It is great to be back in Haiti and feeling good. Some of you know I have been pretty sick from the last of November thru the first of the year. Thank you so much for your prayers. God has blessed His ministry with a great group of believers here to RAISE THE ROOF on the school in Z’Orange. You may have read the reports about how the classrooms felt like ovens, it has been so hot in them. Well, because of our Lord and his faithful followers, the students and teachers won’t have to suffer in that heat anymore. Karl Leiber from St. Louis MO, Ken Challis from Hurley WI, and Pat Gary from Fort Walton Beach FL came in on January 6 and started tearing the roof off the school with the Haitians, and preparing the walls for the new roof.
This has been a big job – first, there was a big crack in the back wall that went down into the foundation, so that had to be fixed, then all of the walls had to have a header formed and poured with concrete. Praise God for Christian Aid Ministries (CAM), located just below us (about 30 minutes away); they loaned us a concrete mixer, which really saved some time.
I arrived yesterday with Chuck Guerber (Chuck 2) from Hurley WI. We arrived at the mission house late in the afternoon to see the guys hard at work preparing the walls for the trusses. My luggage did not arrive, so I was really looking at going back to Port – NOT!!
We woke up this morning to the sounds of roosters, donkeys, dogs, cows, goats, children, and some noises I still am not familiar with, even after all these years. After our coffee, Karl had the devotion for us, which is a great way to start the day. The men started working on the school, and George and Chuck 2 took the concrete mixer down the mountain to CAM. Simon and I had to go into Port – we had gotten a call about one of the boys who had surgery on January 8. This young man was going to lose his arm if he was not able to have the surgery – you may remember reading a report about him last December. After much chaos with hospitals and doctors, we finally got his surgery done. (Simon spent a week in Port with this young man going from hospital to hospital to arrange his surgery.) It seems he is doing fine, but Simon had to go to the hospital to give them some more money. The surgery ended up costing $1000 U.S. dollars. We received $500 from people who wanted to help this young man, so if you want to be part of this blessing, we have need of another $500. It is 7 p.m. here now, and Simon is not back from the hospital yet. The other young man that we reported would need surgery has been on antibiotics, and we have to take him in to see if they still think he needs surgery. Nothing is easy in Haiti!
While Simon was at the hospital in Port, I was picking up materials for the roof, propane for the stove, ice for our Igloos, and my luggage that finally came in around 1 p.m. I arrived back at the mission house around 3:30, and the guys were still hard at it. It has been a great day with the Lord – He has blessed us, provided for us, and kept us safe!