JUST MERCY
Dr. Suarez and Adrienne
11th Haiti Trip – Vol. III
We wanted to share with you some personal stories from the 11th Haiti Trip that we didn’t cover in the last two updates. In October, Bill met Dr. Alfredo Suarez, a 70 year old Columbian doctor who currently lives in Georgia. Dr. Suarez’ mission is to help the most helpless people he can find. His specialty is infectious tropical diseases but he has extensive experience in treating people for all kinds of things all over the world.
Bill with Dr. Suarez in the mountains
Dr. Suarez made his first medical mission trip with JUST MERCY to the mountains in October. Bill was amazed at Dr. Suarez’ energy and dedication to helping people who had no other medical care. He would work all day and when everyone else was exhausted, Dr. Suarez would still want to continue seeing patients.
In December, they made another medical mission to the mountains. Dr. Suarez saw hundreds of people and never lost his caring and compassionate demeanor. He began to talk with us about being our medical director and we started making extensive plans for a more permanent medical clinic in the mountains with Dr. Suarez planning on spending 4 days every two weeks at our mountain clinic with the rest of his time working at clinics in Fonds-Parisien.
Dr. Suarez returned to the states in Dec. with plans to return to Haiti the middle of January but unfortunately just found out that he needs surgery for a carcinoma. Not only is this very difficult for Dr. Suarez, but it is also a major setback to his and our hopes and dreams to bless the mountain people of Haiti. Please be in prayer for Dr. Suarez health. He has blessed our lives with his dedication, love for Jesus, and enthusiasm for serving the people of Haiti. All of Dr. Suarez’ e-mails start with “Hallelujah”, including the one telling us of his cancer.
A slideshow of the medical mission trips has been posted on YouTube. It is called Working With the Great Physician you can go to it here -> Working with the Great Physician. We hope you’ll watch it and understand a little more how difficult but rewarding it is to take medical care to the mountain people.
Bill with Adrienne and the Proclaimer
At Dr. Suarez’ clinic in October, a young crippled woman, Adrienne, was brought in to see him. Her body is twisted. She can stand briefly but can barely walk. She lives on the side of a mountain near Pensek where a flat place has been carved out of the steep mountainside and two huts have been built.
Bill’s heart was touched meeting Adrienne. When he returned to Fonds-Parisien, he got some things together in a back pack for her, things like a toothbrush, comb, a JUST MERCY T-shirt, and some other items along with a Proclaimer, a solar powered audio “radio” that speaks the Bible in Creole. He sent these things back up to her with a Haitian friend, asking that she play the Proclaimer for her neighbors.
The next time Bill went to the mountains in December with Dr. Suarez, he started down the steep trail to where Adrienne lived. She did not know he was coming. As he got closer to her home he could hear the Proclaimer playing.
Since she is illiterate, she could not read the menu to find specific books of the Bible so Bill had an interpreter teach her how to find the gospels. He asked her to listen to the gospel of John, then the other gospels, and then the gospel of John again. He told her the next time he came to see her he wanted to talk with her about the story of Jesus.
On Jan. 1st, Bill shared with the folks at a small church that helps us here in Missouri. A visitor there was touched by Adrienne’s story and ordered five more Proclaimers for us!! When Faith Comes By Hearing notified us of the order, they also told us that they would be donating two more along with the order so we will be receiving seven more Proclaimers!
We are so excited about this and grateful to our new friend! The people in the mountains love to come and listen to the Proclaimers. We need to find reliable people in the mountains to take them, keep them charged, and play them for their neighbors. This could be a major blessing to these folks. Please pray that God’s word will open hearts and touch lives as only He can.
Bill returned to Haiti on Jan. 5th and Hannah and I came on Jan. 12th. I’ll get an update on this trip out soon. Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you for all the love and support you have given us. We are blessed.