$1.25 a day......

This morning in church the pastor asked for each family to give 50 Gourdes ( Haitian money) to the church to help with some rebuilding things.  They lost almost every building in their compound including their schools and medical center.  They are operating out of tents and are in the process of rebuilding the high school right now.  I stupidly said..."that isn't much"...and got a weird look from the missionary I was talking to.  50 Gourdes is $1.25 in American Dollars....That $1.25 feeds a person in Haiti for an entire day.  That's less that what I pay for my diet pepsi each day at the convenience store.  The cost of one Caribou coffee feeds 3 kids for a day!  That Happy Meal with the toy feeds that same 3 kids for another day.  Life in Haiti is all relative.  The joy in that church this morning was unreal.  They don't know what Caribou Coffee is or even what a Happy Meal is...for them each meal is a happy meal because they were able to eat it that day.  And the joy for the Lord was so real.  We saw people so grateful to be worshiping our Lord and Savior and most of us were overcome with emotion.  What an amazing service.  The opening verse was from Psalm 46.  "God is our refuge and our strength, and ever present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains will fall into the heart of the sea, though it's waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.  God is within her, and she will not fall.  God will help her at break of day."   As we drive through the streets, walk down the road or through mountain path God is with us and the people of Haiti. They may have fear of another earthquake but they do not have fear that God will not protect them.  The people of this church believe that God is their refuge and strength.  When the earthquake hit, the cross fell from the front of this church,  however they have kept that cross in the church.  They know that earthquakes can make the cross fall from the wall but it could never take God away. 

The wall where the cross was hanging.

Where the cross is now.

We spent the day kind of relaxing until we got a phone call from an orphanage in the next town over, Leogane.  Their generator wasn't working so Rob and I went over to the orphanage with our hosts to see if there was anything that Wes and Rob could do to help.  The minute we walked through the gate Rob was swarmed by 3 little boys.  And the had taken him by the hand and were leading him off.  I went to the back of the complex, which consists of several tents and new wooden structures to the "babies room".  Oh my....  A brand new baby lay on the changing table.  She is 1 week old.  Next to that baby lay a child that was really not that much bigger than this newborn.  He watched my every move.  And when I looked into his face his face lit up like a Christmas tree!   This little guy appeared to be about 6-9 months old.  He has 4 teeth and is rail thin.  When you touch his limbs you can feel the bones.  BUT his smile was so unreal!  I asked Jasmine the "mom" of this 45 child orphanage how old he is...he is 15 months old!  He has been there a month and was brought in on the brink of death by starvation.  He is now a happy little boy that is still very thin but will make it because there was someone willing to take him when his parents couldn't afford to feed him anymore.  Please pray for this little guy.

Pray for Franski

Tomorrow we will all go to this orphanage if there are no protests.  Please pray that number one there are no protests here.  The old president was supposed to step down tomorrow and now it looks like he wont' step down until a new president is elected.  Also pray for our time at the orphanage.  We'll be doing a VBS on Jonah or Noah.  Pray for our hearts to be protected as we meet more of these kids and start to fall more in love with them.  Please pray for Scott's ankle and for Satin's attacks to be thwarted.

Signing off from another awesome day in Haiti!
Jackie....

Oh and the Packer's Super Bowl win was awesome too!