around 5 after seeing 200 patients. The seminary students got the opportunity to pray with a lot of people and they also found some people who wanted to be saved.

Pastor Jean-Marie praying with a little girl

The next day we went to church, they have around people in their church. I have no idea where the people come from because there are hardly any houses close by! Sunday in Haiti was mothers day and they had a special children’s choir to tell the mum’s happy mothers day. The seminary students took the service and we all sang together, after lunch we headed back down the mountain and back home.

The children's choir for mothers day

We just praise God for the weekend, for the opportunity to and treat people both physically and spiritually. Praise for the seminary students, they are just brill.

We are planning to do more clinics we just need some doctors so please pray God will send some more doctors to us.

A new look

2010-05-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

Outside the clinic from the road

Our clinic has been having a bit of a makeover the past month or so and it looks great. When I first arrived in Haiti in 2008 they had just started building a brand new building for the AIDS clinic which runs from Bethesda however there were problems with funding and when I got back here this year 2 years later the building was still not finished never mind being used. But over the past month the guys have been working on it and its nearly ready to be open. We really need the space and it will be great when its open.

The new AIDS building nearly ready to be used.

I just want to tell you about a wee patient I had this week, mostly so you can pray. I have said before that I don't really like telling sad stories on here but at the end of the day that is reality of life in Haiti and there is no point in talking around it or ignoring it because it is simply how things are here.

I have a wee patient called Ashkala, she is 2 and a half and initially I thought she has Cerebral palsy she wasn't able to walk, sit up or even hold her head up then I talked to her mum. Ashkala is her mother's 5th child but she has lost all the other 4 very late on in her pregnancies, Ashkala is the only baby she carried to full term and who has surivived and she was born normal. Then last October she has a big seizure and was taken to the big hospital in town where she was kept in for a week given oxygen and other medicine. But since then she has not been able to walk, talk or do anything really. The very first time I saw her I just talked with her mum for maybe 45 minutes and during that time Ashkala had around 3 small seizures and from her mum she is always doing that continually throughout the day and night. Then her mum told me her husband is really ill and has been for a year, he is just 34 the doctors don't know what is wrong with him but he just stays in bed and is really ill. Because of that she cannot work and therefore doesn't have the money to buy the medicine that ashkala needs to control her seizures. It just is so sad and seems so hopeless. There is a doctor here from home and we saw her yesterday. He thinks there is more than likely something neurological going on and she probably won't live much longer. Especially here in Haiti where the treatment options are so limited. Yet her mum tells me only God knows how she is coping. If it wasn't for God's strength she and her husband would both be dead. And she firmly believe if it is God's will he can heal Ashkala, if it is not his will she trusts he will give her another child. Her faith is just amazing and she is truly taking her strength from God. I told her I would write to people in my church, my country to ask them to pray for her, her husband and for Ashkala. So that's what I am asking you to do, pray for her wee life, that she will not be in pain, that the seizure medicine will work. Pray for strength and courage for her mum, to trust in God and lean on him. Pray for work for her, pray for her husband. wisdom for doctors, medicine to work and that he will be healed.

Thank you.

Ti kado, prosthestics

2010-05-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

Since I got back Ive been asked many times 'eske ou te pote'm yon ti kado' 'did you bring me a wee present'. In Haiti they like to give and recieve 'ti kado' (wee presents) and obviously I wasn't able to bring back everyone I know a wee present. However since I got back I have got 4 'ti kado's'. The day I got back, a couple whose wee boy, Alex I treat in the clinic came to the door with a pineapple for me, then Wednesday at Milot a patient bought me a coconut, then another person give me a bracelet, then on Thursday in the clinic a wee patient who is just 16, stephanie came with 2 cans of this energy drink thing. It is so humbling to recieve presents here because I know these people have nothing and to give me anything is such a sacrifice.

Alex with his mum & dad

Like stephanie (the 16 year old), she was in Port au prince and had crush injuries to her legs, was in the third floor of her school when the earthquake hit. She lay until midnight that night when she was pulled out, went to the hospital the next day and they told her she wasn't ill enough to be there. So she left, slept in the street until she found a way to get to Cap Haitian to stay with her mum who lives here. After she arrived she went to the hopsital in town on 19th Jan, they didn't do anything. She came to Milot 4 weeks ago, having not walked for 3 months and having no treatment at all. However they would not accept her and she was sent home but referred onto outpatient physio with me. The first day I saw her she could barely walk, she has bilateral nerve palsys in her legs and is very sensitive to any touch at all. I was then leaving for nearly 3 weeks, so I gave her lots of things to do at home. She is tiny and I told her if she wants to get better she needs to eat well aswell to give her strength and energy her and her sister both replied 'we don't have any money for food.' They also came with no money to get home, they live around 45 minutes away and the tap tap costs about 20 goods which is about 30p. I had to get someone to carry her out to the road to get on the tap tap and put a chair at the side of the road until one arrived. So I sent her home with lots of exercises to do and wasn't really sure how things would be. She came today and the first thing she gave me was a 'ti kado' which was lovely. Only then did we talk about how she was, and I was so surprised she is doing so much better than I thought she would. Her pain is not at all as bad as it was and she can walk with just one person helping her. She still doesn't have alot of movement in both feet but it is definitely better than what it was.

My 'ti kado's'

While I was away in Canada the prosthetic team was out at milot. It was so cool to come back to see people walking around with their new leg, especially the kids. First of all I went over to paeds to see some of the girls witrh their new leg, it was very cool and they are all pleased with them. At the minute they are just practising trying to walk independantly the wee ones still need a little bit more confidence but they are doing great.

Fariana showing off her new leg

Shadei, Fariana and Nieka

Doing some physiotherapy

Oh Canada

2010-05-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last 2 weeks in Toronto, Canada. Firstly to go to Amy and Evan's wedding. for those of you who don't know Amy was the girl I lived with the last time I was in Haiti and she has become a very good friend. She is from a small town outside of Toronto. While she was in Haiti we had a doctor, Evan from Northern Ireland come to work in the clinic for about 4 weeks. They kept in touch after Evan went home then Amy came over for a wee visit and as they say the rest is history!!They got married last Saturday 8th May, the wedding was lovely and lots of references to Haiti and how they met there.

My mum&dad also flew out to meet me here so I spent the last two weeks with them which was great. We did lots of sightseeing, went downtown Toronto did the bus tour, some shopping, visited a few wee towns, met up with some friends I have in Toronto and went to Niagra falls....it was unbelievable!!I am just travelling back to Haiti over the next two days. I am looking forward to getting back especially to some sunshine and heat....it has been way too cold here!!!

Post earthquake

2010-05-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have been asking me how are things in Haiti now, have things settled down a bit since the earthquake. And I guess they have since 12 January but for lots of people life is still a struggle. I am glad people are asking though because so often things are forgotten about, they are top stories on the news for a few weeks then its forgotten. Haiti will need help for probably years to come, it will take a long time to rebuild Haiti.

Here are some facts from a world vision report from Port-au-Prince.

Killed: More than 220,000
Injured: More than 300,000
Displaced: At least 1.7 million
Migrated to rural areas: More than 500,000
Registered at displacement camps, urban area: More than 600,000
Homeless and unregistered, urban areas: More than 600,000
'But the scale of this disaster means that the recovery phase is only just beginning.'

This is what world vision are working on right now
1. Shelter
2. Food
3. Water
4. Healthcare
5. Income
6. Education and a future for children

Right now there are 1.3million people in Port who are homeless and those who do have homes are living in tents, clean water is hard to come by, there is food avaiable to buy on the street but so so many people have lost their jobs and have no work there is no money to buy food. Sanitation is very poor, in Haiti pre earthquake sanitation was already poor this has just gotten worse. Meaning the risk of disease spreading is higher. Straight after the earthquake the government announced all healthcare was to be free for the next 3 months, thankfullythey have extended that for a furthur 3 months. School started back in Port officially on 5th April however many schools were not in the position to re open.
This is the reality in Port right now, true the inital devastation on the earthquake is not so evident but now the Haitian people have to try and get their lives back. Deal with living through the earthquake, with losing family & friends, their homes and everything they had and any injuries they have as a result of the earthquake. Now to try and find shelter, food, water, work and education for their children.
If you are interested in reading the world vision document here is the link.

http://www.worldvision.org/resources.nsf/main/press-haiti/$file/RandR.pdf

As you know I have been working in Milot where all the patients were from Port, just last week they discharged another 50 patients back to Port. When I spoke to most people they wanted to go to back to Port because that is where they know and that is home for them but I can't help thinking how difficult it will be. Going from a hospital where they have been looked after for 3 months, where they have had good shelter, a bed, 3 meals a day and water when they need it to a tent in the middle of a tent city with no guarentee of where or when the next time they will eat will be.

Here are a few of my special friends who were discharged this week.....

Edwina (on the left), she lost some of her family and was staying in Milot with her Auntie. When I first met her she was very withdrawn and depressed. She was in alot of pain from crush injuries on her legs and was not doing very much walking at all with her frame. Now she is much brighter and can walk independantly.

Ena was really very sick after the earthquake, she had a skull fracture, multiple fractures on her left foot and a left wrist fracture and a pelvic fracture. She was on the US comfort ship and was really very unwell, they weren't sure if she would be ok. She was transferred to Milot a few weeks later and has really improved.

Bernadette and her Daughter. Bernadette lost one of her sons in the earthquake and her husband is still in Port. She fractured her elbow and had to get pins put in. However because of the initial lack of physio she ended up with a very very stiff left shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand after 8 weeks of not moving at all!!She has really improved.

Pierre is normally much happier than this!!He has the best smile, Ive no idea why he wasn't smiling of why I have no photo's of him smiling!! He had a broken leg and was down in Milot with his mum.

Paul is a wee pet. He fractured his tibia and fibula and has to have an external fixator on, then a cast now is walking with just one crutch. He now wants to be an orthopaedic doctor when he grows up. He phoned me when he arrived back in Port and he is living in a tent with his mum&dad.

Please continue to pray for these people and for all those people who are living in Port. Continue to pray for Port au Prince and for Haiti, it seems to me it will take a miracle to change things....Thankfully we have a God who can do miracles and can change Haiti.

Stuck in the mud

2010-04-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

Well just a wee funny story from today, I was going out to visit Sterlina (one of my wee patients from Milot) She left a few weeks ago to live in an orphanage in Cap Haitian. I wasn't too sure where exactly to go so I took one my friends Wadner with me. We went out this road which was pretty bad,it had lots of potholes which were more like craters actually! I'm just driving along and we come to a huge puddle and it hasn't rained for at least a week, now I would never attempt to drive through something like this at home, so I say to Wadner how an I going to get through this. Just then a guy on a motorbike drives past and waves me through (Haitian people always do that when your driving, wave you through the smallest space or huge puddles!!) and there were 2 kids out playing, so they waved me through too. In fact they walked through the puddle to show me the way.

Turns out their way was not such a good way, I went down into the puddle and then up out of it but got totally stuck. I tried to get out but the wheel was just spinning and spinning and I couldn't go forwards or backwards. The kids started to put lots of rocks under the back wheel but it wasn't helping at all. I opened my door and the water level was at the same level as the door. So Wadner pulled up his trouser legs (he was in his nice sunday best) and tried to help push but we were not going anywhere. Then two other guys arrived to watch and after a wee bit they pulled up their trouser legs and waded in to help. Still after another 10 minutes the car wasn't moving anywhere.Then another guy pulled up on a motorbike and came into help, still completely stuck!!while all this was going on another guy arrived and was watching and he took off his trousers and his t shirt (he did have shorts on!!) and about 7 wee kids arrived to help aswell!

Finally with 7 strong men and about 9 kids and a white girl driving we got out!Praise the Lord for all those people who wanted to help me, and its not a very busy road, I did not see any other cars at all on it (probably because they knew what might happen). So thankfully all those people we were willing to help me!

The poor car afterwards

The puddle!

A few of my helpers

After that there were about 4 more big puddles so I was just praying as I was going through them!!I finally got to see Sterlina.

She is doing ok, she doesn't really like where she is mostly because of some of the other kids, so I would appreciate your prayers for her.

A few miracles

2010-04-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

In among all the sad sad stories we hear here in Haiti, among all the people who come to the door for food and for money I just heard a miracle today. One of the ladies who works in the Bundy's house told Angie (Bundy) something super exciting. Her name is Gladys. Her grandson was living in Port with his auntie, his parents are both dead (before the earthquake). During the earthquake he got separated from his Auntie, in the midst of all the chaos he ran away. Their house was destroyed and the family looked and looked and couldn't find him, he is only 10 years old and they all assumed he was dead.

He spoke to some people and said he thought he had a granny in Cap Haitian, so someone paid to put him on a bus into Cap Haitian. It had been a few years since he had been in Cap and didn't have any idea where to go. He got off the bus when he recognised a place so got off and spoke to a few people who helped him find his Granny! So 3 months later the boy arrived safe and well at his Granny's house outside of Cap Haitain. It really is a miracle. Gladys kept saying 'why has God chosen to help me like that, Who am I that I should deserve this miracle!' But that is exactly the kind of God we have, one who loves us and cares about us.

I have just been working in Milot a few days a week and in our clinic the other few days. The Patients at milot are really starting to get much much better. We had one lady, Yolande who had a partial spinal cord injury in the earthquake, she had a fixation of her back. When I first when she was walking with a frame, with a back brace on, and splints on her feet and the help of at least one person. Now she is walking with a stick, with no brace, with no splints. Its so great to see their improvement.

We have this ultrasound in our clinic which no one knows how to use. I wrote about it before. Hannah and I and all our missionaries have been searching and trying to find anyone who does ultrasound to come down to be able to teach Hannah how to do it, especially for pregnant ladies, as we have about 100 pregnant ladies who come each Wednesday and if there are any problems we have to send them somewhere else which is more expensive for them. On Saturday Hannah and I were out at Milot and a new team had just arrived. I'm not sure exactly how we found out but they have an Ultrasound tech here from the US, so we met him and asked if he would come out to our clinic even for a day to do a bit of training. (Not that you can learn ultrasound in a day!but its better than nothing). He very happily agreed and was out today training Hannah all day which is great. Its amazing how God sends people when you need them. We'd been looking and looking and here someone arrived in Haiti without us even trying!!

Our ultrasound machine

The last time I was in Haiti I treated a wee boy who had Cerebral Pasly. His name was Luvinson and he was 5. I loved him coming, he was so cute and used to come in and sing to me every week. He is affected down one side by his CP, but he is mobile and manages very well. The only thing he did have was his wee right foot was contracted and he walked right up on his tip toe.

Luvinson in 2008

So I really wanted to see him when I got back but I forgot to bring his mum's phone number with me and I totally forgot where they lived. I was driving home from Milot a few weeks ago and I was stopping along the way to get phonecards and everywhere I stopped they didn't have any. And I was driving along thinking about Louvinson because I thought we were about in the area they lived in, I pulled over to get phonecards and I heard someone shouting my name. I looked over and it was Luvinson with his mum!I couldn't believe it I had literally just been thinking about him. Then next week he came to visit me in the clinic, it was so good to see him. There is an orthopaedic surgeon who visits the big hospital in town, he is american but lives in the Domincan, so she had taken him there and he had had surgery to fix his wee foot. He looks great and is doing really well. There is no way I would have been able to find him and the very moment I was thinking about him there he was.

Luvinson now

Junior's story

2010-04-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

I have been talking about Junior alot on my blog and been asking you to pray for him. I just found out a guy (He is a pastor) who was in Port with us the week I was there is coming back at the end of this month with 3 other guys to help Junior train up leaders which is great. It will be a great encouragment and help to Junior. Here is a link to a video and Junior's full story ( I just wrote a wee bit of his story on my blog before)
www.commissionstories.com/stories/648

Yesterday I was out in Milot again, I hadn't been for 2 weeks cos. It was very good to be back. They are really starting to discharge people, when I was there 2 weeks ago there was around 250 patients, now there are just 167 which is still alot but it seems empty compared to what there has been. And there are alot of people leaving Saturday. Nearly everyone I talk to is going back to Port, with no home to go to....please keep praying for the people. Also pray for the Government, for wisdom to use the money Haiti has been given to rebuild it. When I got back to Milot and I had said I had been in Port, everyone wanted to know how was Port-au-Prince..how did it look? To me much of it looked the same and the patients were really dissapointed. With so much money being donated the country needs wisdom on where and how to spend it.

Port au Prince, Haiti

Nicole

2010-04-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

Each night we were down in Port we stayed up with the students talking and laughing (alot), practising creole/ english (some people here think I need to practice my english!!), learning more about each other's cultures and then telling our stories to each other. How we got to where we are today, how a group of people from 4 different countries are all together in an extremely poor area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti over easter weekend telling people about Jesus.

Nicole is in the middle

Here is Nicole's story:

I was born in Port, my mum was just 16 years old when I was born. My father already had a wife and 2 children, he has cheated his wife. After I was born, my mum looked after me for a while but then when I was about 9 months old, I got really sick, so my mum put me in a cardboard box and left me on the front step of my father's house. I have never seen her since then.

My grandmother was the first person to find me, except she did not know who I was because my father never told his family about me. She just left me in the box until my father got home that evening. When he looked in the box he said thats Nicole. Then he had to explain to his family who I was, his wife wanted to leave me where I was to die. But my grandmother said she has always prayed for a little girl so she would look after me.

My grandmother died when I was 4 and I had to live with my father and his wife, I was treated as a slave in my own home. When I was 12, I gave my life to God and he saved me, I began to pray and pray, I was always praying. I grew up, got married and had 5 children, 3 of them are my own and I adopted 2 who were abandoned. I was a teacher but I felt like God was calling me to do more, so I joined seminary in Port. I was in 3rd year when the earthquake struck.

on 12th January I was in my house with my children, my husband was at work. I felt the house shaking and then saw the walls move and ran outside, praying God would save me. By God's grace my family were not hurt. But we had to then sleep on the road, our house was destroyed. The first night (Tuesday) after the earthquake I left my children and went out to the street and began singing to the Lord, soon people began joining me and we sang praises that whole night. We slept in the street until sunday then a friend of mine gave us an opportunity to go to northern Haiti she knew someone there who would look after us. I went with my kids and my husband stayed behind in Port to try and build us a house.

When we arrived I felt God telling me to go and evangelise the area, I never been to this area but I obeyed God. All week I spoke to people about Jesus and many people came to know him. That friday I met a pastor (it was actually Pastor Exalus who is the pastor for our clinic) he invited me to his church on sunday, so I went. He asked me to share about Port-au-Prince and I also shared something from God's word. After he asked me how do I know the bible so well, I said because I was in seminary in Port-au-Prince. He then told me he heard Emmaus seminary were accepting students from Port for free, did I want to go. I said I would pray about it and I did.

That Tuesday while I was praying I felt God say to me, pack your bag you are going to seminary. So I phoned Pastor Exalus and he said no wait until I find someone who can take you, I said no God told me to go today so I went. When I arrived I spoke to Pastor Paul Vilmer, and he said we are starting class tomorrow you arrived on a good day!And that is how God has lead me to where I am today, I should have been dead, first as a baby then during the earthquake but God has saved me.

On our way down to Port I was asking Nicole if she would see her husband. She told me she didn't know, she has not spoken to him in 6 days and did not know where he was. That saturday she went to look for him, to ask if anyone had seen him, she came back that evening very discouraged, no-one had seen or heard from him. By sunday it was 9 days which she hadn't heard anything from him. Immediately after the church she got a phonecall from her husband saying he was fine. He had been in another place and did not have any charge on his phone. Of course her her firsts words after that were, 'Thank you God, praise the Lord'

Nicole in action with the kids, she told the stories and she was brilliant.

I loved getting to know the students last weekend,we spent the weekend talking, laughing, praying and alot of singing....those guys can sing they were great!!!They all have such amazing stories and God has clearly guided them to where they are today.

Come and See

2010-04-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

'Come and see what the God has done, he is awesome in his deeds the children of man.'
Psalm 66 v5

Driving down through the mountains

We got back from a wonderful weekend in Diquini, Port-au-Prince. This is where we had run the medical clinics in January after the earthquake, where nearly 600 people gave their lives to the Lord and where one of our seminary students Junior is living right now, in a tent on the top of the mountain to plant a church and disciple these new believers.

Sunrise over Port au Prince

The purpose of the trip was for two things, to encourage Junior, to give him rest and also to run a evangelism crusade up in Diquni. On Thursday morning 21 of us were all ready to go for the weekend, 8 missionaries and 13 of the students from the seminary and it was pouring. It had been raining all night, stopped for a little bit in the morning then at about 6.45 it poured and did for the next 3 or 4 hours. Remember Haitian people Hate the rain (as do I!!) but it didn't matter everyone was excited to be going, so we loaded up in the back of the truck in the rain and headed off for the 8/9 hour journey. I cannot say the truck journey was fun, apart from a very special time.......... here we were, 21 of us from 4 different countries (Haiti, America, Northern Ireland and England) in the back of a truck, in the bucketing rain getting soaked driving through the mountains of Haiti singing together and worshipping God in Kreole and in English, it was lovely.

From left to right front row Frantz, Nicole, Hannah, Julie, Kate, Josephine, Jacob, Devicoeur, Belony, Civil, Jean-Baptiste, Yolene, Denny

Back row- Pam, Jean-Marie, Simeon, Waldeck, Rachelle, John and Bonamy

After what felt like a very long time we arrived in Port, I didn't see alot of difference to the last time I was there. The buildings which had collapsed are still there and have not been cleared up. There is still tents everywhere, in fact I would maybe say even more on the way into Port, the difference is the tents are now not just sheets but they have tarp and plastic over them which is much better for the rain. Then we drove up the mountain to Diquini. Right at the top of the hill there is a building which used to be a guest house for a weslian seminary (I think). The building is basically empty, no electricity, no running water so we stayed in tents in the land around the building.Actually for a few hours each evening we had some electricity from the generator we brought with us. It was great, the view is unbelievable you can see all of Port-au-Prince, you see the sunset and the sunrise over the mountains and the beauty of God's creation.

Tent city about an hour outside of port

Sunset over Port

Thursday night the youth group which Junior had started wanted to do something for our team, so they explained to us what they had been studying, then served us dinner which was lovely. Only later did Junior tell me that the whole thing was their idea, that they all put money together so they could do that. These people are so poor, they literally don't have anything. To find money to put together to get us food would have been a great sacrifice for them.

The church

Tent city right bedside the church

Then they had a showing of the Jesus film on Thursday night just outside where we were staying. And friday began the programme of evangelism and kids club. Seven of us ran the Kids club from 8 to 10 in the morning, well that was the scheduled time but we are in Haiti so it was about half 8 before we got started. we had around 60 to 80 kids each time. Started off with some singing, praying, then a story, a memory verse and some songs in English. On friday morning we looked at Abraham and how he obeyed God with the verse from Genesis 15 v 6 'And He believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness'. Creole being so simple translated word for word says....Abraham put his trust in the Lord and He gave him Grace.
Friday afternoon was about Jonah and his disobedience and the result of that. The verse was Psalm 30 v3 (From creole) You brought me out of a big pit, You gave me life and You did not leave me to die. Yolane (who was teaching the verse) did a great job and she compared it to what had happened in Port, that alot of people died in the earthquake and its only by God's grace that we were there, it was very powerful especially seeing all these kids are living in tents and literally have nothing. Saturday morning was the story of Jesus death and resurrection and his obedience to his father in Heaven. The Verse was John 11 v 25 'I am the resurrection and the life. Then on sunday afternoon we had a special programme, a revision of the stories, of the songs we had learnt, the memory verses, a quiz and each child got a wee bag of a colouring book, crayons, a copy of Johns gospel and some biscuits and sweets. You should have heard them answering the questions, they listened so well and knew all the answers and same with their verses. At home we write out the verse, repeat it loads of time etc...In Haiti they repeat it about 5 times and that is it, they know it. About 6 of them got up and said all 3 verses and a couple of them were only 5 or 6 years old.

Kids club

While we were doing the kids club the rest of the seminary studnets were out in the area doing evangelism, encouraging those new believers who had given their lives to God in January. Then each evening at 5 (well 6 by the time we got started) we had a service. The Students led all the services, praying, singing and preaching and they were brilliant. In the 'church' we had about 200 people packed in and Im sure there were around 100 or more standing outside. The presence of God and his Holy Spirit was so clearly felt. Throughout the weekend through the evangelism and the services there were nearly 100 people who decided to become christians.

Church each evening

The studnets we were with were brilliant, 4 of them were in Port during the earthquake the rest from Cap Haitian. Each night we sat and listened to their stories of how they got to be where the are today, they are amazing. Its amazing how God works things out. I'll write about some of their stories when I get a chance.

One more thing, a while ago I told you about Junior, the student who stepped up to God's call to leave seminary for now and go live in diquini to plant a church and disciple the new believers. He has been living by faith!He went to Diquini, lives in a tent and some ladies from the community cook for him. He is working very hard with bible studies for the young people every morning from 5 to 6, he visits people in the comunity aswell as church on sundays. He is very weary and lonely at times. Please continue to pray for him, God is using him and we praise him for that. We are praying God will call 2 more people to Diquini to go and help Junior.

Me, Junior and Hannah

I could probably write more but that was just a wee taster of the weekend and how God was working. Praise the Lord!!

Physio works after all

2010-03-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days when I love being a physio (I don't very many of them!!). I have been out at Milot and working in the clinic. There is also another physio here from home, Heather she arrived last Monday and she is here for 3 weeks, it is very nice to have someone from Northern Ireland here.
Anyway I was so tired today on the way out to Milot, its like an hour and a half drive and I'm driving and to drive in Haiti you have to concentrate....alot. To be honest I felt way too tired to do any work. So I went over to the paeds building first cos I knew that would give me some motivation to work and wake me up a little.

After that I went over to the main tents and I stopped to talk with a guy who I always say hi to. I had spoken to him and his friend the first day I was there, both of them had become christians after the earthquake. So when I go I always pop my head in and say hi. Today he called me in and I said how are you? He said I'm not happy with you. Im like oh why? He said you always come and say hi but you haven't prayed with me again, so I did. Then a few more people came over and said Julie will you come and pray with me.

Its been great to go to Milot and see an improvement in the patients, so many of the teams are just in for a week. We got to do a couple of exciting things today. Heather and I got out the PAM aid. Its a physio thing you use for amputees to prepare them for prothesis. Today we got up 2 people who were double amputees, we put the PAM aid on one of their stumps and got them up stand with a frame and us helping. This is only the second time they have been able to stand since the earthquake, it was so cool to be able give them that opportunity.

The PAM aid.

But the best bit was when we went round to the paeds building and there are a couple of amputees there, so we took it round. At first the looked at it as if what is that and there is no way I am going to use it. But I explained and told them it wouldn't be sore so lets try it. So we tried it on 2 girls, there are a couple more but they are too wee for it. This is the first time they had tried and it been able to 'walk',before they have been hopping about on crutches. Honestly the look on their faces was brilliant, if I ever have enjoyed being a physio it

was today

A terrible photo of Heather and me but I hope you can see the look on the patients face, it was great.

That all was actually yesterday but being a physio today was good aswell. I discharged my first patient from the clinic. It was Anicee the guy who was in the earthquake and lost all movement in his hand and wrist, Pastor Lucner's brother. He has full movement back in his whole arm and it is nice and strong so he doesn't need me anymore. I still sort of can't believe it, 6 weeks ago he had no movement at all in his hand. I did have another patient a wee lady who had a stroke just 4 weeks ago. I really praise God I worked in the stroke ward in the royal for that short time because I have seen alot of strokes here and I really wouldn't know what to do if I hadn't have worked there. So this wee lady is now walking and today was the first time she got movement in her hand and you should have heard her husband it was brilliant. Really physio shouldn't be working that quickly, she is only coming to me once a week, its just impossible to ask them to get a tap tap with someone who cannot walk and bring them here everyday, so Im teaching the family and they are doing all the physio at home. And they are doing a great job!

Although you never get away from suffering in Haiti, even among all the good stories of people getting better there is always people you wish you could do more for. The last patient I saw today was a wee girl who was 2years and 4 months. Her mum brought her in and here is her story. Her mum has lost 4 babies all when she was 6 or 7 months pregnant, the girl she has now was born at 7 months in the hospital in town. Her name is Ashkala. She was fine after she was born and developed normally, then 9 months ago she had a seizure and was taken to hospital. Since then she cannot move at all, cannot hold her head up, she cannot talk and cannot eat very well at all. Her mum came because she heard we have someone in our clinic who works with children who are like that. After a few minutes talking to her I noticed Ashkala was seizing and I asked does she do this alot, her mum replied all day and all night. During the 40 minutes she was with me, she has 3 small seizures. After chatting with her I found out she is supposed to be on medicine to control the seizures but her mum does not have any money for it. Here she is a lady is in her 30's, lost 4 babies already, her husband is very sick and she looks after him aswell as her sick child. There is no possible way she can work. I told her the most important thing she can do right now, today is get the medicine to control the seizures but she just doesn't have it.

I give her money for today's perscription, I really don't like giving people money directly but I had to. I explained I cannot do that everytime because I won't be here forever, we need to figure out a way she can make money to buy the medicine. Only after the seizures are under control can we start with some physio.

Then this is what she said to me 'I know what I need to do and only God can help me, no-one else. I used to be a christian, used to walk with God but I lost my way, I lost 4 babies then God gave me one. And when she got sick I began to pray again, I began to walk with God again because I KNOW God can do everything. He can do much more then any man can do for me if it is his will he can heal her. I am trusting in him to help me.'

I was just blown away, alot of people would more than likely question God...why the only child she has had to get sick like that. Yet it was that which caused her to come back to God. And she firmly believes nothing is impossible with God. Please pray for her and for me as we try to figure out what is the best thing to do to help her.

Luke ch 1 v 37

For nothing will be impossible with God.

Help needed!!

2010-03-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of things to write about. Ive been working out in Milot 3 days a week and 3 days a week in our clinic then sundays off! Im glad taking a day or rest is a commandment!!right now the big big need is at Milot. They have 279 patients and nearly every single one needs physio, today we had 5 physio's which was way more than ever but still 5 physio's for 270 patients is not alot. If you know any physio's or if you are a physio and would like to come out to work, it doesn't matter how much experience you have or even if you don't have any. We just really really need physio's and will do for the next few months. Please email me if you have any questions or are interested in anyway at all. If your not a physio please pray for some more to come!

Also our clinic has a brand new Ultrasound machine which has been donated, which is wonderful because they are so expensive and it has been donated but no one here knows how to use it. So it is just lying in the clinic not being used. What we need would be someone who knows how to work it, Im not sure if that is a sonographer or a radiographer. I know in the states they call it a sonographer and its highly specalist training apparently. We would be using it for would be antenatal stuff. There is pregnant lady day each Wednesday and if there is any problems there is nothing we can do. So what we would really need is someone who does that and could come for a couple of weeks to train up someone, more than likely Hannah who is an X ray tech or what we call a radiologist. Even if its only the basics. Again email me if you know anyone who would be interested. I'll find out the machine and take a few photo's of it and post them up here.

So if your not medical maybe you think you can't do anything. One more thing I'm asking for is prayer for a we girl Ive been talking to out in milot. Her name is Sterlina, she is 14 actually I wrote about her in the last post. She lost her mum & dad is the earthquake and she literally has no-one else in the world, no other family. The first day I met her she was in great form and seemed to be coping with what was happening.But the past few times Ive been back she's been lying in bed saying her head is sore and doesn't want to get up. I have been talking with her asking what is wrong. She is just not coping with what has happened, she doesn't know where she will go, actually she doesn't need to still be in hospital but she has no where else to go. They have told her more than likely she will go to a orphanage but she does not want to. Ive been chatting to her and praying with her, she is a christian but just really having a hard time. And because of Haitian culture other people tell her to stop crying when she does, culturally they can only cry for a short time after something sad has happened after that its not acceptable at all. She really needs people to pray for her, for strength and peace about the future. And mostly to help her grieve and be able to heal.

Sterlina is the little girl beside me

Although today was so cute, they took all the kids on a wee parade down to where all the adults are, all the patients were outside waiting for them. Some walked, some hopped on crutches, some in wheelchairs and one wee girl who is so cute was carried on her bed like the queen!They were singing for everyone, it was lovely. Here's some photo's of them

Milot hospital

2010-03-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

I spent all day Saturday out at Milot hospital. Its about an hour and 45 minute drive from here and basically all their patients right now are being flown in from Port by helicopter everyday. I really don't like telling alot of really sad stories but unfortunatley that is a reality in Haiti, even more so now after the earthquake. And I know they are awful and you will probably be sad after reading this, but Im telling you for the reality of life in Haiti and to urge you to pray. I cannot see anything else that will help these people except the Lord.

Milot is normally a pretty small hospital (Im not sure how many beds) but its a good hopsital and if we have anyone really sick at our clinic then we advise them to go to Milot. Right now the 'wards' are outside in 6 big army like tents. Part of the reason why they are in tents is because the hospital simply doesn't have enough room the other reason is so many of these people are still so scared to go inside any sort of building. Like today all the patients were being moved from tent 6 into either tent 1 or a building because the tent has no floor making it difficult for patients who were using crutches and other walking aids and making physio very hard. One of the nurses made the annoucement and immediatley nearly everyone shouted 'Im going to tent 1', the idea of being inside a building is just a very scary thing for people. Each tent has around 40-50 patients, they also have an ICU inside. They have been doing alot of spinal and orthopaedic surgery. Its amazing actually there are teams of people coming in from all over the world, all working together. Teams come and go for a couple of weeks at a time. After so much surgery there is alot of patients who need rehab, there was lots of orthopaedics, amputees and spinal cord injuries.....much needed physiotherapy patients!

Here are a few people and their stories how they got to where they are today.

This is Yueline she is just 32. She was in her house when the earthquake hit along with her husband and her child. She lost both her husband and her child. She lay under her house for two days before she was found and taken to hospital. Then a couple of weeks later was transferred up to Milot by helicpoter. The only injuries she sustained where a fracture dislocation of her right shoulder and a shattered elbow. Both have been fixed by surgery. I was doing some physio with her and getting her up on her feet. I also got a chance to just talk with her, being able to speak and listen to Creole is a real blessing it makes things much easier. Yueline was telling me she really has no-one, both her parents are dead and now her own family is dead. She still cannot sleep well, maybe each night she sleeps for a few hours. She doesn't cry anymore but everything is still going round in her head. She is a christian and was before the earthquake. I got to pray with her and at one point I prayed 'God we know she doesn't have anyone, or a house or a job but we know when you have God you have everything.' and it was the only bit that I prayed that she said Amen to. What a testimoney, how easy would it be for her to question God, to turn her back on him. I expected her to 'amen' to the part when I was praying that God would help her, give her comfort, give her strength. But the bit she agreed with was if she has only God then she has everything. Please pray for her, she really has no where to go after she is discharged and no one to go to. Also for her to somehow to be able to grieve and deal with what she has experienced.

I wish I had written down these girls names cos now I forget them. I was over in the children's ward, it was very cute. For some reason everywhere I go people know my name (well today I did have a name tag on!) so lots of kids were shouting julie come and talk to me. I went over to these two girls, they were so cute but such sad stories but you would never ever know by how they appear, they were so happy and giggling. The girl on the left is 14, she was in her house during the earthquake as was her mum, dad and I think one sister and they all died. She tried to run out and on the way a block fell on her left foot which she then had to get amputated. Now she is in Milot with no family and just making friends around her. Her wee friend is 12, she was at her auntie's house during the earthquake and I think maybe her cousin. Actually she described exactly where she was, she was lying with her head on her aunties tummy. Both her auntie and her cousin died, she miraculously just hurt her wrist a little. She was trapped in the house until it was dark the night of the earthquake and was calling for help when someone came to get her. Both the girls are christians and are thankful to God for still being alive, by reading their stories they shouldn't be. Everyone else who was in both their houses were killed yet they survived without even life threatening injuries.

Some of the kids in the childrens ward

In the middle of all the sad stories and injury, in one of the tents I was working in, it was a girls birthday. Her friend stood up and got everyone to be quiet so they could celebrate her birthday. Her friend said were going to sing, then recite Psalm 23 then pray and after that we'll sing Happy Birthday and that we did. I can't imagine that happening anywhere else in the world. A whole tent full of people who have just lived through an earthquake, been injured, lost their house and lost members of their family but singing How Great Thou Art, Then reciting Psalm 23. For those of you who don't know here is it

O Lord my God when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand hath made,

I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, How great thou art, How great thou art

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

He retsores my soul, my cup overflows.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his names sake

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I will fear no evil

You are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies,

you annoint my head with oil, my cup overflows

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

After that a couple of people prayed and then we sung happy birthday, it was lovely.

Here's some more photo's of the day.

Birthday girl in the middle

sorry this post was so long!!

Preparation, Praise and Prayer

2010-03-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking today its amazing how God prepares you for things. Just a couple of examples, I worked in 3 different hopsitals in the year and a half I was home. The last one was the royal on the stroke ward for just 4 months, and out of that I was off nearly 3 weeks getting my tonsils out. At the time it seemed almost like there was no point in starting somewhere new for such a short time. But before that I really did not know much about treating someone who has had a stroke. Now Im in Haiti, Im treating quite a few and I feel like I actually know what to do and only because of that short time I worked in the royal. And the girls there (Thank you Emer and Jenny) taught me everything I know!If it wasn't for them I would not be able to treat my patients who have had strokes here!One thing that is difficult though is trying to explain what a stroke is and how is affects a person...all in Creole!

Cap Haitian Haiti

Then in school from 1st to 5th year we had to do french. I can't say I ever enjoyed french class (apart from French orals especially when one of friends told our teacher her granda wears a skirt....definatley a language mistake!) but thanks to Mrs steele I did actually learn some french and it has helped me when learning creole. French and Creole are so closley related (thank goodness Creole is much easier) and knowing french before I came and learning it at school has really helped me learn Creole here in Haiti.

At home Im always complaining Im cold....frequently my mum says 'you have no blood in you, your always cold!' Yet look God has called me to the Carribean where it is hot all the time (although today and yesterday was cold, there was no sunshine and I had a hoodie on all day). I have no difficulty coping with the heat because I love it.

When it rains, it really rains alot!

One last thing which may seem a little silly, at home there are 5 of us, along with 3 dogs, 4 cats and when I was younger a rabbit, a guinea pig, a hamster and probably a couple of goldfish. Mum is a childminder so there are always kids there to. What Im trying to say is our house is always busy, very rarely would I be in the house by myself. Then at uni for one year there were 7 of us in a house, then the last 2 years 5 of us shared a house. So Im used to there being a lot of people in my house and it being busy and I really like that. Then I came to Haiti and there was just 3 of us in our wee house with no cats or dogs (although alot of gecko's about and occassionally rats.....thats not fun at all!) and I found it hard to get used to the house being so quiet. When I got home, I lived with just one other friend apart from all the wild parties we had (thats how I get the nickname granny briggs) it was pretty quiet. I think part of that was God preparing me for coming back to Haiti and living in a quiet wee house.

My house

I know many of you are praying and I appreciate that alot so here are some specific things to pray about
PRAISE

For the people who are still becoming christians in Port, 2 of our missionaries were down this week and 30 more people got saved this week.
For how God is working here in Haiti and changing the country
For our mission family
For the patients Ive been able to help so far in the clinic
One thing Ive been thinking about is the privilege it is to be called a child of God. Thank God for that.

PRAYERS

Continue to pray for people who have lost family & friends in Port
For families who have lost everything and are trying to rebuild their lives again
For more patients in the clinic
For myself for emotional strength. It can be overwhelming at times to hear and see people suffering everyday and not be able to help.
Continue to remember Rosette and Carlos, that the Lord will heal her and she will be able to work again
For our mission family feeling stressed, burnt out and need God's strength.

Blanc!

2010-03-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

One of the taxing things about being a missionary in Haiti is that one of the only places to get away from the compound, from living behind the wall is to go to the beach!!I am definately not complaining about that!On Saturday a few of us had a lovely day at the beach, when your there you almost forget your in Haiti. At the beach you cannot see the poverty, you cannot see the hurt people have, you cannot see how difficult life is. You just see the beauty of God's creation and enjoy it. Haiti really is a beautiful country.

Funny story actually, In Haiti as a white person obviously you stand out. And if you walk anywhere or drive anywhere you will always get shouted at 'blanc' (white person) especially by the kids. Well yesterday we were driving home from the beach and a tap tap full of Haitians drove past and the next thing they were taking photos of us!Normally you get a truck full of 'blancs' trying to take photos of Haitians in tap tap yet here they were taking photos of the blancs riding in the back of a truck. It was funny.

A tap tap

Last week in the clinic, this wee girl, she must have been about 3 just, waved over at me very excitedly, I thought maybe I knew her but couldn't see properly without my glasses the next thing I knew she came over. I didn't know her so I said hello, how are you?She said hello then stroked my face and ran away giggling. Turns out she was just excited at seeing a white person and I am whiter than your average white person!!

Then tonight in church two wee girls came and sat beside me, after a wee while one of them poked me and said about her friend she said she loves you!(Im thinking to myself Ive only just met you) so I said do you know my name, no she said. So we exchanged names and then she wanted to know where I lived, that was it but she still loved me!!

Some photo's from the beach.(not to make you jealous!!)

Cap Haitian

Junior and the seminary

2010-02-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

I want to tell you about one of our seminary students who I met while I was in Port-au-Prince. His name is Junior and I want to tell you his testimoney and how God has completely changed his life including through being in Port this past month.

Junior was born in Port into a family which were involved in Voodoo. His father was a witchdoctor, with that comes having multiple wives. Junior's mother died when he was young and also Junior was forced to live out in the yard. He was expected to grow up and become a witch doctor just like his father.

BUT God had different plans for Junior's life.

When he was 16 Junior heard about the gospel, he heard stories from the bible, he heard that God loves him so much so that he sent his only son Jesus into the world to take the punishment for his sins by dying on a cross. And that he can be forgiven, that God has a plan for his life and hope of being in Heaven with God forever. And he accepted Jesus as his Saviour. His family disowned him and he went to live with a new family of American missionaries.

After high school Junior wanted to be a doctor and went to medical school for nearly 2 years (I'm not sure exactly how long), while he was there he felt God asking him to leave, but he had no idea what he was going to do . But he obeyed and he left. With nothing to do his spent time in prayer and asking God to direct him. He thought about going to seminary but wasn't sure. At the same time someone he knew in America had met Matt who teaches at our seminary here in Haiti, after meeting Matt he phoned Junior and said I think you should go to seminary, I know of a good one in Cap Haitian.

So He came. Junior started seminary in September 2009, he is just halfway through first year. Im sure he thought this would be it for the next 4 years go to seminary where God has so clearly directed him.
BUT God has even better things for him.

As you know OMS had teams in Diquini (an area of Port-au-Prince) doing mobile medical clinics, also evanglising and we saw between 500-600 people come to know the Lord in that area, yet with no church, with no leader with no discipleship. When I was in Port we were praying that God would open doors to plant a church up there. Back in Cap Haitian the missionaries were praying the same thing, maybe even someone from Port to go work in that area. Maybe you can guess what happened.

We got back from Port on a friday, our team including the seminary students one of which was Junior. Over that weekend he felt God's very clear call to go back to Port to plant a church. By Monday the decision had been made, God had called Junior, OMS had felt called to plant a church there so a team of a few people went back down to Port on Tuesday until Friday(last week) to work out the practical details. So here we were praying, not expecting God to answer our prayers so very quickly, yet he did!

Junior and Bellany who went down to Port last week

Junior just went back down to Port-au-Prince today for church planting training with the plan being to plant a church up in Diquini. We have been given permission to put up a tent in the compound where we had the clinic right up ontop of the mountain to have church in. And 3 people have come forward from the community to train as leaders. Its all very exciting, who would have thought God would answer so quickly and make the way so very easy. That is Junior's story, completely amazing how God changed his life and is continually leading and directing him.

The view from Diquini

Speaking of the Seminary, OMS just built a brand new seminary well when I say just its been being built for about 3 years but it just opened in January, its dedication was the day before the earthquake. The old seminary had been there for a long time, a couple of times after breaks the roof had fallen in on a couple of the classrooms. It just wasn't ideal. The new seminary is beautiful, you would hardly believe you were in Haiti. It can sleep 140 students, has a library, a study hall, lovely classrooms, a ladies and mens dorms, a beautiful kitchen and dining hall and a chapel.

Pastor Lucner in his office. He teaches and translates. Lucner is also studying for his Masters through an online programme at Wesley Biblical Seminary in the States.

Part of the library...as you can see its pretty empty. They are replying on people to donate books which the students can use. Most of their books are in English because there are hardly any books in Kreole. So all the students have to learn English in their first year.

The dining hall

The ladies cooking in their new kitchen. Before they cooked outside on a normal Haitian cooking stove with charcoal. And did all their cleaning up outside...not so good if its raining. Now they have a lovely big new kitchen. (I am not really super super white its just the comparison to the dark skin!!)

The Chapel

In the past week we have had 9 students come up from Port. They studied in Port but their seminaries have been destroyed in the earthquake and they heard about the seminary in Cap Haitian and came with literally just the clothes they had on their back and that was all they had in the world. Our seminary is offering them to study for free. But obviously its not free, to pay for living, to pay for teachers, for the staff to be paid is definatley not free. If you would like to help these students or sponser a student find out more information on http://www.ebshaiti.org/ or email one of our missionaries Stacey at staceyhaiti@gmail.com

God is doing a NEW thing

2010-02-19T03:58:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was mardi gras, the annual festival for voodoo but this year it was DIFFERENT. Since the earthquake there has been no voodoo drums at night here. Normally you hear them everynight and even more so coming up to Mardi gras. Not this year, Mardi gras was cancelled because of what happened. I can't even describe how big of a thing that is. Haiti's history is rooted in Voodoo and devil worship. They gained their independance by asking Satan for his help, in return they handed they country over to him for 200 years, the history is full of Devil worship. And yet yesterday which was supposed to be mardi gras....a national holiday was cancelled.

Even better than that from Friday to Sunday Haiti announced 3 days of fasting and praying. People were meeting together in the street praying for their country for 3 days. There were church services everywhere. On Tuesday in Cap Haitian instead of the usual Mardi Gras parade there was a march of christians. A prayer walk of 50,000 people praying, praising, proclaiming Jesus name in the streets of Cap Haitian....ALL day. The had three protestors, Three witch doctors. On mardi gras, 50,000 people praying and JUST 3 protesting, only 3 people in the whole city who weren't happy with what has happening.

The only way I can compare this to anything at home would be to imagine the 12th July was cancelled for some reason, and ON TOP of that having 3 days of fasting and praying , THEN have thousands of christians march on the street praying and praising God's name. I cannot ever imagine that happening. Im sure that's what the people of Haiti thought, yet it happened. God is a God of impossible things.

I have been back in the clinic all week, its been really good to be back and spend time with all the other staff again. They were happy to see me and I was happy to see them!My first two patients were both earthquake victims. The first lady is from Port-au-Prince, her house fell on her and she lay for 40 hours before she was rescued, now she has some nerve damage in her foot. My other patient was the brother of one of our Emmaus pastors, and a friend of mine Pastor Lucner. He was in Port during the earthquake and Lucner and his family heard nothing from him. so Lucner went down to Port to look for him. How on earth do you find someone in such a big city, Ive no idea. Only in haiti could you do that, so amazingly he found him. He was hurt but ok so now I'll be working with him for the next wee while in the clinic.

One more story, for a wee while yesterday I went in with Dr rodney because I didn't have any patients. Right when I walked in he was about to pray with her. Here is her story, she has been coming to our clinic anytime she is sick for a long time. Every time she comes they have devotions, she has heard the gospel many many times before. She lost her son in the earthquake, he was just 15 and she hasn't been able to find his body. But after the earthquake she got saved. Now she is walking with God, in his way. She needs comfort and strength right now and OUR God can give it to her.

I just remembered one more person I want to tell you about for your prayers. If you have heard me speak before you have heard me talk about Carlos. My wee friend who used to visit me in the clinic everyday. He lives with his auntie who has 8 kids in her house and none of them are hers. To cut a long story short my sister is now sponsering him through starfish kids to go to school and he is doing great, he's very smart!I was very much looking forward to seeing him when I arrived.

I went out the front of the clinic which is where his Auntie works and she wasn't there, so someone asked was I looking for Rosette, Carlos' mum. I said yes, where is she?They said, she is sick one of her children died and she is sick. The next day then (Wednesday) I went to visit her, our security guard from the clinic walked with me and showed me where she lived. When I arrived I could hardly believe it was the same person, you can see from the photo below what she looked like before (it was taken the last time I was here). She looked awful, so thin and gaunt, is walking with a stick and just looked depressed. She was glad to see me as was Carlos. But it was a hard visit, she is struggling alot with losing one of her children. He was sick in November and died in the same month, he was just 37 and had his own kids, who are now living with her. Now she has 10 people living in her house, unable to work, Ive no idea how she is looking after them. There is a sadness in the whole house. I just talked to her, read something from the bible which I had read that morning....Here it is actually, I just felt as soon as I read it that is what I should read to her.........

Isaiah ch 43 v1-3

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob

he who formed you O Israel,

Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name,

you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you,

when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel....your Saviour.

After I prayed with her and I always have trouble praying in Kreole, I can't say exactley what I want to say but the Holy Spirit definatley helped me and I remembered some words I needed which I learnt at least a year and a half ago. Please pray for Rosette, somehow the Lord will help her grieve properly and deal with what has happened. That God will give her comfort and strength. And for her family for who she is providing right now.

Thank you for praying for Haiti and the people of Haiti.

Port au Prince

2010-02-14T17:17:00.000-08:00

I just spent the past week in Port-au-Prince helping with the mobile clinics which OMS are running there and got back 'home' here on Friday. Im not really sure where to start. The situation in Port is really awful, this is 4 weeks after the earthquake, there are tents or makeshift tents out of sheets everywhere in the whole city, it seems even if people do still have their house some of them are still sleeping outside because of fear. There are alot of buildings which are completely ruined, its very strange actually you walk down the street and one building will be completely destroyed and the one next to it won't even have a crack in it. The thing which really struck me is that life is carrying on as normal, if you just look and didn't see the buildings ruined or the tents you would not know that anything had happened they are just continuing on as normal, there are people everywhere, people continuing to sell food/ clothes by the side of the road yet no-one has any money to buy anything.

I got to speak to a lot of people and EVERYONE you speak to has lost a few people they know whether that is family, friends, a pastor, a teacher everyone knows someone who died in in the earthquake. Walking through one of the tented villages a wee girl came up beside me and I was talking to her, she is 12, lost her whole family her house basically everything in the earthquake now is living in a tent with friends. Yet she says it to me very plainly not showing any emotion at all, Im not sure if a 12 year old at home could cope with that, Im not sure if I could ever cope with that. Then she asked me if I could take her with me, she said 'I have nothing can I come with you'. Thats hard. I obviously cannot bring her with me but how do I tell her that.

BUT everyone you talk to says I survived only by the grace of God, it was God who saved me. Or if their family is well then they say its only by God's grace. People are definately turning to God after such devastation. Here are some photos of downtown Port.

After a 10 hour journey in the back of a truck which is not enjoyable at all, we arrived at the OMS villa which was unharmed after the earthquake just a wee bit of damage to the ourside wall. We spent our time in port doing mobile medical clinics, the team who had been there before us were working in a place called Diquini which is right up ontop of a mountain, the view from the top in beautiful, you can see the whole city from the top. The way they work is people come in, see the doctor then get whatever medicine then go it to the last tent which has some of our seminary students in it. Each Patient gets to speak to a pastor, to get counselled, to get told the good news. The team before us had been there about 2 weeks and I think saw over 300 people come to know the Lord, which is amazing. So we had a team of people from kentucky who were continuing that clinic, then a new team arrived in on sunday and I went with them to a new site. We had between 200 and 250 patients each day, the medical bit wasn't like trauma medicine. Most people complaining that they can't sleep or can't eat since the earthquake. Or they have sore backs more than likely from sleeping outside. Lots of coughs and colds from the dust that is everywhere, the whole city is covered in like a smog of dust and dirt you see it as you drive into Port. I have lots of stories but I'll write more this week. At the new clinic site we saw 68 people come to know the Lord in just 4 days, the people are so hungry spiritually and in need of hope. Just pray for these new believers, to find a good church, for someone to help them with their discipleship and for them to grow in the Lord and to trust in him for the future. The situation in port is so awful, I can't really see how they will rebuild it, everyone is living in tents but they can't do that forever yet God is working mightly. Mardi gras (the voodoo festival) has been cancelled for this year. The Haitian governement announced 3 days of Fasting and praying from Friday to today. We drove past a lot of prayer meetings on our way home on Friday. And everynight we were at the villa we could hear singing in the streets and church services going on.

The truck with our supplies in it, after that we put about 20 people in, it was a tight squeeze for the next 10 hours.

The consulting tents

The view from the clinic....All of port-au-Prince

Pastor Bonami praying with someone

One of the many prayer meetings we passed on the way home, Id say there was about 2 or 3 thousand people at this one

I couldn't resist posting this, I mean Irish....really??

I have lots more stories and lots more photos, but I'll update during the week. please keep praying for Haiti, especially for those new believers. Im glad to be back 'home' and have heard of a few hospitals who are in need of physiotherapists right now so I will have to see how things work out over the next month or so.

Safe arrival

2010-02-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

I love getting the plane into Haiti...it breaks all airport rules!So you arrive to check in and you hand the guy your passport. Then he takes your bag weighs it, no questions like 'did you pack your bag yourself?' ' Do you have anything sharp or dangerous which could be used as a weapon? etc you know the noramal questions, then you stand on the scale with your hand luggage step off and go and sit down. The guy still has your passport, he calls you out about half an hour later to give it back, thats it he doesnt say anything.
My flight was supposed to leave at 11.15 and we were still sitting infront of the desk at 11.45 and then the guy in charge syas flight to haiti follow me. He takes us to a back door and we have to line up with the biggest people at the front down to the smallest and we walk out the door onto the plane. No questions, no security ,no getting searched its great!!

Actually this plane was really nice there were about 30 seats (a bit bigger than the normal 14), we had a flight attendant (never had that on a plane to haiti), a safety announcment ( also a first), there was a toilet on board and then I couldn't believe we got a bottle of water each. After a while I almost forgot I was on a flight to Haiti, it was feeling so normal. Then we stopped in the Bahamas for fuel and the lady said ' You can use the bathroom but please go two at a time, if everyone walks down the back of the plane it will tip over'....then I remembered I was on the plane to Haiti!!

So I arrived safely with no problems (apart from a fact that the plane could tip!!), and got to the compound about 4ish. Its lovely and hot and has been great to see everyone. I have a little family who Im very close to and the youngest wee boy is 2 and he came running towards me with his arms out saying auntie Julie....that was very cute. Although after half an hour I was filthy, sweaty and had about 10 mosquito bites......welcome to life in Haiti!!

Tomorrow morning I will go down to Port-au-Prince with a team that just arrived today mostly of nurses, were going to be running a clinic somewhere close to the OMS villa. So I would appreciate your prayers for that, first for the journey down it will be 10 hours in the back of a truck which I am not looking forward to. Then just how to deal with the devstation Im going to be seeing. Then just for the clinic itself, that we will see lots of people and be able to help them both physically and spiritually. The clinics that have been going on have been seeing a huge number of people becoming christains which is great. Thank you for your prayers, I'll be back up in Cap next friday so I'll update you then.

A wee bit about Cross training

2010-01-28T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well Cross Training is nearly finished, tomorrow is our last day. I have learnt lots of things and hope to be able to apply them all when I get to Haiti so I can do my ministry more effectively. When I came I thought it was just called cross training because it was about cross cultural training but here's what it actually means....
C- cross cultural
R- relational
O-organisation
S- strategic
S- spiritual formation
We have been learning about OMS, its history and theology, about church planting and about the gifts God has given each of us and how we will use them in our different countries. We have had a really great group of people and had lots of fun together.

Our cross training group

Apart from going to class and learning alot, we were able to go downtown to a couple of museums and then to a basketball game.

The basketball game

A war momument downtown Indianapolis

I was even interviewed by a local paper over the phone and Hannah (one of the other girls here who will be going to Haiti with me) and I got our picture taken and it was on the front page on the Daily Journal!!!

My claim to fame!!

So my plans are to spend the weekend with Amy (who I met last time I was in Haiti), then leave headquarters here on tuesday, and leave for Haiti on Wednesday morning. Haiti continues to need our prayers, OMS has sent down some medical teams which are treating patients and also an evangelism team who speak to people and yesterday 51 people came to know the Lord- in a place which seems so hopeless these people were given hope. Please pray as I travel on Tuesday and Wednesday into Haiti especially.

Hope for Haiti

2010-01-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

This whole week Ive been so sad for Haiti and for the people. Ive been trying as much as possible to find out what has been going on from the missionaries who are there and today I heard a few things which give some hope for Haiti. In the midst of disaster and hopelessness there is hope!

Our field director Brett Bundy travelled down to Port-au-Price during the week to figure out how OMS can help. OMS have a villa right in the middle of Port which was unharmed, there are a few cracks but no structural damage. On Saturday OMS sent down 2 truckloads of aid and used the villa as a distribution centre, there are thousands of people sleeping outside the villa- people are too scared to go indoors. But ALL through the night there are people singing praises to God, they are completely trusting in him.

This is an extract from another missionaries blog-

A godly, Spirit-filled past-graduate and pastor came to our home yesterday to see Dr. Cooper, and said something I had never thought of.

"What do you think" he asked us, "About the fact that on Monday, this place, this God-given Seminary for training up Godly men and women on the road between Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince, opened. And then Tuesday, life in Haiti as we knew it ended. What do you think about the fact that Monday, a huge, beautiful, brand new Bible training institute opened for the Lord's service and that Tuesday, the center of Haiti was brought low? God has a plan for this place. He is doing something NEW."

OMS has just opened up a brand new seminary with wonderful facilities and wonderful teachers, both missionaries and nationals, the seminaries in Port-au-Prince have been destroyed. Perhaps this could become the main seminary for Nationals to be trained up as pastors to turn their country around. Perhaps this is a brand new start for Haiti, after years and years of suffering they will have a new start. A start which will put the Lord at the centre instead of Satan and a result God will bless their country abundantly.

For the first time this week I can see hope in what has happened, I honestly don't know how it will happen, how the country will cope with the loss of life, the loss of everything. I don't know how they will rebuild the city but I know that what is impossible with man is possible with God.

Please continue to pray for Haiti, and if you want to give OMS have opened a relief fund you can send a donation to project 405120- Haiti relief fund, OMS, 1 Sandileigh Avenue, Manchester, M20 3LN.

This is what Im praying for Haiti
Some verses from Jeremiah Ch 31-

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will BUILD you and you will be built.

Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turning their mourning to JOY, I WILL comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

Haiti earthquake

2010-01-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

I have had a few emails and texts asking if Im ok, for those of you who don't know Im in the US at cross training and not in Haiti yet.

I have had a hard day for a couple of reasons of which you will probably know. One of which is hearing the news about the earthquake in haiti and looking at the pictures which are devastating. OMS works mainly in the north of the country and all the missionaries there have not been harmed, they also have a villa in Port au Prince at which everyone is safe and unharmed. For which we are thankful here at headquarters. But as you have probably seen on the news there is so much devastation, Haiti really needs our prayers and our help at this time.

The other is just news from my family at home which I got today. Its hard to be here in america and not at home with them right now. So I would just ask you to pray for me and for them at this time.

I am very encouraged by the emails and messgaes I have got of those people already praying and I thank you for that.

Cold!!

2010-01-10T13:12:00.002-08:00

I arrived safely on Friday night in Greenwood, Indiana for cross training after leaving home at 5.30am!! I thought it was super cold and snowy at home until I got here!!Its currently -15C and there is lots of snow, its nice to look at but not so nice to be outside in. Cross Training officially starts on Monday morning and will last 3 weeks. So far Ive just been meeting some of the people who work for OMS mostly former missionaries, doing a little bit of shopping and settling in really.

Commissioning

2009-12-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

I am leaving Northern Ireland on Friday 8th January to head to Greenwood Indiana for Cross Cultural Training, then sometime in the first week in FebruaryI will arrive in Haiti. My church is having a commissioning service for me on Sunday 3rd Jan at 6.30pm. My church is Bethany Baptist in Bangor just off the Gransha Road. Your very welcome to come.

Have a lovely Christmas- enjoy the snow!

funding

2009-11-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

I am having a table quiz on Saturday 28th November in my church, Bethany Baptist Church bangor at 8pm just to raise some funds for Haiti. Teams of 6 -8 and Im sure there will be a great prize for the winning team!!!