Bedbugs and Bedlam!

                                              The “Bedbug” house

Recently Bill visited with a family in Fonds Parisien and found that they were enduring an infestation of bedbugs, being “eaten” especially at night.  They had no options.  No pesticides to buy.  No money to buy them if they were available.  One more thing God set in front of us that we had the ability to help with.

Bill wrote to his grandchildren about this in early October:

Well, my Grandchildren,

There is much evil in the world and I find myself compelled to stand with the King of Heaven against all the bad that is in the world and I want to try my best to help Him bring about all the good things he desires to give all His children. And when we pray “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” shall we utter these words and assume we have no part in it?

No. We must stand against the the evil and and take our place in helping the God of heaven build His kingdom!  I’m sorry I had to leave you all so soon this time but I thought if you could see the why of it, you would send me. 

There is a very poor family here, poverty like you have never seen, living in an old house with mean old bugs that come out at night and bite the little children and that sounded like the devil to me and there was no one else to help them so I told God, like Isaiah did when God said “Whom shall we send and who will go for us?”  Then I said, “Here am I. Send me.”. So I am here trying to help the poor children who have no one else. 

Bill spraying the house for bedbugs

Burning the bedbug infested mattresses

First, we must take all the things out of the house. We will burn the mattresses and wash the clothes in boiling water. That’s a problem because they have no stove or anything. So we will build a fire and get three big rocks and a big kettle and boil the clothes in that. Then we must spray the walls with stuff that will kill the mean old things. After that I will have some men come to help us put cement on the walls so the bugs won’t have a place to hide and wait till night to come out and bite the children.

Smoothing the walls

The entire process took a week.  New mattresses were purchased and the family moved back into their home.  We are grateful to those who gave to help get rid of these bedbugs and provide new beds for this family.  One more thing done “in the name of Jesus”.  We hope and pray that the efforts to rid the house of the bugs has been successful and are grateful for the opportunity to stop a family from being “eaten” alive.

Happy family whose home was “debugged”

After work one evening, Bill confronted something else entirely.

“I had told the kids over there I would fix them popcorn so after I washed up a little at Nono’s I headed over, little to know I was to put to test the conversation of a few days before about making a stand against evil with physical force.

As I passed a neighbor’s little house, I noticed many people crowded together on the front porch. A lot of activity going on in a small place. I thought they were playing. Then it became clear it was a serious melee. I saw the struggle was centered around one couple. The man was throwing the woman around violently. People all yelling and fighting. Like I said a melee. Look it up!

Should I stop and interfere or go about my business wishing them well? Stopping would be a dangerous business. Shall I fear or neglect to go in harms way, in the name of the King? Knowing “A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not why ships were built,” , I hove to and went to defend the defenseless.

Somehow I was able to walk without hesitation into the chaos of flailing bodies and grabbed the woman at the center of the brawl. The people of Haiti are very strong, still living by the sweat of their brow, and as I held the poor angry thing, while difficult, I knew she yielded to my restraint as I came between them and whispered words of peace and calm into her ear.

At my presence the people began to separate and disperse over the next few minutes. Still lots of people all yelling and throwing fuel on the fire so, as I held the woman, I talked to them, telling them to be calm for her sake. The children were all crying so I talked with them as I held their mother and little by little the tears and cries diminished and as calm descended, I encouraged her to follow the way of peace and to look for something higher.

I find myself wishing I spoke Kreyol better but wishing more I could speak, even better, the language of Love. Are there words to speak the heart of God? Often only our actions can speak what must be said.

MacDonald said; “The one great heresy of the church is that it has taught faith as something other than obedience.” And now it’s late and the kids over there are waiting for their popcorn.

For King and Kingdom!

Bill”