Haiti Update

Dear Family and Friends,

We had our first Haiti group meeting today! We are a thousand times more excited than we could have ever imagined about this coming experience. We wanted to update you all with some of the details we found out this afternoon from our group leader. Our trip is fast approaching. We leave in 67 days on Dec. 31^st-January 7^th.

There are 22 of us going in the group. We actually have a lot of families going. There are a couple other married couples and a few father-son and mother-daughter teams as well. Our oldest group member is 76 years and our youngest is 17 years. It is a diverse group, but everyone seems very passionate about what we are doing. Pete and I are very excited to get to know them all.

To refresh you. . . We will be working at Grace Village. Grace Village is a church/orphanage/refuge center run by Bishop June and his family. Inside of Grace Village are 22,000 refugees living on 16 acres of land in pup tents. We will now be staying in the hospital at Grace Village instead of the orphanage. This is actually the safest place we could be because “Doctors without Borders” run the hospital. There will be plenty of medical attention if needed. We also found out that Grace Village is a compound surrounded by cement walls with armed security carrying machine guns at all times. We rarely will be traveling outside of Grace Village, never at night.

Our church has had word that the building supplies they sent have been released. So if all goes has planed, our group will be doing a lot of construction. Pete is excited about being part of this. I (Maggie) am hoping to do a lot of medical work at the hospital where we will be staying. There is a possibility that we will be able to bring some medical supplies with us. We will for sure be bringing lots of Christmas presents for the children at the orphanage.

Our leader said that being with the children is the most amazing part. He said they love to be held and hugged and they are amazed by the white color of our skin. He said that they often rub you to see if the color will come off. Last time he was there they were able to have an ice cream feast for the kids. It was the first time that any of these children had ever had ice cream. Pete and I are praying that we will be able to love and bring joy to these children.

Thank-you to those of you who expressed concern about the recent V. Cholera outbreaks in Haiti. We discussed this in detail at the meeting. Currently, our trip will not be cancelled due to this issue. Forward Edge (organization our church is partnering with) is continuing work at Grace Village. We will all be taking extra precautions against this bacterium, as it is a dangerous one. It is found in raw fish and contaminated water. We will be taking extreme caution by only drinking filtered water and only eating cooked foods that are prepared for us. We will also be washing our hands excessively. There are many vaccination recommendations in Haiti, so we have also begun our vaccination process. We received the T-dap, Hep. A, and typhoid vaccines. We also will be taking malaria pills. We ask you all pray for our safety and protection against the numerous diseases (virus and bacteria) that our group will be facing because of the sanitary hazards this country is facing. There was a nurse at our meeting who went over each one of them and it was a little overwhelming.

Many of you have asked what you can specifically pray for….we truly appreciate your prayers. We ask that you pray that God will give us servant’s hearts and flexibility. Haiti has a different pace of life than the USA; they value relationships much more than time management. Our leader said we need to be prepared for plans to change on a daily basis. Lastly, we ask for prayer for our group as we travel from the airport to Grace Village. It will be an hour bus ride and it will be like nothing we have ever imagined. The poverty, death, smells, and grief that we will see is unimaginable. We are starting to prepare our hearts and minds now for this bus ride.

Thank-you ALL again for your support-through prayer, emotionally, and financially! We are coming close to reaching our financial goal! Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you! We will be accepting donations for our trip until December 20^th.

With Love,

Pete and Maggie Moormeier