Medical Work Update, from Virginia

Dear Friends,

Thanks so much to all of you that have emailed me. It is a huge blessing and pleasure to get news from you all, and I really appreciate your taking time to make my day special. I wish I could write to each of you individually, but then I would never get anything else done, and I have to work around the finicky internet service. So put your name in place of “Friends” and this is my personal email to you.

I’ve been here a month now and I am still having a very wonderful time. To be sure, I’m a little homesick, but that is to be expected. I know I am where God wants me, and He gives me the strength to carry on. We, Jessica and I, have been alone now for over a week and it is quite challenging sometimes. We don’t speak the language super well, though my Kreyol is growing every day, so sometimes it takes a while to communicate. I have been doing basically the same thing at the clinic, making sure the medical part flows as it should while Jessica takes care of the administrative things. I’m sure glad I don’t have to that part. We have been very blessed to have my brother Michael with us for most of this past week. He has other things he has to do in Port, but he is here in the evenings and the past weekend. He has to return to Petit Goave this weekend and I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with a way to keep him here! I don’t know what we are going to do without him.

Well, for news now. Remember the lady I told you about that gave her life to Christ and burned all her voodoo stuff? We went to see her a week and a half ago, and she was a different person. We had trouble recognising her, she looked so much younger and so happy! We visited with her awhile and she is doing well I think. It is hard for me to know exactly what was said because I didn’t have a translator. On the way home, we had to cross back over a mountain, and half way up the truck died. It had run out of water and overheated. Thankfully we had a couple Haitian men from the church along, and one of them went to get water. After the truck cooled down and we had filled it with water, it started right up! Definitely an answer to prayer! We made it safely home from there.

A couple of days later… (it takes awhile to write all this stuff down). Let me think… it’s kind of hard to remember what all has happened in the past couple of weeks… oh yeah, the clinic. The first day we were alone, we were basically just trying to adjust to the idea of being on our own. It was a bit scary! We prayed that there would only be a few patients, and God in His goodness answered our prayer! We are much more comfortable now with the swing of things, just still praying that no emergencies happen! The little boy with the chopped off finger is healing nicely. His parents must think he’s ok now, because I haven’t seen him in over a week. I’ve been trying to get someone to tell him to come in so I can have a last look at it. We’ll see what happens. I’ve been dressing various wounds, all of which are healing at different rates. I’ve had to give some shots to children, which is definitely one of my least favorite things to do. They always cry, and I don’t blame them! The one type of injection we give the most really hurts!

Today I saw a child with small bumps all over his ear that were oozing. There were bumps other places on his face. I cleaned off the pus and said that he had to see the doctor because I had no idea what it was. Well, Jessica looked in her MMI book and asked if it could be impetigo. We called the boy back and all the signs and symptoms, or lack thereof, lined up. He also had a fungus on his scalp. We were able to treat his problems and it felt so good to know that we hit the nail on the head! I really would like to work directly with a doctor (who speaks English) for a while and learn some of the most common diseases and how to treat them. Maybe there will be a place like that for me to come back to this summer. I’m praying for that anyway. The doctor here knows no English and speaks very Frenchy Kreyol. Even April has a hard time understanding him! So we are kind of stuck with what we already know, which isn’t much when it comes down to treating people!

Last week the clinic was closed due to the Easter holidays. Jessica and I did some painting and caught up on some rest. That was nice except every single time we tried to take a nap someone would bang on the gate! Living here is like always having open house, everybody comes and goes all the time. One day, I think it was last Friday, Jessica and little Michael and I went along with big Michael to where he was working with a construction team. They were building Guyteau’s house, for those of you who know him, so I got to spend a good bit of time with Madam Guyteau. She taught me how to make some Haitian food, and taught me Kreyol. We had a wonderful day. Sunday we went out to CAM for services and spent the day there. It was a very relaxing time. Big Michael was back in Petit Goave, but Vince and Darla were gracious enough to come and get us and let us spend the day with their family.

Please keep praying for us here. We need wisdom day by day to deal with the clinic and the people working for the mission. The truck is broken more than not, so we have to figure out other ways to get water for drinking and such. Thankfully the Pastor here has a car and is willing to help us out. We also need wisdom and strength to care for little Michael. He is a two year old, and needs a lot of attention. It seems like he has gotten every kind of sickness since his mom left. First he had a cold and congested chest, then and ear ache, in both ears, then he got his hair cut which revealed a scalp fungus. After that he had a stomach ache which led to diarrhea! Now he has started skipping his naps so he is super tired at night. Well, I guess it’s good training for the future!

God bless you all and may His return be soon!
For His glory,
Virginia