Hello again,
Thank you so much for praying for us this past Sunday. Mike preached and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the congregation of St Andrews Presbyterian Church. They seemed to feel the same way. What a blessing!


Thank you so much for the those of you who have helped with the costs for shipping the 40ft container of food. We have a little over $3000 of the $15,000 needed. Please keep praying for the funds to come in to cover the trucking, shipping, port fees and delivery costs.


I wanted to share another story from Steph and remind everyone to keep praying for her. She will be coming home with the May team, a month from now.
"So I had an awesome couple of days that was just such a God thing...the only way to explain it. So last night my computer got a virus...freaked me out. After some advice from my step dad I got the antivirus software downloaded and going...at one point my computer actually wouldn't turn on. Then I got horrible stomach pain it hurt to stand, it hurt to sit, it just hurt. So I sat in church prayer...I'll admit it for the health of my computer and myself. My computer got restored and my stomach ache went away instantly...one win for our team, lol. My sore hip (I miss my chiropractor) woke me up at five thirty this morning so I actually got my high schooler up who has slept in (she had to catch her bus at 615 today). So I got her up and went back to bed for a couple hours when the doctor I work with called me and told me he couldn't make it and was wondering if I could see if there were any patients and see them...did I mention that on a good day I can get two phrases out that adults understand, lol. Anyway I went down to the clinic after breakfast and found a packed clinic...all the chairs were full people were standing and people were sitting outside waiting to come in...awesome...sigh. So I told the nurse "Mwen dokto jodi a (I'm the doctor today)". She smiled and the secretary/pastor told the whole waiting room the blanc from america was gonna be the doctor today isn't that awesome...yeah awesome I thought...please don't let anyone die, lol. So I saw all my patients and actually gave pretty good care. To understand the situation I was in, I was in a room with just me and the patient would talk to them about what was wrong, write it down in their chart (in english...I'm not superwoman). Well all was good I got a juice at the shop across the street and headed home...did I mention I also did laundry by hand this morning, by hand in a bucket (I'm half superwoman maybe, lol). So I took my laundry off the line and then it hit me. Horrible stomach pain again coming back with a vengeance and so I laid down and slept for a couple hours and woke up freezing, it is raining here so that's not that alarming until I rubbed my fact and noticed that my head was a little warm and I am still cold. It was back...the fever...I have come to think of it like an annoying little brother that wont leave me alone now with the second occurrence. My fever is still low and it is pretty cold here so that's good but the down side is the kids think when you are sick you just need more cuddles (germs don't exist here evidently) so I have shut myself in my room, but I just thought I would let you guys know and ask for prayer before it gets bad like last time. Right now my fever is in the "suck it up princess" category but moving into the "you should probably lie down for awhile" category.
Nothing new to report really on the surface I just feel like a lot is changing in me...which I guess is to be expected here but I just feel like there is so much to tell and not enough time to tell it. I feel like God is calling me to stay closer to home, I have been applying for jobs in seattle cause it is better job opportunities there but I really think God has been telling me to stay closer to home cause I need to be helping out more with the ministry. Love you all and appreciate you more than you can ever know."

Thanks so much for your prayers and for reading this.
Blessings,
Chris

Steph

Caitlin and Steph with the children

Hello,

Thank you for praying last night and this morning for Steph. She said her fever went up to102.6 before it broke this morning. Please keep praying for her health and for the children and staff at the orphanage. Steph said some of the children are complaining of a sore throat. Pray that they do not get fevers. Many people in Haiti die from fevers. Probably because they start out dehydrated, but I am not sure. Two of the Haitian father's of my children list fever as the cause of death. Please also continue to pray for Steph as she stays in the orphanage. Below is an excerpt from one of her letters. I think you will enjoy it. Thanks again for your prayers.

Blessings,

Chris

Hey gang,

Well as you gathered from this email...still not dead...having a blast...and enjoying my 85-90 degree weather.  Wow a lot has happened since I wrote last.  I went through Easter here in Haiti.  Basically we went to church everyday the week leading up to Easter.  I learned a valuable lesson during church...although sometimes i feel like part of the crowd, it is not hard to spot the marshmallow in a bag of chocolate chips (if you get my drift).  One night worship was getting quite energetic and so everyone started dancing...and I mean dancing.  They were leaving the pews and filling the aisles and just going to town dancing and singing...so I did too.  After we all sat down the pastor stood up and started talking about dancing and how everyone was just dancing and having a great time.  Then he said...from the front..."Blanc dance" (whitey was dancing)...then he imitated me.  I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my pew...so I said from my seat in the crowd, "Ou we mwen?" (You saw me?).  Then some guy from the congregation yelled something that involved the words everyone, Stephanie, dancing...I didn't catch it all but I pretty sure he was saying we all saw you.  It was fun.  On Easter morning I woke up a little bummed cause I look forward to good Friday service and Easter every year...it is tied for my favorite holiday with Christmas.  But I rallied and went to church with the kids and we had a guest worship leader and you will never guess what happened...he sang one of my favorite songs in english.  I just about fell out of my chair from shock...so I did what I thought was best...I belted out along with him in my horrible off tune singing voice once again reinforcing everything Haitians might think about Americans who can't sing.  So my day rallied quickly.  During church one of the men came up to me and said, "I need favor...you go to woman side."  Which in a Haitian church the men and women sit on opposite sides but naturally I sit on the boys side because there is a perfect spot that is in the middle of a triangle that is formed by two doors and a window...awesome draft...plus I think it's silly to split the sexes.  Anyway I thought how rude, they are actually kicking me over to the other side...so I smiled and said sure and went over to the other side to find a women on the ground who had passed out.  "You emphemye, wi?" (You are a nurse?)...yeah guess who felt totally ridiculous for thinking they actually kicked me to the girl side, lol.  Anyway I just kind of freaked for a second when I realized, oh my gosh I am a nurse and there are no other medical professionals for a while....shute.  So I started doing what I thought was good and then thank the Lord a lady showed up who was the sister of the orphanage director cause together we kind of did the new grad thing and got this lady going.  Betsy...the Haitian nurse graduated nursing school in Haiti a couple months after I graduated.  Now if you can imagine me in my calm on the outside freaking on the inside sitting in the clinic looking at my help who doesn't speak english and me who speaks very limited creole.  I got the doctor I knew from Haiti on the phone and he said, "oh just start and IV and give her a litre it'll be okay,"...oh is that all.  Well I guess no time like the present to start learning my IV therapy skills...I held the needle and I looked at Betsy and I kid you not I stood there for a few minutes just praying over this needle (yeah I'll admit it although I was excited I was terrified)...luckily I think Betsy just thought this was a missionary thing and didn't lose faith in me.  Anyways to make a long story a little longer the lady ended up getting up and riding home on a motorcycle...yeah.  So I come back to the orphanage totally exhausted from freaking out but holding my cool and go and sit in the dining room with the kids and pastor Nathan just smiles and makes a speech about me to the kids about how hard it is to be away from family on the holidays and what I sacrificed to come here and so on.  Then the kids stand and in unison all say, "Happy Easter Mama Estephanie," in english.  Melted my heart.  Then I got to go to a neighboring community and go to their Easter feast...best Easter ever, I don't think any other one will even come close.
Steph