Tuesday March 20, 2012

Hello,

Thank you so much for your prayers. They are what moves the mountains. We do not take for granted the power of prayer. So Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

This morning the team traveled to Perou. Yes, I spelled it different this time. In most of Haiti there are not signs telling you where you are or how you would spell where you are. We ask translators, in some cases we even ask people how to spell their name, ask the translator how to spell their name and then see it written on a legal document and realize all three times it is spelled differently. So Mike has tried on this trip to get the correct spelling on a few places, one being Perou (pronounced pay-roo). He was shown a sign with this spelling so hopefully now we have it correct. I also asked him how to spell the name of the village I wrote about the other night. The one we are considering starting a ministry of a church and school at. He has been told the correct spelling is Poteau (pronounced Poe-toe). So back to the team in Perou. Today they were able to see the well we had dug. The well was dug on the road side edge of our property so that the whole community has access to good clean water. Their previous source of water was a small creek/river, that barely covers the creek bed part of the year. The community is thrilled that they now have access to good water. They have had a lot of water borne illness in this community, especially with the children, so this is a huge help to them. One sight on the Internet had these statistics for the country of Haiti, these are not world wide stats, they are Haiti's.

Most sources of water supply in Haiti are contaminated with human waste and germs for hepatitis, cholera, malaria, typhoid, and chronic diarrhea.
1.8 million deaths are related to the consumption of contaminated water.
6,000 (mainly children ) die each day by consuming unsafe drinking water.
1 out of every 8 children die before reaching the age of 5.
Haiti has the highest infant mortality rate in the western hemisphere. The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) reported that more than half of all deaths in Haiti were due to water-borne gastro-intestinal diseases.

So thank you to all who have donated to our well drilling project. We hope to be purchasing equipment soon and to be drilling wells for the people of Haiti.

The team also spent time visiting our school in Perou. They prayed over the teachers and students. They also passed out candy to them. Then they visited Wadner and his mother Yolin and prayed for him. The team said he seemed to be walking around a little bit better. As I have shared in the past, I believe some day he will be walking on his own, glorifying God.

Today Dustin was sick. Mike said when the children found out they came in and prayed and sang over him. He is doing better this evening, but would appreciate prayers. The team made popcorn for the children tonight and gave out  glo-sticks. The glo-sticks are still very much a highlight of each trip.

Tomorrow the team will go into Gonaives. They will visit our school and church. Again Mike asked for the correct spelling of the area. Our church and school is in the district of Gonavies, but like our large cities, there are areas within the city with their own names. So the correct spelling of our area is Marotte. (pronounced ma-woat). So from now on I will try and refer to the school and church as Marotte. The team will then go into Jubilee, another area of Gonaives and feed the poorest of the poor. This will most likely be the only meal most of these children will get for the day. Please pray for the team as they feed, hold and pray over the children, it is such a privilege to be a part of Jubilee's  ministry.

Blessings,

Chris

P.S. When the team talked with the rest of the ladies who work in the kitchen this morning this is what they told me.

"In an interview with a few of the girls from the kitchen this morning, we were amazed at the emotions that they were expressing to us as they were trying to tell us about their new kitchen. They were literally laughing and crying and dancing around the room as they were trying to tell us how happy they were about the new things that we had brought to them. Sometimes when we, “white people”, do things around the orphanage that we think are important or essential to doing things well, we get the reaction from the staff that that was a “white people thing”. But not so with this new kitchen, they loved it, they really really love it, and they were having a hard time containing themselves as they were telling us how they felt."