Dear Friends,
Prayer Points:
1. Peace and wisdom as we try and finish up projects we have started. Needing to know what projects to have nationals continue while we are gone and what to just leave undone until we come back again.
2. Safety and health as we prepare to travel back.
3. Our emotions, as it is stressful finishing all we have started and then the emotions and backwards culture shock of coming back to America, especially for the kids.
4. Once we return, there are 4 days until school starts. Pray everything would fall into place, we would get clothes, school supplies, laundry done, and the kids would feel ok emotionally and physically (to be transparent, we tend to suffer from stomach issues once we return)!
We are nearing the end of our time here. Our plan is to leave Gonaives on Monday morning. We will spend a day and a half at the beach/hotel and unwind a little, then we will spend Tuesday evening in Port au Prince and leave on the first flight out Wednesday morning, arriving in Omaha around 11:15 PM. So, we have very little time left here, and we are feeling a little pinched for time trying to tie things up. Here is a recap of what has happened recently:
Brian and Emory brought in the team of 20 from Virginia. It was a whirlwind to say the least. While they were here, they held VBS for the kids in Jubilee, did house to house evangelism, fed the kids, visited prayer mountain, and on Sunday went to several different churches. There were here 3 days, then Brian took them back to Port and Emory left to return to Georgia. It was a difficult time for us while they were here because that is when all of us, with the exception of Emma, got sick. So, we stayed in the house the whole time, (I cooked for the team) and the kids puked and pooped their way through that week. Brian even took sick the night before having to drive them back to Port. God is faithful, and we made it through that, although at times I wondered if we would.
Once Brian returned from Port, we had a few days to ourselves. He continued on with the remodeling projects on the houses in Jubilee. I think he is on house #7 that they are remodeling now. I started a program for the elderly that have hypertension in Jubilee. There are many there with high blood pressure that do not know they have it; and if they do, they cannot afford to be on the medicine. So, I plan to start with 10 (as of now I have six that I have started with, but we are still looking). It is a matter of walking house to house and asking people if any elderly live there and then checking each one, which takes some time. So, the plan is to continue to monitor the people at least once every 2 weeks initially and supply them with the medicine they need. I have a Haitian nurse (Clauteed) that has been working with me to learn what we are doing. She will continue this for me once I am gone. She will also check on the kids in Kim’s nutrition program as well. She has been working with me when we do medical clincis, as well.
We had a team of 8 from Florida that came to do medical clinics. They were doing most of their work in Port so came here for a day and a half. There were 2 doctors, a nurse, and several pre-med students on the team. We held a clinic one day at Pastor Genada’s church, then the next morning in Jubilee. We saw probably 200 people one day and 100 the next. We were exhausted by the time we were done. Brian translated and had to drive them back and forth, so he was really tired! The kids just went along with us to the clinics and did balloons and stickers for the kids.
Brian is now back and we are working to get stuff done that he wants finished. I still need to go to the pharmacy here and see what they have for BP medicine and get that ready for hypertensive people. I only gave them enough initially for 2 weeks so need to buy enough to last hopefully the next 3 months for them.
The kids are doing great. They are really excited about going to the beach. Kendra’s birthday was Tuesday and Brad’s is Saturday. I am going to make one cake for them tonight to celebrate. Kendra did get to go with Brian to take the team back to Port on her birthday, so her little “present” was that she got to stay in a place with air conditioning for the night. The past few days haven’t been that hot because a rain came through and brought a little cool air with it. We were on the roof last night, and it felt almost chilly for a few minutes. Then the wind stopped and mosquitoes came back out!
Another little thing I will mention is that Momi Evans (our house lady) had a few days off last week because her grandma died. Me and the kids had to do our own laundry and had to do all the dishes for the feeding program (200+). It was an interesting week. I will send pictures of us doing laundry and the medical clinic in another email.
Thanks for all your prayers. We love you all.
Cody Smith
