The Haitian Donkey and friends rejoice in God’s marvelous mercies at Centre de Sante Lumiere

Hi All:

I know I have said this before, but it never ceases to amaze me that the Lord continues to give us people with talents I cannot comprehend to help us in His service here. As many of you know from previous updates, the little Kia that could has been struggling to be able to climb the mountains in Haiti for several years and we are looking into alternatives. Jean Eddy brought it to the dealership 2 months ago and they replaced a part in the fuel system, but it didn’t run any better, so Dan and Evert worked on it last month, as it was clear the fuel was not getting to the engine and it couldn’t go. The Kia dealership said they could order and install one for $4900 but it might be a while and who knows what might happen. We found one for less than 1/5th the price in Australia but, although we had all the right numbers, even I can see that the part is considerably smaller and not the right one (and a Donkey has very limited skills in the automotive realm, as he relies on his somewhat sturdy feet to keep going). Dan told me Tuesday that he has very limited automotive skills (though I know him to be quite modest) but he would look things over. He researched it on the internet and crawled under the vehicle, looking for a tiny screen the internet told him should be inside the fuel pump. I did a hysterectomy and came up to see his progress. He crawled out, covered with diesel fuel and cleaned himself off and then returned to the job. I did yet another hysterectomy and checked on him again and he had found a tiny screen in the fuel pump that was totally plugged. It was cleaned and the truck runs like it is brand new (at least the motor) and Jean Eddy was able to bring Dr. Jo Marturano to Port to return to the US yesterday. He came back grinning from ear to ear as it works wonderfully.

Speaking of Dr. Jo, she is a psychiatrist who comes twice yearly for 2 weeks and has a growing population of patients. Sadly, they have considerable struggles with understanding that they need to take the meds on any sort of regular basis and sometimes get a bit upset about things. One was wailing for hours yesterday morning in the wee hours, we first thought someone had passed away at the hospital, though I didn’t know of any candidates, but, after we were fully awake and could navigate ourselves to investigate, she was walking all over the grounds sharing her sadness with everyone, whether they wanted to listen or not. We also did an albino patient in his 40s with a huge cancer growing on his face. We managed to get all the visible cancer off and close the incision under considerable tension, but I fear that it has invaded into the bone as we scraped it off his cheek bone. To balance the sadness that abounds here, we did a difficult hysterectomy today, tons of adhesions in a 43 year old lady who had a bunch of painful pelvic masses. Since she had no children, I was reluctant to do it, explaining to her that I would put a definite end to her even remote possibility of having children. There was a younger man with her, I asked him what relation he was, as all decisions are a family matter, rarely does one make a decision alone. He said he was her son, but adopted. I told her that I was proud that she had raised an orphan, as that is not so common here in Haiti. He enthusiastically told me she was the greatest mother that ever could be and with that assurance, I could safely proceed with the surgery.

Another talented person we are greatly blessed to have help us regularly is Johannes Schuerer (and his wonderful wife, Luise). They have been invaluable in helping us navigate several administrative issues in a way that is acceptable to the Haitian culture as well as in a Biblical fashion. After over 40 years of service in the Bible Institute, they are able to guide us and the Executive Committee of MEBSH through some of the quagmires that we find in our work here. Once again, with their help, we feel that a major difficulty has been resolved (hopefully the last one for quite a while, Lord willing).

As usual, Dan and Tom have done a number of repairs and improvements to the facility, including repairing the toilet in my bedroom so that it does a better job of removing semisolid waste and the offending odors that accompany it. Overall, surgery has gone well, though I ended up having to transfer a perforated typhoid patient that was 5 days down the road at government hospital and I fear struggling for his life. If he had come earlier in the week, I would have done it, but it is not a wise surgical practice to do a huge surgery with a good chance of complications and then leave Dr. Moise alone when he is not yet considered a full fledged surgeon by Haitian standards. He likely would get a lot of unfair criticism and I need to be cautious with doing things that most likely will have negative results in our small facility.

Although it is rainy season, we have not had a lot of rain in the daytime and we have been able to pour several slabs of cement, one around the community health department to keep things clean and Duane hopefully will put a roof on the waiting area for the patients to be protected from the beating sun and pounding rain. We also have some Haitian style toilets that have been installed there, fairly interesting. I have loved the weather, especially the gentle warmth that abounds, though do resort to having my sweatshirt available from time to time. We are not hurting for food and are doing an admirable job of keeping our youthful figures in order.

Once again, many thanks for your prayers and support for the ministry we are able to do here for God’s glory.

In His Service,

Dan, Tom and Bill