...and almost put in jail. All that makes for an interesting trip to Jimani, DR. We had a blast this past week in Jimani! We left Sunday after church and headed over. Just for informational purposes to get from Haiti to Jimani you pass through the Haiti border enter no man's land then go through the DR border. We met John Hanley the missionary that runs the Jimani hospital at no man's land. Because it was Sunday it was pretty easy to get through all the gates to get across, which included not getting our passport stamped. John said it was no big deal. We thought ok he is the expert. anyways there was a team there for the week as well from St. Paul UMC Lighthouse Youth Ministry in Largo, Florida. They were a team of about 30 people. We had so much fun with them. It took awhile for us to jump in and meet them, but we managed to not be the random interns there. Hahaha They are a sweet bunch of kids and great adults, so touched by this island. One of their main projects was helping with a VBS at the church next door to the property. Totally doable right? We go and sing with the kids (DR is a Spanish speaking country so I was totally excited to finally use my language skills!), then break off into their classes. There were so many on the team and such a small property that we weren't really needed. So we just observed, it was neat to see a new culture. As close as Jimani is the culture is really different. I loved being able to sing the "Sunday school" type songs and somewhat understand what the pastor was saying (they speak a lot slower than Hispanics I have been around). It was a lot of fun! Each night the team had worship and devo time. It was so good to sing songs in worship in a language I understood! The first night John and Melissa shared their story of how they got to be in the Dominican and in charge of the Chadasha hospital and orphanage in Jimani. It is always great to hear how the Lord led someone.
We were supposed to go to Batey 41 on Tuesday morning but we could not cross the border there. Let me explain. The bateys are part of Haiti; however they are "in the DR". There is a large lake on the border. Haiti owns all of it but the tip that goes in the border to the DR. So the bateys are on the coast of the lake and about 100yds back is the DR. So you have to drive through the DR cross the border into Haiti to get to the bateys, or you go across the lake. We went to the "unofficial" border crossing to get there but the DR soldiers wouldn't let us cross. John left to get some papers and talk with some high profile people so we just hung out. Some children came running over to see what was going on and we began to just play with them. They spoke and understood both Creole and Spanish so it made it pretty easy for people to get an idea what was going on. They loved having their picture made and attempting to have us talk with them. We were out there for a good while before we had to leave because we weren't going to make it that day. But really it was kind of perfect we didn't. We got to hang out and make a difference in the lives of those children and we would not have been able to do that if we had been able to cross right over. God so knows what he is doing. The plan was John would get up early to go talk with some people to hopefully get the ok to go. After lunch and nap time Melissa came and found us to ask us if we had long shorts or pants and t shirts. That would be a negative. All we wear in PAP is tanks and running shorts, and that is what we were told we could bring. Well the pastor apparently did not like out choice of clothing and so we could not help with VBS anymore. Kind of sad, slightly hilarious, but all for a purpose. I mean really…how do missionary interns get kicked out of VBS?! So the rest of the week in the afternoon when the team was doing VBS down at the orphanage (they had to move it to Chadasha for space) we were down in the hospital cleaning out and sorting medicine. That might sound incredibly boring and busy, but it was some of the greatest times. We had waaay too much fun. It was bonding. More and real bonding than we have done in PAP.
John never got a chance to talk with anyone, so we didn't make it to the bateys on Tuesday either. So we decided to stay til Thursday so we could go to the bateys on Wednesday. Go back and reread the top where I explained the only 2 ways to get to batey 41...yeah if we can't cross by land then we have to cross by water. The interns were so flipping excited about taking a sketch wooden boat across the largest lake on the island! John and Melissa or Hosty (the translator that works for them) have ever actually taken a boat across so it was new for everyone. We called it a water tap tap because they looked sketch and were brightly colored. We had to cross the official border to get back into Haiti to catch a boat. Because there were so many of us there was no way we could just mozy across like we did on Sunday, so we, um they, complied with the rules of crossing the border with paperwork and passport stamping. Except the interns because we were illegally in the DR to begin with so we couldn't really get checked out. We made it across no problem and found our boat guys waiting for us. It took 5 boats to get us all across. This was such a great life experience. In a wooden boat with a guy who doesn't speak our language and Melanie had a half of a milk jug paling out water so we wouldn't sink! Now if that is not a life experience I don't know what is! As we got closer to the bank children from everywhere came running to meet us. My heart just overflowed. I was so excited to meet them! We finally made it to the bank and got out. Soaking wet, but ready for the day. We talked and walked with the kids and went up to the church. Batey 41 is partnered with Chadasha and Alcoa UMC so it has funds that have a church and a school. There we divided into those who wanted to play games and things with the kids and others who wanted to walk around and pray with people. The interns sneaked and grabbed Hosty and set off to find Babas. Babas is a 2-3 year old who lives with his young mother in Batey 41. Back in June, John was told of Babas' problem. He had a tennis ball size testicle. Not okay. He went to the doctor and found out he had a hernia and needed surgery. So over the next few weeks (July) he came to PAP to see doctors and meet with surgeons and stayed with us at the Guesthouse. We got to see him and his mom several times as he came to see doctors, and this past weekend he finally had his surgery!! Everything went great! I have seen the before and after from diaper changes and a proud mama, and it is amazingly better! This child won't have any more pain or worried of it bursting. When they brought us to Jimani we dropped them off at the lake to take a boat over. He was supposed to have a check up on Tuesday but could not make it so we wanted to check on him. We followed Hosty as we went around asking where Babas was, and then we saw that precious boy! He was so excited to see us, and his mama let us check him out to make sure everything was going great and it was! He wanted to hang out with us so he went with us as we walked around the area. It warmed our hearts to much to see the beginning and end to such a great success story! We just loved on and kissed on that baby all day! As we were walking around praying we found ourselves at a hut that had a one week old baby!!! He was so beautiful! The ladies kept saying he was sick, but he seemed fine at first. Melanie asked to hold him, and got to spend some times with him. Long story short, we realized something was not right, so we got that nurse that was on the team. He came and checked out the baby. Everything was good and normal about that baby except he was seizing, badly. He would seize for 8-11 minutes and then we ok for 4-5 minutes then seize again. Constantly the whole time we were with him. We couldn't take him with us then, though we really wanted to. Praise Jesus, we got it worked out that he is coming tomorrow to PAP to see a doctor! This baby needs a lot of prayer. Our morning at the batey was beautiful and full of the Lord.
We left this morning, but before we did the youth leaders had asked us to come and share with them our experiences with the kids about dealing with coming back to America and what they could do. It was really crazy at first to think that they would want to hear from us and that I would have anything worthwhile to say. The girls asked me to open it up and start. I didn't have anything planned I just started talking, and then the Lord came in. Haha I can't even tell you what I said but I know that it wasn't me. Hopefully someone was able to benefit from what we said. We all had different experiences with that, which made the talk more dynamic and meaningful. Then one of the students asked if they could pray over us. I was touched. They barely know us, but they wanted to bless us. It was really special. They were a great bunch of kids.
Next we proceeded to get back to PAP. Keep in mind we aren't supposed to be in the DR. So Sara and Kensly (translator and driver) and Ashton (missionary kid) came to get is in a normal pickup truck. Even though there were 8 of us we all managed to get in the cab. If we were in the bed, which is where we usually are it would cause suspicion and possible passport checking which we couldn't have. Because it was market day there were people everywhere and slow slow traffic. Which just made it more nerve racking because we wanted out before we got caught. Well we couldn't even make it to the DR border. The lady at the gate saw us and began asking questions, she took our passports and sent us to immigration because only Sara and Kensly had stamps, none of the interns or Ashton had them. Immigration means we are basically going to jail for illegally being there. Our guy that had been with us and suppose to help us cross the border and some other began yelling and talking then yelling at the lady. We were getting ready to get out of the truck when they got the lady and began motioning us to leave. So Kensly began backing out and heading to the border. We had tp pay the guy$60 for helping but that is better than $200 per passport!! We made it though! Now on to the Haiti border. We get stopped again, but Kensly flashes some papers saying we were Haitian (the truck plates are still DR) and we went on. We got asked to stop and get checked three more time before we were home free to PAP! That the most intense hour of my life!
After we made it back we rested some then a few of the interns and a couple translators went to Guerline’s orphanage to get them water. The guys dropped us off to play with the kids while they filled up the water. The kids were so sweet and excited to see us! Some of the girls gave me a Creole lesson, which was hilarious and a lot of fun! To learn our body parts we did the head and shoulders song in creole. That was a sight. Then the older girls started bringing us sick children. Some of the young ones had fevers, really bad fevers. And a lot of them have real bad coughs. Of the fever we had a 99.3, 100.5 and 101.6. We were running around trying to find medicine and cold clothes and making phone calls because none of the staff went with us. Renoldo who is 3 and had the worst fever apparently has had the shivers for three days, and he almost passed out while we were trying to help him. We were able to get some medicine down him. We left instruction with them to check the temps and call us if they did not get better. Please pray for these children. There is only so much we can do and everything the Lord can do.
This has been an incredible week. A lot if the most randomest things happened, and a lot of God happened. I have been so touched by this week and what all we have learned and experienced so far. Excited to see what is to come!
Prayer Requests:
The little baby that is coming to see the doctor. That they have safe travels, and knowledge to the doctors and the medicine to help him.
Renoldo and the other children at the orphanage. They are so sick and need some healing.
The interns, we have one full week together. Our time is winding down. That we may hear the Lord and go out with a bang. (We leave the 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, and 14th)
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