One Size Fits All World

I'm off to Haiti, once again. I'm flew out of JFK airport which had a non-stop flight to Port au Prince where I stayed for about 24 hours. The elections or lack of elections have the city in a twist. It is unpredictable there right now but I am in good hands. The Hands that created the world and all that is in it. Beyond that my friends will meet me at the airport and take Juvenal. A nice neighborhood not far from where the Doc is staying. My work will begin after I arrive at the House of Hope Monday afternoon. I will have a lot to cram in in 4 days. I am bringing in a printer for the HOH. It is a big one. Only one problem; the TSA forbids carrying printer cartridges heavier than 16oz. I knew that going in but the cartridges weighed in at 24oz. So the TSA had to inspect the printer before they would permit the box to be put on the conveyor. They declared them overweight and wanted me to take them out of the box. I told them they weren't mine but that they belonged to Jesus. Once you say something like that everyone begins to stare. I begged them to let them stay in the box because it is not possible to print without them. The employees at the check-in were urging them to overlook the cartridges. But in the end I took them out carefully because you know how dangerous printer cartridges can be! I had to leave them in storage until I return- I put them in a room right next to Jason Bourne's stuff in a special room. In the end I lamented the lack of reason in the whole process. All they were was printer cartridges anyone could see that. But we live in a one size fits all world. There is a better world coming one where we won't get sand in our shoes and things will go back to the way they are supposed to be. That is Shalom, true shalom come quickly. Pray for me while I am away from those I love at home. Pray that I would represent Jesus well. Pray that I have wisdom in conversations. I'll be having many of them, important ones too. Pray for safety in and out of the country and in the air and on the roads. Pray for those who suffer in Haiti. Pray for the caregivers who work long hours in the cholera wards. Cholera is still powerful and taking lives daily. If you would like to email me at doorofhopehaiti@gmail.com I will write you back.

January 12, 2011

Today the flag of my soul is flown at half mast. The black curtains of mourning are festooned around the windows of my heart. One year ago today near the very hour I am writing this post Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake. In a matter of seconds over 220,000 lives were lost, probably more. People from every walk of life in the course of their daily routines were tragically killed in a matter of seconds. The scope of their suffering cannot be told in pictures or in words. I’m hesitant to write much more just because of that. The media has revisited Haiti in its aftermath only to declare how much has or has not been done. Truthfully, not much has been done. Over 90% of the rubble remains as it was one year ago today. Questions remain as to where all the humanitarian aid money has gone. Finger pointing and blame assessment are still in full gear. This I know, Haiti has picked itself, dusted itself off and has kept going. Haiti will walk with a limp for years to come. Please pray today for Haiti and those who remember vividly exactly where they were at 4:53pm on year ago today. Please pray for those who lost loved ones on that day.

Reflections 2010

I wonder if the chaos of Port au Prince, Haiti was similar to Bethlehem in the year of our Savior’s birth. No wonder there was “no room for Him in the inn.” He was born in the squalor of the cattle stall; his Mother birthing Him in the insanitariness of the stockyard. He lay in the same box where the animals ate. He is a Savior who understands Haiti and those who live there. He would find everyday life in Haiti very familiar. He grew up walking with the poor; He walks with the poor today. Remembering this gives me hope as I look back on the year past and to the year to come. Remembering your partnership with Door of Hope Haiti is a cause to rejoice.

We are thankful for the generosity of all who gave just after the earthquake hit. Your gifts helped meet the needs of displaced children, people who needed care following leg amputations and the feeding of many who came and are still coming looking for help. The photo above is of the House of Hope receiving the very first kids from Port au Prince who were displaced by the earthquake. The boy with his arm in the sling lost his entire family when their house collapsed on them. He was spared mercifully since he was in school at the time. His school building collapsed and he was one of only 3 boys that survived. This is one of many similar stories.

We are thankful for so many cards and inquiries of concern for our friends in Haiti.

We are thankful for people who follow our ministry online at our website, on our blog and on facebook. We are overwhelmed by the increasing number of people whom we have never met yet are friends of our ministry.

We are thankful that not one child or staff at the House of Hope has contracted Cholera! The Northern Provinces of Haiti were among the hardest hit; it is no small thing to rejoice in such a mighty protection that the Lord has given to these children. It is common for people to feel sad for children in orphanages in Haiti; we see them as the fortunate ones! Two meals a day and readily available filtered water to drink.

News & Notes:

We visited Angie at LeTourneau University in November. Angie is studying hard and doing well. It was a very hard semester for her. Chemistry was a difficult course for her but her disciplined study paid off. One night while she was studying some of the girls from her apartment were going out to get something to eat and they invited Angie along. Angie responded quickly to their offer and let them know that “I have a life you know!” She is studying to be a nurse and takes it very seriously.We will be taking a short term team to the House of Hope this July to give the staff a chance to rest for a week. The staff gets to spend a week at a camp adjacent to the House of Hope where they will have daily bible studies and activities. They also will have an excursion to a local beach. Two years ago we brought a team there to help and it was very successful. Jenny & Linda would like to do it again. We want to bring down a nurse to help us on this team. Pray.

There’s more…

Looking ahead to 2011…

This Door of Hope will consolidate its ministry focus to two principal areas. Specifically, we will continue our advocacy work with Angie Charlot and our partnership with House of Hope. Our work with the House of Hope and with Angie has been very fruitful and a source of joy to us. Please pray for us and for them.

Items for prayer…I am often asked for specific requests; here are several

1. For some time Door of Hope has been considering becoming a Non-Profit Corporation. The need to do this has become more urgent. We are also considering other possibilities. Pray for the Lord’s leading in these matters.

2. This is a faith ministry. We started it by faith and by faith it moves forward. But it takes faith and that’s the hard part. Please pray for our faith to be strong. Anything involving Haiti is always hard. It just is. We could talk more about that sometime. Not now. Just pray…pray…pray.

3. Pray for Angie at LeTourneau University. She has a full semester and she will stay in Texas for courses during the early part of the summer.

4. Pray for Haitians as they continue to suffer with the cholera outbreak. The earthquake and the cholera outbreak have exhausted both the Haitians and the international community who serve there. It is a lot to take.

5. Pray for Americans who minister in Haiti. Haitians are becoming skeptical of foreigners since there are some people who go there to work with only their own interests in mind and not the interest of others.

6. Pray for Hope Village. The project was set back as we were counseled that the Haitian government was not in favor of us building our new children’s village on the coastline. We are now looking at other properties more inland in the town of Bayeux. To date we have site plan drawn up; now all we need is the site to build it on!

Things aren't as bad as you hear on the news…THEY ARE WORSE!

The situation on the Cholera outbreak in Haiti as reported in the news is grossly underreported. The photo to the left may be familiar to some of you; it is a makeshift overflow ward for people coming to be treated for cholera in LaPointe. The “official” death count is around 1600. My co-workers in Haiti are estimating it at 6 to 8 times that number already. Many of the hardest hit hospitals primarily in the North (where we work) are receiving 75 to 100 new people a day. News reports the death rate a 1-2% on the ground they say it can be more like 20%. Both national and international relief workers are very tired since they are working literally around the clock. There is a shortage of the IV required to treat the sick. Many facilities are simply restricting the amount of IV treatment that is given to 2 bags a day for 5 days. All estimates agree the disease has not peaked yet. The Haitians themselves are very tired; this only beats them down more. The sick being carried to hospitals can die along the way. In some cases I am told the bodies are thrown into ravines or simply left along the road. Not all those who die are properly interred. Open defecation and clean drinking water has always been a problem. Until there is widespread easy access to clean water and a plan for the problem of human waste, I am afraid this will continue. The relief agencies have been working on this since the earthquake but there is much to be done.

I have been asked if I would be willing to travel down with a medical team in December to serve as a translator. The group, a medical relief agency called MTI, based out of Seattle, WA is very experienced in relief work. If they call me, I will go. If this doesn’t happen, I will be returning to Haiti in January, as God wills.

There is also unrest in the country right now. The Haitians are blaming the UN International Peacekeepers for bringing the disease to Haiti. Actually, there has never been an outbreak of cholera prior to this in Haiti. The cities and towns have been taking steps on their own to monitor who is coming into their areas. Sometimes this is associated with violence, like rock throwing and the burning of tires. Some Medical Teams have been disallowed from entering some locations. On top of all this, Sunday, November 28^th begins the election process. This only complicates Haiti’s trouble. The current government leaders have had their chance to profit from their office. Their departure will make room for the next Kleptocrat’s to take over.

What saddens me is my perception that the international community is just tired of Haiti and its problems. Mary Anastasia O’Grady in a recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal referred to Haiti as “the ultimate economic basket case of the Western Hemisphere.” It is! Not all problems are like those of the trapped miners in Chile. Their problem had a definite beginning and a definite (happy) ending. The news likes that. Then there’s the money shot, the first miner out of the shaft, hooray! Haiti is just an ongoing mess trapped in a downward spiral going from crisis to crisis with no end in sight.

Please pray for Haiti as well as those who serve there as often as you can. If you can, make a donation. Door of Hope will hand deliver your gift to responsible people who will in turn use it to care for those in need. God give us as believers the grace of staying power to not grow weary in well doing believing that in due time we will reap if we don’t faint.

Quick fact: Haitians use Clorox bleach in water to kill disease. It is widely used in Haiti for sanitation. If you can find it you are going to pay $7.00 US per gallon. I guess the laws of supply and demand are blind to plight of the poor.

Things that make you go hmmm...

The Haitian Child Welfare office contacted the House of Hope and asked if they could place children there who had lost families in the earthquake. The HOH is happy to take more children. Of course it costs more to care for these children but are trusting the Lord for that. Please pray that the Lord will send the very children that He wants to become a part of the family at HOH. It is interesting that this is happening now because in the days after the earthquake the government agencies like UNICEF were actively working to ensure the placement of internally displaced children into state run organizations. (This action was taken following an Idaho church group's misguided attempt to smuggle Haitian children out of the country after the quake.) This recent action indicates that things are getting back to normal in Haiti. Hands-on government intervention, although very necessary in crisis does not last forever but the work of the Kingdom of God keeps moving forward year in and year out!

ANGIE’S UPDATE: Door of Hope has been advocating for Angie for 3 years now. It started with her scoliosis surgery. Since then Angie is enrolled in LeTourneau University .Angie is doing great in school. She has maintained a 3.85 GPA. That is impressive; remember English is not her first or second language! Angie is a blessing to us. She is a disciplined, hard working student. She puts her education first and is determined to excel. She is in Haiti for July and the early part of August visiting family. It is good for her to keep her feet in Haiti once in a while. You know we are putting her through school by faith. We trust the Lord to supply her financial needs. Would you like to help? I am looking forward to seeing her while I am in Haiti.

I leave tomorrow for Haiti. Please pray for:

· traveling mercies in the air and on the ground

· I’m carrying an extra suitcase (above the 2 allowed by American Airlines) full of antibiotics & specialized medications – pray that these would make it there in good shape

· for easy passage through customs especially with the medications

· spiritual sensitivity to what is going on around me and for grace to react or to speak into those situations wisely

· Gail and my family at home

· a productive time while we meet and discuss the plans for Hope Village

· I’ll be carrying a lot of luggage; it is hard carrying it all at once!

Help

The photo was taken on my last trip to Haiti in February of this year. You can barely make out the end of the word “help.” Evidently their can of spray paint went empty before their plea was finished so they used a piece of charcoal which the rain has since washed away. There is a lot to this picture even though it is poorly taken. I’m not much of a photographer. Six months have come and gone since the earthquake of January 12^th. I reflect on this thought…that the Lord shakes the earth when and where He wants, it is His. He has been shaking it a lot lately, hasn’t He? Check out Psalms 18: 7 and Haggai 2:7. It certainly gets hold of our attention. How long does the attention last? When was the last time you read anything about Haiti in the news or saw something on the TV about it? Haiti is still there. George Orwell in his essay entitled “Marrakech” written in 1939 wrote, “People with brown skin are next door to invisible.” Haiti is our next door neighbor, I feel their invisibility. Maybe Orwell was more right than we would like to admit. Out of sight, out of mind it is said. Not out of my sight, nor are they out of my mind. They still need our help. Door of Hope will be there.

WHAT’S NEXT? I will be returning to Haiti for a 6 day trip. I will leave August 4^th and return August 9^th. This opportunity just came up and it came up fast! I need you to pray for me, that is why I am posting. Will you do that? Please pray because I have so much to do before I leave at home, at work and just plain getting ready to go to Haiti. While I am at the House of Hope. I HopeI will be spending time in planning meetings for our new project at “Hope Village.” I have been drawing up site plans as well as drawing up the individual houses. Since I am a member of the Board for this project it is important from time to time for me to go and review the project. Hope Village Haiti is a very exciting project have you checked out their blogsite ? www.hopevillagehaiti.blogspot.com

ONE MORE THING… It has been a long time goal of ours to begin helping some of our young men and women start small business enterprises. We are going work with one of the older guys at the House of Hope to pilot a small business. Recently someone donated a very nice key duplication machine to Door of Hope; they also donated 150 blank keys to help get them started. I will be bringing all this down with me and training one of the guys on how to run it. They say there is no one in town or in the area that can make keys. I’ll keep you posted. Please pray for this endeavor.

God’s Heart For The Poor Is Huge

Today, I’m writing on my blog, from my heart. Letting you in…except I don’t know who I am letting in. It feels like I am writing to nobody and sending it nowhere hoping someone will read it, kind of like a cyber message in a bottle.

What would make good story for you to read is the non-public side of my life, the inside, the part of me that I protect. It would expose my life that is filled with pride, the bullheadedness of a man often too big for his own britches; a faithless man surprised by a flawlessly faithful God. Having faith in God who is able to do exceeding beyond all that you ask or think. Sounds good to me. But it doesn’t work for me. Let me tell ya, I can very easily understand wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. I hope I get it on to before that. I don’t even have 40 years left!

I am going back to Haiti Wednesday, August 4^th and returning on the 9^th. Many people know this because I have sent letters asking them to consider giving to the poor and to help the people of Haiti through this ministry. Every time I write, I really feel like I have worn out my welcome because I go so often, at least two or three times a year. If I only went once a year it might be more tolerable. But I keep going to Haiti, and I keep writing letters. Each time I do I think that I will receive very little or no financial support to bring along to those in real need, the people I know and the people I want to help. I’ve said to myself, “Your trip was too last minute; there is a ton of people going on short term missions during the summer, they got their letters out ahead of you; did you ever hear of donor fatigue; unemployment; too much month not enough money; recession; revolving credit debt?” You name it, I have thought of it. Notwithstanding any doubt of mine, any faithless thought of mine, God’s heart for the poor is huge. He provides for their every need. In the 10 days since I sent out my first letter for this trip, God has been graciously surprising me, “again” with His faithfulness and generosity.

Being “surprised” by His provisions is sad. Thankfully, His Grace is sufficient, and this blog post can be more about His faithfulness than mine.