Jim's Day in Haiti Fri Feb 5th

I spent my last day in Haiti with Marie, the girls, and looking over the worksite. Marie was not feeling well all day with “heartburn” which I thought may be something more serious. I called Debbie who is a nurse and she came over and came up with the same conclusion as Marie so I felt better. Marie says “today I rest, tomorrow I rest, but then look out I’ll be back.” I hope that is exactly what happens. She is 73 or 74 years old and running like crazy. She has four families living in her house and 30 orphans, two helpers, and she is running three work crews at the demolition site, one doing interior concrete work (4 guys), one rebuilding the outhouses (4 guys), and the destruction crew which was 22 guys today. I get tired even writing about it. I hope to have half the energy at her age.


I many ways I am sad to leave and feel like maybe I should stay another week. But I know it will be good to be home with my family—I miss them. My work here is for the most part accomplished. Shawn and I were able to bring the good news from the US that there are so many people who have been praying and working on behalf of Haiti, Marie, the girls, etc. We provide the assurance to the people here that they are loved by others and that we are standing with them in this extremely difficult time. We were able to bring funds from the relief donations we received and were able to see those funds in action to help many, many, people in this neighborhood. We were able to assure Marie that we can and will rebuild the orphanage and the church. We brought our love, the love of all those who are aware of the desperate needs here and have shown their love through prayer, donations, and working for the cause. There are so many people that have been involved that it overwhelms me. We were able to show Christ’s love to all those we encountered and Christ’s love was clearly shining through them to us as well.

It has been an awesome journey and Shawn and I have had a great time participating in it. We were never in fear of anyone or anything; we were at peace with all those we encountered. It has truly been a blessing. Thank all of you for following along and we look forward to your following the story as it unfolds and participating in whatever way you feel led