BY KEITH TOEWS
To show you the mood of the locals and how grateful they are for a little help, and to let you in on our day, I’ll tell you once incident from last Sat.
On the way home from Fore’ market we found a young lady on the road who had been involved in a motorcycle accident and had many bad scrapes, pealed burnt skin from the exhaust pipe, and severe bruising. She couldn’t walk, so we picked her up and took her to our house for bandaging. (our clinic is not yet operational). She (named Manya) was in alot of pain but these people hide some of that so well. We had no interpreter but it worked. We cleaned and bandaged her, and then loaded her into the back seat and I started out to find how to take her home. On the way she suddenly made me stop as she saw a friend of hers and so the friend jumped in with us. All thru the town and all the way down the long steep trails that went down to her house the friend kept making me stop at different groups beside the road and he would tell them... “look at what these whites are doing for Haiti! They come here to help all us Haitians! These whites are really doing lots of good for us!” And the people would gather around, and the story was told and retold. Beings we are new here and they don’t know us personally yet they would often ask what church we are in. The friend always told them we were part of brother Anthony’s church and they invariably said emphatically “ahhhhh, yes, they are doing lots of good for us here in Oriani!”. I felt blessed by their gratefulness. It was interesting that when we came to the end of the road, the news had obviously travled ahead of us and her family and friends were waiting with a horse to take her home. Well, there was no way that she could be taken on a horse, so a few of the men had some vigorous discussions and soon they had her in their arms and were carrying her off down the path, the full moon lighting the way. Tonight I heard our little Christina praying for her at bedtime, so I ask you to join us in prayer for her and these dear people. We pray for their physical well being, but also, or should I say especially, that the good news of Jesus and salvation can be a reality to them too. It truly is amazing to see how becoming spiritually born again changes these people’s lives. They have a sparkle about them which is remarkable. Their eyes and faces light up. They are happy even amid their earthly trials and problems. Thank You Jesus for how your spiritual touch still changes lives (and destinies)!
Our house is progressing and we hope to be living in it in a couple weeks or so. The rains have kinda quite, the air has a dry cool feel to it, so we might be heading into the dry season which sometimes doesn’t rain for 5 months. Our cisterns are full of water so we are enthused about that. Our nights are cold enough that with the windows all shuttered and two comforters on... I still wear a t shirt and jogging pants to bed. Sure feels different than the Haiti I knew as a young boy. stinky We lived along a main road at almost sea level in Ganthier and it was hot, dusty, and noisy. Here in Oriani, the nights are silent, and a
the 5500 ft elevation give us cool clear air that makes the full moon so bright we can see colors!
Next day... Sunday was interesting and very touching. Anthony and Darla are still in the DR waiting for test results to see what is wrong with Darla and her fevers etc. Our family and the two girls Carmen and Charlene (Carmen is Anthony’s househelp and Charlene is our schoolteacher) were the only whites in church. Charlene is the only one of us who can fully understand what all is being said and can translate. I understood alot of it as the speakers all seemed to speak clearly this time. But the Haitian’s had the church service and I was totally impressed with the depth of knowledge, and spiritual understanding these new Christians have. Osias (our clinic doctor) had the sermon and preached on Paul and Silas in the jail and how the prison doors were opened and the chains broken. Likened it to how our chains can be broken too. He also encouraged the church to be strong like Paul and Silas, not run away from our troubles. And spoke of how the jailers repented and were converted thru the witness of these apostles. After church Osias organised all the church members together and had a prayer meeting for Darla, where multiple people prayed. First the song “Touch Me Lord Jesus” (same Creole song as what we have in English) was sung and dedicated to Darla, then long passionate prayers were brought to God asking for health and courage for Anthonys and that they could take their place as missionarys here very soon again. After this prayer meeting the whole church walked and walked down the trails till we came to Bro Wilfreds house where his sick wife was. We packed into his two room house till it was standing room only. Again songs and prayers were offered for this lady’s health and courage. I felt faith and trust in these fine brethren and sisters. I feel like they are indeed part of my family of God. Matthew chapter 9 starts out telling the story of how Jesus healed the man sick with palsy. Take note that Jesus healed him because of the faith of...his FRIENDS! Let’s all continue in faith and trust, making our requests made known unto God, knowing that his desire for us is as a father to his children.
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