Bethlehem Haiti Team Final Report – Sunday, March 7

The Bethlehem Haiti Team is coming home.   The first group of eleven people arrived back in Minneapolis about 8:00 Sunday night.  The next group of four was flying directly from PaP and arriving at 10:00 p.m. while a final group will be returning on Tuesday.  They are driving to Dominican Republic today.  Here is an update of the final day of work on Sunday for those who will return on Tuesday.

“Dear Friends and Family,

The last day of the last group is coming to a close….we had a good day today.  We spent our time at CDTI, the hospital we were at yesterday.  As a little bit of background, the hospital is still standing, and is used for some procedures and wound surgeries, but all of the patients sleep outside in tents.  Each tent has 3-6 patients in it, and we often found ourselves kneeling in dirt to push IV medications or take care of wounds.  Definitely not an American-style hospital–but the patients and families were so welcoming and so glad to see us.  We were struck by how gracious most of the patients were–they called us by our names, asked about our lives, and were so genuine in making us feel needed and wanted.

Most of the nurses took patients, and Deb and Jean rounded on all 52 patients and got immunization histories and gave diptheria and tetanus shots–which was a huge task!  It is definitely a different breed of medicine out here…the hospital has many supplies, but not always what exactly is needed.  The patient’s charts are made up of haphazard orders and scribbled pieces of paper–and are slowly getting organized into chronological order and correct medication records. We have had to have a lot of creativity and thinking “outside the box” to get things done!!  : )  I (Kristi) and Rachel spent some time with our patients yesterday and today updating their medications and making sure their medication records were up to date.

Josh spent the day taking pictures and walking a little bit around the city…the kids love seeing their pictures on the camera after the pictures are taken. The candy he gave out, plus having the camera, made him quite popular.  : )  We were able to go on the roof of the hospital, where we were able to see almost the entire city of Port Au Prince, from the mountains to the ocean.  What a beautiful view….and such a contrast of poverty and beauty.

We felt that we had a very satisfying day, and enjoyed taking care of some of the same patients that we had yesterday.  I met Saint Phar, a young man who was crushed and trapped in a fallen building for several days after the earthquake (this is the same young man that Hannah Carlson mentioned in her note on the Global Diaconate blog).  He and his brother Jameson were so very happy to see us, and so very gracious…and I was so humbled by the overwhelming joy in the Lord that they had.  The first thing they asked me yesterday was if I was a Christian, and the second was a reminder that we “had to pray”.  Pray for Saint Phar and his brother, that they would continue living with such joy in Christ.

Please pray also for a little boy named Joshua Emmanuel–he got his name from the hospital staff after he was found on the streets abandoned.  He around four years old and has cerebral palsy and club feet.  He is wheelchair bound as his legs don’t work very well–but his arms are almost always flying wide open to hug someone or take sticker from them as he smiles and laughs.  He has spent the last several weeks at the hospital, and it is evident from the joy on his face how he is thriving there with all the love he has probably never felt before.  However, his mother came to the hospital a few days ago and said that when he was ready to be discharged, she wanted to take him back, as she was getting less money from begging on the streets without him.  A seemingly impossible situation for men–but nothing is impossible with God.  Please pray that he will be well cared for….there is no easy solution, even if his mother never comes back to get him.  Pray that God will continue to bless him with His presence wherever he ends up.

There are so many other patients I and others could tell you about here…Bellarice, an older gentleman who’s leg was crushed under rubble, little twin girls staying in a tent at the hospital because they have no where else to go, and many, many others.  The need here is so great, and it is overwhelming to think about all of the needs that are not met and may never be met.  But, God placed us and so many others here for a purpose–and His ways, while sometimes beyond our comprehension, are always for His glory and the good of His people.  Please pray for the people of Haiti–pray for hope, pray for Christ to send revival…as one of the interpreters said so very correctly, “The first place that hope comes from is from God.”

We are looking forward to seeing you all in two days…we love and miss all of you–and be prepared for many pictures and stories when we get back!

love kristi (for all of us still here in Haiti)”

Steve, the team leader gave a few concluding remarks.

“The families from IBG church in Santa Domingo were such wonderful hosts and took great care of us and we praise the Lord for what He is doing through them in the DR as well as Haiti. It is great to have such Godly partners.

This is the  last update that we will be sending out but I wanted to let you all know that God has used this team in many ways. Some in ways that we anticipated, some that we did not, and I am sure that there are  numerous ways that he has used us that we will never know about. We have all have seen His hand working in Haiti and even greater in our own lives. We are all leaving with a heavy burden for Haiti. The need there is so great and it is hard to not feel so small with the overwhelming need. But we need to realize that God has not called us to fix all the needs of Haiti – just to be faithful lights for Him throughout this dark needy world and to spread the love of Jesus to those that we come into contact with.

Thanks again for all your prayer – it has been so important and appreciated this whole trip. Please remember the last team traveling these next two days.

Gods Blessings,
Steve”

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