February 8, 2010
Written by Rod


















Well, every day is a surprise here in Haiti. We continue to be fluid. God keeps showing us his miraculous hand. Yesterday, Sunday, I didn’t get to preach as I thought I would. The group from South Carolina that is here as well as our Florida team went to their clinic which is located in a church on the edge of a tent city. They had worship and then set up their clinic and saw forty more patients than they had the day before. The church, which has no roof due to earthquake damage, was full and overflowing into the street. There were many who accepted Christ as Savior. Yesterday was the first day I wasn’t with the South Carolina team and I was to go with my Florida team. The Florida team left before me because I had a couple of stops to make along the way. One of those stops was near Carrefour, an area in Port-au-Prince.

Our friends from church, the Hofstra’s have recently adopted a Haitian boy. When they found out that we were coming to Port-au-Prince they asked that I try to make contact with his birth mother, whom they just recently found out was still alive. They sent me with gifts and her mobile phone number to try and contact her. As we arrived in Carrefour, the area where she lives, we called her on the phone and arranged a meeting place.

We pulled over on a busy downtown street and waited for her. In five minutes she was there standing beside us. We gave her a ride to her street, took some quick pictures, gave her a gospel tract, and prayed with her. Then she took off walking toward her home. It was a short and sweet visit. As we drove off I thought what a miracle it was to find her here in such a big city that has gone through so much. That was almost as good as preaching. From there I went to the University Hospital where our Florida group was working. I found the group quickly. Dr. An, our chaplain, was getting water for our nurses and doctors. Donna had me carry a case of water into the maternity tent. It just so happened that 4 women were giving birth at the same time. I put the water down quickly and got out of the tent. The tents were very hot. I went into the infant tent were two of our ladies were trying to draw blood from new born babies. I couldn’t take that for long. All afternoon I watch our doctors sew up fingers, pack a shot gun wound in a shoulder, hydrate several and clean wounds. It was amazing. Our team chaplain from Jacksonville got to pray with a couple that just had their baby. After the prayer the father ask Dr. An to name the baby for them. He gave her the name Abigail. All in all it was a great day of service.

One thing that hit me pretty hard was seeing all of the destruction from the earth quake in downtown Port-au-Prince for the first time. I felt like I was IN a movie about the end of time.

Today I went to a new location near Carrefour with a new medical team from Oklahoma. My job is to make sure the people waiting to see the doctors stay calm and in order. This is a tougher job than you might think. I try to talk to them about Jesus and keep them occupied. Many of them are showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder. I get them smiling, laughing and pray with them. I had them help me recite the verse, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” We saw 135 patients. Two accepted Christ as Savior and three made rededications. Another great day.




Written by Donna:
Today was another busy day at the clinic housed in the police station across the street from the Presidential Palace. Today I spent most of the day in the acute care general clinic where I was orthopedic and wound care nurse. Another day, another specialty! I put a cast on a lady who had a broken elbow and removed the cast from her 2 year old daughter who has a broken femur. The lady’s arm had been untreated since the earthquake. The orthopedic surgeon with our group told her that her arm has begun to heal incorrectly but he believes that she will retain some limited range of motion. He positioned it as well as he could, had me place a cast on it. Her daughter had been treated after the quake and was in a cast from ankle to hip. We first sent them to the University Hospital for x-rays. When they return, x-ray in hand, the orthopedist determined that she was healing well and the cast could be removed. The mom related to me that her family had spent three days trapped in the rumble of their home after the earthquake. I guess they are among the lucky ones.

I also dressed several very deep wounds, caused by falling objects during the quake. Thankfully all the wounds are healing well and not showing signs of infection. I also treated a 12 year old who had part of his toes amputated about 10 days ago. I had to remove stitches which was very painful for him and just about killed me. Then we soaked his foot and redressed the wound. He should recover well enough to play soccer with all the other kids!

Another day, a host of hurting people. There were still line at the clinic when we left. There were other medical personnel who were staffing the clinic after we were gone. About eight hours day is all we can give before we are all exhausted. The heat really zaps our energy. We’ll be back tomorrow to go at it again!