damage

Wednesday was another interesting day here in Haiti. We were waiting on 3 trucks full of supplies to unload, but they were late showing up. So we spent the morning doing odd jobs and playing with the orphans. We finally heard that the trucks were being held at the border until a representative of The Global Orphan Project could arrive and verify their use.

All of The Global Orphan Project staff were gone, so Mike Fox, founder of The Global Orphan Project, sent our team along with a translator, by the name of Stephanie, to pick up the boxes. I was told I had to drive!! I did my best to drive Haitian style – aggressively and with a liberal use of the horn. By the grace of God we made it to the border! Lance, Derek and Stephanie went inside and, after several minutes of negotiations by Stephanie, the trucks were released. I think Lance and Derek’s contribution was that since they haven’t shaved or bathed in several days, they looked very mean.

Stephanie was such a gift from God because she spoke Creole to the Haitians, Spanish to the Dominican truck drivers and English to us (not to mention French), and so we were able to get the supply lines opened up and rolling back to Eben Ezer. We spent the rest of the afternoon unloading the trucks, about 75,000 pounds of food. God gives strength to the weary!

Once that was finished, Lance, Mike and I left with Pastor Moise to visit his church. We went by the school where his 9- year-old son, Jean Marc, was at the time of the earthquake. The building is in total ruins. He has been told by some people that they have seen his son alive, so he and his wife are still looking for him in the refugee camps. Pray for him and his wife as they don’t want to give up hope but realize that he may in fact be dead. We prayed with him that God would grant him grace for this challenging time.

Next, we went to his church in the heart of the city which was badly damaged by the earthquake. Many people were camped out in the church grounds, and we met many of his congregation and had prayer with them. Pastor Moise’s congregation lost 11 people in the earthquake. He introduced us to several who had lost loved ones, including a teenage boy who had lost his father and sister.

He shared with us his vision for his congregation to be a light that shines brightly in this dark season. He believes that God showed him before the quake that the church would be strategically used during a season of great trial. He is committed to staying and rebuilding. He talked so powerfully about members of his church who had lost loved ones but were serving others through this time. Already they have seen many people saved!

I’m grateful for the time we had with Pastor Moise. He was a huge blessing to be around. Pray for Pastor Moise and his congregation. They are literally at ground zero and making a huge difference.

Yesterday I shared about how we were unsuccessful in rescuing many kids from PAP. Today two children were brought in! Praise the Lord!

Right before bed, we got word that a shipment of food needed to leave early in the morning for distribution to orphan villages in the Les Cayes area, so we turned around and loaded about 45,000 meals and four tons of rice & beans back onto a truck! We will have no problem sleeping tonight!