BIG news

There it is, Bethesda's big news.....we're moving!!

This is an exciting time for Bethesda. Dr Rodney and our board are actively searching for land to purchase, building plans will be made and construction will start this year.  We will remain in our current location until May 2021 and move once our new build is complete.

If you would like to be in involved in any way, whether that is praying for us, giving financially, being on our board, fundraising, construction or getting others involved then please get in touch and I'll point you in the right direction. 

Our board will be sending our regular prayer updates and if you would like to be added to that email list then send me an email and I will make sure you are on the list. 

One week later

We made it to Dublin last Monday at lunch time where they were some very happy cousins waiting for the boys.  Thank you for your prayers, the boys were great during all of the travel.  Jacob slept on both flights but was a little unsettled on the second flight, wriggling around during his sleep but once we lay him down on the floor at our feet he was fast asleep for the rest of the flight.

Sam takes flying very seriously.

Its funny the things that have been standing out to us since being home, here are just a few of them..... the water from the tap is so cold, smooth roads, blending in, the variety of food, how simple driving feels,  the fruit is so good as is the chocolate, no mosquitoes,  the smell of the laundry, the easiness of lunchtime and putting hoodies and jeans on your kids makes them look at least a year older.

It is even more interesting to listen to the boys talk and then have answer so many questions!

Bangor has a lot of neighbours.
Why are the roads smooth in Bangor? Who looks after the roads?
Why does the government of Haiti not look after the roads, do they just sit around on their chairs all day doing nothing?
What is a speed limit? Why does Haiti not have speed limits? Are you driving the speed limit?
A green light! I love green lights, I love this hill, I love this bridge.......that's Joel he loves everything!
Is it always cold in Bangor?
What are the lines on the side of the road?
Why is it still bright at bed time?
I see its morning time outside. (it was 4.30am)
Mummy I see it says slow on the road but why did you go zooming by (I was doing 30 mph!)

They are really enjoying seeing their cousins and friends and playing at the park, especially Jacob who has been on a slide and a roundabout for his first time and doesn't want to get off.

My best friend has three boys just about the same age as my boys,
add in cousins (both boys) its pretty wild when they are altogether!

We are so thankful to have a house to stay in which is right across the road from a park and our town library where Bill has been working. He is starting on preparation for next semester as well as working on his registrar duties.

We left Haiti one week ago and it feels a million miles away, life is just so different and just so hard.  And if its hard for us who do have running water, electricity, food, clothes and are able to send our boys to school then it is a million times harder for most people in Haiti.  And things are particularly difficult right now.

Protests started again yesterday to try to get the president to step down, these protests continued into today and are rumoured to continue the rest of the week.  I just spoke with Altidor tonight and she told me that food continues to get more and more expensive, that many people are going hungry.  The value of the Haitian gourde continues to fall against the American dollar and life is just getting more and more difficult.

There were protests in Cap Haitian today and some of our clinic staff could not get to work.  So once again we're asking you to pray for Haiti.  The problems are sometimes so overwhelming that we're not even sure what to pray for.

Here are a few requests:

Pray for the political situation to become stable.
Pray that the value of the gourde would stabilise.
Pray for wisdom for Haiti's leaders and government.
Pray for safety for our clinic staff and Emmaus staff as they attempt to get to and from work.
Pray for Christians to be salt and light in these very difficult circumstances.

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.

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. 

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! 

Should I stay or should I go now?

Well its been a while. Sorry about that!  Anyone who has 3 kids in 4 years will understand that any free time is non existent and by the time the boys are all in bed well, lets just say I'm not too far behind them.

When we first came to Haiti in 2016 we committed to two years, then we stayed for another one and these past months all we have talked about and prayed about and talked about some more is what we were going to do next.

We searched for jobs for Bill, emailed pastors and bible colleges and we found nothing.  People often say a closed door is as good as an open door.  we kept praying, talking and looking.  Then at the beginning of March Emmaus asked Bill if he would stay on and take on the job of the registrar as well as continuing to do a little teaching.

We took a few weeks to pray and think and pray and we really felt peace about the decision to stay in Haiti and committed to two more years.

There are going to be changes at Bethesda too which led into our decision to stay but more on that coming next week (or maybe next month by the time I get round to writing about it!).

This was not an easy decision to come to,  with adopting Jacob, moving the boys 3 times in about 8 months this last year has been a lot and I was really looking forward to going home, for life just to be a bit easier.  Adding on an extra baby and yet continuing to do all the things I was already doing has been exhausting and at times overwhelming. 

But God never told us life would be easy instead he promised he would be with us, he promised he would strengthen us, he promised he would give us peace and he has given us all of that and that is where we are trusting for this next two years.

Our plans are to come home in June for a time of rest for about 6 weeks. We are thanking the Lord we already have a place to stay and are just in need of car for about 4 weeks in June.

We will then travel to Canada to speak in some churches and follow up in the places Dr Rodney spoke at last February in order to find more support for Bethesda.  We will return to Haiti on 6th August for another school year.

We are so thankful we serve a God who is in control, who goes ahead of us and in whom we can trust.

As always we appreciate your continued prayers,  we know many of you pray for us everyday and during those overwhelming times that is what holds us up.

Bethesda

Please pray for our newly formed board as board meetings take place here in Haiti today. Pray for a sense of leading from the Holy Spirit and that God would reveal his plans for the future of Bethesda.