Update 2 from Ray
Wow! What an awesome array of responses from folks who received a
forwarded copy of my last email. Thanks for all of your prayers and
words of encouragement.
I am with a relief team at the Mission of Hope Haiti just ouside Port
au Prince. This is update 2.
Before you notice the time this is written and are impresed by my
dedication, I must confess that I was so tired tonight that I came in
and crashed about 7:30. I'm awake and can't sleep, and this helps me
process and reflect.
I've already forgotten what happened day before yesterday. We did
empty the warehouse of food, and were to have received a new shipment
by 10:00 am, but it never arrived. Pray that it comes today so that we
can resume our deliveries. It did allow us to use the trucks to bring
in other supplies to Mission of Hope (MOH), including medical supplies
and also mattresses retrieved from a destroyed hospital that we moved
into the school that we are using for post-op.
The docs and nurses continue to do great work in primitive conditions.
Two days ago two docs performed amputations on two women in one of the
ORs at the same time. The women were only under a local anesthesia, so
they were awake. At the same time, they both started singing the same
praise song together while the doctors were cutting. What a witness!
One of the docs said the women were well into the song before he
realized what was happening and was almost startled by the realization
of it all. The other doc said he just teared up, as did his nurse. One
of the women had other major issues, and died later that night after
being transported to a hospital downtown.
The nurses bring a real compassion and touch to their service.
Yesterday I ducked my head into post-op and there were two nurses
kneeling on the floor hugging a young woman who had a leg amputated,
and were praising her for being so strong and assuring her that her
children outside were okay. The woman was beaming in response.
One of the MOH medical teams (with docs from Minnesota and Michigan)
went downtown and set up a clinic two blocks from the Presidential
Palace. They saw a steady stream of people requiring wound care and
more serious attention. My son John went with them, and then went
through PauP looking for some building supplies. I overheard someone
asking him how his day went, and he replied that it was his best day
yet and at the same time his worst day yet. I think the sheer
magnitude of the disaster and its effects become especially clear as
you penetrate into the heart of the city.
One of the real blessings of this endeavor is meeting others who have
come to help, and they share some of their experiences as well as why
they are here. They are so self-effacing in the sharing, but what they
do and have done is heroic.
Brian, a missionary originally from South Africa (who fought in the
war in Angola as a mercenary- that's another story for another time),
has been in Haiti since November, but was on the other side of the
island in the Dominican Republic for over seven years. He was visiting
family in the US when the quake hit, but managed to fly back into Port
au Prince (PauP) by the second day - while the airport was essentially
unmanned and uncontrolled. He's up and gone by 5:30 every morning
ferrying people around, scrounging for supplies for little towns that
he knows have nothing, and making delivery runs wherever and whenever
necessary. He also provides a quiet steady strength to those around
him. He's been a special blessing to me.
I'll close with a quiet time moment. Yesterday morning I was awake at
4:15 and trying to find things in the dark and failing miserably. I
just couldn't find a memory stick I needed, nor could I find the
packet of soap I needed to wash my clothes later in the day. In the
midst of my self-consumed turmoil, I felt really convicted that I
needed to stop and spend some time in the Word. I dug for my Bible,
and decided I should go to Psalms. I flipped into the earlier Psalms,
and alighted on Psalms 20 (okay, Bible Roulette, I know) since it
began at the top of the page. Of course I reached verse 4 and read
"May he give you what you desire and make all your plans succeed." I
was certainly comforted and claimed it as a promise, but finished the
entire psalm. I then went back to my bag and sitting right on the edge
is my memory transfer stick sitting on top of my bag of laundry soap.
I smiled and thought this was an immediate answer to prayer. Then I
realized I hadn't even prayed. I felt drawn back to the psalm and
reread it. There at the end of verse 5 was "May the Lord answer all
your requests." Suddenly I realized that I was witnessing His answer
to your prayers for me and all the others who are here. Against the
backdrop of tragedy and despair that surrounds us here, we might be
lead to think that surely God should have prevented this from
happening and that it is certainly sacreligious to rejoice in finding
soap when others are hungry, suffering and dying. Ask me at another
time to discuss the inscrutable wisdom of the God I serve, but what I
want to share is that I rejoice in serving a God who is so personal
that he wraps his arms around me and shows he cares about the smallest
details of my existence, and has a plan so detailed that you and your
prayers are all a part of it as well. One day we will see the mosaic
of life from a different perspective and marvel.
Thank you again for your prayers. Please pray for food for today and
bright hope for tomorrow - Great is His Faithfulness!
Share this with any and all.
Ray Lindner