Here, there and everywhere

Our house always seems to have a revolving door, but these days with the kids' comings and goings it is spinning out of control! It's hard to keep up with it all, but they are enjoying a bit of a change, and the chance to reconnect with their home communities and extended families. It does make for a bit of comical happenings around the HOH as we can never seem to get into any kind of a normal routine. Someone is always missing who would "normally" do it. It sure makes us thankful for how smoothly things run when everyone is here doing their part to keep things going, and it reminds us of how the Body of Christ can work together when each member does their part!

Linda is busy teaching her CEF course to future Children's Club teachers. It makes for very long days for her, as she starts early and ends in the afternoon, then starts to prepare for the next day. But it is rewarding work as she teaches these future teachers how to share the Good News of Jesus with the children in their churches and neighborhoods.

Our friend, Terrence (I know I said Harry last time, but I don't know what I was thinking -- sorry for the confusion), who has the Myasthenia Gravis is actually starting to do better. He has had a rough couple of weeks, and we weren't sure if he was going to be able to pull through or not. Getting him to Port-au-Prince was no little feat, and when we finally did get him there the Dr.'s said they could do nothing to help him at all. So then we had to work at getting him back up here. He did end up going down to PAP on the plane (after much sweet talking on my part), but we couldn't get them to bring him back up again, so we sent down our car to pick him up. Since coming back to the HOH he's slowly started to regain some movement in his hands and feet. He is able to swallow now, and in the past couple of days has been able to start to chew some soft things. So, we continue to pray and work with him. We hope that this crisis is over and he'll gain back much more movement in the days and weeks ahead.

We enjoyed a visit with our friend Jeb, and were able to talk over a number of things for the new project (Hope Village)...we haven't forgotten about it, it's just slow going! I am heading to PAP next week to speak with some of the men who are helping us with the paperwork there. Please continue to pray that God would work out these details in His own good time, and that we'd have patience in dealing with all the steps we need to work through.

Paul B. is coming down today, Lord willing, and will be installing the new generator for us. It will be so nice to have reliable electricity! Now if I could only get my internet and water to work!! (I should be thankful for one out of three shouldn't I!). Please pray that he is able to find or make do with things that are down here to complete the installation as everything he needs has not arrived in the country yet. Pray for strength and health for him and the guys working with him, and safety as well.

Thanks again for your support in praying for us. I'd appreciate your prayers as I spend the next couple of weeks preparing for the Bible studies that will start up again in the fall. I have a break from my Master's course for the moment, so I'm trying to "get ahead" as much as I can.

Well that's about it, sorry for no pictures this time, I figure if this actually gets posted on the blog as it is without the added pictures it'll be enough of a miracle given the way our internet hasn't been working these days! Blessings on you all...

On again, off again

That's how our Internet has been over the past couple of weeks. It's working well this morning so I thought I'd better hurry and get something written for you all. So has anyone else ever wished you could just stop time for a bit to catch your breath? That's how life has been around here the past few weeks. So much activity, the days are just flying by.

Most of the kids are done their exams, only the Grade 13's are still writing this week. Most everyone feels pretty good about them, so now we just have to sit and wait for the results to be given. It's a good exercise of patience for everyone!!

The house is somewhat empty as numerous of the older kids are gone to their various camps and visits to their families. This always puts a bit of extra work on the rest of us who are here, but it's good for them to get away and do stuff like this. It's amazing how much you miss even just one kid out of 95...we really notice when they aren't here.

Today we have a special request to ask of you. In just a few minutes I'll be heading to the airport to take a young man who needs to go to Port-au-Prince (PAP) for medical treatment. He is one of the boys from our boys club, and he is very sick. He has Myasthenia Gravis (I had never heard of it before), and he is in a major crisis right now. His family is extremely poor, his mom and brothers have been mostly abandoned by their father who lives in Miami. Please pray that they can find a doctor in PAP who can help him. Please pray for strength and courage for Harry, as he is suffering a lot (he hasn't been able to swallow anything for almost a week now -- although yesterday he got a sip of water down). Pray for his mom and family who are taking care of him as well, this is a difficult time for them all. He is a really great kid, loves the Lord, and is loved by so many people. Thanks for praying...

We were contacted by the Haitian Child Welfare services this past week and asked to take in some more children who lost their families in the earthquake. We have agreed to do so, and would appreciate your prayers that God would send us the very kids He wants us to add to our family here.

Part of the team from Hands of Hope in the UK is here now, and the rest come in next week. We are looking forward to visits from our friend Jeb, and also Paul Browne, who hopes to come and install our new generator in early August. The generator is actually here, thank you for your prayers, there are a few boxes of stuff left that need to get here in order for him to install it, so please continue to pray that they come. We thank God every day when the back-up generator actually starts up and runs for the day, so we'll be so relieved when the new one is installed (and our appliances will be too, we lost Linda's refrigerator the other day...just one in a series of losses).

Well, I best run and get to the airport. Thanks so much for your prayers and support. God bless...

Life at the HOH

Greetings to you all! I’ve been back in Haiti almost 2 weeks now, boy how did that happen? While I was still in Canada people were asking when I was going to update the blog and I said as soon as I get back to Haiti, that’s first on my list. Well, as you can see, that got pushed back, numerous times. As you know we had water troubles before I left Haiti, and those still exist, but now we have added electricity problems, and internet problems to the list. So between all of those problems, it gets quite complicated getting everything done that needs to be done. The hospital that provides us with our electricity is supposed to get a new generator installed soon. The problem there is that the generator is still in the US! So, please pray they’ll be able to get it here soon, and definitely before the one we are using gives up the ghost for good.

I had a great trip through Canada, and saw so many people. I tried to keep a count of the numbers of people who were at the different meetings I spoke at, but stopped somewhere after 1,500. It was really great to see you all, and get a chance to share what God is doing at the HOH, and also have a chance to talk about the future plans of Hope Village. I was able to enjoy a few days of nice spring weather in Canada, but for the most part I followed the cold weather around. In Calgary they even pulled out the snow for me (check out the picture of the tulips with snow)! It’s been a long time since I’ve had that, and I actually enjoyed seeing it.

Of course it was great to get back to the HOH again. The kids had been counting down the days, pretty much since the day I left, and every plane that flew over the HOH in my absence was a cause for rejoicing as they thought I was in it. That’s kinda funny because the plane that flies me in doesn’t actually go over the HOH, but they don’t realize that!

I came back to quite a change of kids at the HOH. We are still right around 95 kids, but numerous ones who were here when I left are gone now, and new ones have replaced them. It’s making me work hard to keep up with all the name changes!!

So, what has been keeping us busy? Here are a quick glimpse…

Exams are the order of the day as far as the kids go. Today the grade 6 government exams started. Desimene, Oliana, Evelte and Sonson are all writing these exams, and would love it if you prayed for them. Next week will be the Grade 9 exams, we have St. Germain, Mirlene, Toto, Rosnel who will be writing that one. Then the week after will be the Grade 12’s, there we have Jn Daniel, Phania, Stephania, Dada, TiBen. Then it will be the Grade 13’s, and there we have Ricardo, Caleb, Lubin, Benton, Ronel. So…lots of studying going on, and lots of stress.

It doesn’t help that World Cup Soccer 2010 is going on at the same time. Life pretty much stops around here when a game is being played, especially a match that involves Brazil. Our kids have set up two different areas for people in the community to come and watch the matches here at the HOH. They are charging them for admission, and then using the money to pay for the fees of getting the matches on the TV. They have quite a little business set up, and as long as Brazil stays in the running, they should bring in a fair bit of money. Once they are out of the running though the revenue will drop considerably! The next big Brazil match is Friday…there’s a break in all the matches today and tomorrow, and our yard seems strangely quiet!

While I was away we had over 200 boxes come in on the boat for the HOH. What a blessing it was to receive all these wonderful supplies. Thanks to each and every one of you who sent us stuff. Much is already being used, and we were able to store the rest to be used in the months ahead.

Tomorrow we will be welcoming a young man from Philadelphia Biblical University who is coming down to spend a 6 week internship with us. Dan is arriving just in time to catch a crazy few weeks of activities around here. There are graduations, end of the year parties, and then the major annual convention of our Haitian mission. We also have numerous visitors and groups heading our way over the next few weeks. We are waiting for Angie to come back from LeTourneau for a few weeks. We are so grateful to a church there that bought her a ticket to come and see us before she goes back to her studies in the fall.

We’re going to wait for things to settle down a bit before we decide what type of activities we are going to have for the kids and the community kids during the summer. Once school is officially over, along with all the extra events we’ll be able to plan a bit better. Some of the kids are heading off to music camp in Limbe, some are heading off to be camp leaders for a local church camp, others are heading to their home communities to visit family and friends. Linda will be teaching her Child Evangelism course for two weeks, and I’m working to complete the first unit of my Masters program…everyone certainly seems to be able to keep busy!

Thanks so much for your support in so many ways. And thanks for your patience in waiting for another update, hopefully the next one won’t be so long in coming. We are grateful for your partnership in this ministry.

I'm on my way!!

Lord willing I'll be leaving the HOH at 5 am tomorrow morning. Thanks to the fact that we are did not change time here in Haiti, the sun is actually up at that hour! (Gone are those days of driving in the pitch black to the airport -- for all of you who remember that). Am I really ready to go? Well, given that it is 2pm on the day before I leave, and I haven't even put one thing in a suitcase yet might give you a hint on the answer to that question!

We woke up this morning to both Linda and St. Germain being quite sick, both have been in bed all day. Not a great start for my travels, since it's the two of them who'll be holding down the fort...so please pray for healing for them, and strength in the days ahead. No one is happy that I'm leaving, so pray for the kids as well, they never enjoy Linda or I being gone.

Please pray for safety as I travel, and for health and strength for myself as well. I have a really full and busy 6 weeks ahead of me, so please pray that I'll be able to effectively communicate all that God is doing here at the HOH in all the different places where I'll be. It's not too late to get in touch...e-mail, or call at: 204-857-9370.

Thank you to all of you who hold us up in prayer and support. God is so good to us.

It's Paradise!

So sorry that it has been so long since we’ve updated the blog, time just seems to be flying by these days as they are filled with so much activity. Our head count here at the HOH is up to 97, and somewhere between 90 & 100 kids, things seem to just get really busy! I know that probably doesn’t make sense, but we’ve experienced it before. We generally hover between 80 & 85, then every now and then the count starts to go up, and somewhere around 95 we inevitably go, “Man, there’s a lot of kids here!” But we aren’t complaining, ever since the earthquake we’ve been praying and trying to get some of the orphans up here so we could take care of them. So far we’ve received 8, and there are another 11 or so on the horizon that will be coming soon if everything can be worked out for them.

The latest to arrive from Port-au-Prince (PAP) are three boys (pictured from L to R): Herby, Junior and Reginald. Herby and Junior came first, they both had lost their moms in the earthquake, both of their dads had already died before that day. Herby’s mom was in their house while he went out to carry in water for her to use. In the quake their house collapsed, and his mom was killed underneath it. To make matters worse his best friend Magloire lost his mom too, and was sent off to live in a far off town. (For those of you who don’t know, Magloire is one of the boys who arrived here at the HOH a couple of weeks ago.) Herby mourned the loss of his mom, and didn’t have his best friend there with him. Little did he or Magloire know that God had plans to reunite them here at the HOH! When the boys saw each other here at the HOH they jumped up in the air, they were so excited. It was an incredible moment, and we all were so touched by how God did this special thing for these two young boys who have lost so much.

As for Junior, his mom left him and Reginald his little brother at the house that day and went to sell in the market in downtown PAP. She never came home. They have no idea what happened to her. The boys were separated and sent to temporarily live with different family members. We got connected with Junior through a friend of ours and found out he needed a place to go as the family he was staying with couldn’t keep him any longer. When he arrived at the HOH almost the first words out of his mouth were, “I have a little brother, please can he come here too”. We sent off for Reginald and in a few days they too were reunited here at the HOH.

They are all doing really well here. Sonson, the first boy we had received from PAP, had the hardest time adapting here and we weren’t really sure what he was feeling now about things as more and more kids showed up from PAP. When I went to pick up Reginald at the airport, Sonson rode along to get him. All the boys in the car were having fun pointing out different things in our town to Reginald, and just as we were pulling up to the HOH gate I heard a voice behind me say, “And now you are entering Paradise!”. I had to turn around to make sure I was hearing correctly. Sure enough, it was Sonson — telling us exactly what he was feeling about the HOH now. What a blessing it has been to be able to add these youth to our family here.

Our days have been filled with visitors coming and going. They have fixed many broken things, we have both our cars up and running again, all the lights and computers are working properly again...it’s been a very profitable few weeks. One thing they have not been able to fix is our water situation, and we are not getting water anywhere at the HOH now, except for a few sporadic moments throughout the day. We try to fill up as many containers as possible in those moments, but the kids are back to having to “run” most of our water with their own legs from a cistern in another yard. It definitely is a good source of exercise, but it also adds a lot of extra work to our days.

We currently have a Physical Therapist here working with our kids, they’ve made a lot of progress, especially the ones who were injured in the earthquake. In just 2 weeks, Jenny will be heading off to Canada for 6 weeks. She’ll be in Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario, so if you are in one of those locations and would like to see her, get in touch and we’ll try and work it out (e-mail is the easiest way: jenny.reitz@crossworld.org).

Thank you so much for your support of this ministry. Whether it’s financial support, sending us things or simply praying and encouraging us, we thank God for each one of you…

World TB Day

Today, for all of you who didn’t know this, is the World Tuberculosis Day. We don’t usually track such things around here, but I happened to notice it on the calendar, and thought it was kinda fitting since I was going to be telling you about our latest arrival here at the HOH. We definitely get less cases of TB now than we used to, but we sure got a bad case in this week.

I heard him coming all the way down in the hospital, he was yelling and screaming things like “Don’t send me there”, “I’m going to die” and “I’m going to lose my leg” over and over again. The sounds kept getting closer and louder, so we figured he was heading our way. Sure enough, 13 year old Riderson was wheeled into the HOH office in a wheelchair. Of course his yelling and screaming didn’t go over too well with Linda, and in her own special way, she soon had him quieted down.

As we heard his story we found out Riderson has been sick for a long time. An infection in his ankle has only gotten worse, and now has spread to other parts of his body. On top of that, he has a bad case of TB in his glands. Riderson was convinced that someone had put a curse on him and that was the reason for his illness that had taken over his body. He cried and begged his family not to leave him here, he was totally convinced that he would die – immediately – if they left him here.

Well, we are very glad to be able to tell you that Riderson did not die, and has been at the HOH for a week now. You can see by the look on his face now, that he feels very differently about being here. His fears opened up a door for Linda to be able to talk to him about a God who loves him, and who was giving him the chance to find hope for both his body and his soul. Over the first few day here, Riderson sat beside Linda every chance he got, and every chance she got, she shared about Jesus’ love with him. It wasn’t the first time he had heard the Good News of Jesus, but during one of their conversations he expressed a desire to become a child of God. So his healing has begun, and we’d ask you to continue to pray for him as he has a long road of healing ahead of him.

Some more good news this week is that Ronel and his wife Wilmide had their second child. It was another boy, whom they named Roumy, and he was successfully delivered by C-section on March 15. Ronel continues to help us out here at the HOH, as well as working on other small jobs he can find in the area around La Pointe.

We had some really good weeks here at the HOH with our visitors from all over. I especially enjoyed having a “ghost writer” for the blog, but they are all gone now, and we are looking forward to other visitors in the weeks and months ahead. It seems like there’s always someone coming and/or going, sometimes it’s hard for me to keep up! Carl Evens left to go back to Port-au-Prince this week. His university is talking about opening up again, so he’s there to see if any of the classes he needs are going to be offered. He should know more by the weekend. So, we are missing his presence here at the HOH. We know the kids can’t stay here forever, but it’s so nice when they are back “home” for a while.

We are waiting to receive two more boys from PAP who lost their family in the earthquake. A pastor there has been keeping them, but he needs to find a more permanent home for them. We think they will come up here soon, so pray that we’d be able to work out those details. All our other kids from PAP are doing just great. We were really concerned about Carly’s right leg, but this week she’s started to stand on it, and even is attempting to take a few steps, so that’s a great relief. Sonson continues to do exercises with his arm. We are trying to get a Physical Therapist here in the next couple of weeks to help him know what things he should be doing with his arm, and also to hopefully answer some questions on what he can expect in the future due to the permanent damage that has been done. It’s still hard for him to think that he’ll never have normal arm/hand movements back again, but we know in time he’ll work through all of that. Keep praying for him.

Well, I started on a new adventure this week. I’ve been wanting to continue my studies for quite some time now. Last fall I started the application process to begin a Master of Art’s program in Intercultural Leadership. Some of you might recall back in July of 2008 I had attended a seminar out in Portland, OR at the WorldView Center. Well that was the pre-requisite seminar to this Master’s program. I am looking forward to learning a lot about effectively communicating God’s message in the culture and place where He has placed me, and one of the neat things about this program is that I don’t have to travel anywhere to study. It is set up deliberately to be able to be completed in the country where you are ministering, and at the same time it is a group learning experience. So, I am grouped together with a Missionary lady in Hong Kong, and I am looking forward to learning a lot from and with her in the months…and years ahead (it’s set up to take 3 years to complete). You all will be hearing more about it as time goes on, but I’d appreciate your prayers for me as I start this week.

It’s official now, that I will be traveling (Lord willing) to Canada from May 6^th to June 17^th. My plans at this point are to visit as many of you as I possibly can, but I will be sticking to these three provinces: Manitoba, Alberta, and Southern Ontario. So, if you are in these areas, and want to find out where I’ll be and when, and want to try and connect, please get in touch with me. I wish I could go to more places, but it’s only physically possible to be in just so many places within a 6 week period!

Well, that pretty much brings you up to date with things around here. We continue on with our Bible studies, and school for the kids. They are looking forward to a few days off over the Easter weekend, and are planning to give a special concert for other youth in the area on Good Friday evening. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. God bless…

Three More...

It’s time for another update from the House of Hope! Because things are so busy around here, Jenny has temporarily reassigned the writing of the update this time to a visitor from Canada. I don’t know about you, but I love reading Jenny’s updates, so don’t worry….Jenny will be back next time! For now, here are the things that have been keeping everyone busy at the House of Hope over the last while, from the perspective of a visitor.

As mentioned, the House of Hope has welcomed two visitors from Canada (Beth Reitz and Heather Patterson) who are staying for a couple of weeks. Beth is Jenny’s “little” sister and Heather is a friend. We are very excited to be back and always feel welcome and loved when we are here.

Canada has not been the only country that has visited the House of Hope. There have also been a few gentlemen from the United States who have come for a few days to take care of some much-needed repairs on vehicles, wiring and plumbing. We really appreciate their help and willingness to keep us up and running! You don’t appreciate how much you rely on things like lights, water and reliable brakes on a vehicle until there are problems.

Life after the earthquake continues to unfold. The House of Hope has begun to receive children who lost their parents in the earthquake and have no relatives who are able to care for them. Two young boys flew up from Port-au-Prince with Beth and Heather last week when they arrived. Magloire (14 years) and Carlo (12 years) are cousins who will be staying at the House of Hope for the foreseeable future. When we first met them at the airport in PAP, they were very afraid and sad. They seemed so small and lost. I’m sure the thought of flying on an airplane with two white women whom they had never met, and leaving all that was familiar to them, was a frightening thing, indeed! We did start to become friends, though, when we gave them a sandwich, a drink and some Cheezies. The boys seemed to enjoy their first ride on an airplane, smiling the entire way, and they have settled in so well at the House of Hope. All of the other children have made them feel welcome and they are already part of the routines and life here. They look happy and confident…very different than the two scared little boys that we met just last week. The House of Hope has made a huge difference in their lives in just a few short days.

Another new arrival to the House of Hope family is little Carly who is 15 months old. Her parents were both killed in the earthquake while she remained buried under the rubble for several hours. A neighbour managed to pull her to safety and get her the care that she needed. Little Carly had 2 broken legs and several cuts and she has spent the last several weeks in a hospital in PAP. Carly arrived at the House of Hope on Sunday and, understandably, she was very unsettled. She must have had a dad who was very involved with her care because, at first, she would go to boys much easier than girls. Once again, the entire HOH family has gone out of their way to make her feel welcome and coax some smiles out of her. Everyone from the older kids to the younger ones can be seen carrying Carly around or offering her toys. 3 days after arriving at the HOH, Carly is much more calm, more settled, less anxious…and the smiles are not so hard to come by. The HOH family is now Carly’s family and, from our perspective, they all take this very seriously and really know how to “be” a family.

While the arrival of more children is a happy event around here, another happy event is the arrival of tubs of supplies. After the earthquake, many people began to send things in anticipation of the increasing needs that were expected. Today 35 bins were opened, sorted and organized and there are approximately 100 more, at least, that have yet to arrive. The water has been too choppy for the bins to be unloaded at the dock, so we are all looking forward to calmer waters.

Every day is so busy around here. We are amazed at how things just get done. Everyone knows their chores…everyone knows the routines…everyone understands that they are all part of one body and when one of them hurts, they all hurt. When one of them is happy, they all share in the joy. Never is this more apparent than during devotions or church services. Every single person has been affected by the earthquake in some way. There has been much sadness, but there is also great joy. When we listen to all of these young people singing at the top of their lungs, we are reminded of how great our God is and how He is worthy to be praised both in the midst of joy and in the midst of sorrow.

Please continue to pray for Jenny and Linda as they minister to these precious little ones in their care. Pray for wisdom in handling the many, many things that happen each day…from dealing with “parenting” issues to water issues and everything in between. Pray for strength…physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Pray that they would be encouraged in loving and caring for these young lives in the name of Jesus.

While there is so much more that could be written about (as I said, a lot goes on around here every day!), those are the high points of the last little while. Keep checking back for Jenny’s amazing updates in the future!

Some Newcomers from PAP!!

After weeks of trying to help some kids from PAP, we received two in our home this week. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we all are about this. And with these two, the door has cracked opened and we hope to receive others in the weeks ahead.

Biterson has been on our hearts for weeks now, ever since we heard his story and were asked to take him at the HOH. It was so good after so much work to finally receive him at the HOH. Sonson (that's his nickname) was at school when the building he was in collapsed in the earthquake. His mom, brother and two cousins were in their home when it also collapsed, they all perished. Sonson was trapped under 2 floors of rubble for 8 hours before someone came along and pulled him out. Of the 43 students that were in his class, he was one of only 3 survivors, the rest all died under the rubble. (I had told some of you 53 before, but he corrected me on that).

Sonson sustained numerous injuries to his arm, shoulder, face and eye. Some of these injuries will have long lasting if not permanent effects on him physically. Almost as evident are the emotional effects this tragedy has had on him personally. He has a long road of healing ahead of him, and we are thankful for the chance to have this time of influence in his life. Pray for all of us as we minister to Sonson. Several of the other kids and youth here have had the chance to sit and share their stories with him in an attempt to encourage and comfort him with the comfort they have found from God. Here's a picture of Joseph sharing his story with Sonson. (Joseph lost most of his famiy, including both parents, and numerous siblings in the floods that swept away his village in 2004. Joseph himself was pulled out of the floodwaters by an older brother and spent that terrible night high in a tree). As 2 Cor. 1:3-4 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassin and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

The second child is a 9 year old girl. She is a family member of a friend of ours, and we have just offered to give her a place to stay for a while while her family gets things sorted out. The family unit in Haiti includes much more than just mom, dad, brothers and sisters...all the extended family are an integral part of it as well. Dieunika's extended family was hit very hard by the earthquake, with many of the aunts and uncles being killed leaving more children than the remaining family members can care for. Dieunika is a lively young lady who in spite of the fact of having just arrived here, already looks and acts like she has lived at the HOH all of her life! She'll stay with us for a while as the family gets themselves settled, and they can get things sorted out for their family.

There are a few more children in the works to bring up to the HOH, and we ask you to please continue to pray with us as God works out the details of the children He wants to be here with us. We praise God for his incredible provision for us these past few weeks. Another load of food from our friends at Miami Shores Presbyterian Church has just arrived, and others generous financial gifts have enabled us to be able to help those around us who are in need. The first load of totes with other supplies should start to arrive sometime next week, as the boat has just left Miami. We are so grateful for all of you who have supported us in so many ways. God bless you all!

We are here!

10 days...wow, I didn't mean for it to be so long before you heard from me. Nothing really in particular has been keeping us busy; we've just been trying to get things back into a more normal routine. We were able to start up some of our Bible Studies this past week, and will hopefully have them all up and running by next week. One of them I'm really excited about, as the older youth here are going to help Linda and I teach "God's Plan for the Family" to the next level of kids under them. We also have about 10 boys from our local community who want to participate as well, so we are very excited about these lessons starting up. We were supposed to start early Jan. But well, you know that didn't happen!

The kids attended school from Monday to Thursday, and now have a few days off (some of them have a few days, others will start again on Monday). Everything is up in the air these days, and seems to change daily -- making me hesitant to say anything about what might or might now happen next week. There are many people with differing views of whether school should start or not, and some places around us have refused to open their schools. So we'll see where that all ends up. Our kids say that their classes are full and overflowing with the students who have come up here from Port-au-Prince. Some even have to get there early or they won't get a place to sit for the day!

The Government of Haiti declared several days of prayer and fasting across Haiti as the one month anniversary of the earthquake came. Yesterday we spent the entire day having prayer & praise meetings with our kids here at the HOH, and today we had meetings throughout the morning. It is always good to get together with our kids and sing and pray, and read the Bible. We had numerous youth from the area join us, as well as patients and families from the hospital who heard the singing and came up to join in. Since the hospital is so close to us, even those patients in the hospital could hear us and were able to participate as well.

Most of our prayers were for Haiti; the government and people...for people to really seek God's face, and turn to Him, not just for a little while, as an emotional response to the catastrophe that took place; not just for these few "official" days...but truly and wholly seek Him. Our prayers followed Micah 6:8, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God". Please pray with us that out of the hard days of this past month, God would raise up men and women as leaders in Haiti who are willing and ready to do as God requires.

Judith, Andrine & Michka continue to heal well here at the HOH. We are looking forward to having someone coming this week to help us know how to better help them work through the emotional and psychological issues they and others are dealing with. Suze had a really rough week, she started with a fever, and then ended up having to go back to the OR for her leg. We are just watching and praying for her, the doctors still aren't sure if the leg is healing sufficiently, or if they are going to need to amputate it higher. She remains in very good spirits, and we appreciate your prayers for her as well.

Our numbers are right around 100 these days, when you add all the mom's who are staying with their malnourished children, and other family members staying to help out the injured girls. Put that together with the 60 + young people from the area who hang out here at different times, and the house is a pretty busy place. Friends who stopped by this last week both asked the same question, "Is it ever quiet around here?". Well, the answer is not often, but it does happen, on rare occasions...like at about 2-3 am, if you are up to hear it...and happen to catch the dogs sleeping and not barking as well!

We are looking forward to a several weeks of visitors starting this coming week. We have three different groups (totaling 5 people) arriving this coming week. 3 of the people are only staying 2-3 days, and the other 2 will be here a week. Then the next week we have 2 more groups (3 people total), one just for a day or two, and the others for a week. Then the week after that is a group of 2 staying for 2 weeks. Getting here is still a big challenge as the commercial airlines are not up and running yet, so it is taking a lot to work out the logistics. We'd appreciate your prayers as we receive these groups, and also that they'd be able to accomplish the things they are coming to do. Also, if you don't hear from us for a bit it's likely because we are a bit busy with all the visitors...

Thank you for your generous support over the past couple of weeks. Thank you for your response to the material and financial needs we have. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. It is wonderful to be in ministry with such great partners as you all! God bless...

A "Timid" Start to School

The rumors were flowing the end of last week that school would start up again this week. But no one, including the directors or teachers of our kids school, wanted to actually go on record as to declaring that such a thing should or would happen. In the end, a few classes in a few schools are slowly starting up again. The kids are doing more sitting and waiting for teachers to show up than actually having class, but they seem happy to have somewhere to go, and something resembling "normal" back to their lives. They've been off school for almost 2 months now (they had just returned for one day after Christmas break before the earthquake). The general feeling is that next week school should begin in full force in our area, but that this week things would happen "timidly".

We had a very good weekend together here at the HOH. The kids spent most of the day Friday and Saturday playing games up in the campground behind the hospital (still located on the same property as us). The older kids did the planning and footwork for making this a reality, and boy was I grateful. I had 2 days of almost total peace and quiet in the house (if you can imagine that), and I got so much work done! You can see Judith (holding the red balloon) here with the older kids enjoying a game of Uno with the other kids.

Speaking of Judith, she is doing really great here at the HOH, as are the other girls. They've each got a long road to recovery before them, but it's so great to see their spirits so high. Andrine has started getting up and walking with the help of a walker. Michka is up and around as often as she can be, and Suze got out of bed and came up to the HOH for a visit for the first time today. Please continue to pray for their recovery, both physically and mentally.

We continue to follow what leads we can find on helping take care of some of the children left without people to care for them after the quake. It hasn't been an easy task, but we are slowly making some connections. We hope soon to be able to offer these needy kids a place, whether temporarily until they find their families, or permanently if they have no family. We've had multiple contacts ask us to help out in this way and we get all excited; and then things don't work out. So, please pray with us that in God's perfect timing He'd send us just the kids He wants us to help out. And pray for patience for us :). We'd have preferred to have the kids in our home already!

We continue to have some great times of devotions and praise together as a family. Last night we were really encouraged to watch some of our older boys take the lead in cautioning the other kids from listening to and believing every rumor that comes through our doors. A lot of people are going around scaring everyone to death with rumors of even greater impending doom to the country of Haiti. They encouraged the younger kids to make sure their relationship with God was what it should be, and to trust Him with their lives and future. It was just very encouraging to see them really starting to stand up as leaders, especially spiritual leaders here at the HOH. Three of them: Manno, Carl-Evens and Ronel are part of a group of youth who have decided to hold an evening of open air praise and worship on the streets of our town on Sunday night. So we are all looking forward to that very much.

Once again, a big thank you to each of your for your various ways of support. We are so blessed to have partners such as you working together with us to bring the hope and love of Jesus to those around us.

Medicine for the body & soul...

I wish I could bottle up a bit of the praise and worship music that's been filling the HOH these past two nights and send it to you. Things were feeling a bit heavy around here...maybe it was different bits of news we'd received, or the emotional highs and lows taking their toll, or perhaps just the fatigue we've all been experiencing. Whatever it was, we all felt it; our focus was getting off kilter and we started to hear and feel it in the conversations that were flowing between us.

So what do you do when your focus needs a little adjusting? Music is an important part of life here and for the HOH family nothing gets us back to fixing our eyes on Jesus than some concentrated times of worship together. So that's what we've been doing. And it's been beautiful -- the voices singing in harmony, the music from various intruments, the words coming from deep in our hearts, the tears streaming down faces, the promises read from God's Word, the prayers raising before the throne of our Father. Wish you could be here! And it works, like medicine for our soul...our focus turned off the things around us and once again fixed on our Heavenly Father who knows each of us by name, and holds the universe in His hand.

When our focus is fixed on what it shoudl be, we can't help but see that we are so blessed...we've been overwhelmed the past couple of days by how blessed we are. Let me share some of those blessings with you:

• The medical team lead by Dr. Piepgrass was able to help numerous people with orthopedic injuries. They were a blessing to all of us, and enabled us to have a part in helping those who were suffering in ways we never would have been able to if they hadn't come. God blessed the team by providing a flight for them to return to Cap Haitian, sparing them the body jarring 8 hour return trip overland! Thanks for praying for that.
• Thursday we received sacks and sacks of dry food, and many cans of meat from our friends at Miami Shores Presbyterian Church (see picture). Talk about a blessing...I love the verse Isaiah 65:24..."Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear." This church and our friend Renel were on the ball. Before we could even think about things like possible food shortages in our area due to the earthquake, they had already gone out, bought food and put it on a boat headed for Haiti. We were blessed to receive it yesterday. We are well stocked for the days ahead, and are blessed to be able to help those around us who are in need.
• We also received several hundred pounds of medical supplies yesterday. This will help the hospital as they continue to care for those wounded in the quake, and also help us for the ones we have here with us.
• We are blessed to have so many wonderful supporters like you. The response to our needs has been overwhelming. We thank God for each one of you.

Today we were blessed to add another member to our home. Michka is one of the young ladies who was operated on by the surgeons who were here. Michka is from Jean Rabel, a town quite a distance from us, still on the north coast, but almost on the far western point. She was in PAP during the earthquake, and slowly, painfully made her way north as she was unable to find medical care further south. Michka's foot was badly injured. She had made it to a hospital close to here in PPx, but she hadn't received the care she needed. While visiting that hospital, our visiting medical team saw her, and had her brought out to the hospital here -- she made several trips to the OR this past week.

Several days ago we realized she had nothing to eat, and no money to purchase food. We started sending her food down to the hospital, but today found out she has very little period. She needed clothes, toiletry articles -- pretty much everything. She has a very long hospital stay in front of her, and was having a hard time dealing with everything she's been through. In concert with the doctors at the hospital we decided it was best for her to come stay at the HOH during her recovery. Already Michka has a different look on her face. Linda spent the day today getting her settled in here, talking to her, encouraging her, sharing God's love with her. Tonight she made her way to our school room to particpate in our worship time. She joined her voices with those of our kids...eyes closed, tears on her cheeks...medicine for her body & soul.

Please continue to hold Michka, Judith, Andrine and Suze in prayer as they recover from their injuries. Pray for their emotional and mental healing as well as they have so much to deal with. They as well as our other young people who were in PAP have been dealing with a lot of nightmares lately, pray for God's peace for each them, and for wisdom for us as we seek to help them through these days.

Where do the days go?

Greetings from the HOH! Boy, I can't believe how fast the days are flying by. Things continue to be busy as we help the visiting medical team help as many people as they can. They spent Friday night, all day Saturday, half a day Sunday, and all day yesterday doing various surgeries. Gail Kealy the other CrossWorld missionary here in La Pointe and I have taken turns helping them with translation. It is so nice to see the people they've been able to help, and we look forward to following their recovery over the next little while. I've especially grown fond of the 22 year old young lady who had her leg amputated, and Linda and I hope to be able to encourage her in the days and weeks ahead.

Both Andrine and Judith are recovering very nicely, and the doctors say they can go home whenever they are ready to. They both have a several long weeks of recovery before them, so continue to pray for these two young ladies. We've gotten several phone calls today about receiving more wounded and sick from PAP, and hope that this can be worked out. Transportation is the problem, and we hope to be able to establish a site soon where they can airlift some to us, both for the hospital and for the HOH. I spent time on the phone with a Lieutenant from the US army today coming up with proper coordinates to get a helicopter in here, so pray we'll be able to work that out in the coming days so we can help alleviate the needs of the wounded in the hospitals in PAP.

I have spent quite a bit of time working different angles trying to get medical supplies here to the hospital. So far we've had donations from several different locations including the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and Duke University. We were able to work together with some other mission groups in the area, and they helped us get some of this stuff here. It's amazing how many people want to help out.

I have been blessed by you all as well, and those of you who have offered to send us the things in the list I posted. I haven't had a chance to answer all of you who have written with questions just yet, but please be patient, I will answer you all! Also, remember if you post a comment on the blog and have questions, I need an e-mail address where I can answer you.

Because all schools are closed, the HOH is once again a very busy place. We are trying to come up with some things to keep all these kids and young people busy and out of trouble. We are hoping to start implemeting some programs and studies for them in the weeks ahead, especially if school doesn't get started up again any time soon.

Everyone here sends their thanks for your encouragement, your prayers and your support. We appreciate you all very much, and ask for your continued prayers as we minister to those around us who have been through so much these past few weeks. Please remember to pray specifically for Marie Ange who will be returning to PAP tonight. She is going to continue her job as a nurse, as she is greatly needed there at this time. Pray for safety for her, and for courage to take opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus with those she ministers to.

Saturdays Off Anyone?

I think somewhere in the world there's gotta be a job that gets Saturdays off! Every now and again we do get to have a relaxing day on the weekend, but today was not that day! And we don't really mind, we are actually feeling good to be able to finally help some of the people that God has sent our way from PAP. While we are working on a very minuscule scale compared to what's happening in PAP, we are glad to be able to do something.

The car got back from PAP at about 10:30 last night. You can just imagine the excitement here at the HOH when the last of our "kids" finally arrived home. We spent the next couple of hours chatting, and listening to them tell their stories. Carl Evens will be here for the foreseeable future until things settle down and he can get back in to University. Marie Ange will still be working in PAP, and will return next week. But she's happy to be able to have a few days here with us to rest and get back up on her feet.

They were able to bring 5 kids back to join their family here in La Pointe, and also a 16 year old girl named Judith. Judith was at school in PAP when the earthquake hit. She ran, but was knocked to the ground and trapped her leg under a cement wall. She lay there for several hours before people were able to free her. Instead of seeking medical treatment right away, they tried to do what they could to dress and take care of the leg. Now 11 days later, the muscles and nerves in her lower left leg are damaged, and she has lost some of the function in moving her foot. With time and healing we'll be able to see how much function she'll have back. The Dr.'s tell me it's called "Compartment Syndrome"....the "Survivor's injury", and it's a common injury that we are seeing a lot of. Anyway, Judith is going to be staying here at the HOH for a while, as she heals and gets back up on her feet. So pray for her, she's in a lot of pain. Pray that this time she's here with us is just a really positive and helpful time as she heals.

The medical team is working away, they saw around 80 orthopedic cases yesterday; were in the OR until late last night, and have spent the day there today as well. They are really doing great, having to substitute or do without a lot of things they are used to having. Please continue to pray for their health and stamina as they put in some long hours. Also, for our Haitian staff that are assisting them. They plan on having the morning off tomorrow, and then back into the OR tomorrow afternoon. Pray that we can get supplies that they need, and also pray that I'll be able to get a flight for them back to Cap Haitian, so we don't have to drive them back. That will give them a whole extra day here, and will be a big help.

Thanks so much for your support. I know many of you have written me with specific questions on my e-mail, and I will answer you, but it might just take a bit of time as I'm really busy helping the medical team. Here's wishing you all a great weekend...

Hectic days!

I didn't get a chance to update yesterday, other than getting the list of things we could use online. Our medical team arrived her safely about 9:30 last night. They are already busy this morning, seeing patients and planning out the rest of their time here with surgeries and such. They had a rough trip in being on the road 8 hours after flying into Cap Haitian. They were able to bring in quite a few medical supplies, and also picked up some things from the Cruise ship docked outside of Cap. The doctors here were extremely glad to see them arrive, and even though we haven't ended up with as many patients as they had initially thought, they are very grateful for the help. Please continue to pray for them that they'd be able to help as many as possible, and that others who are in need of help would be able to get here in order to receive it.

Our vehicle is currently in PAP picking the last of our young people there. Lord willing, by tonight all of our "family" will be back home. We are really looking forward to that. The Bouchers have decided to stay in PAP and then head to the US as soon as they can. While we were happy to have them stay with us, we understand their decision to go there instead. Please pray for the guys and the car in PAP, pray that they get home safely tonight, they have a full load of people to bring back.

Last week this time, we had anticipated a lot more people staying in our home, but that hasn't happened yet. I'm being told by numerous people that our numbers are still going to swell, and we do really long to be able to help some of the children who have been left orphaned after the quake, so we are just praying that God would bring to our home those He desires to be here.

I'm feeling really tired today, and can't think of anything else to write! Thank you again for your prayers on our behalf, and your support.

Shipping things to us...

The boat that usually brings in supplies for us is arriving back in Miami and will be packing up in the next few weeks to bring supplies into Haiti. If you want to help us collect supplies that we can both use to give care to the kids at the HOH and to give to others who are in need at this time, feel free to check out this web page. I've posted it on the website of our new project "Hope Village" so hopefully it doesn't confuse you to much. If you get to the main page, click on the "Our biggest needs" link, If you have any questions feel free to ask... Here's the link: http://hopevillagehaiti.org/HOH_Needs.pdf

One last thing, if you have access to hospital type medical supplies, I didn't put any of that stuff on the list of things we need. Most of that stuff wouldn't be for the HOH but for the hospital located next door. Let me know in an e-mail if you'd rather send that type of stuff, and I'll send you the list...

A Belated Christmas

Good evening! I meant to get to this before today, but it was again one of those days where you get up with a list in your head of all you are going to get done, and then you spend the whole day doing everything but what was on that list! So, here's a bit of an update, and then I'm off so I can rock my girls to sleep tonight -- they've been missing that (and so have I).

Some have asked how Andrine is doing, she's in a lot of pain, but is so happy to be back in her home town, in her home hospital...She's really held up like a trooper through all of this. I hear it is a very painful injury. She's really hurting all over because they are making her stay lying on the wooden door that she was carried here on. I don't think she'll need surgery, but I guess we'll know for sure when the Dr.'s come.

When we went through the hospital this morning there wasn't an empty bed anywhere. They aren't overflowing yet, but they are full. Last evening they lost a patient that had traveled all the way here to receive medical treatment. He survived the quake, made his way 150 miles to find medical care, and then he died of an embolism, because they didn't have any blood thinning meds to give him. It really upset the doctors here. They are all working hard, and what makes it harder is that they all have lost someone dear to them...but they just have to keep going to try and save these who are here now. Pray for the doctors and nurses of the Beraca Medical Center.

Plans are still changing with the Boucher family, as their family who live in the US is trying to have them all go there for a while. Since they all have Visa, it shouldn't be too hard to do. So, tomorrow we should know what they've decided to do, and then we'll decide when and how to get Carl Evens back home. We haven't heard from Marie Ange at all today.

We look forward to receiving the medical team tomorrow. They'll be flying into the North of Haiti, and then our fellow CrossWorld missionary will drive them back here. Please pray for safety all along the way.

Well, just so you see that the title of my update actually has something to do with what I wrote...
Last night we finally had "Christmas" at the HOH. The last box of Christmas gifts got delivered to our house on Jan. 12th...so, since we'd had such a heavy week here at the HOH, we decided to go ahead and pass out the gifts so the kids could enjoy themselves a bit. I think this picture of Aubert gives you a clue how everyone felt about the evening. A big thank you to all of our friends who sent us gifts for the kids...

Tomorrow morning, Lord willing (we say that a lot in Haiti...maybe because so often we dont' get to do what we planned on doing!). I'll be posting a list of things that can be sent to us, and instructions on how to send it, so keep an eye out...

A couple of last bits of good news from our area today. A fuel truck got here today, so were able to restock up on diesel fuel. That will be a big help in the days ahead. And I talked to the director of the bank today, and they are planning on opening up tomorrow! That will be a big help to the area as well.

Your prayers, words of encouragement and willingness to help, have blown us away. We are so blessed, thanks for standing together with us. Good Night!

Praise God for a Virus!!

I got a bad virus on my computer about 3 weeks ago now. It wrecked my computer (and I've had to go back to using my extremely slow old one--which thankfully I had, or else you wouldn't be hearing from me). Because he was here on Christmas vacation Ruben tried to help me fix it. He's one of our boys studying Computer Sciences at a university in PAP. Though we struggled through it together for days on end, we never were successful. So, Ruben leaves to go back to school, and then, just last week, he gets a terrible virus on his computer. He struggled to fix it, and ended up having to miss some classes because he couldn't do the class work.

Last Tuesday he left school to go find a CD that he was told would help him fix the computer so he could back to classes the next day. While preparing to head across town to get the CD the earthquake struck, he hadn't left his house yet. Though shaken around a lot, his house stood strong -- amazing when you see the pictures of destruction all over PAP. The first thing that popped into Ruben's head was his sister, she was at school. He tore out of the house to find total chaos in the streets. He found his school (that had more than 5 stories to it) completely flattened. He is unsure if they ever found any survivors among his classmates who were still inside.

He ran to where his sister's school was and found it collapsed as well. He started screaming for her, and after searching for quite some time they found each other. She had a broken pelvis however, and so their nightmare continued as they searched for medical aid all over the city. They relied on the kindness of others to help carry Andrine from place to place on a door they had managed to find. Early this morning -- at 3:30 to be exact, they finally arrived back home. We were a large and enthusiastic welcoming party as the truck pulled into the hospital gate. How wonderful it was to have them back here with us. We got Andrine settled in the hospital, and Ruben finally got a chance to get some sleep.

Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for their safety yesterday. God really protected them, and we are so thankful for your part in holding them before the throne of our Father in prayer. Toto and Makens arrived here yesterday as well, and so we are left with only Carl Evens and Marie Ange still in PAP. Please pray as they both continue to deal with the traumatic events of this past week.

When the vehicle arrived at the Boucher's house in PAP yesterday, they thought we had sent for them. Apparently the past while since we had been able to talk to them have been very bad. Looting is rampant, and they are receiving cases of young girls and women being raped on the streets. They feel the best thing now is for their family to leave the city, which is home to them, so a very hard thing to do. We of course are very happy with their decision, and will be sending the truck back to get them either tomorrow or Thursday. We will be so happy to have Carl Evens and the Boucher's here. Please pray for safety for them, they no longer feel safe in their area so are going to stay somewhere else until we can get there to get them.

And that just leave Marie Ange. She's been holding up so well, helping out where she can, and returning to work as asked to do (she's a nurse). But yesterday things hit her hard. It was her birthday, she was away from home, without a place to stay, broke, and living out a horror story everywhere she went. We talked on the phone, and told her if she decided to come home we'd support that decision, and worry about another job at a later date. We told her to talk to her boss about letting her come, even if it's for a few days to get some rest and regroup...so we'll see if they let her. She'd appreciate your prayers for her. Pray she'd be able to think clearly about whether or not to leave PAP. Pray for safety as she has to walk to/from work each day. Pray that she'd be a light in the midst of darkness where God has placed her at this moment.

God blessed us, yesterday, working out the details of a medical team to come and help at our hospital . Sometime yesterday morning the hospital Administrator asked me if we could find help, specifically and orthopedic surgeon, and medical supplies which are already running low. The name of a doctor who used to come here regularily popped into my mind, but before I could even try to find his e-mail address I received e-mail from another doctor asking if he could come and bring an orthopedic surgeon! Dr. Piepgrass grew up in Haiti, and spent 6 years working here in La Pointe at our hospital. He's the one who trained our surgeon who is here now...so he knows the ropes around here. What a blessing! They are flying into a Cap Haitian this week, and should be here Thursday to help with surgeries. There are four of them (the two surgeons, and anethetist, and an OR nurse). They are bringing in medical supplies as they are able, and have asked for prayer for safety as they fly in and then drive numerous hours to get to her from there.

Many are asking how to help financially, and a financial gift to CrossWorld is really the best way to do that at this point. To help the HOH specifically, include a note that it is for the HOH; if you'd rather help with their Haiti relief fund, just mark that on the note. Their address is: CrossWorld, 10000 N Oak Trafficway , Kansas City, MO 64155. Or CrossWorld, 1020 Matheson Blvd. E. #11, Mississauga, ON L4W 4J9 for those in Canada. You can also visit their website: www.crossworld.org . I just heard of a new blog set up to post updates of CrossWorld's work in PAP, and their earthquake and recovery updates. If you are interested in keeping up with that the blog is: http://haitiearthquakerecovery.blogspot.com.

Some of you want to collect things and send them. The boats are still running between Miami and Port-de-Paix, so this is a possibility. I'll be preparing a list of needed items, and instructions on how to send it to us if you are interested drop me an e-mail: jenny.reitz@crossworld.org .

Once again, thanks so much for your prayers, your words of encouragement, and your support during this time. We praise God for each of you!

Please Pray Today...

Sorry I didn't get a chance to update you all yesterday. It was a rough day in a lot of ways for us. We had a great church service yesterday morning. Most everyone (at least all the older kids/youth who can understand what's going on) had tears streaming down their faces for much of the service. There were many mixed feelings...overwhelming feelings of gratitude for being spared, and for having our kids and close friends in PAP spared...unbelievable sadness for our friends and family who are grieving...desperate longing to help those we can, and frustration from not being able to. But in the end, the youth who directed our service did a wonderful job of fixing our eyes on our Beloved Creator through the reading of numerous Psalms, and then ended the service with a challenge from Eph. 5:16 "to make the most of every opportunity." And this is what we continue to do...

We spent the afternoon visiting with our grieving neighbors, and then got a call to please go visit another lady. She's in her late 20's I'd guess, and lost her husband and 2 oldest children in the earthquake. She survived with her small 3 month old baby boy Christopher. She, as you can imagine, is just beside herself with grief. She keeps hearing her little girl's voice in her head calling out to help her out from under the collapsed house. We've heard many similar stories, of these survivors not being able to sleep, still hearing the voices of their friends and families crying for them to help but not being able to...It was heartbreaking...we just feel so overwhelmed, and have no idea how to help these people. Please pray for us to have incredible wisdom these days as we seek to comfort and help those around us.

Ronel didn't get back from PAP until late last night. As soon as he got here we started making plans for his trip back today. He is going in our vehicle, and is taking food provisions for the Boucher family, and Carl Evens and Marie Ange who are staying there. Marie Ange called us last night, her place of employment is still standing so they are going to try and open up and keep working. So she will stay indefinitely to help out. While we'd love for everyone to just come on home, we are so proud of them for wanting to stay there help out.

Ronel still hasn't been able to leave PPx yet this morning as our car had some brake problems, and they were working on fixing them before they hit the road. I would like to ask you all to please pray for them today. Pray for safety on the roads, pray that they can reach all the places they need to with provisions. Pray that they will be able to reach Andrine ok, and pray for her as it's going to be a terrible trip over these rough roads with her broken pelvic bone. Pray for Kerby the chauffeur who is driving. Pray for other connections that need to be made, we have other friends (including one who is trying to bring back 4 nieces and nephews who lost their father).

For those of you who write comments on the blog, I do appreciate that, but if you ask me a question, I have no way of answering your questions if you don't include an e-mail address. So, please either include and address, or write me directly at my e-mail: jenny.reitz@crossworld.org.

That's all for now, please pray for the guys on the road today.

Today's HOH News

I started this update with "not a lot of news today", and then by the time I had finished writing it all had changed with lots of news...So, here goes

A lot of people are starting to make it back up to La Pointe. Numerous ones have been passing through the HOH all day today, telling us their story. We've been helping those we can with clothing, funds and food, as most of them have nothing. So far we haven't had any arrive to stay with us, as they all have family in the area. One boy came by with two of his friends. He had been trapped under his house for 6 hours, and his friends had dug with their hands until they could finally rescue him!

Here's an update on our young adults in PAP:

Toto & Macken (Mme Yvon's 2 boys) were able to meet up with a friend Ernst who came in from the DR. They are going to come back to La Pointe with them, but they need to find Ernst's little sister first. They know she is alive, but they haven't been able to locate in which makeshift camp she is yet. So they are still searching for her. Pray they can find her and all come back here.

Our friend, Ronel Jean, went to PAP today to find his brother Ruben and sister Andrine. He found them, we had been told Andrine had been hit by falling cement, but they had told us she wasn't too bad. Well, that's not the case. It appears that her pelvic bone is broken, she cannot sit, and hasn't been seen by a doctor yet even though she's been taken to three different medical stations. It's a good thing Ronel went down. He's just called and said they can't stay there, there's no care, and nothing they can do about it. He is going to come back here tomorrow, and will likely take one of our vehicles back down to pick her up. She cannot sit, so he needs a vehicle she can lay down in. Pray that we can work out these details, so she can come back and get the care here at our hospital that she needs.

Carl Evens is going to stay with Mme Boucher to help her and the kids out. While their house is unlivable, they still have most of their belongings, so they feel the need to stay there for now. Dr. Boucher is working non-stop helping the wounded, so when he can come home they want to be there for him. He lost both his clinic and the hospital he directed. They seem to be doing ok, and we are so thankful for the 20 minutes we got to talk to them on the phone this evening to catch up on their news. They are managing to find a few things to eat, but not a lot. So we will try to send them provisions with the vehicle going back in. We have offered to take the boys here if it will help them out, so if they feel the need to do that they will. They have not left their neighborhood at all, so while they hear a bit of news every now and again, we hear more about what's going on in PAP around them then they do!

While we haven't heard from her in a couple of days, Marie Ange said she is staying in PAP for a bit. As a nurse she is helping out where she can. She is planning on coming back home as soon as she can.

The hospital we are connected with(CMB) is starting to fill up with wounded that have been able to make it out here. We've sent all our extra medical supplies to them because they will run out quickly (dear friends at Simcoe -- your medical supplies are being put to good use!). Dr. Mozart was exhausted this morning, so you could pray for him and the other Dr.'s and nurses as they treat these wounded. They were told they'd get some extra nurses from the government, but so far we haven't seen them yet.

We also heard that the street kids that some of our missionaries in PAP work with were all found ok today. They can't stay in their house, but they are alive, so we are so thankful to hear that.

In general, we feel better after hearing news from most everyone today. Please keep praying, especially that we can get Andrine up here. And for those who have lost loved ones...everyone has family or close friends who have died, it is so very sad.

Precious Prayer Warriors

We are so blessed to have so many people holding us up in prayer these days. One of our very young prayer warriors prayed this for us today, "Lord Jesus, I pray for Haiti which is falling down and all the people dead. Please make Haiti stand up and stay up forever, Amen!" To which we add a very hearty AMEN!!

Our sleep last night was cut short as people in the area felt some small tremors early this morning. They panicked, and started yelling and scaring everyone. Soon everyone was calling whoever they knew telling them to get out of their houses...It got everyone here worked up, so we ended up sitting outside with the kids and watched the sun come up!

Today was another busy day, trying to connect people with their loved ones. Again some good and some bad endings, but we are glad to be able to help. We communicated with Dr. Boucher, and he sounded much better today. We are still trying to get our kids out of PAP and up here. We have received numerous requests to keep people who have survived and have no place to go. We are happy to do so, and so are waiting for them to start showing up. We imagine our family growing quite a bit over the next few days, and we are happy to be able to help out in this way.

Thank you for your continued prayers, please pray we can successfully get our PAP kids up here. We are going to try and send someone to them (they have no money to pay the bus fees -- the buses are running, they just need the money). So we are trying to work that out. We had a private vehicle all ready to go today, but at the last minute we found out PAP isn't letting private vehicles into the city anymore. So, we are back to square one. But we did find out the buses are running, so we'll try that angle. We have some friends who are still on their way here, but they should get in pretty soon.

So, with our little friends prayer in mind, we say Amen! and Good Night

"Help me Praise Him!!"

One of you sent me a verse today that was not only very fitting to what we are experiencing, but very encouraging as well...Ps. 46, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed...Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."

This morning we spent an hour just sitting with our neighbors who have lost their children in the earthquake. Tonight I can say their names, for those of you who know the people here. Emmanuel Francius is the director of our kid's High School. He and his wife lost their daughter and granddaughter. And Dr. Sider and his wife lost a daughter and a son. It was heart wrenching to sit with them, and we all wept as we mourned with them. The are two incredibly strong Christian families, and while they grieved painfully, they made it clear they still trusted God. At one point, one of the grieving parents cried out, "Help me praise Him! I can't do it on my own, pray with me, sing with me. Help me praise Him!"

As I read this verse later this morning that phrase "I will be exalted in the earth" really struck me. If you don't read the first part of the Psalm, it would be difficult to imagine how God could be exalted in the midst of such great tragedy, pain and suffering. But when you stop for a bit, remembering He is God, He is our refuge, and our strength...somehow it becomes possible. It was as Linda sat there and reminded our friend that He is her strength and refuge that she cried out with her request to help her praise Him. I know they have many dark days ahead of them as they grieve their loss, but what a blessing that they have a Heavenly Father who is there with them to be their very "present help in trouble".

Please continue to pray for these two families, and add to them the many others who are finding out little by little which ones of their family members are alive and which ones have passed away. One of our nurses lost a brother, another doctor lost her mother, still others have not yet heard any news of their loved ones.

We heard from Dr. Boucher very late last night. We only got to speak to him for a few seconds. He sounded exhausted from trying to run his hospital with the hundreds of sick piling in. He confirmed that they did lose their house and pretty much everything they owned. We encouraged him to send his wife and kids to the HOH so they could stay here until things clear up. Unfortunately, there just aren't a lot of options to get them out of the neighborhood where they are and up here. We continue to pray that we'd be able to work that out though.

We have not been able to have any contact with them whatsoever today. Different men from La Pointe are talking of trying to get to PAP and find those they can and bring them back here, so we'll see if they are successful or not. From what we see on the news it seems like that might be an impossible task.

One piece of good news we got today was that someone has spoken with Miss Marie Ange, so she was our last young adult in PAP that we hadn't heard from. So all of our kids who live there are alive and accounted for...what a blessing and reason to do some serious praising!!!

So with that thought I leave you all tonight....Help us Praise Him!

Update

It's been a long day. It was like the world of La Pointe stopped and the only thing important was finding news about friends and family. The kids went to school but within an hour everyone was sent home. Our office was full of people all day begging us for more information and help trying to locate loved ones. We did all we could to help, and in the end some were able to rejoice; some like us were thankful for lives spared, but terribly saddened by the situations our loved ones find themselves in; some are still waiting for news and others are tonight going through intense grief. We all have shed our fair share of tears today; tears of joy and tears of sadness.

We heard from Carl Evens, our boy who lives and studies in PAP with the Boucher family,this afternoon after much trying. We were so relieved, I can't even tell you, we all had tears in our eyes while he talked to us. We also were able to talk to Mme Boucher for a few minutes before the phone cut out. They are fine, but it sounded like they pretty much lost everything; she was sitting out on the road with the kids...with nothing and no place to go...our heart are broken for them, and we know there's nothing we can do to help them right now. She did tell us she lost one niece that she knows of as well.

God really spared Carl Evens, he wasn't at school yesterday as he had finished his exams and had a few days off (he was supposed to come up here today on the bus, go figure). He said his school was ripped in two, and all the students who were there were buried underneath and they've not been able to get any out. It was such a God thing that he was at the Boucher house when the earthquake happened, because he had to rush in to get their middle boy out. He got hit on the shoulder, but saved the boy's life!

Dr. Boucher is also ok, but completely swamped with work. The MSF hospital he directs had to be evacuated after the building became unstable, and he is now trying to deal with more patients than he and his team can handle. So please pray for him during these very difficult days.

On a much sadder note one of our neighbors lost their daughter and granddaughter in PAP, as well as a niece and nephew (children of another neighbor). They all lived in the same house…just young kids really, it’s terribly sad. The spouse of an employee of the hospital found out throughout the day of 7 different family members who had died. Others are still waiting for any news at all that their loved ones are still alive. Please continue to pray for our friends and neighbors. It's still very hard to get news. The phones only work sporadically.

We’ve heard from Ruben (Ernst’s brother, also studying in PAP) he’s fine. And so are Mme Yvon’s boys. But we haven’t heard from our good friend Miss Marie Ange at all. So we ask you to pray for her.

Thankfully we still have the internet. And thank you to everyone who has written to let us know of your prayers and support. Many are asking what you can do. Both CrossWorld and Extreme Response have Haiti Relief funds set up if you are interested in helping out financially. At this point we are waiting for things to settle down a bit to know how best to help out.

Pray for wisdom for us to know how to deal with the different situations that come our way. Pray for our co-workers in PAP who have so much more to deal with (we are thankful fhat all of our CrossWorld missionaries in Haiti are accounted for and are ok). Pray that we'd continue to be a light to those around us during this dark time.

EarthQuake!!!

Just wanting to let you know we are fine. We felt the earthquake up here, it was a bit disconcerting, but we had no idea how bad it was in Port-au-Prince. Please pray with us for our friends and family who are there, we have no way to contact most of them, and are very concerned for them, especially for the Boucher family. Please pray for them, and for all of us in Haiti during this very difficult time. The stories we are getting from Port-au-Prince sound terrible, but all we can do at this point is pray. We know this hasn't surprised our Heavenly Father, and we know we can trust Him completely. Thanks for praying.