In the Eye of the Storm

I've been praying for peace for so many this week. I was reflecting on how God led the people of Israel out of Egypt with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The Israelites followed God. In this life, we often feel like we're in the midst of a storm. The winds are raging. Debris is being forcefully strewn about by the wind, threatening to end us. And yet God says that He is with us. He never leaves us. If we stay close to God, no matter the raging winds all around, we can remain at peace in the eye of the storm. There is comfort, safety, and peace in His presence.

It was pretty exciting to see Marie Rose's sons pick up shovels and pickaxes to help dig the trenches for their family's new house. Sooooo exciting, actually!!!

In case you haven't been following this story: Pastor Lex met recently widowed Marie Rose, along with her 17-day-old triplet boys, in the medical clinic at MOHI. They and her other 9 children (13 people total) live in a 10'x11' rented room. Through the generosity of donors, MOHI has been providing continual medical care, nutritional supplements, and food for this family. We approached you with our desire to build a house for them. We received funds from several caring donors to begin construction on a 4 room house. If you would like to be a part of seeing this project through to completion, please let me know at renee@mohintl.org.

We learned so much about good house construction after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Close to 300,000 people lost their lives due to poor building standards. When we received a grant toward building a new school building, God really blessed us with a team of professionals who kept us on track - architect, Paul Fallon spent much time going over details with us and was physically present in Haiti for about 50% of the construction period. Simpson, Gumpertz, & Heger, an international engineering firm based out of the Boston area, did the structural engineering plans. They also looked over daily photos we sent them and advised throughout the construction process. Len Gengel, then builder, now president of the Be Like Brit Foundation, added lots of pointers. In addition to this, Dan Lee (one of MOHI's directors - in addition to his international speaking ministry) was able to obtain a grant for a Mack dump truck and a cinder-block forming machine, which we used to make better quality blocks than were available locally.

All of this created an amazing school building, but it also made us aware of the importance of quality work and the knowledge to know how to ensure it. Marie Rose's house will be built with these same standards so that no matter what comes tomorrow, we can have confidence in the integrity of this structure.

I'm so grateful for the consistent, quality health and dental care we are able to provide to the Grand-Goave community. Together we are the hands of feet of Christ, sharing His love by caring for people in their time of need.

As you know, we are partnering with Mission E4. The Haiti in Crisis response has been incredible. We are 70% of the way to our goal of raising $100,000 to provide food for our student's families at 15 schools and address the security and fuel issues for those campuses. We installed security cameras on two of our Grand-Goave campuses several years ago and saw a marked decline in security issues because of it. This week, in addition to continuing food distributions, we purchased cameras to install at the Christian Light School campus. We are so grateful for so many generous donors. Thank you for helping bring security and food to our communities!

All of our 9th-grade students took national exams this past week and they mostly felt good about their performances. Our students from Grand-Goave and St. Etienne all traveled to Petit-Goave for 3 days of testing. Our students at the Christian Light School were split between three locations in Port-au-Prince. Here's an excerpt from School Director Elionel's report:

Those students are testing in many different subjets likes:

1. French Communication / science on a total of 500 points (day 1)

2. Creole communication /social study/English on a total of 600 points (day 2)

3. Mathematique / Spanish on a total of 500 points

The total of score is 1600 but half passed (800) (day 3)

For the first day the exams were not hard according to Nathaina ,I guess I will have 300-400 as scores,those question were easy and the teachers did a good job by helping us prepared this exam.

Same reports for Charles Lourna and Shedley.

For the 2nd day the social study was hard but we did great in creole communication and Eglish according to Kendarline ,Nathaina, and Douce Danielo.

We will passe the 9th- test said Lourna Charles don’t worry Mr the Director I’ll have than 800 .

This week our "Philo" (13th grade or high school senior class) students will be taking their national exams. Our churches are praying for them. You can see some of them in the picture below. There will be a prayer service this evening, too. Would you join your prayers with ours? They have worked so hard and accomplished so much, but they desire the Lord's blessing as they go to test. Thank you!

Despite all the turmoil in Haiti, I'm happy to let you know that the school uniforms Pastor Lex and I packed up in June have arrived in Haiti. Praise the Lord!!!

We did get the truck door repaired this week. Looks like it will need some minor bodywork and a fresh coat of paint next.

Sounds from the kitchen at the Christian Light School often precede the rising of the sun. The staff takes their work seriously, knowing they are helping to preserve the lives of these children.

The church in Thozin was blessed this morning to hear from Jephte and Madona. They testified of the goodness of the Lord, as He brought Madona and baby Tara through surgery. Phna, Glory, and Tara are a blessing to all of us - just as their parents are!!!

Friday morning, Lex and I took a little break from work to watch the funeral of Haiti's assassinated president, Jovenel Moise. The ceremony was held at his home in Northern Haiti. I don't know how the president's son and wife managed to deliver their final words, but they did an amazing job.

I pray for this family and for the nation, as I know many of you are doing, as well. The storm is raging, but there's not one individual that God has abandoned. May they find peace in the eye of the storm! And may Haiti unite in lifting up her eyes.