Surgery Week

Last week I blogged a little about Haitian church, but I did not really go into anything about my time here.  It has been a longer adjustment than I thought, but I have loved my time here so far.  I love seeing positive changes in the way things are working on campus.  There is a new room for the Miriam Center, which was much needed.  I am so excited to see how God uses that room to bring visibility to some of the children who are often left out this summer.  It has also been so good to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones.  It adds so much to the relationship when you are able to say that you are staying longer than the typical ten days. 

 An "old friend," Jacob

A new friend, Wadly

For the past week or so, we have had a surgery team here.  It has been pretty cool to watch them in action.  I have spent a lot of time in the surgery wing trying to help make sure things are running smoothly.  I have found that my time there has been filled with extremes on both ends.  There are happy moments when the surgeons are able to change people’s lives.  After one of the surgeries, the man who was operated on said “Thank you so much.  Now I can go to church, I can go to the market, I can go to town.” One small operation was able to completely change his life.  However, there are also difficult times.  One boy came in for a surgery and the doctors found a mass.  They think that it could be cancerous, and they are taking it back for biopsies in the States.  We were able to find a place that could treat him if it is cancer; however, that place is in Port-au-Prince.  He lives on Tortuga Island.  If it is cancer, it is likely that he will not be able to get the treatment that he needs.  Though this has been and could be really hard, I am so thankful that we were able to build a connection with this family.  I have really enjoyed getting to know Pastor St. Verdi, the pastor of the mission church more this week.  He has such a heart for this community, and he has really demonstrated that heart.  He has prayed with every patient prior to them going into surgery and is planning follow up visits to check in on some of them.  Not only does this build a connection between the church and the patients, but it has also been an opportunity to share the peace that our Lord and Savior brings. 

As I was doing my quiet time this morning, I asked God to remind my why I am in Haiti.  Wow, what a reminder he gave me.  This morning I went into surgery wing, and the first patient was a little boy whose fifth birthday was today.  As he went back, Pastor St. Verdi went to pray with his grandmother who had brought him.  I noticed that she was crying, and something told me that I needed to try to comfort her a little.  I sat with her and hugged her, patted her back, and tried to bring a little sliver of comfort as the surgery went on.  (Surgery is a very scary thing for Haitians, as it is not common/typically does not have high success rates.)  I went to check on the boy, and I came out and told her that the surgery was finished and he did very good.  She immediately started saying “Thank you Jesus.  Thank you Savior.”  As we walked arm in arm to see her grandson, she was singing praises the whole time.  As we were sitting with the boy, she started to share with me their story.  She said that the boy’s father told her he would kill her if anything happened to his boy.  She told us how the boy’s mother left the father, so the father did bad things to the boy to try to make the mother suffer.  She said that she tried to take care of the boy, but she could not send him to school or anything.  She then asked if the mission could take the boy.  The love that this grandmother has for her grandson is extremely evident.  I cannot imagine what it took for her to get to the point of asking someone else to take her grandson.  I knew that taking the boy was not the answer, so I went to get Pastor St. Verdi.  He was also impacted by their story, so we went to talk to the people in charge of Northwest’s programs.  Long story short, we were able to get him into a program and registered for school next year!  His grandmother told him that today was the best birthday for him because he will be able to go to school next year.  It was so awesome to play a little part in this, and it was definitely that moment I had asked God for.  At northwest, we say that we are about people not projects.  This was a perfect example of this. 

Me, Rolson, and his grandmother before we registered for school

 

Overall, though there have been hard things to see this week, I am so thankful for the relationships that have been built and the lives that have been changed for the better.  I am looking forward to more of these as this next week is also full of surgery.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement.  I cannot wait to see what all God does while I am here.  He has already been evident in so many ways.