Louidy needs your prayers...

 

Let me introduce you to our dear friend, Louidy. On October 8th he had a bad moto accident. A tap tap bus hit him while he was riding his bike, dragged him and then drove over his arm. The driver of the tap tap stopped, picked him up and brought him over to our clinic. We couldn't do anything for him, our clinic is to small for such major injuries, so we rushed him into Port with our ambulance. The hospital admitted him right away and he spent the next week there. His skull was cracked, he got stitches in his head, both arms were badly beat up, one needed stitches, the other surgery, and he had lots of road rash. You can see on the picture above some of the road rash on his back. Before they could do surgery on his arm, they needed blood from red cross. They went to get it, and here they said they wouldn't give them the blood till they had 8 people donate, so a group of us went in and gave blood. They did surgery then, and all went good. A week after the accident happened, Louidy was on his way home, the tap tap driver that hit him, brought him home. He should have died in the accident, but God chose to save his life!! Praise the Lord! Now... 3 weeks later infection has set into his arm where he had surgery! We girls go over and change his bandages for him and this past week noticed a start of infection. We sent them into town to the hospital that did the surgery, but here the nurse just changed the dressings and never even called the doctor to look at it, and now it is worse!! We contacted 2 doctors and they have telling us what to do, but tomorrow he has to go back into Port. He hasn't been able to go back into town because of hurricane Sandy pouring down buckets of water since Tuesday, and as a result of that, there are lots of swollen creeks, that turned into raging rivers! This bridge between us and Port, is washed out...

...they are fixing it, and supposedly tomorrow we should be able to get through. But now there is a roadblock on the other side cause the village isn't happy how they have made a temporary road through the river and now the water is routed through their village. Please pray that Mike will be able to get to town safely with Louidy tomorrow, and that the doctor will know how to help his bad infection!

 

Because of the accident, and God sparing Louidy's life, he has decided to accept Christ into his life and wants to come to church with his older brother Ramoncite. Please pray for these 2 brothers, they are the only 2 Christians in their family!

 

                                                                                   

Mich

   
     I'd like to request prayer for Mich one of our children who has been living in our children's home for the past three years. When he came at the age of 9 months he was quite malnourished and had multiple fractures in his ribs and in one leg. Over the next couple years as he grew it became obvious that his bones were very weak. He often had pain and had a couple breaks which were caused by little tumbles or everyday handling; nothing that should have caused normal bones to snap. Even with supplements and good nutrition he didn't seem to heal. We finally realized there was something serious going on and had him checked out by a Dr. who diagnosed him as having Brittle Bone disease. It was such a relief to finally have an answer to the problems Mich
has and we immediately began to search out what we could do to help him. The answer we got was that Brittle Bone is a serious disease and it can't be treated here in the country and therefore should pursue medical treatment in the states.

     Thankfully God already had a family who is very excited to host Mich lined up plus an organisation who is doing everything they can to get him to the states as quickly as possible so he can begin receiving the medical care he needs so badly. Everything seems to be working out so
far but I'm asking for prayer that there would be Dr.s and a hospital who would come forward and be willing to provide the care for Mich free of charge. Also please pray fervently for all the papers and legal matters to flow smoothly and quickly.

Mich is a great kid, all boy!! He loves tractors and trucks and motos, basically anything with a motor! He'll play with his toy vehicles for hours. Mich also loves to play outside with the other boys riding their kiddy car or digging in the sand and gravel. He likes to sing and read books and talk and he really enjoys wearing nice clothes!! Please remember to keep this little man in your prayers!!

~mary ann

What would Jesus do if He was here?

This morning I was faced once more with a situation that seems to be all too common in Fond Parisien. It is one that makes me at first frustrated and impatient, but then when I put myself out of the way and look through the eyes of Jesus' love, it makes me sad, so sad.

She was thin, strange –looking and a social outcast, the lady that was standing before me. She kept saying the same story over and over and swayed on her feet as if she was drunk. Her eyes had the most far away look as if maybe, just maybe there was light at the end of the long tunnel she was walking through. She kept saying she needs to see a doctor, she never sleeps at night, and she doesn’t want to be sick like this anymore.

The town calls her mentally crazy or ‘fou’ for lack of better terminology. This may mean she is mentally handicapped, or perhaps she has had so much stress in her life that one day she woke up and literally went crazy. But what makes me sad is that many of these people have spirits cast upon them or are ravaged by the chains of an evil spirit. These people walk up and down our streets night and day and the rest of us pass them by on the right and on the left.

It makes me wonder what Jesus would do if he was here? Or even more what should I be doing ? Am I filled with compassion or is it just pity? Do I look away in disgust or do I stop and at least say ‘hi’ to them? Am I offering that hope that they may be reaching for at the end of the long tunnel?

As is often the case I didn’t really know what to do. There really was nothing to do, we all concluded so I sent the lady away and told her she needs to find her family and not be wandering on the streets alone. In this case I do know she has an aunt who she lives with, but often these people may not have anyone. So then what, what if no one sees her, or hears her? What then?

~Julia

Dadou goes to school

Hi. My name is Dadou Pierre. I am 9 years old and live at the IFM children's home. I used to live in the mountains but because I had a bad bone infection, I came here to live so that I would be able to get help for my infected leg. Jesus did a miracle and healed my leg! Since my parents have more children now, there is not room for me in their house anymore and they want me to stay here at IFM and go to school.
Last Monday, October 8, 2012 was my very first day of school! I have dreamed about going to school for a long time and I am SO EXCITED to finally be able to go! At my school we all wear uniforms. My uniform is a white shirt with a navy blue skirt. I have to wear white socks and black shoes. I also have to wear white things in my hair with white ribbons. I really wanted a pretty pink backpack but all the ladies at the market said that a black one matches my uniform better. And those ladies are very convincing!
I really like going to school. I have to study hard because everything is in French and I don't know a lot of French yet, but my teacher says that I am doing a good job. I like to come home and practice on my "family" at the mission. You can pray for me that i would be able to keep on learning!

Posted by Alicia.

Solidad Paul

     Here is a letter I received from Solidad Paul. Solidad has been sick since soon after the earthquake.

Dear Brother Mike,

     I am very happy to write this letter to you. How are you, your wife, your children, your projects, your activities, and your whole family? I believe you are not too bad by the grace of God. Here where we are, we are not too bad by the grace of God. Brother Mike, thank you, thank you, thank you for everything that you have done for me. When I was sick, you took me to the hospital, and helped me pay my rent, and helped me with food; thank you very, very much. Tell Shea thank you too, because he is the one that always took me to the hospitals. Brother Mike, excuse us because we did not call you when we arrived in Santo Domingo, it was because where we were going to stay there was a death. Now we are in the street, we don’t have a place to stay. I went to the hospital, and they gave me appointments, sent me for laboratory exams, and sent me to buy medicines. We couldn’t do them all, because we do not have money. Brother Mike, see how you can help us please. Please, if you have buckets that have soap, toothpaste, and toothbrushes; you can send it to give your children a gift, because we do not have anything to use. If you have boxes of meat, you can give your children and family in the Jesus a gift. Thank you very much in advance. You can see how you can help us rent a room, please. Give salutations to everybody for me. Give salutations to your wife, your children, Shea, Tiboutson, everybody that works at the hospital, and the doctor. Thank you, thank you very much for everything that you do for me. God bless you. I love you all in the name of Jesus Christ. May God bless you, protect you, amen. Bye-bye

                                                                                                                                                                         -Solidad

     

     Solidad’s mother, Antoni, had a successful seamstress business before the earthquake. At one time, she made some curtains for the front of our church. She would often get contracts to make all of the weeding clothes for a wedding. In the earthquake, the rented house they were staying in was damaged, and thieves stole some of the sewing machines and supplies.

     About the same time as the earthquake, Solidad became very ill. She spent months in hospitals in Haiti. Since this was over the time of the earthquake, there were many foreign doctors that saw her. She would spend several months in the hospital, and then get better. She would only be at home for a few weeks, when the illness would attack her again. I remember the one time I took her in the hospital; she was nothing but skin and bones. She looked like she had advanced aids, but she does not have aids.

     Antoni was not able to start her business again, since she was spending most of her time in hospitals taking care of Solidad. Antoni aged greatly, being stressed about Solidad, and stressed financially. She was down to zero. Her testimony is that if it wouldn’t be for Jesus, she could not have made it this far. During this time, the mission helped her with rides to the hospital, food, and rent money.

     It became obvious that Solidad would not be able to be properly diagnosed in Haiti, so Antoni took Solidad over to Santo Domingo. There she was diagnosed with Lupus. Unfortunately, because they did not have enough money, they were not able to take all the required laboratory exams. The one list of exams that she needed was close to $1,000.00 USD. Some of these exams could not be done in the DR, but needed to be sent to the US. She also has not been able to stay on the meds like she should due to lack of money. One of the meds she needs costs $44.00 USD, and when she was low, she had three vials in one day. Another injection that she is supposed get costs $27.00 per dose, and she is supposed to get that med every day. Rent for a small room over in Santo Domingo is $39.00 USD per month. It will cost $200 USD to renew Solidad’s visa, and $200 USD to renew Antoni’s visa. It is dangerous to be in the Dominican with an expired visa, as Solidad could be deported at anytime. As you can see, all these things add up to quite a cost.

     Antoni has business skills, and could be things in the DR to sell here in Haiti, since she is traveling back and forth anyway. This could help with things like food, and living expenses, but she would not likely make enough to pay medical bills. Also, Antoni would need a loan or a grant to have capital to buy products in the DR to resell in Haiti.

     Thank you for your support of IFM, that we were able to help Solidad in many ways already. This is still a continuing need, so please pray how you could help Solidad and Antoni, so that Solidad’s illness can be properly treated, and so Antoni can get back on her feet financially, and be able to feed her family. If you can help with the medical bills please mark your donation “Medical Relief”. If you can give Antoni a grant or a loan to start a business, please mark your donation “Micro-Business”.

New IFM Newsletter

Here is a link to the new IFM newsletter  Fall 2012.

Link to Facebook Photo Album

I added 24 photos to an album of the first week of school. I put this on facebook. Try this link to go to the album   https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.455979211111435.95107.441317065910983&type=3


If it does not work for those of you that do not have Facebook, please shoot me an email at: mikenhaiti@gmail.com

Thanks,