Emotions

I'm not sure where the last week went, but I am writing this blog from snowy Michigan with Guerlens sleeping on my lap. What a blessing to have such a snuggly piece of Haiti here with me! We do not have a definite surgery date for him yet, but we anticipate it will be within the next month.

It has been good to take a few days to reflect on various events that have taken place in the last few weeks. Both exciting, and heartbreaking. The highs are high, and the lows are low. Life in Haiti is a constant battle of emotions.

Last week while we were on our way home from the embassy we were rejoicing over Guerlens' medical visa! So much work and prayer had been done to get us to that point....in less than a month! God had moved mountains! We were overjoyed. On the way home, as we traveled up Delmas 75 to our house, we were stopped by a large funeral procession. Young people, sobbing, wearing their finest clothing, filled the street. A young boy, who Frentz worked out at the gym with, had been shot. He was riding on the back of a moto taxi when an officer got into a shooting fight with another man. This young teenage boy was caught in the middle of it. He quickly jumped off the bike to lay on the ground, but was accidentally shot and killed. His innocent body passed us in a casket traveling down our dirt road.

The next day, as we were leaving our house for the airport our spirits were back up. Guerlens was wearing his airplane shirt and we were on our way to Michigan! We could not contain our excitement! Laughter and joy filled our truck, until we passed Hope Hospital. A body, lifelessly wrapped in a white sheet was being loaded into a truck. Most likely a cholera victim. Our truck went silent and was filled with prayers the rest of the way to the airport.

So much joy. So much devastation.

The news no longer continues to cover the devastation in Haiti, but that is certainly not because it no longer exists. Cholera, disease, violence, and hunger are daily battles.

Please continue to pray for our container to be released from customs! We have many needed supplies that have been sitting at the docks for 7 weeks now.

We have several exciting things in the works! I can't spill any information just yet, but check back to the blog soon! God is on the move! He reigns through the ups and downs. Our Rock. Our Fortress. Our Provider. We can do nothing separate from Him.

Visa Appointment

Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

Guerlens was granted a medical visa! Your prayers were heard! Our God answered! He is so good.

We were in line by 6:00am this morning and we were walking out of the embassy by 8:30am!

We have one more step before Guerlens can travel to Michigan. Tomorrow morning at 7:00am we will pick up his visa and take it to social services. There Marie Guerda will sign giving permission to me to travel with Guerlens. Typically this paperwork take 2-3 days, but we will need it done tomorrow in order to leave on Wednesday morning!

Keep praying. We are so close! I will post again to let you know how tomorrow goes. Take some time today to thank God for all of his miracles and tell Him how much you love Him! He is so good!

Pray TOMORROW at 7:00am

I have been wanting to update the blog all week but our internet cable was somehow damaged. We aren't sure whether the dogs got to it or a mouse, but somehow, something frayed the wires connecting to our satellite and we were without internet for the last 5 days. We have an internet card for backup that we can plug directly into our laptops, but it charges us per megabyte used and we have to go out and by cards to make it work. (Much like the cell phone system here in Haiti.) BUT thankfully the internet company came yesterday to repair it! (Only because Frentz went to the business to pick them up and then dropped them back off again.)

We have been making so much progress on Guerlens' visa. We have everything in place, and TOMORROW morning at 7:00am we have an appointment at the US Embassy. We may not be seen until 10:00am-11:00am or ever later, but Guerlens, Marie Guerda, and myself will be standing in line on the street outside the embassy by 6:00am! Please be in prayer tonight and tomorrow that the consulate would grant Guerlens this very important medical visa. We still have not received an important letter that we need from the hospital doing the surgery. It is something the embassy requires, but we have no choice but to show up for our appointment. We are praying for a miracle! Praying that whoever interviews us will take the time to realize all that has been put into place and how important this surgery is. Please also pray for Marie Guerda to answer their questions correctly. She sometimes struggles with responding to direct questions. She is spending the night here with us so we won't be late! I will be a nervous wreck in the morning! I know God has this all under control. Whatever happens it is His plan. So much has been done for Guerlens already. God has moved mountains for this 10 month old boy. What's one more? Bondye Kapab!

Several people have been asking if we are still in need of donations. We have been extremely blessed by so many of you! We are set with most of the "big" things we needed! Thank you Jesus! Right now, we most need help with his day to day care items. You can send monetary donations to: 1301 Timber Dr. Midland, MI 48642. Please mark that it is for Guerlens. Monetary donations will be used to get him to the states and purchase the necessary supplies he will need while he is in New York for surgery and recovery. Or you may drop off the following items to Kim Chapin or Marci Thurlow: Size 3 diapers, wipes, baby cereal, 2nd foods fruits and veggies, formula, lotion, baby soap. (information@haitipoverty.org)

All the rest of our HOPE House kids are doing well! Marise-Love has had an on and off fever the past few days. Please be praying for her to get over whatever it is that her little body is fighting. Jouvenika's wound has completely closed up! I will be calling Gerlande tomorrow to let her know. We may keep watch over it for a little bit longer to be sure it won't open up again. Vanessa is gaining so much weight! She is so healthy and beautiful! Kimberlie is one of the big kids now! So hard to believe. She has been using her voice, walking with only the help of a finger, and eating all of the big kid food! She greets everyone who walks into HOPE House with a, "Hi!" and a silly smile showing off her two teeth. Pierreline and Caleb are doing very well in preschool. Every Friday they bring home all of their school work to show me. They are coloring very beautiful pictures of the founding fathers of Haiti. The biggest excitement of the week was learning how to jump with both feet! Sophonie and Naika have been helping me a lot in the kitchen. They are experts at pizza, M&M cookies, and angel food cake!

Outside of our gates things haven't been so friendly. This week there was a terrible incident near Cite Soleil. A mother was upset about a boy her daughter was dating. When he came over to the house to see his girlfriend the mother went after him with a machete. She cut his neck and head and didn't stop until he was in pieces. Frentz and I watched the interview of the woman on Haitian TV last night. .......Teenagers, if you think your parents give you a rough time, go hug them right now! (And be thankful they don't have a machete.) I just can't imagine living with that much hate. It is my hearts cry for all of Haiti to know the love, peace, and joy of Christ!

Pray for Christ's love, joy, and peace to abound in Haiti! Pray for the hearts of those who are searching. Pray for strength and protection for those here living and teaching the Good News. We can do nothing separated from Christ! He is our all in all!

Internet permitting, I will post an update as soon as we return from the embassy tomorrow. I rest assured knowing God is in control and that your prayers will be heard and answered!

How is Haiti?

Wow! You guys are awesome! We at HFAP have been blown away by your response to Guerlens' story. Thank you for responding in obedience and with such generous hearts! Just a little update, we are about $1,000 shy of completing his paperwork and cost of his plane tickets. All we have left on our needs list for his care are his everyday items. (size 3 diapers, baby food, baby cereal, wipes, size 9-12 months warm clothing) Most of these items are needed for his 6 week stay in New York while he is having surgery. Please contact Marci Thurlow (989) 205-9418 or send donations to 1301 Timber Dr. Midland, MI 48642.

My mind has been completely occupied by Guerlens and all of the visa paperwork, however MUCH more has been happening in Haiti! Last week we had a fabulous time of training with the pastors and their wives in Les Bours. A great deal of wisdom and direction for the future of this ministry was given to us. We are so excited to partner with a small number of pastors and raise them up to teach the entirety of His Word!

Lucienne and Grap's wedding was AMAZING. What a time of celebration! The yard was beautiful thanks to the help of our team! The children were dressed in all white, and Lucienne was absolutely stunning! Lucienne and Grap were thrilled with the entire celebration. They shared with Frentz and I after the wedding that they both thought their lives were over. Before the earthquake they were in the midst of a bad time in their lives. Feeling as though they would suffer forever. They are so thankful to work for HFAP and so excited to have a new beginning! And we are equally as excited and blessed to have them! They are such wonderful people, growing closer to their Lord every day!

Haiti is a place where there always seems to be good and bad happening at the same time. I find the most difficult question to answer is, "How is Haiti? Are things getting better?" It's really hard to say. Great things are happening. But awful things happen too. Like the news I received a week and a half ago about Magalie's youngest daughter, one of our preschool students. (Pierreline's step sister) She has recently been rapped by a seventeen year old boy in the neighborhood. She is only three years old. Such a beautiful little girl. The boy is in jail, but Magalie and her daughter still have such pain in their lives. Pain that will last for a very long time. Please pray for Magalie and her sweet little girl. Pray for healing that only our Father can provide. Pray against disease and infection in her sweet little body. Pray for forgiveness for the young man. Pray for healing and salvation for him. For the past year, Magalie has asked me to pray that her spiritual walk with the Lord would be strengthened. Pray that this would bring her closer to Him and not push her further away.

Young girls are victims of rape all too often. How painful it must be for our Father to sit on His throne and see such horrifying violence. We, as His children, must do something about it. We can start by praying protection over the women and girls in Les Bours. The women and girls in the tent cities. The women and girls in Haiti. Women and girls all over the world. If we are afraid to talk about rape and shed light into something so dark, how will things ever change?

I know that I can type this all out and click "publish post" and know that hundreds of prayers are going up for Magalie and her daughter, and for Guerlens, and all of Haiti. Thanks for being part of our HFAP Family!

Update on Guerlens

What a mighty work God is doing in and for Guerlens! I stand amazed at the great God we serve! How awesome and powerful is He! He knows all and sees all. He loves us beyond anything we can imagine! Oh how He loves us!

Guerlens will grow up to tell a miraculous story one day....his own story! God had it planned long ago....Born to a woman who was possessed by demons and cast out of her community. A woman who was sleeping on the streets with 5 young boys even before Guerlens was born. Born with a misshapen head and twelve fingers. Both reasons for others to shun him and abandon him. But His Father had a great plan! He would call strange, white people to his neighborhood. They would meet his mother 3 years before he was born. They would pray for her, and when the time came, they would assist her in caring for a child that she did not have the heart to abandon. Then, after months of prayers and medical testing, a diagnosis would be made. One that would take him to the United States. Sagittal Craniosynosis. Many people would hear about his story and cover him in prayers. God would hear their cries and call on His children to respond. He would ask his daughter, Gail, to carry the burden of his sweet son and to seek out every avenue possible to find treatment. He would prompt the hearts of New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada and his wife, to hear this story and respond. He would make sure the surgery was paid for in full! He would allow every necessary paper to happen in His perfect timing. He would even prepare a forever family for him. A family who has been to Haiti and understands his culture. A family that has such great love for Him and desires to raise Guerlens to know and love his one and only Savior. A family whom He loves so dearly, He desired to give them a son, to replace the one He already called home. And He would do all of this to show His children how good He is, that they would respond and say, "What a Great and Mighty God we serve! A God who is alive and working miracles for His children! A God who cares, and hears, and heals! Oh how He loves us!" People's faith would be strengthened because of the testimony of one little boy, born to an outcast, on the streets of Haiti.

But his story isn't over yet! There is so much more to tell! Would be part of this story? Would you join us in prayer that we will receive a visa for as long as necessary when we go to the embassy? Pray for his mother to obtain the documents necessary for her to sign and allow her son to travel for surgery. Pray for things to happen quickly so we can return to the states and schedule his operation as soon as possible!

Would you consider donating financially to make all of the papers and airfare possible? We are looking at over $2,000 worth of costs not including the surgery or airfare that the Posadas are providing.

Also, we are in need of a few things to help us care for Guerlens while he is in New York for surgery, and Michigan for recovery. It is a little bit colder up there than he is used to! Poor guy has nothing but shorts, T-shirts, and sandals! (and 1 pair of pants)

Here are some things we need within the next 2 weeks:
Warm winter clothing - size 9 months (9-12 months if it runs small)
Snow suit
Warm jacket
Mittens
Warm shoes/boots
Socks
Size 3 diapers
A baby swing (The boy LOVES to swing! Preferably one where he can sit up straight and has a tray table)
High chair
Stroller to push through the snow or backpack to carry him in (We will be walking in New York from where we stay, to the hospital)
Pack-N-Play

We will be bringing him from Detroit to Midland, so it would be ideal to have things sent to Midland before November 20th. (We are praying to arrive home the week of Thanksgiving!) You can call Marci to arrange a drop off time (989) 205-9418, or mail donations to 1301 Timber Dr., Midland, MI 48642.

THANK YOU! I KNOW you will be praying! We feel your prayers and see God's answers! Your cries are heard! We are so thankful for you! You are a critical part of our ministry!