Update from Haiti

 

Our plane to Haiti was delayed 5 hours so we did not get to the hospital until 9:30pm.  Luke has done many surgeries so far and referrals for future doctor’s. Many unexpected maintenance issues as always, but almost all fixed and preventive list completed. I have 8 Haitians working on various projects, one we are adding a 16 foot extension onto the Renault Sunday school today so we pre-cut everything for Duane’s group so they can construct it today. I also have 3 big projects here at the hospital and hopefully will be completing them today. If you’re wondering why I’m sending this in the morning it’s because last night was quite interesting for me. I was talking to my wife and son on Google chat and had an itch on my leg, touched it and blood sprayed across the room. A varicose vein ruptured! I managed to put pressure on it and found a first aid kit in the other room. The next hour I cleaned up blood that sprayed everywhere. Luke came back from his walk and decided to wait till today to do surgery on it so he had help, I will go last making sure the Haitians are taken care of first. In the states they would do Laser, but here they will cut and rip them out, looking forward to that; NOT. So, I am on light duty for the rest of my trip, pray my surgery goes well. I’m going to scrub in and help, they said I could do some stitches.

Bye for now

Jeff & Dr. Luke

Transformation at Camp Mahanaim

Dear family and friends;
Merry Christmas! Thanks so much for your care and encouragement these past two months. We are going to try to show some of the transformation that has happened at Camp Mahanaim since hurricane Matthew struck just over two months ago. We are so thankful for your help and support as you have stood with us to make this recovery possible.

     

     

With the help of a team of 11 men we installed wire cages in the river and filled them with rocks. We are rebuilding the protective wall along the river on these rock cages. The river wall is 7 to 8 feet tall and is made of rocks cemented together. We have already brought in more than 110 truck loads of rocks.

This past month we said good-bye to our faithful old friend Rambo, who has been with us and served us well for many years. We also parted with the old army truck.

     

We are really thankful for the help and care from so many people in the village. They have been a huge encouragement and support to us. Thanks also to the team at Harvest International who have helped us greatly, including sending containers of food and supplies. We have been able to carry out distributions every couple weeks for the people who live near us.

     

Please continue to pray for us that God would direct us regarding the Renault Sunday school. This past Sunday we had more than 1,500 children. They really want to learn and are very well behaved, but we just don’t have enough space in the existing building and hardly in the yard.

It’s great to have our son Tim home for Christmas with us. He has made up a short video of the progress here at the Camp since the hurricane, if you’re interested in seeing the latest happenings in greater detail. We’re excited to have a real Haitian Pine Christmas tree this year.

Thanks again. Merry Christmas!

bye for now,

Love Rod, Deb, Katie and Tim

Abandon Ship

Dear family and friends;

Thanks for your prayers and emails as together we watch hurricane Matthew approach Camp Mahanaim. We have spent the past three days boarding up everything we can at the camp and Deb, Katie and I are now waiting for the storm to arrive. Thanks
to the kindness of the Yordy’s (Scott and Mandy) and other ACC missionaries,
we have left Camp Mahanaim and are staying up at Cite Lumiere in the ACC  quad plex.   Scott and Mandy have beautifully set up the apartment for us and and it is really nice to be together with all the other missionaries as we brace for the arrival of Matthew together.

It was a difficult decision to leave the camp, however the local Haitian neighbors were very understanding and we spent half a day getting them set up with mattresses and food at the French Canadian compound up the road. The local people should be safe there.    The problem with Camp Mahanaim is that it becomes completely cut off once flooding begins and the incoming road becomes a river and then there is no way to leave. For this reason, and the predicted “up to 40 inches of rain”, we decided to move to higher ground.    Also, even though the hurricane is still a couple hundred miles away from us, the storm surge has already raised the level of the Caribbean so that the two local rivers aren’t draining, but rather, the Caribbean is backing up into the rivers.

Even though the storm is approaching, we were able to do the Renault Sunday school this morning where we gave the kids extra rice and clothes/ shoes, blankets in preparation for the storm. The children were very happy and encouraged. Thanks so much for sending items for the very poor children.

Thanks again for your concern for us,
bye for now,
Love Rod, Deb and Katie

Ups and Downs

Dear family and friends;

We are thankful for God’s continued faithfulness even through difficult times. There have been several roadblocks in Haiti recently, and last week Deb and Katie had to go 4X4ing through corn fields and muddy back trails in order to make it home. Deb did a great job and the Toyota once again proved it’s worth.

We had another big windstorm last week and the roof on the old shop blew off again. I (Rod) climbed the ladder and was going to flip the tin back in place, but as soon as I grabbed it, the tin started sliding and it pulled me off the roof. We are so thankful for God’s protection as I ended up jumping 12 feet to the ground and landing on my feet, with only a sore lower back.

Last Sunday afternoon, we learned that our good friend Marv had passed away of a heart attack. Marv and Sharon (from Grand Rapids, Michigan) have been great partners and friends with us and we truly will miss Marv.

There has been almost no electricity given by the Haitian electric company, so thanks to our solar panels, we have been sharing electricity and water with the people of the village. Katie mentioned to us that she prays for Wendy (the boy with cerebral palsy) and she decided to start a small business so that he can earn some money. Katie and Wendy sell coconuts and small bags of ice for about 1 hour each week day.

Edna is a nice girl who has quite a history already in her young life. (she is 16 now) Her dad died before the earthquake and our son Tim and I rescued Edna and her mom from a tent village in Port au Prince after the earthquake. Edna’s mom had been injured and couldn’t walk. Edna and her mom lived in our village of Ti-verny until about 4 years ago when Edna’s mom died. Edna was able to move in with her brother’s family and she became very close to them.
This past week her brother’s wife died of a heart attack at 34 years old.
It is as if Edna has lost her mother again and she is very sad.

We continue to pray and seek God’s direction regarding the Sunday school at Renault. Last week we took measurements as we consider enlarging the building and putting a new roof on. Every Sunday we are having large amounts of children coming and our existing space is obviously too small.

This week, we had a special visitor stop by at the camp and he offered for us to purchase a large, very nice piece of land in the Renault area. Actually, it turns out that it is the exact piece of land where we started the Sunday school more than 8 years ago, when we set up tents on the open land. Please pray with us that God would show us His will for the future of the Renault Sunday school ministry.

We continue to enjoy volleyball and we had a big 13 team tournament here at the camp on Saturday. This afternoon, the Haitian volleyball federation brought “Mireya Luis” to visit Camp Mahanaim. Mireya was a famous Cuban volleyball player who is rated as one of the best female volleyball players of all time.
It was very special for Katie to meet and visit with her.

Thanks so much for your support and prayers.
bye for now,

Love Rod, Deb and Katie

An amazing Welcome (with pictures)

Dear family and friends;

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement! This morning we returned to the Renault Sunday School program and it went very well. The entire road was lined with people on both sides welcoming us back into the area. The children surrounded our vehicles and sang as we drove into the yard.

We thank the Lord for His care and direction and pray that He will continue to lead as we are definitely out of space in the existing location.

Many people came and  visited us at the Camp and encouraged us, including this group of 19 teen aged boys who came in the pouring rain and were completely soaked. Deb squeezed all 19 into the Toyota and gave them a ride part way home.

Katie was very excited to be back in Sunday school and it was great to have the Yordy’s with us again also.


This lady walked all the way out to see us at the camp last week and explained how she has 7 children. 6 of them attend Renault Sunday school  (the older boys aren’t
in the picture). She told us that when they get their six small bags of rice each Sunday, they save it and use only 1 bag per day. Even though, they only each get
a few spoonfuls of food, they at least eat something each day.

This lady brought her baby into our yard this week with a big smile and thank you!    She was brought to us, when we had the large Missouri medical team here in late Feb. She and her baby both were on death’s doorstep. They both hadn’t been eating and were so weak they couldn’t move. The medical team cared for them, and then we took the lady to her little hut and showed her neighbors how to feed her and her baby. It was really encouraging this week to see both of them doing so well, and thankful that kind people from Missouri had cared enough for them to save their lives.

We are doing well and were so thankful to find the camp well cared for and in great shape when we returned from Canada.

Thanks again especially for your prayers about the Sunday school.

bye for now,

Love Rod, Debbie and katie