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March 2002 Newsletter
THE FAMILY
My wife usually writes about this area of life, but since she is giving
most of her free time to her kindergartners, I figure you’ll have to put up
with my description of our family together, and our individual comings and
goings.
Jessica is nearly 10 years old and is still living life like there’s no
tomorrow. Although she’s not the world’s finest kickball player, it isn’t
for lack of enthusiasm. In fact she’s enthusiastic about everything she
does. Her primary goal is to live life as a geologist. We discovered this
gift back in first grade when she would end each day with most of the rocks
from the playground in her pockets, and subsequently our washer. For her
birthday gift last April we gave her a rock tumbler and some geode rocks.
Isn’t there a scripture someplace that refers to the fact that good parents
don’t give children rocks? Jessica is also our specialist in ice cream
eating. She was recently fretting that it had been a whole week since she
had had any.
Jessica is definitely our “People Person.” She comes to life when she is
in the company of others. Everybody from her classmates to her teachers and
even the occasional acquaintance is thought of as her best friend.
Jacquie, unlike Jessica, wouldn’t think of picking up rocks. Her primary
orientation is toward academia and boys. I am so amazed at the effects of
hormones on young people! Why would god take perfectly good kids and give
them hormones? Pardon my ignorance, but I just don’t understand it!
Anyway, Jacquie is a real self-motivator. We have never had to encourage
her to get her studies done. In fact there have been some late nights when
we encouraged her to be a little less of a perfectionist so she could
complete the assignment and get some sleep. Jacquie is still at the top of
her class and is very active at extracurricular things like being the
Student Council president and tutoring elementary students several days a
week She has also developed a pretty highly honed skill for taking national
tests. I never even got to associate in high school with the students that
got SAT scores as high as hers are. I just appreciate that she will give me
the time to go with me to play tennis on Saturday mornings. Maybe it’s only
because I control the keys to the car that she is trying to learn to drive,
but at this stage I’ll use any way of getting the upper hand.
Jodie still is responsible for keeping us together. While I’m out doing
the BIG things for God like being the mastermind of his healthcare system
for Haiti she is doing the little things like reading to and praying with
our daughters and spending her days with a classroom full of very active
kindergarten children, attempting to live out the Gospel in front of them so
they will grow up to know the King of Kings. I truly believe that her effect
on Haiti when it is all said and done will make my work look minuscule.
John (that’s me) is still having a great time doing what the lord has
called him to do. I never imagined when we came here 16 years ago that the
fun would last. I still am in awe as god puts me in situations at the clinic
where I am forced to make major decisions without having a complete
knowledge of what I’m doing, then get to sit back and watch him work the
problem out. It is fun seeing my nurse Eden move into more of a leadership
role in the clinics. Another thing that has been fun has been watching and
experiencing Jacquie and Jessica in the growth mode. No, they still fight
and pick at each other like most all sisters but it is now possible to see
more of the end product coming to the surface. We are, and will be blessed.
SUMMER VACATION
Since we remained in Haiti last summer we decided to do something that
we hadn’t done before. We planned an in-country vacation. A local travel
agent told us that Port Sault was inexpensive and a great place to get away
from everything.
She was definitely right about one thing: it was away from everything!
Actually the little hotel was about twenty steps from a beautiful beach
and in walking distance from two waterfalls. We spent lots of time at the
beach and in those waterfalls. We found limestone in the streams and did
some face painting with it also.
The big downfall was the food. Now, for those of you who enjoy fish and
lobster we can lead you to one of the greatest vacations of a lifetime,
because that’s about all they had there. Oh yes, there was some fruit with
breakfast. But we ate a lot of peanut butter, and a lot of rice and beans!
Really though it was certainly restful, inexpensive, and a chance for
our family to spend lots of time together. That’s probably something we have
had too little of until that time. If you were to ask Jessica you would find
that it was her best vacation ever. Give that girl a beach and a waterfall
and she will make a party.
THE FEEDING PROGRAM
For almost 9 years we have had a feeding program in Malique, which is
located just outside Port-au-Prince. We fed six meals a week to 13 children
from very underprivileged families. For most of these children this was
probably the handle that helped them stay alive into their adolescence.
Well, all things must come to an end, and due to the loss of adequate
funding for the program I had to close it down in August. For all of you who
contributed to this program we want to express our thanks and also the
thanks of those involved in the program. The children are better off today
because of what you have given.
3rd annual Church of God Missionary Retreat
I can’t say that there are a massive number of Church of God
missionaries in Haiti (10 plus 3 honorary Church of god Missionaries) but
when we get together and spend some time it is a special time of renewal.
For the past two years we have had the chance to do just that and are
planning our next one at a baptist retreat center in the south called
Zanglais on May3-5. This year we are planning to have Cheryl Barton,
missionary from Japan with us as our resource person. We have asked her to
preach at least four long sermons; in reality though we primarily are
planning on picking her brain to see how we can become more effective and
long lasting in ministry. Then we’re going to take her to the great beach
and see how well she swims.
THE CARS
It seems we always get around to this one!! Actually I have good news to
report about the cars this year. First of all they are both still on the
road. In fact the Toyota (the clinic car) even has 4 wheel drive which is a
very important thing when you drive on the roads here. If you recall, for a
long time the Toyota had 4-wheel drive but since I was sold a car with two
different gear ratios it was like driving with your brakes on all the time.
This eventually led to my losing my total rear pumpkin until I could find
another 9you who are wondering what I’m talking about may want to switch to
the next part of the letter). So will the help of my very helpful nephew
Amike, who lived in Japan at that time, I was able to purchase two new
differential gears at an affordable price so now I can go up mountains and
through sugar field in the rain. That may not seem very important to you but
to us it is paramount.
Actually both the cars are running but their ages, 13 and 10 years, are
high for these roads. They have been showing their stress points for quite
some time.
SUMMER CAMP
Each August for the past three years Phil and Lonnie Murphy, fellow
Church of God missionaries, have had a day camp for the children of
Callebasse. The week long camp usually enrolls approximately 400 children
from that area and exposes them to a variety of classes. There is everything
from learning how to do first aid, animal care, ecology, and art, to solar
cooking. In addition to this there is worship and singing time for all the
children. Jodie, Jacquie, Jessica, and I have been part of the leadership of
these camps every summer and have had a great time doing it. Jodie led the
singing and worship centers, Jacquie was counselor and helped coordinate a
group of children, Jessica assisted the environmental leader, and I was one
of the primary teachers in health issues.
One of the highlights of the camp is that many of the persons in
leadership fly in from outside of Haiti to do it. There is a gathering of
about 25 leaders of all ages from about 25 leaders of all ages from many
different places in the world. It’s really neat to be a part of that
important time in the children’s lives.
OUR 25 ANNIVERSARY
How amazing to wake up one day and discover that you have to plan
something for your 25th wedding anniversary. This is from someone
who thought he would probably never marry in the first place. So, since the
fact of sheer longevity demanded it we scheduled and spent a great five
nights in a resort in Boca-Chica, Dominican Republic. Great prices, great
resort, a great beach and a great friend to go with let me know if you need
a place to go for 25th. You’ll have to have your own friend
though.
The Clinics
The Clinic at prospere is approaching autopilot. It is so neat to drive
through the country and look off in the distance on the side of the mountain
and see the prospere Church of God and a group of people waiting patiently
for us to arrive. By the time I arrive almost everybody who plans to be seen
during the day will already be there waiting for us. Pastor Francois, the
pastor there, takes care of seeing that the clinic room in the basement of
the church is swept and open so we can get started as soon as possible.
One major change at prospere is the addition of Edin, the pastor’s
daughter, as part of the clinic staff. Although she still does the writing
of our record cards and some crowd control as she has done since the first
clinic at Prospere, she has taken on much more responsibility since
completing the clinical part of a Registered Nursing program in
Port-au-Prince. She has been attending classes for the past two years and
since August has slowly moved into much more of a caregiver role at the
clinic. In fact, she sees and treats almost all my pre-natal patients only
calling on me in cases where she has questions. When she is finished with
the mothers-to-be she then moves over with me and we finish up the rest of
the patients together.
Edin’s addition to the clinic has also increased the number of patients
we can see. In fact, due to her added help and also the addition of a new
clinic at Ft. Jacques we have been able to do more than a5,250 consultations
during 2001. This is more than any year prior.
In April I started a new clinic in Ft. Jacques, and area above
Callebasse, where Phil and Lonnie Murphy (fellow church of God missionaries)
have been living. Phil recommended the area to me. He spoke of it as an area
similar to “the other side of the moon” and I have found it so, although I
must admit that I’ve yet to see the other side of the moon. Phil was
concerned for the people there since those that he knew were extremely poor
and in great need of health care. The attendance at the clinic has been
satisfactory but less than I had expected. I’ve chosen to do the clinic on
Wednesday and am finding the regular attendance somewhere between 20 and 30
patients per clinic. The clinic is located in a small basement room of a
very large community church on top of a mountain. The pastor of the church
is the publicity and his daughter works with me taking care of the record
keeping.
The very unique thing about patients at this clinic compared to other
I’ve had are usually their blood pressures. I have never heard of individual
locations having great numbers of very high blood pressures but I believe I’
found one. 250/140 is not an unusual pressure but when I run into a 290/160
like I did last week in a very young man I begin to worry about what’s
causing it. I’m guessing that it is probably a combination of a very high
sodium diet, stress in their daily lives, and a love for very strong coffee.
None of these factors are very easy for them to change, so I end up trying
to get them to decrease the salt and coffee (it’s unthinkable to ask them to
totally eliminate it), and then top it off with one or two medication. Then
we depend on prayer to finish the treatment.
The great thing about the Ft. Jacques clinic is that it is located on
the top of a mountain that overlooks a wide valley and it is high enough to
see the end of the world. This also adds to the pleasant temperatures. It’s
so nice to drive up there from hot Port-au-Prince and get cooled off. The
major problem is the drive. The road there will soon age my very old Toyota
even more!
CHRISTMAS 2001
We had a great Christmas this year. Due to various circumstances, it had
been three years since we had celebrated Christmas in Haiti. It was nice to
be back here to enjoy our family traditions. We sang in “The Messiah” in
early December with the International community Choir and went to a
Christmas concert at St. Trinite, a school in town. We enjoyed delivering
gifts to the children of some of our Haitian friends. Then when Grammy
(Jacquie Gross) arrived we knew we were really going to have Christmas. On
Christmas Evemorning we sat around the TV and got to see the Anderson
University “Candles and Carols” Christmas celebration for the first time
since we left Anderson in 1985. We used to be part of it as students about
30 years ago and it was so great that we could now see it on our local cable
channel. We did the decoration thing at the house and invited those who were
free to come to a Christmas Eve Service at our home. After that we had a
party with lots of our friends there.
On Christmas Day we shared gifts then we spent the day eating, relaxing,
and enjoying our time together. Then we really relaxed by spending
two nights at the beach with some friends. We celebrated the new year of
2002 with a party at a friend’s house. You would have thought it was July4th
with all the fireworks that were set off.
 
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