Friday, February 12, 2010

Day 5 - God is good, all the time!

A major need right now in Haiti is clean water. It seems as if the top needs of the Haitian people are food, drinkable water, and sanitary bathrooms (they need an outside the box idea) for the people living in the tent cities. Our leader, Andy Patterson, ran into a situation inside one of the tent cities. He was checking on their medical needs and they took him down to the river that the people were using for this location. When he got there, he found out that they were using this river for their drinking water and all the people were using it also for their bathroom. Needless to say it broke his heart as he was feeling that there was no way to help them on this trip as w are a medical team. Andy and the Haitian translator stopped and prayed for this situation as he felt there was nothing else he could do (which was true and Andy said it was more like he was begging God to do something). On his way to pick up part of the team at the Miami clinic that night, Andy ran into some guys from Texas who were setting up water purification systems all over Haiti. He explained the situation at the tent city and these Southern Baptist men from Texas gave our team 75 free water purification systems proving to us once again (like we need more proof but it seems like we always do) that God still answers prayer in His perfect timing. At our evening debriefing with the entire team, Andy advised that we should write down these times when God answers our prayer so profoundly as it will help us to never doubt Him.

We all worked the same jobs on Friday. Those who worked at the Miami clinic yesterday, went there for another full day. Those who worked at Mision Rescate (such as Matt) did the same. The only change was with our mobile medical unit. We dropped off the team at the Miami clinic and then Andy needed two volunteers to help the Texas water purification team work in the Haitian heat all day, so Paul and I offered our services. Their tent was located right beside the airport and their storage area was immediately beside the U.S. Army. Paul and I basically moved 2000 water purification systems during our time there. Missionaries, Haitian Pastors, and neighborhood leaders all showed up and picked up numerous systems for the people they were helping. With this system, the Haitians could pour river water into the top and it would filter it down into pure drinking water. NBC news showed up for a demonstration that morning and the leader picked up dirt and trash right off the ground, filtered it through, and drank the water himself. It is an incredible system that only costs $40 dollars; what a blessing. It was an honor to stack those systems in the blazing sun while our U.S. helicopters landed nearby and being able to watch the military Humvee forklift in action. It does not get any better than helping to give out life saving water systems to families in need. It was my dirtiest, hottest, and physically draining day of the trip but so worth it.

The day closed with one of our Haitian translators, Frantzy, sharing his heart. He had lost family members in the earthquake so he was still in mourning. He went to Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, to look for work to send back to his mother as he is now the last living male in his family. He then heard from a friend about this trip back to his capital in Port-au-Prince and saw his opportunity to use his English/Creole translating skills to help his people out. He is a young man of about 20 years and grew up in a Christian environment thanks to some local missionaries in his town near Cape Haitian in the middle of the island. He wanted to tell our group thank you for giving of their time and medical skills to help his country. He said he had never sensed God's love so powerfully as he did this week. He compared the love that was currently overwhelming him to the "number of stars in the sky." To tell our group thank you, he then sang a song in his native language Creole to his Abba Father. With eyes closed and tears streaming down his face it was once again an honor to be in this country and see God continuing to touch people that were surrounded by devastation proving that even in the midst of terrible suffering, God will bring peace and healing.

Romans 10:15, "And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

1 comment:

Brittany. said...

I am so glad you went.
I'll see you soon, daddy.