Sat. Feb.19; a fresh snowy white morning with blue sky, and sun streaming in the window. Janet has freshly painted and cleaned the whole house. I see the pet cat and her dish.Panic hits my chest and brain because I know the Haitian people we visited won't have a meal as big or as good as our pet today. Their homes won't be clean, if they are even intact.The charcoal from yesterday's meal, or the remains from the burning garbage pit in the yard, will hang in the air. The path that they will walk today for water or food will be full of rubble and garbage. The rest of the country is similar. Thankfully Janet and Nic are getting up so we can recount our stories,cry and even thank God for the good we saw in Haiti. In a country with not much, God is doing quite a lot.
There were two and three hour church services that were the most joyful,peaceful,worshipful services I have experienced. Haiti Arise is making progress on the children's village, medical clinic and technical school. All that has been donated is going to a good work! The bottom line for me is that Marc and Lisa's ministry is with the people and that by taking responsibility for these projects, many Haitians have turned to salvation in Jesus. Lives are being built, not just buildings.
One personal story: Our family was praying and hoping Nic and I would get the chance to meet Nesda, the girl our family sponsors in Haiti.Because of the earthquake, prearranged normal channels were not working. I shared with Marc our hope to meet Nesda and believed she lived in the next town, a short 15 min. away. He said he would check into it. The next day brought bad news. Her village was across the island, over the mountains and bad roads separated us.Marc said he maybe knew of a ma
n in that town and he would keep checking. For three consecutive nights our team members prayed for God to make a connection with someone so we could find Nesda. On Wed. afternoon, with one day left, Marc pulled me aside and asked if I had my contact info. on Nesda. I immediately reached for the slip of paper I kept carefully in my pocket. Marc invited me to sit down in the busy dining room.I am thinking "bad news" but am surprised to look up into the face of Nesda!! I was shocked and Marc was laughing and it was incredible! She and her mom had traveled over two hours on the back of a motorcycle to see us! The mystery of the missing link turned out to be that the pastor from Nesda's church had been a school mate of Marc's from grade one to grade twelve! Amazing!!
Thank you to all of our fellow team members and to our supporters and prayer partners, if you would like to hear more, give us a call!
David