This is a Haitian Creole Proverb. Haiti is run by proverbs of the old and wise…

Well, these are some of our Love A Child kids… I can see Yonel, Daniel, Fritzner, Raphael, Davidson, and a few more. They are on the “cleaning committee” for the Love A Child School. Their job is to clean all the walls, the floors, scrub everything down, and then paint! We are proud of our teenage boys and the older ones. They will work at any time and do a great job!

Education in Haiti is a priceless gift… Many cannot afford to send their children to school, because in most schools you have to pay. That is why we have the Love A Child School, we want to be a blessing to the poor.

We want to thank all our older boys who worked so hard cleaning and painting! Sometimes, I think our younger generation that is growing up in the States do not know the meaning of “work,” or the meaning of “to serve.” I wish we could bring them all to Haiti for a month!!!

Thank you, partners, for all your love and support.

Sherry

PS: Oh yes, the “cleaning committee…” that’s me!

Bobby and I and our Haitian team are ready to go anywhere, anytime, whether it be food distribution, building earthquake housing in South Haiti, a Mobile Clinic, or anywhere else in Haiti where there is a need. But, the problems of travel in Haiti are unbelievably difficult. It is “killing us.” We can no longer get to the garbage dump, where hundreds of men, women, and children are digging through the garbage every day to find a piece of moldy bread. We cannot get to the “mud cookie” village, where we built a church, to give food and hold crusades. We cannot even get to the Port au Prince airport from Fond Parisien, which usually takes an hour. Much too dangerous because of the gangs.

For the last couple of years, we have had to drive across the border to the Dominican Republic to catch a plane if we have to go back to the States for a few days. When we take Jasson (Jackson) for check-ups, it takes about five or six hours, and then they have to spend the night in order to get him to the doctor the next morning.

Another problem we are having is “diesel fuel”… In the States, you get your electricity from the Electric Company. Not us. We have to use big diesel generators that cost a lot of money to maintain and a lot of fuel. And, speaking of fuel, can you imagine how hard it is to get a large fuel truck through “gang territory?” The one fuel truck company we usually use has had its men and fuel truck kidnapped. The owner does not want to come back to Fond Parisien again… The people who have the Tiano Fish Company down the road from us had one of their drivers kidnapped, took the truck, and kept the driver. He was just released a day ago.

We could not begin to tell you the day-to-day problems we face. We are thinking…

“Maybe we are putting God in a box when He is greater than our needs?”
“Maybe we are limiting God, to just trusting Him, to keep us safe from the gangs?’

We are going to “stretch our faith out” and believe in God for two things for our work in Haiti… (1) Solar for all our buildings at Love A Child and (2) A helicopter to get us back and forth from the Haiti Airport safely, or to us to the DR, or South Haiti, where we are working among other areas… Bobby and I have been thinking, “Maybe we have been praying for ‘just enough to get us by’ each day,” when the stress of the gangs has put wear and tear on us all. If we had complete solar for Love A Child, we would not need to hire fuel trucks to come out. And if we had a helicopter, we would only use it when it was necessary, to get someone to a hospital, or for us to get to and from the airport, or to the Dominican Republic for Jackson and other children.

These are two things we are praying about because with God, “all things are possible!” Thank you for your prayers and support in the past. Let’s believe in God for these two things because “nothing is too hard for God!”

Sherry

Julia, one of our Love A Child children, died last night while giving birth at a hospital near Croix des Bouquet. (She had to have a C Section.)

Julia was one of the first “eight children” that we started our orphanage with. Her siblings are Franceau, who is studying for Ministry; Yolanda, who teaches at our school; and Florence, who is in college in Italy. We took these four children in when their mother died. We sent Julia to college to become a “Lab Tech.”

She worked at our Jesus Healing Center and was a very good one. Everyone loved her!! She was gentle, kind, and sweet with her patients. But, she really loved our Birthing Center, so we let her work there. She has a wonderful husband, but her dream was to have a baby.

She had tried to get pregnant several times before, but she had complications with her uterus. This time, she was on bed rest for months. When she went to a hospital (far from us) to have her baby, the baby lived, but her uterus was damaged, and she lost too much blood. She passed away last evening. We miss her dearly, but she loved Jesus so much that she is already in His arms. Her sister, Yolanda, has taken her baby to raise.

Our hearts are broken along with the hearts of her loved ones and everyone at our Jesus Healing Center and Birthing Center.

We ask your prayers for love and comfort to surround her family and friends.

“We love you and miss you, Julia.
Love,
Mom and Dad”

227 prisoners received a hot meal today!

As a result of the gangs blocking the roads to the south from Port-au-Prince, food deliveries to the prisons in the south of Haiti have been cut off. The Love A Child team in Anse-à-Veau heard of the need and responded by getting up at 3:00 a.m. to feed 227 very hungry prisoners a Sunday meal.

Thank you, Hubert, and the Love A Child team in South Haiti where we are building the Gabion houses. Love is something you do!

Missionary Bobby Burnette

Of all the things we do in Haiti, we feel that “feeding hungry children,” is our most important job. Unless you have lived here for many years, as we have, and seen the tears of the mothers and heard their stories of how hard it is every day, to feed their children, we cannot possibly underestimate the value of feeding the hungry. We have other outreaches: churches, schools, a Medical Clinic, Birthing Center, Malnutrition Center, etc., but when it comes to children, they are innocent victims of hunger and starvation.

Each bowl of food brings the “light of Christ,” into a village. It is hard to tell a hungry family that “God is good.” As one of our good missionary friends said, “You cannot eat a Bible.” First, you must wrap your arms of love around them, help them in times of crisis, and feed them when they are hungry. I have heard the people of Haiti call food, “Little Jesus.”

When a child has not eaten a full meal for days or weeks, that food you send to them speaks louder than anything. Most of all, it gives them “hope.” Today, we just wanted to say “thank you, partners,” for every bowl of food that you have provided for Haiti’s poor, especially at this critical time of need.

God bless you, Bobby and Sherry