Let’s not forget the poor…
September 9, 2010
On April 15, 2010 a fellow missionary and I (Maria) took Susana to the main hospital in Jacmel, Haiti. After stumbling with our limited creole God showed up and sent us help through an English speaking Haitian man. We managed to have nurses and lab techs and doctors take a look at Susana in an attempt to figure out what was wrong with her. It is a day I will never forget.
I will never forget it because it was the day I experienced what so many Haitians experience on a day to day basis. You see, I went through the whole thing. There were no hoops to jump just because I have lighter skin color. I had to stand at the registration table and wait my turn. I had to go the lab and get blood work done and wait my turn. I had to see a doctor as he was available to see Susana. I had to come back for lab results later. And then I had to wait my turn to see the doctor again. And of course, I went to the pharmacy to get Susana’s medicines.
All this sounds like a simple process, but in Haiti it is not. There are a lot of things that are lacking in a hospital in a fifth world country. And coming back to the United States to find out my little girl has a stage four childhood cancer has made me realize how much we have and how much we have to be thankful for. Not only was Susana misdiagnosed in Haiti, but there was no way she could have possibly been correctly diagnosed at all. And so is the case with many many Haitians today. They don’t have all the fancy equipment we have here to check to see if other things or anything is wrong.
A month before Susana was diagnosed with cancer another hospital episode happened. Our house help, Melitha, needed to take her mom to the doctor. Her mother, a very old lady, was having chest pain and was not doing good at all. Melitha’s mom lived with her and five other family members in a half built one room small house. One day, she asked us if we could help her with her mother. So we told her to take her mother to the clinic and whatever she was billed we would pay for it. The next day, Melitha came to work with some prebscritions which we offered to buy for her. I was the one who went to the pharmacy to get the medicines for her. And I was the one to experience the shock when I found out that the doctors apparently thought that vitamin E and aspirin would take care of her problem. It didn’t. Melitha’s mom died a week later.
In Haiti, thousands of misdiagnoses are given daily. Resources and training are not available to the people and care for common illness is very limited. Treatable illnesses such as malaria and others are deadly. I was even surprised that some illnesses that are common in the Caribbean, such as dengue fever, are not well known in Haiti, yet they are a reality. It is even hard to try to explain cancer to a Haitian. Yet, it is not as if cancer was an American only problem. Cancer is a reality everywhere.
My heart breaks for the people of Haiti. I am sadden by the reality that many died for the lack of care. Their of lack of knowledge leads to lack of care and lack of care leads to lack of prevention. Family members of those who died without a proper diagnosis never known how to protect themselves or prevent what can be prevented. I am sad. It breaks my heart.
I thank God for the resources that we have here in the United States. I love our nurses. I love our doctors. I love everyone who makes sure that Susana, and our family, is well taken care of. I love having a clean hospital with food to eat and clean water to drink and walls and doors and windows. I know. That sounds like such basic stuff and pretty obvious to have. But in Haiti, they sometimes don’t have walls or windows or doors. Food is not the norm in a hospital and clean water almost impossible to get. So, yes, I am thankful even for those very small insignificant things.
Here is a picture of Susana’s medical card from the main hospital in Jacmel:
- Susana’s medical ID card for the hospital in Jacmel, Haiti.
This card may not reveal much, except the fact that even simple little things, such as the paper we use in hospitals, may not be the norm in Haiti. Paper is not the only thing lacking. Equipment and training and care and clean facilities are a huge need for this people. This card was handwritten on a small piece of a file folder.
Let’s not forget Haiti. Let’s not forget the poor. Seven hundred miles outside of Miami live a group of people that can use your love, prayers, and support. Among those who are hurting the children and the elderly are at a higher risk. If all you can do is lift them up in prayer, then please do that. God is faithful to provide for all of us and for them. All we have to do is ask.
6“Is not this the fast that I choose:to loose the bonds of wickedness,to undo the straps of the yoke,to let the oppressed [2] go free,and to break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungryand bring the homeless poor into your house;when you see the naked, to cover him,and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,and your healing shall spring up speedily;your righteousness shall go before you;the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’If you take away the yoke from your midst,the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,10 if you pour yourself out for the hungryand satisfy the desire of the afflicted,then shall your light rise in the darknessand your gloom be as the noonday.11 And the Lord will guide you continuallyand satisfy your desire in scorched placesand make your bones strong;and you shall be like a watered garden,like a spring of water,whose waters do not fail.12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;you shall be called the repairer of the breach,the restorer of streets to dwell in. –Isaiah 58:6-12
quick updates and thoughts
September 7, 2010
Happy Anniversary to my beautiful bride!!!! – Maria and I celebrated our 8th year anniversary by sneaking away for a day and night at a beautiful cabin near the Great Smokey Mountains. We had a wonderful time together. The cabin was great, beautiful view, quiet, great outdoor hot tub, and all things good. We sat in the hot tub last night staring at the stars and marveling at the vastness of God. To think that those stars were all put there by Him and are held there by Him is overwhelming. We shared in the words of David that “such knowledge is too wonderful for me and too lofty for me to attain.” Yes, the Lord is BIG! He is MIGHTY. And He is LOVE. He is all we need in this life and eternity. So, we had a great time sharing our lives together and reflecting on what the Lord is doing in our lives. We have had some incredibly challenging years in our marriage, but by His grace we have remained committed to walking through those times together. And now the Lord is doing some deep work and healing in our lives and we rejoice in what He is doing and what He will continue to do. I am blessed to have such a beautiful and God loving wife.
We began our morning in prayer on our knees together, yielded to our great and mighty God, surrendered to His will for our lives. We talked about how frail and fragile is our human soul. We are so delicate. We break so easily. We get distracted too quickly. We forget too often. We remember too much. Yes, we are a delicate people. Thank the Lord for His grace and mercy. In Him we press on and seek more and more to become like Him, while our frailty and fragility simply remind us that we are not yet home in our permanent place, therefore we continue to long and yearn for our complete redemption when He comes to take us home.
We are so thankful to our friends, the Prevost’s and the Brown’s, for taking care of Isabela and Susana while we were away. The body of Christ is such a blessing!
Back to Haiti next week – I will be heading back to Haiti next Wednesday to Sunday. I am looking forward to getting back and spending time with many people that I have come to know and love. I will be bringing a bunch of school supplies to give to the orphaned children. I will be visiting with the children in the homes where they are currently staying in order to determine what needs remain. Our sponsorship program should be up and running very soon. I will also be meeting with another young guy I know that just started up an orphanage in Titanyen, an area outside of Port au Prince. I will be assessing his orphanage and will be praying about whether or not the Lord will have us work with him and the children. Since Global Outreach has a mission base right there in Titanyen, I will spend the night there visiting with the other missionaries, and then I will fly home Sunday morning.
I am also very excited about the progress that we are making with regards to getting large amounts of meals shipped over so that we can expand our feeding programs. we have a contact in Florida who we are currently working with. They are currently filling a 20 foot container with Kids Against Hunger meals that will be shipped to us in Jacmel. They plan to start doing this a few times per year so that we have a consistent food supply coming in for the feeding programs and orphanages that we are wanting to help. Please pray for the logistics to be worked out with regards to shipping and receiving.
We have a team coming in December and another possibly in November. The December team is a college group that is coming down to hand out Christmas shoeboxes to several hundred children, including of course the orphans that we are working with. They will be shipping the boxes over within the next few weeks to insure that they arrive by December. Please pray for the details to be worked out and that the boxes arrive in time.
I am happy that our 4 wheel drive pickup truck is now in our possession. Thanks to our Ministry Director Fenel, who traveled to St Mark for 3 days to work on getting it out of customs and then to Port au Prince for a day to get it registered and insured. So, now we have a pickup truck to be able to haul supplies and food.
Pray that the Lord continues to give us vision and direction for what we are to do in Haiti. There are so many needs and so many possibilities to minister, but we just want to be in step with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Update on Susana – Susana had surgery a few weeks ago to have the tumor removed after getting back tests that showed that it had shrunk by more than half its size and that all the other tumors were gone. The surgery was very successful as they were able to remove 90% of the tumor and they cauderized (seared) the remaining 10%. She is healing great and is feeling great. Tomorrow, we go back to the hospital for her last round of chemo here before we head off to Duke for 3 months for her stem cell transplant. So, we are getting ready for a long stretch of time where we will be away from home and in the hospital every day. Please pray for God’s strength over us.
We are so thankful for how she has responded to treatment thus far. She could not have responded better. So, we pray that she continues to respond so well that these tumors never return…ever. My prayer is that Susana lives to be a very old woman, seeing both her own children and grandchildren grow up. And I’ll make sure that her house is next door from us so that Maria and I get to witness as much as possible. Anyway…that’s our prayer. And I will continue to pray everyday for that to happen.
I don’t know all there is to know about prayer. Its a mystery that I will never understand on this side of heaven. I mean, prayer doesn’t change God’s mind and direction. He already knows the beginning from the end. But what I do know is that Jesus gave us models and examples for prayer, and the 2 examples that keep me on my knees for my daughter every day is the story Jesus told about the man that asked his neighbor for bread late at night because he had a guest. The man kept banging on the door because it was late at night and his neighbor did not feel like getting out of bed to answer the door, but Jesus said that the neighbor will finally get up and give his bread away simply because of the other man’s persistence. So, this teaches me to keep being persistent in praying for Susana’s healing. The other story that Jesus told was about the woman who was wronged and went to a judge day after day demanding that she get justice. Jesus said that even though the judge does not fear God or care about this woman’s case, that He will grant her justice simply because she is persistent. Again, I am encouraged by these verses to continue praying for my little Susana. Jesus states, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks is given, and everyone who seeks, finds, and all who knock, the door is opened.” And I am reminded also of the story of David and Bathsheba when they had their first child who died as a result of God’s judgment on David for his adultery. But, even though he was told that the child was going to die, he fasted and prayed like never before. He sought the Lord. He pleaded for mercy. He did not stop. And it wasn’t until he received word that the child died that he finally got off the floor and ate. So too I will remain on the floor pleading for God’s mercy until the Lord answers in one way or another. and I hope you will all do the same.
Personally – God continues to draw me closer to Him than I have ever been. I am still brought to my knees every morning and sometimes even throughout my day. I stand in thankfulness for what He has done in my heart. My soul longs to know Him more. I long for Him to continue to radically change my heart and bring it to life. I long for Him to radically change my marriage and make whole all that has been broken, and restore all the lost years that the locust swarms of sin and selfishness have devoured. I long for Him to use me to lead my family into greater truth and righteousness. I long to see Him heal my daughter. I long for Him to use my family to reach the lost and minister His love and truth to the poor. I just want Him to be the absolute center, to borrow the words of John Piper, that Jesus would be the sun in my universe in which all the planets of my being would orbit around in harmony and order. That is my prayer.
Drawn by Him…
August 9, 2010
Well, the Lord is continuing to work in my heart in a manner in which I cannot even describe. I find myself just weeping at some small point every day because I am overcome with His presence and thoughts of His goodness.
I am being drawn to my knees in prayer every single morning. And when I say “drawn to my knees”, I mean it. Its like I’ll get up, get some breakfast, take a shower, then I’ll walk into my bedroom to get something, and immediately I’ll just find myself dropping to my knees to seek Him and cry out to Him and thank Him and to yield myself to Him. And sometimes I’ll just be drawn in the middle of the day or the evening to do the same, just talk to Him and seek Him and commune with Him.
I am being drawn to the bible in a newer and deeper way. Truth be told, reading the bible has always been a challenge and a struggle, something that I just had to almost force myself to do just knowing that God calls us to do so and that we have to do it in order to grow. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little. Don’t get me wrong, I mean, I would enjoy God’s Word every time I would read the bible, but then I would still find that there was always this major battle for me to pick it up the following day. And sometimes I would persevere and win that battle…and yet sometimes I would lose. I’m not being legalistic here, I mean the Bible commands us to meditate on His word every day. It is not a suggestion. It is not just for some that really like to. it is a command to every one of God’s children. And so I tried my best to follow that command. But these days, I am being drawn to read the bible all the time simply because, yes I want to obey His command, but more so because I want to know more about this great and awesome God who has redeemed my soul and has set me free. My cry is the same as that of the apostle Paul, “that I may know Christ and the power of His resurrection and to share in the fellowship of His sufferings. And so, I find myself just picking up my bible here and there throughout the day just to seek to know Him more. I even installed the Bible on my iphone just so I can have it with me wherever I go and get the opportunity to read it throughout the day.
He is drawing me into a new and deeper “quiet time” or “personal devotion time” like never before. Again, my “quiet time” (though I never called it “quiet time” because I wasn’t always quiet) was a struggle to maintain no fail daily time alone with Him. And again, having that time alone was always enjoyable, but it would be a struggle to get up and do it again the very next day. And so I have spent years as well trying to develop a discipline where that would just be part of my daily routine. But it would often be a battle. And again, sometimes I would win…yet other times I would lose. But these days, my time with God is not just being reduced to a “Ok, read my 5 minute devotion, read a scripture, and said a quick prayer, so now I’m set for the day.” Again, maybe exaggerating a little, but I hope you get the point. But these days, my quiet time or time with God or whatever you want to call it is not just a 10 minute thing in the morning, but rather throughout my day. I want to spend time alone with Him in the morning to start out my day, but then I want to stop what I am doing in the afternoon just to pause and pray and seek Him and tell Him that I am so thankful. And then I want to talk to my wife about what He is doing in my life. And then I want to journal my thoughts and prayers and ask Him to reveal more of Himself to me. So, its like my time with Him is constant, and I so much enjoy His presence that I want to include Him in everything that I am doing!
I am being drawn to worship Him all throughout my day. I just want to listen to worship songs that glorify His name. I just purchased an itunes card so that I can download more worship songs on my iphone since I don’t nearly have enough. Unfortunately, I do have enough secular songs, many of which I have removed because I realize that I cannot bring honor and glory to God by listening to them. Now, I’m not in the boat of “Christians should only listen to Christian music”, even though, at this time, that is all I want to do. But I am in the boat of “Do all things for the glory of the Lord.” And so, if I am listening and gaining enjoyment from a song that actually takes away from the truth of His glory, then how is that bringing Him glory? And you know, some of the songs that I have removed are considered “Christian”, but the truth is that the music label does not matter, its what the song is about that matters. So, if I am listening to a “Christian” song that simply expresses all kinds of heartache and defeat and struggle, but never points to the source of truth and freedom, then how does that bring glory to God? It actually takes away from His glory. And I just don’t want to do that anymore. So, these days, I just want to worship Him in complete purity of mind and heart.
Like I said in my previous post, I feel like I have been born again, again. I feel like I have been given a new heart that is undivided. As I read in Ezekiel that after the Lord said that He was going to execute judgment on the people of Israel for all of their detestable acts and sin that they committed, that He would bring them back from the land of captivity and He would give them a new heart, one that is undivided. He would take away their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. And as a result, the people would return to their land and tear down all their false altars and remove all their vile images from their temple, and they would wholly seek the Lord. To me, as well as many who have used this verse in sharing the gospel, this describes the salvation experience, when Jesus takes away our old heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. And though I had an experience when I was 19 years old when I surrendered my heart to the Lord and asked Him to forgive me of my sins as I acknowledged Him and agreed with the message of the cross, I can’t say that I experienced what I am now experiencing. I mean, I remember acknowledging my sin and asking for forgiveness, but I don’t remember falling to the floor overcome with such grief and just crying uncontrollably because I realize the gravity of my sin in the light of a holy God. And I remember being so happy that my sins were forgiven, but I don’t remember just in any given moment being brought to tears simply at the realization of how rich his mercy is to have covered my wretchedness with His love.
Ok, so did I just get saved? No, I truly believe that when I prayed at age 19 and asked Jesus to become the Lord and Savior of my life, that He truly did at that moment. But, all I can say is that He has done something in me in this last month that has never been done before. I can’t fully describe it, but He has done it by His grace. He has given me a new heart, one that is undivided, one that wholly wants to seeks the Lord. And I am overwhelmed by His love as I am being drawn by Him. – Cody
Website under construction…
August 7, 2010
Please be patient as we are re-designing our website. In the process, you will still be able to access our site with all the previous menus, but for now you may see some new additions that are not yet fully developed. We would have liked to keep it all a surprise and then do a one time unveiling of everything that is new, but we didn’t know how to work on it off-line.
Coming very soon will be links that will provide much more information about our ministry, including a link for our orphaned child sponsorship program that we are starting. Our prayer is that the Lord will be glorified as we proclaim all that He is doing and as we share more opportunities for how you can be a part of that.
Back with the fam….
July 22, 2010
Good to be back home with my wife and children. Susana is doing great! We just went to the clinic today and her counts are very good. Lord willing, she will begin her next round of chemo on Wednesday.
Isabela is doing great. She just spent the day with a friend of hers and has a great time. Man, I always miss my girls so much when I am away, but it is so good to get all the make up kisses and hugs from the days that I was gone.
Maria is doing well. She is happy because I brought back from Haiti all of her card making and scrapbooking material that we had left there. So, even though I wasn’t able to get EVERYTHING, she is still happy as right now she is making a card at the dining room table. It is good to be back together with my better half.
So, I praise the Lord for getting home safe and thank all of you for your prayers.
Leaving Haiti a day early…
July 20, 2010
My family needs me more…
Team Update
July 19, 2010
So far, things are going great with our team here in Haiti. If it didn’t take so long to upload pictures, I would put bunch on here. But we just don’t have the time.
Yesterday, the team went to church and had their first Haitian church experience. They felt very welcomed by the pastor and the church members. They also got the chance to meet some of the children who we will be working with this week.
After church, Fenel and I visited the woman whose home we plan on building. While we were gone, the team went around our neighborhood and had a blast meeting all of the children and sharing God’s love with them. They played for quite some time.
Today, the guys began the home construction. Well, actually they just spent the day knocking down the old “so called” house and digging the foundation for the new one. They certainly worked up quite a sweat.
While the guys were doing that, I took the women to the orphanage that we often visit. The women adored all the babies and we all just spent well over and hour just holding all the babies. I saw Mackenson and he looks great. I held him for a long time and prayed over him.
The guys are still at the sight digging as the women are here at the mission house waiting for the 23 orphaned children to arrive so that they can do some activities with them.
Everybody has been really thrilled so far with their experience and how God is using them.
Sorry that this post does not have much character to it. My heart is heavy right now as I got word from Maria that Susana is not doing great today. She may have to go to the hospital if her fever does not go down. She was at the clinic all day getting blood because her counts are very low. So, although I am here in Haiti, my heart is elsewhere at the moment. Please pray for our little girl. If she does not get better and has to go to the hospital, then I may have to come home early. Please just pray.
In Haiti
July 17, 2010
Back in Haiti again. Why does Port au Prince look like nothing has changed since the earthquake, yet Jacmel looks like a lot has changed? I am very impressed with how well Jacmel is being cleaned up after the quake.
So, we just had a team leave this morning that was here all last week. I only got to spend one day with them, but it was good to get to know them, and Fenel told me that they were awesome. We were supposed to take the team to Basin Bleau for a fun day, but as we were heading out, it began to downpour, so we had to quickly abort mission. I am so excited that this team, along with our master carpenter Fenel, built bunk beds for our mission house! Sweet!!! No more sleeping on air mattresses, although the truth is that the air mattresses are super comfortable. The team also did a lot of outreach in some of the communities where we are ministering. They showed the Jesus Film a few times, Fenel preached a salvation message, and 4 people committed their lives to the Lord. God is moving in our midst. They also spent the week ministering to the orphaned children that we are working with.
The team left this morning and another team (team of 4 from Calvary Chapel in Uncasville, CT) arrived a few hours later, therefore I spent the whole day in Port au Prince, leaving at 4AM to drop off the team that was leaving and then getting back to Jacmel this evening after picking up the arriving team. Needless to say, I am beat. The team is great. They are very excited for the upcoming week as this is the first mission trip that any of them have been on. 2 guys will be building a house this week for a family that is helping the orphaned kids, and the 2 women will just do some serious loving on many children throughout the week. I am very excited to see what the Lord is going to do.
I miss my wife and kids, but it was good to see them today via video chat…
Please pray for little Daisy Love
July 17, 2010
This precious little girl was diagnosed with a Wilms Tumor. After some time of being cancer free another tumor has appeared in her stomach. Please pray for her. Pray for this family as they walk this very painful road with their little one. Thank you!–Maria
Read all about Daisy Love here: http://prayfordaisy.com/
Quick update…
July 14, 2010
Susana is doing much better. She completed her 3rd round of chemo and was discharged on Sunday night. But she was still vomiting from the meds the next day, so we had to bring her to the clinic to get fluids. The doctors said that she did really well throughout the treatment and were not worried about the vomiting since it is expected because of the particular chemo drugs that she had this round.
So, she had some bad tummy aches for the first few days, but today we went to the clinic to get her blood counts checked, and everything came back great. Her counts were up enough where she did not need blood. Praise the Lord. We will go back to the clinic on Friday for one more check before the weekend. Her tummy is feeling better and she is sipping on gatorade throughout the day so that she stays hydrated. She is also starting to regain her appetite.
I leave for Haiti tomorrow morning. I will be there for a week. One of the main objectives have in going there is to gather more information about the orphaned children so that we can develop a sponsorship program for them. Currently, there are 23 orphaned children that we are working with. I will be assessing their current living situation to determine what kind of placement may be needed. We are not trying to get them into an orphanage, but rather into families in the community through some of the churches that we are working with. Its almost like we are trying to develop a foster care type of ministry. Figures that God would use my background working in social services for all these years prior to going into full-time ministry. We also have a small team coming from my home state of Connecticut. We will be building a house, perhaps a house for a family that will care for some of the orphaned children, we’ll see.
So, my next post will be from our mission house in Haiti. Time to get to bed now for 5 and a half hours. Bon nuit.