Everything to Me

This is a verse of a song that I woke with on my heart;

We’re living in uncertain times and more and more I find

 I’m aware how fragile life can be. 

I want to tell the world I’ve found a love that turn my life around,

they need to know they can taste and see. 

Now, every day I am praying just to give my heart away. 

I want to live for Jesus,

so that someone else might see that He is everything to me.

Then I walked down to the ocean for my quite time and Bible Study.  I turned my    i-pod on to listen to some of my music and the song that was next on my list was the song that was on my heart this morning.  After seeing the girl that had stung by the jelly fish and our boy with the hole in his heart, I see how life is so fragile, but here, it is more so, their options are limited.

Assignments were given after breakfast and half our team helped with surgeries and Lynn and I took a team of kids from Maryland to do clean up at the local public beach.  When I say it that way, it sounds way nicer than it is.  It is a area of beach front that is about a block and ½ long, it is where the those who are still in the refugee camp left from the earthquake, bath and wash clothes.  Local men set out their nets there in hopes of catching something to sell and feed their families.  A corner of the beach is solid conch shells, all about the size of the palm of your hand.  Many have made that their main food source.  Remnants of a fire remains from where they have been thrown into the fire to cook the meat inside the shells.  It took 12 of us four hours to clean the mess.  It was a hot and nasty job, thank goodness we all had gloves.  There is no such thing as an infrastructure here in Haiti.  No one comes to collect the garbage and put it all in one location.  They all create their own garbage piles and the wind takes it from there.

After finishing that job, we went to the clinic to see how everything was going.  I was invited to assist with some of them.  Ok, relax, I put on Neosporin on the incision and bandaged it before they went home.  Some of them were very interesting surgeries, and I will spare you the pictures.  We removed many cysts, (some the larger than gold balls), removed a large scar created from Keloid (sp) skin.  Everyone only received a shot in the area the Dr. was going to be cutting.  Then two people would hold their feet down, a person  at each arm and then two nurses to assist the Doctor.  After the surgery they went to where someone had filled what medicines the doctor wanted them to take after the surgery.  The first surgery started and 25 surgeries later, it was almost 5pm and time to close up.  Everyone was tired.  Side note, the girl who was stung by the jelly fish came by and she looked much better.  Raised welts still very every evident around her boy, but she looked good.

We put everything away and then all went to eat.  The Painters showed up to share dinner with us.  They are local missionaries here whose daughter goes to my church.  She has a sewing school here in the village that I am working in and is where all the sewing kits that my home town church in Hubbard will go to.  After eating, Dale the director of the mission came and told us that they were having a special church service for us.  We immediately went to the church for a wonderful service.  I have gotten very comfortable and am remembering some of their songs, so most of the service I was singing in Creole.  It fills my heart to see show many of them were there praying for us.  This was a special service for God to direct and help all that we were doing in the community.  I was so excited to turn and see Fabrice, one of my sponsor boys, sitting down the row from me.  When he saw me he came over and gave me a big hug and kiss.  So good to see him/  His Dad was also there and were able to chat for a moment before walking home by flashlight.

As of right now for some reason the internet is down, so not sure when this is going to be loaded up, but will try still a little later.  We were all told about a Tropical Depression that is heading our way, but are thinking the tracking of it may go south of us.  We will see.  Tomorrow we are going to the mountain to help Dr. J do a clinic up there.  I am so excited; I have never gone to the village up the mountain.  Sorry for not loading any new pictures.  All the pictures I took today, were mostly graphic.  I will go through them again to see if there is something I can post.  Thank you all for your prayers while we are there.

thanks for waiting....God Bless

INTERNET BACK ON!

     Internet back up and will post a few item this morning.  Just finished upacking all of our bags.  Have been so busy before this time to do this.  We will be going to the market in a little while to get food for the families and the orphanage.
50lb bags of rice
25lb bags of black beans
cooking oil
pasta noodles
tomator sauce
bananas
bread

    The orphanage has changed drastically in the last year.  People have come in and built structures, church, cooking area, place for children to sleep protected, which is all well and good.  Yet the children still go hungry.  The orphanage has gone from 27 children to 49.  More mouths to feed with the same amount of money is coming in.  Praying the spirit reveals some thing that will help.  In the mean time we buy food.

So I will enter a few logs and then we need to go to the market.
God Bless
Sue

Day One, Clinic Day!

Had a wonderful night sleep last night.  There was a wonderful breeze that came through the room and we stayed at Dr. J’s compound.  NO RATS there!  Yes!  I woke normally as I do at home a few minutes before 5 and went down to the water to do my Bible Study and have some quite time before starting the day.  The sound of the water crashing onto the beach was such a wonderful soothing sound this morning.  Off in the distance I heard life in the village beginning to stir around and then heard an island bird start it’s morning calling. 

We had a wonderful breakfast of bread, peanut butter, banana’s, mango’s, avocado’s, watermelon, fried egg bread (a little like French toast minus butter or syrup) and something that looks like sausage, not I take that back, it is something shoved in a casing and it was round and fried.  Oh well, its protein right?  J   

We then found out that we would be conducting a clinic with a Dr J.  He is a Dr. that actually only lives in the town just north of where I live in Chillicothe.  We started at 9am, but people were lined  up way down the street by 6am.  We started and worked consistently with little breaks at different times until we quit at 4pm.  The president of the Mission and I walked down to my familys house to let them know we were having clinic so we could check Claudson.  His last check a year ago showed that he could have a sizeable hole in his heart.  We wanted the other doctor to listen also and then we would be able to discuss his options.  We had a couple of emergencies that put us behind.  One case was really frightening, and we are still not sure this girl is out of the woods.  They brought a 10 year old girl in writing with pain.  She had been swimming and had a jelly fish grab around her chest.  She had a giant welt around her where the tentacle had been.  Her throat was closing up.  They gave her a shot to stop the swelling.  It was so scary to watch.  She was just flopping around like a fish out of water; she was in so much pain.  We had to get a table to put in another room, because it was hard to work on the other people and hear what was going on with all the noise she was making.  Later she was sick to her stomach and we had to give her a shot for that.  Later she was taken home with no other medication given.  If we were not there having a clinic today she would have died, and what is scary she still may.  Prayers got out for her.

 We saw 125 people today between the hours of 9 and 4.  If we would not have had the two emergencies, we could have seen 25 more. 

We found out that our youngest Claudson has a very bad hole in his heart.  The doctor really wanted him to have a EKG to see the extent, but the only place that can happen is Port-au-Prince and it could be very costly.  We will be praying tonight for the Spirit to move with what needs to be done.  I was so please to see how well the family is doing.  They were even raising rabbits.  Praise God!  Five years ago when I found this family they were living in a lean to and know they have their own house, all boys will be in school this fall and Momma Adeline works for the school.  I had a conversation with the director today about getting a job for Papa. 

We still have a lot to do for planning for tomorrow.  They will be doing surgeries tomorrow.  There are many other things on the list that need to be done.  Everyone will get their assignments at breakfast in the morning.  It’s 6:30 and it is almost completely dark.  When working on the equator, it is pretty close to 12 hour of sun, and 12 hours dark.  Power came on about a half hour ago, and I want to get this and some pictures of before I lose it, so will close for now.

Please pray for the girl with jelly fish sting and for Claudson for the door to open for his heart to be checked further.

God Bless

We are in Haiti!

    We arrived to the normal heat and hunidity, but after all the heat that we have experienced the past two weeks in Missouri, it feels normal.  There is another team here from Maryland.  Funny it is a group that was hear a year ago when we were here also.  A much smaller group, and a few different, but same church.  We arrived to get our sleeping assignments and quickly took our things to the room before going to the compound for a wonderful meal of rice, with a red sauce with some chicken and potatoes, picklee ( a most wonderfully spicy vegetable relish), bread fruit (not a fruit) and watermelon.  Of course it was washed down with the most wonderful home made lime juice from local limes.  Macqueline, graced us with her singing.  Will need to post a video later.  The rains have moved in and everyone has moved in or under the trees for conversation, the mosquitos have followed.  Let get the bug spray out before returning to the rooms.  Will enter much more tomorrow, but it has been a long day and I am fading fast.  Love to you all from Haiti!

Where will Sue be you ask? Montrouis, Haiti

Realized many of you do not know where I will be while in Haiti.  So here is a map that has the town listed.  Imagine the country shaped as a crabs claw.  Go to the center of the opening and you will find Port-au-Prince.  Follow the coast line up and around to the middle of the top claw, you will see Montrouis.  The town is pronounced,     Moo - E  

I don't want to go through the motions!

    Sometimes there are things that change your life, loss of job, divorce, death of a child.  I had already been doing mission work before Nathan died, but now I feel a greater purpose in all that I do.  Life is so fragile and so temporal.  I love this song.  This is how I want to live each day.  Enjoy.

Matthew West - The Motions