The Lord is good and for cooler weather we are grateful. It’s about 76 outside after a nice rain came along. Made all the difference in the world. Coolest temps we have had since we have been on the island. Cannot decide whether it energizes or make you want to go to bed and sleep while it’s cool. I even wanted a cup of coffee after dinner. Joanne fixed fried spam and I have to tell you I did not realize how good that would taste. We really do not need to eat large dinners because lunch is very healthy and filling—always rice, and today’s meat was fried fish, stewed okra(heaven), black beans and usually pineapple and papaya.
Today was a mixed bag of things—mostly getting ramped up to help move some storage around and open up the 1st floor of a two story house being rented to house some of the boys. Fortunately there is plenty of help and there seems to be the Haitian ability to have fun along the way too—regardless of what you do. At least when it’s Danita’s boys! To be honest the jobs seem overwhelming. Just overwhelming. What O could do with a Lowe’s or a Home Depot—especially Kernersville’s own builder’s salvage!! I cannot tell you how simple things COULD be but just are not due to the complexity of being available for supplies, etc.
We spent time this morning with Baby J the 1 year old that is a hydrocephalic. Victim is a really good word. Words cannot express how if there had only been a hospital or medical care available this little guy’s life would be totally different—but it’s not. So his life has to be able to make a difference for others—his plight does not have to be the plight other children face. He is less than day’s travel from the finest medical care in the world—but that distance might as well be around the world. Joanne held him and gave him a bottle but he was so weak he could not even create the suction to take the milk and hardly enough energy to swallow. This is not a contrived television story. We held him today. His body was the size of a 6 month old but severely dehydrated with little or no muscle tone. His head is so large he cannot move. “Lord allow him to make a difference beyond what we could ever think or imagine with his life—take away his suffering and hold him in your arms forever where he can jump down and run, play, belly laugh and eat ice cream. Bless his aunt who loves him and sacrificially and is the mom that he deserves.”
Then today there a young adult that I had seen at worship Sunday. He had a large bandage on his head about the size of a small hat. Looked somewhat clean, but certainly not sterile. Had no idea what was going on, until today. He had come to eat lunch and was in a great deal of pain. The ministry here to him has been remarkable. He has terminal cancer. He has perhaps one month to live. Chemo and radiation have failed and it is now in his lymph and bones the visiting doctors have said. His would is exposed and it relieves pressure. He comes to the ministry by bike. He says that he feels it hurting while he rides his bike and is afraid of motorbikes because of an accident he was in earlier. The Dr.’s have told the ministry to get him some pain meds similar to morphine. You know the poor man was hurting. But the conversation was very direct and the worship minister was there to interpret. He said he went to church but could not articulate that he had placed his trust in Jesus as Savior. We talked more about the Dr.’s diagnosis and his death. He was living with his sister and she made him leave because her husband did not want him dying there. Death is a very superstitious issue here in a country where Voodoo is the national religion. I was able to tell him that Scriptures teach us that in death we are victorious as Christians and that our temporary bodies long to be changed into our new bodies. He said he wanted to become a Christian. I prayed with him, via the interpreter and then he repeated the prayer back after the interpreter—it was so wonderful to hear in Creole—“I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and I accept Him as my personal Savior.” Whooohoo! I am praying about how to wrap his head for baptism, since the only body of water is in the Massacre River which is laden with bacteria. You see his tumor has exposed his brain. The Dr.’s said he could actually see brain tissue when he looked into the wound. Tomorrow we meet with him again at 10 AM. We are probably going to go with him to where his mother is staying and where he is living now—which is an incredibly poor area of Haiti and take him a mattress so he has a clean place to lie. Actually, so he has a place to die. As we closed out time together, I shared with him about how he is like those of us around the table. No longer an orphan, but an adopted child of God who has a Heavenly Father that desperately love him and cannot wait to see him and welcome him home. I told him that the incredible gift that he now has in salvation will not only allow Him to hear Jesus when He does call him home in death, but that Jesus will hear his voice and recognize him as one of his own.
“Precious are the Saints who die in the Lord” came to mind and having just experienced Terry Ford’s homegoing—he would have told Dameus the very same thing. “With what time you have left, fight the good fight—the victory is yours!”
A cool breeze on a Haitian night. A heavy heart.
Today was a mixed bag of things—mostly getting ramped up to help move some storage around and open up the 1st floor of a two story house being rented to house some of the boys. Fortunately there is plenty of help and there seems to be the Haitian ability to have fun along the way too—regardless of what you do. At least when it’s Danita’s boys! To be honest the jobs seem overwhelming. Just overwhelming. What O could do with a Lowe’s or a Home Depot—especially Kernersville’s own builder’s salvage!! I cannot tell you how simple things COULD be but just are not due to the complexity of being available for supplies, etc.
We spent time this morning with Baby J the 1 year old that is a hydrocephalic. Victim is a really good word. Words cannot express how if there had only been a hospital or medical care available this little guy’s life would be totally different—but it’s not. So his life has to be able to make a difference for others—his plight does not have to be the plight other children face. He is less than day’s travel from the finest medical care in the world—but that distance might as well be around the world. Joanne held him and gave him a bottle but he was so weak he could not even create the suction to take the milk and hardly enough energy to swallow. This is not a contrived television story. We held him today. His body was the size of a 6 month old but severely dehydrated with little or no muscle tone. His head is so large he cannot move. “Lord allow him to make a difference beyond what we could ever think or imagine with his life—take away his suffering and hold him in your arms forever where he can jump down and run, play, belly laugh and eat ice cream. Bless his aunt who loves him and sacrificially and is the mom that he deserves.”
Then today there a young adult that I had seen at worship Sunday. He had a large bandage on his head about the size of a small hat. Looked somewhat clean, but certainly not sterile. Had no idea what was going on, until today. He had come to eat lunch and was in a great deal of pain. The ministry here to him has been remarkable. He has terminal cancer. He has perhaps one month to live. Chemo and radiation have failed and it is now in his lymph and bones the visiting doctors have said. His would is exposed and it relieves pressure. He comes to the ministry by bike. He says that he feels it hurting while he rides his bike and is afraid of motorbikes because of an accident he was in earlier. The Dr.’s have told the ministry to get him some pain meds similar to morphine. You know the poor man was hurting. But the conversation was very direct and the worship minister was there to interpret. He said he went to church but could not articulate that he had placed his trust in Jesus as Savior. We talked more about the Dr.’s diagnosis and his death. He was living with his sister and she made him leave because her husband did not want him dying there. Death is a very superstitious issue here in a country where Voodoo is the national religion. I was able to tell him that Scriptures teach us that in death we are victorious as Christians and that our temporary bodies long to be changed into our new bodies. He said he wanted to become a Christian. I prayed with him, via the interpreter and then he repeated the prayer back after the interpreter—it was so wonderful to hear in Creole—“I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and I accept Him as my personal Savior.” Whooohoo! I am praying about how to wrap his head for baptism, since the only body of water is in the Massacre River which is laden with bacteria. You see his tumor has exposed his brain. The Dr.’s said he could actually see brain tissue when he looked into the wound. Tomorrow we meet with him again at 10 AM. We are probably going to go with him to where his mother is staying and where he is living now—which is an incredibly poor area of Haiti and take him a mattress so he has a clean place to lie. Actually, so he has a place to die. As we closed out time together, I shared with him about how he is like those of us around the table. No longer an orphan, but an adopted child of God who has a Heavenly Father that desperately love him and cannot wait to see him and welcome him home. I told him that the incredible gift that he now has in salvation will not only allow Him to hear Jesus when He does call him home in death, but that Jesus will hear his voice and recognize him as one of his own.
“Precious are the Saints who die in the Lord” came to mind and having just experienced Terry Ford’s homegoing—he would have told Dameus the very same thing. “With what time you have left, fight the good fight—the victory is yours!”
A cool breeze on a Haitian night. A heavy heart.
Once again, your experience brings me to tears. How amazing that God has brought you to this place...a place where you get to share how worthy these people are and victorious because of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteWe love you, Walls...we really love you.
Laura