Haiti is upon us

In two short days our team from Advance Family Dental will travel down to Haiti to work in medical clinic at Grace Village in Titanyen.  We are anticipating an onslaught of patients as dental care in this part of Haiti is at best, sporadic.  Many will have never seen a dentist before and will have lived a majority of their lives with some degree of dental pain.  This team is volunteering their time, skill and resources to help those that are most in need and I am looking forward to seeing their reactions to the joy and gratitude that they will see in their patients faces at the end of the day.

I'm grateful for this team and for Advance Family Dental's willingness to be a part of this important ministry for Healing Haiti.  I look forward to walking with them on the journey that they will be taking  this next week.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel".              Maya Angelou

Hope

How do I describe Haiti?
First of all, there are the sounds.   Roosters crowing all morning long.  Cars and trucks honking continually, people yelling for a myriad of reasons, babies crying with no mom to comfort them.   Children yelling "hey you!  hey you!  hey you!" when we arrive with water.  Team members crying with sorrow, pain, and compassion as we mingle with people in desperate need.

Second, there are the smells.   Fires are continuously burning for various reasons -- cooking fires, burning garbage.  The pungent odor of sewage pervades everything in Cite Soleil, and the smell of sweat as people are carrying their water pails back to their homes and scrambling at the water truck.

Third, their are the touches.  Children tugging at our shirts wanting to be held.   Boys tapping us on the shoulder wanting to shake our hands.   Little kids taking our hands as we walked to their home.  Moms patting our backs asking us to lift water buckets on their heads.   Precious babies weighing like a feather as we held them in our arms at the hospital.

Finally, there are the sights.  Lines of people with buckets hoping to get water.   Row upon row of "houses" that are smaller than my living room, with a ragged piece of clothe for a door and crumbling concrete blocks for walls.   Babies with arms an thin as broom handles smiling at me when I started talking with them.  Mothers hovering over their children in the hospital, hoping for their child to get better soon.  Faces of people smiling, staring, and hoping for something good to come their way.

In all of these sounds, smells, touches, and sights there is one thing in common.   Tremendous, all consuming need.   The need for food, for water, for care.  The need for a loving touch, for a smile, for hope.  The need to matter, to have value, to be worth our time, our energy, and our care.   And the often unspoken need to become self-sufficient, to have dignity, to be empowered.
How can I,  how can we possibly hope to meet these needs?   At times it seems so hopeless.   What we are doing seems to be a drop in the ocean of endless poverty, crime, pain, and despair.   But I hear God speaking to me about hope.   I hear him telling me that my goal cannot be to save the country, but rather to be one link in a never ending chain of compassion and love.   I hear him saying "help this baby, this child, this mother understand that they have great value to me."   I hear him saying "ask me for wisdom, so that your love may do more permanent good.   Join together with others to come up with ways to turn the tide in that country."  Through prayer, through education, through mentorship, through training leaders, teachers, doctors, nurses, and every type of profession and trade -- so that Haitians can re-claim their nation, call upon the Lord, and become a light to the nations.   This is what God has for this people.   He says that his light will shine in the darkness, and the darkness shall not be able to withstand it.  We can be that light.     We are that light.  And let's invite others to join us.

-Keith

Tears

Tears. Everyday our group goes around the table saying one word that would describe the day. Overall the word would be "tears" today. After the heart-wrenching day we had at Cité Soleil yesterday, I wasn't expecting today to be so emotionally draining.

Our first stop on the tap-tap was a Haitian school that I can only describe as primitive. For a school of 400 children, they had 3 classrooms and only 9 teachers. The roof consisted of plastic tarps and the floor was dirt. The classrooms held multiple grades, who sat quietly and respectfully for the teacher to come to their corner to teach. After our tour the principal expressed his hopes to fix up the school, he then told us he was counting on us to help him and his students. I guess I wasn't expecting him to say that. It was sad to think that very easily this school could look a ton better with just a couple thousand dollars. My heart sank thinking that my church could probably raise that money in one day.

The breaking point of my week happened when we visited the home of an elderly man named Edmond. I work at a nursing home and really love the people there, so I was really looking forward to talking to Haitian elderly people. Edmond is a 69 year old blind for lack of a better word "orphan". His home was no bigger than a small walk-in closet and I could probably count his possessions on one hand. We arrived with a sandwich and some juice, to which he immediately ate. I wonder when the last time he ate was. Our translator brought a electric piano with us, so we began to sing to Edmond. Then came the lotion. When our leaders told us that the elders really like to be massaged with lotion, I immediately listed that service as something another member of our team could do, remembering my extreme hatred for massaging other people. Of course, God had a different plan for my service. I all of the sudden found myself right in front of Edmond's bare feet with a knot in my stomach, a sign that I usually understand as the Holy Spirit telling me I need to obey. Taking a deep breath I grabbed the bottle of lotion and took a hold of sweet Edmond's feet. The look in Edmond's face will probably be etched in my mind for the rest of my life. Big fat tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. My group members sang in the background the song from Matt Redman, "And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come. Still my soul will sing your grace unending 10,000 years and then forevermore". My tears evolved into full on crying as I rejoiced in Edmond's salvation, knowing that there will be a day when Edmond will see Jesus and have no more pain. I felt honored to be serving him, realizing the power of humbling yourself to my brother in Christ. Almost the whole team left Edmond's house with tears in their eyes. The power of the Holy Spirit was felt in Edmond's home today.

I feel blessed to be a part of this ministry, and could not be with a better team. It's amazing to see God working in everybody's life this week. God is so good.

-Julie

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'
Matthew 25:40

Cité Soleil

Today was a rough day for us. Not because we were tired, overheated, or sick. Today we were emotionally torn up. I don't think any of us were expecting to see what we did. We arrived in Cité Soleil with a tank full of fresh water. This area is the poorest of the poor. The children run naked, with no shoes or clothes. The roads are covered in trash and broken glass. Some might have an oversized shirt or a mismatched pair of shoes, but that is it. They beg for attention, throwing thier arms up shouting "hey you!" I picked up one child and two jumped on my legs. They just want to be loved. Their parents aren't in sight, if they have parents at all. We were told that about 30-40% are restavek children. In other words, their parents sold them into slavery at a young age. Someone owns them and has them, forcing them to haul gallons of water from the truck to their "hut." Infant babies roam the streets, barely able to walk.

After delivering the water we walked out aways near the coast. Instead of a sandy beach we walked on a garbage dump. The children ran out to follow us. Our translators led the children in singing a song they all new. You could tell they were so proud because the song was in English and that we would understand. Smiling ear to ear and dancing the children sang "God is so good, God is so good." Tears welled up in my eyes, I couldn't find the words to sing. I was angry with God. I couldn't understand what these children had to be thankful for. Where was God for them? What had they done to deserve this life? In contrast, what had I done to deserve mine?

As we walked back I realized that I was wrong. God had given them a way out, a great gift, and a reason to sing. He had given them his Son. One day these children could escape from this horrible life, and live in Heaven forever. Right then I went from being angry at God, to thanking him.

I don't have all the answers, and I probably never will. But what I do know is that because of Jesus, we can all have hope.

- Ali

"But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under his control."

Philipians 3:20-21

Team Hearts

Team hearts opening up------

Arrived!

We arrived in Haiti and landed in a different world. Where streets are made of dirt and dimpled with permanent speedbumps limiting us to Walking speeds most times with dust and dirt clinging closely. Where kids run from all directions to play 60 min of soccer. Where crumbled vacant sites sit next door to both shacks and houses . Where our van breaks into worship songs initiated by Haitians rejoicing in God's goodness when some might ask why.

Thankyou God for bringing us here.  Thank you for the love I see welling up in the hearts of those whom the world does not see as worthy. But who are precious in your eyes. 

Treasure

Spent the morning at the home for sick and dying children. Each one is a treasure to hold and love and feed.  One boy clung to me like a vine and would not let go.  Another would not eat until I first held him for a while. We need touch. We need to be held and told thatwe are a treasure.  that we matter to someone.
Thank you God that you treasure each one. Always. And Forever.