Friday, April 30 Post from Team 8 in Haiti

Greetings,

We are very busy with a wide range of tasks. In addition to running the supply tent, we are frequently asked to come to one of the hospital tents to pray for and with patients and families. This is a wonderful opportunity to serve and share Truth; helps keep us very busy but also leaves us spread very thin. Team 9 with 6 people will indeed be a blessing and an opportunity to get caught up in the warehouse and spend more time in prayer and fellowship with patients and staff.

Can not give enough thanks and praise to the Fla house staff for all of their help and support. They have been a blessing indeed.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we seek to serve Him and walk his Name.

Please keep the Haitian people in your thoughts and prayers as well.

In His service,

Team 8

Thursday, April 29 Report from Haiti Team 8

This morning we were asked to pray with a woman. Her baby isn’t expected to live through the day. Mark said a wonderful prayer; it was touching and the mother was comforted and grateful for Mark. I went to the United Nations compound for lunch. The food was great.

We lost a child earlier today, prayed with 9 people, and planted many seeds today. As it is very hot and there is only me and Mark, I need to go feed the babies now because I help with the feedings.

Pray for all the people here in Haiti. John 3:16 is my verse for today. “For God so loved the world that he gave is one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

God bless you all!

Ken

Wednesday, April 28 Report from Team 8 in Haiti

Not much new to share. The team is fine, working long hours (we usually have devotional time a 6:30 am and then go straight to the warehouse and work until approx. 5:30 pm), but in good health. It is our understanding that team 9 will consist of 6 people. This will be really helpful as there is so much work to do.

We went to the market in town today to purchase some much needed items for the hospital (primarily bleach, soap and baby bottle brushes). The hospital is located about a mile from the main UN compound which is on the route to the market. The sides of the streets around the UN are lined with Haitian vendors selling everything from bread and V-8 juice to wooden bowls and art work. All are trying to earn a few dollars in an economy with an unemployment rate well over 50%.

I mentioned yesterday the wealth of opportunity here to share the truth. There is a very wide range of peoples here; professional staff (some of whom are believers but a lot of whom are not), Scientologist's, Sikhs, Haitians a lot of whom profess to Christianity but have some very non-scriptural beliefs). It seems that He placed a cross section of people groups here for us to be witnesses unto.

If eveyone would please be in prayer that we might be humble witnesses to His perfect Word and humble servants to His perfect Will.

Thank you for your prayers,
Team 8

April 27 Post from Team 8 in Haiti

Greetings from Port-Au-Prince, Donna and Carolyn both left yesterday and are home safe and sound - four hours late out of Miami due to weather but both home safe. Ken is staying over a second week and he and Mark are now holding down the fort. The same basic mission, running the warehouse and sharing Truth whenever the opportunity presents it's self.

Very hot today, probably pushing 98 and very high humidity but the Fla. House folks are doing a super job of supporting us with water, ice and anything else we need. Our thanks and gratitude to all of the personnel there.

The Doctors, Nurses and other professional staff (PT's PA's etc) are a joy to work with. Super attitudes toward their jobs and the Haitian people. Some of them have been here multiple times but for a lot of them this is their first experience in this type of environment and their attitudes are overwhelming positive and professional. Very grateful and appreciative for our help.

On a more somber note, we continue to lose infants in the pediatrics unit. This is very hard on the Nurses in particular. In the States they are accustomed to saving probably 49 out out of 50 of infants who come into their Hosp in distress. Over here it seems like they are losing close to fifty percent. Ken has been spending a lot of time in prayer for the babies and with the staff.

A couple of logistical notes for anyone who may be coming down:

1) If at all possible you need to book the entire trip with America. Personal experience and ongoing reports from others indicate significant problems (delayed and canceled flights, missed connections etc) with the other airlines serving Port-Au-Prince. Additionally, American is still allowing two checked bags (fifty pound limit ea) into Port-Au-Prince with no checked bag fee.

2) There is an ongoing need here for the following items if anyone has room in their checked bags.

• Tarps (10x12 probably work best)
• Powdered Gatorade is an ongoing need both for yourself and for patients

Let me close by saying that there is a over flowing abundance of opportunity here to share Truth and serve Him. (more on this in the next couple of days).

Your fellow servant,
Mark

Final Post from Haiti Team 7

First, I want to thank God for the opportunity to have been here this past 8 days. He is so good. We have had a blessed week. Some days were harder than others, but it has been so worth everything we have been though, emotionally, physically and spiritually. God has truly blessed through the Haitian people, all the doctors, nurses, and other medical staff who are here volunteering their time.

We had a church service this morning. Ken, Carolyn and I were the only 3 in attendance, but I pray we have sown some seeds here. Ken read from John and talked about casting the first stone. We really enjoyed it.

Mark arrived safe, we thank God for that. Keep Team 8 in your prayers.

Please pray for safe travels for Carolyn and me tomorrow as we go home to our families.

Any teams coming in the future, there is a need for English Bibles. “For HE will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and him who has no helper. He will have compassion on the poor and needy...He will rescue their life from oppression and violence. Psalm 72:12-14

God bless Haiti and you!

- Donna

Saturday, April 24 Update from Team 7

Hello to all our family and friends. We are all well. God is watching over us all. He is so good.

We have had another very hot day, sometimes you think you can't take any more, but He gives us the strength we need to keep on.

We lost more babies today. This is one of the hardest parts. These babies are precious. The children are so loving.

We have been working long hours trying to get the warehouse ready to move to the new location. There is still so much to do. Please, if you can possibly join with TBDR and make a trip down here, the need is great. There are so many people who need help. God will truly bless you.

"I thank my God for you; hearing of your love and faith you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother." - Philemon 4-7

We need to minister to these people and show the love of Christ. Carolyn and Donna only have a few more days in Haiti, so keep Ken in your prayers. Pray that God will send him the help he needs to keep doing this work that God has given us to do. Pray for safe travels for Carolyn and Donna.

On a lighter note the UN brought us hamburgers and hotdogs. They were so good. Thank God for His goodness!

God bless you all.

Friday, April 23 Report from Team 7 in Haiti

Thursday was a very busy day. First, we moved from the Florida House to the camp at the airport where the warehouse is located. The two Southern Baptist tents are still up and available for us to move into so Ken took one and Donna and Carolyn took the other. The girl’s tent had three cots and Ken's ten had more cots then he knew where to put them. He also had an air mattress that I found out he didn't use. I may use it tonight! The cot was hard last night. As soon as we got to the warehouse a nurse came in and told us they had just lost another baby so Donna and Ken went to pray with the family. That makes 5 babies that have died since we got here. It doesn't get easier.

We didn't get any new deliveries yesterday, but we are starting to create palettes with excess items that they can move to a real warehouse with walls. They are concerned that the rainy season is coming we have lots of palettes outside that would get wet. We were told to send 6 palettes a day. We are marking them with a yellow security tape.

Yesterday we had a chance to tour the city. We went into the area that contains the worst damage. We saw debris still in the streets, but they [the Haitians] just drive around them. We even saw tents in the middle of the street; again we just drive around them. We saw the Cathedral where a group of about 15 people were singing in Creole, it wasn't a song we recognized. Everywhere we go we see people asking from money or food. Our hearts go out to them.

We also saw the Palace, it had a lot of destruction but you can see what the grandeur was before the earthquake and right across from the palace is a tent city. How can rulers not see how the people live and not help?

Today is Nick and Tyler's last day; please pray that we make a difference in their lives. Some of the books and things they have are very non-Christian, one book was called White Witch, Black something.

Thank you for your prayers. Ken did sleep better.

Today's verse we found on the back of a bus yesterday when we were touring. Daniel 3:17- “If we are thrown into a blazing furnace the God we serve is able to save us from it and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.”

Today is starting to look like it will be our hottest yet.

- Carolyn, Ken and Donna