Wednesday 29 May 2019

More travel

Travelling alone turned out to be very interesting with delays in flights both on the way there and the way home.  I spent a night in Miami on the way to Missouri and a night in Dallas airport on the way home and miraculously managed to get on an early morning flight to Miami even with 36 other people on stand by!

Turns out when you travel alone you have a lot of time...I managed to read a whole book (and a half), prepare and practice my talks, sort out hundreds of photos, reply to emails and watch a movie.  All things I haven't been able to do in a long time.  I was thankful for the time to catch up on some of the things I had needed to get done.

My trip to Missouri was brilliant and really helped to continue to build on the relationship our therapy department has with the Southwest Baptist University.  I got to share with the 1st &2nd year students a little bit about my life and how God led me to Haiti to use PT to serve him.  Its sort of strange for me to look back, seeing who I was as a teenager, not ever wanting to leave Northern Ireland to being in Haiti and being in situations I never thought that I would be able to cope with.  It almost feels like I am talking about someone else.



I had some great conversations with a few of the students about using physio in missions and what that looks like.  I got some good time with the PT professors giving me advice and treatment options for some of our patients at Bethesda, it is really great for Altidor and I to have that support network.  I then had some more great time with Sarah (the pediatric PT) teaching me more so I can treat our kids better here in Haiti.  And then of course the main reason why I went,  I spoke at the graduation reception on Friday afternoon.  I was pretty nervous but I think it went well.  I am praying God will use something I said to challenge the graduates to use physiotherapy in fulfilling the great commission around the world.



The boys did great while I was gone and the first thing Joel asked was 'Where is my prize?' Unfortunately I didn't get my bags until Thursday so the boys had to wait to get their 'prizes'!

We leave Haiti this Sunday to travel to Northern Ireland.  This week is busy getting ready to go, saying goodbye for the summer, tidying up what we need to at Emmaus and Bethesda and just to make things a little more crazy we are packing up our whole house as were swapping with our neighbours, and they will move into our house while were gone.

Please pray that we will get everything done we need to get done, pray for safety in travel and for 3 calm boys on the plane.  Say a special prayer for Jacob, the two things Jacob loves most are being outside and moving...being on a plane for 9 hours is the opposite of both those things.

The boys trying on their plane clothes!


Our time in Northern Ireland is mostly to take a step back and rest a little before coming back to Haiti for another two year term.  Between busyness, political unrest, uncertainty about the future of the clinic, ongoing fuel shortages and having a lot of sickness in our house, this year has been a lot.  Were so thankful God has given us the strength we needed to get through and trusting in him for the future.

Which leads me to my last prayer request which is for Haiti, the political instability is ongoing and it doesn't seem like its getting any better which then leads to economic instability.  The value of the Haitian gourde continues to drop which means life continues to get more and more expensive.  Sometimes there is fuel but a lot of the time there is not so the fuel crisis is not over yet either.  We hear of more violence with one of our security guards at Bethesda shot 3 times last Monday at 5am in the morning, close to his home simply for his motorbike.  Thankfully he is ok but our clinic staff were pretty shaken up last week.

Time and time again I am convinced the only thing that will help change Haiti is the gospel.  Pray for the gospel to go forth across the country of Haiti, pray for God to bring people to himself and that through the Holy Spirit changing one person at a time then Haiti will truly transform.




Tuesday 14 May 2019

Travelling alone

Over the past 5 years we have flown a lot but today is the first time in a long time I'm doing it with out a baby on my back or nappies in my bag.  My snack bag is considerably smaller and I can actually sit down while were waiting to board! It feels weird.  A big thank you to Grandpa and Grandma for coming to Haiti to help with the boys over the next 5 days.  



I will arrive in Missouri tonight just before midnight then the next couple of days are full with different events and on Friday I will speak at the graduation reception for the PT graduates before leaving on Saturday evening and arriving back in Haiti on Sunday. 


Please pray for this trip, it is a wonderful opportunity to speak to students about using PT in missions. 

Pray as I continue to build relationship with the South West Baptist University who have committed to ongoing education for our Haitian PT's 

Pray for the boys, that they will be well settled (and well behaved!) as I'm gone. 




Thursday 9 May 2019

Graduation

This past week was a big week at Emmaus.  It was the final week of residential classes for our undergraduates, Masters of education and Masters of leadership.

Friday night was the graduation banquet, between the undergraduates and masters students Emmaus had 60 students graduating.  This is really a big deal, to have that many students graduating from an accredited university in Haiti and going out into ministry for the sake of the gospel in churches, schools, universities and government.

The main thing happening on Friday was the hooding ceremony where the graduate school received their hoods.  Bill was one of the 60 graduating with his masters in education, a couple of our MK's offered to babysit the boys so I could go and see Bill get his hood at the banquet. His gold scarf is for academic honours.



Then Saturday was graduation, I stayed home with the boys but I got a good update when everyone got back.  Graduation lasted from 9-1 but it was a great celebration of all the students accomplished over the past 4 years.  Here are some pictures from the day...thanks Stacey!

undergraduate class 2019

Notice all the people standing at the back!
There was hardly enough room for everyone in the church


Masters in Education class

Bill receiving his degree and yes he is a giant! 


We had 5 members of staff also graduate with their masters in Theology, Leme, Simeon, Claudin, Jodenel and Belony 





Speaking of graduations, next week I will be speaking at one in Missouri.  The PT team which has been coming to Bethesda have asked me to come and speak to their physio graduates at a graduation brunch the day before the graduation.  I will also be meeting with some of the students and talk about using physiotherapy in missions among some other things which I'm not 100% sure what they are yet!  Bills parents will arrive on Sunday to help Bill with the boys for the week and I will leave on Tuesday.  Please pray for the trip, it is a great opportunity to encourage the new graduates to use therapy in missions whether that is long term or short term.  Pray for the boys too, I have left them overnight for one night last summer...this will be 5 nights.  Pray they will be well settled with Bill and their grandparents.  Joel has been counting down the days until Grandma and Grandpa arrive! 



What's next?

 This is most definitely the question we have been asked the most since we left Haiti at the beginning of December and I can honestly say un...