Author: bryan@bmeyers.net (Page 49 of 101)

Hi everyone,

First the pictures: From the first time in Haiti until now, we have always seen the women sit apart from the men. In some of the larger churches in Port Au Prince you may see them sit together but not out in the villages. And the women always have their heads covered with something, usually how you see them here.

The man at the podium is our friend Prophet, pastor of this church and over the school there during the week. You need to notice the speakers behind him as well. When there is electricity, it can get loud under a tin roof. If there is no electricity, they use a small generator during the song service then turn it off for preaching. Its still loud, just not for as long.

Also notice the benches- they are used for church and desks for school. When we first bought one of these, they cost less than twenty US dollars. Now, ones like these are fifty dollars and since we use so many, any extra funds we have are used for that.

We have always made it a practice to not influence how or what they do in their service unless they’ve asked, and they have. Some things they change and some, such as the head covering, they leave. One thing we can say is that they have church and they are in no hurry to get home.

Next, update on Terry: This time around her chemo is in pill form, rather than a shot in the tummy 3 times a week. For three month she will take Pomalyst for 21 days then off 8 days. When that is complete they will do another stem cell transplant. At some point between now and then she will have a catheter surgically implanted in her upper chest. That sounds terrible, but it makes blood draws and everything else so much easier on her.

Remember to pray for our friends in Haiti and for Terry. We appreciate everything you do for them and us.

Hi everyone,

We thought we would give you a look inside one of the churches. This is the combined school/church where our friend Prophet is the pastor and operates the school as well.

The area where they have children’s church used to be outside, but because of the additional kids from Joe’s school, we put a roof over it and almost doubled the size of the building. Doing so also gave us more room for classrooms. We said in one letter there are 200 kids that attend school there but it’s closer to 300. The man doing the teaching is also one of the school teachers. And as you can see, everyone in Haiti still dresses up for church.

The second picture is of the book being used, by Max Lucado, just for children.

All the material things you see — benches etc. — are things you helped buy or have built in one way or the other. From the materials, to expanding the building, to the book, it’s all there because of you. It’s worth noting that Haiti has 15,200 primary schools like this one and 90% of them are non-public, which means they are managed by religious organizations or other non-profits. Just that one figure tells you what you are helping do.

Next month, we’ll go inside to give you a look at the adult church.

Since the last letter Terry has not had a good start to the new year. From bad colds to pneumonia, she’s had it. The MRI’s did not take place either, because of the implant. We were told numerous times having it would not be a problem if a MRI were needed. But the hospital won’t do that, and to date our insurance won’t approve a different test. Any treatment will start after she regains some strength. That’s the plan.

Thank you for helping our friends in Haiti and thank you for keeping Terry in your prayers.

Steve and Terry