The Wedding And Our Family
I have neglected writing the last couple months. Our son Trevor’s wedding was a very nice day. As you all probably know, he married Mirlene Henry who was/is our translator here in the clinic. She is a great girl for him and a joy to have as a daughter in law. The wedding service was in Fond Parisian at our church there. Food was served in the benches for most of the people (400), and the reception for friends and family(another 135) was in the backyard of a little hotel close by. The breeze was blowing off the lake as we sat under the thatched roof, eating… RICE and BEANS! And BANAN PEZE and such good food. (I always said I would never write a missionary letter about “what we had for dinner” but I just ate my own words). It was so neat to have all my family and all Candace’s family here for this great event. We put up tents in our back yard some nights to be able to keep them at our place. There were lots of other visitors here too that helped make it all a very warm special time.
Angela Toews from Griften NC is the clinic nurse and is living with us and is part of us now. We and the kids love her dearly.
Our teacher, Sallie Minninger, who has been here for the last 2 years, will soon be going home. She feels like part of our family and we will really miss her.
Candace is a busy mom of a big family and keeps us all going somehow. I can’t figure out where she gets her endless energy from. She says from “exercising” but I think it’s her Penner/Troyer bloodline. Cam Chase Christina and Ketli are all growing concerns. Cam would be soon in “youth group” back in Ontario if we were there. He has youth age Christian friends here which we are thankful for. Chase and Christina are busy with school and neighbour kids. Ketli is completely in love with her new puppy and it seems vice versa too. Zack is just a natural at understanding and fixing things, so he’s been the unofficial motorcycle repairman locally. He’s been studying and is now comfortable enough to open a little repair shop here in town. He won’t make much money but that’s not really the goal either.
Clinic
An axe through the foot, machete wounds, a badly infected dog bite, a knife fight to the head, blood pressure of 247/152, babies being born, MRSA boils that squirt, 287 pregnant women per month, casting simple fractures of an arm and another of a leg, tummy aches, ear and throat infections, respiratory problems, asthma, suturing large cuts from having motorcycle wrecks, cutting out arm cysts, and people sick from a host of misc diseases and fungal infections are all part of the 1900 people we see (and can treat!) per month. But… compound break to the leg from a motorcycle wreck, hernias, cancer, large keloid removal, etc etc are things we refer the people to Port au Prince which is 3-4 hrs away at best. We have connection with a few hospitals and when they have surgical mission teams from USA in, then they let us know. Yesterday I took some people down for surgery at a mission hospital close to CSI compound in Roche Blanche. I got to observe one of the minor operations. I really want to watch a hernia repair yet. I got to observe a dead baby removal, and an extreme D&C once. (rather high on the yuk scale)
Todd is not a full time nurse at the clinic, but since he is an RN he comes in very handy when needed. Angela is our fulltime RN and is doing just great, fitting in very well to both the clinic and to our home. She has had some Creole classes and is getting the language quite well. Trev’s wife Mirlene is Ang’s assistant and translator.
People are still streaming in from extreme distances. Monday a mom and her daughter came in that had left home Sunday morn and walked all day arriving in the evening, slept in town and came to the clinic in the morn. A suspected TB case. In the mornings “Dr” Ozias has devotions with the porch full of people, and he encourages them that beings this clinic is called (in Creole) “Confidence in God Clinic” that they should leave off their heathen beliefs and practices, put their confidence in God and in medicines instead of witch doctor things. We hear the witch doctors are mad at our clinic so that must mean the people are listening. Praise God! We have had a lot of “tet foo” people lately. Tet foo means crazy, mentally challenged, whatever. Some have been humorous, and others make you feel so bad for them that you cry. There just is not a lot of good help for these people here. There is an asylum in Port, but so little that these mountain people here could really do, so they wander the streets and roads, causing real problems. Sometimes they get mad and throw rocks till others tie them up. Other times they undress, or steal clothes from washlines etc etc etc. Just a few nights ago a tet foo man climbed over our yard fence and came back behind the house and knocked on the door. He is an innocent soul that is totally harmless so I just told him to go back out and he smiled, said “OK”, and left. We have had numerous young women who have seemed to been under a satanic spell or influence too. The Christians here call it Satanic persecution. Sometimes they come to the clinic to see if it’s a medical problem, but it’s not medical, and it’s not something we are used to in our culture. Often they come out of it with stories of terrible visions and a sense of being far away and in chains with serpents and evil people. Often they then hear a faraway voice of a loved one praying, or they start quoting a verse to themselves, and they feel themselves leaving that “place” and they suddenly come conscious again. It can last for several days at times. Prayer services are often held for them repeatedly. Recently one of our young converts was attacked this way and as the church was praying for her, the Devil spoke aloud and said “I can’t stay here, it’s too much pressure for me” and within a few minutes the girl stopped grinding her teeth and writhing, and a little later opened her eyes and awoke, asking for food. All this doesn’t make me fear the devil more, but it makes me realise and respect that all the devil’s ways are nothing to mess around with. He attacks us all in whatever way he can best enter. But let’s all remember that our weapons are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds”. He gives power, He gives grace, He gives victory if we are in Him and He in us.
Church and Community
The community here has been thrown into a confusion over a new business that opened up within a 150 ft of our church building. A brothel! Seems a lot of people viewed it as a legit business and even as “development” of the town to have it. Wow. Well, we didn’t see it that way, and as we started to see the negative results of this thing in our midst, and the pounding music during our Sunday afternoon worship services… we got a little more active in telling locals what the Bible says and how it will ruin our tranquil and happy little town, and also the youth of the area as they begin to pass idle time around there. We went and offered to buy the ground, building, sound systems, TVs and whole kitandkaboodle and… The owner AGREED!!! We thought our troubles were over. Well, not so… this news got the local vakabos (bad guys) stirred up and they threatened the owner and threatened the community that they were going to hold a protest, burn tires, and cut trenches across the road if this “wonderful” place shut down. The owner then reneged on his agreement with us and decided to keep it. Our church then had a two prayer meetings especially that this evil would shut down and leave our community and …. It’s amazing… since then it hasn’t been operating the last 4 weekends. Now this weekend we hear they started again and that they had a robbery there… and so we’ll see what happens. We know God is surely working against it behind the scenes, and the community is now saying too that it may be a bad thing for everyone.
Todd and Donna Schmidt, the missionaries for the church here are learning Creole and even though I still translate the sermons he preaches, I no longer have to translate everything like at first. The church is growing and God is still calling sinners to Himself. Seems the gospel light is exposing what likes to hide, and people in the shadows of darkness are coming out of it. I recently was inspired as I met one of the new converts who is about 55, a widow, and lives in the bottom of a deep ravine. She’s crippled in her legs, is in very poor health, and walks 2-3 hours one way (alone) to come to church. I asked her if it isn’t too hard to come like this all the time? She lit up and with just abit of consternation in her voice, heartily declared that coming to church here is LIFE for her. She said “I always come home with a heart full. The love I feel and the preaching of God’s Word keeps me alive spiritually and I will keep coming until I DIE!!!” Wow! God bless her. In this land of extreme poverty it is important to watch that people come for the right reasons and not for hope of material gain. Examining convert’s testimonies for true repentance, encouraging them, and teaching them while looking for a change of heart and life, becomes very important. This is where Holy Spirit’s leading is very crucial. We were at mission meetings this last week with all staff, leaders, and boards, and I feel they are strong and on a good footing in general. Pray for the church in Haiti. As they continue to hear cries for missionaries from many areas here… how can they respond? It’s very difficult for them to supply and fund very many missionaries on their own. People are very hungry for the gospel.
We are happy to have my cousin’s son Kayle Friesen serving here as one of the CSI boys at the volunteer unit nearby. We have quite a nice “American” style youth group when all the American and Canadian youth here get together. The CSI unit up here is still building houses, latrines and cisterns for the very poorest in the area. People who can’t do anything for themselves. We too had some money brought in to build a couple of simple houses for some extremely deplorable situations. I wish you could see their joy, their courage, and the changes it all brings to their lives to have a dry place to sleep.
The School
I also wish you all could see the school. 180 students crammed together. The conviction for a Christian school is here, but it is not an easy vision to accomplish with poor facilities, few supplies and undereducated and underpaid teachers, but… it’s working! (sorta). Merci Bon Dieu. I think in next yr, with a few changes again in the administration, it can be improved.
We found a local source for some help to feed the children in 3 local schools. Love-a-Child organisation gives packets of premixed, prepped, rice and soy protein that can be quickly heated up and is very nutritious for them.
In the words of Lacey Toews who is working with our church school here….
“Hunger is a big problem here now in these spring months before the gardens are ready. Lately I have been noticing more and more how lethargic and listless some of the students are. They sit there heads in their hands, eyes half-shut, no energy. It’s very hard to teach a student like that. But that changes… huge yells of excitement go up when the steaming pots of food comes in. They shovel it down, talking about how good it is. I have seen some of them stop in the middle of filling their empty stomachs, as if remembering something. They then say, “I’m taking the rest home for my little brother and sister because they don’t have anything to eat”. They then tie their bowl in a rag and carefully put it somewhere so they can take it home later.
This meal truly makes a difference in our students lives. They look forward to it all morning. And the joy and energy after the food is amazing! Wow!”
God Bless you all, and we need your continued prayers!
Keith and Candace Toews
Administrators - Confidence Health Center
Oriani, Haiti