Final Clinic Evening...tomorrow is the beach!

This was emailed out Thursday morning, March 17.  It is the update for Wednesday, March 16.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonswa from Haiti!

Today we went back to the village of Grand Vincent. The view as we drive up to the villages each day is a sight that I will never get used to and is one that, unfortunately, pictures could never do justice. It was our last day of clinic and the guys make some amazing progress of the roof of the new church. We have loved visiting this village because each time we drive up there are children who have already come down the road to meet us and they run behind the trailer waving with huge smiles on their faces because they are so excited we
are there.

Helping in the clinic has been both an amazing and emotionally difficult experience. There have been some encouraging cases where our doctors have been able to help people who have been sick for a long time. Lacey Stockeland and some of our nurses have gotten the chance to teach some of the mothers how to better care for their babies. What great knowledge that they will be able to in turn share with the other women in their village.

Today, we had one of the more difficult cases. A forty-seven year old man came in with a cancerous tumor in his neck. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do for him and he probably wasn’t going to live very long. I was in tears as we circled around this man to pray over him, but at the same time
gently reminded by the Lord that all of our days on this Earth are numbered and we must make the most of each day.

The Lord has placed Psalm 139 on my heart this week. The Lord has ordained every day of our life and He knows every step of our lives: past, present, and
future. We spend so much time worrying and stressing over our past or our future that we miss what God’s will is for our present. My prayer for this week has been that the Lord would allow me to make the most of every moment I have here in Haiti and not to worry about what my future in the States might hold. God has called me, for this week at least, to Haiti and I want to use every chance I get to share His love with the Haitian people.

When we got back to the compound, there was a surprise birthday party waiting for Lacey. The pastors of both churches we have visited and their wives, along with some of the Stockeland’s Haitian friends had come to help celebrate. What a fun time of fellowshipping together!

This week has been a life-changing one for me. I pray that I never forget the work that the Lord has done in my heart this week. Dave Stockeland, the founder of the Haiti Bible Mission, said tonight, “You shouldn’t have to go on a mission trip for the Lord to change your life, but if you go on a mission trip and He happens to change your life, then Praise the Lord!!!”

Bonje bene ou! (God bless you!)

Brittany and the Haiti Team