{"id":4165,"date":"2017-01-27T07:17:26","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T13:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/?p=4165"},"modified":"2017-01-27T20:27:33","modified_gmt":"2017-01-28T02:27:33","slug":"a-productive-week-and-lots-of-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/?p=4165","title":{"rendered":"A Productive Week….and Lots of Prayer!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"KY<\/a>

KY group with Bill and Haitian helpers<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Early in January, Skip Lindsey once again brought a team of nine from Joy to the Earth to help JUST MERCY in Haiti. They were held up in traffic on the way out of Port a Prince and arrived at the coast several hours later than intended, \u00a0only reaching the base long after dark, exhausted and hungry but well.<\/p>\n

Sunday was a day of rest and on Monday we started on the wood shop walls. (A bigger wood shop was planned before the hurricane as the small building we had built at first was not adequate for practical use. It also is needed for a place for people to stay when they come to help<\/em>.) Haitian workers already had block walls half way up. Over the course of the week, alongside our Haitian co-workers, we poured the concrete floor inside, framed the upper half of the walls, built and installed the trusses, framed in the roof, put up the front shed roof framing, and got the tin on the back half of the shop roof.\u00a0Major progress!!!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The shop framing is going up!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Putting<\/a>

Putting up the wind break<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The wind came up the day after the team arrived and blew nigh on a gale nearly the entire week. We had to rig up a wind block for the open upper room where we take meals and where most of the team were sleeping. It worked fairly well and the wind kept the mosquitoes and other pesky flying insects mostly in hiding so no one was complaining about the wind. Fortunately, back at Samma Fe at the rear of Kaykok where the wood shop is being built, the wind was knocked down quite a bit by the trees and houses between there and the open coast so the work carried on unhindered.<\/p>\n

We visited Cristila, the 19 year old girl dying of a mutated strain of Pulmonary Tuberculosis here in Kaykok, prayed for her, and tried to be there. We had sent her to the hospital on the mainland three different times over the last many months. The most recent time we sent her, they said they could do nothing more for her and sent her home to die.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8889\"<\/a>Several children were brought to the base during the week with wide spread impetigo on their bodies. Hannah March and Liberty Lindsey both spent extended time cleaning and treating the children\u2019s impetigo. \u00a0(Scroll down below the post for lots more pictures of the team’s week<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\"Children<\/a>

Children with their OCC gifts<\/p><\/div>\n

There was also a small Operation Christmas Child gift distribution for the children from the village of Odu Kachiman. \u00a0As the families came and crowded the back gate, pressing in to be first, Bill thought of “the first shall be last and the last shall be first scripture” so he would pick the children from\u00a0families in the back<\/strong>\u00a0of the crowd to come in.<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0Pretty soon, the people figured out what he was doing and now, he has a good example when he speaks to them about those words of Jesus!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Kim<\/a>

Kim with her sprained ankle<\/p><\/div>\n

Kim wrote, “Thought there was an Emergency down the beach, so I hurried down the stairs…missed one…and rolled my ankle. Thought it was broke. This is my “are you kidding…I broke my ankle in Haiti!!!” Look. We now believe it is a bad sprain. Thank you for ALL the prayer!!!” \u00a0 .<\/em><\/p>\n

BJ, who has come to Haiti 3-4 times and has been working hard on his Creole, wrote, “As we begin a journey to share the love of God, I think sometimes satan tries to put stumbling blocks in our way!! From iced up planes, to an extra long bus ride, Alan being sick, Kim falling and spraining her ankle and all sorts of other road blocks. I was starting to feel like our timing was off, but soon realized there was something great waiting!! As the work starts each day we think maybe we can help in what ever way we can. As the needs are revealed we see why we are here.. it was so great to be able to see our team humbly pray for our friends!!! And see lives changed!!! As we go back to Tata’s the last day to see her, I realized that we didn’t bring a translator. So thankful for the help of God that I was able to communicate with her in her own language<\/em> and be able to pray with her in her language!!! A big step for me!! Looking forward to returning to Ile-a-Vache to serve in what ever way is needed!! \u00a0Love conquers all!!”<\/em><\/p>\n

Talking over supper one evening we decided we needed to reach out to Tata, Estane\u2019s mother. She has been suffering a long time with severe headaches and they had reduced her days to a matter of lying suffering on the floor in a tiny room in the small house where she lives with some of her grown children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\"Tata's<\/a>

Tata’s house<\/p><\/div>\n

Tata believes that her headaches are caused by the devil because she was cursed by her dead husband and that the curse cannot be lifted because he is now deceased. We considered the possibility that she might have a brain tumor or some other life threatening medical condition and we wanted to be sure that she had the opportunity to know Jesus. So we all walked back to her little old home together, crowded into the room with several other Christian Haitians we know and began talking with her.<\/p>\n

As the conversation progressed she disclosed to us that she believed that she only had one more thing to do for the devil before he would give her peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, we told her, and the devil, no matter what you do for him, will never give you peace. That is an absolute lie. She clearly communicated that she believed in God, that she had accepted Jesus, and that she knew she was loved by God. And yet, one more thing to do for the devil? It seems no one here, Christian or not, is left untouched by the long dark fingers of the devil\u2019s handiwork, the religion of voodoo. I read a quote online that said, \u201cHaitians are 70% Catholic, 30% Protestant, and 100% Voodoo.\u201d In our experience, that would seem to be about accurate.<\/p>\n

That night we sang several hymns in English and the Haitian\u2019s also sang some in Creole. We talked to her, asked her questions, spoke what Truth we knew we had to offer, and prayed over her. The next day she was sitting up and feeling somewhat improved. The week after the Kentucky team left, she was up and about and walking home from church, though still with a lessened headache.<\/p>\n

Two days ago we took a blood pressure cuff to her house and diagnosed her with stage three hypertension. We took her to the all but useless clinic here in Kaykok and they gave her painkillers for her headache. Next morning we sent her with Estane to the hospital on the mainland. They have yet to return.<\/p>\n

Do we really believe that what we believe is really real?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this land where the activity of the devil is so effectual and belief in Jesus so mingled with a fear of the power and presence of Satan, that question must be answered. Because in this place, we get the glimpses now and then into just how real it is.<\/p>\n

Inside the individually tailored boxes of our conditioned American lives, we don\u2019t think we encounter it very often. We certainly don\u2019t see it much. But I assure you, as Leif Enger once wrote, \u201cWe and the world, my children, will always be at war. Retreat is impossible. Arm yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find a way to get out of your box. Come spend a week with us here if you can. We would love to have you here to work and pray alongside us for however short a time.<\/p>\n

We thank you for reading this, for your prayers and your support. May the light and love of Jesus flood your lives and hearts and may the Truth be yours and make you truly free.<\/p>\n

\"16105962_10212131660950442_522525904470896814_n\"<\/a>

Benny, BJ, and friends<\/p><\/div>\n

\"16142239_10212131909236649_7447774252861527903_n<\/a>

Working on a boy’s foot<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The cut on that foot they’re working on in the above picture.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Operation<\/a>

Operation Christmas Child gift distribution to children of Odu Kachiman<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Hannah<\/a>

Hannah and Liberty loving on some children<\/p><\/div>\n

\"16143122_10212131662470480_4465390923328626971_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>

Getting the walls framed<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Pouring<\/a>

Pouring the wood shop floor<\/p><\/div>\n

\"First<\/a>

First half of the roof going on<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Early in January, Skip Lindsey once again brought a team of nine from Joy to the Earth to help JUST MERCY in Haiti. They were held up in traffic on the way out of Port a Prince and arrived at the coast several hours later than intended, \u00a0only reaching …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":4166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4165"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4211,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4165\/revisions\/4211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}