April 2013 Newsletter

Here is a link to the newsletter for those of you that didn't already get it by email.  -Blessings

Laundry Basket Fishing

 Although the work of God is never boring, this week end we decided to divert from the normal routine. With the old house being full of lake water. It has become suitable for aquatic life. So for a little change of routine, we went fishing!!!        With laundry baskets!!!

 Fishing this way is always much more fun and challenging than other conventional ways! First of all, you must walk very slowly as not to disturb the mud on the bottom, or the fish for that matter. When you find a fish, it is only through teem work that you will succeed in your efforts to corner, and convince the fish to swim into your laundry basket!

But trust me! It does work! Not only one but two! This was our second catch this way for the week end.

 Here we have the fishers, posing in the kitchen for their picture after a successful catch!

 Then to top it all off, we bought some more fish from local fisher boys, and spent the afternoon cleaning fish down by the lake, for an evening fish fry!!!

CPR Class for our EMT volunteers

We were privileged to participate in a CPR class put on by Heart 911 and Love-A-Child. Our EMT volunteers work hard to safely and quickly transport many people with all types of medical emergencies to hospitals in Port-au-Prince.

Tiboutson, Fernand, Noelgens, and Nerlange learning to do the "log roll" to safely move a patient with a back injury onto the backboard.

Eager learners, Tiboutson, Noelgens, Nerlange, and Fernand.

Learning how to save a choking infant.

Fernand giving chest compressions to an infant.

Tiboutson giving chest compessions to an infant.

Mouth to mouth.

A good lunch.

Our volunteer crew with the Heart 911 instructors. 

We thank God that our volunteer crew was able to receive this training. Literally hundreds of accident victims, mothers in complicated deliveries, and other people with life threatening emergencies have been saved by our ambulance service. We thank Nelson Letts for donating the van that we use for the ambulance. While we charge a small fee to help cover some of our fuel costs and vehicle repair costs, there are many patients that simply cannot pay. We help these people too, even if they can't pay anything. If you would like to help cover some of the fuel and vehicle repair costs for these patients that cannot pay, please mark your donation as "Medical Relief". Thank-you and God Bless.

Michno

This is Michno. He is approximately two years old and weighs 13 and a half pounds!! He's so tiny he fits into size one diapers!! This tot was pretty much starving to death so we are helping him out by having him spend several days a week here at our house and providing his mother with milk and some food for him. If his condition doesn't improve quickly we'll take him in for a month or two. He is quite fragile so please pray for him that he could grow strong and healthy. Also pray that we could help his mother learn how to properly love and care for her precious son! He is such a sweetheart!

On his upper leg you can see how loose his skin is.

It's so much fun to put little bites of food into his eager mouth!

Love this sweetie pie!

2 Days Later (Friday).

We were excited to have Michno with us again today! He is so unbelievably skinny and today he tested positive for malaria, poor baby he's so brave!! His eyes are a lot brighter than they used to be and we're working hard on that weight!

Seed to plant,rain to water, God gives the increase.

I'm sure all of us who farm or garden know the importance of quality seed. Well what about no seed at all? Last fall when Hurricane Sandy brought torrential winds and up to 30 inches of rain through the mountains of Pays Pourri not only were gardens destroyed but it left many farmers with not even enough yield to replant, let alone to eat.  

Well the people of Pays Pourri along with IFM want to give a huge thank you to Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) for providing over 2500lbs of native corn and sorghum seed for the farmers to replant.   

 IFM along with Pays Pourri's local agricultural group and district administrator distributed the seed to over 900 needy farmers across Pays Pourri. For most receiving seed was an unexpected blessing enabling them to plant in time for the spring rains.   

We praise God for making such provision, using people like you, to help our brothers and sisters in need. 

"Where there is No Doctor"

The one hundred and eleven square mile commune of Fonds-Verrettes is home to 45,491 (2009 estimate) people. Other then a small clinic in the far south corner, there is no doctor for these precious people. Like the normal Haiti story, the government clinic's doors are closed. As one local man said, "We can't even find a quack doctor (a guy that sell meds out of a bucket on his head) to sell us medicines." Many people are praying about this dire medical situation.

Praise God we were able to partner with Love-A-Child and a medical team from the U.S to provide health care to over 600 patients in three days.

Our nurse, Mrs. Sheila taking blood pressures.

 

Dr. Paul examining a patient.

 

Shawn (RN/Anesthetist/Masters degree in Tropical Medicine/Public Health) and Andrea (P.A) examining patients. 

Our pharmacy team. Hannah, Sheila, Daniella (Love-A-Child), and Ryan (Pharmisist). The girls took turns; Julia and Michelle were there on different days.

 

(Left) - Julia and Ryan working together.  (Right) - Julia giving the patient instructions on how to take the meds.

Thank you to Pat and Cheryl (RN), missionaries with  Heart of Compassion. Pat and Cheryl live in Solliette, not far from where we had the field clinic.

As the word got out more and more patients came.

This little girl has been sick with vomiting and diarrhea for 4 days. This box of Herbalife, a protein drink that we get from CAM will help her get her strength up again.

  

(Left) - This boy has a very inflamed knee. (Right) - Ryan making friends. Showing God's love.

 

Remember Louidy who almost died in an accident (see blog post about him); The girls faithfully dressed his wounds and showed him God's love, and now he loves to help share God's love with others. 

Handing out the "Flanbo Verite A" (Flame of Truth) to each patient. This is a bimonthly publication that we receive from Christian Aid Ministries. Spiritual healing is more important than physical healing.

  

 We also gave the patients a booklet on Cholera prevention. A lot of our cholera patients came from up in this area. 

A big thank you to the team (L-R) Andrea, Shawn, Ryan, Mckenzie, Dr. Paul

Good bye. A big thank you to Love-A-Child for partnering with us. Please keep praying that God would make a way for these precious people to get medical care. They need a clinic that is open every week.

Meeting House Construction Progress

We had a work team from Cornerstone Dunkard Brethren for 10 days. We enjoyed working together, visiting church families, and relaxing at the coast. We thank Almighty God for their blessing on our church family in Jimani.

Visiting Tomas & Family

 "Show Me"

 Building Trusses

 Setting Trusses

 Shirley & Laurie Made Skirts

Cutting Metal Roofing

Installing Metal Roofing

 10 Skirts in all

 

One for Francia

 Game of Checkers

 Enjoying Breakfast at Hotel el Quemaito

 

Installing Ridge

 Sharing in Worship Service

 Roofing Completed!

Joni Rolle, Gale & Shirley Turner, Tom & Laurie, Tom Mohler Jr.