Sunday Sept 26, 2010

Saturday morning Brumley's had a team from one of their supporting churches in CO arrive in Haiti. This is an all male team and they've come to do construction on temporary shelters as well painting some of our permanent houses. David, Chris and Sheryl took the team over the mountain to give out lots of packages of macaroni...thanks Ragu..and also really nice ball caps that had been donated after the earthquake. What a fun time to also share scripture pamphlets.
This morning David preached at Shekina. What a sweet time of worship. The men's and women's choirs were both awesome. Six people prayed to receive Christ as their personal Savior.

Sunday Sept. 26, 2010

Another interesting week. Lots of meetings. Wednesday we met with leadership of Samaritan's Purse to discuss the future. On Thursday we visited with with Bill Neush, his father and wife Herman and Janet Neush and Janet's son Scott...all from Texas. It was a joy to show them the houses that they had been a part of building in the village of TiTanyen. We found out Thursday afternoon that we needed to make a meeting with Convention Baptiste' d Haiti in Cap Haitian. We took an in country flight there on Friday morning. Had a very productive meeting with CBH and we flew out at 3 pm coming back to Port-au-Prince. About 10 minutes before landing in PAP the pilot notified the passengers that there was bad weather in PAP and we were returning to Cap Haitian. After we landed the flight crew told us it would be 11:45 am Saturday morning. We had met a French business man on the plane so we suggested maybe we could rent a car and drive down together. ( this is a 6 hr drive...first 3 hours over very rough roads and by now it is 5pm) . After about 30 minutes of dealing with a rental car agency they decided that they would only let us rent if we used a chauffeur and the chauffeur couldn't leave until Sat. morning at 6 am. We could however pay a $1,600 deposit and they would let us take a car. We said "thanks but no thanks". There are two main commuter flights in Haiti...Tortug Air and Salsa...Tortug being the largest. We flew on Salsa. As we return to the airlines counter to find out some hotel phone numbers they told us that a Tortug flight had just arrived from Nassau and the pilot had agreed to take us on to PAP because the bad weather had cleared out. We said "when". The lady said "NOW". We gladly paid another one way ticket to arrive back in PAP at 5:30 pm. When we landed we found a lot of damage from the 60 mph winds and rain which produced a lot of flooding. We arrived back at the compound at 6:45pm after driving around a lot of downed trees, power lines and billboards.
Most of the town was blacked out and many areas of the tents cities were heavily damaged. The last we heard 5 people lost their lives. We thank God for His protection. We never take this for granted.

Tuesday Sept 21, 2010

Mechanic work, mechanic work, mechanic work. It is never ending. Too many old vehicles on roads that are too rough. David and Chris spent half of the day in town trying to find solid core doors and other supplies in order to finish the permanent homes we are constructing in the village. We have completed 17 and prayerfully we will continue to receive funds to do even more. Not only are they a blessing for those receiving them but for the men constructing them. PTL!! for jobs.
We started last week repairing all the school buildings to get ready for school to open Oct. 4th. This week we are cleaning and painting them. Our school directors have the material purchased and the uniforms made. This is the week they will purchase school books. Not as easy to find this year as so many places that printed and sold books went down in the earthquake. Still so much recovery needed.

Monday Sept 20, 2010

What a great week. Last Monday started with a 6 member team from NY. This group had put together 240 - 5 gallon buckets full of food (rice, beans, flour, sugar,oil, spaghetti, peanut butter, etc. ) and trucked them to Nashville,TN. last June. We put them on a container we were shipping in and the group came to give them out. What a blessing to so many families. I know the team thought it was worth all the effort they put into this project when they saw the faces of the recipients. The team also sorted and bagged around 100 family bags of clothing for us to give out. These bags of clothes will go to the mountain area where the need is great. So much of the relief effort is consentrated in the tent cities.
This team left on Thursday morning and two of our granddaughters with two of their friends arrived Thursday afternoon. This was a blessing as it was Christy's third trip down this year and Mary K's first. The ladies with them were with an organization called Blessings in a backpack. They were here to encourage an NBA player and his foundation to get involved with Haiti. It was fun to see the faces of everyone as they greeted these "big" men.

Sunday Sept. 12, 2010

David and crew took the new truck out that has a small crane on the back. It is perfect for installing new pumps and repairing old pumps. Sure saves on a lot of lifting and back pain. We completed another new water well in one of the tent cities...this was number #12 . It takes a crew many days a month just to keep up with pump repairs.
David preached at the TiTanyen Youth Conference Friday night. There were 5 decisions for Christ. He preached again this morning. What a wonderful spirit filled service. The worship was awesome and the preaching anointed.
Bible Study with the staff at 5pm tonight. Great to have the Brumley's back from their well deserved few weeks break.
Looks like we have a lot of "weather" headed our way. Pray that the rains won't be so heavy that they will create mudslides in this already devastated land.

Sept 8, 2010

David is off to the airport with the medical team. What a blessing they were as they ministered to over 400 patients each day in two clinics. This team was very flexible as we were short on American staff...Sheryl was on furlough and I was out with malaria. I'm feeling fine now. Praise the Lord for a good immune system. I've bounced back in a hurry.
Lots of mechanic work was also accomplished. We came close to not giving Dell...the mechanic...his passport back. Pray as David and our crew try to finish repairing all the breakdowns. Chris is bringing in some needed parts on Friday.

Friday 3, 2010

I'm doing better tonight. It's been a tough week but only low grade fever tonight. The medical team is doing fine. They have joined with NC Baptists who are here on our compound and are doing two medical clinics each day. They have seen lots of patients and their only complaint is that it is real hot. Yesterday was 106.7 here at the house. This is the first time in 28 years that I haven't been able to work with a team. A little humbling. Please pray for complete healing. The medical team also brought a mechanic with them so he is definitely an answer to prayer. He told David that he hadn't done mechanic work for 25 years. David told him that was fine because most of the vehicles we have that need work are about that old.!!! He has already fixed some things that other mechanics had given up on. God always knows what we need.

Wednesday Sept. 1.2010

Strangest thing....I don't remember getting a mosquito bite since I returned to Haiti?????

Wednesday Sept. 1.2010

The team from MS finished up their time on Friday. Took them on their day out. We always like for the teams to help out the economy buying souvenirs. The World Race team flew out on Saturday. WOW! a weekend without having to fix 3 meals a day.
Monday is always a little crazy. We have so many in the Burn Clinic right now and it is also the day for the "elderly people" feeding program. Not having any groups in made us a little short handed.
Linda, a couple from Friendships and I went to town on Tuesday to finally get a haircut and also to buy groceries. Of course it is an all day job. David called about 1:00pm and asked if we could help him unload a bunch of boxes coming out of customs for Agape. We stopped for lunch about 2pm. By the time I arrived home I was worn out....too much so for just a day out. Around 5 pm I had developed fever, chills, headache, aching muscles and diarrhea. I'm referred to in Haiti as "Iron Woman" because I am rarely sick but last night was different. I really thought I had Dengue Fever but this afternoon when the NC Baptist medical team arrived back on the property they tested me for Malaria. It is positive. NOT A GOOD TIME TO BE SICK David is picking up a 14 member medical team at the airport right now. Pray that all goes well with them. I'm starting on medicine tonight.