A Great Story

Wednesday 24 February: Today is my last full day in Haiti. I spent it wrapping up various little projects and answering the question “Kile w’aptounnen?” When are coming back? It is all part of the process. I was able to get the gas grill up and running with the only problem being there is no propane just now. "The truck is coming," is all I’m told. So is Christmas. There are still the charcoal burners and we did get a load of charcoal from Cap Haitien the other day. I am sure we all will eat well for awhile. Let me tell you a great story. The House of Hope welcomed its first 2 IDP’s on Monday. Internally Displaced People are those who for various reasons have left Port au Prince. Some out of fear; some out of misery; and some out of necessity have left the hope of a better life in the city. A 17 year old boy and a nine year old girl were brought in by recommendation. It has been really hard getting kids to come up here. The missionaries in the news who were caught at the border to the Dominican taking kids there has really hampered many established works in their mission. The reaction of UNICEF has been to take over all placement of IDP children and they are excluding the non-profits from the list of optional relocation sites since they are unregulated. Notwithstanding all of this political palaver the Lord has worked uniquely to make a way for the HOH to receive Biterson and Dieunica to join us. Biterson known as “Son-son” has come through a very tragic ordeal. The school he was in at the time of the earthquake completely collapsed claiming many deaths. Son-son was trapped in the building for 8 hours until he was found. He and two other classmates were taken out alive the other 40 in his class perished. He suffered a significant injury to his collar bone which has left his right arm with limited mobility. He also had an injury to his right eye. Upon his recovery he learned the devastating news that his entire family, his mother, brother and 2 cousins died in their home when it collapsed on them. He has never known his father. Our heavenly Father placed him in the path of a health care professional who knew Leah Beidler who in turn recommended that they get him up to the House of Hope. What providence! How great is God? He arrived really depressed after all the things that had happened to him. He lay on his bed alone trying to put everything together. One of our boys here at the HOH named Joseph, aged 19 asked if we thought it was a good idea to go and tell Son-son his story. 2 years ago Joseph was the only one is his family to survive the hurricanes that hammered Haiti. His whole family had gone up on the roof to escape the rising waters while Joseph’s brother helped him climb up a tree. Joseph climbed up high hanging for his life only to hear the screams of his family as they were all swept away. Joseph like Biterson has a story, he is not alone here. Each one has a story. He is not alone anymore. Hosea 2:15 says: “I will turn the valley of troubles into a door of hope.” I’m watching that happen.

Life Goes On

Sunday 21 February: My only good chance to get to Port au Prince was to go on Sunday since that would be the only time that most everyone would be around. This was necessary since I would need to be driven around by others. The Boucher family was able to meet me at the airport along with my traveling companion Carl Evans. Dr. Boucher is a friend of the House of Hope which is where I met him and later the whole family. After seeing their home which was substantially damaged in the quake they took me around to see the rest of the city. It was by and large the same as I had seen on television but for me to see it with my own eyes, in real time, was terrible beyond description. Buildings down everywhere leaving people entombed even now while life just goes on around them. Haitian masons recovering fallen block and mixing mortar and putting them back up again; market ladies sat stoically by their small piles of fruit or sacks of rice waiting for the next sale; people walking to and from church and families sitting around eating together. Haiti will forever be a land of ironies the rational and the absurd comfortably side by side defying explanation requiring only acceptance. I believe most of this goes over the heads of the casual observer but to those who know the queues it strangely makes sense. No one living in Port au Prince can ever be the same. Life was changed that day in a thunderous roar some dodging death to die another day and some dying in their tracks. I even saw a rat lying crushed in the street struck by falling debris. By the time we arrived back at the house I was literally unable to take in anything more. But dinner was ready so we sat down and ate because life just goes on. I went off to bed in a very nice home that had survived the quake and was virtually unharmed except for minor damage. The home was built by an engineer who said he built it right; apparently he did! However, in the same city some 250,000 people went to sleep on the ground in their tents afraid to sleep under anything that might fall on them. In case we are tempted to call their fear irrational, at 4:37 in the morning I was awakened by everyone calling out there had been another aftershock. It was a 4.7 on the Richter scale enough to rattle the windows but not enough to wake me up. Life goes on....

Off to Port au Prince

Saturday 20 February: Today was a productive day. I was able to go to Port de Paix to purchase plane tickets to go to Port au Prince tomorrow. In the afternoon I worked on gas burners I brought down. I will finish up this job Monday. We did all the cutting and welding today. Monday will hook up the gas. I am anxious to see if the system works. We also unloaded a truckload of charcoal for cooking. Charcoal has been hard to get with the heavy rains. The price of fuel has driven the cost up as well. By using these propane burners we hope to have the charcoal last longer. Tomorrow I will be traveling with Carl Evans a student who grew up at House of Hope (HOH) and now is studying in Port au Prince., He was in Port when the earthquake hit but escaped unharmed. The house he was staying in was partially destroyed. He would like to see if his school will reopen and he would like to check on the family he was staying with. I will stay with this same family for the night on Sunday. I am going to spend the day visiting and hopefully getting a chance to see my friend Robert. Please pray for this trip. We leave on the first flight and should arrive in Port at 7:30am. This will give me all day to spend in Port. The HOH donated a full suitcase of supplies to send down with Carl and I to give to the family that lost their home. I was given a tent while I was in Ft. Pierce in case I met someone who needed one. There are family members sleeping in the yard who could use it. I plan to return on the first flight up to Port de Paix to return to the HOH for the rest of my time here in Haiti. I will not be able to post again until Monday night. Thank you for your prayers. If you have not received a Door of Hope prayer card for your refrigerator and would like to please email us your address at doorofhopehaiti@gmail.com and we will send you one.

It is good to finally be here...

Wednesday 17 February: Today went well. The people at MFI were able to make a good recommendation for me to get the tooth I broke on the plane Tuesday fixed. A Dr. John Byers from Vero Beach. I drove up from Ft. Lauderdale and was at his office by 12:30. He cleaned it up and put some kind of bond on it to protect it. I had thought it that the tooth broke was the same one I had broken before but it wasn't. It was a different tooth. So the new total for broken teeth stands at 3. 2 have been be patched and one is just broken not patched because it doesn't hurt. I will have get this stuff taken care of. I spent a couple of hours at MFI. What a place! There is so much going on. There were many volunteers helping load pallets and shrink wrapping them. MFI has been receiving many donations. You name it, it was in that warehouse! Wheelchairs, walkers of every size, crutches beyond number, generators, blankets, towels sheets, tarps, tools, clothes, grills for cooking, tools, and barrels of diesel fuel. We leave tomorrow at 7:00. I need to be there at 5:45. We should arrive in Cap Haitian between 12 and 1:00. Then fly with MAF to PPX. Air travel is a miracle. Imagine doing all this in one day! I'll try and take a bunch of pictures and then hopefully post them on Wednesday. I have been receiving comments on the blog so I know people are reading it. I also know that there are many people praying about this trip. I feel it. There is something unique about this trip because the Haiti I am going to tomorrow is different now. It is has a post 911 feeling. I just know this to be true although I have not felt it for my self. I am eager to see with my own eyes that which I have only heard about. Haiti has been knocked down but it has been knocked out. There is hope for Haiti. Thursday 18 February I left Ft. Pierce at 7:30 on a DC-3. We landed on Great Exuma island to take on some fuel. So we spent a whole 10 minutes in the Bahamas! Then we sped off for Cap Haitien. We arrived at 11:30. It has been raining heavily in Cap for the past several days. As result of the heavy rains MAF was hesitant to fly since all of their planes do not have the instruments for flying IFR. I sat at the airport until 5:00pm and just waited. Jenny arranged for a relative of Linda's to come and pick me up and take me back to his house. So I spent the night in the city. Haitians are very hospitable so I was taken care of well. Friday, 19 February I arrived back the airport at 8:00am I waited about 45 minutes then the MAF plane arrived. We boarded and left Cap at 9:30 for our 20 minute flight to Port de Paix. It was still raining but not quite as heavily. So we flew in right at 500 feet just below the clouds. It gave me a really good view of the coast line. I was able to get some aerial shots of the new property at Coco. Then we flew over House of Hope. I got some photos of that too. The rest of the day was spent getting all the gear that I brought in distributed. That took some time. It is good to finally be here. Some thoughts before I go... Everyone I speak to has a story of someone they know who was affected by the earthquake. I met a young woman here at the HOH who is recovering after having surgery at the hospital. She had gone into Port au Prince on the 12th of January to go the US Embassy to get a passport. She had no idea of what would happen at around 5:00 that afternoon. In a moment the earth began to shake violently and as she was fleeing for safety something struck her leg right at her heel. Whatever it was it severed her Achilles tendon and her foot was dangling off of her ankle. She had surgery here in LaPointe to repair her foot by a Dr. who had come in from Lancaster county. So now she is here recovering waiting for the Dr. to do a skin graft. The Doctor from Lancaster county had acquired a new skin graft machine called a Dermatone. I carried this machine in for the Doctor here to use in this procedure. Today I watched the nurses clean and redress the wound. It is not infected and it is healing slowly. She is ready for a skin graft soon. This is just one story, to think of 250,000 people dead and on top of that a countless number of people wounded. The suffering is unimaginable. Tent cities all over town. Cardboard for walls and tarps for a roof. Now the rains are coming. Shanties collapsed under the water weight. Whatever dented possessions remain are soon soaked too; bedding and mattresses too. No where to hide for shelter. I am working on a plan to go to Port au Prince on Sunday. It is coming together well. Please pray more for the people of Port au Prince than you do for me. But please pray for me too and for my family as we are apart from one another. Thanks for reading. Jeb

Prayer Requests

Prayer for Haiti:

1. For those who are giving medical attention would be sustained; my reports tell me it is really hard there right now.

2. For all the wounded and amputees, many traumatized children; pray for many who are grieving the loss of family members.

3. For the orderly and equitable distribution of food aid not just to Port au Prince but to all the damaged area of Haiti.

4. For the honorable use of the millions of dollars of aid flooding Haiti.

5. Pray for revival in Haiti.

6. Pray for the faith of Haitian believers and missionaries who are there, it is very hard there right now.

Prayer for Jeb & Gail:

7. Over the weekend we decided it would be best for Gail to stay home for this trip. This was a difficult decision for both of us. Pray for us while we are apart. Gail will be well cared for by family close by affectionately known as “the kids.”

8. For traveling mercies for Jeb as he travels. Jeb will be volunteering for a day at Missionary Flight Int’l in Ft. Pierce, FL before flying out on the 18^th.

9. Some towns are experiencing frustration and there have been some demonstrations.

10. For Jeb to be encouragement to those he meets and works with.

11. Pray for wisdom for Jeb to make wise decisions while in Haiti. If the planes begin flying regularly in and out of Port au Prince, Jeb would like to fly down for 2 days and a night. Pray for wisdom and safety.

12. Pray for Jeb’s health while in Haiti. He often comes home sick with intestinal problems. (For the record whenever Gail goes to Haiti she never gets sick!)

Knowing that you are praying for us is a tremendous encouragement. Please read the blog for updates and feel free to comment as I will be checking email while away.

Travel Plans

We have had a change in our itinerary since American Airlines has cancelled our flight. Prior to the earthquake we had purchased tickets to travel into Port au Prince on the 11th of February. After the earthquake, American cancelled all flights in and out of Haiti immediately. They expected to resume their flights in a couple of weeks. I was not inclined to believe this as the situation on the ground especially at the airport was chaotic even by Haitian standards. I decided by faith or lack of faith that the chances were very good that eventually American would cancel our flight on the 11th. So, Gail and I went ahead and were able to find seats on a plane flown by Missionary Flight International (plane pictured at left). We will fly out of Ft. Pierce, Florida to Cap Haitian on the 18th. We will be leaving on the 16th to fly into Miami with American Airlines. From there we will drive up to Ft. Pierce for the flight. We added a day in case of bad weather to insure we would not miss our connection. With all this planning and contingency planning we had 2 separate sets of paid tickets and flight arrangements. Thankfully, American did finally cancel our flight in on the 11th and we were able to get a full refund on our tickets! In providence, Gail and I visited the hangar in Ft. Pierce this past November to see MFI’s planes. Little did we know then that we would be flying in one of their highly maintained vintage DC-3’s. This will really stretch Gail as she is not too big on flying as it is. Flying with MFI adds about 2 1/2 hours to a 90 minute trip on American including a refueling stop in the Bahamas. To sum up, we depart Philadelphia Tuesday the 16th at 11:00 am for Miami. We depart Miami for Cap Haitian, Thursday the 18th. We will then fly Missionary Aviation Fellowship form Cap Haitian to Port de Paix that same day. (This is a 20 minute flight on a small 5 seater; Gail is going to love it!) This flight will save a 10 hour overland trip by car. We will return on the 25th MFI from Cap Haitian to Miami and then on the 26th(in time to celebrate my daughter Sarah's birthday) we will fly AA from Miami to Philadelphia. You can check out our blog to keep updated on what is going on as we travel. We will update it while we are there. Pray for us this week as there still many things to do before we leave.