Soon

One day soon I will get to walk the red, rocky paths again. Holding a sweaty little hand in mine. Marveling at my barefooted companions. Admiring the tropical foliage and sunshine. Worshipping the God who made it all. I can’t wait.

Faces of Haiti: Sassy Pants

I’m sure I’ll be surprised this summer to find that all the little kids on La Montagne have grown up! I look forward to it anyway.

Faces of Haiti: Boys

I can hardly wait to go back to Haiti. I miss the beautiful Haitian people so much!

Faces of Haiti: Sweet Family

How I miss this sweet Haitian family! W and I were an integral part of the ministry happening on La Montagne. I hope to see them again soon! Lord willing, later this year . . .

Fundraising Update

Finally! A moment to post an update on Hope Hill and what’s going on with things! Life has been extremely busy lately, so I’ll keep this update short and sweet:

1.) Funds. I am still working to raise funds for Hope Hill, and the numbers have continued to go up! Later this week, I will update the thermometer on the right.

2.) Where Funds Go. As a result of our move to Texas and my partnership with A Child’s Hope, we now have a new place to direct funds! Rather than going through our church in Michigan, donations can now be made out to “A Child’s Hope” with “Hope Hill” in the memo line. Those checks can be mailed to:

A Child’s Hope

16545 Village Drive, Bldg A

Jersey Village, TX 77040

3.) Valencia. My precious little girl continues to do well in Haiti! With her sponsorship, she is now being tutored and is catching up in school. I am anxious to see her again, and am praying about a return trip to La Montagne in 2014.

That’s all for now! I appreciate all of you who are praying for this project! Soli Deo Gloria!

Faces of Haiti: Family

I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I saw this precious family! W and I are two of the sweetest people I know, and their kids were so adorable. I can’t wait to see how God uses their family to bring the hope of the Gospel to the people of La Montagne!

Faces of Haiti: One Year

I can hardly believe that it has been a whole year since our family departed for Haiti! I never would have imagined all the changes that have taken place over the past year. We serve an amazing God! I had hoped to have been back to Haiti by now, but I trust in God’s timing. One day (hopefully soon!) I will return!

Faces of Haiti: Playing Games

Faces of Haiti: Valencia

Valencia, her mother, and brother.

I was rather surprised to receive this picture from a friend who just got back from Haiti. Valencia’s mother is still alive! But she is mentally ill and pregnant. I’m not sure where her Mom has been, what she does, etc. but it’s one more piece to the puzzle of this little girl that has captivated my heart. I pray that somehow, God would reconcile this seemingly broken family to Himself.

Faces of Haiti: Reunited

While the above picture was taken last summer, I just saw a picture of these two today. After a whole year, M and T were finally reunited during another missions trip. These two had such a special friendship, similar to my relationship with Valencia. It makes me long for the day when I will finally be reunited with Valencia!

Faces of Haiti: Prayer

Please take a moment to pray for a team from Michigan that will be ministering on La Montagne this week! Several members of the team went with me last summer, and others are good friends of mine. Please pray that God would use them to minister to the Haitian people, and that lives would be changed as a result of this trip!

Faces of Haiti: Face-to-Face

“I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.” 3 John 1:14

"Walking in Broken Shoes" Book Review

(Originally posted on www.7eagleswings.blogspot.com on May 17, 2013)

Recently, my Mom was spending some Amazon gift cards she received last year. She was so sweet and bought a little something for each of us. J She gave me a choice between 4 or 5 different missions-related books. I was so excited when my copy of “Walking in Broken Shoes” by Susan Magnuson Walsh arrived! I had never heard of the book until Mom mentioned it to me, but it sounded like my kind of book.

Susan Walsh—a pediatric nurse practitioner—led many short-term medical missions trips to Haiti prior to the earthquake in 2010. The first half of the book describes these trips. The book is written mostly in journal form, with lots of email updates and personal stories.

While I found the book interesting up to that point, my interest really piqued half-way through the book. Susan Walsh was in Haiti with a team during the January 2010 earthquake. She gives an incredible first-hand account of what the tremor felt like, the emotional responses to the quake, and the devastation felt in Pétionville. Thankfully no one on their team was hurt, but immediately following the quake, they found themselves serving at a hospital where they saw every injury imaginable.

Susan Walsh describes their experience as that of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH unit.) People were missing limbs, losing blood at a life-threatening rate, and so much more. Many of the people in the hospital were dead. Her team did the best they could to treat injuries for 6 or 7 hours after the quake, but the number of people requiring treatment was enormous.

Because of the condition of the airport and the chaos, their team—which was supposed to leave the day after the quake—was stranded in Haiti for several extra days. Their ordeal of trying to get out of the country was nightmarish.

She also goes on to describe the trips she made back to Haiti following the quake. The very last chapter gives a very good analysis of where things stand in Haiti today, including the issues that have been dealt with, and the issues that have not been resolved.

I really appreciated the book because it not only gave an excellent first-hand account of an earth-shattering (literally) event that nearly every person in Haiti bears scars from, but it also gives a great look into the tremendous needs of the Haitian people. The issues are complex, sticky, and difficult to deal with. At times it feels like the mess has gotten so big, it can never be cleaned up.

But God is still sovereign over all. He will use tragedies such as the 2010 earthquake for HIS glory and to make HIS Name famous in Haiti. Susan Walsh does a great job of sharing her personal testimony and how God worked in her life through all the situations she was a part of in Haiti.

I definitely recommend this book for anyone high-school aged and up, particularly those who are considering medical missions work. Parts of the story are heartbreaking, but I think our hearts need to be broken more often, because brokenness brings us to a point of action.

Faces of Haiti: "Mayor of the Mountain"

One of the people constantly with our team in Haiti was Mr. P. Despite the fact that there are no police, government, or infrastructure of any kind on La Montagne, he is known as the “Mayor of the Mountain.” Mr. P is in his 70’s, with a small and wiry build. Originally from the Dominican Republic, he speaks fluent Spanish as well as Haitian Creole.

You would never know how old he was based on his agility! Mr. P can still climb coconut trees, butcher pigs, and beat teenage girls (*ahem, me*) in foot races up mountains with the best of them. He amazed our whole team! And he is truly “the boss” of the mountain!

On our way down the mountain at the end of the week, we had a little issue. You see, 2 truck drivers had been hired to take our team of 17 down the mountain. We also hired 1 tap-tap for our luggage. Only one truck driver and the tap-tap showed up (an hour late.) We were all packed and ready to leave, so the half of the team that was supposed to ride in the 2^nd truck piled into the tap-tap with the luggage.

We hadn’t driven 5 minutes down the mountain when the other truck driver shows up. He stops the vehicle so that those of us in the tap-tap can get out and ride in his vehicle. But we had already settled in and the missionary tried to explain we no longer needed him because he was so late. The driver got angry, so he pulled his truck in front of our tap-tap and wouldn’t move.

The driver of the tap-tap and the missionary argued with the truck driver for a good 10 minutes as a crowd of Haitians began to gather. Mr. P was hitching a ride into Jacmel with us and was sitting in the back of the tap-tap with us. We could tell he was starting to get antsy. Finally, he got out and went to talk with the truck driver. Two minutes later, we were back on the road. J He holds a lot of influence on La Montagne, which is why he is affectionately given the title “Mayor of the Mountain.”

Faces of Haiti: JC

I recently finished reading “Walking in Broken Shoes” by Susan Magnuson Walsh. She was on a medical missions trip in Haiti during the 2010 earthquake. The book gives her first-hand account of the devastation following the 7.0-magnitude quake.

Reading the stories contained in that book brought to mind a testimony I heard when I was in Haiti. One of our Haitian translators was J.C., pictured above in the blue shirt. While we relaxed in the rocking chairs on the balcony, he told me, in his broken English, where he was during the infamous quake.

J.C. was attending university in Jacmel at the time, and was on one of the upper floors when the building began to shake. The city of Jacmel is 20 miles away from where the epicenter of the quake was (Léogâne), but the magnitude of the quake still caused some of the largest buildings in Jacmel to tremble and collapse.

Out of fear and instinct, J.C. jumps off the bench where he was studying and goes out the window. He falls several stories. He should have died or been severely injured. By God’s grace, he walks away unscathed. The student sitting on the bench next to him was crushed beneath the collapsing building and died.

Almost every Haitian has a story about how the earthquake affected them. Some of these stories are heartbreaking; others—like JC’s—clearly show God’s sovereignty and protection over all. He so clearly has a plan for JC to spare his life in such a way!
 

Faces of Haiti: Counting Down

Words can hardly describe the longing in my heart to return to Haiti! I cannot wait to wrap my arms around the precious children, to see their smiles, and best of all, serve them and share the Gospel with them!

Faces of Haiti: Update on Fabie

 

A couple of months ago, I wrote an update on Fabie, the little girl we met in Haiti with the severe burns on her neck and chest. A friend emailed this picture to us yesterday. Fabie had her first surgery to reconstruct her neck in late February. The surgery was pretty traumatic for such a young girl, but she pulled through and is recovering well as far as I know. Unfortunately she developed an infection in her leg (one of the graft sites), and was hospitalized to treat it.

 

She is a rambunctious little girl and had a little trouble honoring the doctor’s orders to take it easy following her surgery. J She has to wear a neck brace while her neck heals, and she will have more surgeries in the future.

 

But Fabie is one step closer to having mobility in her neck and living a normal life! Our God is so good!

 

Faces of Haiti: Long to Return

How I long to be back among the precious boys and girls of La Montagne! I am counting down the months until I can return.

Faces of Haiti: Fabie

We serve a God of miracles. When our team was in Haiti, we met a little girl named “Fabie.” This little girl was severely burned when she tripped while carrying an oil lamp in early 2012. Due to the severity of her burns, her skin did not heal properly. As a result, her chest and her chin healed together. This immobilized her neck, made swallowing difficult, and stole this little girl’s joy.

Her caregiver—her grandmother—brought her to us while we were on La Montagne. She left Fabie with us for 5 hours while she went down into the city to get her birth certificate so that we could pursue medical help for her. While her injury was non-life threatening, there could be complications in the future as she continues to grow.

Five months later, on January 11^th, Fabie finally made it to the U.S.A. One member of our team was incredibly impacted by her story, and worked tirelessly to get her the medical help she needs. After ensuring that there was no doctor in Haiti that could help her, she turned to doctors in the States until she got approval from a hospital that would donate their services to help this precious child.

A family from our church in Michigan was very touched by Fabie’s story, and wanted to adopt her into their family. You cannot imagine the joy and excitement present at the airport when Fabie and her new family finally got to meet! Fabie has a new family that loves her, has prayed for her, and will be with her as her plastic surgeries start in late February.

Fabie will have multiple surgeries over the next 2 years to correct her burns. During that time her new family will work on the adoption process necessary to make Fabie a permanent part of their family.

What an amazing God we serve! He not only crossed our paths with Fabie in Haiti, but He also gave a burden to her new family to adopt her. He provided a doctor, hospital, and medical team that is willing to cover the expenses for her surgery. He is changing Fabie from the scared, shy, and sad little girl we met in July to a little girl that is joyful, well-adjusted, who smiles, and experienced her very first bath this weekend. J Our God is the God of the impossible! Beni swa Letenel!

Faces of Haiti: Precious Little One

Her little face just melts my heart! I wish I was in Haiti right now so I could scoop her up in a big hug. I hope to have my chance to do just that this summer!