What a beautiful day it is in Haiti today! Last night a much-needed rain made sleeping easy as it fell on the tin roof of the mission house. Today is market day. The market is near us, and I took Simon, Blanco and Madame Do there. I can’t go in the market with them while they buy supplies for the Pastors Conference, because the Haitians would see the Blanc – the white man – and charge twice as much for everything. That’s just the way it is here.
I thank God on days like this when the Lord lets me know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. There have been many times when I’ve asked myself, “What am I doing here?” Haiti is my battery charger. When I’m here, I am thanking God all day for everything. I thank God when the Ford cranks, when Gabriel cranks, when the water purifier works, when we go into Port au Prince and make it back safely . . . the list goes on and on. Why don’t I thank Him this often in America? I guess there we expect everything to work like it’s supposed to, and we forget Who is making all these things possible in our lives.
I look around now in Z’Orange and see a church, a school, and a mission house, all of which were made possible by our Lord. Some of you remember when it took 2 hours for the truck to climb this mountain to Z’Orange. The only way to get here was on Gabriel; many times I would have to ask people to get off as we went around curves in the mountains because it was so dangerous. Now it takes 30 minutes in the Ford. Then we slept in shacks and used outdoor toilets; we had a 55-gallon drum full of creek water for our showers. It was nothing to find a few tadpoles in your hair, or a tarantula on the wall staring at you in the shower. Now we have beds and bathrooms, real toilets and showers. All of this is blessing from the Lord touching your hearts to give to His ministry – TEM. I cannot thank all of you enough for helping this ministry show the love of our Lord to the Haitian people, but I know that I know that God will.
Tomorrow I will be going into Port au Prince to pick up Bill, Joe and Andy from Fort Walton Beach FL, and then Saturday the team from First Baptist Church of Walterboro SC will arrive. Pastor Philip, the pastor of the church, has been here many times, but this is the first time for this church. I’m really excited to have them come to see what the Lord is doing in Haiti.