Staff Meeting

We had a successful 4th "All Staff" meeting.  Previous month's Employee of the month: Joseph, the gateman; Fresnel a Barbancourt teacher; Anite, a canteen cook and this month: Jean Renel, a maintenance man. Pictures to come!

Baby Goats!!!

Our pregnant goat, Janet gave birth to three healthy kids April 13th!  We lost one of the babies two days later because the mama rejected it.  Then a week later, April 20th, our other female goat, Judy gave birth!  She was pregnant as well when we bought her!  We had not known this and had been trying to breed her.  We started to think she must be pregnant now but had no idea its been so long.  What a surprise to find out she had been just as pregnant as Janet when we bought her!   We hadn't payed for a pregnant goat but that's what we got.  We are so excited for the goat milk program and to see how already God is multiplying our efforts.  The mama's have not had enough nutrition throughout their pregnancy for us to be able to milk them and have milk for their babies.  We even had to bottle feed Judy's smallest baby so she would not reject it until she was producing enough milk and he was strong enough to fight for it.  We have planted the back field with goat friendly foliage and have just completed goat milk booklets on the nutrition of goats milk and tips for raising goats for better milk production.  We just purchased materials to build a fence for the goats.  Right now they stay in the chicken coop at night to protect the kids from dogs.

Our first kids: Chocolat and Rire 

Fritz and Cayil's daughter Witleen

Janet with Candice and the kids of Cayil, our animal caretaker.

Judy with her kids: Clovs and Yona

Eye Clinic

Just returned from the eye clinic in Montrouis where we took 10 patients from our village.  One patient, a young lady that bakes bread here at Lifeline, has very bad cataracts but is on the list for surgery in two weeks!  The doctor said we caught it just in time and surgery should be a success.  Praise God!

Four patients, siblings, had the same condition and were given steroid drops and a follow-up appointment, two patients were given glasses, two only needed drops and one was pronounced completely blind.  Please pray for him as he has only been blind a few months and is very distraught.  The doctor said only a miracle could give him sight again as his nerves have atrophied.

Pictures at "New Vision" eye clinic and orphanage in Montrouis:

Article By Candice

Healing Prayers

Please pray for two babies that came to the clinic today.  One is Nono, one of our employee's baby, only about two months old.  His wife brought her in.  She looks very sick and had swollen eyes and her nose was bleeding.  They sent her to St. Mark Hospital right away.

The other baby is also two months old and is from Montrouis.  I met the family a few days ago when I was with Cayil and Adrian looking for roosters.  The man helped us find a good rooster for our laying hens and told us about his daughter.  She is not drinking from her mother and formula makes her sick.  She came to the clinic today looking so tiny, grey and thin.  To thank me for helping them, although I did very little, they gave me two rabbits.  I didn't even know they had rabbits in Haiti.

Please pray for these babies as we know that God can and does do miracles :)

     Today was an exhausting but rewarding day! We started the morning with a  devotion at 7a.m. and then headed to Port Au Prince to visit four orphanages. The bus ride lasted about an hour and a half. When we arrived at the first orphanage we got off of the bus to see several little children's faces beaming up at us. I love that feeling! I have never been around more people that are geuinely happy to see you, what an awesome experience! Most of the people I see seem to have such sweet and gentle spirits, which inspires to be more like them in that way.
     We started out with a puppet show for the kids, telling the story of Zaccheus.We all had a great time with the show and the kids responded well. Their little giggles made my heart smile. I was also so impressed with well they listened! They knew the answer to every question that we asked about the story. After the puppet show we listened to the children sing "Yes, Jesus Loves Me". Their voices sounded so soft and beautiful. I could listen to them sing forever! When they finished singing we handed out sun glasses to all of them. They took the sun glasses with huge smiles on their faces and immediately pushed them on to their face looking at us for confirmation that they looked "cool". At that point, a simple thumbs up sent them into laughter. What a sweet sound!
     We left the orphange and headed to another. We visited two more orphanges in Port Au Prince after that. Visiting that many orphanges made it a very busy day that seems to be a blur now but there are faces in my heart that I know I will never forget. We left the last orphanage and attempted to go to down town Port Au Prince. The traffic  was so backed up we didn't make it. However, we passed through a lot of Port Au Prince on the way and drove by a tent city. Seeing the  tons of tents lined up so close together and crowded broke my heart. I've never seen anything like it and will never forget that sight. Being unable to reach down town Port Au Prince, we headed back to the Mission.
     We returned at about 4:30 p.m. We all rested a little bit and were able to watch the Hatian women cook dinner. What a neat experience! I carefully watched them make the homemade bread that we stuff ourselves with every night. They very politely let us watch and even help! All of the food was absolutely delicious, I will miss it when I'm gone!

     After dinner some of us went outside to watch the kids from the village play soccer. What athletes they are! It's so much fun to watch them play so freely.
     I am extra tired tonight due to the long and bumpy bus ride to Port Au Prince. As I said, it has been an exhausting day, but I'll lay in bed tonight and let all of the sweet faces I saw today dance through my head. That makes it all worth while! Now I am headed to bed, I can't wait for tomorrow!

Careece Glass
First Baptist Church Metropolis
Metropolis, IL

Today was a great day!  Started the day off with morning devotion at the Rock.  Spring led our devotion with a scripture from Acts.  Then off to Barbencourt.  What a beautiful walk.  While there we saw the ongoing construction of the new Hope for Haiti orphanage and school.  It will be amazing!   

We also visited 2 different orphanges.  The children were adorable and seemed to enjoy our puppet skit of the Woman at the Well.  We were able to give each girl a pillowcase dress and each boy a pair of shorts.  The children's faces were so precious.  They have so little and are so greatful for anything that they get.  I just wish everyone could experience what I felt today...it will break your heart for what breaks His!  Also while in Barbencourt we helped serve at the feeding center.  Lifeline delivers them food Monday through Friday so they can serve beans, rice with vitamins and minerals to over 350 students and the village kids. We arrived back at the mission house, at a quick lunch and then started making school benches so the nursing school here on the compound can begin meeting in their new location.  By the way, Holly is a beast with a drill!  Jimmy kept the saw going and the rest of us stayed busy putting them together.  Supper was awesome.  Tonight we had authentic Creole chicken with beans and rice.  The cooks are great...you never go hungry!  Well it's almost time for "lights out".  See you all on Saturday.  1 Corinithians 10:31 Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.    Jane Ann Gentry- Metropolis, IL

Happy Easter!  What a way to start a trip...worshiping our Lord together celebrating His resurrection.  A 2 hour service full of the same things that we have in our worship, just in a different language.  The house missionaries fixed a wonderful pancake breakfast to start the day.  It's amazing to see these women serving the Lord and the excitement in their step.  Jean Fritz(the 3 year old orphan that lives on the compound)  was baptized...how fitting!  A redeemed child being redeemed by the Redeemer on Easter!    This compound is an AMAZING blessing to this village and the surrounding area.  It's impossible to even describe it.  We met one of the elders of the village who asked the man who started Lifeline to come to LaDigue in the first place.  That was awesome!  Then we toured the village and loved on the children.  They LOVE attention and want to be held all the time.  They go where you go.  The parents trust Lifeline to know that they will be ok.  Then we had kids club...

80 kids pouring in each Sunday afternoon to hear the Word even more!  They got to do a craft, sing, play a game(who can drink a coke the fastest without their hands...now that's fun!) and then ate some candy :)  Alot of chaos but so worth it.  The day ended with a devotion at the "rock" and a birthday party for Jean Fritz and Ramonda(another orpan that is being adopted by a couple from the US).  Both of these children are waiting to be adopted...pray for them and their parents that they can have patience and peace everytime they have to leave their babies to others.  All I can say is I'm so glad I brought my daughter...we have been blessed!  I definitely will return with more of my children so they too can experience the joy of serving!

Today was our very first plane ride. It was scary and exciting. The inside of the airport was like a mall, except everyone is carrying luggage, hahaha. The bus ride was bumpy but worth it. It's so pretty here! When we got there we took a tour of the compound. The missionaries are really nice, And the food here is great! It's so amazing to see all the people and what they have... which is not much. But to them it's a lot and they're so happy. Whenever the kids see you they come up and cling to you. We're 12 and 14 and it's crazy to be in a foreign country, but we think it's so worth it in the end.

                                                                                                Emma Lange and Mackenzie Easter