Reflection

Haiti gets into you.

It gets under your skin and up your nose and all over your feet.

It pours over your head like a cold shower and drips out of your pores.

It slams your vision with images of people - faces you may or may not remember, but in places you will never forget: thronging an open market, picking through a garbage heap, lying alone in a crib reaching up to be held.

It won't be silent, filling your ears with beeping horns, crowing roosters and enthusiastic music at all hours of the day and night.

As it jostles you down rutted roads, it jolts your expectations with startling contrasts: tin-roofed concrete block houses surrounded by lush mango trees, a beautiful home that lacks running water, families bathing and washing clothes in a muddy river minutes away from a clear blue ocean.

And, somehow, while you are distracted by all of its sights, sounds, and smells, Haiti creeps and seeps into your soul. Compassion for its people wraps around your heart and squeezes until you weep for the overwhelming multitude of needs. Who can fix it? No amount of money seems sufficient to satisfy all the starving children, build the necessary infrastructure, and educate millions of illiterates. You begin to understand the mindset of people who live only for today because there is no hope for tomorrow.

But there are bright beacons of hope shining with the love of Jesus all through Haiti. No one can fix everything, but each can help some. Offering hope to a handful of people at a time, they follow God's call to bring up a generation with hope beyond today or tomorrow ... hope into eternity.

Pray for these people who are committing their lives to serve the Lord in Haiti.

And pray for Kris, Andy, Linette, Rebecca, Shane, Michael and me as we seek how God wants to use us in and for Haiti's people. We can wash off our bodies, but we can never rinse Haiti's hold out of our hearts.

Homeward Bound Prayer Requests

we're in the car heading back to port au prince. as we head home, we'd
appreciate prayer for some specific things, sme of which we couldn't
have imagined even a week ago:
* no accidents or road closures to hold us up on the road
* we heard there is a chance of storms in Miami. pray we don't get
delayed going home
* that we don't get held up in US customs (we had a surprising # of
bags inspected by TSA coming down here)
* that we don't bring home any communicable diseases to our families
(we were unaware until afterwards that we had picked up babies with
scabies and accepted kisses from girls who had recently been exposed
to chicken pox)
thanks so much to all for your prayers. it has beenm truly obvious to
us that many have been praying. we look forward to seeing you all
soon!

Medika Mamba Success Story

a child who is gaining weight

Click here to read a news story about how Medika Mamba saves lives!

Painting in Caanan

Kris & Linette carrying Bibles to the clinic at Canaan

P.S. You can click on any of these photos to view them larger. :)

Caanan Baby

this sweet little baby arrived at Canaan yesterday with her 2 brothers & 2 sisters. most of the children here have at least 1 parent surviving, but these kids have lost both parents. their mom died after giving birth to the baby, and their dad died a few days ago. pray for these kids to find friends and fit into the family here.

Prayer Request for Bobi

Our friend Bobi at the Canaan community is suffering from an allergic reaction on several of her fingers - it has begun to spread on her hands. Pray for rapid healing. She needs to be able to work with the Medika Mamba clinic today and return to all her duties here.