Haiti Restoration

We spoke with Phyllis Newby this morning!

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Friend of this ministry, Dr. Sugar, who is an orthopedic surgeon, shared with us his recent encounter with Haiti.

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Much ministering to the wounded continues to be done at the Saintard Mission Center’s Hospital. The German medical group’s helicopter returned twice on Saturday with medical supplies and twice on Sunday with rice from the Dominican Republic. The German group will be leaving Haiti on Wednesday. They have been so helpful and we are very grateful to God for them.

The orthopedic doctors are working long hours and cannot keep up.  There are many crush-type fractures, some that are untouched by medical hands since the earthquake over 2 weeks ago.  Many people are being seen who were hit by falling debris or from walls collapsing on them.  Others have secondary infections due to hurried surgeries.  Keeping a supply of food, medicine, and medical supplies is an ongoing problem.  Patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes are finding it impossible to find life-sustaining medication, which formerly was available in Port Au Prince. The road to recovery will be very long and painful. This report came through Dr. Mark Fulton. Go to Websites We Know and Trust for more details.

A dear friend of this ministry, Michael Pink, battled to save the love of his life, Brenda, from an inoperable brain tumor. We battled with him as he led the charge. We witnessed a determination in Michael to honor Brenda’s faith and the word God had given her. Brenda led us all into the presence of God daily. She said she would not trade places with anyone because of all God was doing deep within her. On one occasion, she said, “I’m so happy that my heart is wagging its tail.” Her joy is now complete as she is among the great cloud of witnesses. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to join with Michael and Brenda in this “good fight of faith.” Brenda, who is now fully in the Presence, cheers us on. If you have not followed this incredible journey, I would encourage you to visit Michael’s blog.

The following is a blog Michael sent out yesterday as he recounts going through Brenda’s clothes and how God led him concerning the present crisis in Haiti…

Last week, I thought it would be appropriate to go through our bedroom closet and pack up my wife’s clothes and give them to Goodwill. I didn’t know what else to do with them. My dear friend Gerry from Canada was staying with me and offered to help. I declined his warm offer and suggested he stay in the next room and read or whatever he wanted to do. I would be fine. (I thought.)

When I began the task, the first thing I noticed was how many very nice things she had in the closet and it seemed like a shame to just throw them in a trash bag and haul them off to Goodwill, so I decided to start with some of her less fancy clothing. As I began laying clothes on the bed to be sorted, folded and packed in a bag, I was beginning to feel the emotional pull that I was hoping would not happen so I called Gerry into the room to help with the folding and packing. (Just for a moment, I thought we had enough of the Chico’s brand to open an outlet store!)

Returning to the closet, I decided the T-shirts would be easier. The first shirt I grabbed was one I bought her in April in the Amazon region in Ecuador. It stirred a powerful memory, but I pressed on. The second one I grabbed was from the Gamboa Resort in Panama that I bought her in February when we were there together. I began to feel my emotions really pulling on me but I pressed on. The next T-shirt was from an anniversary trip to the island of Kona, Hawaii. That’s when I lost it. So many memories. A life filled with love and adventure. How could I pack all this up and seemingly throw it in the trash?!?!

That’s when I remembered a precious caregiver from our church named Karise. She had mentioned her desire for some memento of Brenda’s to treasure such as a T-shirt. I called her on the phone and described what was going on in my closet and how even though things were being packed up to go to Goodwill, it still felt like I was throwing everything away and I felt terrible.

That’s when Karise saved the day for me… She reminded me that our church has been doing mission work in Haiti for 26 years and that we were (as a body) getting ready to take many supplies back down to the mission we work so closely with there and that perhaps we could pack up Brenda’s clothes and take them along. Some of the more expensive items could be sent to a consignment shop, sold and the money taken to Haiti.

Instantly, the heaviness left me and I knew that Brenda would be thrilled to know her clothes were going as an extension of our beloved fellowship in Sarasota to the hurting people of Haiti. It no longer felt like her things were going in the trash, but that they were going as a love offering from my wife to the hurting in Haiti.

I shared this story with you for two reasons… First of all, because as you know by now, I feel called to live this experience out in front of you all. A sort of painful object lesson that we hopefully all can learn and benefit from. But secondly, I wanted to invite as many of you as feel inclined to join me in Brenda’s memory by sending Haiti a big love gift by donating whatever of value you choose to the ministry that our local church is birthed out of, called Hand to the Plow.

They have set up an Earthquake Restoration fund. These funds will go directly to the mission in Haiti that oversees 300 plus churches and will immediately be applied to where the suffering is greatest. You may want to hold your own yard sale and clean out your closets or perhaps hold a church garage sale and send them the proceeds.

Whatever you feel to do will go a long way to helping in this great time of need. Have a blessed weekend my dear brothers and sisters and I look forward to seeing many of you in Denver next week!

A helicopter landed on Wednesday in Saintard with the German medical team plus two from Canada (Chuck Kerr & Steve Omand). Dr. Mark Fulton and Randall Grey also arrived on Wednesday from Indiana. They were told that the helicopter would return on Thursday with food supplies from the Dominican Republic.

The United Nations provided diesel for the mission center which will help to run the generators and vehicles. Also, a technician from a company in PAP will be on the property on Friday to repair the generators.

We also have a clip from Sister Phyllis Newby in the podcast section!

We had a phone conversation with Phyllis, today at 3:30pm! Just push the play button.

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Talking now with Phyllis Newby. We will be adding a podcast soon with that conversation.

Jamaican soldiers, including doctors, nurses, and military police, arrived at the Saintard Mission Center today (January 26.) They brought and distributed 500 packages of food and water to the Haitian people. However, Phyllis estimates that there were closer to 1,000 people waiting for assistance. She was thankful for the presence of the military police and their supervision of the crowd.

The Jamaican soldiers also brought an engineer who inspected all the buildings at the mission center. The engineer found nothing structurally damaged and he said that the cracks were only cosmetic in nature. Praise the Lord!

The German medical group is to arrive this evening (January 26.) Dr. Mark Fulton, who oversees the mission center hospital, will be flying in tomorrow.

Phyllis’ words were, “We are okay. The Lord is blessing. Don’t worry about us – just pray for us!”