While visiting Haiti with the FPC medical mission team, I was overwhelmed by the destitute conditions which we rode through on our way to the clinic each morning. At every campus we visited, without fail, as the gates swung open, I could hardly believe the difference between what I saw in front of me compared to the surrounding areas that we had just ridden through. Large churches anchored the walled campuses and trees with red blooms lined sidewalks along tidy classroom buildings. You could tell that these places and the people within were well loved and cared for.
After my first summer trip to Haiti with FPC, I decided to sponsor a secondary school student named Djennika. It pleases me to know that she is able to continue her education and be surrounded by a community of faith and loving support. It makes a difference to me to know that you and our church have been a partner for so long with HOM and continue to do so. HOM and MICECC are well run organizations and I feel confident that my dollars are well spent. And while you may be thinking that you’d never, ever be part of a medical mission team, I’d like to encourage you to at least consider the possibility. If I can do it, so can you! I don’t have any medical training, unless being a mother counts. I volunteered in the reading glasses clinic and met the sweetest people while fitting them with glasses. And there is always help needed in the pharmacy, which is air conditioned by the way, or in the group which assists the Haitian crews in replacing blue tarp roofs with ones made of tin. Our next trip is June 17 – 24, 2020.
As Laurie talked about in her sermon a few weeks ago, we just need to start where we are—to continue to do what we know, but in a bold and faithful new way. While you may have purchased some goodies during the fudge drive held recently in support of three students sponsored by FPC, is God calling you to do more? Perhaps to sponsor a student yourself, to pray for HOM and MICECC on a regular basis, or even to be a part of a medical mission team? You can explore these opportunities by visiting the HOM website, www.haitiom.org. In closing I’d like to encourage you to prayerfully consider becoming involved, or even more involved, in these far-reaching and life-giving ministries. The mission sites truly are islands of hope and sources of love and healing to so many in Haiti.
Beth Haupt