Caleb’s Update 14 April 2010

I think I begin every update by apologizing for not writing sooner and giving my excuse why.  This time the satellite we point our dish at for internet was shut down and we had to point at a new one.  We aren’t even supposed to do this, a technician is because he’s got the necessary equipment and training.  The nearest guy is in Miami so we did it ourselves by old fashioned trial and error.  It’s a big sky.  (Just kidding about searching the whole sky.  The real reason it took so long is we gave up for days at a time.)

Now being back in touch let me give a brief synopsis of where we’re at.  Since last writing Ywam Montana sent down another guy, Johan Bester, a South African, to help with the four containers of food.  You guessed it, they will probably clear customs the day he leaves and it looks like I’ll be doing it by myself. However, the mean time has not been wasted.  

Johan and I have spent a good deal of our energy gathering and processing recon for Ywam and others, who will hopefully transition into development work. Again, when I say recon I often mean developing or transferring relationships.   Ywam has spent a lot of time on this and I think they will be rewarded if they do end up sending teams to work here.  

We spent much of last week in Port au Prince because we needed to get a report to the World Food Program asking for help with school feeding here since donations for food have sharply declined.  You don’t just go to Port au Prince, do your business, and come back.   Somehow you always get stuck there for days running errands and touring needs.  I’m not complaining, though, because I think if what we saw, all the destroyed churches and schools, gets into the right ears, God may do something good with our information.  

We did get our report to “the right people” at the WFP.  Don’t call them, they’ll call us.  This morning, though, our job was to link up with a UN helicopter, drive the delegates to a meeting with Anse Galets leaders, and participate in the meeting ourselves.  They were here to do a need survey.  Coincidence?  I don’t know.  I’m not saying I want to be the liaison to the UN, I don’t, but I do hope they’d like to give us thousands of pounds of food for our hungry kids.  And as you know, school feeding increases enrollment and in church schools especially, I think that’s a very good thing.  It’s considered one of the only ways to distribute food without creating a dependency.  That’s what we want, to feed the hungry without perpetuating their hunger.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to leave for Gran Vide on the South West coast of La Gonave, about 6-8 hours from here, and spend the next three days travelling the Western end.  The only other time I was close to there, in the town of Lanternierre, I was really impressed by how little people have in almost every sense.  I want to go back out and learn more – maybe make some more contacts for those who will later go and help or partner.  This trip, however, is only to be if Johan gets better from his stomach pain.  Whether we travel or not, please pray that he does and stays that way.

Actually, I would ask you to please pray for the health of all of the workers and missionaries here.  It is true that Western hygiene and good diet help protect us but we need more than that.  I don’t intend to be dramatic but this place is full of sickness and death, before and after the earthquake.  I hear the death wails from the hospital so frequently I almost don’t notice them.  Same with the stories, “oh so and so’s son died last night of an asthma attack.”  “Oh him? Yes, his family was all killed.”  “No, no, this was a different 3 year old who died of malnutrition.”  I could write on and on, pages maybe, but my point is just that one gets used to this stuff it’s so common.  And we who work here are only protected by the grace of God.  It’s not that we deserve more protection than our brothers here, it’s that if we are to help them we have to be healthy and strong enough.  God please give us that grace.

I hope I’m not ending on a low note but end I must.  There’s so much to pray about, think about, so much we’ve all experienced down here that I could write until not one person was still reading.  For those of you who know me, I hope to share much more in person than I will have written in my clumsy updates.  I do want to say to all of you who pray for us, for me, that I consider you absolutely as team members and that you deserve much more than what I give in writing.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that I covet your prayers and am grateful for your friendship.

HS.
Caleb