Surpassing Greatness

We are enjoying a nice relaxing weekend consisting of stir fry on Friday night (of course), painting our nails, and taking some time to ourselves to read and write. We both value our alone time and consider it necessary in order for us to be energized for the week ahead.

I am very much enjoying teaching English at the hospital here in Pignon! We have a lot of fun with the doctors. They help us and we help them. This past Thursday was a really cool example of just that. One of our friends and other motorcycle driver NaTao, received a minor injury while on our way home from Savanette. Some rocks kicked up and hit his left shin, resulting in a good sized welt right on his bone. He was in a great amount of pain. Heather and I did our best to help him: we gave him an ice pack to put on it, and also some pain relievers. We later decided to go to the hospital to see if we could find any of our doctor friends to help us. We (Heather, Woody, and I) rode to the hospital and Heather and I went inside, searching for some familiar faces. We approached a cluster of nurses and recognized a young nurse who was in our class! The day before this, we taught the English phrase: “I need help.” So we approached the young lady that we recognized from class and told her we needed her help. She smiled big, recognizing us as well, and we brought her to NaTao who was waiting for us outside. He received a shot and some care from the nurses and was then given a prescription. None of us had any money on us because we left the house so quickly. We walked to the “pharmacy” in the hospital, all the while praying for a miracle. We got there and a man took the prescription from us. The man ended up being yet another one of our students! He filled NaTao’s prescription and we were on our way. No charge. We are so thankful to have such great connections while we are living here in Pignon.            

The Thrive for 5 program is still going well, however sometimes things get frustrating. At times it is hard to adapt to the culture here and the slow pace in which it runs. We are so used to doing things at a fast speed and we are required to understand things quickly. Things here run slower. It has been good to see that the pace here is not bad, but different. The Lord has been granting us a lot of patience and mercy as we interact with His people. A few days ago we received nametags for all the children enrolled in the program and we just started using them yesterday. Things went a lot smoother and we are pleased with how it is working out. Prayer warriors, please continue to pray for this program! Mesi bokou J (Thank you so much.)

The past few days we have had children joining us on the bench up front. It is so heart-warming to see them excited to see us every day. They enter from the back, see us sitting at our usual spot up front, and some sort of gallop/run/waddle towards us. One little boy named Lensly had a large cut on the top of his tiny hand a few days ago. We noticed and put a bandaid and Neosporin on it. We did this for about a week and a half. It has been so awesome to see that his hand has been healing! Praise the Lord!

Earlier this week we had the incredible opportunity to give some food to three very poor residents of Pignon, one individual from Savanette, and a family from Savanette. It was our pleasure to bless them in the name of Jesus and see them rejoicing as a result of receiving a meal.  One lady, who lived in a tiny, dirty space received the rice and began singing and praising Jesus. I couldn’t help but smile and see such beauty in the heart of this lovely person. She took a few bites and then hurriedly tucked the rest in a little bag she had with her. Our good friend Ebens was with us and he told us that she said she was going to go share it with a man we gave food to just the other day. She was so joyful in receiving the food, and even more joyful that she was going to be able to share it with someone. I was so overwhelmed when I stared at this fragile, toothless, beautiful saint of a woman. She truly knew what it was like to have nothing but yet have so much because of “knowing the surpassing greatness” of the Abba Father. Philippians 3:8.

I learn more and more Creole with each passing day. I love languages so much and I try to soak up as much as I can. I'm so thankful for my friends here who help me by sometimes only conversing with me in Creole. 

Sweet Jesus, You are truly great. Thank You for loving us wholly and truly.

I pray that whoever is reading this, you will come to discover the magnitude of Love Christ Jesus has for you. And that you may “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” Ephesians 3:18.

I am so grateful to see that God has shown me love unfailing here in Haiti. I pray that I can continue to see the world through the eyes of God the Father. 

Check out Heather's blog too! Click here!

For He is Good

It’s a lovely rainy evening in Pignon.  I really enjoy when it rains. We keep the windows open and the breeze is really cool and refreshing. We have been here three weeks and the days seem to be flying past us. Monday was our first day of the program and we had a really good turn-out; and then Tuesday we fed 97 children! Handing out food to these kids is really an amazing experience. Then watching some of the mothers feeding their small children the rice or beans was equally rewarding. Each day this week we opened the program with some songs, had a time of getting into the Word, prayer, the meal, and then filling up cups with water.

Each day continues to be a new experience. Heather and I treated ourselves to another at-home Haitian pedicure (we soaked our feet in a sudsy warm basin of water and scrubbed our feet with a hand-held dish scrubber). The first time we did this, we just had a long day of riding motorcycle and working in the Savanette area. We enjoy doing things that give us a little taste of home: painting our nails and making stir-fry on Friday nights.

Heather and I will be teaching English to a group of doctors at the hospital here in Pignon in the mornings. We have already started putting together some things to teach and we will start on Wednesday. Prayer warriors, please be lifting us up as we prepare for our sessions and carry them out to the best of our ability.

The Lord continues to amaze me here. The past few days have been trying for our Many Hands staff. Our co-worker, Zeke’s dad was hit by a motorcycle a few days ago and he just passed away yesterday morning. While he was in the hospital, our team made an effort to see him a few times and pray for him there.  We have been coming together as a team, not only to make the program run smoothly and be effective in the lives of these children, but also to build one another up and be sources of encouragement and support during this hard time. It has been really cool to see how the Lord has continually extended His hand of comfort in this situation.

God is good always. Even when we think He doesn’t heal in ways that we want Him to heal, or He does things that we do not understand. We continually prayed for healing over Zeke’s dad, but the Lord chose to heal him in a far greater way: by giving him life eternal with the Lord forever. While we were in the hospital, we saw, lying in the bed near Zeke’s dad, the young man who was driving the motorcycle that day. He had a cut on his head. As we were heading out, we asked the young man if we could pray for him. We hope and pray that he was deeply affected by the power of the Lord and that, as a result of this situation, will come to know the Father in a very real way. The Lord’s goodness was very real in that moment. We can stand assured that the Lord is good always.

“You [the evil one] intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” –Genesis 50:20

Thanks to all who have been keeping us lifted up in prayer. We are so moved by the faithfulness and providence of the King of Kings.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” -1 Chronicles 16:34

Bon nwit from Pignon!

Zanmi ou, (your friend)
Cassidy

Check out Heather's blog by clicking here!