Well I made my first trip out to the orphanage [for children with disabilities] yesterday. It's really a terrible place and I'm amazed that the children go on living.  Really, many of them don't.  The disabilities of the kids are less severe than many I've seen because frankly, the most needy just don't live.  It seems they may even be encouraged to die with an even higher level of neglect than the others receive.  I'm working in the creche ward.  There are 33 kids in 32 cribs who never leave those cribs if one of the volunteers doesn't take them out.  They receive 5 bottles a day.  Feeding them solid food would be too much work for the state staff to bother with.  I visited 4 tiny little ones in an infirmary.  They are being fed through tubes in their noses because they are starving to death.  They have learned to induce vomiting on themselves and are starving to death.  The workers weren't alarmed.  In fact, it was the volunteers who intervened.  Even the infirmary is terrible.  There was blood and formula spattered on the wall, no one had made an effort to clean it up.  Our team leader, the volunteers and the three local believers she has hired are doing amazing things. They need more help, both volunteers and funding.  I've been singing and cuddling until I'm sore and hoarse and it still seems so little.  Please pray for us all and especially for the children.

There is a small community of believers here.  In fact, almost everyone knows everybody else.  We meet regularly for prayer and fellowship.   I feel something like a first century Christian.  We speak in code.  The word missionary is dangerous and so we use worker. . . . Our meetings move from house to house and not just to ease the burden of hosting.  I'm working with amazing people and feel very blessed that the Lord is using me here.

I'm going to take a break this weekend and go on a sight seeing jaunt.
Love to you all!
Lydia

October 24

Dear family and friends,
I'm writing to you from [small resort town].  The beach is just across the street.  So nice to hear the sea and the waves.  I'm here with a friend who is a worker from the States.  She and six others plus one local new believer comprise the whole of  the Christian community here.  We spent yesterday with a local teenager.  He's 18 and has been a Christian for less than a year.  It's a difficult time for him.  There's not exactly a youth group here.  I've come for the weekend to see the work going on here and to see a little more of the country and will catch a bus back to the capitol city in just a few hours. 

The last few weeks have gone very quickly.  My time here is almost done.  Tomorrow I'll be going to the orphanage for perhaps the last time.  I've grown very attached to some of  these kids.  They so desperately need love.  My heart breaks a little each time one of them snuggles into my shoulder and giggles with the joy of being loved.  Fatma is 5 years old.  She has the most wonderful giggle.  I discovered this week that she can feed herself if the food is in small pieces and she is given the time and support to sit up.  The orphanage feeds her 5 bottles of Ensure a day.  The apple sauce and dry cereal (for her to pick up) were probably the first solid foods she had had in a long time, perhaps ever. 

Gursel may be discharged from the infirmary soon.  He's six and has been fed through a tube in his nose.  He was wasting away to nothing until the volunteers interfered and insisted he be treated medically.  He now weighs 8 kilos! Can you imagine!  Six years old!  More than any toys or clothes these children need good food that people will lovingly feed them.  They need to have a real home. 

Friday I leave here and go to visit family in England.  Please pray about all the circumstances that I have told you about here.  We are so blessed and I feel that we must have some response here.  Perhaps a team to come and hug and feed kids, perhaps money so the team can begin to build homes.  I am confident that God will show us what he wants from us.  Don't know what my internet access will be like in Britain but I'll email if I can.  Love to you all.  See you soon!

Lydia

Greetings in Christ!
   I won a free trip for two to the Caribbean!  It turned out to be just airfare, and no accommodations. So, I found an orphanage where I could stay, if I help take care of the babies.  A friend from Church went with me, and we were there in the tropics for three weeks. 

   We met some genuinely GOOD people, taking care of sweet, precious children.       I've been back six times since then, and plan to move there for long-term.  (In the meantime, I try to help them from here, doing fund-raising, connecting with other charities I find on the Internet, etc.) 

   I would recommend this mission (to groups or individuals, for long-term or short-term) for several reasons:
   It is a good cross between "something safe to send the youth group to for the first time" and "a real missions experience, in a totally different culture, where you can really meet the people:"
   It is a large compound set safely behind four huge walls.
   It has nice, separate apartments for visiting missionaries (which  u s u a l l y  have water and electricity), able to accomodate families as well as singles.
   The local community comes in for the Church services, and usually stay to talk to the missionaries (asking for prayer, or practicing their English).
   Locals are also hired as staff, so you will be working beside them as you help with babies, meals, office work, maintenance, classes, computerization, etc.
   There are about two hundred orphans, and a large school with over 700 students from the local community.
   If you come feeling like "there's nothing I can do, I'm not good at anything," you'll be surprised what a HUGE need you can fill, even if you just play with the children (they are SO starved for attention and love).
   It has been around for over 25 years, founded by an American lady who emphasizes discipline and praise ... (it's amazing to hear small children recite chapter and verse from memory, and great to hear them sing their hearts out with alll the words to all the songs).
   It enjoys the respect of both the Haitian and American government, known for its integrity. 

   Any drawbacks?  Of course ... it is VERY hot down there (I recommend going during the winter, which feels like our summer).
   It helps to know French, but the local language is a Creole (a mixture language with a lot of French in it).
   The people of Haiti have traditionally worshipped the devil (voodoo), and sometimes you can feel that, so you want to be strong in prayer and spiritual warfare.
   C.H.O. does ask $10/day from the visitors, but that gets you not only room & board, but also transportation and laundry.
   There are some guidelines (modest clothing, no visiting outside homes without permission, etc) but nothing unreasonable.
   I've heard that the government has its problems, but that's never affected me, or the mission.
   The nation's population is half children (47% under 16 years of age) but that has been embraced as a tremendous opportunity for the Kingdom:  if we can get in there with 20 years of good teaching, preaching, food, clean water, and TLC, we can claim that entire country for God.

   Some of the best friends I've ever had are Haitians - I'm amazed what sunshiny personalities they have, after all their years of poverty and frustration. The Christians there are strong and serious:  even though they are out numbered, they selflessly sacrifice to win the rest of their nation to Christ.
   It may sound trite, but it's true;  I went there thinking to "give," but I'm the one who ended up receiving.
   I wish you all could receive the blessings to be found in Christ's work and Christ's people in Haiti, too. 
   Thank you for reading this (long!) message. Please pray about coming to join us - we'd be so glad to have you. Please also pray for us, and ... keep watching the
headlines, for miracles in Haiti!   :-)

P.S. ~ 
   For those of you less adventurous, we also need help in the office at our Florida headquarters, especially an accountant/bookkeeper, and a high-tech expert to integrate our feeble attempts at computerization ... Thanks!