Haiti Has a Lot of Rocks

One of Paul’s co-workers in St. Pete, who had traveled many places around the world, had one thing to say about Haiti: Haiti has a lot of rocks.  We have come to learn that is a very true statement, both literally and metaphorically.

I am truly sorry for not writing in a while.  I’m hoping (and believe) that it is not going to be the norm.  Things have been a little... crazy to say the least.  But here’s a little glimpse into our last month and the “rocks” we’ve encountered.

I went to the states for about two weeks to be a part of the wedding of my best friend from growing up.  It was a sweet time at home spending time with family and friends and bring back things I realized would be a good idea to have after experiencing Haiti for two months.  Meanwhile, Paul stayed back in Haiti, and I don’t think he took an hour off for himself the whole time.  That guy has been hiking mountains, working, translating, running meetings, and helping revamp the way our five schools that Mission Haiti partners with are going to be run.  He’s a crazy person, but in such a good way.

I returned back to Haiti at the second week in August.  I traveled with the Mulders, the last piece to our American team in Haiti.  The Mulders are from Sioux Falls and are made up of husband and wife, Tim and Sara, along with their three girls, Logan, Aubrey, and Reagan.  We are so excited to finally have our team down and start what the Lord has been working on Mission Haiti’s heart for a while.  However, when the devil is anticipating the work of the gospel, he works extra hard to frustrate those plans.

The first “rock” we encountered was on our first day back; Pam (the MH director) had to fire a man who has been with Mission Haiti from the beginning and has been working with Pam and Mike since he was 12.  He has been a pivotal member in the ministry here for many years.  However, it was the board’s decision after many circumstances to let him go.  Keep in mind, we live in a small town and gossip spreads like wildfire here.  The rumors are still flying as to why he and his family are gone.  Many of them involve Paul and I, which hindered our relationships with some of the youth that works with Mission Haiti.  We saw some attitude changes toward us and felt some unspoken hostility within the Haitian team here.  However, things have improved over the past week, and are continually getting better as truth is being made known and our character is being shown.

The second “rock” we encountered was both literal and metaphorical.  One afternoon, Mission Haiti played in a soccer game.  Now, these games are quite the social events (so I’ve heard, having never been to one), so after discussing with the Mulders, Tim chose to go along with me and check it out to see if it is a child-friendly atmosphere.  The grace of God covered that decision as a riot broke out during the game between team and fans and it got quite crazy.  Rocks were being thrown; tree limbs were being made into batons.  Paul, being a team member, had left the game early because things were getting out of hand, and seeing the escalading emotion, we went to stand by the truck before mass chaos broke out.  We were in pretty good position to make a get away, which we did saving ourselves from harm.  We stopped by the police station on our way back, after they scolded us on starting these kinds of things, they said they couldn’t go intervene because they had a flat tire.  The rest of the team made it back periodically throughout the night, with no real injuries – Praise God.  However, the heightened rivalry with the neighboring village did not end with the night and the next morning some street barricades of burning tires were set up between the villages, which always results in people gathering.  This time, however the police did intervene which sent many people scattering.  At this time we had many additional children on our compound because we were in the middle of distribution, where different schools would come through for registration, shoes, and backpacks.  During the police intervention, the scattering people sent the children waiting outside our gates flooding in causing much hysteria.  We put our American teams in the house (me included) while Paul worked to calm many children.  Again, the Lord was faithful with no injuries and there is peace in the village again.

Many of these things that were happening were a “first time ever” kind of experience for Mission Haiti.  Still the next “rock” that came our way was probably the most unexpected of them all.  I probably should label it more as a stone – a kidney stone that is.  While working distribution one day, my breath was taken away by a tremendous pain that occurred in my back.  I pretty quickly had diagnosed it as a kidney stone, having had experienced them before.  The next three days I spent bedridden, but continually got more ill as the days went on, to the point where if I would stand for more than a minute I would vomit and almost faint (keep in mind our bathroom is an outhouse about twenty yards from our house).  We decided it was time to take a trip to the doctors.  Pam had a friend who ran a hospital in a town about an hour and a half away with some American doctors on staff.

We arrived at Hospital Lumiere on Thursday afternoon where I underwent a few tests and sure enough, did find a kidney stone, but still in the kidneys, not passing through yet.  I also had kidney and/or bladder infection that needed to be treated.  Upon more review of my test results, my pregnancy test came up positive.  They decided to do another ultrasound, this time looking not at my kidneys but uterus.  The uterus was empty and they informed me of my ectopic pregnancy which means that my eggs had stayed in the fallopian tube instead of traveling down to my uterus.  We always said that if anything serious would happen medically, we’d go to the states, but in this case, if the egg could rupture my fallopian tube and I could bleed out in a matter of half an hour.  I was advised to stay in the hospital there for observation and we would revisit progress in three days. 

I then embarked the adventure of experiencing the Haitian hospital as a patient; it opened my eyes to a whole new world people live in.  I was in a severe amount of pain, Paul had to help my every move, every reposition, every sit up and lay down.  I was told they did not want to provide me with pain management medication because they wanted me to feel if I experienced any new pain (like a rupturing fallopian tube) so they could instantly take me in to surgery.  I was uncomfortable, I was hot, I was scared, I was sharing a giant, hot room with 6 other women.  It probably was hardest three days of my life.  Over the next few days, I started to regain strength.  By Saturday, I felt 85% better, laughing, standing on my own, and even went for a short walk.  But Saturday was the day of my repeat sonogram.  I also repeated the pregnancy test.  In God’s divine mercy, I am not pregnant.  No baby means no risks for complications, no need for surgery.  Praise God.  If and when God wants us to have a baby, He’ll work that one out.  But to not have to start as a super-high risk while living in Haiti was such providence. 

When I was in the hospital, I would love to say my faith went into turbo, but it didn’t.  I questioned and I doubted, but most of all, I just complained to God.  There would be nights were it would be probably in the 90’s where I couldn’t sleep because I was laying in my own sweat and I felt like I couldn’t take one more minute of that place.  My faith was weak.  In those moments, I knew I had an army praying for me in Haiti and in the States (thanks to my mom using the facebook option prayer chain).  When I didn’t have energy or faith to pray anymore, I let you all do it for me.  That is what the body of Christ is, I think, bearing burdens we couldn’t bear alone.  Paul was so wonderful, attending to my every need, with a hand of support for every movement, sleeping on the floor next to my bed.  He was so brave and good.  Thank you for your prayers on his behalf as well.

Real quickly, and then I’ll be done – thanks to those who read this all, you get the true friend awards (or the no life award).  A passage I’ve been camping out in scripture has been 2 Timothy 2:11-13:

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

      "If we endure, we will also reign with Him;

       If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

       If we are faithless, He remains faithful,

       For He cannot deny Himself"

That last part just really speaks to life in reality.  God doesn’t match us step for step, our faith with His faithfulness.  He is entirely faithful all the time, it is in His character – it is who He is.  He was, is, and always will be faithful.

Thank you all so much for your prayers of support of the past few weeks.  Please continue to pray as hope things kind of calm down a little bit.  Pray all “rocks” move out of the way of the gospel and many see the love of Christ with good soil in their hearts.

Much love.