(1+1+1)+(3x2)+(1x3)=12

I hope I'm not grossing you all out with these "teeth pictures," but I find them so fascinating. Not only is the dental clinic alleviating pain for so many patients, but we're also really vamping up people's self esteem and confidence. Check out these before and after pictures:

I'm so grateful to God for providing the means and all the resources necessary to bring good oral care, education, and intervention to our students and neighbors. And the same thing goes for the medical clinic. Imagine the thousands of lives that have been touched through the clinic. Lives saved, pains relieved, problems solved - all with care, compassion, and education linked to it.

Pastor Lex was about to get in the car to head to the airport when he decided to do a quick check in the clinic first. He came across a woman holding a baby who was crying incessantly. He asked the mother if he could hold him and she quickly gave him the baby. He said to the woman, "I'm a total stranger and you just hand your baby over to me?" She laughed and said, "I know you Pastor Lex. You're no stranger."

He held the baby who quickly quieted down. (Our son AJay was a colicky baby, so we learned good holds for calming a baby.) The other clinic patients who were waiting to see the doctor told him that if he holds that one he needs to hold the others. He didn't realize that this woman had come to the clinic with TRIPLETS!!!

The babies were only 17 days old and each weighed in at over 5lbs a piece - pretty impressive! Their mom and oldest sister had managed to walk to the clinic with all three babies. Dr. Evens, who had never seen triplets, examined each baby. They all had thrush and some tummy issues, for which he was able to give the mother medicine for them.

It was so sad to hear that the woman's husband had died, not too long before the babies were born, leaving her with now a total of TWELVE children! Her first three pregnancies were single babies, the next three pregnancies produced 3 sets of twins, and this final pregnancy, triplets. Wow!!! Nine school aged children and 3 infants. Can you imagine???

Pastor Lex believes the Lord led him to check in on the clinic one last time before he left. He believes God wanted us to know about this woman and the position she now finds herself in. Once they were finished with Dr. Evens, he gave them a big sack of rice and a sack of beans to take home with them. (Obviously they were going to have to find help to get that all up the mountain to where they live, along with the three babies!)

Our hope now is that the Lord will bring people to us to help support this family in three ways -

To provide food for the entire family on a regular basis
To provide for the nine children to attend the MOHI school
To construct a home for this family (a 4 room house with a porch and outhouse)

If you would like to get involved in any one of these areas, please shoot me an email at renee@mohintl.org to let me know your intention and you can donate here.

I do want to thank our friend, Megan Hickey, for being in the right place at the right time to take pictures and some video of this sweet family. Thank you, Megan!!!

Megan has taken lots of pictures for us over this past month - many of which I hope to share with you on social media, as well as in this blog. She's very talented!

She also put feet to a project we've been wanting to get started for some time now. I can't even tell you how much it thrills me to watch the video below!

We want to give our students every advantage we can and learning English at a young age is one of them. Many of our students are already fluent just from interest and rubbing shoulders with missionaries and visitors at the school. Now, they will be exposed to English regularly from preschool on. Ahhhh - Sesame Street has come to Grand-Goave!!! And our students couldn't be happier!

I'd like to make a personal note here about a fellow missionary who passed from COVID Pneumonia just a few days ago. Scott Long was a dear, dear friend. At MOHI in Haiti he's fondly known as "Madame's Little Brother" - By the way, I'm the Madame they are referring to. This picture is of Scott and the wife of his youth whom he so treasured, Tanya.

I met Scott when he was only 14 years old. I came to the knowledge of Christ in the church his parents pastored and eventually lived with this wonderful family for 6 months. Scott and I both loved to sing and play guitar/piano. Many a night we were the last ones up, either singing or playing a game. Over the years we did what siblings do - we fought and we defended one another.

Even though I was the one married to a Haitian man, Scott taught me many things about how to navigate Haiti and how to live in two very different cultures without going crazy. He had such great insight - was always ready to challenge the status quo without being argumentative. He helped me to understand that my Bible view was through a filter of American culture. Not necessarily a bad thing, but ministering in Haiti I wanted people to know Jesus for themselves, not the Jesus I assumed understood life the way I did. No, HIS thoughts are WAY higher than mine. I'm pretty sure all cultures have adapted aspects of both worldliness and godliness. We all have areas to improve on. This scripture pretty sums up most every time I got to spend a little time with him.

While I have every confidence Scott is far better off in Jesus' presence right now, my heart is heavy for those he left behind. His wife, his children, and grandchildren, his siblings, and his mom - my other mother, Bev. I'm sad that we will no longer share moments with Scott in this life. I can't even imagine what it's like for each of his family members, but I know I have an ache in my heart. I also know that Jesus understands and cares. What a Friend HE is!