Urgent Prayer Request and to please keep praying in the future

Rachel Petterson and her husband, Joe, are the daughter and son of my mom and dad's pastor in Naples, FL. Baby Mae is the Petterson's daughter:

From the Covenant Church Visitation Coordinator -

 Dear Prayer Team,
Please continue in fervent prayer for Baby Mae, Rachael, and Joe.  Joyce sent us this email from Rachael who is desperately in need of our love and prayers for God’s comfort and peace tonight.  She asked me to print it as it was written:

From: Rachael Petterson <rachaelpetterson@hotmail.com>
Date: March 20, 2014 at 7:10:05 PM 

“Hi everyone,

Just wanted to give another update.  They extubated Mae today - meaning they pulled out the breathing tube that is making her lungs breathe.  This did not go well.  She was working really hard to breathe, but her heart rate started going down and it was bad.  There were about 15 people in the room, alarms going off - they made us leave.  They got her re-intubated and had to put another IV in, but because her veins are all blown, they had to do it in a vein on her scalp.  She is resting okay now - sleeping.  They think that her throat was swollen from the tube and that is why she could not breathe on her own.  Next time they will give her steroids beforehand to reduce the swelling.  

She has been having some blood clots in her diaper.  The nephrologist is working on this.  They are doing another ultrasound tonight.

I didn't really think it could get worse then yesterday -and it did.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  Please keep them coming.  It is all just really, really scary.  I feel a bit assuming sending these emails to you all, and I know you have other things going on in your lives, but for some reason it makes me feel better.  Will update soon.  Love, Rachael”

Thank you for your precious and powerful prayers tonight.

In Christ alone,

Judy

Judy Caldwell

Assistant to Visitation Ministry

Covenant Church

And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

1 John 5:14-15

Saturday morning

Woke up to a cool breeze with patters of rain. It smelled so good! Decided it was a perfect time for a good, long run. And it was. The rain stopped by the time I reached the main road. Lots going on in my head right now, so it was an especially welcome run.

On the road to the farm, a motorcycle driver yelled in creole "Poukisa ou kouri blan?" Why do you run white woman? The women walking across the road from me began laughing. I turned around to them, smiled,  and gave a thumbs up. What is now embossed in my mind is the one woman's toothless grin with such joy in her eyes. Joy that is priceless!

Heading to run errands now - to Yamine, my vegetable vendor, the water store, gas station, and grocery store. Oh and if Jerry isn't bringing me folding chairs, to the school to pick up more chairs. We ran out of chairs at Bible study last week. That is good! 

We had 12 and more are expected today as the word is spreading that 'the American lady has a Bible study in English so you can come and practice your English.' Someone brought this up last Saturday seemingly offended that people would attend for this reason. They were surprised I was not offended, but rather delighted. I explained to the group, "I take it one step further and think, yes they can practice their english BUT they are being fed the Word of God at the same time!" Amen!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Worth sharing!

This is my co-worker at the school (and in Christ!), Pam Mann's newsletter that is totally worth sharing with you today. Such wonderful kids we get to work with! Such a privilege!

Wednesday morning, March 12, 2014
I have begun oral English exams with my primary students this morning. Today it's been those cute third graders, struggling to pronounce thirteen when their front teeth haven't come in yet or wrinkling up their noses and staring at the ceiling to recall all the days of the week. One boy was golden, at first, "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday— " Then he stalled, seeming sick, until he brightened, finishing with, "How, are, you!" With such enthusiasm, he'll get it eventually.
When the third graders went to lunch, I had time to finished correcting rough drafts of eleventh grade pen pal letters. These letters to their friends in Pennsylvania contain such an account of what's happening lately that I decided to ask the students permission to share them with you.
Hi, Trent,
Last week my school celebrated its 20th anniversary. It was a beautiful celebration. We took three days to celebrate with our school. On the first day, we paraded in the street with the school's band. There were many Americans who came to celebrate with us. On the second day, there was a big concert in the school. The concert was full of activities. There was a magician who did magic tricks for us. On the third day, we were in the sports park at Manquette to watch the
performance of the school choir which sang many beautiful songs for us. It was the best celebration of my life because we were all in the same place, at the same time, enjoying ourselves.
Last week was also very important for all Haitians because it was Carnival in our country. There were many Mardi Gras revelers who wore masks. Some had whips which they cracked in the street. Sometimes they carried a box with a frog or a snake in it. They frightened people, with the snake to make them give money. There were other young men who had black oil on their bodies. We call them "siray" in Haiti. They would soil people who didn't give them money.
The president of the country was in Gonaïves, the city of our independence. The biggest celebration of the Carnival was there. People all around the country went to Gonaïves for dancing and drinking. There were many floats which were ridden by musicians playing their music. My favorite musical float was BC. It's a Creole rap band. There were a lot of people around that float. There were many people who got hurt during the celebration but no one died. It was the first time that many people didn't die during the Carnival in Haiti. It was a success. After the Carnival, people who didn't live in Gonaïves returned to their cities.
My older brother and his wife were in Gonaïves too but I have never had the chance to attend the Carnival. I watched it on TV. What is your favorite celebration? Have you already traveled to another country? I hope to hear back from you soon.

Here is an interesting sociological excerpt from Coldweene Saintilnord's letter:
Dear Francesca,

Hi! I'm doing well, thanks to Jesus. How are you? Your activities? Your school? I'm so happy to learn from you about dating in the USA. In Haiti, it's different. There are several reasons why a parent doesn't allow his child to date at our age. Haiti is a poor country. Parents must work very hard to educate their kids. Dating at our age is dangerous because many high school students don't

Your friend, Caleb Delva

understand the word "love". They think it's a sexual thing at their age. They understand love in a bad way. That's why a good parent in Haiti won't ever allow his child to date at a young age.

Here's a newsy excerpt from Samuel Alcius:
During Easter vacation week, I will participate with my school in the national knowledge competition. There are six players on the team. It will be organized in Cap-Haitian with the best schools in the country. Our objective is to win the competition this year and we are very motivated to do that!

Christophe Metellus has been having an inter-faith dialogue by
correspondence with his Jewish pen pal. His last letter was so biting I nearly censored it and then decided to apologize to our Jewish friend for Christophe's lack of tack.
There simply aren't Jews in Ouanaminthe to broaden our students' experience. Christophe's pen pal and her mother spent some time together explaining what motivates someone to be Jewish. She then asked him why he was Catholic. He wrote:
My religion is Catholic. I practice Catholicism for many reasons. First of all, my mother is Catholic so Catholicism is our matrilineal [Ed. Note: I did not teach that vocabulary word.] religion. Another reason that I am Catholic is that I like following the laws in the Ten Commandments. I believe in Jesus. He triumphed over the cross for us. I can never forget that!
After secondary school, I want to be an engineer because I would like to build many buildings. Then I will have much money in my pocket to build an orphanage. What do you think?
My favorite sport is basketball. And you, do you have a favorite sport?
Tell me about your Easter celebration. [Ed. Note: The opportunity for inter-faith dialogue continues.]

I close with the conclusion of Franck Junior's letter:
I think going to church is very important. So you must read your Bible a lot and if there is some sentence you don't understand, you may ask someone to explain it. For that, I encourage you to go to church.
It is not a problem that you didn't come to Carnival Camp in March. But I hope one day you will come to visit Haiti and I can hang out with you.
Your Friend for Life, Franck Junior

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!…
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life evermore.
Psalm 133:1. 3

Spread the word, please...

On February 27 I made a request...actually I'll call it a plea, for someone to be the benefactor for Fritz.
Please prayerfully consider who, how, what in order to get the word out to have someone financially support Fritz. It doesn't have to be one person. It can be a church, company, or a combination. The sponsored amount for room and board, and insurance can run through a foundation and be tax deductible to the donor. The books and ancillary expenses will be considered a "gift".

Please spread the word, please...

Here are a few of our PHILO students (trying out the bread from the Micah 6:8 UNIVERS Bakery:

HOLD the PRESSES!!! URGENT!

Good Morning from Ouanaminthe!

I was informed by the church of a change in the way to get to the ONLINE donation website so you may specifically donate to me. This is a change that I was not made aware of, so if you have already gone into the website I gave you instructions from in my "partners" tab or from my support letter, you have given to the general fund I understand, and it wasn't allocated to my account.
Here is what you need to do:
1. Click on this link:https://communitychapel.ccbchurch.com/trx_submit.php?type=public_gift
2. Choose "Hudson", then choose "Haiti-Lewis" in drop down menu

Please note, the 3% credit card and bank fee is passed onto me by the church if you use a credit card to donate online, therefore if you want me to receive the amount you intend you will need to add the 3%. I am not charged a fee if you use a check and mail in a donation.


I am very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you.

Thank you so much for your financial and prayer support
Love,
Marylee