Bethlehem Haiti Team (Non-Medicals) – Wednesday, March 3

The team was divided today so there are two reports, the first from the non-medical people and the second from the nurses.

“Hi All:

We spent the day loading and unloading trucks and visiting some of the many needy here.

The highlight was that we visited an orphanage that is located in a pretty rough part of PaP. The director was killed in the earthquake and left 90 orphans, I am guessing ages 2-13, with no one to take care of them. Some of the older ones were just going out on the streets looking for any food and water that they could get. There is a man here who operates a couple other orphanages here who heard of the situation and is trying to help but has very limited resources. Basically the kids are left right now with little to no supervision or care. Pastor Newton met this man and they are together looking to move the children out of town to a rural area where the man lives in a very small village. There are 15 families in this village that are all his relatives and they already have 60 children of their own. We met with the leaders of this village. Pastor Newton was very clear with them about the impact that this would have on their harmonious little community. He asked one of the mothers there how many children she had. She answered 8. He said “Do you realize that if these children become part of your village you will immediately have 20.” Her answer was “I understand, No problem”. All of the village leaders answered all of the challenges that Pastor Newton presented the same way. They are aware of how this can effect their lives and how much additional work it will be yet are not only willing but excited about the prospect of adding these orphans to their community. I was truly amazed and challenged by how much they are willing to sacrifice for others.

Alex was sick today until we got together with the medical group tonight. He hadn’t been there for five minutes before he had ten nurses around him inserting an IV to get him some fluids. What I learned from that was: Either never take another trip with medical people or at least don’t tell them if I am not feeling well. Seriously, they took great care of him and he looked a lot better almost immediately. Hopefully he is feeling better too.

God continues to open up opportunity after opportunity to serve here and there is no way to come even close to meeting them all but we are trying to be faithful to take good care of what he has set before us.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Blessings,
Steve”