Post-trip Update

Dear Behinders,

Which story should we share first? It was quite a week in Haiti as we encountered hundreds of God’s beautiful Haitian people. To our pleasant surprise, they are a loving people, allowing us the chance to look into their lives and teach us so much.

Love A Child Village was quite impressive, including an orphanage that houses 68 children, three school buildings, two warehouses-one for medical supplies and one for FMSC food, a carpenter’s shop, a tilapia fish farm, missionary houses, and an almost complete radio station and medical treatment center! God is certainly making a way for their ministry and realm of influence to grow. We stayed in the orphanage with tile floors and bunk beds, where the laughter and joy of children was in abundance, the voices of whom we still hear in our heads back home…

Our efforts in preparing for the medical clinic were much anticipated in an extremely remote village named Madame Bouje where they had never received any medical care whatsoever. Hanging shoe holders housed the medicine within a 15’x 20’ space surrounded by corrugated metal walls and used as their church and school for 300 children-but now our medical clinic for the next day and a half. David was appointed as a “runner” for a nurse, to get meds as needed for each family who anxiously sat before them. At times, he was called to leave that position to pray for each person before they left the clinic. As a wife, to see my husband lead those Haitians into God’s presence where all their needs are met was a moving, proud moment that brought a big smile to my face. I, Abby, was appointed to be the “baby washer” at the wound care station. Ironically (or maybe not), I had had my curiosity about this position, and the humble place it would take me to as I washed the horrible sores on crying babies. What an honor. In the end, our team saw 500 people in a matter of 8 hours. The village of Madame Bouje could not have been more grateful and proud of their bags of needed medicine.

Time at the orphanage was well spent with all the children. There’s no question that if one of them spotted you, there would be ten others there within seconds, vying for your attention. Precious children! Made in the image of our Creator! They were willing participants in our planned taste test, from which we are still processing data, but are excited to now move forward with its development. The infants and toddlers seemed particularly receptive and eager to finish their sample. Other interactions included various worship times, acting as jungle gym’s, braiding hair, tossing babies, and exchanging Creole and English words for conversation. Let us just say there were tears shed at goodbye…

Food distributions were also a part of our mission. Besides a small distribution in Madame Bouje, we traveled to LeTant where Bobby and Sherry Burnette rebuilt homes after the entire village burnt down. Many traveled miles to get their one box of food (216 meals) for the month. Feed My Starving Children boxes, held with high esteem, were tacked to many doors of mud huts. My (Abby) day-to-day job at FMSC was completely justified as I put faces to the food we work to provide around the world. We will never forget the naked babies and smiling faces awe met in LeTant.

So, this is these peoples’ lives. There will be no change unless we take the time to be our part of the change. We are encouraged that those who know the Lord are rich and full of life, even so much as God intended for the Haitians we met, because their faith is made pure in their weakness. Blessed are they from which we have loved and learned much.

Thank you for your support and continual prayers as we seek the Lord’s will and fullness of life wherever we are. We remain hungry for the nearness of His Kingdom on earth. He has truly made us rich!

Much Love,

David & Abby T.

*Of all the ministries out there, because we’ve experienced these two first-hand, we would encourage your support of both Love A Child and Feed My Starving Children, if you feel so led. You can go to www.loveachild.com and/or www.fmsc.org for more information.