Mountains, Peanut Butter, Peru, Really!

This week we hosted a team from Clinicians of the World, based out of Rochester, MN. They spent the week in the mountains of Grand-Goâve, educating about parasites and treating children for worms.

Friends from Clinicians of the World pose with Dr. Lavaud’s wife – who is also Dr. Lavaud. Dr. Rowlens and his team worked with people living in the mountains of Grand-Goâve all week.

Our dear missionary friends, Bob and Sally Heier, joined us for the week. Besides keeping us up late at night, they helped with organizing our e-book collection and working with our Haitian staff in the medical clinic. Wednesday was an extra special time for everyone up in the mountains of St Etienne. Medical care is hard to come by in the area (just like water used to be!), so every Wednesday we have lots of patients. We had a great team working together to make sure that all 59 patients were seen.

We so loved having Bob and Sally with us this week!!!

AJay assists Dr. Lavaud during clinic in St Etienne

Dr. Lavaud was at a seminar this week, learning about the importance of vitamin A for those in our communities. His wife, Dr. Lavaud (too!) was happy to fill in for him all week. She and Nurse Ruth kept things going and helped many who were not feeling well.

Pastor Bauvais prayers with patients before the doctor starts seeing patients.

Dr. Lavaud’s wife (Dr. Lavaud 2) worked with Ruth this week in the clinic.

We often give out layettes in the clinic – these were provided by World Wide Lighthouse Missions (Manchester, CT)

A couple of years ago, we were asking people to donate jars of peanut butter for MOHI while we were Stateside, with the intention of shipping the peanut butter to Haiti before we returned ourselves. Our friends, Charles & Cheryl Finn, who have been coming to Haiti for close to a decade now, decided to get others involved. The next thing we knew, there was a great Peanut Butter Challenge going on among several volunteer fire departments in central Massachusetts. (They tell me that firefighters are a rather competitive bunch. I never knew.) Charles went to work making a special trophy for the winning department. We are so grateful to all the generous firefighters who worked so hard to gather peanut butter for a third year.

Cheryl shared this good news with us: “And now the long-awaited news of the winners in the 3rd Annual Great Peanut Butter Challenge!! The coveted Great Peanut Butter Trophy goes to EAST BROOKFIELD for the 2nd year in a row! Congratulations!!! Our other winners were: 2nd place. Uxbridge Fire 3rd place. Mendon Fire Honorable Mention to our other participating departments of Ashburnham, Douglas and Rutland. A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated!! All together we collected 1,060.26 lbs of peanut butter–WOW!! So many children will be fed because of each of you. Well done, well done, well done.”

The East Brookfield (MA) Fire Department brings home the coveted Peanut Butter trophy again this year.

Lex has been working daily for weeks now in St. Etienne. As you can see from the pictures below, he is making great progress with the water tower up there.

The water tower in St Etienne

In case you haven’t noticed, I am particularly fond of our preschoolers. They are all just so CUTE!!! Once they get past being terrified of us white folks, they become quite affectionate.

Preschool is FUN!

If I were to have a favorite, Stanley certainly might qualify. My office is very small and normally AJay is at the other tiny desk doing his school work. This week, however, he went to St. Etienne on Wednesday, so when Stanley came for his daily visit, he found a seat to sit in. I ended up finding some crayons and giving him a picture to color. Well, he is only 3 years old, so his scribbles didn’t surprise me. I decided to see if I could teach him to color in specific spaces rather than just scribbling. How do you think he did?

Stanley hard at work

Church in Thozin this morning was a joy for me. We had a guest musical group in that really encouraged the congregation. The married women’s group sang a song. They may not be the best singers, but Haitians love their mothers so much that we always enjoy hearing them. Pastor Lex shared a “get ready to celebrate Christmas” message that was enjoyable, funny, thought provoking and faith building.

I’m not very fond of seeing people point their fingers and say “you have no faith” or “you’re full of doubt.” It may be true, but unless you tell me something else, I won’t know what to do about it. Today Lex shared some of his “no faith” or “doubt filled” moments with the church. They were funny to look back on, but seemed quite intense when we were going through them. I felt like people were encouraged that even if they are lacking in faith, there is hope. They don’t have to stay in that state. I mean, look at the things Pastor Lex went through. God was gracious and he was able to turn his back on his doubts and put his trust in God. I think I could do that, too!

Worship Service in Thozin

Standing in front of their Sunday School class

Personalities are seen even during prayer times.

The yard takes quite a while to clear after church. We like it that way!

Big sisters love caring for their little brothers.

While we were in Florida at the end of September, we were happy to make a new friend. Amy Long has a long history in Haiti, but has been back in the States for just over a year. She talked to us about her desire to return to Haiti. We’re so glad that a visit to Mission of Hope International was on her agenda this week. She arrived this morning, just in time to join us for church. Afterwards we gave her a little tour and introduced her to some of our friends here. It was so fun for me to watch her tease and joke with everyone in Créole. Amy is in Haiti to visit a couple of places and she is expecting the Lord to show her where her next home will be. Would you pray with us concerning this, as well? If MOHI is the place the Lord has for her, then we definitely want to welcome her on board. If it’s somewhere else, we want her to know that and be free to follow the Lord’s leading. Thank you for your prayers.

Amy Long knows Haiti. Her first morning here she was cracking jokes with everyone. I think we could get along!

As many of you are aware, our daughter, Alexis, is living with a wonderful family in Tulsa, OK this year, while she completes her senior year of high school at Victory Christian School. She has been doing incredibly well in her classes, spiritual life, and socially, as well.

During Spring Break, her class will be traveling to Iquitos, Peru on a missions trip. Alexis has been praying and contacting some friends, hoping to be able to go with her class. The trip will cost $2,000. God has been good to her. This week several folks sent her support and she now has $400, the amount needed for the first payment.

Having been raised here in Haiti, Alexis loves reaching out to others. She told me that she would love to reach out to the people in Peru, but also that she would like to learn from the trip with the hope of bringing back something to Haiti.

I know many of you who have come to Haiti have been blessed by her – interpreting, singing, hiking, listening and encouraging are all areas that she excels at. Please prayerfully consider being a blessing to her by supporting her in prayer and with a financial gift so that she might continue being a blessing to others – this time in Peru.

Financial gifts can be made to Mission of Hope International and we will forward them to her school to pay the remainder of the trip money. Please be sure to make a note in the memo “Alexis to Peru.” Thank you.