Many Fronts

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms. You are special and so appreciated!

Starting the day with a shout of praise to Jesus!

God is at work on many fronts, providing for the many needs of our friends in Haiti. All of us at MOHI are so encouraged by the outpouring of support we are seeing for this food drive to fill a 40' shipping container of food to be shipped to Haiti.

The food drive will continue for 3 more weeks. As the Lord has provided for you, please share with our friends in Haiti. Reach out to us at support@mohintl.org for drop-off locations or shipping instructions. Whether it's a jar of peanut butter or a pallet of rice and beans, your donation will be a help in feeding children in Haiti. You will make a difference! Thank you for making the effort to help.

Here's the list again of the specific items we are looking to pack in the container:

Lex and I are currently in Oklahoma connecting with our friends at Against Global Hunger (formerly Kids Against Hunger Global). This organization was founded by our dear friends, Marshall & Sherry Horn. They have made several trips to Haiti with us over the years. As is the case with many of you, COVID, followed by the rise in violence within Haiti kept them from returning. Lex and I were so blessed to see them again!

I got to spend some time with my friend, Debbie Rector. Debbie was instrumental in our decision to go ahead and incorporate MOHI many years ago. She continued speaking into my life this week. I'm so grateful for this woman of God!

The Lord led Jonathan and Letitia Williams (Letitia is Debbie's daughter) to come alongside Marshall & Sherry two years ago to assist and serve them in whatever way was necessary. This assistance turned into a passing of the baton, as they agreed to step into the leadership role of Against Global Hunger, enabling Marshall & Sherry to finally retire.

Jonathan & Letitia graciously invited us into their home to stay with them and their four beautiful children. They asked us to join them at a City Elders meeting with their US Representative, Kevin Hearn. It's exciting to see how their desire to feed their community aligns.

We are so thrilled that they have been packaging food specifically for Haiti and now have a pallet of their rice and beans meals that they will ship to us in Massachusetts to add to the container. Praise the Lord!

Life has become even more difficult for our friends in Port-au-Prince. All-out gang wars have had an effect on our students and staff, keeping many from getting to the school. Your prayers are so appreciated! The Lord has kept them safe this week. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.

Why are we going through all this effort to fill and ship a container? Why are we burdening our supporters with an added request? Food has become difficult to obtain in Haiti. We are feeding over 1200 people a day. We need to find food in bulk in order to do so. Every trip outside our compound is risky. The Lord has brought us together to continue providing hope and help to our friends in Haiti. We won't stop!

Feeding the little ones before they are school-aged is so important. The infant mortality rate for children up to age 5 in Haiti has decreased this decade to just over 6%. That's great news! And yet it's still 10 times the mortality rate in the USA!!! Nutrition for these infants and children can mean the difference between life and death, as well as the quality of life for those who survive early childhood malnutrition. Together we are helping to see these numbers decline. More than statistics, these babies are as real and precious as our own children.

2-year-old Woodly holds onto his egg as he is totally consumed by the peanut butter sandwich.

Roseline has been coming to the baby feedings all week with her children. She shared with us, "I have 6 children, 2 girls, and 4 boys. Three of them are now in the baby feeding program. I don't work outside the home, so having 3 of them being fed each day is a big help. My biggest concern is how to send them all to school. Now I have a lot of hope that they will be able to go to school at MOHI. I'm praying for everyone who is making this possible. Thank you very much!"

Good healthcare cannot replace good nutrition. Establishing good nutrition in children is the foundation of healthy lives. The ministry in the medical and dental clinics at MOHI adds to that foundation.

The computer lab in Tulsa is connected to the library. These are everyone's favorite rooms, so they often are used for meetings. During school computer classes and documentary viewings take place in the lab.

And classrooms after lunch sometimes become areas of recreation.

We're in the cleanup phase of the roof project and there's a LOT of cleaning up to be done!

Circling back around to fill the shipping container... If you would like to make a financial donation to help, we will use these funds to purchase more food in bulk. If you'd like to purchase food in bulk yourself and have it shipped to us, contact me at renee@mohintl.org and I can connect you with a good source and give you the shipping address. Thank you for your generosity!

My Mother's Day is being spent away from my children and grandchildren. The Lord had a special blessing for me here in Tulsa, though. These women are some of my sweetest, long-time friends. Sherry (founder of Against Global Hunger), Melissa (our daughter's host mom for her senior year of high school), and Dr. Regina (physician with a heart for the poor) are MOHI short-term missionaries! Thank you Jesus for friends!