Game Changer

My wife is a game changer. Most dentists would come to Haiti and say I’m gonna pull teeth because I think that’s what people need. But Anna listens to the local dentist, Dr. Benoit, and decided to do cleanings. In the morning, they pull teeth, and in the afternoon they do cleanings. And the people love it. It’s great service because it’s what they people want, not what we Americans think they need. 

Anna is beginning the process of expanding dental care in the community. She wants to work with and educate local dentists to improve their craft. If she can help them be more gentle, then more people will seek their care. They get more business and the community gets more care. Dr. Benoit improved his ability in just the four days they were working together. The goal is for people to have overall better health year round, not just acute care once a year. But acute care is good, too. Anna pulled 12 teeth on one lady. We met with the team last night and they shared their favorite parts of the week. One of our drivers, Owe Owe, shared that the woman had been seeking dental care all over the city, and could find no one who would pull her teeth for less than $800, money she did not have. His favorite part of the week was seeing her get the care she needed. I think that tells you about the impact we make, and also about the people we work with. They love their community, and they want to see it improve. 

We think that community thinking is a rare quality in Haiti. We have experienced a very individualistic culture, where people don’t volunteer and won’t work without direct benefits to themselves. The people we work with say that they love their country and their people, and they want to see life improve for everyone. Pierre expressed that he loves having work, and I am certain that he meant more than just making money. He loves having a mission, a purpose. In a life where most of the year he is simply trying to survive, he has a purpose that is bigger than himself when we come. He is part of an organization that is making a difference in his community, not just a part but a leader. Pierre, Jean, Santi, and the others are rare human beings. Their hard work, determination, and resilience show me Jesus in a way that I don’t experience much in the US. 

I went to Pierre’s house up on the side of the mountain. He doesn’t have a toilet, and when it rains, water runs through his house. He built a chicken coop, but has no chickens. I gave him $11 to buy 2 chickens. The stairs we are building will make the walk home shorter and safer for him, especially when it rains. It will really be a game changer, too. 

Fighting Demons and Pulling Teeth

The last two days have been great. Yesterday, we went to the Free Methodist church of Pastor Costume (kos-tu-ma). Cynthia and I were both offered the chance to preach, but she had a migraine and hadn’t slept. So I preached on Luke 15, the lost sheep. It is the passage we are focusing on for the Bible school for the children. Pastor translated, and I got into a pretty good rhythm of call and response with the church. I told them, “No matter what you have done, no matter how lost you are, Bondye benu (God loves you)!” Then I played guitar and we sang “Amazing Grace” us in English, the congregation in Creole. After worship, we had a fantastic afternoon on the beach. We sat on the sand and played and sang songs with Patrick, the Hertzes, and Anna. 

Today, Anna stole the show, rocking out her clinic. Everyone was impressed with her system, her skills, her bedside manner, and her leadership. Heather and Janice worked in with her, cleaning instruments and moving patients around like a well-oiled machine. Archibald kept things flowing and Dr. Benoit and Dr. Goldston saw 50 patients. In the morning they pulled teeth and in the afternoon they did cleanings. Cleanings are not Anna’s plan or desire, but all the Haitians she has talked to are sure that people want cleanings. People were lined up to get their teeth cleaned, so it must be so. 

In the meantime, I had possibly the best experience I’ve had in Haiti. Cynthia and I gathered with five Haitian pastors to study scriptures and talk pastoring together. We began with the easy stuff, Christ died for us and all that, and then it got really interesting. We bounced all around reading scriptures and talking about progressive salvation and sanctification. I would have thought that they would have been more about baptizing people and being done with it, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. They were very concerned about creating deep spiritual lives for their people, and building them into communities of love and care. Pastor Louisnar read Acts 2:41 about the early church and said he was teaching his people to give to the needy. Pastor Joshue agreed and told this story. One of his members starved to death. He brought the news to the church and they were horrified. They decided to do something about it, so everyone who can brings $1 Haitian (about 8 cents) every week. When they have enough, they give the money to the neediest member to use to buy some goods, sell them, and begin a business. Since this initiative began several years ago, no one has starved to death. That is an effective stewardship campaign. 

After this, several pastors asked me theological questions about once saved, always saved and about communion. At first, I thought they were evaluating my theology, but upon further reflection, I think they were using me as a resource to help them respond to difficult questions. The younger pastors were asking the questions, who likely had very little theological education or reading. Not a ton of books are translated into Creole. So, I was able to offer some theology for them. I say me because Cynthia sensed that they were uncomfortable with her as a female pastor, so she did not reply much. 

Finally, we shared testimony of God’s power. It was incredible to hear the miracles God was working in their communities. Just to share one, Pastor Costume testified that God sent him to serve in a neighborhood with a very small church. The church was weak because a voodoo priest set up shop next door and a demon had possessed her. Pastor led his church in a community prayer ministry to fight the demon. Long story short, the prayer ministry drove the demon out of the community, and the church is now thriving. Every story was that incredible. 

Not a Shithole

We made it to Haiti and had a good first day. It’s so good to see our friends and catch up with everyone. Patrick is very sick. He will be getting a new kidney soon, which will hopefully save his life. Everyone else seemed about the same. They all look skinnier, but I’m not sure if that is just my memory failure. They are all good men, trying hard to feed their families and to improve their community. 

Pastor Comeye invited me and Cynthia to preach at his church tomorrow, a Free Methodist church. I’m looking forward to sharing the Gospel with people who are hungry for good news. The next day, we will meet to discuss the scriptures together with the pastors that work with Empowering Haitians. I’m eager to learn from them. 

Anna got the clinic all set up and ready to go. Dr. Benoit, the local dentist, is great, ready to help people in his community who need dentist treatment. He helped us to know that people want deep cleaning as much as getting teeth pulled, so we adapted our plan. 

Tomorrow is worship and beach. This is a beautiful country with wonderful people that needs a lot of help. It is not a shithole. 

The Hard Way

On the way to work, I often see an old man standing by the side of the road. He carries a cane and stares with a vacant look, often waving to the car as I drive past as if he remembers me in a blurry, half-forgotten way. The road has a hill and blind curve, and I'd become concerned about the prospect of him being hit by a car. Recently, I have seen him walking IN the road instead of standing beside it, so I decided to take action. I called the police and reported him. They said they would send a car by and get him out of the road. But, I didn't think that would be enough, because he would probably just be back in the road again tomorrow. So I called the Department of Social Services to see if they could get him some help. The computer gave me several options, none of which seemed adequate, so I chose "report neglect of an adult." But, when I began talking to the operator, it became clear that I had made a mistake.

"What is the neglected adult's name?"
"I don't know, I just see him walking in the road."
"Ok, what is his address?"
"I don't know."
"Sir, it will be very hard for us to go evaluate the situation if we do not have a name or address."

And it hit me; I didn't know anything about this man. I had driven by him hundreds of times, been concerned about his safety, tried to act as a "Good Samaritan." But, I had never actually stopped to talk to him, to learn his name and his situation, to help him get out of the road. I didn't ever stop because I was always busy going somewhere. I had an appointment to make, kids to pick up, a sermon to write. So, he tickled the back of my mind with concern until today I decided to DO SOMETHING. But, rather than the obvious Samaritan thing to do, to stop, find out what the situation is, and help from there, I did the American thing, call the professionals and let them handle it. When I drove back, he was gone, but luck would have that the neighbor was pulling into his driveway. I pulled over and asked if he knew the man I'd seen in the road. He said yes, that was his father. The man in the road was 85, senile, and ornery. His son was doing his best to take care of him, get him where he needed to go, make sure he had heat and food. But he couldn't keep him out of the road. He had tried to get him into a living facility, but a judge had blocked it, declaring the man to be fit to handle his own affairs.

What I had almost done was report this man, who was trying his best to take care of his father, to DSS. Who knows what the implications of that may have been. He said, "Hey, next time you see my dad, why don't you stop and talk to him? He'd like that; he'll rattle on about 1944 cars." Good question, why don't I? Too much in a hurry, too many other things to do, too many important priorities. There is a huge problem with our society and our Christianity. We don't have enough time for relationships, when Jesus tells us that relationships are what it is all about. We don't want to stop and talk to a man on the side of the road; the easy way is to call the police. We don't want to stop and talk to the lady asking us for money on the street; the easy way is to pretend we don't hear. We don't want to learn about the problems people face in other parts of the world by actually getting to know some of them; the easy way is to click the next article in our news feed. And we miss the human face of all the problems that we face. We want the professionals, the government and the police and the social service agencies, to solve the world's problems while we lock our doors and go about our business.

Here's the way of God. God didn't fix our problems from afar. God came as a baby in a manger. God initiated relationship with us, stopped to help us. In our broken world with our screwed up priorities, this way of living, to stop and talk to people, to initiate relationship, has become the hard way to live. But I think it's the only way to help each other and help ourselves, to really understand the problems that each person faces and find real solutions out of them. God convicted me today of my sin, and showed me another way, the way of Jesus, the way of relationship.

True Faith is not in a Hurry

Saw this on the side of a kiosk. They must have deeply true faith in Haiti, because no one is in a hurry! Seriously, it's good to think about, because we prize efficiency and hustle so much in the US. Here we have a different pace of life. Relationships take time. 

We have been building a church this week. First, we laid the concrete floor In the church we built last July. Since then, we have been in a very poor neighborhood near the airport, Fort Saint Michele. We started pouring the foundation, then laid a band of concrete, then laying concrete block 12 high. Through it all, I've learned all of the uses of a 5 gallon bucket. First, 5 gallon buckets are used to move water to a cistern. The water is mixed with sand, which is sifted from the rock, and cement to form either concrete or mortar, depending on the ratios. Then 5 gallon buckets move the concrete  from the place it is made to the place it is poured poured. When a new load of sand comes in on a truck, 5 gallon buckets move it to the concrete-making place. Need rocks from one place moved to another? 5 gallon buckets. Move them back again because we moved too many? Pass the 5 gallon buckets. Mortar is brought to lay the block walls in, you guessed it, 5 gallon buckets. I can't imagine how the Egyptians built the pyramids without 5 gallon buckets. 

It's amazing to build a church for the community. At first, I was conflicted, because I felt like the Doctors and the feeding ministries were much more useful. But Patrick said our feeding ministry and our church building ministry are one and the same. We are providing for the feeding of their bodies, minds and spirits. It is a wholistic feeding, helping Haitians bring shalom to their own community. We provide a place for worship, for people to be strengthened in their faith, hope, and love. When you have very little and when we as a group can do very little,  the people can hold on to God as their courage and refuge. God acts in and through us to bring hope. 

A little girl at the Bible school came to hug me and would not let go. It was a weird feeling until I realized that it was not me, but Jesus in me she was clinging to. May we all have that true faith, to cling to Jesus like a lifeline in the flood. 

Jesus to the Rescue

I saw that saying on a tshirt someone was wearing. I don't know if the guy knew what it said, but it struck me profoundly. I believe Jesus is coming to the rescue here in Haiti. But do there have to be so many malnourished kids first? 

I do believe in God's preferential option for the poor, and I think Jesus will be coming here pretty close to first when he comes again, because Jesus says the last shall be first. And almost never do a yearn for that day to come sooner than I do here. There are great, wonderful people, sweet, fun children here and they are suffering. Kids are hungry, people have no work. Both kids and there parents have nothing to do, and idleness is mentally crushing for people who want to work and play. 

We do what we can. We are building a church. People need a place to worship, to hear words of hope. We can give some hope, too, give a few toys and a little candy. But even that has its limits. Someone let extra kids into Toulouse's house when we were doing the vacation Bible school, and we ran out of lollipops. It stinks to turn away delighted children because you run out. It's so easy to focus on the physical needs of people. Everyone is hungry, everyone needs clothes, everyone needs a buck. I gave away six pairs of shoes today, which means I encountered six children in eight hours who had no shoes. But just as we help a few, there will be dozens more who need it. 

Everything we do here has limits, which is why I long for the day when Jesus brings abundant life without limits. A place like Haiti needs Jesus to come to the rescue. We cannot do it on our own. The whole Body of Christ acting together could do it. Jesus will do it. For now, he has sent us to give just a little taste. Our driver has Psalm 34:8 on his windshield. "O taste and see that the Lord is good;

happy are those who take refuge in him." It's true. The Haitians we meet are all suffering, but for a short time at least, they are happy to see us coming and spend time with us

Santa Is Dead

That's what came of our efforts to explain to Mary Grace about who Santa Claus is, why some people believe that he comes to their house on Christmas Eve to bring presents, and why he does not come to our house. That's right, we don't do Santa. No need to judge, I've already heard it all in the last month. The worst was from Mary Grace herself, when she found out the guy at the tree farm wasn't Santa, "Why did you put me on that guy's lap and let me tell him what I wanted for Christmas?!" Good question; it snuck up on us and we weren't ready yet.
So here's what we came up with. Odd that we have to "come up" with a story to explain the truth that there is no man sneaking into our house in a few days. But, I digress. Santa is another name for St. Nicholas, who is also called Father Christmas, or in Haiti Papa Noel. St. Nicholas lived a long time ago and he loved Jesus very much. He knew that God gave us Jesus, and Jesus gave everything for us, so he gave gifts to the children and people in his community. He died and went to be with Jesus in Heaven with God, where he is still alive. So Santa is real and alive, but he is not coming to give us presents, because he is with God. Other people pretend that he gives presents, and some people think they are not pretending. But we know that we get to give each other presents because we want to be like St. Nicholas, like Jesus, like God.
To you get it, Mary Grace? Yes, Santa is dead. Now, this doesn't present any real problems for me, except I'm not trying to ruin Christmas for everyone else in Easley. And where as I don't think moving away from an idea of only getting presents when you are nice and making a list of all the things you want to get ruins Christmas, there are a lot of people who disagree with me here. First, there is everyone, her teachers, church members, random people on the street, who ask her what Santa is going to bring her. If she tells them Santa is dead, well, people tend to get upset. Then of course, is the bigger concern of all her friends who believe that Santa will be coming to bring their presents and would be upset to find out that old Kris Kringle had turned up his pointy boots. Again, I don't want her to make people sad and upset.
So this has led to what I think is an even more fruitful conversation. Mary Grace, we know that Santa is not going to bring presents, that we will give each other presents on Christmas. But other people don't know that. And it is not our job to tell other people what they should think and believe. We can't control other people. We aren't the boss of other people. And we don't need to tell other people they are wrong. We need to be kind, respectful, and loving.
So yesterday some guy asked her if she had been good for Santa to bring her presents. And she just said yes. And she turned to me with a huge smile and asked me to bend down and whispered in my ear, "Daddy, I didn't tell him about Santa." Can you imagine a world where we all spent less time trying to be right and tell others where they are wrong? Can you imagine living in your convictions in a way that was thoughtful to the feelings and needs of others? Mary Grace can. Merry Christmas.