12/4-12/11

This week we have been winding things down in Haiti for the year. On this coming Thursday, the last of our American staff will be returning to the States for the holiday season. Chadasha in Haiti will be left under the care of our Haitian staff, who we are confident are more than capable of doing a fabulous job.

Our English classes are continuing to grow at both tent camp locations! On Monday and Wednesday we went to Carade where we teach English and do a Bible study in make-shift classrooms that are actually old school buses. Our class sizes have grown so much that we had to start a third class. So now we have a mens, womens, and advanced class at that location twice a week. These people are very consistent and hungry to learn.

On Saturday we went to Corial to do our weekly class and Bible study. There were many obstacles including horrendous traffic, a community event, and forgotten chalk to use the blackboard, but God provided and we were able to have a short but great English class and Bible study.

Solomon, Kelly, and Kelly

This week we had to say a few sad goodbyes. Our most recent intern, Carley, returned to her home in North Carolina. She was such a joy to have serving here with us for the past month. We know that God has huge plans for her, and we are so excited to see how God continues to work in her life in America. Also we had to say goodbye to two sweet ladies who were staying with us for a few days. Kelly is adopting Solomon who is one of our kids at Little Hands and Feet, and her friend, Kelly, came along with her to visit. These ladies were such a huge help with getting us organized and ready to leave for a few weeks. We and Solomon miss them so much!

We have two huge praise stories to share with you this week as well. Really, words are great and all but pictures tell these stories so much better. Many of you remember KenKen. Last week we shared that he had been discharged from the hospital back to his tent camp, and appeared to be getting better. Well, he has proven to all of us that our God is BIGGER and STRONGER than anything in this world... including AIDS, tuberculosis, and malnutrition.

KenKen 3 months ago

KenKen last week

Our second praise story is about the burned baby that we got a call about from a different tent camp. He had fallen into a pot of hot oil and his mother took him out of the hospital thinking she could take care of him in their tarp tent. Nothing could have prepared us for what we found in that tent, and we were unsure there was anything that could be done. But after a week or so in the hospital and constant checking on and loving on, Baby Bulin is healing amazingly.

The first day we saw him

This week!

Praise God that miracles still exist! He is faithful, and He really does love these kids WAY more than we ever thought we could. KenKen turns a year old tomorrow, and the burned babies mother will deliver another baby at the end of December! Pray for them both please!

A few days ago, one of our Haitian staff went in the bathroom after someone had just taken a shower. He said "Oh!! What happened to the mirror?!" We ran into the bathroom, thinking it was probably shattered or something, only to discover it was still fogged up from the hot shower. He had never seen a mirror fogged before because people in Haiti don't take hot showers in closed in bathrooms. A fogged up mirror after a hot shower is something that we as Americans don't even notice because we are so used to it.

We are learning that the Gospel of Christ is much like this. We grow up in or around churches, hearing about Jesus and hearing the Gospel every way possible. It becomes so common place that we don't even notice it sometimes. But God has been faithfully bringing us people who, upon hearing our presentation of Christ's Love and the way that He changes lives, look right at us and say "I've never heard that before." We stand in amazement that these people literally have never heard the story of Jesus before, but we are so thankful that God has chosen us to share with them this amazing truth. There are people right in front of you today, people you think have heard the Gospel as many times and as many ways as you have. But maybe, they haven't heard the whole truth. Or maybe, they haven't heard it at all. Keep your eyes wide open, and embrace chances to share the life-saving story of Christ. You never know when someone's face may light up and they may exclaim "Oh!! This is awesome news! Why haven't I heard this before?!" We invite you to be bold for our Savior with us!

10/30-11/6

This week in Haiti we continued our usual ministries which includes Bible School at Chadasha's Little Hands & Feet, English classes on Saturday in Koriay, emergency medical care with sick babies, and preparing for heart surgeries in the Dominican Republic.

We would like to tell you that KenKen is still fighting... seems to be losing [or winning, depending on how you look at it] a little more each day. Prayers of strength for his mom and dad are so precious... they are exhausted and worried of course.

The baby who was burned that we told you about last week has been released from the hospital! He is going back every two days for a dressing change and appears to be healing beautifully. We were able to meet with his family and check on them a few days ago.

the family in front of their house

The family at Little Hands & Feet got a bit smaller this week! If you remember a few weeks ago we told you about the family of 6 children that had moved in. This week we got a call from their mother and she said that a member of their extended family wanted to help them and take all the kids! Of course it is hard to watch kids that we love go, but we know that it's always best for them to be with family if at all possible. And we know that our role is to be whatever God calls us to be for these children, and to show them the Love of Christ whether thats for a week, a few months, or a few years.

the 6 kids with their mom!

orevwa!!

Besides that, the biggest focus this week has been getting the heart patients ready to go to the DR for surgery. We are actually leaving today, Monday, and taking 5 kids and their legal guardians. Rounding up the kids, guardians, passports, and visas has proven to be quite a task, but today it should be finished and we will be heading out in an hour or so.

This week we have been blessed by the presence of Ben Moser. He is an amazing photographer who is working daily for the Lord and will be putting together a documentary about the heart surgeries. The pictures below of the kids having surgery are courtesy of him!

Naika [8yrs]

Pricille [2yrs]

Rutherchy [9yrs]

Zaikel [3yrs]

Prayers for these sweet kids, their parents, and the teams that will be working on them are so appreciated! We will give you an update of how they are doing when we can! Thank you for reading, and know that prayers are coming your way from Haiti today!

10/23-10/30

Hello from Haiti! We hope that you had a great week, but whether your week was at the top or the bottom of weeks for you, we hope above all that You felt the presence of God. We are definitely seeing His Hands at work here in this country!

First of all, we are so blessed this week to have Mrs. Peggy and Mrs. Marie visiting us from Church of the Cove in Tennessee. These beautiful, Christ-like women have put on their hardhats and walking boots and jumped right into the craziness of Haiti, loving and serving like it's going out of style. Their compassion and brokeness for these people has given us all a little bit of perspective and we are so thankful for them!

The UN has a very evident presence here in Haiti, but their employees are mainly here to keep physical peace and control the violence and crime... not for humanitarian work. However, we have been blessed to come across at least 2 officers who are going above and beyond their job descriptions. [Please pray for them!] Earlier this week we got a call from a UN officer who stepped out in boldness to speak up for a baby boy in desperate need of medical care. The boy, 2 years old, had been severely burned, spent a month in a hospital, and was now back in the tent camp. We went to check out the situation, and this is what we found:

His mother [who is 7 months pregnant with her 9th child] agreed to go to a hospital with us, so we took them both to Medishare. The baby is getting excellent care and will be staying at the hospital until he is ready to go home. His mother is hanging in there and we are doing our best to show them the love of Christ. We will keep you updated on the progress of this little guy!

After we got this child the care he needed, the same UN officer introduced us to another little boy who had a sort of staph infection on his back. We were able to meet his father and give him some antibiotics. When we checked back after a few days, he was already healing. We were able to bring some shoes and hygiene products, and the UN officer bought him some clean clothes. He and his father both were so thankful... their faces lit up the room. We are so thankful God chose to put us in their path.

Odini and his daddy!

From working with the UN and the people of this particular tent camp, God has brought to us the opportunity to possibly contribute to beginning a school for the more than 200 kids living in this camp who can't afford to go to school. We are praying and seeking God's direction as far as what our role should be in this task. This is a picture of a portion of the camp that these kids are living in:

Our final medical emergency care that we were able to provide this week was with Baby KenKen. He was taken to the hospital 2 days ago because he has taken a turn for the worse. This morning he stopped breathing but the doctors did CPR and brought him back. He currently has a feeding tube because he isn't eating, a fever, high blood sugar, and short rapid breaths. It seems that it won't be much longer until He steps from here to Heaven. Prayers for his sweet mom are so important.. that she may feel the comfort of our Heavenly Father!

On a higher note, the kids at Little Hands & Feet have started school and are loving it! We were finally able to get all their books, uniforms, shoes, belts, etc. etc. etc. We had no idea the extent of getting stuff for school in Haiti until we had to do it! It's a lot of stuff. They are also thoroughly enjoying their twice a week Bible Study with Kessy and Joshua. This week they learned 1.) God made me special, and that makes me BEAUTIFUL. and 2.)God made others, so when I hurt them I hurt God. After the lesson, they do an art project. Below you can see them coloring and painting.

This Saturday God brought about 25 kids and over 50 adults to learn English in Koriay, the tent camp. After an hour of English, some members of Chadasha were able to give their testimonies as a witness for Jesus and a complete explanation of why we are wanting to serve the people of Koriay. Next week our goal is to do an hour English class and then an hour of Bible Study. Prayers for direction, open doors, and open hearts are most appreciated!

Oh... and we have an extra special guest staying with us at the Guest House this week as well! Meet Rutherchy:

He is 8 years old and in need of heart surgery to fix his less-than-perfect heart. We are planning to take him to the Dominican Republic next week when we go to take 5 other Haitian children to have heart surgery, and beg that they do Rutherchy too. We know that if it is God's Will, it will be done. Right now we are all just taking this opportunity to love him to pieces! We'll let you know next week what ends up happening with this sweet boy.

God is moving in mighty ways here. As a family and ministry, we are meeting to pray daily that this ministry be about our God and not about us... not about the name Chadasha, but about making the name of Jesus FAMOUS here. Because thats what we're about. And we would love for you to join us :)

Until next Sunday... love & prayers from Haiti!