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A team of 35 ministered to the
Mission Possible school communities through health clinics.
Medical, vision, and dental care were provided at each clinic.
Many started a relationship with Jesus as a result of the prayer
offered during the clinic times. Note the hundreds that received
medical care at the clinics. Here are the notes from the team's days of ministry in Haiti.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Hi everyone!
After a long
day we made it to Haiti and our Mission Center safely. When we
arrived, we enjoyed a delicious Haitian meal of rice, beans,
chicken, and plantains. Part of the team arrived a day early so
we got to hear their stories and were blessed with how many
lives they have touched already. We spent the rest of the
evening unpacking and preparing for our day tomorrow. Lord
willing, we will be going to one of our mountain schools, Dupin.
Please
continue to pray for us! :)
Rachel
Thursday,
December 29, 2011
Hi everyone!
We had an
early morning today, getting up at 6am. We then had devotion
time and ate breakfast. We loaded the truck and headed to
Degeance around 8am. We had a busy day at the clinic. We saw a
total of 144 patients. We also had a small group who walked
around the village treating people in their home.
The prayer
team had the privilege of leading 3 people to Christ! One of
them was 31 years old and has lived a life serving the devil
through voodoo spiritism. We were very touched as he gave
everything up and surrendered his life to Christ.
Please
continue to pray for our team as God continues to work through
us!
Rachel
Saturday,
December 31, 2011 - AM
Hi everyone!
Sorry for the
delayed email, it rained last night and we lost power and had a
shaky internet connection. Yesterday we went to Dupin, another
one of our mountain schools. In order to get to Dupin, you have
to go on a long walk, cross a riverbed, and then end going
straight up a mountain. It was an adventure but everyone made it
up and back down safely. We saw 145 patients and had 4
individuals give their lives to Christ! When we got back to the
Mission Center, almost everyone went swimming in the beautiful
ocean. Then, we enjoyed another wonderful Haitian meal. After
dinner, we had debriefing time and were able to hear experiences
from all of the different areas of our team's clinic. I wanted
to have a few team members share their experiences with you:
My name is
Emi McAfee and I am an occupational therapist in Marieta,
Ohio.
Yesterday I
had the opportunity to serve on the optical team and provide
prescription glasses and sunglasses to the Haitians. During our
busy day, one of the providers knowing my profession asked if I
would treat a man who had suffered a stroke in late October.
This gentleman had not received any treatment post stroke but
was very open minded to my therapy. I stole a translator and
took him into the prayer tent for more space. I stretched his
left arm/wrist/fingers and educated him on exercises that he
could do to himself. My translator was awesome, he helped
re-explain to the family and also wrote his exercises and
stretches down in Creole to give to the patient's daughter.
After therapy, I asked the gentleman if he knew Jesus and he
said that he would not be where he was today without him. I had
the opportunity to pray with the gentleman for strength,
healing, and wisdom.
Before leaving
the man, he asked when he would get therapy again and that's
when I had the realization of the impact that the clinic has on
the Haitians. This man will most likely never have therapy again
but just educating him and his family can give him more than he
or his neighbors have ever experienced. I explained to him that
I won't be back for awhile but he will continue to heal if he
does his exercises. I continually thank God for this experience
because I believe it impacted me as much as it impacted him.
Hello!
This is Gale. What an honor it is to be here in Haiti! The
Mom in me has to tell you that all the young kids (ok... college
age) are awesome and they are doing great. God is really using
this entire team.
Yesterday I
was on the prayer team. I was humbled to lead several people to
the Lord. I connected with an elderly gentleman. Instead of
just praying for him I asked him to pray for me. What an awesome
experience! I could literally feel the presence of Jesus around
our prayer circle.
Thank you for
the continued prayers! :)
Rachel
Saturday,
December 31, 2011 – PM
Hi everyone!
Today we went
up to LaHatte which is our most remote school. In order to get
to LaHatte, you have to take a treacherous ride up a dry
mountain river bank in big trucks. I think we were all a little
nervous numerous times throughout the journey. It was a very hot
day, but successful. We saw many patients and spoke to all of
them about Christ. Again, tonight I want to let you hear about
today from a few of our team members:
Hello
everyone...this is Marisa. Today was a day filled with
adventure!
Driving
through what seemed to be the desert with cactuses all
over...but God kept us safe the whole time. We have been able
to help so many different people during this trip and continue
to look forward to all the people we still will meet. Continue
to pray us up though so that the attacks will be fought off!
We saw about
130 patients and 1 person gave their life to Christ today! Here
is another story from a team member:
Bonjour!!! (To
everyone back in the states) Firstly, I would like to say HAPPY
NEW YEAR!!!! Secondly, I would like to express my great joy to
be sharing my experiences thus far with you! And thirdly, my
introduction: My name is Sheena Burwell, a 4th year
pharmacy student from Findlay, Ohio.
So far, I have
been bitten by ants and mosquitoes, pricked by briars, sun
burnt, waken by roosters and dogs barking, and sleep-deprived.
HOWEVER, this mission has been a life-changing experience and a
great opportunity, and I wouldn't change a thing!
Today, I had
the opportunity to walk the village and surrounding desert
mountain in hopes of stumbling upon needy families. The sun was
hot, the air humid, and the ground covered with sand and dust,
but we were able to help many families in need. One particular
father invited me and a doctor into his home (very small, maybe
12x10 in size). While inside the home, we noticed a very small
bed (3/4th the size of a twin?), dirt floors and a very
welcoming and humble man. We were able to help the native
Haitian with arthritic pain. After the exam, we asked to pray
with him and he graciously accepted. However, before we prayed,
he quickly put his shirt back on and put his knees to the dusty
floor. His children did so as well, and my life will never be
the same.
Please pray
for us while we continue our journey throughout Haiti, and for
our safe return, as we are praying for your safety and comfort.
We just
enjoyed New Years Eve fireworks over the ocean under the
beautiful blanket of stars. Happy New Years everyone!
Rachel
Monday,
January 2, 2012 – AM
After a short
night of sleep on New Year's Eve, we awoke early to head to
church. Here, it is tradition for the church members to sing and
praise the Lord all night on New Year's Eve to bring in the New
Year. So, church began at 7am since they had been there all
night. Despite having no sleep, the Haitians were still very
energetic and worshiped like many of us have never seen. After
about a 2.5 hour service, we set up a clinic for the church
people. We saw about 100 people and ended around 1pm. The people
were so thankful to have us there!
Afterwards, a
group of us took an adventure to a remote beach about 45 minutes
away. It was a beautiful, white sand, crystal clear blue watered
beach. It was nice to have a little bit of time to relax. Before
we head off to MPCA (our biggest school) today, I will let you
hear from a few more of our team members:
Hi everyone!
This is Kelley. We've been having a great week and the
people here in Haiti are wonderful. The clinics have been going
well and we have seen so many people come through. It is worth
all the hard work when you see how appreciative they are for our
help. We rang in the New Year on the beach last night watching
the fireworks and blowing our horns. Today we went to a Haitian
church and were able to sing a song for them in Creole.
All the
interpreters told us how much the members of the church enjoyed
it. After church we did a short clinic and then got the
afternoon off. A lot of us took a trip to an absolutely gorgeous
beach and spent the afternoon enjoying the sun. It was
definitely different to spend New Years Day on the sunny beach
than in cold Ohio (sorry for those of you stuck in Ohio :))!
Thank you so much for your prayers! We can definitely see God
working here!
Hello! This
is Jessica. These past few days have been some of the best
days of my life. I can't begin to describe how beautiful this
country is and all the opportunities we have had to help the
Haitian people. I've been doing a lot with the medical team the
past few days. Today I had the opportunity of working with the
vision team. We saw the most patients for vision that we have
seen all week. It was very hectic but our translators are
awesome and really helped us out. We were able to help a lot of
people and give them reading glasses and sunglasses. Thanks for
all your prayers!
They are much
appreciated! We will be seeing you all soon!
Thank you for
the continued prayers! :)
Rachel
Tuesday,
January 3, 2012 – PM
Hello
everyone!
We had a
wonderful day yesterday at MPCA which is our largest school. We
have about 1200 students there. After the clinic, we had a
ceremony for the translators to thank them. It was wonderful to
thank them and spend some special time with them. They prayed
over us at the end, which is always such a moving experience.
Last night we
had our final debrief time with the whole team of 35 (21 of them
left this morning). We had the privilege of hearing Pastor
Herve's testimony and we were all moved by the work that God has
done.
This morning,
we awoke early to say goodbye to the 21 individuals that left
this morning. Then, we went to another one of our schools:
Chardene.
We anticipated
going to Chardene to spend some time with the kids in the area
and maybe do some education on cholera prevention and treatment.
We were so surprised to see almost 400 of our Mission Possible
kids waiting on us. They are on break from school, but they all
wanted to come to welcome us to their school. It was so touching
to see all of them packed into one room and singing welcome
songs to us. We decided to do an education session to the group
and then handed out hygiene kits. They were so excited and
grateful. Afterwards, the kids went home and changed out of
their nice clothes and came back in every day clothes so they
could play with us. We spent a few hours at Chardene playing
bubbles, soccer, jump rope, basketball, etc. Afterwards, we took
a village walk and a lot of the kids came with us. They held our
hands and warmed our hearts as we walked around their village.
We got the privilege of seeing a home also. It was such a joy to
spend time with them.
We are packing
up now and will head home tomorrow after a short tour of Port Au
Prince. Please keep us in your prayers as we journey home!
Thank you so
much :)
Rachel |
