Thursday - November 2, 2006

Well, I missed updating last week, but that was because we had teams from four different churches here, and we were a bit busy! Last week, we actually had more women here than we had beds available in the dorm, so our bunk beds in the apartment came in handy and we each had roommates for a few nights!

Two weeks ago, I was able to visit our ministry hub in Ouanamenthe, Haiti, where G.O. supports a church, school, feeding center, and orphanage. It was an amazing experience that had a profound effect on me. Earlier, I had written that La Mosca in Santiago was the poorest area I had ever seen. but Haiti now has that distinction. I truly cannot imagine anything worse - from children running around in the streets naked and dirty, to people living in houses made only of sticks and mud; I was overwhelmed by the need that surrounded me. The only way to truly describe how I felt was that it made my heart hurt, and I imagine that is only the smallest percentage of what God feels when He sees his children struggling to survive in places overrun with such poverty.

There were bright spots, though, in this country of contrasts. At the school, we saw little girls dressed in beautiful dresses, likely the only decent piece of clothing each of them owns, and the church was painted a bright and welcoming blue (which, naturally, I loved). While at the orphanage, we played with the children after they had eaten lunch, and their smiles were bright and beautiful. While we could not talk to one another except through the little bit of French I remember from high school and college, and which they are now studying in school (90% of Haitians speak Creole, even though French is the official language of the country), we could communicate through hugs, smiles, and laughter. Sitting and playing with or just holding these children whose parents have either died or abandoned them because of their physical disabilities, which are seen as evil here, I experienced some of the best few hours I have had since I left the US. The shy and quiet ones always seems to get my attention the quickest, and to be able to draw a smile out of a child and eventually draw that child onto your lap who previously had been hovering around the edges of a group, and then giving that child a few moments of undivided love and attention is to me one of the greatest gifts God gives us to share. When it was time to leave, I was not ready to go, and I am looking forward to going back and laughing with and sharing God's love with those children again.

I will be going back on November 10th to take much needed school supplies that I will purchase with the balance of the money donated by Woodland Hills Church of Christ. We will be taking textbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils, chalk, and some blackboard paint to use to cover the pressboard they are now using as "chalkboards." The school is located on the second floor of the building that houses the church, and that area is also used as a dormitory to house groups when they come to work in Haiti. Two of the classes actually meet in rooms where there are also bunk beds! The other classes meet in an open area with nothing to separate one class from the other except for a foot or two of space between the desks. The good news is that there is a new school being built next to the church that will have a total of 16 rooms once both floors are finished! What struck me the most was the difference between the children we met on the street and those in the school - here was hope and joy, out there was hunger and sadness. The work of the church (which has 800 members), school, feeding center, and orphanage has already begun to make a difference in this community, as concrete block houses are slowly beginning to replace those of mud and sticks, but there is still much work to be done. While it may seem overwhelming to us, nothing is impossible to God, and He is clearly doing His work in Haiti, and all we have to do is follow His guidance to support that work in any way we can!

After returning from Haiti, I was able to jump in (literally on Tuesday when I worked with the soccer clinic with the children from La Mosca) and start working with the teams. The soccer clinic was a lot of fun, and a few of those skills I learned as an eight-year-old seemed to come back to me pretty easily (though I would say I was about as good as I was back then, which is actually pretty bad, but it's the spirit that counts - right?). There was also a medical clinic going on at the same time at the church in La Mosca, and when we got rained out of the afternoon activities at the soccer clinic, we were able to go help that group out as well.

That same week, another group came in to do another medical clinic immediately after the first one in another area of the city called Los Perez. The pastor of the church there, Nico, is one of my favorite people here - he always has a smile on his face and a warm greeting for whomever he meets! This medical clinic also offered dental care, which consisted of pulling teeth since preventative care is only for those who can afford it, which is a small percentage of the people here - one patient had seven teeth pulled! I was assigned to taking pictures, but also ended up helping out in the pharmacy (don't worry - only with organizing, not with filling prescriptions!), and being assigned to guarding the door when it came time to stop allowing patients in for the day. In the middle of the day, a storm rolled in and everyone from outside ended up inside - talk about hot, muggy, and "close"! Through it all, the doctors, nurses, and dental team kept working, and it was a great day overall.

The next day I was assigned to the construction team, to once again take pictures, but we got rained out again. So, they did some impromptu children's ministry that was a nice surprise for the children and certainly something I was better suited for than construction, even though I was looking forward to getting to work on building the church at Hato del Yaque again!

On the fourth day of each team's visit, we went out and evangelized in the neighborhood where the clinics were offered, explaining that while we came to offer these clinics to meet the physical needs of the body, it is the spiritual needs of our souls that are most important, and only God can truly bring help and healing into our lives. Doing this was new for me, but I found that I enjoyed meeting the people of each community, inviting them to church, and sharing the Truth with them. On the evangelism day in Los Perez, I was in a group with Nico, who speaks more English than I realized, and he insisted I translate for him! It was rough going, to say the least, but he helped me, and we were able to get our message across! At one house we met up with a young man who had come to the clinic who also spoke very good English, and he joined us for the rest of the morning acting as translator, which was a huge relief for me! My Spanish is coming along, but I still have a long way to go!

Over and over again at the houses we visited, the people told us how grateful they were that the teams had come to help their communities, and the work the teams did, whether it was construction, children's ministry, or medical/dental help, was a great way to open the door to talk about the One who sent them. God has given each one of us talents to share with others, and there is no better way to use them than to lead others to knowing about Him and His redemptive love for us.

This coming week, I will be hosting a "Teacher Appreciation" event for the teachers at the G.O. school here in Hoya del Caimito as a precursor to the teacher training that has been scheduled for January 8. While I was hoping to do the training before I came back to the states for the holidays, it is better to offer it before the start of the new semester, as the training involves classroom management strategies that are best introduced at the beginning of a semester. God's timing is perfect, and I know His hand has been in this, so the postponement is not a disappointment. One thing I will do with the extra time is work on preparing my presentation in Spanish so that I will not need a translator, which would be very exciting!

Over the next few weeks, I will be preparing to return to the states. Please pray that I am able to get everything organized, and that I don't forget anything! Also, please pray for safety on the trip to Haiti and for all of the G.O. staff as we are traveling over the next few weeks. I will probably wait to update again until after the trip to Haiti.

I will be in Louisville the first three weeks of December and am planning to have a reception for all my supporters - watch your e-mail for more information!

Thank you for supporting my ministry!

Con amor de Jesucristo,
Catherine