La Vie Èternelle

The room was still and quiet, except for a steady whoosh of high flow oxygen rushing through a mask to provide life-support to the small form laying on the bed. The clock continued steadily ticking off the minutes, as we worked and prayed over the little lifeless baby on the bed. It had all begun with a phone call one Monday afternoon....saying that another nearby missionary was on his way to our clinic with a lady in labor. Upon her arrival, we found there were some severe complications, and we could not get a fetal heartbeat for the baby. Likely, he was dead a while before the mother's arrival at our clinic...sadly by the time these people sought our help, it was too late. As we began initial discussion of transport options for the mother, we soon realized we didn't have time to transport, and the baby was born into our hands, limp and lifeless. Then began our attempts to resuscitate and see if there was any chance of this little man reviving and making it. But it was not to be, and after a good while of resuscitation and watching the clock, we finally had to accept that there was nothing more to do, and the precious baby was in the arms of Jesus. The look on the dad's face as he saw his baby and heard us tell him that there is nothing more we can do, and the mother's emotional state and tears the following morning before she left, are things etched into my memory forever. Yet I am thankful we can rest, knowing the baby is safe with Jesus and doesn't have to suffer any pain here on earth. This is just one of the sobering and difficult situations from the last number of weeks here... and it all has made me do a lot of thinking.

Eternal life..... we all have it, but it's not a visible thing. Sometimes it is difficult to comprehend, and yet easy to forget, how every human being has an eternal soul that one day will live on after they have left this earthly sphere. One thing we see a lot here in Haiti is death. I have come face to face with it more often lately than I ever would wish to. We have had to resuscitate lifeless infants, and give the last bits of comfort care to a young, dying woman who was succumbing to the irreversible disease process raging through her body. It is so difficult and painful sometimes to watch... to see the families struggle, and crumble at the news of their loved one, or baby, dying. Yet....death is something that Haitians seem to accept as a reality, and sadly it too often is. One night as I lay thinking rather than sleeping, I thought about the young woman who was in our hospital room that night, dying. We sent her home the next day as there was nothing more we could do for her...and she did pass away just a short time later. But that night as I listened to the crickets, and the drunk neighbor singing to the countryside at 2am.... I pondered life, and the sobering reality that each of us, at one time or another, will meet the end of our lives, and our Creator. It just made me wonder...are we ready? Are we helping those we meet each day to be ready? Because it's just so very real, and none of us know how much time is left for us. May we be thankful for the gift of life each day, and use the time given us well. I am so very thankful for the love of God and the hope and courage we can have, even here, staring death and suffering in the face. Death itself is not the end... and there are far, far better things ahead, for those who love God.

Thankfully we have also been able to usher some new lives into this world lately, and that is another miracle all its own, and so beautiful. OK it's messy, and loud, and sometimes we're so tired and it's not super fun.... but it's beautiful. The first breath and cries of a newborn are one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard. The miracle that a tiny, brand new person is making their arrival into this big world is just always amazing. And each of them has a soul that will live on for eternity.

Our days at clinic continue to be busy, with more constant, moderate numbers of patients. Sixty to one hundred people in a day is common right now. We have had numerous more severe patients staying in our hospital room over the last number of weeks.... but at the moment the “hospital room” is nearly empty again.

Around 7am on Tuesday, July 4^th, Kayla and Autumn were summoned to clinic for a lady in labor. They soon had delivered a little boy. But after a difficult labor and delivery, the baby was not breathing and did not have a pulse upon his arrival. They immediately began resuscitation and did get a pulse back, and eventually spontaneous breathing, though we kept him on oxygen. There was soon cause for concern though, as the baby appeared to be seizing. They were able to secure a flight for him to Fond des Blancs, a good hospital with a NICU.... so some of our crew went up to the landing zone with the baby, while a few of us others stayed at clinic to keep things going that morning. Thankfully everything went smoothly, and we got everything wrapped up in good time. We did get news that the baby died several days later, so please pray for the parents, as it was their first baby, and it is a difficult experience for them.

This little person thought it would be great to taste the stethescope. =) With the malnutrition and milk programs that we have at clinic, along with just regular consultations for sickness, we see quite a few children at the clinic on any given day.

This man ended up staying in our hospital room for a few days, and fast became a friend.

His wife also loved to talk and spent quite a bit of time talking with us about many things. It was so good just to sit and talk and get to know them.

That's it for now.... I better wrap up since I'm way overdue for this blog post. (Please forgive me. =)) Lately with some of the more complicated and difficult cases at clinic, it has been testing us... I have felt a keen need of wisdom and discernment beyond what I have. Please pray that God would provide the wisdom we need in each situation, to give the best and most appropriate care....and that we could not just care for physical bodies, but that we could minister to souls and impact them... not only for life here on earth, but for eternity too.

-Mis Sharon

I'll live for him Who died for me......

How happy then my life shall be! I'll live for him who died for me, My saviour and my God!

This chorus really encouraged me this past week! so I wanted to share it with everyone.

Hi guys........Wow!! another month has past in what seems like a blink of an eye! God has granted us another month! And I CAN'T complain! It has been a good one....Perfect amounts of people each day! And Grace where we needed it, What can I say...We serve an awesome God!

A few pics from our last month here at the clinic.......

Here's a picture of Mis Katie doing job a stitch on a horse that come in on Sunday afternoon! I must say, He probably was one of the best stitch jobs in a while as far as corporation! he never flinched!

Doc doing a surgery, And me assisting on a little girls wrist! She had a tumor a little smaller then a golf ball on the top side of  her wrist!

This woman came in with this gash to her head! She said she had fallen on the trail, and hit her head

on a rock! I ended up putting 10 Stitches in this gash.

Here's a picture after the ten stitches!

Well that's all for this week hope it gives you a little idea of what our last week was like here at the clinic!

 Please continue to pray far us as we continue to serve the people of Haiti!

                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                               ~ James,

Live Your Life for the Benefit of Others

Thanking God for yet another good week at clinic and for more meds. God is good.

 Things have been pretty low key for the most part around here.(besides the longer days at clinic with normal consultations and a bit of odd cases. ) We had one birth last week,but it had been a good couple of weeks before that  that we had one.

(Katie,baby,Kayla, Autumn and the Pt. Midwife)

Please excuse our unprofessionalism in this pic;) It was seven o'clock Thursdays evening when we got a nock on the gate. Sure enough,it was a lady on labor.(since it had been so long we were expecting it.) So Kayla,Autumn and I quickly ran to clinic to see what the status was on this lady. She was a first time mom and hardly in the first stages of labor. As we were down at clinic and just had decided we were going to send the lady back home,  it began to pour down heavy rain. So we sat up a bed in the hospital room for our patient and her husband  and decided they could stay the night and we would just make a quick dash for the house in the rain since it didn't look like it was going  to stop any time soon. We had almost reached our gate to our compound when we heard our names called out. "Mis Mis." We turned and looked to see yet a other laboring lady coming down the trail on a cot drenched from the rain. So we turned back around and headed straight back to clinic. By the time we got there,not only was the patient drenched from the rain,but so were we and the rest of the crowd that brought the patient(which meant for a really wet, sloppy,slippery clinic floor.    At first there was a bit of a concern about  the baby because of some meconium staining in the amniotic fluid.  But within an hour, a  baby boy was born! He didn't want to cry for a while after birth but he pinked right up and seemed to have been doing really well. 

The next morning(Friday) the baby was showing signs of maybe what seemed like seizures. So we had him sent out to a hospital a couple of hours away. Please pray for him when you think of him. His name is James. We have yet to hear how he is doing as of now. 

(Sharon,Autumn)

This dear friend of ours used to come to clinic for a bandage for his skin cancer. But since there wasn't anything we could do to make it better,we started having him come back every week for bandage supplies and "someone else was supposed to be doing the  bandages for him". On Tuesdays he came back to clinic with a complaint about his wound, so we decided we could bandage it for him this time. As I pulled the bandage back to remove it, I couldn't help but gasp at what I saw. The wound  was full of maggots crawling every Where!

Bless dear Autumn and Sharon for stamaching it up and pulling out each individual maggot from the wound. They didn't think to count them but they estimated over a hundred that they removed. 

Doc, James and Kayla performing a minor surgery on a young boy who had fallen on his hand a few days prior to this and had gotten the slightest tiniest cut that caused a major infection in his whole right hand. 

That brings me to the end of yet another blog. 

We can't say it enough. But thank you so much for your continual prayer and support. Please keep it up. 

Mis* Katie 

Sufficient Grace

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

-2 Cor. 12:9

Our busy days here have continued... I believe we had over 1,600 people in the month of May. It is enjoyable to see the clinic become a beehive of activity every day as each person does their job and things flow smoothly. But there are also frustrating moments like when we are really low on meds because of the many extra patients this month. Or when there is another screaming child who just won't cooperate and insists on letting the whole world know that she isn't happy, as we try to remove a bean from her ear. (This seems to be a common occurrence the last while, as a lot of people have harvested their bean crop recently.) At times there is nothing to do but pray for the grace to keep going, to keep smiling, keep loving, when the strength to do that certainly isn't in me. But God is very faithful, and has kept and helped us through each of these busy days...and in the middle of each crazy day, we can look up, and find His grace sufficient... it never runs out, no matter how many various needs are demanding our attention. (I'll probably need to remind myself of this 10 times today. ;)) At the end of the day, God is very good...all the time!

Here are a few glimpses at recent patients and moments...

Recently Dr. Felix and James removed a cyst from a man's leg. It was a nearly a minor surgery.

I'd like you to meet this little 4 year old friend of mine. She has been living at the clinic for several weeks now, as she is being treated for some severe burns. She fell in a cooking fire, and her clothes caught fire... she had severe burns on her back and one arm when she came to clinic. Sometimes it has seemed like we are making slow progress, but with daily care the burns are healing and it is fun to watch them close up, one by one. She only has one small spot left on her arm to finish closing up and then she will be going home. By now we are good friends, and it has been a joy getting to interact with her and her parents these past weeks. I'll never forget her...and pray that we have been able to encourage and influence her family for the Lord during these past several weeks. (Sorry for the photo quality...this is what happens when you Whatsapp and crop photos...but I haven't the time to do it all correctly.)

This lady had her baby at our clinic recently... they came back one day for a check up, and both mom and baby are doing well. This lady is a daughter of Madame Ossinee, for anyone who has been here and knows her.

Here is Autumn, with the baby. Autumn arrived last week and is our newest clinic staff member. She is settling in well and learning her new job here. I'm sure you'll be hearing from her later, so I'll let further introduction to her. =)

We get to meet some of the most precious children at clinic... and some of them are just so perfectly squishable!

This guy had a nasty cut on his hand and needed some stitches.... but he didn't act very adult-like about the pain as Katie tried to help him.

His yowling brought a nice little crowd of onlookers. =)

Please keep praying for us as we carry on here, and thank you for faithfully praying...it is our lifeline!!

-Mis Sharon

Anpil Moun!! (Lots of People)

Wow!!!! Another week has just went by in what feels like just a blink of an eye!! Things here at the clinic have gone from slow pace (40 people days) to having three days this week with more then 100 people at clinic!! And the days seem to be continuously growing! And on top of all that....we are currently short staffed because Mis Alyssa left two weeks ago! Thankfully Sharon's sister was here for a visit...And was able to fill in and help with blood pressures etc.

So here are a few pics of our last week at clinic!!

Just doing another bandage! This poor guy has been coming faithfully for about 4 months without much change in his wound!!

This young 15 year boy old broke his femur late Wednesday afternoon! usually we would fly a patient like this! But due to  bad weather we had to go by ground!!

This man came in last Friday! and said that a tree had fallen on his leg!! He said it had happened the Monday before.  He had already gotten a bad case of cellulitis and if he would have waited much longer....he probably would have lost his leg!

He is doing much better now.

So that's just a few pics of our last week!! 

Please continue to pray for for us as we continue Gods work in the mountains of Haiti!

                                                                                          ~James

Good Bye Haiti!!

Haiti… It is hard to say goodbye to a place that you have come to love so much. A place that is rooted deep in the heart and would tear my heart apart if completely taken out. When I came to Haiti a little over 2 years ago, I never knew you could love a place so much. A place that you experience life and death, sleeplessness nights, spiritual battles, loving until you break, feeling like you can’t contain one more experience, but these are the experiences that God can use us the most. When I can come to the place where it is all about God and nothing is for my own gain, He can use me. He can use all of us!!

As I bid goodbye to Haiti this past week, I not only said goodbye to my team but also good friends. As I leave the culture, my home, and life for the past two years it hurts BUT… I am embarking a new adventure returning to life in Canada. You can pray for me as I make these adjustments.

Here are a few pics from the past week…. 

A young man who had a tree fall on his head. He can be thankful to be alive!!

A miracle baby that made her appearance one evening with her strong will to live she survived. 

Another miracle woman that God granted complete healing to. 

We had a wonderful visit with these ladies. 

Thanks for all your prayers and support. To those who are striving on the field everyday. You do a great job!! Remember that God is on your side!

~ Mis Alyssa 

Visiting, etc...

Here is a glimpse of our week through pictures.... 

Alyssa and I went to visit our "mother", she had some delicious food for us!

This tiny little munchin weighs only around 5.5 lbs, and  is 2 months old. Nursing fine but not gaining weight.... not sure of the problem. Started with parasite treatment and vitamins and an appointment to return.

Mis Sharon went to visit one of her young friends and spent  the afternoon with all these sweet faces.

Eating Limos and chatting at Fre Nores' house

"Dr. Alyssa" helped with the final touches of removing a cyst from this lady's scalp.

Eating fish at Pastor Adolf's