Author: bryan@bmeyers.net (Page 43 of 101)

Hi everyone,

Almost everyone who has been to Haiti with us has met Alix but there are a lot who have not been, too. Even if you have met him, it’s been a while since you’ve seen him.

In the group picture, Alix is the little boy standing by himself on the left. Alix was born with a growth on his right eye, although he could see a little with it, with his other eye being good. When we first met him, another person was helping with his and his mom’s needs. Although we wanted to bring Alix to the U.S. to have surgery, others decided to have it done there. The surgery left him totally blind in that eye.

Over time the other people stopped working in Haiti. By then, Alix and Steve were buddies. With his mom’s blessing, Alix came into Port Au Prince to live, so we could take better care of his needs. The village he was from was one of the stops on the clinic circuit, so he would go on those days to visit with Mom, and he’d spend the summers with her too.

Alix has grown into a young man now. Since he has been around doing clinics and feeding programs, as well as being in church all his life, these are things he has decided to do to help people in Haiti, especially in the village he is from. I think most of you remember Duclair, the voodoo priest; Alix is from the same village.

The third picture is of a group who completed a six-week course in Bible studies; although he is kind of hard to pick out, Alix is standing second on the right side. He takes pride in completing this course and taking care of his mom. With the Ministries’ help, they live in a four-room concrete house, nice for that area, not far from where the first picture was taken.

Alix is one of those individuals in Haiti that say, “I am not going to sit and wait, but I am going to do!” He is doing what he grew up watching: people helping other people. Alix is a very special person to Terry and me. It doesn’t seem that long ago, he would go to sleep sitting on my lap at night.

Alix is just one of those who you have helped raise over the years and we are thankful for each of you and your involvement in their lives.

Hi everyone,

Already February! Good grief. Winter has been…well, winter in Missouri. Although not as much as some areas, we did get over a foot of snow in one shot, which is unusual. In the 80s it was common but not so much anymore.

This month, we thought we would share some “family” photos of the beginning of the ministry.

From the very first trip we felt we wanted the ministry to be a personal one. Personal in the way those we can into contact with, personal in the way we knew those we work with and personal in the way we would know each other’s families. It has worked out just that way.

The two pictures are of our sons, the top one being our youngest son Mike. In the picture he is packaging medicine, which is an important part of what we do. After the first trip, Mike spent the following June with me in Haiti, while I was “searching” – searching to see if this was really God calling or my own empathy because of what I had seen during the first trip.

The second picture is Joe (Steven Joseph, but call him Joe) and he is pictured with me (yes, at one time my hair was brown) during a break doing clinic.

In the years since both have been there numerous times, doing whatever was needed of them, to the point everyone always asks about them, their families, when they are coming back, and they know their kids’ names.

It’s personal. Personal enough that there has been more than one child named for one of us, which is about the biggest honor they could pay us. Or, asking us to name one of their new born.

It’s also trust. Trust built on years of knowing and working with each other to create a better life for everyone.

Obviously, you are a very big part of what the ministry has done over the past 24 years and they know that as well. To those who have been there, they always ask about you. To churches and groups that help, they know you and pray for you by name.

It was and still is personal.