Summer at new life: Making an impact
Wow!
Do you ever wonder what you are going to do with your children throughout the
summer? Try having 130 with even more being added! Like mom said, there's always
room for one more! Of course she had no idea the word 'more' to us would be
hurting and dying children and that each one is a gift from God to us. But who
ever dreamed that God would use this summer to make missionaries out of some of
our children and THEY would be doing some of the rescuing... Several have come
in recently with critical circumstances or in critical condition such as a three
month old who was brought in from the mountains by an elderly grandmother. The
child's mother was dying and Venexion was shriveled up in terrible malnourished
condition. Or ... Nuvivce, a sixteen year old mother that the police brought to
us who lived on the streets. She had been taken advantage of trading sex for
money to purchase food. She was paid 100gds or $2.40 cents. Then there was
Tito, a seven year old from the mountains that had no real food and forced to
drink water from a water hole. The mom, out of desperation, latched on to
someone to feed her children but he never accepted the child as he has two of
his own and Tito faced a lifetime of possibly being a slave child. The mother
desperately cries not wanting her child to continue to be rejected just to
provide food.
We
really can't relate, can we? However, it's all around us every day! The
precious part of this story is about what is happening to our children after
the many years of pouring Gods love into them and that love flows through them
into others and they become missionaries themselves. This summer our children
are being used by God to change lives. Ten of our 24 children came to us after
being pulled out of the mud slides nine years ago after a terrible hurricane
wiped out homes taking hundreds of lives in Gonaives. Today, they are young men
and women who we took on our tap tap loaded down with food and clothing. They
left for a months vacation to be with and bless their families that still
remain..Some came as only three years old and had no idea of their roots. Now
bringing His love, they were greeted with open arms from their families through
the pastor there that rescued them. They will come back soon for school with the
exception of a couple of them that are now older and have families and homes of
their own. We will continue to provide schooling for them as well as trades as
long as they respect and obey the rules. School begins here on Sept. 2nd so we
are beginning to prepare here now. They have one more week and we are hearing
good reports from most. Others, of course, miss our home and are looking
forward for that tap tap to show up and bring them back. There's no place like
home!!
Secondly.
While teams came to New Life, many of our children would climb on the tap-taps
and trucks with the teams loaded with food and supplies, taking an active part
in distribution to orphanages and tent cities as well as teaching Vacation Bible
School. This went on for weeks. Many children here at NL participated in fun,
games, movies.VBS, a fun filled beach day and waters sports, water balloon war
and a big Bar-B-Q yesterday. Now, as I said in the beginning of this email,
this is also something that will make you so proud of our older boys. After much
prayer, planning and packing, they were off to the mountains and villages where
we work in Pestel. George Patten serving with New Life, was doing some
preliminary work getting ready for our teams this coming trip. The boys offered
to go. We let them know they would be climbing mountains in the heat, bringing
and distributing supplies, doing census in Pavion NDTi Plain, preparing for IFJ
to distribute water filter buckets, medical teams, feeding programs and helping
the village of Perla and Malcouchin to build a road for our teams and building
supplies to be trucked in. We will also be building a feeding center in Caye
LaSalle and building water cisterns where we have been already feeding children
some healthy and high protein food, giving worm medicine and vitamins each week.
They presently have to haul clean water long distances and cook and eat under a
old brush building. That will soon change. We have several teams joining us and
participating. Malnutrition, diseases and death are high in these areas. We will
also be setting up weekly clinics there so we know God is hearing our prayers
and the cry of His people.
We
have plans to set up these programs in four villages ASAP but have been
concentrating on building a malnutrition center in Joligebert. Surely we thought
some of the boys may back out but they did not. It just fueled them. So we
thought we would make it a work and spiritual camp that we may repeat each year
. They would minister to the village young people and hold soccer matches. Wow!
Loading the truck was a circus as they stuffed so much food and clothes to give
away. It looked like tons of bags of rice that God had provided, their own
suitcases that weighted a ton and looked like they would be there forever rather
than three weeks! Food, drinks for the road, and gallons of water. We asked them
to leave all electronics behind at New Life in order to fully concentrate on God
and the task. They gave them up willingly--radios, earphones,etc. YES! it was
a real circus as there was no place to sit and they should have loaded
everything on top! OK! Unload everything! Reloaded to the top. Dear Lord, is
this any indication of what the next week would be like? One and a half hours
in the hot sun hoisting everything on top. Finally, they were off and so
excited! I was exhausted but excited for them. We prepared well with Pastor
Lenis' family who would house and cook for them. But were we really ready for
what would change their lives forever? Please read the next email we will send
ASAP to see what God is doing while I go now to prepare the clinic at NL to
receive the two children that have been sent here that are in serious condition
and time is against them so I can't wait another moment. One is badly burned and
another from Pavion dying of malnutrition. Please keep them in your prayers and
the workers also.
Blessings,
Miriam
and all of us at New Life.
