It's been a while since we have been on to blog. Thought it was time to add an update! We are making a return trip to Haiti in May. Our departure date is May 18th. We will need to raise support again, but it should be less expensive this time since there are commercial flights in and out of Port au Prince now. May have to spend a night in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale in order to make connections. We wil be going with a mixed medical/construction team this time. We are looking forward to seeing "old" friends, and making new ones. Also looking forward to seeing how much progress has been made in the last 3 months. Prayers appreciated!!
Tim and Cindy

Here is a video of why we are going back and the true story and revival of Haiti. The future of Haiti lies in it's children. What more can we say?

Tim and Cindy

Bonswa,

I have to blog on the tent situation in Haiti again. We received a response from Pastor Pierre today as to what we need to present to people in our presentation at our church next weekend. His reply was this. "The raining season seems to be starting early. People are getting wet from under the tarps. We urgently need tents in this city. People are so stressed when the weather look like rain is coming. Please note that we need as many tents as possible." So there you have it in his words. We really need to make an effort to get tents and get them soonest to Haiti.

Use your imagination for a minute. You are living in one of these tarp/sheet "shelters". They work ok for keeping off the sun, but now it's starting to rain. Hard. Every day. Nothing stays dry. Everything is always wet. You have no place to go that is out of the rain. The mosquito population is growing exponentially. People are getting sick from being constantly damp and wet. Life is getting harder. It wasn't easy to begin with. Now what do you do??? You pray for help. And pray some more. You really need a better shelter, but where will you get better shelter when you have nothing?? You are dependant on the benevolence of other people. Will they provide what you need?? When you need it??

We here in the States are blessed beyond description. We don't have to worry about shelter, food or water. If we don't have them, there are programs that will meet our needs, and quite quickly. The relief aid is still going on in Haiti, but the need is greater than the supply.

Please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers. They are a desperately needy people right now. Any little bit you can do will make a big difference to someone there. Remember that 100% of any funds donated to Nehemiah Vision Ministries goes directly to helping people in Haiti. Their staff is all volunteer, and not paid.

I wish I could do more to help in Haiti right now, but this is what I can do. I can pray. I can make needs known. I can pray. I can send what little I can to help make a difference. I can pray some more, because I have a heavenly Father who loves me and loves His children whatever country they may live in, and He hearts my prayers. HE can provide all our needs, but He can also use US to provide for the needs of others, and expects it of us. I know I'm getting preachy here, but I can't help myself.

So, please pray. And please do what you can. Even if it's only letting others know of the need. For those of you who have already donated tents...A thousands thanks!! If anyone else has a tent or tents to donate... let us know. We will figure out how to get them where they need to go to get them to Haiti. My email is cpeterson2@stny.rr.com.

Serving the Savior,
Cindy

Today's pictures are from the Nehemiah Vision Ministries children's home. The first is the kitchen facility where their food is cooked. You can see in the background a stove like the one that is in use off the left side of the picture. It burns wood as you can see from the woodpile. I didn't see too many pots and pans, just a couple. If you've ever tried cooking over a wood fire while camping, you know how hard that is. And it's what they do every day there. No gas or electric range. No wall oven. And yet they make good meals for the children and staff.

We were there at mealtime one day and the rest of the pictures are of the children at the home enjoying their meal. They were not distracted by me and my camera!!! They were way to busy eating their lunch!

When you go there to visit, you are swarmed by little hands wanting to hold your hand, be hugged, and paid attention to. Especially if they already know you! Right Mr. Chip!!? Right Miss Stephanie!!!? They are adorable children who just want to be loved. That is a grandma's dream!!!

The children of Haiti are it's future. We need to assist them in any way we can to become educated, well adjusted and Godly adults. We only went for a week, but Haiti stole our hearts. We will be going back in May for a second week. After that, who knows. We may be going back a lot.

Please continue to pray for Haiti. For workers in God's harvest fields. For recovery, rebuilding and growth. For physical and spiritual needs to be met. For strength for it's people. For recovery of their government. For orphans, widows and widowers. For the world not to quickly forget.

Bondye beni ou!
Bon nuit!

Tim and Cindy

Tonight Tim and I had the privilege of presenting our Haiti experiences to the MAPS Kids group at our church. Our littlest prayer warriors have been praying for us and the people of Haiti since they learned we were going. They are great prayer warriors too! Everything they prayed for happened or didn't happen as the case may be. They were very interested in the tent village and how those people are living right now. We set up a quick model of how the Hatian people are rigging up shelter any way they can. They all had to get in and try lying down to see how many could fit. They discovered it wasn't very comfortable either. They also decided it won't keep you dry if it rains! They will now pray for tents for Haiti, the people in Chambrun, and for Mr and Mrs Peterson to go back to Haiti. And as we said before their prayers are effective!

We also taught them a worship chorus in Creole, "How Great is Our God". Bondye-m non se gran!! Our God is great!!!

We have had computer issues the last couple of days, so had to go to plan B for the presentation tonight. Hopefully we can make the presentation for the adults in 2 weeks under plan A. We did learn in Haiti to be prepared to possibly need to use plan C, D, E or even plan F!!!

We wonder how many future missionaries we addressed tonight in our little group. They are learning about their spiritual gifts lately, and several have the potential to be missions oriented. We never dreamed we would be there, yet here we are doing short term mission trips!

Praying for the whole world to hear,
Tim and Cindy

Transportation in Haiti is widely varied, and depends on a lot of factors. Where are you going? Long distance or short distance? How many are going? One or two or twenty? How much can you spend to get where you want to go? And a bunch of other considerations.

The upper photograph is of Haitian taxi's or "tap-taps". To use the tap-tap you get in when it's stopped(hopefully), and when you need to get out at your destination you tap on the vehicle(loudly) to be let off. Thus the name. Payment is made on exiting the vehicle. We never did find out the rate, but it can't be much because there are a lot of them around, and a lot of people using them!

The second picture is a typical delivery type truck. Brightly painted as many vehicles are in Haiti. (It reminded us a lot of the vehicles we saw in India.) They seemed to deliver whatever they could manage to fit in them. There were also the usual 10 wheel construction type trucks as well as semi's. We had a couple of interesting encounters with semi's on the back dirt roads that were barely wide enough for the bus we were on!! Let's just say traffic jam and leave it there!

The third picture is of one the Nehemiah Vision Ministries small trucks. It is used to transport all kinds of things, including people as you can see. Here is a Haitian joke...How many Haitians can you fit in a truck????? Answer.......always one more!!!! And boy do they! Every lap holds at least two others. No space is left unused as long as there is someone who needs a ride. They are a very friendly people! Riding in the back of the pickup is dusty however!

The last photo is of course the mode of transportation that has been around the longest. A trusty burro, or horse with a wooden saddle and panniers. They carry people, loads of wood, produce, charcoal, whatever needs to be transported. Obviously they don't go very long distances, but are used in the rural areas a lot. The "parking lot" at Chambrun always had several on clinic days.

There were also the usual bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles going the longer distances, carrying the smaller loads and fewer people of course. We saw several injuries caused by people falling off the back of the motorcycles. There were helmets in use by some, but not all riding the motorcycles.

There were also helicopters and airplanes of several sizes at the airport. They were flying over all day long going about the tasks they were needed for. We used the helicoptor transport several times to get emergency cases to hospital.

Until the next entry,
Tim and Cindy

Many of you have asked about the destruction in Port Au Prince. We have decided to share a few pictures from there tonight. These pictures are of the Palace. It is equivalent to our White House. As you can see it is destroyed with the center collapsing in. The building lacked adequate internal structural support. I think we can draw a parallel between the palace and our own lives. We often build our lives on what is beautiful and pretty to look at. Real beauty is not what is on the outside, but what is on the inside. Do we have adequate structural support? Haiti is the same way. The beautiful buildings may be gone, but the beauty of the Haitian people and their resolve is what will build it up again.

It is also a time for the rebuilding of Haiti spiritually. While there, we witnessed people praising and worshipping God in ways that we had never experienced before. In the midst of death and destruction they were praising the God who not only created everything but also rules and reigns over it. God can make beauty from ashes, and in the case of Haiti, from dust and rubble.

We have not talked a lot about the destruction in Haiti since we returned. There is a reason for that. We believe that the story of Haiti is not in the destruction but in the children and people who will rebuild. We are continually humbled by the Haitian people and their pride and determination. We believe that God can make something beautiful of not only their lives, but their country.

Seeking Him,
Tim and Cindy