New Generation Ministries Blog

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