We have been in Carrefour two days now and I must say we hit the ground running! Yesterday we arrived at our hotel too early to check in so we waited for the GAIN team to get here and caught up on updates with friends and family back home. When the team arrived, we all made our introductions and immediately left out for our first mobile medical clinic. Not only were we with the GAIN team from Canada, but we also had 3 extra friends along. There were three college students here from Texas who have been here a week and plan to stay until around August 15th. They are just going from one orphanage to another helping with whatever work they can do. Great guys! They love the kids.
It was a very bumpy ride to the village of Laoganne. We went to an orphanage that was located right on the beach. We quickly set up for clinic and began inviting children to come. At first there were only a few children there from the orphanage so we went out into the community asking families to come. Before we knew it, we had a house full of children and adults. Around 7:45 the power shut off, so we were finishing up in the dark by flashlight. We packed up around
8:15 and headed back to the hotel. Over the course of the ride everyone seemed oblivious to the bumpy ride this time.
We were eating up all of the snacks we had packed. We were
passing around granola bars, chips, sandwiches, etc. Very
hungry people!…and extremely tired, but the Lord did some amazing things at the orphanage. I had an opportunity to pray with a little girl who said she wanted to know Jesus. I also talked to her father through an interpreter about how his children wanted him to be a man who loves Jesus. I pray that God will continue to use the words He gave me to speak to this man and do a work in his life. It was really cool to watch Tony and Jonathan working with the medical team and Jacob playing with the children. At one point I organized a sing off between the boys and girls to pass the long waiting
time. They loved it!
This morning we had our prayer and devotional time with the team and headed out to a local church/school in Carrefour. We worked from about 9 this morning until around 5:30 in the evening. We treated over 200 people! Jonathan worked in the pharmacy, Tony assessed patients, Jacob helped in MANY various ways, and I worked some in pharmacy then did an education lesson with people in the waiting area about clean water and how to use sanitary practices to avoid illness and disease. The people were very receptive and participated well. It was really fun. I can tell that the people here really do want to change how they do things to take better care of themselves. As we show them the love of Jesus by loving and caring for them, they want to know Jesus as well.
One cool thing that happened today was when I saw a man come in who was clearly very ill. His eyes were weak and he was holding onto his wife to help him walk. He looked very tired and afraid. When he sat down in the waiting area in pharmacy after seeing the doctor, he sat next to a young girl who had been talking with me about how she loves Jesus and she talks with Him every day. She said Jesus is the reason she has to smile each day. (She spoke pretty good English.) When the man sat down I looked at him, and my heart just broke for him. I took his hand and asked him if I could pray with him. He said yes and began to cry. The young girl also took my hand and said she would like to pray for him too. As I prayed, the man began to sob. He clenched my hand hard and shook. I prayed that God would give him strength and healing and that He would remove the fear this man felt in his heart. After I prayed, the girl prayed in creole. I could feel the man’s hand begin to relax as we prayed. Afterwards I went to get him some water and by the time he finished the water, he was sitting up and no longer crying…even smiling! I could tell that God had answered our prayers and this man would walk away from the clinic a different man.
I could tell many, many stories like this one, but this post is already long, and I need to get on to bed. I just ask you to please continue to pray for the Haitian people that they would find hope and healing from their brokenness.
Blessings to you all.
Mickie
haitiwest 