We have had an eventful two weeks since we got back. We barely got settled back in and then we left to go to the Dominican Republic for a week to help over there. Chadasha has a children's home/day school there along with a hospital. We were there to help run the children's home while the main missionaries where in the states for a week. It was a great experience for us because as you know that is what we want to do here in Port au Prince. I will update you on that next. The week was a good learning experience for us. I have a lot of respect for John and Melissa Hanley as they do a great job. The other cool part of the week was that I got to watch an open heart surgery. During the week the ICHF along with Chadasha were doing open heart surgeries on children in our hospital. We had ten patients come in from another country ranging from 11 months old to around 18 years old. It is truly amazing that Chadasha has turned a goat field in a third world country into a hospital that we can do open heart surgeries on children in. The ICHF team of doctors were amazing. Not only were they very good a their jobs but they were very fun to be around also. The surgery I watched was amazing. An open heart surgery is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We also were able to have two ultrasounds of the baby while we were there which is always fun. On Saturday we travelled back to Port au Prince. The border was an ordeal as always.
Our trip to the river in the DR.
One of the heart patients and docs post surgery!
One of the docs playing with some of the kids at the children's home.
A few of the heart patients from Guyana, who are now in Santiago to have their surgeries!
Since finally getting to settle down in Port we have been doing the usual weekly ministries along with running around doing all the things that make it possible to live in this country.
As most of you know we feel like God brought us here to Haiti to develop Chadasha's children home more. God has given us a vision of how to disciple the next generation for him. We have talked with most of you about this already but in case some of you don't know I will tell you. We feel God is leading us personally to do two main things here: Improve the children's home and to start a free day school. We want to improve the children's home by doing a few things. First of all, we want to live with them so we can impact their lives all day everyday. Secondly, we want to teach them the Bible on a daily basis. Thirdly, we want to develop them occupationally by teaching them work ethic through chores and by teaching the older kids a skill. And finally, we want to start to work with their families to try to empower them to be able to take back their children. We believe, if possible, the biological parents are the best people for the children to be with so we want to try to aid the family too.
Concerning the day school, we want to start by providing 25 children free school that can't afford it. In Haiti, almost all education cost money. Their are very few free schools. Because of this a lot of poverty stricken children cannot go to school. We want to provide them a free Christian education. We will also provide each of these children a free meal and healthcare.
This is our dream for our service here. To make all this happen we first need a bigger building. Our current building is only three bedrooms with a kitchen and living room. We have found a building that will be perfect. It has enough rooms for all of us staff, about 20 kids, two classrooms and rooms to host short term mission teams. This property also has a garden and a play area. It will be the perfect place if we can get it. We are currently trying to raise funds for the rent of this building. Please pray that if God wants this then he will provide the resources we need for it. So far the fund raising is going very well. We will keep you all updated on what God is doing for the future of our children's home.
Please continue to pray for us. Living here can be a grind at times. Everything is more difficult. We would ask you to pray that we are strong spouses for each other and devoted parents to Sharles and our coming soon baby. Thank you for your support and prayers. We will be trying to Skype/FaceTime with each of you soon.
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