Sunday, March 14, 2010

Dr. K (with translator Jean O'Neal) preaching at Sunday service

Life in the tent village

Rudy showing his "soft" side (yes, he has one!)

Aaron being awesome (he named this picture) - really he is giving out a "talking Bible" to a lady who received Christ.

March 14, 2010

Posted by Drs. Brenda and Richard

By the end of the days here, I (Brenda) am mentally, physically, and emotionally drained; at the same time, I feel a sense of peace and contentment that I have done the work God called me to do. Richard (as most of you know) just keeps going and going like the EverReady bunny! But even he has to go slower because of the heat.

We went to church this morning – hey all of you out there who get restless when your preacher goes past his 20 minute allotted time – just think of our service this morning. We arrived at 9:30 a.m. and worshipped until about 1:00 p.m. (We all were prepared with water and me with a few gummy bears hidden in my purse!)

But what a service – there were so many blessings it’s hard to describe. What was amazing to me is to see the people praise God so joyfully, they sang a song that said “God’s grace is sufficient.” And this is after many of them have suffered through the death of family and friends, the loss of their homes and most of their material possessions. They are living in tents; some do not have any shelter at all – yet they rejoice in the Lord. It reminds us of the passage in Habakkuk which says,

Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

One difficult time today was meeting with Mechou, the mother of Michaela, the little girl with the badly infected club foot who is now at the University of Miami hospital tent at the Haiti airport. The doctors had told Mechou that Michaela’s leg needed to be amputated below the knee and she really had not comprehended this information. She was told to return to the hospital this afternoon to meet with the doctors and sign a consent for surgery tomorrow. We met with Mechou and explained the situation and told her that we wanted to help in any way possible-with rehabilitation, etc. She was worried that we would make promises and then disappear. However, we assured her we would do everything we could to help Michaela. Aaron and 2 other team members then accompanied Mechou to the hospital, visited with Michaela and met with the doctors. The foot is not salvageable and if it is not amputated, the infection will spread, eventually getting into Michaela’s bloodstream, leading to death. Mechou signed the consent and Michaela is scheduled for an amputation tomorrow.

The amazing thing is that the doctor who will do the surgery is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon from Nashville, TN, one who specializes in club feet. Is that a miracle from God or what? He also offered the hope that it might be possible to do corrective surgery on Michaela’s other foot to avoid her becoming a double amputee. But right now, we simply don’t know what the future holds for her.

Please pray for her and her family; the mother is a widow and has 4 other children; like most people here, she is living outside under a tarp. We also are going to try to help her during this process. We thank all of you who made it possible for our team to be here; we know our encounter with Michaela is not an accident and that God has a plan for her. Thank you for being a part of that plan.

The rest of the team today went to the tent village and gave out everything else that we had left – diapers, milk, clothes, food, flip-flops, candy, etc. Some had a few close calls, as people crowded around trying to get anything they could. But for the most part, everything went smoothly. Again, we thank all of you – it is because of all our supporters that God has brought into our lives that we are able to help the people here in Haiti, not only physically, but spiritually as we share the hope of Christ.

We love you – God bless each of you for your wonderful hearts to serve.

We leave in the morning at 7:00 a.m. so pray for our safe journey.

Richard and Brenda and the Helping Hands team.

Todd handing out donations to the people in the tent city.

Rueckflug

An alle Freunde da draussen in der Zivilisation.

Wir sind immer noch in Haiti. Eigentlich sollten wir jetzt ganz relaxed im Flugzeug in Richtung New York sitzen. Aber es kommt oft anders als man denkt, besonders auf einem Missionseinsatz. Unseren Flug , den wir gebucht haben, gibt es nicht. Die Airline, die wir gebucht haben, fliegt gar nicht von Haiti (das konnten wir ja gar nicht wissen). Wir waren auch nicht die einzigen, die auf diesen Flug gebucht hatten. Das tragische an so einer Situation ist dann, dass sich keiner fuer uns verantwortlich fuehlt, solang du nicht in der Muttersprache sprichst. Nach einigen Stunden Verhandlung gasb man uns eine Adresse in der Stadt, wo die Airline ein Buero hat. Da wir heute Sonntag haben, hat das Buero heute natuerlich zu. Wir werden morgen frueh gleich da hinfahren und alles versuchen, um an 6 Tickets zu bekommen.

So betet fuer uns, dass wir hier irgendwie rauskommen. Wir freuen uns auf zu Hause, unsere Kinder und Freunde zu sehen. Also dann, wir vertrauen Gott, dass alles einen Sinn hat und er die Kontrolle ueber alles hat. Bis dann.

Willy Kornelsen

The band playing at the church service this morning in the tent city we have been working in all week.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Posted by Ludmilla Lieder

One week has flown by; today is our (the team members from Germany) last day in Haiti. I am very sad that I have to leave- not only the country, but most importantly, the people. We have had countless experiences with God. We saw a lot of need, misery, poverty, sadness, hopelessness and destruction. On the other hand, we also met people living by their faith in Christ - they had a hope and gladness that was more than a little contagious and this blessed the whole team. In the middle of all this chaos, disaster, and poverty, these people have made us rich with things that money cannot buy and with things that do not pass away over time.
My main job this whole week was to entertain the children, tell them about Jesus, play with them, and spend time with them. Today, during our break, we made paper airplanes with which we brought great joy into their hearts. The men continued building the shelter to the point where, when we leave, the Haitian people will be able to finish the work which we started. We had great team work- God helped us in every way and we hope that we are leaving the “footprints” of Jesus behind.
To end the day we had another one of our team meetings where everyone shared how this week impacted their lives. Everyone had a lot to say and I am sure that we are bringing home with us much more than we are leaving behind; one of these things is the joy we can find in Jesus Christ and the honor of serving our Lord and Savior.

Our little Michael in her hospital bed, awaiting surgery

Nurse Hill caring for a wound

For those of you that remember Stacy, the little girl we gave IV's to, here she is! All better! God is Awesome!

Nurse Stanley assisting in filling a syringe with medicine for a baby

Todd doing crowd control.

Allan telling the patients how and when to take their medicine

Matt digging some holes for the shelter we are building.

Friday, March 12, 2010

March 12, 2010
Posted by Willi Kornelsen

Tonight we joined together and worshiped with the Haitians in a wonderful church service. I actually thought that we were going to miss the service because we were so busy building a shelter in the Tent City. But as fate (or God) would have it, we were able to attend it and I am, to say the least, speechless. It was very different than anything I am used to but I found the experience quite worthwhile and would attend it again in a second. The whole church was fired up; we sang and worshiped and praised like there was no tomorrow.

Allan-one of our team members- was unexpectedly asked to come up front and sing a song - in Creole! Don’t worry - he was prepared, but I wasn’t. My plan was to film this moment and I had twelve minutes left on my cassette. No problem- I figured it was enough to last until the end of the song. As I was filming him - the race for Allen to finish the song vs. the end of my tape was drawing nearer and nearer. One would think the song was near its end and that I would not miss much; on the contrary, Allan was only halfway through the song when the tape ended. I had to dodge a crowd of dancing people, find my seat and frantically pull out my spare tape so I could film the rest of Allan’s spiel. It was an adventure all on its own. As I discovered tonight, the Haitians love to sing and thus one song can last 20 minutes, but it was worth it to hear the joy in the singing.

Today we also went to see the Presidential palace. We drove through the city where disaster and ruin were as common as fallen leaves in autumn. Everything smelled of dead bodies and litter clothed the sidewalks. We saw many houses where no attempts had yet been made at digging out decayed corpses. The same smell was present throughout the day while we were building the shelter at the Tent City- perhaps it was because of the heat and the direction of the wind.

Despite the somber reminders of what is going on around us, it was a successful day.

Above Posted by Willi Kornelsen

Note from Drs. Richard and Brenda: It WAS a successful day for the Lord. One thing we want to add is about the servants’ hearts of the Haitian people we are working with – here’s an example. Although the mission house where we are camped out has bathrooms, there has been no water for the past couple of days. We have been going outside to get buckets of water from a tank and carry the buckets up about 3 flights of stairs (which isn’t so bad – we all need the exercise :) Today Pastor Jean Claude and his team came up the stairs with a big barrel that they subsequently filled with water for us. He told us not to worry – that from now on, we wouldn’t have to carry water up the stairs – they wanted to do this for us. He explained that they want to show their gratitude to us and their love for Jesus by serving. They are simply awesome models for us to follow and it’s a joy to work with them.

Tomorrow we are going to check on Micaela, the young girl with the badly infected club foot who was admitted to the mobile University of Miami hospital set up at the airport here. Please pray for her.

Thanks and love from all of us here in Haiti and thank you for being a part of the team!

Allan leading us in a song tonight at church

Harold working to build a shelter for the community

The little Girl, Michael (me-shale)

The UM hospital took her and it was obviously one of the worst cases they have seen in a while. Lots of cameras came out. They gave her an IV while she was screaming and we tried to comfort her as best we could. They will do xrays next to see if there is infection in the bones and to see what they are dealing with. Her mother is torn between staying at the hospial with Michael and going back to her other children. The doctors do not think they can save the leg but they will try.

Thank you for the prayers, even though the hospital was full they let her in. To God be the glory!

Please continue to pray for her.
-Aaron

They have accepted the little girl and are working on her now

Please pray

We are transporting a little girl who has club feet and one is split open about 6 inches and infected. If left untreated she will die, She needs corrective surgery but I don't know if she will get it. Please pray that the hospital will take her and treat her.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Journey from Fontamara to Fondbra:

Today I (Matt Cox) got to experience so many different cultures here in Haiti. It was so amazing that we could travel 2 hours north and be in the village of Fondbra where there is no electricity, only occasional running water, and houses built out of thatched roof sticks stacked on each other and tied together. The journey began early in the morning around 7:00 - we did devotional and got things ready to take to the orphanage.

Early on as we stood and waited for the bus to arrive a group of our team found a piano in the house and began to use the free time to lift up the Lord in song. How amazing it was to stand back and listen to people from different nations across the world sing out to God praising His name in song. One team member stated tonight during “Stretched and Blessed,” that the singing gave him an idea of what it must have been like in Biblical times when people talked in tongues. All were giving glory to God in their own tongue - what an awesome moment!

As the bus arrived we packed all our gear and headed to the mountains. Little did we know what was in store for us as we traveled the roads of Haiti. At -one point we were on somewhat smooth, paved roads; at other times-and this is a literal meaning-we were driving upstream through a RIVER! I have been upstream in boats, kayaks, and such, but never in an open air bus- wow! As we arrived at our destination the kids and village were happy to see us, knowing we had food and medical aid-I also would like to think they were happy that we brought the Word of God to share with them.

The medical team did an awesome job today- there were a lot of moments that might have caused us to shut down camp and head home. Yet under the direction of our great leaders Dr. K and B we pushed on and did what we could to heal the people of the village. Today’s patients -as I understand- all truly needed to see a doctor. This wasn’t “scratch and bruise” day- it was gash, trench foot, and broken legs day. It hurts to see the serious needs that these people have, yet it hurts much worse having to leave while knowing that some of these people aren’t going to be seen by the doctor. May God look down on them with mercy and be the great physician- healing the people of that village.

While visiting door-to-door and sharing the gospel during medical clinic, the evangelism team encountered some committed Christians. It was quite a joy in my heart to know that they praise and give glory to the same God that my family worships. On the other hand, one lady today had not heard the name of Christ and did not know what He had done for her on the cross. As I spoke to the crowd, my interpreter and I began to feel the mighty working of the Holy Spirit, and He also began working in the heart of this lady. She began desperately praying for Jesus Christ to come into her heart as her savior. After we talked with her for a while to ensure that she understood about salvation, she prayed to have Jesus come into her heart and forgive her for her sins, lead her and guide her. We also prayed that she would begin to share about Jesus with others who need to know about his saving grace. If this story doesn’t pump you up, I don’t know what will. One big group at the same time today also prayed to have Jesus as their personal Savior; as we finished praying we all began to shout “Glory be to God who came to save all of us.” It was amazing. WOW. Here are the names of the ones who got saved today - please pray for them.
Lorinneul
Farimanline
Roricia
Doudoce
Matthieu
Versine
Mentor
Brevil
Bervllil
Bervious
Hilise
Jean
Ehvicia
Lan
Jean
Ascimeius
Cola

Finally on the way home we stopped at Domino’s to eat pizza in downtown Port au Prince. Let me describe it this way. I saw a man sitting on his (what I think was his) house just looking down in sadness wondering what had gone wrong for this (the earthquake) to happen. At another place, I saw two ladies digging through the rubble rock by rock, piece by piece, trying their best to possibly uncover loved ones.

Destruction was everywhere you looked, but this is how I want to end today’s blog. As we passed through the town and saw all the destruction, people were out on the streets everywhere. They were selling items- whether it was remote controls, sun glasses, or bananas - people are starting over.

The best thing is that we saw people in churches singing songs and glorifying the Lord despite that all that has happened.

Posted by Matt Cox

The team getting some good food at Dominoes Pizza after a hard days work

Willi instructing the patients how and when to take their medicines

Our crowd waiting to be seen by our doctors.

Donna working with a patient to find some glasses that she can use.

Our transport to the mountains! A 2 hour drive!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

March 10, 2010

It’s 8:30 p.m. and I (Brenda) feel like it’s time to go to bed! It can’t be that I am getting older (at least I hope that’s not the reason.) As we did our “Stretched and Blessed” tonight, it is apparent that we are all being blessed much more than we are being stretched. The lost camera is forgotten; the heat doesn’t seem quite so smothering; and the smells blend in with life. So many things happening…

Best of all is that 39 people have said “Yes” when asked if they want to ask Christ to come into their hearts. There were 16 yesterday, including a young woman who prayed with Donna; and then 23 more today. That is what we are here for, and so all the stretches cease to be stretches.

What was sad today – a little girl who looked about 8 but was really 14 and had what appeared to be club feet. Her left foot was horribly deformed and had an awful smell coming from it; but this wasn’t the worst – when we checked it out, we found that it was split on the bottom and was practically in two parts, with a gaping, infected hole that went to the bone (how’s that for a graphic description?) Her mother came with her, but seemed almost disinterested as if she had given up hope that anything would be done, or that her daughter would be better. We are not sure yet what we can do to help-we cleaned and packed and bandaged the feet, and gave her antibiotics, and now we’ll pray and seek God’s will. It’s tough because whatever the road in front of her, it won’t be easy. She is coming back to see us later this week and we’ll decide how (or if) we can help.

The children’s ministry was just incredible – we had to change it around some today because yesterday, it was chaos, with hundreds of children crowding around Ludmilla, who’s in charge of the children’s ministry. But today, we roped off a section at the tent city, and she worked with small groups at a time – they heard Bible stories, Aaron shared the gospel using a gigantic Evangecube, and they colored and played games. All of the schools here are still closed, so the children are free to roam around all day. Our ministry brought a little joy and the love of Jesus into their lives today.

Although it takes a while to buy supplies around here, we were able to get 2 wheelbarrows, and some rakes and shovels and begin clearing a large area to put up a shelter. We also bought tin and wood. In considering how best to help the people at the tent city, Pastor Jean Claude recommended that we build a large tin-roof shelter where several families can put up their tents to protect them from the rains that are coming. Right now, the people are simply “squatters,” – that is, the land where all the tents are pitched does not belong to them, so we cannot put up any permanent buildings. But we still need to get the people out of the weather. The wooden frame and tin roof can be removed and used in other locations, so right now, it is the best solution. But first, we made a plan to clean up, dig a drainage ditch, and also build a “waste disposal” area. This will help keep the area cleaner, and as a result, the people healthier. This is a challenge, because we’re facing many years of poverty, poor hygiene, and basically lack of education about the hazards of bad sanitation. But we are up for a challenge, and we’re excited that we are here, working together with team members from all over the world – literally. Hey, we named our team “Canaman” (Canada, America, Germans) – but we all are working for God’s kingdom, all of you included so thanks for being a part of our team!


For those who are praying, we ask that you put the following names on your prayer list – these are some of the people who received Christ so far. They need discipleship so they will grow in their walk with the Lord, and become committed and passionate followers of Christ. Then they can go out and reach their own country with the gospel.
1. Jose
2. Jesus
3. Dioline
4. Frantz
5. Jema
6. Stephranie
7. Antione
8. Rienne
9. Aline
10. Wislande
11. Derolus Marie
12. Lenene
13. Stephaine
14. Casandra
15. Josiane
16. Claudette
17. Alfonse
18. Steven
19. Josue
20. Waldine
21. Fabienne
22. Wilens
23. Mousssiac
24. Ester
25. Beatha
26. Ronald
27. Angel
28. Beatrice
29. Vivienne
30. Juleline


WE HAVE A LONG DAY TOMORROW, AS WE HEAD OUT EARLY TO TAKE FOOD TO ABOUT 65 ORPHANS, WHO USED TO LIVE HERE IN FONTAMARA, BUT WERE MOVED TO A CHURCH BUILDING IN THE MOUNTAINS AFTER THEIR ORPHANAGE WAS DESTROYED. We’ll be doing a community-wide medical clinic and also checking on the children.

God bless all of you for your hearts to help the people here – for reaching out in the name of Christ to show His love to a devastated country that needs to hear that there is hope.

Richard and Brenda and the Helping Hands team.

Some of the guys clearing out a large spot in the tent city to build a shelter

Dr. B and Lili filling prescriptions

Dr. K examining a pregnant woman in the tent city.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

March 9, 2010 Haiti

Today we had our first visit to one of the “Tent Cities.” It was quite the adventure, although I do have to say that the initial “culture shock” which most people experience was not one I had. On the contrary, seeing all the poverty and the mess was not a shock to me at all- even though I have never seen such things before.

The clinic was quite busy but I loved it. The people are a lot of fun to hang around with and very friendly. I used to hear it a lot-and still do-that the people are nice, but now I actually know it. I like that I can see things for myself here instead of hearing other people talk about it.

Back to the clinic, I thought it was a great success. The hardest part is to deny the things when they ask for money or food. There was one boy who kept asking me for money, he was so persistent, finally I turned around and smiled at him. He was so cute I kind of laughed and told him no; I have never seen a more mischievious smile cross a boy’s face. He sure knew what to do. It was the cutest thing and I think he knew it.

But it is not just the children that capture your attention, I must honestly say these people are very, very, very, very polite. I can’t stop being amazed at their culture. Very intriguing and I absolutely love it!

Our first day was quite funny. As we came out of the airport people swarmed around us from all sides all wanting to “help” with the luggage. One local man kept following Willi asking him if he knew the name of the people that were suppose to pick us up. Willi turned around and said “Stop it, Stop it” because we had already found our way, but the man turned around and started calling out “Stop it, Stop it” thinking it was the name of the person we were waiting for. Indeed, quite humorous.

Written by Marlene

In addition,

Hey Mike and everyone else:

These are the people who are on the trip with us - please pray for our team.

Marlene Kornelsen=Manitoba, Canada
Matthias Kornelsen=Manitoba, Canada
Willi Kornelsen= Osthofen, Germany
Lilli Kornelsen=Osthofen, Germany
Harry Lieder=Osthofen, Germany
Ludmilla Lieder=Osthofen, Germany
Rudi Penner= Osthofen, Germany
Harrold Penner= Osthofen, Germany
Stanley Hill= Georgia USA
Matthew Cox= South Carolina USA
Donna Foster= Georgia USA
Todd Ketner= Georgia USA
Allan Wong= Maryland USA
Marie Leon= Georgia USA *originally from Haiti
Aaron Reignier= Georgia USA
Dr. Richard Kowalske=Georgia USA
Dr. Brenda Kowalske=Georgia USA

Ludmilla taking care of the children during the medical clinic.

Our medical clinic. We are in the tent city.

Matt evangelizing during the medical clinic.

The team sorting through all the medical supplies. We will do a medical clinic this afternoon in the tent city.

Monday, March 8, 2010

We are back in Haiti!! For me, Richard, and Aaron it was a homecoming today, to see Pastor Jean Claude, Jean O’Neal and all the other church volunteers and translators we worked with previously. Even now we can hear them singing about Jesus in lovely unison.

We were so happy to be able to fly directly into Port-au-Prince, instead of having a 12-hour bus ride from Dominican Republic; however, it was pretty crazy at the airport. With airport buildings damaged, a warehouse was set up as Customs and Baggage Claim. So it was just a mass of people trying to find luggage that was everywhere, but eventually we claimed all of our bags (a miracle for which we thanked God) and made our way out of the airport with John O’Neal’s help. We were deluged by Haitians who wanted to help us with our luggage; we were pushed and jostled as dozens crowded around wanting to push a cart or carry a bag in exchange for money. In the midst of all the confusion, one of our team members, Matt, had his camera stolen – he had it in a case on his belt loop, and suddenly it was gone. It was disheartening for him, as he came a long way to help the people of Haiti, and this was his introduction. But we all reminded him that lost people act lost and it is for this reason that we are here.

We met up with the rest of our team-6 people from Germany and 2 from Canada-who had arrived earlier in the afternoon. We are now God’s team, representing three countries, but ambassadors for God. It is 8:00 p.m. and we have all the tents set up, bags unpacked, had our time of prayer, orientation, and sharing. We’re all exhausted but looking forward to a wonderful week of sharing the love of Christ in a country that has started to awake from its stupor of devastation. Only Christ offers any hope and we are here to tell them the story of Jesus.

Oh yeah, for all the Hopewell blog followers – Todd wanted to know if I was talking about him in the blog, but I explained to him that he is just too deep for words. I did offer to quote him however, so here it is, “A picture is worth a thousand words, but reality will leave you speechless.” I’m not sure I understand how that relates to him, but maybe his friends and family will understand :)

Thank you to all our supporters for being a part of our team. We love you!

Richard and Brenda and the Helping Hands team in Haiti.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Google Maps of Helping Hands in Haiti

Click here to view map

This is a map I am making of the different locations that we are working at in Haiti. There are some locations that I was not able to map. I will update it on our next trip when I get the coordinates.

On the left you can click on the different areas that we worked in and see an aerial view.