October 2018 Haiti
The second trip in October of 2018 was another phenomenal experience. This time God allowed for 3 dentists, 2 hygienists, 3 assistants and 2 triage nurses!
Matthew 21:22
DAY 1
Started out at 3:30 this morning. American Airlines blessed us with our first checked bag being free. PRAISE!
Cloudy and rainy here. Took 2 anxiety pills so the flight wasn’t so bad. CUSTOMS WAS A BREEZE TODAY GUYS!!! It was wonderful. God took care of all it.
Not nearly as many crowds or fuzzing!!! Praise be to God.
Agenda for the rest of the day is grocery store, setting up the dental clinic, and discipleship. Continue to be in prayer!
Clinic set up was quite interesting. Unpacked all the old stuff it’s in perfect working condition. Unpacked the rented dental equipment as well. All the kids came running and looking for Katrina and Kaylee. Sadly she isn’t here. Enjoy some photos and more updates tomorrow.
Please pray for my feet and my back. Hurting already. Ibuprofen. Icy hot. And Tylenol on deck. Pray that God’s will be done. Love y’all!
Today’s reflection
IF you don’t put yourself in the atmosphere physical pain will change your outlook. PAIN IS EVIL!!!
My thoughts:I was so disappointed in myself yesterday. I was not a leader once things were not shaking out right. I was having a pity party. Note to self don’t do that!
Can’t wait to see what the rest of the week holds.
DAY 2: Morning Reflection
Yes! I was a little down and overwhelmed in my spirit. Back hurts. Feet hurt. Didn’t get to where I wanted to be yesterday. But today is a new day!!!! LETS GO!
Today was A NEW DAY! God has a purpose and a plan for everything and for everyone. Today was chaotic but our God’s results are limitless.
We got to the site about 9am and immediately @ Joe Gunter got us power from the generator. The hygienists took off on their run for the day.
Meanwhile @arnold had us screen and place fluoride on all the kids in the school. @lisa Dodson Stevens was helping with the screenings and says” I want to get this calculus off”. We began to take the child’s name and that’s when they both realized that they were connected. Lisa is his sponsor.
Too many God experiences to share. But I saw Rolnase, Berose, Weed and Samuel today. These are all sponsored kids from my family. Y’all if you sponsor a child I know where the money is going and I can see it on this work site and in the nourishment of these kids. God is awesome. Please consider sponsoring if you have not.
I got a very special gift today. See picture below and read the wood carved inscription. Y’all stuff is hard to come by in Haiti and this young man who is like my son though enough of me to have it made for me. I’m BLESSED.
1 unit Dental unit was broken. God sent @Joe Gunter and he opened it and fixed it!!! Not only did he fix it but we found it had been broken prior to us getting the unit. We took pictures and plan to send them to the owner.
Remember I told y’all I had to sit the instruments in Clorox. NOT ANYMORE!!! Arnold found the Dental store and man oh man. He bought me some cold sterile fluid that sterilizes in 90 mins. @whitney Nelson and @ Hilary coleman got donations for buckets. Those buckets will be used to sterilize the other instruments tonight.
@paige Patterson @davia Nickelson and @ Whitney nelson @hilary coleman @sawyer @macy @tamkeo @ Brylliant were all needed and helped us so much.
All in All we learned some things today about running a Dental clinic. However most important on my list is that God knows All and sees all. He knew it all before we got here. I’m just so thankful to be a part of the plan. Yes I am tired but I am humbled once again.
Forgot to add. I bandaged a man breaking up a fight today who was stabbed with scissors. I splinted an arm today of a child who has a water bucket dropped on her. I treated someone with strep throat today. Also looked at a little girl who has cellulitis or the eye. There is also a little boy who has a hernia and needs surgery. Lord help! Please pray for them and me.
Self reflection: you don’t always have to be the only one “doing something” and I don’t have to “do dentistry” to be validated. TEAMS are important. It reminds me of the body of Christ where we are the branches. If Jesus paved the way and in him ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.
Focus on what you HAVE NOT ON WHAT YOU DONT HAVE. I Ordered Long needles and 150 disposable bite blocks. Would you all believe I can’t find either of those things BUT GOD!
Self reflection being a leader is hard. Pray for @ken @ Aaron @ Arnold for leading their ministries. It is not easy. It’s also not easy to have people calling your name. I wanted to actually do dentistry today but it had to be organized and people needed to know what to do and when. I’m so thankful that everyone was humble and open to helping everyone else. We have cleaned teeth , extracted teeth, placed sealants provided fluoride.
We saw 208 kids in the school today y’all!! That’s screening and fluoride. It took me 2 days last time. We saw 18 hygiene patients, 11 dentist patients with multiple things done on each one. Total 29 patients; that’s a full days clinic work in the clinic.
We need to see 14 children for restorative but we will do that on Monday and screen the other 9.
Please pray for our muscles and our health. We have a few people on our team going down. Paige Patterson (flu like symptoms and Laikyn tilley (stomach issues) and Cody ( stomach issues). Whitney and Renee organized the entire dentist side of the clinic. This will make it much easier tomorrow. We are seeing 2 patients per hour per provider totally a God thing y’all!!! Keep Praying!!!!
DAY 3
We were busy! We had appts made but when we arrived there were already 18 walk ins. These were patients that did not have an appt. there was a lot of confusion this morning. Who had an appt? Who walked up? Why aren’t people being seen. Finally I just had to get up and triage all the patients. Then as appts walked up I had to triage them too. I neglected to tell you Paige is still sick so we were down a doctor today. So I became triage and dentist and hygienist today we worked hard. I wasn’t supposed to but I did complete 2 anterior extractions. Dr Nickelson got the rest. We finally had only 4 patients left they needed hygiene.
Part of our team went into the hills to see the community. They were to be back by 1, but ran a little late. By this time I was on the last patient but there was another argument at the door. I already had gone 2 patients over and i wanted to do more. I had someone to say no for me and tell them if i kept going I would not be coming back. Katy was right. I could not push anymore for today. Did the best I could. Was still sad about it though. Thanks Katy!
Isn’t this how it is in America? We always want more. Well I cried all over that patient today because I just could not do “one more patient”. Appts are already made for Tuesday so walk up and wait or I will see you in March?!? I’m sad for the people who need so much but have so little. Not many pictures today. The land is beautiful. I took some pain meds for my back and got a back rub and some icy hot patches. Tomorrow is church. I have NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY TO GO TO CHURCH AND NOT WORK. LOL.
Was running low on antibiotics today. Used every drop of the adult. Had to buy more. No problem. I thanked everyone who has worked today. I will say I did see several Blue tickets today which meant that I saw them in April and they came back to see me in October!. Saw some severe swellings today. So swollen I couldn’t help them and take it out because they probably would not be numb. Gave them antibiotics. I did receive several beautiful pictures and wooden gifts today. I also received a beautiful basket from rolnase. I got 2 wooden etched plaques. I also got a heart felt letter today. One from rolnase and the other from stone. Stones note read I don’t have much and you could probably buy a million of these but this one is for you. I will cherish the wooden charm with a K necklace forever. They are selling Haiti bags again here at the site. If you think you want one 20 dollars.
I’m ready to adopt another child. His birthday is 1/7. Name is Jean Christopher he is in pre-K. I truly love it here. Very fulfilling work but y’all know me. My heart wants to do more but my body won’t do it.
Pray for these people of Haiti. I saw a knee cap completely displaced due to infection today. Happened a year ago. Nothing We can do but he can’t bend his knee. My baby with cellulitis of the eye did not return. I did see a pregnant woman today who was having stomach pains. I pray that she wasn’t in early labor. No baby deliveries for me. Pray for my mind to be better tomorrow. Pray for my body not to hurt. Pray God keeps us healthy. Love y’all!
Self reflection don’t depend on myself ever. I’m never enough. God is always enough.
Saw 36 patients today. Down 1 dentist. 30 min lunch. Wow God! Just WOW!We were only in clinic from 8:30-3:00 with a 30 min lunch.
DAY 4
church. Worship worship worship. The baby with cellulitis returned with parent. Antibotics given and we can already see improvement. Yes God!
DAY 5
The team saw 36 patients today. This is great considering our team is down by 3 people. They left today. Super Sad face. Did multiple lesions on the children. They were brave. Didn’t cry. Only 2 more of them to complete tomorrow. Only 1 parent refused treatment for their child.
This means we still have some lesions in the school but most of them we took care of today. We did the worse ones in everyone’s mouth but we could not finish an entire child’s treatment. If everyone brushes hopefully we won’t need to do as many in March.
I had 4 return tickets come back from April. These were people who needed treatment. I gave them a ticket in April and they kept it until now. That’s perseverance.
The hardest thing about being here is that there is always more work. People continued to come today and ask for treatment even after we closed. They also asked for multiple things to be done. This is with a line out the door and I have said only 1 thing can be done. Lord help me tomorrow.
My other wrist is now hurting. It started this morning. Has gotten worse through today. Back is done too. Adults tomorrow. Lord Jesus come quickly. We also pack up the clinic tomorrow. So I won’t be saying tomorrow I can do it. I will be saying wait until November or March.
Prayer for the day.
God is in this place of La Mer Frappe Haiti. Yesterday was women’s ministry they received the word of God as it pertains to women. We opened up to them about some of our struggles and then allowed them to ask some wonderful questions. We do it again today at 3pm. Please continue to pray.
Love y’all.
Today is our last working day in La Mer Frappe. Please pray for our sustainability and our hearts. Our prayer is to leave them with the HOPE of God. Enjoy some photos of the women receiving their dresses.
Lastly please pray for my wrist. Not the one that needs surgery but the other one. It’s swelling and acting up bad.
DAY 6
Last day of clinic we saw 36 patients. Had to pack everything up and store what needed to be stored. We only had to turn 3 away but left them with a ticket for next time. You can tell the kids are sensing that we are leaving tomorrow. They are giving us gifts and very clingy. Love all the love though. I did get the opportunity to take pictures with some kids that need to be sponsored. Prayerfully they will be. Most of them are in the new pre-k class. The school has about 221 kids in it and this community is growing.
Well that’s a wrap for clinic. Thanks be to God for EVERYTHING he was able to accomplish while we were here. Thanks to all of the dental team. We screened 208 kids with fluoride treatments and we were able to provide actual fillings, cleanings, and extraction services to about 154 people. This also means most kids have had fluoride twice this year.
If there is something I know it’s that our God is great. He was able to provide toothbrushes and toothpaste for everyone we saw and even some that we didn’t see. We were blessed to treat infections and get people out of pain. God allowed us to be a part of a change in a person’s smile. For that we are thankful.
Please take note GOD DOES EVERYTHING. We are the parts of God’s body that are working thru him. I have seen it with my own eyes and for that I am forever thankful.
Please pray for today as we travel to the beach. It’s an hour and half tap tap ride. Please pray for safety and strength. Please continue to pray for muscle fatigue and swelling. Also for our trip to the airport tomorrow.
Love y’all!
Last day blues.
Testimony at church:
Where god guides he will provide looked at the metal art every day from April until October.
Dental space. 4 chairs.
Triage team
Dental team
Dentists hygienists and assistants.
Oral hygiene-prevention is key
Equipment
Chairs
Handpieces
Donations
Dental work- Very rewarding and fufilling. One patient was already beautiful tried to reaffirm it with her while we were doing an esthetic fix to her front tooth. Just be in prayer. Cosmetically fixing something is a lot of pressure. I’m human. I’m not perfect. I’m just a dentist. All glory to God that it all stays and they take care of it.
Our sponsorship. We have 3. Lol! Eugene said I can’t have anymore kids well now I have 6 instead of 3. WIN!
Prayer partners nothing like prayer and someone always having your back. Can yall just come with me to work all the time...Cissy, Alicia, Macy,Katy, whit, hil, too many folks to name AND my tap tap prayer partner Maddie! Oh my! So thankful for everyone.
Quadrupled the work. That's a God thing and he did that!
Kids fluoride twice a year that’s God. 154 people got actual dental work.Not about the work. Not about the numbers. BUT absolutely GOD!
If you are thinking about going. Just go. Sign up. Step out on faith and go. Take one step at a time. If it’s meant you will go. If not you won’t.
God is in control of each and every step. What you think you can control you don’t can’t won’t and never will.
Women’s ministry.
Egeny. Was a blessing from God.
When we went in April I shared my love for the gospel over dentistry with a translator.
Started with Gales return in May. She dropped a seed. Planted it. Wrote a proposal. She shared with me. We knew we needed to minister
2 weeks before departing Madison says I want to do something for the women. I said awesome. Let’s do it after the dental clinic.
Ministered to their hearts. Need were supplied menstral cups. Collapsible water bottles. Essential oils. Clothes women’s and childrens. And most important creole bibles. Physically and Spiritually. God did that.
These items were donated.
Best part of my trip. Being able to share the gospel with these women and have Ava who knows the Bible like the back of her hand.
Questions were hard. The first day was like BOOM! We only had 3 hours with these women and it was phenomenal. We opened our hearts poured into them. They poured back into us.
Amazing!!! Even from the needs of the women it the gospel matched the family discipleship that pastor Ken was doing. I can’t wait to see what God will do next.
Talked more about my spiritual relationship with God and my marriage in Haiti than here in America. Can’t wait to watch God Work and do it again.
