Mustard Seed Missions, Inc.

…that’s the by-word in the USA.  In Haiti, it’s “Communication, Communication, Communication”.  We’ve been trying to contact the hospital administrator at the hospital in the Dominican Republic for over a week.  It turns out that my ATT phone is not able to call the phone numbers in the DR.  I spent time with the ATT rep this morning and her comment was that they have no control over foreign providers.  Wow…   Who’d a thunk?  It’s very weird to know that we CAN call Haiti, but CAN”T call the Dominican Republic.

After trying all of the email addresses one more time, we received a very welcome email back from the administrator late this morning.  She’s putting things in place at her end.  Now, we just need the visa process to go smoothly on Friday.

In the meantime, I’ve been trying to text Amoce with information — it’s not going through.  So, instead I’ve been phoning him…it just rings and rings.  arggggghhhh

Amoce has Yanie’s passport in his hand!  That is the good news.  The more challenging news is that they each have to go to Port Au Prince to get a visa to enter the Dominican Republic.   Judy Foster, an American missionary who lives in Cayes, has been trying to help Amoce but she’s having difficulty finding out the fee for a visa.  The Embassy of the DR in Haiti has no website, so that’s not proving an effective way of finding out.  As near as we can collectively figure out, it will cost $100 USD each.

The surgeon who agreed to do the surgery is arriving in Santo Domingo a week from today, so there is a whole lot to do before then.  The administrator from the hospital where the surgery will be performed has not answered my emails, and the phone numbers she gave me back in October no longer work.  We’re facing a few puzzles here, and we’ll just have to respond in faith.  Amoce and Yanie may just end up flying there and making it work as they go along.  It may be the best we can do.

Prayers are welcome!

We have not heard any news about the surgeries for Jean Henri or Judeline. Amoce has been trying to call both moms but is not getting an answer. That’s not unusual; it’s sometimes very difficult to afford to buy another phone card with more minutes so that your cell phone works.

We got a little bit of information from Judy this evening. Jean Henri’s mom did meet with the surgical team, and Judy met mom also. His surgery is scheduled for this Thursday with a pediatric plastic surgeon specialist who is arriving tomorrow. Judy doesn’t know if mom is living in PAP or travelling back and forth from Les Cayes area, but we’re so happy to hear how this is all falling into place!

Yesterday we received an email from Judy Foster in Les Cayes. She’s been working with a visiting surgical team in PAP. She wrote to ask if we could locate the young baby boy who needed cleft palate surgery; if we could find him then the surgeons could fit him into their schedule before they return to the US. Jean Henri was seen by us last October in Nan Dot; he must be between 8 and 10 mos. old now. He was scheduled for surgery in February, but then the earthquake happened.

Judy’s email asked if we could have him at her house tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. and she’d drive him and his mother to Port for the surgery. This came out of the blue! A couple quick emails to Amoce, and a phone call late last night to make sure he knew about it. Then tonight…a few minutes ago…Judy emailed to say that Jean Henri and his mom are meeting her in the surgical tent in PAP.

We still don’t know all the details of how this managed to come together, but we do know that God is good!

This is a good time to share an episode from our trip last month. It was a “first ever”, but it wasn’t funny for the horse!

At the end of our long day at Nan Doti, Pastor Wilfrid came to us and said that a farmer had brought a horse and asked if Dokte Mark would look at it. Animals are very valuable property in Haiti and the farmer really wanted to take care of his horse. The horse had very nasty abscess the size of a football right in front of his hind legs. Being the good sport that he is, Mark agreed to look, said “Sure! We’ll fix it!” … then he asked about the horse’s temperament and returned back to his table to finish seeing patients.
In the meantime, the farmer hobbled the horse and tied it to a tree, so that it wouldn’t be any ‘trouble’. We were soon done seeing patients. As Mark walked back toward the horse, Bob Myers volunteered to take a look at the poor animal. Bob and his wife raise llamas, so a large animal was no worry for him! Yes, indeed, Bob got right to it, lanced the abscess, debrided it, peroxided it, and gave the farmer instructions on caring for the open wound.

The horse was also given megadoses of antibiotics to fight off infection. The farmer sure was grateful for all of the medical attention for his horse and it made a comical ending to our day. At the end of the day, we hope he had a healthier horse and both Bob and Mark have something else they can add to their resume!