Month: February 2010

Posted in NW_Personal Ministry Update, Personal Stories

In-Between Breaths – He Whispers To Me..

Posted on by Castillo

Over the last week I’ve been preparing for our trip back to Haiti. For some reason I was unsettled about coming back. There was some anxiety and I NEVER feel anxiety about coming home.

It was 2am and I had the TV on in the background while I was booking tickets for a brand new group of 50 that was coming to Haiti in early March. The TV has music channels and I had placed it on the Christian music station. I wasn’t really paying attention to anything but there was a moment when I stopped concentrating so hard on what I was doing and just took a breath. In that moment – I heard the whispers of my Jesus slowly speaking to me through the words of a song.  The next morning I got an encouraging email from a friend who listed the lyrics of the same song I heard that night. Now I know it was a whisper from above – a whisper saying HE WILL OVERCOME. (I listed the song down below).

– – – – –

The girls had spent the weekend with my friend Angel. They always pick up new songs when they’re at her house. Anything from BARBIE GIRL to We Are The Redeemed!! It’s very random sometimes. LOL! We had taken the girls out to eat after their weekend with Angel. Again there was some anxiety thinking about all that we had to do before we leave. Afterall – my family does get 16 bags of luggage!!  The girls were singing and talking in the back and I had tuned them out thinking about all we had to do. I took a break from my thoughts and a long deep breath…..and in the back of the van I heard from the sweetest little voices :

We can’t go on  – Pretending day by day  – – – -That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of  – God’s great big family  – – – And the truth, you know love is all we need

We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones to make a brighter day so let’s start giving. There’s a choice we’re making. We’re saving our own lives. It’s true we make a brighter day just you and me.

I’m listening to the girls sing this song with no music in the background. I can only imagine they heard it at Angel’s house. They memorized nearly the entire song. No doubt in that moment – God was whispering to His anxious daughter driving the little white mini-bus.

– – –

We are back in Haiti now and life is completely busy and overwhelming. Since the quake – we’ve had so many more emails and groups wanting to come to Haiti. I work until the wee hours of the morning – only to have another full day of work ahead of me. I haven’t really been facebooking or even blogging because I simply don’t have time.

God protected little ears and little eyes from seeing much when we landed in Port-au-Prince. I couldn’t help but notice the hundreds of tents and tarps. Even people with homes that are still standing aren’t sleeping in them. Aftershocks continue. At the airport some of my friends told me how they watched their house on Monday lean to the left and then to the right when they were hit with yet again – a4.7 aftershock.

Thanks to the prayers of so many our family made it home safe and sound. It was a very long 2 days of traveling but God’s protection was so evident that the anxieties I had were completely gone before we even landed in Port-au-Prince.

I was back in my office and back to being busy rather quickly. As always after every trip I have to the states – there was a line outside the office of people needing to see me. I was so tired from traveling and had so much to do I didn’t want to stop. Forgetting that I was God’s personal assistant  – I barely listened to what people were telling me and just politely nodded wondering if today was ever going to end.

Before actually calling it a day – I stopped in the silence of my office and took a breath. I noticed my little calendar on my desk. Someone had already flipped it to February 25th. It reads – God can’t stop thinking about you! If you could count His thoughts of you “they would be more in number than the sand”.

I could barely listen to the line of people at my door because my thoughts were on what I needed to do today AND YET – my Father in Heaven cannot get His mind off of me. I’m all He thinks about. You are all He thinks about. Even though His tasks are so many  – He still CANNOT stop thinking about me.

In that moment – when the chaos of the day had finished – I heard Him whispering to me – Jody – in all that you do – in the many tasks that are before you – don’t forget to think about ME.

– – – – – – – – – –

This is the thing that God is teaching me right now. I can’t hear His whispers until I take a deep breath. I can’t hear His gentle voice unless I actually listen for it. I can’t feel His nudging unless I just stop for a few moments. My mind tells me I don’t have time to stop – to be still. But my heart tells me if I don’t – I will miss out on this beautiful conversation Jesus wants to have with me.

It is in the stillness –  that is in the midst of chaos – that God speaks to me. His gentle voice brings clarity and comfort and this unsurpassing peace. I’m going to miss it – I’m going to overshadow Him –  if I don’t take time to stop –  and just breathe.

– – – Song I heard late at night – –

Everything Falls

You said – You’d never leave or forsake me
When you said, – This life is gonna shake me
You said – This world is gonna bring trouble on my soul – This I know

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You’re the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

When I see – The darkness all around me
When I see – The tragedy has found me
I still believe – Your faithful arms will never let me go  – And still I know

Sorrow may last for the night – But hope is rising with the sun
Its rising with the sun – There will be storms in this life
But I know  – – – You will overcome

Posted in Personal Stories

There Will Be A Day

Posted on by Castillo

I found myself in tears today. I know – shock of all shocks! LOL! I was driving back from the mission office today and this song came on the radio. When I first listened to the chorus I found peace thinking that one day all of the pain in Haiti will be gone. All these fears that they have – that I have  – they’ll be gone.

But when they got to the chorus the 2nd time I felt different. There was this sickness I felt in the pit of my stomach. What if they don’t know that there will be day like that? How many times have people walked by me and I wasn’t the Personal Assistant to the Holy Spirit but I was simply a travel agent trying to book ticket. Or I purposefully didn’t leave the house because the line outside my door was too long and overwhelming to deal with? As I’ve been reflecting about His daily tasks I realized something……I’m not really fulfilling them. I’m not “intentionally” making the point to talk to everyone that crosses my path. Yes – I get to share Jesus at 1am with the family who lost their mother/friend or share about the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve. But what the other days of the year? Do I make best use of His time that He’s given me? After all – it’s His and not mine.

I don’t want to be a missionary by default. I want to be a missionary because I don’t know how not to be. I want to be so passionate about Christ and I can’t “not” talk about Him? I want to bubble over so much inside that people can’t help but see Him? You know what I mean?

Do you remember the movie Schindler’s List? At the very end of the movie he says if I would have just given up my watch – I could have helped one more. If I would have just done (this or that) I could have saved one more. Not to sound melodramatic but honestly since the quake I’ve been thinking – if we would have just stopped being so busy – maybe we could have reached one more person.  Maybe if we would quit avoiding what God lays in front of us we could have saved one more person.

I think about all those that died without ever knowing that there would be a day where everything would change. When I really think about it – it keeps me up at night. The only thing worse than knowing someone left this world without knowing Christ – – – is letting it happen again.

THERE WILL BE A DAY
I try to hold on to this world with everything I have
But I feel the weight of what it brings, and the hurt that tries to grab
The many trials that seem to never end, His word declares this truth,
that we will enter in this rest with wonders anew

But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings
That there will be a place with no more suffering

(Chorus)
There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place, will be no more,
we’ll see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we’ll hold on to you always

I know the journey seems so long
You feel you’re walking on your own
But there has never been a step
Where you’ve walked out all alone

Troubled soul don’t lose your heart
Cause joy and peace he brings
And the beauty that’s in store
Outweighs the hurt of life’s sting

But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings
That there will be a place with no more suffering

(Chorus)
I can’t wait until that day where the very one I’ve lived for always will
wipe away the sorrow that I’ve faced
To touch the scars that rescued me from a life of shame and misery
this is why this is why I sing

There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place, will be no more,
we’ll see Jesus face to face

There will be a day, he will wipe away the tears,
He will wipe away the tears,
He will wipe away the tears,
There will be a day.

Posted in NW_Personal Ministry Update, Personal Stories

His Personal Assistant….

Posted on by Castillo

Jose and I met with a psychologist this morning. We wanted to talk about how to deal with what has happened in Haiti and how it’s affected our family, the staff, and the Haitians. I won’t go into a lot of details but did find some comfort in talking to him.

There was something that he said that really stuck out to me. I have reflected on it throughout today. I told him that I feel like I should be doing more. I have employees share their heart with me, random refugees show up at my door, and friends who are completely devastated. I feel like I have nothing to offer them. There has to be more for me to do.

He asked me when they come to me crying – what do I do? I told him I normally hug them, sit beside them and hold their hand, etc.

He told me that as Christians we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. That we are living-breathing vessels that carry Christ where-ever we go. When we offer ourselves up to simply listen or hold someone when they cry – in that moment we are temporary assistants of the Holy Spirit. We are “literally” being Jesus’s arms and His hands. Do we ever stop to realize what that really means?

So often times we discount what we can do. I’m not a doctor – I can’t go to Haiti. I’ve never worked in construction – I can’t rebuild what has happened there. We all come up with excuses and feel like we can’t make a difference. I talked to a woman yesterday and she broke down and cried right in front of me. She told me she feels so useless – how could she help someone in Haiti?

Do you know what God needs us to be the most? He needs us to be His assistant. We each have the ability to be God’s personal assistant every day. Let me say that again. We each have the privilege to be God’s personal assistant – HIS assistant – every day.

For the last several months I’ve worked with Janeil as his personal assistant (among other things). I try to help him tackle many of the tasks that are thrown at him daily. You wouldn’t believe how much his phone rings or the emails that never stop coming. I take this role seriously and I make a point each day to do my best on his behalf.

Until today I never thought about what that means to be the Assistant to the Holy Spirit. Is it not our job to help tackle the many tasks that are thrown at Him each day? Should we not be doing our best to make our Ultimate Authority look good? Should we not be reflecting Him in all we do and fill in the gaps that God has laid before us?

I don’t know. I have thought about it all day long. I feel like it was God’s way of telling me that I don’t have to be a doctor or a surgeon. I don’t have to be an engineer or architect. He actually has a much more important role for me to play. He needs me to be His personal assistant. He needs me to attend to His daily tasks. He needs me to represent His hands, His arms, His ears, His feet, and His face. I don’t know of any other title or job description that can be beat – Personal Assistant to the Holy Spirit.

No more excuses. We all have a job that has been clearly laid out before us…….

Posted in Personal Stories

Our Adventure to the States…

Posted on by Castillo

My family started our adventure on Friday, February 5th at 6:30am. We got on the bus and headed to Port-de-Paix. We loaded Tortuga Air at 8am and flew to Cap Haitian. We then loaded another plane to Turks and Caicos at 3pm. We spent the night there. The hotel was nice. Some of the medical team went to the beach. We were too beat to do much but hang out in the hotel room.

Saturday at 5:30am we were in the hotel lobby. We decided to go stand-by on an earlier flight. One of the benefits of being a travel agent on top of everything else is I get to see “exactly” how many seats are open on the planes. I encouraged all of the medical team to go stand-by because there were nearly 100 seats open. Finally – at 10:00am we were in Miami!

While we were on the plane getting ready to land in Miami – the girls kept saying “Look at all the buildings. Look – the buildings are all standing.” They honestly believed that EVERY PLACE was effected by the earthquake.

Now that might seem like a crazy way to come to the states – but right now – it’s the only way to come out. The kids were so good. We were all tired of flying and waiting around for flights – but God’s favor was definitely on my family. It was relatively smooth.

We rented a 12-passenger van from Miami to Daytona Beach. Our little Partridge bus has been sitting at Melonnie Kelly’s house since September. So we picked up our little bus and started our two-day drive home. When we drove by Orlando – the girls saw all the signs for Disney World. It was proof that Cinderella was really okay.

Janeil was in Savannah, GA so we swung by and picked him up. Wished we would have known about the rockslide on 1-40. We lost a good 1.5 hours there! I couldn’t get Janeil to stop and ask for directions. He was going to figure out a detour all on his own! LOL!

We got to my parent’s house Sunday night at 7pm – just in time to finish watching the superbowl. I really can’t complain. It was 3 very long days with 6 very good kids.

When we got to my mom’s house it was floor to ceiling with boxes full of relief supplies. We couldn’t get our suitcases past the door. A mystery person had left snacks, chips, milk, Fruit Loops, Pop tarts, a princess game, and all kinds of goodies. What a GREAT SURPRISE! There was no food in the house because my mom had been gone the last 6 weeks. THANK YOU TO WHOEVER BROUGHT ALL OF THAT!

My family has gone from talking about earthquakes to snow storms. The girls were out playing in the snow today. It was so good to see them laughing and talking about something “new”.

They still pray for people under concrete. We were watching TV today and the news came on and said that someone was still alive and pulled from the rubble yesterday. This has only spurred on the girls. Mikela said that he lived because she was praying for him. Malaya told Rosie and Mikela – “We have to keep praying for all the dead people – so they can be alive”. I know God understands what her heart is saying – even if her words don’t quite express it.

Jose and I are meeting with a psychologist on Friday who deals with post-stress situations. We look forward to him helping our family as well as teaching us how to help others in Haiti – both Haitian and American.

Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. We are looking forward to having a week where we can just breathe…..

Posted in Mission Stories

Search Continues at Hotel Montana

Posted on by Castillo

January 31, 2010 – 5:04 PM | by: Michael Sorrentino

We had a brief trip to the Hotel Montana site today.  Of all the recovery efforts I’ve seen so far, this is the most productive and well organized. There was a constant flow of trucks carrying out rubble that has been sifted through and then sent off to a landfill about six miles away.

As we walked up to the site, workers were pulling a body from the rubble, bringing the total number of recovered to 25.

It was quiet and machines were shut off.  Workers handled the remains with complete respect and dignity – this was someone’s child. Colonel Norberto Cintron said that he treats this site like a shrine to those who are now buried there.  These workers are emotionally attached to this mission – some have friends or family in there.  Major Chris Muller of the US Army told us that his friend and colleague was in there  – Air Force Major Ken Bourland. He was seen a few minutes before the quake emailing in the building and has not been found.

Also on site was Bill Hawkins, the Incident Commander of the Hotel Montana Recovery Mission for the US Army Corp of Engineers. Hawkins is a tall military man and engineer from Denver.  Bill noticed the wedding band of a Columbian man that he was working with.  A day or so later, they were pulling a woman’s body out and he noticed that the man wasn’t in the area for the recovery.  When he looked close, he saw the woman had a matching wedding band to his.  A tough guy, Hawkins held back tears in recalling the moment when he told the man it was, in fact, his wife.

Just two days ago, the body of a 4 year old Guatemalan boy was recovered, his father holding him in his arms as the building crumbled around them.  The mother and brother of that boy are alive.  Bill said to me, “I don’t know if you have a family, but I do – and no parent wants to see that.”

Amidst the devastation around them, the men and women working this mission have a sense of duty to the families of those who have been entombed in what was once a 5 story symbol of Haiti’s potential.  The hotel was capable of holding 145 people.  The day the earthquake struck it was at 95% capacity.  It is believed that only 50% of the people were in the hotel at the time of the quake since many were at work during the daytime.

A total of 17 survivors have been pulled from the rubble since Hotel collapsed, but officials say they expect no more survivors to be found.

When a victim’s body is found the process of identification is a difficult one – a contractor carefully packages up the remains for identification under the watch of the US State Department in the US Embassy in Port au Prince’s makeshift mortuary. From there, they are sent to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and then home to rest, while some families will come and receive their loved ones here in Haiti by means of commercial aircraft.

Safety is the biggest concern, though the demolished structure is at rest, it can shift at any time, causing serious injuries to workers. As we head away from the hotel site back to Fox’s makeshift Haiti Bureau, a body partially covered with a tarp lay on the side of the road just yards from the gates of the Hotel Montana.  Thanks to the efforts of volunteers from all over the world, the family members of those lost in the Hotel Montana will eventually be able to lay their loved ones to rest, while many Haitians are left with only questions.

Posted in NW_Relief, Personal Stories

Who Will They Light Their Lamp For?

Posted on by Castillo

Whenever you really look hard enough – you can always find beauty in the midst of tragedy. As thousands and thousands of refugees make their way north (we are the 2nd largest zone to receive refugees) the churches here are swelling. People are looking for answers to this tragedy and so they’re coming to the church to find them. We have such a huge obligation and burden before us. People who might not ever step inside a church have found a pew and now is the time for us to reach them while they’re still searching.

I had 12 pastors from the churches downtown come and ask me how we can help feed their congregations. I guess word got out that I met with them because all day long I’ve had people lined outside the office – people with sick children needing medications and people with children who are hungry. They bring the children with them when they ask me for food – so I can see for myself how bad their kids look. I’ve remained teary-eyed nearly all day long. All of them have stories. Today alone – I used all my benevolent ministry money for the month.

I wouldn’t say that the northwest zone is OUT of food – but I would say that we’re really low. All those relief supplies are fixed for the PAP area. BUT  we heard they are headed our way – we just haven’t seen them yet.

I have been slow to give out a lot of information about what all the mission is doing because my brother has spent the last several days laying out the mission’s response and actions we will take. I think everyone will receive the news better coming from him so I am trying to be slow to speak!! (HA – those who know me know how difficult that is!)

I will share about a few things we’ve already done as opposed to all that we WILL do. We have given money to the mayor to help house refugees and to refund any money they spent to get here. We sent a medical team to PAP immediately after the quake happened and cleared out our surgical center’s supplies so we could use it there. We have flown in two surgery teams that have been working on several crushed bones from the earthquake. We’ve done emergency c-sections as well as other life-saving operations just for people from the St. Louis area. We are waiting for several containers of food that are in PAP to arrive here. In the meantime – we have given away pallets of food to help the surrounding areas.

We have set up several collection sites all over the states. We have 2 large Shrimp boats that will be headed our way in about 10 days or so. Those collection sites will be sending their supplies to the shrimp boats. We will be bringing in 10,000 gallons of diesel as well as food, medical supplies, toiletry items, baby formula, etc. We have been receiving plane loads of supplies from Canada and Florida. Those supplies we’ve used here or have donated to other hospitals so that we can meet the demand of our growing population.

So those are things we’ve done and we’ve only just begun. There has to be a long-term goal – something sustainable – or we’ve done it all for nothing. It’s the whole story of – do you feed people fish for 3 months – or teach them how to fish so they can eat forever?  God has laid a huge burden on our shoulders and we want to glorify Him n all we do. Things we were going to do last week are not the same things we want to do this week. Haiti has a rapidly changing environment and so we are constantly re-writing our plans. So if you feel like you haven’t heard what all we’re doing – it’s simply because we are constantly meeting the demands of the ever-changing environment.

I do want to put a plea out to groups. Several are getting nervous about coming into Haiti. Just as I said that so many people are showing up at church looking for answers – we have so many new youth and children looking to be loved. We need Vacation Bible Schools so that these refugees can hear about Jesus. We need huge Youth conferences – we need revivals – we need people to  just hold and love on babies – we need someone to pray with our granmoun – we need someone to play soccer with the kids. We need to make our refugees as well as there rest of the population here who is nervous and scared – – feel like there is HOPE. We need to be the face of Jesus to all these new faces. More so now than before – THIS IS THE TIME to have hundreds of people come to Haiti and be the light.

I’m reminded of the story  Mother Theresa shared about the nuns who were cleaning the houses of elderly patients in India. A lady was going to clean an old oil lantern for an older gentleman. As she was getting ready to wipe it down the old man said – No. Just leave it.  The nun asked him why? He said to her – No one comes to visit me. Who am I going to light my lamp for?

The Haitian people sit around in darkness. Do they even know what that light represents? Do they even know that there is a way out of darkness through the light of Christ? My question to you is – Who are they going to light their lamp for?

Posted in Mission Stories

Tragedy of individual Haitians risks overshadowing chronic health problems

Posted on by Castillo

By Alfred Sommer

Special to The Washington Post

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

For the first two weeks, we watched the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake with a combination of horror and hope: horror over the widespread devastation and hope whenever one more living soul was retrieved from the rubble.

Captivated as we’d been by the individual rescue, we also learned that as many as 20,000 people could be dying in Haiti every day. That was an estimate, put out by a group that provides health care in Haiti; the actual figure may be lower. But what if it’s 2,000 or even just 200 people dying unnecessarily and largely unnoticed?

We care about the one in spite of — and sometimes at the expense of — the many.

Those of us in public health refer to this as the “girl in the well” phenomenon. The world will watch with baited breath through a four-day rescue ordeal, while at the same time hundreds of millions of people go to bed hungry each night, more than 6 million children die unnecessarily every year, and the Millennium Development goals go unmet in those countries that most need to achieve them.

So it goes in Haiti. After the search for survivors slowed and the humanitarian operation intensified, questions began mounting about the adequacy of our response and whether it can be sustained. Our focus on those being rescued stimulated an outpouring of aid. But now, as with past disasters at home and abroad, we are beginning to forget.

Public-health investments protect health and save lives, but as D.A. Henderson, who led the worldwide eradication of smallpox, often notes, “No one wakes up in the morning grateful that they haven’t died of smallpox.” Nor do most Americans wake up grateful that our basic sanitation has kept us from contracting cholera and typhoid fever, or that the vitamins and minerals we consume in our (sometimes bloated) diets protect us from pellagra, scurvy and going blind or dying from Vitamin A deficiency.

Haitians, like the inhabitants of most poor countries, face these problems every day, as they do malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS and other preventable diseases.

We accept the problems of the masses as just so much background noise; but it is background noise that causes immense, entirely unnecessary misery the world over and contributes in our own country to spiraling health-care costs.

Haiti’s masses may seem far away and their experience distant from our own. But we have a shared interest in looking beyond the harrowing sight of a single child being pulled from Haiti’s rubble, just as we need to look beyond the girl in the well.

Having participated in delivering relief following another disaster — the cyclone that washed away nearly a quarter of a million Bengalis in 1971 — I have some sense of the chaos in attempting to provide the right kind of aid to the right people at the right time, of the need to serve the needs of both the individual and the many.

Pay me now or pay me later. Investing in public health, both here and overseas, is an investment in the future. A mountain of disease is rolling forward; it needs to be noticed, and dealt with, before an economic and human tsunami engulfs us all.

Posted in NW_Personal Ministry Update, Personal Stories

God Is The Same Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow….

Posted on by Castillo

Today has been one of those days where you feel like there is too much going on to absorb everything. My day actually started late last night. There was wailing happening outside my house. It was so loud that it scared the children. It was coming from right inside the gate.

So I put my shoes on, went downstairs, and realized that a young pregnant lady had died. Melissa and Dr. Simon had tried to revive her but there was simply nothing that could be done. She was hypertensive, someone said that she had a seizure before she even got to our gates, and just like that  – a relatively healthy momma was gone.

There must have been 25 people or so crying out. I prayed with them and asked them if the young mother knew Jesus. They told me she did. I then had the privilege at 1am to share about Heaven and tell them that this pregnant momma is now holding her baby while she sits at the feet of Jesus. They wrapped her in a white sheet, placed her on an army cot, and carried her back to her home.

As I have said before – death is no stranger to Haiti. It was full of heartache – long before the quake ever came. It creeps into the homes of nearly everyone I know. It preys on little children and takes 50% of them captive before they ever see their 5th birthday. It haunts the malnourished babies, imprisons the mothers and fathers, and sits and waits by the sides of our granmoun. Death is real no matter where you live but it feels so close to those of us who live in Haiti. We deal with death on so many levels and is apart of our daily life. I might find it hard to function on any sort of level if it weren’t for one big thing…….Jesus Christ conquered death.

Yesterday at church I sat behind a lady who lived in Port-au-Prince. She stood up and said “I am from Port-au-Prince. I lost everything I have. My house is gone. My family is gone. I want to be baptized because Jesus is all I have left”.

My friend Bobbi spent a year in Port-au-Prince. I got this email from her today:  Remember the school I worked for…you went with me to meet the director?  It totally collapsed.  My boss has 2 crushed legs and a crushed arm.  He was buried 18 hours (he was blind to start with).  His wife was 7 months pregnant and she died.  I have another friend that has a 5 month old and they are living on the streets, they lost everything. I want to be there so bad in MY Port au Prince with MY friends.  Finally God helped me to realize that it is HIS Port au Prince and I will be there when I am needed.

I got this verse sent to me from Samantha Guilliams this morning:

Psalms 121,

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Isn’t God’s word so comforting? He is the same God – yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is definitely watching over my coming and going.

My family has been strongly encouraged to come out of Haiti for a few days. We have yet to have a night where the girls aren’t crying about the house falling. The girls have no concept of where the earthquake hit. They think everything was destroyed – everywhere. It was really precious but kind of sad yesterday when Malaya came to me crying about Disney World. She said Mikela told her it fell with the all the houses. Now you might think she would be sad because that means she can’t ride the rides or go there to play. No – her first two questions were – – Did Cinderella make it out okay? Have you heard from her?

Jose often wakes up in cold sweats – still thinks often about his experience in PAP. One of the mission’s psychologists likened Jose’s experience to that of a war veteran.

It’s time for the girls to start thinking of other things besides death and the quake. It’s not healthy. So when I got the word we “need” to take them out for 10 days – I kept thinking – that’s easier said than done.

But My God has already started watching over my comings and goings. In order to get out of this country (since there are no commercial flights here) you have to go on a 9 hour bus ride to Cap Haitian, take a chartered flight to Turks and Caicos, and then catch up with the airlines to fly to Miami. Thinking about all of that with 7  children isn’t really appealing.

Realizing that this seemed nearly impossible I just simply laid it all at His feet. If He wants me to take the family out – everything will just line up. I don’t want to leave Haiti at all – so it will not be “my doing”  but His to make this happen.

Today we got confirmation that Go Ministries will fly my family from Port-de-Paix to Cap Haitian for free. Our surgery team chartered a flight for Friday to Turks with 10 extra seats on it – enough to fit my large family. We don’t really have the funds for this unplanned trip. However – I know as God has already provided the way to get to Turks and Caicos – He’ll get us the rest of the way. When you lay it at His feet – it’s His business to figure out the details.