February 11, 2004 -- E-mail from Wes Morgan
Hello Family and Friends,
Ian Reese and I arrived in Port-au-Prince this afternoon on schedule; great flight. Officer Remy Joseph met us and provided his usual great assistance in helping us clear customs. I had computer equipment and many medicines as well as a great deal more mission supplies, but wecame through without a hitch.
Went straight to AFCA Village where our NDI team from Edisto Beach, SC was working hard on completing the AFCA Home for Children. They will finish in the morning, and are holding a dedication service at 3pm tomorrow! The ladies had the beds made with clean sheets, a teddy bear on each bed, everything scrubbed up and clean. The guys were working in the kitchen, finishing various installations of cabinetry, etc. This is going to be a wonderful new facility capable of housing maybe 15-20(?) kids. This Edisto group has worked long and hard on a number of previoustrips, and they are now bringing it all to completion!
Next, I had a 3:30 meeting ("rendezvous" in French) with a businessman with whom we are negotiating to buy land for a greatly expanded ministry to orphaned and abandoned children. He and I covered lots of points. I finally got straightened out on measurements of carreau and hectares and how to convert to acres, though I have not done the calculation yet. We are making good progress on the negotiation, and he is a pleasure to work with.
Walls serves supper at 5pm, and we were late. We got the tail end of supper, consisting of a kinda-like macaroni and cheese (with some ham? mixed in), bread, tomatoes, and rice pudding. Um, good.
Tonite was a busy agenda. I met with the Edisto team (19 strong!) to give them the big picture on NDI's ministry in Haiti, share our vision for future projects, and answer their questions about various aspects of the AFCA Village ministry. What a great group.
Then, off to see Rick and Sandra in their new Providence Guest House which just opened about 10 days ago. They are getting settled in, but obviously on the way to success with guests already staying. I delivered a new computer to Rick, a doozy with LCD monitor, speakers, and big RAM and hard disk. They were very excited. Also gave him a USA Today and theairline magazine - stuff to read in English!
Next, visited the Sheriffs. They have repainted after the fire. All was well; most everybody asleep when I got there about 9:45pm (very LATE for Haiti). They have approx 30(?) babies, most in some stage of being adopted. A very sick baby died a few days ago, and an AIDS baby not long before that. Some of the children they serve are so very sick and cannot survive. They have 10 of their own adopted kids here. We had a wide-ranging discussion - get this agenda - support hose for David's leg condition, unlimited need for powdered milk, formula, and diapers, need for shipping of supplies, need for battery backup for computer. Son Ted was evacuated recently with mother Judith with pain and need for appendectomy, verified by a scan of some sort. Arriving in West Virginia, the church had a prayer service for him the night before scheduled morning surgery. They prayed for healing and successful surgery. The next morning, the surgeons opened him up and could find nothing... no evidence of inflamed appendix, infection, etc. They removed his appendix since they had him opened up. The doctor asked Judith how this could be explained, and she told him of the healing service. / We had prayer with Judith and David before leaving.
Came back tonight for cold swim in pool and cold shower.
Many of you are praying for our safety, with the news reports of manifestations, uprisings, and conflict. This conflict is definitely occurring in the outlying cities of Gonaives, St. Marc, Cap Haitien, and others. Be assured that we have encountered no conflict in Port-au-Prince, though we are being prudent and observant. Walls Guest
House is walled and guarded by armed guards at night. We are not hampered in our mission efforts, and are able to do so much!Ian, my traveling companion, is a first time Haiti traveler and is in a state of amazement, I guess you would say. I think he is writing in his journal tonight.
Thank you for your prayer, encouragement, and active support.
Your partner in missions,
Wes Morgan