Jacques is still recovering in the hospital. He had a friend bring some pain medication to him Friday night, but as of yesterday even that was only helping some. He is hopeful the doctor will clear him today to leave. Hopefully we can talk him into staying with us for a few days so Nurse Vanessa can keep a close eye on him and so he has some meals and a quite place to sleep. Please continue to pray for him as he recovers!

Thank you!!

Jacques update

Jacques had hernia surgery today. They ended up having to fix a second one too. He is in a lot of pain. We don't have experience with hospitals here yet, so we don't have any knowledge of the medication he has been given since the surgery. Jeff and Dr. Dave (who is here with us for another week) will go see him in the morning to see if they can help get some strong pain medication to help. We do know the hospital doesn't provide food...
Please pray for Jacques over the weekend and the coming days as he recovers.

thank you!

Jacques will be having hernia surgery Friday 5/27 at 6:00 am. Please pray for him for the surgery as well as the recovery period.

Please pray with us for Jacques over the next few days. He is in a lot of pain, didn't sleep last night. He has had a hernia for a while and his doctor is telling him he needs the surgery this week. He's still not convinced. He is very distraught over this, but we aren't quite sure what the root of his stress is. Today, he traveled to our house and I was able to give him some meds for the pain. Tomorrow he will see another doctor and Jeff will be talking with him, insisting he have the surgery. Please pray for relief from the pain so he can sleep and make a good decision tomorrow. Please pray for him to trust that God will see him through and that He will provide the funds necessary.

Mesi anpil!

Staying Behind

As you have probably already heard, God did amazing things through the May medical team last week. Although I am medically challenged, it was incredible to see this group of women beginning AWAKEN Haiti’s medical ministry and more importantly, making it a priority to glorify God in everything they did throughout the week. It was a team of huge and humble hearts that were eager to serve and they did just that. Seeing the amount of preparation and energy that this team poured into the people of Canaan and into the kids of Good Samaritan’s medical and spiritual needs was humbling and a huge encouragement. While it was a great week, it was also a somewhat confusing time for me. Throughout the week, I just felt like I was a part of this team. I traveled down with them and they all treated me as if I was a team member. I had to keep reminding myself day in and day out that I was going to be here for three months and that I wasn’t getting on the plane with them Saturday afternoon. As many times as I told myself this, it never really sunk in. Then it was time to say goodbye.

After an intense shopping experience at the Haitian market on the way to the airport, it was time for the team to go. After many hugs and goodbyes, it finally hit me. As we rode back to the guesthouse in an almost empty team truck that had fourteen women piled into it just minutes before, my heart sank deep into my chest. The previous night, Jeff had talked about the two extremes that his family experiences every time a team comes and leaves. The first extreme is when the team is here and it is non-stop energy and fellowship until the minute they leave. When there are over fifteen individuals coming together as team to serve, there is adrenaline filling up each person and the group as a whole. Then the inevitable happens. The team (most times reluctantly) goes home and the guesthouse is left empty. The energy and adrenaline is gone just like that and you are left feeling completely drained and tired. For me personally, this is the time when Satan attacks. I began to doubt why I am in Haiti for three months, because in that moment three months felt like eternity. I began to feel homesick. I began to feel lonely. I began to feel beyond discouraged. I was trying to talk myself out of God’s plan for my life this summer. Then I was taken back to my first trip to Haiti. I remembered the ride in an old, hot, dusty, bumpy, motion-sickness-prone truck where God met me and told me, “This is your home, Drew.” So far, this week has been filled with challenges and uncertainties and since it is Haiti, I know there will be plenty more throughout the next three months. But despite these obstacles, there is no greater feeling than living out God’s calling in my life. This will not be easy by any stretch and that can easily be overwhelming and defeating, but I find my peace in knowing and constantly being reassured that this is His plan for me. He is my Stronghold and my Protector.

Bondye se fidèl. – God is faithful.

-Drew, AWAKEN Haiti summer intern

Welcome to our family Drew!

With the arrival of our May medical team came our summer intern, Drew Kalbach. I got so busy with team stuff right off the bat, I totally missed welcoming him into our home and family via our blog. So here it is...


Drew came to Haiti in July, 2010 for his first trip to work on the guest house and to meet the Good Samaritan kids. He did a little bit of traveling to the Leogane area, but otherwise was somewhat sheltered in working on the guest house. He did however, immediately have a love for the Haitian people and this country.


He returned for his second trip in December 2010 with a team that did some work at the girls' home and in Canaan. I think Drew's eyes were opened a bit more to cultural differences. I think the naivety maybe had left him somewhat, but I saw in him a deep love for these people.


From my point of view, Drew has been drawn here by God. It is evident in how he interacts with the children here. It is evident in how he deals with returning to America. It can be a very difficult thing to try to understand and to try to explain. When your heart is in two places and you see two completely different ways of life, it is hard to find where you fit and where you belong. Only Christ can truly speak into it and give direction and peace.


So for now during Drew's 3 month summer break, he'll be serving here in Haiti with us. Helping with whatever...team care, team projects, guest house care, gym class (dodge ball), grocery shopping, he may even learn to cook, do laundry, and teach homeschool a day or two.
We are very thankful for Drew's willing and servant heart. He has a big heart for people, specifically children. I've heard he also is great with power tools:)
Our family expands again, for the better!

Welcome to AWAKENHAITI Drew!

First Medical team

Right now, there is so much time between my posts. I have many days I know I should write, but can't find the time, days I have the time, but can't find the words. Either way, my desire is to be writing more regularly, sharing what is going on here. A brief overview of our week with Team May and what has transpired.
Team May was, as I said before, our first medical team. It was an awesome week! There was a ton of work that went into this pre-trip and it was evident as health education was taught, people were seen and treated at the medical clinic, and people were prayed with/for. This team saw a bunch of people in Canaan. They handled themselves so well in all circumstances as things changed (as they always do here) and as they saw so much more sickness than predicted.

Team May was such a blessing to us as we watched part of the vision God laid before us almost two years ago come to life in two very different ways. It is undescribable. To feel a burden and recognize it as God, to put it on paper as a vision, then to see it happen. Undescribable!

The vision coming to life first is in the Haitians, the sustainability, longevity...
The relationships we started in Canaan 6 months ago were strengthened. The trust we have been trying to build has been confirmed. We are now at a place in Canaan between the building that is happening and the medical care where we are making a sustainable impact there.

The second part of the vision is that people coming to serve would be challenged, changed. That the awareness they now have would move them into action in their own hometowns. This part of the vision was seen coming to life last week. I'm anxious to hear back from some of the team members on how this has made a difference in their lives on a day-to-day basis.

This week brought about some discoveries as to how much people need the medical help. It also brought about an awareness in Jeff and I of some of the spiritual struggles and the need for teaching and guiding newer Christians. God is again laying a burden/vision down for us. Before coming here, I always thought Iwas ready for things before God knew I was ready. Now, apparently God thinks I'm ready, but I'm saying "not yet", "keep me in the dark", "I am not equipped for this".
Tonight I was struggling after yet again learning more about spiritual warfare among some we are ministering to. "I am not equipped for this". "Why are we here?". "I just want to pack it in and leave here and go back to my comfortable life". "Sometimes, I hate this place, it is too hard."
Then God ever so gently reminded me that we are blessed to be chosen by HIM to be here. He gave me the words to 2 Corinthians 12:5-10. Specifically, vs 10
"that's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Haiti can be tough. We don't claim to truly understand it. We can't even begin to grasp some of the spiritual warfare happening here. Our eyes have been opened this week. God has shown us some things we'd rather not see. It is in these moments we can turn and run or we can trust God to fill us with his Holy Spirit, strengthen us, and give us what we need to do the work he has called us to. We cannot do this on our own strength.

Thank you Team May!!!

~Deb

Team May

In July of 2009, at an over-crowded, unsanitary orphanage God spoke to me about the need to provide medical care for children in Haiti. I've come to realize when something completely breaks my heart, it's God breaking my heart for what breaks his and this was one of those times. Even though I don't have any medical training what so ever, I began to have a vision for medical teams coming to provide care.
In the fall of 2010, we decided we would have our first clinic run in May of the following year. Not knowing at the time how that was going to happen with no medical personnel here in Haiti, we decided to do it because we knew God was asking us and the rest was up to Him.
Thankfully God sent Vanessa to us to in February of this year to really get planning and set up under way. She will be here for a year running two medical teams and doing some medical followups in between.
So here we are, May 2011 doing our first medical clinic with Team May. Today they spent the day in Canaan doing some educational classes on hygiene/disease prevention. It was an awesome day for the team, for the haitians and for AWAKENHAITI!

Job well done Team May!