Update from Cindy McMartin

Greetings! March 14, 2010

Last week some of the young boys living here in the camp came to my door with one of their friends. He had gotten hit in the head by a rock. I had restocked my first aid stuff so I went to get what I needed to take care of him. As I came back with protective latex gloves on, my bottle of disinfectant cleanser, gauze, ointment….the works, the little boy took one look at me and took off running and screaming. I couldn’t convince him that I wasn’t going to hurt him. :0)

Thanks for your prayers for the 5-man team that was with us this week. We appreciated their hard work and willingness to do whatever needed to be done. They installed 9 out 10 windows on the 1st floor and 14 out of 20 on the 2nd floor on the multi-purpose building for Jehu’s street kids ministry. This work necessitated some repairs to walls surrounding the window frames and chipping out cement on others in order to fit the windows in (none of the windows were square). They also did a lot of clean up of rubble, knocking down some interior walls that need to be rebuilt because of quake damage, and preparing cement blocks from fallen walls for reuse. They encouraged us with good fellowship and lots of laughter. They also brought some fun and joy into the lives of Jehu’s boys and lots of the kids here on our campus.

Now we are gearing up for our next team that arrives this week. Bruce will be getting supplies purchased and things organized for repair work to be done on one of the houses; I’ll be getting organized with our Haitian colleagues in the surrounding communities for the medical/dental clinics, and also for feeding this large group. Again, we’d appreciate your prayers.

One exciting bit of news is that both our girls will be coming. Michelle arrives first on the 20th and then Becca arrives on the 24th. Bill Mays of MRI has made this possible for our girls and we can hardly wait! It has been hard for all our kids to hear about the country they grew up in and love being devastated by this earthquake and it will be good for them to be able to process it all by seeing it first-hand and being able to help out a bit.

Thanks for praying for Romy and Louda. Romy came up yesterday for a visit. The change in his attitude was very evident. I gave him a Bible and a children’s Bible for his kids. Please keep praying for growth in their lives.

We continue to work hard and have busy days, and honestly, we are tired and ready for a break. I realized one good break I’ve had since the quake: I used to have to iron 6 long-sleeve dress shirts for Bruce each week. I haven’t had to do that once in the past 2 months. That’s been nice! Anyhow, we’ve been encouraged by our mission and others to get away and that’s what we’re planning. April 3rd we are going to Joel and Andi’s in Missouri for our get-away. Bruce plans on sleeping for at least a week, but we’re also excited about having some Grandpa and Grandma time. :0)

We continue to covet your prayers for the challenges of the weeks ahead. Our love to each one of you.

Love, Cindy for Bruce too