Trinity Reform Church/Orange City Iowa

Submitted By Denny Brand~

I had the great pleasure to lead two team from
Trinity Reformed Church from Orange City, IA
to Pignon. I was in Haiti from July 22 - August 5.
One group of 7 was in Haiti from July 22 - 29 and
another group of 10 was there from July 29 - August 5
Because this group was from Orange City and that happens
to be the same city that Kristy from UCI is from, the groups split
their time between the two missions. Much was accomplished
in both missions.

While in Pignon, both teams worked very hard on the
doctor's quarters above the vaccination clinic and before
we left, most of the rooms had at least one coat of
paint on them. Bruce Schutt from the first group
was very handy and he spent most of his time fixing things
in the hospital - the lock on the downstairs operation room,
hanging fans in the delivery room and nurses quarters
as well as in the doctor's quarters, and fixing and putting in many
flourescent bulbs. There were two guys from the 2nd
group who were comfortable with tiling and they spent their
time tiling at the OPC.

We traveled to Pignon on MFI. The trips came off
without a hitch. Usually we fly into West Palm or
Fort Lauderdale, but because the flight
to Orlando was much less expensive, we flew
there this time. Arcadia again picked us up and really
it was only about 15 minutes more to go
there. The extra time was well worth the money
that we saved.

We stayed in the MN dorm while in Pignon and
as usual, everything was great. The sleeping quarters
were good, the food was good, and you cannot
beat the balcony for great evening discussions
and for just looking at the stars.

It is always an honor for me to lead a trip to Pignon
and watch the different people as they
process what they are seeing, many of them for
the first time. The trips to Haiti are always so
blessed because you get away from all the hustle
and bustle that we experience back in the states
- there is so much time to be together and really
discuss and try to figure out what you do with what you
are experiencing. We always go to the hospital a couple of
times when we are there and sing for the patients. This
is a highlight for many because they get to see first hand
the faith that many of the patients have as they join in with
us as we give praise to the heavenly Father. After we sing,
if they are comfortable, we break up and go to the different
people and pray with them. We always ask if that is ok with
them and never push ourselves on them. We rarely get turned
down by anybody and it is always a blessed time. Even though
we don't speak the same language, we are all speaking
to the same God and there is a universal language that we all understand.

We are thankful that everybody stayed healthy. We are thankful to the
hospital staff and all those that made us feel very welcome and
appreciated. We also want to thank the Krob family for really making our
stay all that it could be - the handling of the jobs - providing the
transportation, and the sharing of their four boys. It was a great trip.

Blessings,
Denny Brand

Prayer


May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships - so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people - so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war - so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world - so that you can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen.

(Franciscan Benediction

Aug 26-Sept 2

Summitted by Rev Bubba Smith

Our recent trip to Pignon went without a hitch, which for my team
is a rare thing. For the first time I led a team
of 15 consisting of 3 ministers, two college students,
a high school senior, a retired math teacher, a nurse, a
wholesale plant nursery owner, two Air Force folks
(one of whom was along to write up an article for the
US Air Force Reserve Magazine, "Citizen Airman",
publication in about 3 months) a mail carrier, two
other retied folks and a hospital social worker.

We accomplished much in terms of hospital repair and
maintenance. We built and repaired door and window screens,
took in 8 new mattresses for the children's nursery,
worked on a number of plumbing projects, painted and painted
and painted the doctors dorm/area, built
several bathroom cabinets, cleaned and disinfected the
cribs in the nursery, replaced all the ceramic water
filters that were located throughout the
hospital and doctor's dorm areas. If my calculation
is correct our team put in around 600 hours of combined volunteer work.

I encourage future teams to take with them filters
and replace them as needed. These filters are the
Doulton DS-1000 Sterasyl Ceramic Filter Candles and
the Doulton UltraCarb Ceramic Filter Candles,
part number W9123053. I have long encouraged this
to ensure safe drinking water for the hospital staff at the
hospital and in the residences. These
are reliable and affordable. The filter component
has already been installed and all future teams need
to do is to replace the "candle" items.
Please I urge other teams to do this, as I am only down
there once a year.

Kudos to Jared ! ! ! ! Jared is an answer to prayer.
Can't say enough about his help and his patience with
our projects. I agree with Dr. Guy, that all projects
need to be coordinated through Jared and through Larry
Madole. Jared is our boots on the ground and our
eyes on the target when it comes to the accurate assessment
of what projects are the most urgent.

Kudos to the other hospital staff. They were, as always, extremely
accommodating and hospitable.

One of the highlights was a fish fry! Yep, you heard it
correctly. Prior to our trip with MDI, I made arrangements
for them to purchase for us two
cases of frozen catfish, French fries, and hushpuppy mix.
I knew this would please Dr. Guy, which it did.

Early one morning seven of us took a trip to
Dondon to visit a Methodist Church/School.
I had been in touch with the leader of this
church and had heard about their need for a water well.
We were able to do an assessment of the project,
obtain a bid from Haiti Outreach, and are now in the process
of securing funds for the well.

Having made a prior trip to Haiti in May to work in
the earthquake relief efforts, I chose to bring my
team through Port au Prince on our way back
home. This side trip allowed them to experience
the devastation and livingconditions first hand.
We flew into PAP on MAF, were met at the airport by
the staff of the Methodist Guest House, and spent
the night there at the Methodist Guest House.
They then took us to the airport the next morning
for our departure.

Bubba Smith