When we are open to seeing how God makes connections and uses our experiences, we allow ourselves to be blessed, and even delighted. This week’s delight came on Tuesday when the Haitian children in our feeding and literacy program opened the gifts they had received from children in the US. Eager faces burst with delight as each child, clutching a photo of a North Carolina pen pal, opened a package with his or her name on it. Inside was an outfit of clothing selected for that child along with a Spanish language beginner level reading book. Yokasta just couldn’t wait and had to put the lime green dress on right over her school uniform!

Because Mission Emanuel has so many generous supporters in the US this scenario hardly seems worth mentioning, except that in this case the donors are Latino families who have immigrated to Winston-Salem NC and are members of the El Buen Pastor mission church there. These are families who have been hit hard by the economic downturn in the US, families who struggle to feed their children and send money back home to parents in Mexico, El Salvador, or Puerto Rico. These are families who understand what it is to be in a strange land in desperate circumstances, and they are families who understand God’s economy. Immediately after the Haitian earthquake these folks began asking their pastor how they could help, and they responded with enthusiasm to Anna’s request for pen pals and clothing for the Haitian immigrants in Bayona. Their generosity was only limited by the airline’s weight limit, as the mamis packed two suitcases full for Anna’s parents, Jon and Mary Bolton, to bring us. Mary is the Director of El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services, and Anna is well-known by the families there – the result of many hours of tutoring, teaching Sunday school, and hanging out there during her time in Winston-Salem.

As Mary and Jon return to North Carolina with cards of thanks and photos of the children here receiving their gifts, we are left with our hearts warmed by the generous out-pouring from one immigrant group to another, knowing that the givers shared not only from their limited material resources, but also from their wealth of hope…the hope that their children will have a positive and secure future. Isn’t God’s economy beautiful?

2 Corinthians 9:10-15: Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Almost a month has gone by, and God has continued working and we know that he will continue to with the knowledge that we have that his faithfulness is forever.

Two weeks ago, when we went to the feeding program at the Haitian church, we saw a young Haitian man sitting at the entrance hall with crutches behind his chair as if he was waiting for something. In greeting him, we saw that his face wasn’t a happy one – he had an expression that reflected a trace of sadness. It was evident that he did not speak Spanish or English, so we continued on to set up for the feeding program. The following day, we got there at the same time and the same man was in the same chair, in the same spot, with the same expression. As we were leaving, one of the church leaders aside and explained to us this man’s situation — after the earthquake, he had been brought in an ambulance from Port-au-Prince to a Santo Domingo hospital. This week he had been discharged. We talked to him for a moment as one of the church members translated from Creole to Spanish.

The thing is, to be finally discharged from the hospital should be great news for someone who has been there for almost a month. But the situation that this man found himself in was not an easy one. All he had were a couple bags and a prosthetic attached to his left leg. This was interesting … we noticed that he had a prosthetic and only 3 or 4 weeks had gone by since the earthquake. We didn’t say anything, but we know that it takes much longer for a wound to heal before it is ready for a prosthetic. We responded that we needed to talk with our directors to see how we were able to help him …. it was then that he told us all he wanted was to return to his country. We thank God that the church had taken this man in. But his only concern was returning to his home.

That night Anna told some of our staff about this young man, and they questioned the validity of the story when they heard about the prosthetic, because so little time had passed since the earthquake.
If we stop and think, we know that in all of our lives, there have been moments when it has been difficult to trust a person, and the hard part is to help someone when we are not sure if the person in really needs help or is taking advantage of us, but ….. what does God ask of us? I can only think of Micah 6:8. “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” What is most powerful to me is “love mercy”– it’s something that we often forget. But it’s never too late to start over again and to humble ourselves in God’s presence.

We decided to take him to a bus station that travels to Haiti and buy his ticket for him. The day after the meeting, we returned to talk with the man and began to call different bus companies to confirm the fee and schedule. We were very worried when we were told that to travel he needed a passport because we know that many Haitians are here illegally and enter the Dominican Republic without proper documents. When we returned to speak with him, we told him that we wanted to help but he would need a passport. His saddened face changed like a darkened room when the light is switched on.

It is impossible to explain in words the expression on his face — imagine a shining face reflecting happiness, joy and hope of returning home … a mix of all these emotions in one single expression. He quickly looked in the plastic shopping bag that he had and he took something out as he came closer to us speaking rapidly in Creole as if we could understand what he was trying to tell us. When he realized that we didn’t understand he quickly began to mix Creole, Spanish and English saying: “Oui!! I HAVE PASAPORTE!”

At 8:00 the following morning, Emmanuel met up with the young man in front of the Haitian church. In his hands he held a small suitcase that some Hatian church members had bought to replace the shopping bag. We left for the bus station, and I must say that I was still restless to know about the prosthetic, so with the small amount of Spanish that he knew, he began to tell me about his experience in the earthquake. This was my great surprise — he had lost his leg in a motorcycle accident over a year ago — he already had the prosthetic when the earthquake hit. He told me that he was at his house with some friends, and just a minute after telling them goodbye, as he was leaving the house, part of a wall fell on his right leg, making it impossible for him to walk or even support his own weight with the prosthetic. Because of this, he was brought to the emergency room in Santo Domingo, where they wanted to amputate his good leg. Thanks be to God and His care, that the doctors decided it was not necessary and that he would stay in the facility while his injured leg healed.

Finally, we arrived to the bus station and it was great to see his behavior in the waiting room. He sat down as if he was at home – of course there were many other Haitians there who were also returning to their country, and since the Port-au-Prince airport is still not running at full capacity, the only way to arrive to Haiti is on land. There were Haitians who had come from different parts of the USA and different Dominican cities – all of them talking about what had happened in their country and our friend did not lose time in joining in the conversation. I left with peacefulness in my heart and excited about the hope that this man never lost.

Matthew 25:31-40
31″When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

There is always someone who we can help, there is always something that we can do, there is always a way that we can serve.

Another week has gone by and it is amazing to listen to the prayers of these kids. Every day before they eat lunch they have a moment of prayer, one of them prays and the others repeat out loud. There are three things these kids always ask God for:

1. God, help us to learn how to read
2. God, help us to learn how to write
3. God, bless these people and this lunch

This is something they normally do, pray before classes start. We will always remember the first prayer that we heard. Samy, a little boy around 7 or 8 years old stood up to pray and this was his prayer: “Lord Jesus, thank you because you allow us to be here. God, bless these people who have brought this food. God, help us to learn how to read. God, help us to learn how to write. Lord give us wisdom. In the sweet name of Jesus… Amen!

Now we think to ourselves… What were we asking for when we were that age?? For a new bicycle? Or probably for a new toy that we really wanted?? This kid is asking for WISDOM! Even at this age… What do we ask God for as adults, as young people, as teenagers? I know that God has a plan with these kids and God does wonderful things with those who seek him. The Bible says in James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” And it also says in James 3:17, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” Our God who is in heaven will give generously if we believe and do not doubt.

-written by Emmanuel Corsino

Within minutes, I made sure all of our staff in Santo Domingo was OK. Their response. . . “What earthquake?” Within hours, thousands of dollars was being sent in for us to launch a full frontal attack from a perfectly situated position in neighboring Santo Domingo at our Cielo campus.
Within 3 days, the first shipment of 5,000 bottles of water was delivered by ministry partner, Youth with a Mission, directed by Kent Norrell. On Day Four we sent a convoy of trucks with food, water, and medicine to Port au Prince. This trip was led by Javier de la Cruz and Mission Emanuel veteran David Rankin, Medical Center director Anna Bianco, Pastor Jean from our Haitian church, and others.

Two days later, we established a new ministry division led by me and Emmanuel Corsino called the “Haitian Care Team”. We went to the border town of Jimani to establish partnership with the Good Samaritan Hospital where we would have a field base of operation to send more water, food, medicine, and teams from Orlando and Winston-Salem. My heart was breaking as 375 trauma cases arrived by helicopter. Some sights I will never forget.

Kent and I established a coalition of Christian relief organizations that would work in concert to ensure a seamless network of goods procurement, delivery and distribution to the neediest areas. Groups participating were Youth with a Mission, Mission Emanuel, Baptist World Relief, World Servants, Interaction and Adventures in Missions. Mission Discovery and Operation Mobilization were added later. We (Mission Emanuel) established a resource center in Cielo where we would produce and provide water from Divinely Inspired Water purification plant. Little did we know when we built the plant to help our local communities of Cielo and Nazaret, that we would become the major supplier of pure water for groups going into Haiti from the DR (now 50,000 and growing).

The first team from Orlando, led by Brett Kreider and Randy Rex, came on Sunday and arrived in Jimani on Monday. They served over 3,000 meals in 3 days. They also carried stretchers, visited and prayed with patients, and helped in numerous other ways.

As I write this, our second team has arrived, led by Steve Rowell, along with a group from First Presbyterian, Winston-Salem, facilitated by Mary Childers who sent her husband, Forrest, and son, John. They assisted the seemingly hopeless Haitians with food, drink, love and prayer.

In the midst of all this was our annual Women’s Trip. It was an incredible week with 15 women
from North Carolina and a group of 40 Dominicans and Haitians from Cielo and Nazaret. For the
first time, the group invited Haitian women to be a part of the classes. It was powerful seeing the 3 cultures working together and getting to know each other, sharing their stories and praising God. Thanks to the ladies who blessed the women in our communities!

At home, we are gearing up to install a new prosthetics lab to address and help the thousands of Haitian children who lost hands, feet and arms in the earthquake.

We are also starting a feeding program for the Haitian families who are arriving in our community to join the 2,000 illegal Haitian refugees already here. We will work through and with Pastor Jean, and with his leadership, find ways to help the homeless in our area.

Our newest God-sighting was the addition of Anna Bolton to my Haitian Care Team as Community Coordinator. Anna is a veteran of Mission Emanuel summer staff, fluent in Spanish, and happened to be in the DR looking for a job. All coincidence. . . ! . . . ? She also has a big heart, great passion for serving God and His children, and lights up any room she enters. What a literal God-send!

Thanks for all your prayers and financial help during this crisis. Please continue to pray and give as you are able as we respond in the Name of Christ.

For more pictures and updates, go to our Haiti Relief page.

With great thanks,

Jack Larson
Director, Mission Emanuel

Dr. Mark and Heather Johnson made great use of our new, beautifully equipped 2 room dental office. Mark and Heather were familiar with the equipment as all of it had come from their office in King, North Carolina. The need for dental care is great in this poor community. People literally die from abscessed teeth. A young girl named Kersy came to see Dr. Mark. She had to have ALL 25 of her teeth removed. Eight teeth were abscessed and the rest couldn’t be saved. She was brave throughout the whole terrifying ordeal, but her sister cried enough for both of them. Later at lunch, our team was challenged to pay for Kersy’s new dental plates. As always, the generosity of the Americans met the need.

One very special memory was after our prayer of dedication of the dental center by Dr. Mark and our DR dentist, Jose Manuel. The 40+ Dominicans and Americans that had crowded into the facility closed our dedication by singing “How Great Thou Art” at the top of their lungs in both languages. What a wonderful memory to carry with me always.
George Wetherill, age 82, was a vital part of our fall teams for 3 years. Last year, after the project, George remarked to Pastor Lee Zehmer that he would be coming back till he died. Last June, George transferred his residence to Heaven. He was a memorable character. He always had a story, a joke, a big smile, an encouraging word, or all of the above. He was deeply loved by all his Dominican and American friends. George never tired of telling everyone he met about the DR and Mission Emanuel. His last wish was to have some of his ashes placed on our hilltop in Cielo, the scene of many fond memories for him near Club Bamboo. His daughter, Megan, came down for the special memorial service led by Pastor Lee. Many, including me, gave fond tribute to this great loving man.

In the audience were many Dominican friends including Juan and Raphael whose families now live in the homes that George helped to build. His memory will not soon be forgotten!

The other highlight was to see Anna Harper’s dream come true. Her vision has been to see a large state-of-the-art physical therapy center built in the new Mission Emanuel Children’s Medical Center. Finally, her faithful planning, work, and collecting all the equipment came to be a reality. Anna was relentless in making this happen by involving almost everyone she knew to give money or buy all the necessary parts and pieces needed to complete the therapy center. It is probably the best equipped and certainly the most beautiful center in the Dominican Republic. Anna brought Deanna, another pediatric therapist, and they treated all of our 19 special needs children, and trained Aquilino, our staff therapist, to continue with their treatment. Anna also brought Lindsey, an artist, who painted a mural and decorated the center.

The quote, “Build it and they will come” is a reality here. A man from San Matas de Forfan, a 3 ½ hour drive, came to us to see if we had a walker for his 6-year old son who was now learning how to walk. This man had just heard of a young girl that we had helped the same way just 2 days before!

Our medical center still needs a lot of furnishings. If you would consider this and our continuous needs for medicine, prayerfully as we reach out in this poor area of this equally poor country, to extend the Good News of Christ along with mercy and love to “the least and the lost.”

God bless you as you extend your gratefulness to God during this Thanksgiving season and say a special prayer as we continue partnering with you in this ministry that is touching so many lives.

With great thanks,

Jack Larson
Director, Mission Emanuel

I remember when Juliana had her terrible accident. Everybody in the community, the church, the staff, and even the hotel where I stay asked often how I was and how Juliana was doing. Literally hundreds of people reminded me (and still remind me) that they’re praying for her and want the latest report. You have no idea how this touched me to my soul. What a gift! But it has been a reciprocal gift that we’ve given each other. I’ve been there through births and deaths, marriages and helping single moms cope with a deserting husband and no money. I’ve been there for infant dedications, baptisms, and praying with people as they enter the Kingdom spiritually and sometimes physically. We’ve built over 40 houses for them and a house of worship to grow in Christ. We provide pure water physically and spiritually. I love this ministry that God has called us to. What a privilege!

Now, two of our closest, long-term families are facing huge challenges that I feel God wants to respond to. For years we have had a special fund called The John 3:16 Fund that one of our supporters set up. It is for emergency food or drugs up to $100. Over that amount, we have had to request the larger amount of money from others. This is often a difficult and time-consuming task.

Because of these two great needs, I have set up a separate fund for larger, special medical needs called the “Healing from Heaven” Fund or in Spanish, “Sanidad Del Cielo.” We hope you would prayerfully consider helping us minister to these two special families.

Most of our short-term missionaries have contact with one or both of families.

First is Tony and Rosa and their family of five children. We built their home nine years ago. Their children go to our school and Rosa is part of our Women’s Co-op. The family is part of our Cielo Church. Tony works hard at his job as a motorcycle taxi service, but does not earn enough to feed his family. Rosa has Stage 3 breast cancer and now requires chemo and radiation and is facing a probable double mastectomy. I was part of a group recently that sat with her, talked with her, and laid hands on her praying for her healing.

Tears flowed as her biggest concern was her family. “Who will take care of them?” she wonders. She is the family glue that holds everything together and it is a huge challenge.

Second is Braulio and Reyna and their family of four children. Braulio has served on our staff and is a close friend to all our staff and many, many more friends from
the US. He has had a brain aneurysm and has occasional seizures. Because of this, he can’t work and his medicine (which we provide) is expensive. Food is scarce, even with Reyna trying to work part-time. Their youngest daughter, Brenda (8 years old) has some major heart problems and faces surgery in a few weeks. Some of our staff are giving blood but more is needed. The cost of the surgery is significant by DR standards – at least several thousand dollars. (Brenda is the little girl with the beautiful smile wearing red & black.)

I believe God has called us to step up and stand with these two families. First, please pray for them, by name, especially Brenda and Rosa as they both face major surgery. Second, please consider a special gift to help us help them with these huge medical bills. I know this is a tough time for a lot of people, as it is for us at Mission Emanuel. But God always provides! We have promised to stand with these families.

WILL YOU STAND WITH US?

All participants need to complete the Participation and Medical Release Form.

Also, our Participant Guidebook is full of helpful information.

June and the first part of July was when over 300 short-term missionaries came and participated in the Christ centered, relationship driven ministry. Yes, we built 5 houses and worked on numerous other projects, did VBS and a Fun-Fair. But the best part is when God orchestrates something that blesses so many people at the same time.

Carol Hafer, Mission Director for First Presbyterian Church-Orlando, was down with the Orlando family trip (that will have a whole letter of its own next month). I was showing her our new Medical Center which her church was the primary funder. As we walked into the exam room, Dr. Maria looked perplexed. In front of her were a young girl and mom, both near tears.

Dr. Maria related that Dileny just came from having her hearing tested and was almost completely deaf in both ears. She gave us the test and a letter from the audiologist’s prescription for hearing aids, which would cost her over $2,000 US dollars (a sum which they wouldn’t earn in a year). In other words, barring a miracle, this little girl would never hear. Carol, Dr. Maria, and I had no present resources or ideas of how to meet the desperate need, so we laid hands on them both and turned it over to Christ. But frankly, I wasn’t filled with excitement and anticipation of turning the impossible over to a God who would pull off this miracle. I knew He could, but I just didn’t know that He would. With heavy hearts we sent them away but asked that they check back with us, which she did. Day after day I had to report to Fidelina that so far the answer was “not yet”. Discouraging!

Two weeks went by with Fidelina and Dileny’s walking the almost 2 mile trek each way and getting the same report. During the last trip, the group from Faith Community Church, Janesville, Wisconsin, came and brought suitcases of medical supplies to help meet the prescription need in our clinic. Dr. Maria was unpacking and arranging all of the supplies, when she found a small box. She opened the box and shrieked “Glori a Dios” (Praise God)…a near new set of premium hearing aids with the name brand, and I’m not making this up: “Miracle Ear”.

Sheila Edwardson from the church group related to me that weeks before Dileny had ever come to our attention, the mother of a friend of hers had recently passed away. She had paid $7,000 for her Miracle Ears and had used them briefly before she passed. So they were as good as new. Her friend asked “do you think anybody could use these down there?” Sheila responded, “I don’t know but I could at least throw them in with the rest of the stuff and who knows? God did! That’s who. Who else could have orchestrated this?

The next day, Fidlina and Dileny came and sat in front of 60 gringos and received the “Miracle Ears”. As you can imagine, not a dry eye among us. I related to them, as I do to all our “Miracle Home Recipients” Miracle School scholarships, etc., that this is not some gift from the Americans, but a direct response to their prayers and was delivered as an expression of His love and to instill the hope that Jesus is alive and involves we fortunate Americans to be instruments of delivering this hope.

What a privilege to be used by God in such a miraculous way. To come and build, bring meds, provide scholarships and touch the lives of our Dominican Republic brothers and sisters, what could be better that that???? Thanks for all you do to partner with us to bring God hope through expressions of His and our love.

PS. Here is the e-mail I received from Sheila…

“…I want to personally thank you for all you are doing in the DR. Not only are you changing hearts and lives in DR, but also the lives of all who come down there to serve. What an awesome trip we had. We had so many God sightings this trip. Nobody wanted to leave. God certainly took me from my comfort zone this trip and I am so thankful for that. Thanks Jack for the amazing story of the “miracle ear” hearing aids. I feel so blessed to have met with Dileny and Fedelina. They will continue to be in my prayers. I look forward to serving at Mission Emanuel again.”

Everyone was very grateful and had beautiful smiles on their faces — we heard a countless number of “Mesi,” “Gracias,” and “Thank you.” This is just a temporary assistance …. these families will have food for the next few days, but we can’t help but ask, what happens when that runs out? These people, just like people who are still in Haiti, continue to need support and assistance as they are trying to meet their basic needs and those of their families.