From Amy

I had such a great time with ALL of you in Haiti last week! I'm so glad I was able to go. It was amazing, to say the least. I do hope to be able to go again sometime. I guess that really depends on if God calls me back, so we'll see how (or if?!) that all comes about. Now that I know what to expect overall, and have ideas of what the lab involves if I'm needed there (and how I can further prepare in advance to be even more helpful with it), I think another trip would be a breeze : ))

It's interesting how of all things I might have expected to come out of such a trip, the biggest blessing that I received was a closer walk with God. I was amazed at how so many of the devotions you all shared really seemed to speak directly to me, and sometimes were what I realized I needed to hear.

From Michelle (double L)

I cannot believe how blessed my trip to Haiti was. Before the trip I thought I was going to help the people of Haiti. After the trip I realize that I received so much more than I gave! I learned that when you let God have his way with you, great things happen. With the help of God and my amazing team members, I was able to "step out of my boat" and accomplish some things I never thought possible. My faith has been deepened and I am now on an incredible spiritual journey. While I have always been appreciative of the blessings in my life, they are now even more precious to me.
The team that was brought together for this trip couldn't have been better! The laughs we enjoyed made the trip so much fun - Amy, your stories were priceless and Lu, who could ever forget your laugh? We had THE BEST team leader, Lynda. Thank you for taking such good care of us and allowing us to feel so safe.

I will never forget this beautiful journey. I met some very special Haitians and they will forever hold a special place in my heart (espcially one L:) I thank God that I was called on this trip and was allowed this special opportunity.

Blessings to all of my new friends, and may we continue to stay in touch.

From Joslyn

I miss all of you and all of our Haitian friends. Thank you for an amazing journey last week--thank you for following God's call--thank you for sharing your faith journey with me--thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus to not only the Haitians but also to your fellow team members. You all will have special memories from this week, ones that will last a lifetime. The things we saw, shared, heard, and witnessed will always be a part of each of our lives whether or not you return to Haiti. Please know that you all blessed me in some way this week and it was an absolute priviledge serving with you all.

A message from Erica

I am completely amazed with the last week. Not a minute goes by that I don't think of my trip, of the haitians, of how lucky i am and how little they have, of the children, of Fau Fau, and of course God. I'm so thankful for my experiences and for my new relationship with God. It is a wonderful thing! I really feel blessed to be able to go on a trip like this, and to meet all of the friends i have met. I keep wondering when i can go back, and am saddened to think that it may not be as soon as I would like. (we can talk about that later :P ) I am experiencing a little difficulty with "re-entry" into the states, but not as much as i was expecting, and PRAISE GOD that i didn't experience travelers diarrhea! I feel myself wanting to keep checking the blog for more and more about the trip, knowing that there won't be much more to read. :( Words will never express what I feel about my first (and hopefully not last) trip to God's country of Haiti, and the beautiful group of people I had the pleasure of traveling with. I really hope I keep in touch with every single one of you, and may God bless us with each other's presence once again. I love each and every one of you guys, and God Bless!

Home Again

Forgive me for not posting sooner, but when the team left for the United States, I went to stay at Three Angels for a couple of days to take care of some business. The internet was not working over the weekend. We are all home safely now with even more interesting stories . . .
The team got to the airport without any problems and checked in easily. The flight out of Haiti was delayed and they arrived in Miami at 5:30 pm (2 hours later than scheduled) and the next flight for the Michiganders was at 7:20. For those of you that have flown international, you all may be thinking “uh-oh” as it can take quite some time to get through customs! All the Michigan people except one made it to the flight (one made it after the door to the plane was closed)! Lu got stuck in customs and ended up being flown to Dallas for the night then to Detroit the next morning. You’ll have to ask Lu about it because THAT is a story in itself! The other thing about LUANN being the one that got stuck is that she was the only one with the vehicle to get everyone home from Detroit to Midland! Connie’s husband and Kim’s husband ended up giving everyone a ride.
This trip was amazing and it was such a blessing to see people praising God for the services we provided in His name. There is now an eye clinic mission team there. Please pray for His glory to be shown through them.
I am inviting each October team member to write a little something about their trip and email it to me. I will post your comments as part of the blog. I look forward to reading them!
God bless you as you acclimate to life in the U.S. as a changed person for Christ!

Last night in Haiti

This is our last day in Haiti. Clinic went very smoothly and we were blessed to be able to come back to the guesthouse with our translators and Michel.


We made a cake and waited for Michel's wife for the surprise baby shower. It was so much of a surprise that Joselene was not able to make it until about 6:00 (we planned 2:00). It was a fun day of swimming and talking about the week. Our translators taught us some new card games and it was a great time. After dinner we gathered to watch Michel and Joselene open their gifts. Then it was time for our team gathering. Dennis did a devotion on missions and Erica read some thoughts from her journal and shared how each team member blessed her. We discussed each other's gifts from God and are thankful that each team member came and shared their gifts with us.
Some team members made up some great songs "The eight days of clinic" and sang them for us. It was the day for the "Hairy Leg" contest amongst the women who were missionary enough to not shave the whole week! Deb was the judge as she couldn't even last one day! Congratulations to Lisa for that honor!!
It's now time to wrap things up. People are packed and ready to go. We leave the guesthouse at 8 am and leave Three Angels at 9:30. The trip is not over yet. Keep us in your prayers!

Another Rose for the Altar

At Messiah Lutheran Church of Bullock Creek, where I and many team members attend church, we have a new custom of placing a rose on the altar when we know of someone who has come to Christ. We are so blessed to be able to say "Put another rose on the altar" as one woman came through the clinic and told Kurt she did not know Jesus Christ but wanted to accept him as her personal Savior. Praises to our Lord!!
Today was absolutely crazy!! We were on "Haiti time" again this morning and arrived late at the clinic to the line of people waiting. As we were preparing the clinic area, the door to the clinic flung wide open as 2 men were carrying a woman who had passed out in the street and she came to us unresponsive and having only gaspy respirationts. I was thinking "but wait, God, we are still trying to get ready". God does not wait on us, though. Eric and I quickly set into action as I started the IV and Eric was assessing her. Vital signs were attempted but not easily heard over the sound of the activity and the generator just outside the clinic. She soon came to and it was revealed to us that she had not eaten in 5 days as she had very little and she fed her son and her 80 year old mother the only food they had left. We fed her and Deb and Jessica went with Michel (our clinic manager) to take her to get an x-ray. By the time she had returned, she was feeling much better and was able to leave on her own.



While she was out to get an x-ray, we had 2 others come in passing out due to the dehydration. More IV fluids helped the situation. I kept thinking "Praise God for Kevin Roeder for donating all these IV fluids"! Teresa was busy taking off some big lipomas and a couple of other things! People were lined up, waiting in the heat. We were providing lots of water, but still felt bad about the wait. I would say that for as many people as we were able to see, there were 2 or 3 more that were not able to be seen because of our human limitations.
It was fun to see Lori out there with the kids attempting duck, duck, goose! Deb was running around the inside of the clinic looking for things. Gerry and Amy were still busy looking for malaria and dipping pee samples! Erica searched all over the clinic to find IV supplies in order to make an IV start basket for emergencies. Michelle knows where most of the drugs are and was probably tired of hearing her name called "Michelle, can I get some tylenol?"! Joslyn was trying hard to keep order in the lines of people waiting and catching them to give them a bag with some goodies in it on the way out.
Dennis was trying to communicate with our Haitian guards about how many people to let in the gate and Lu was getting their information and sending them on to the prayer station. Margie did a lot of triaging and was able to take care of minor complaints so the docs didn't have to see everyone and we could get more people through. Connie assisted Teresa with procedures.
Tyler helped Dennis get the first emergency case to the vehicle and Rob and Jessica jumped in where they could. It was overwhelming at times, but we are stoked and ready for tomorrow.
We only have 1/2 day of clinic tomorrow morning and then a baby shower for our clinic manager (shhhhhhhhhh . . . it's a surprise)!
Everyone is well. We are now realizing how short this trip can seem as we are nearly finished. Continue to pray for us.

God Rocked It!

Today we had the blessing of going to Heartline to hold a clinic. We were supposed to leave the guesthouse at 8 am but in Haiti, I guess that means more like 8:45 am. So we got started a bit late. At first things are slow going until we get into a rhythm, but even the BEST rhythm doesn't allow 200 people to be seen in about 5-6 hours! God was in the house. We were so blessed with our whole team pulling together and helping each other and the helpers from Heartline were awesome, too!
Our triage people (Deb, Margie, Erica, and Connie) were getting vital signs and determining if they could treat minor headachey, acid indigestiony type problems without seeing the doctor. The patients either then went to wait to see Teresa, Eric, or myself or they went to the lab (Amy and Gerry) where there was always a line-up! They were invaluable, too. After seeing the provider, they went to the "pharmacy" where Michelle had lots of help packaging up the meds to give out. Lisa was assisting Eric and myself. She was awesome when I needed to do an exam, after the first one, she was ready with everything for all the rest. Eric was totally on fire - he probably saw at least half the patients! Teresa was busy doing procedures which takes a bit longer and I had to do exams on most of the female patients I saw which takes some time.
Can I tell you that we have the bestest interpreters in the world?! Reginald, Robenson, and Francois are the BEST!! They care about what they are doing and seem to really enjoy this. You know, you get a system with your interpreter where they know what questions you are going to ask next and have them already answered when they tell us the story!!
Dennis, Lu, Lori, Kim, and Joslyn helped at the creche (an orphanage). They got to work with their hands by helping replace screens and build live rat traps! The creche raises it's own tilapia for a food source and has a flock of sisters (hens) for eggs. Dennis was happy to also see a compost pile. They also grow mangos there.
I am excited to have had this opportunity before devotions to post. Please continue to pray for the team. Clinic day #2 is tomorrow.

Affected

Wow!! Humbled, blown away, rejoicing, mourning, overwhelmed, comforted, scared, uncertain, appreciated, helpful, helpless . . . These are only a few of the emotions we ALL experienced today! Thank you for your prayers. God is certainly good and faithful all the time.
For all you family members and friends, get ready for when we come home and have to talk about today’s experiences. Words are not enough. I’m going to give you a small glimpse of our experience today:
The ride to the hospital, which is at the edge of the poorest, most dangerous place in the western hemisphere, was interesting. It seemed like we went off-roading several times. We’ve learned the value of “road closed” signs as we had to back up a road due to rocks piled up in the middle. We understand why shocks and tires do not last long on the vehicles. We could tell we were coming into the poorer part of town by the housing. When we arrived at the gate, there were several people waiting outside to get care at the hospital. One woman was holding a baby with severe hydrocephaly.
Today Kurt and Dennis shaved almost all the men in the men’s wards at the hospital. Tentative at first, but laughing and joking soon erupted. The women gave massages to most all the patients there. Prayers were said over a young dying girl whose father was praising God at the bedside. We arrived at the hospital just in time to hear the wails of a young boy mourning the death of a mother he had been taking care of at the hospital over the last 4 months. He is 12 years old. I am not even going to try to express in words how this journey has affected us.
Then we came back to Three Angels to get ready for tomorrow’s clinic at Heartline in Tabarre. Several walked to the Caribbean Market while some stayed behind to pack up supplies. It was a good afternoon to just catch up and relax a little.
Dinner was delicious and our team gathering was totally revitalizing and blessed. After the meeting was more swimming, or reading, or journaling. We are looking forward to serving again tomorrow. We are all still healthy and doing well.

Klinik - Jou en (Clinic - Day 1)

Today was very interesting! Day one usually is. This is our first time staying at this guesthouse which we have to drive from. If there were no cars on the road, it would take about 5 minutes to get to the clinic, but throw in lots of people on the streets getting kids to school, setting out their wares to sell, and getting to work, and the ride suddenly turns into about 1/2 hour!!
We arrived to see over 100 people in line already. We safely made it inside the gates and quickly set up our stations, prayed with our translators, and passed out tickets. There were still a few hundred out there that we were not able to see. We are blessed to have great security agents and my big tough-guy husband as we passed out tickets, there was some pushing and shoving and people poking me from behind and putting their hands in my face. I was blessed to have my husband come up behind me to keep the people not in line away as I continued my task at hand. It IS hard that we cannot see everyone, but the fact is we CANNOT see everyone that comes.
I wish pictures were downloading tonight as I was able to get a picture of each team member doing their thing! Let's start from entry into the clinic.
Patients come in the gates as allowed by Dennis and security. Lori helps guide patients to the next place and she is our videographer. Lu gets patients' names, phone numbers, and birth dates and starts the charts. Then they get to see Kurt and Tyler for prayer and spiritual help. Margie and Connie then get vital signs and weights and asks the patients why they are there and documents them in the charts. Next to wait in line to see a provider. Eric (Hi MOM!) sees mostly men and children while Teresa and Lynda see mostly the women. Deb is the one that sort of knows where everything is. If she doesn't, she finds it right away and is always ready to assist with whatever needs to be done. Lisa gets to watch Eric and try to get in on watching and helping with some cool stuff (from a provider's perspective)! Gerry and Amy are ready to test a urine (one woman told us she was diabetic because she tasted her pee and it was sweet - Gerry wasn't willing to test it that way, hmmmmmmm), and check blood, etc. If medications were needed, Michelle and Erica were ready. On the way out, Joslyn gave the adults a bag with some give-aways like toothbrushes, toothpaste, granola bar, calcium tabs. The children already received a bag with some of the same things along with crayons and a page to color. Kim was responsible for this and for coloring with the kids.
The gratitude shown by the smiles, the shaking of hands, and the "gras a dye" (Glory to God) fill our hearts with joy and totally humble us. We have seen people with complaints of a simple headache to a man nearly passed out at the entrance. God wanted us to see every person we saw!
I want to share the coolest blessing of all. God allowed Kurt and his translator to show another translator the way to Christ! This translator accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior this day!! We rejoice with the angels in heaven! Throw another rose on the altar!!
The day was long but was blessed. After dinner, we had an awesome team meeting again. This is another amazing team. I love how God gets just the right people on each team. We have laughed a lot today. We cried some today. We were totally blessed all day.
Tyler led us with worship music again . . . love it . . . and even did one of my almost daily verses: Phil 2:14-17. Erica jumped in and said she wanted to do one, too. Hers was on finding peace when you are anxious. This seemed appropriate as we prepare to go to Missionaries of Charity hospital near Cite Soleil tomorrow. This is a hospital with dying patients and the poorest of the poor. We are not sure what we will be doing other than showing God's love in whatever service is asked of us.
Prayer requests: Rob and Jessica Archer as they take care of some adoption business tomorrow. Pray for safety and peace for the team. Pray that God's love will come pouring out of us tomorrow as we serve Him in the hospital. Pray for the young man who received Jesus Christ today. Pray that we recognize those who come across our path that do not know Him.
Your prayers are sustaining us. Seriously, this is truly a blessed team. We are all fine.

Adore (Worship), Travay (work), Danse (Dance), e Pose (and chillin')

Gathering for Circle Prayer before breakfast

I sit here with my fingers poised over the keys. It took several minutes to get started because this day was so full of the Holy Spirit and blessings galore! I guess I will start with the beginning of the day. . .
Breakfast is at 7 am - the bell rings and it is time for circle prayer then breakfast - eggs, toast, and bananas.

Port Au Prince Fellowship Worship Band

Then we were off to church at Port Au Prince Fellowship. God rocked the House! The Holy Spirit was moving mightily in our worship and most team members were totally blown away. The service is in English and the message was about missions! Reaching out to other places like Africa and China . . . it was sort of surreal listening to a sermon on missions while we are on a mission trip. The service was 2 hours long and it was hot in there, but it did not matter . . . we were energized and ready to serve when we left.

Ayiti Dans Ansanm

OK, then it was finally time to get going on the clinic. We unpacked the bags we had and set up little teams to work on different areas. We got mostly done and then it was time for a special dance performance by Ayiti Dans Ansanm. They seemed especially awesome today. They are coming to Midland in about 2 weeks!

Watching the Dance with Friends

We are so blessed to have Tyler Buckingham bring his guitar for worship music tonight and a perfect devotion by Kurt. God just seems to provide what we need when we need it!
The swimming pool was great, too! It was refreshing and lots of fun! While some swim, others find a quiet place to journal, others read or get on the internet. It is 9:20 pm here and things are pretty quiet. Sleep should come easily tonight. Rest assured, everyone is safe and healthy!
Mwen priye ou domi byen! (I pray you sleep well!)

Nou La! (We're Here!)

Ok! We made it! We are tired and hot but totally knocked out of our socks blessed! We got 21 people from the US to the Methodist Guesthouse in Port Au Prince Haiti with only minor complications. One member of our team who's initials are LP actually booked her flights to Haiti on October 19th! YIKES! Just a simple step over to another counter got her all set and then we found out that the plane was 100% full. God saved that seat just for her! Another team member (who I didn't get approval to use initials) got the shake down from TSA and still managed to get all her stuff back into her bag!

We arrived at the Haiti airport at 3:35 pm (Haiti time) and made it through bag claim and customs without a glich! We were thrilled to see Big with open arms, happy to see us and ready to take charge of getting us and our bags to our waiting vehicles. Again, went very smoothly!
One of my favorite things is to see our Haitian friends waiting eagerly to greet us with their beautiful smiles and genuine hugs. It was great to see Michel, Junior, Jimmy, Nicky, Max, and Gabriel.
The drive to the orphanage was uneventful (meaning we didn't hit anyone or anything). How awesome it is to be greeted with squeals of delight by the kids. There wasn't anyone in our group that didn't have one in their arms! Kim said "what are we supposed to do" as Shakira was clinging to her calling "mama, mama". I told her, she is doing what she is supposed to be doing! We had 17 heavy tubs to carry up the stairs to the house manager's apartment. Clinic bags were unloaded into the clinic. Dr. Eric was whisked away upstairs to check 2 of our kids out right away. Nothing major, but will keep an eye on them. It was fun to see Eric checking out Jonathon as he was just dropped off in July, 2007, when Eric was there last! He has certainly changed.

Archers were reunited with Hermann and Elmise and Teresa Brown had her two (Jeffy and Semendia) in tow! We loaded back up on the vans who kindly took us and our tired butts to the Methodist Guesthouse. We were soon fired back up by Donette's greeting! I could use some of her energy!! Dinner was awesome (salad, fried chicken, mac and cheese, bread, peas & carrots, and chocolate cake). After dinner was our team meeting. As soon as the meeting was done, it was pool time for many of the team members and chillin' time for the rest. It is now nearly 9 pm Haiti time and my roommates are all in bed. Tomorrow will be an early start with breakfast at 7 am followed by worship at Port Au Prince Fellowship. Please pray for a God-glorifying day tomorrow. I have seen some members totally affected already!!
Bonnuit! (Good night!)

Packing Party

Today was a busy day for the local team members of the October Halos Medical Mission team. It started with commissioning at Messiah Lutheran Church. We were blessed to have a young Haitian man say a prayer of blessing over us and recite the Lord's prayer in Creole as we'd prayed it in English. Then we were off to the Varner farm to unload all the donations and pack them up for our trip! God heard our call for hurricane relief as donations of food came pouring in! We are unable to bring all of the food this time, but we are able to take 850# of food this time. Please praise God for the generosity of others. It was a beautiful Michigan day for packing up. This is an amazing team that helped pack with smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts! This packing helped to fuel the fire of excitement to get going and get serving!! Here are some pictures from today. . .

18 gallon tubs full of food and ready to go!
Duffel bags full of medical clinic supplies and ready to go!








Food left behind . . . waiting for the January mission team.










Haleigh's school (Jefferson Intermediate) donated a suburban full of food for this mission. We even got a food processor!







Almost done packing the medical bags!













Here's the weighing team! Every bag and tub has to be weighed. They cannot weigh over 50# each. This team did an awesome job of redistributing.











Unloading what was donated . . . (sorry, these pics are in reverse order :-) )

















Medical supplies and medications.













God has surely blessed this mission!!













Where do we begin?
Actually, we have this packing business down to a science! It did not take very long.











Getting started!