Back from Haiti

I've only been home from Haiti for 3 days, yet it feels like it was months since I was there. It is always so difficult to come back to the States after being in Haiti. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to see my husband and kids, but I wish I could stay longer. There are so many problems in Haiti like the lack of clean water, food, infrastructure, jobs, education, etc. The list could continue on and on. There seems to be no way out for the Haitians but that is when you rely on the only thing that can solve these problems and that is God. With God, all things are possible. Many people ask, "How was your trip to Haiti?" It is often hard to answer that question because one, there are so many different God stories that I could share--I could talk for hours about my trip and two, it is so hard to put these experiences into words that would truly describe what takes place in your heart. But the reality is that most people barely have time to hear about one story let alone hours worth of stories. So my hope is to share with you over the course of several blog entries some of the God stories that occured while we were on our mission trip.

God has blessed me so much over the course of my life, yet I still find things to complain about. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and it is only 600 miles off the coast of Florida. I have never seen or experienced "need" in its truest form until I traveled to Haiti last July. Our mission trips take us to the capital of Haiti which is Port Au Prince. As soon as you get outside of the airport, you see need immediately. Yet, I have not even seen the worst of the needs because I have not been to the countryside in Haiti. I cannot even begin to imagine how bad it is in the countryside because what I see in the capital city is horrible already. Yet, with all their needs, the Haitian people still find ways to smile, greet you with "bon swa (good afternoon)", and to laugh. It truly is amazing to see how they live yet they are joyful and happy. Joy and happiness do not come from the things that we have--it comes from having the love of Jesus in us, and this is so evident in Haiti.

The first God story that I am going to share with you is about a boy named Fon Fon. We were first introduced to Fon Fon as we got out of our vans at the Brother's Hospital. It was not the normal introduction. We first heard Fon Fon from the second story of the hospital screaming out. If you have ever lost someone close to you, you know the scream that I am talking about. After the scream, I knew that someone had just learned about someone close to them passing away. My heart just dropped to the ground listening to the sobs of a young boy that just lost his mother. Many of the people on our team were already hesitant and dare I say scared about being at the hospital and then to get out of the vans to hear a little boy screaming because his mom just died--many probably wanted to climb back in the vans and head back to the medical clinic where we were working at, but God had different plans in mind. Before continuing on about Fon Fon, I need to give you some backgroud information.

This hospital was a hospital for the dying and no one on our team had been there before so we really didn't know what to expect. All we knew was there were people that were terminally ill from Aids and TB at the hospital, and we were going there to essentially be the hands and feet of Jesus. We did not know what we would be doing at the hospital and many on the team were very uncomfortable. Many were praying the night before as to whether or not it was God's plan for them to go. In the end, all of our team went and all of us were blessed for having done so.

After arriving at the hospital, we were told that we wouldn't be doing much medical work with the patients. They wanted us to give the patients massages, shave their faces, and cut their fingernails and toenails. Due to some hesitation on our part, it took us a few minutes to get warmed up to the idea of massaging and shaving people with HIV and TB. Women patients were on the second floor and men patients were on the first floor. The rooms were community style rooms with around 20 beds in each room. As we entered the room with our gloves and masks on, the women began taking their hospital gowns off so that we could massage them. Their faces and smiles said everything that needed to be said--we were being the hands and feet of Jesus to these patients and they were absolutely thrilled. The power of touch is amazing. These people long to be touched just like you and I do and I was so glad that God had chosen me to be a part of this. We continued giving massages and we went into another room filled with more patients. There was a girl around 19 years old that looked more like 12 lying in bed. As a couple of people began massaging her, she started to seize. I joined them a few minutes later not knowing what had just occured. All I knew was that one of our teammates asked me to go get Pastor Kurt to pray over this girl because they thought she was about to die. Several of us stood around the young lady laying our hands on her while Pastor prayed. After the prayer, Pastor saw a Haitian standing behind all of us--he was the girl's father. We had him come up by his daughter's head and he began to pray over his daughter. Right there, in front of all us, he began to pray to our Lord while watching his daughter struggle to stay here on earth. Then the most wonderful thing occured, the father started singing and praising the Lord. This touched my heart in such a way--here is a man about to lose his daughter yet he is praising the Lord, our Lord. The girl did not die that day, she slept peacefully through the night. We know this because her father talked with one of our translators on the phone the next day. He wanted to let us know that she was still alive and that he was grateful for our presence. I don't know if this girl has passed away yet, however, I do know that God was pleased and honored.

Meanwhile, another of our team members was spending time with Fon Fon and learning about him and his family. He is 12 years old and had been living with his mother at the hospital for 4 months. He has 3 brothers and 1 sister all younger than him that are living in the poorest and most dangerous city in the western hemisphere called City Sole. Their father does not work and barely takes care of the children. Can you imagine what was going through this boy's mind--essentially he was going to be the caretaker for his brothers and sister while being a kid himself.
It was not a coincidence that his mother passed away just as we were getting out of the vans--this was a God-incident. God could've taken her home the day before or the day after but He chose that time because He knew that our team was going to be there and He was calling many of our teammembers to help this boy and his family out. So that is what happened--in a nutshell. There are several details that need to be worked out, but Fon Fon and his brothers and sister are going to be taken care of. The first order of business was to find them a place to live--somewhere away from City Sole. Rent is already covered for the first year ($1200 US dollars) and the place is near where our Haitian clinic manager lives. He and another of our translators are going to be checking in on the kids and making sure they are ok. The next things on the agenda are food, clothing, and schooling for these kids which are in the process. God is good all the time and all the time God is good!