Friday, January 27, 2012 – Update #5

Today we went 3 different directions, as usual – a lot going on! I went with James Whitehead to see the doctor at the clinic here at Lifeline and Michelle took the little boy, Junior, as well. That doctor sent us to the larger hospital/clinic in Arcahaie for blood tests for both of them. I hate that they are both sick, but it was a good learning experience for me – to know where the clinics are and sort of how they work. While we were there we witnessed the victim of a motorcycle brought in and pass out in front of the crowd waiting and his sister hysterical. I was praying! Thankfully, a while later, they wheeled him out with an IV and he was conscious and his sister was more calm. We found out that James (supposedly) just has a bad cold/flu virus and that all that was wrong with Junior had been so malnourished and then ate too much food too soon for several days and it caught up with his digestive system. He was extremely bloated with severe gas and was vomiting. Both of them were a lot better by tonight, praise the Lord!

Ryan and Osmy had another long and frustrating day in Port – dealing with the container, the vehicle and supplies.

There was lots of action at the building site…

The BIG news was that they got this huge beam that’s 32 ft. long and weighs well over 1000 lbs. up in place. If Cal OSHA had been there they would have required scaffolding and a crane. But our resourceful guys used straps on either end, lifted it high into the air with the backhoe, and then Jeremiah climbed up and carefully put it in place. The entire village came out to witness the event. It was exciting! Later, Ryan and a Haitian man were lifting smaller beams together and the man told Ryan, “Together, we are backhoe!” Ha ha.

I didn’t even realize this, but all this time we have had tons of wall panels stored inside the classrooms at the Lifeline school next door. They moved all of them out today and it was a miracle that as they maneuvered those 500-600 lb. panels they didn’t kill any kids because they were all around. Now the school actually has room for more kids in it! Wow – thank you Lifeline for letting us intrude for so long! I can’t even begin to tell you all what a blessing straight from Heaven our partnership with Lifeline has been – in so many ways.
Here are some of things the various people were doing today…
Brian Floyd was REALLY happy and was running around working like crazy everywhere – he took an extra dose of powerful painkillers! (That, and God has answered your/our prayers of course!) I keep telling them that he is supposed to be taking it easy and doing security for Ernie. But everyone said Brian was way too happy to do that today – he would have happily given everything away ha ha! And Brian said he is not as mean as Ernie, he says, (to the villagers that want our teams supplies), “Get out of here, PLEASE.”
Ryan invited the neighboring Voodoo priest to church with us on Sunday. The priest told him he might have an emergency come up, but Ryan told him, “No, you won’t.” J Pray for this man’s salvation and for our team to be able to minister to him.

Kathy Rinkenburger helped with dry wall, organizing the men’s tools, and then went and did more children’s ministry with her crafts at another nearby orphanage. There were 50 kids and they sang a welcome song when she and the team (another small group here with Candice and Spring) arrived and bowed in gratitude when they left. She said they were delightful. The pastor had just had hernia surgery so the team prayed for him. Candice tried to get Cameron to go to children’s ministry with them, because we hear he’s so good at it, but he wouldn’t leave building site – he’s BO!

James Hawk and Cameron Colace cut out bigger windows in one of the houses and did lots of other work on the site. Pastor Moore says James is a “haus.” He even drove the backhoe. We were reminded that there hasn’t hardly been a team come to Haiti that didn’t have a Hawk on it. Wow!

Noe, our Spanish speaking quiet, gentle giant, was pretending to be a backhoe today and lifting kids up over his head. They love him. He has been very helpful in every aspect with the building.

Gary Rinkenburger did drywall and loved how the village kids come around and hug you. There was one little girl, maybe 4 years old, who doesn’t talk, but has been clinging to him all day for the last 2 days. He is concerned about her because there doesn’t appear to be anyone claiming her when the team leaves the site at the end of the day. Pray for her. He was amazed at how he has to have work boots and yet she runs around barefoot on all those rocks.

Pastor Moore’s knee was hurting him quite a bit today. He put Ernie’s essential oils on though and it was feeling better tonight. Keep him in prayer too, please. He commented that even though he’s been here more times, everyone calls him Bob, Pastor Bob or even Bobson – ha ha!
Tonight, I led the devotional and we had a lovely time of fellowship after. This is a great team and it’s so fun to get to know people in this environment, as we are serving Christ and others together. Chef Ernie, aka, Mr. Popular, got out his homemade salsa again late tonight and there was another party in the kitchen. We got to see Bob, Linda and Jeremiah do the Stovall family dance. The Rinkenburgers sang and did a lovely, choreographed hula dance. And (Grisel, forgive me for egging it on), Cameron made techno sounds while Jeremiah danced around with a wind-up strobe flashlight. It was all quite comical and yes, I got it on video!
I found out I get to pick colors for the orphanage buildings to be painted soon so, naturally, I’m excited about that!
Tomorrow, Ryan has to go to Port with Osmy, again. Please pray for him. All these meetings are so frustrating for him, and we really want the vehicle and container released, but we also trust the Lord and know that it will happen in His perfect timing.
Pastor Benis, Dominique, their 3 kids and his cousin are coming over from La Gonave Island to stay 2 nights with us. Please pray for a safe journey as those boats can be dangerous.
We have been blessed with wonderful weather. Yes, the sun is intense for the guys out working in the sun. But in the shade it’s quite nice, and at night, it cools down and is very comfortable sleeping. This morning when we went out on the balcony for our devotional, I almost got cold! God is good.
Blessings,
Madame Ryan (as the Haitians at the building site call me)