Latest News Archive
“But when thou makes a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:13-14
Our greatest blessings come on us when we give to those who cannot give back.
Sherry
We had been so excited about returning to Haiti after our family Thanksgiving vacation. We promised all our kids in our Love A Child Children’s Home that when we came back that “Christmas presents” would be coming with us! (Smile.) We had never seen the boys, especially, on such good behavior! They picked up trash and did their chores, and they even “brushed their teeth three times a day!” We got everything packed into “very large” black suitcases, with presents, already to go!
We put all our suitcases, packed with Christmas presents, in our truck. We were going to drive to Belleview, Florida, because we have a speaking engagement at Townley Engineering there at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. They have been partners for many years. Then, from there, we were going to head for the airport in Orlando, Florida, to fly into Haiti.
But, before we left, we had an appointment at the doctor’s office for a COVID-19 test. (Anyone traveling to international areas must have a “negative COVID-19 test.”) On international flights flying from America, you must have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of departure. So, before we left for Ocala, we swung by the doctor’s office for the test. My test came back negative, but Sherry’s test came back “positive for COVID-19.” We were in shock because we both had our two “vaccine shots,” plus the booster shot. The doctor quarantined Sherry for 10 days, including myself, because I’ve been with her. We were so disappointed and let down.
Sherry is doing fine and not showing any type of sickness. Of course, we are crushed about not going to Haiti. The workers are waiting on us. The children are waiting on us. And Sherry’s dog, “Sampson,” a large Rottweiler, has been in depression since we left. If the Lord wants us to be “still” and “wait on Him,” this is what we will do. The Lord has His plan, and we are walking in his peace.
Sherry is glad that she had to take the test. She would have felt really bad if she passed this on to someone else without knowing about it. So, we are “waiting on His orders,” and will be going home to Haiti soon.
Bobby
Hannah, also known as Anna, is quite a young lady. Anna turned 17 in September. She is now in the 10th grade. She loves to sing and has a beautiful voice. The beautiful thing about her is that she loves to help people. She is always “looking for work” and wanting to help some of the workers here at Love A Child. She wants to help people “who have nothing” and that is why she wants to be a doctor.
Anna, like all the other girls, loves to cook! You can usually find her in the kitchen making something “yummy!” All Haitian girls learn to cook at an early age. Anna is “quiet” and studies by herself a lot. I have no doubt that she will always be as sweet as she is now. Everyone loves her!
Sherry
Kensly Vil, a little baby about a year old, is from the village of Bwaleje. He is with his mother, Rosemitha Sama. His father is Jeral Vil. Madamn Rosemitha used to do some small things to make money, like selling oil in small cans and selling small cans of rice (ti marmot cans). Because her husband is not always here with her, she has been taking money from her “trade money,” that she pays back, and she has been using it to buy food for Kensly.
This has ruined her trade. Every day, Madamn Rosemitha has tears in her eyes because she sees nothing she can feed her child. They both sleep hungry every night. When she wakes up, she has to fix a “salty drink of water and salt.” So, they can both drink a lot of this “saltwater,” to get them through the day.
All of this has caused Kensly to become malnourished. They live in a single-room home built with blocks, but, unfortunately, the house is not theirs. Now, Madamn Rosemitha has noticed that Kensly has had diarrhea for several days. What little bit of hair he has left, has lost its color. His upper limbs are dry, and his lower limbs are swollen and shiny, a description of Kwashiorkor Malnutrition.
She had remembered that once when Kensly was sick, she had taken him to the Love A Child Clinic and was never charged a penny. So, she took him to our Malnutrition Clinic. At the clinic, the pediatrician told her that Kensly has “Acute Malnutrition” and weighs 7.5 kilos, has chronic diarrhea, and has begun to have retardation, and could not walk nor talk. Although she was sad, she was happy because now, her child would get good care.
For her, Kensly is in God’s hands, right here at the Malnutrition Center and she is thankful he is alive. He will be placed on special formula and we will see how we can help Madamn Rosemitha, to “help herself.”
Sherry
P.S. We wish to thank all our wonderful partners for making this Malnutrition Clinic a lifesaving place for babies and small children. You are saving lives!
Peyi Pouri, Haiti, is a huge area in the mountains and not far in distance from Love A Child. But, because of the dangerous mountains, it can take hours to get there, when the roads are good.
Inside Peyi Pouri are many smaller villages. The families here are poor, very poor. The majority of the children don’t go to school and never will go to school. Most of them have no shoes, no clean clothes, or any clothes to wear to church.
These little boys have never had a soccer ball to play with, and the little girls have never had hair ribbons in their hair or a doll to play with.
They are precious children… The roads in this area have washed away, making it impossible for our trucks to get up there. We sent money to Pastor Souffrance to buy coffee and bread for the “road crew” in the morning and lots of Feed My Starving Children food for lunch!
Many children help work on the rough mountain roads. These are just some of them. We hope that they can finish the road before Christmas so that we can take food, and toys, and dolls, etc. to these precious children.
Thank you, partners, for your love, and for all the times you have sacrificed to help the poor.
“Great is your reward in Heaven!”
Sherry
The “other side” of the door…
How many times have all prayed and asked the Lord for “an open door?” Bobby and I used to pray many years ago for “a great open door.” Well, we got it. God called us to Haiti, but we never knew what we were in for.
The Apostle Paul said, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many adversaries.” I Corinthians 16:9
You would have thought that “if God opened a door for you, you could walk right through it into “glory land!” You wouldn’t have any enemies, because “God opened the door.”
Not so. When a great door opens, Satan is standing on the other side. So, you prayed you would get that job, but, one of those guys you are working with causes you many problems!!! That’s the way it goes. I can promise you that “if we could have seen the adversaries in Haiti before time, we would have given it a little more thought… But, as always, we all want to obey the Lord, and have that door opened!!
Now, we are living in Haiti, with great doors to feed hundreds of children each day, build houses for the earthquake victims, bring the sick into our clinic, take care of them, raise 85 children and put 20 through college right now, etc., but, there are always adversaries. It doesn’t mean you “opened the wrong door,” but it means that Satan will always be there to try to stop everything you need to do. Do not be discouraged!!! The Lord is right beside you, and He will fight the battles on the other side of the door!!! We just take “one step at a time!!” Just stay “in the footsteps!” “He” is on your side.
Sherry
In Haiti, when a mother dies from a poor family, the child is automatically considered an orphan because the father cannot care for the child. His reason, if he is poor, is to work in the garden, or carry things for someone else to make money, or to sell something. Since his family was poor, his father brought him to our orphanage and we said we would help. Jean Gardy has been a rare kid. He never got into trouble (that I know about, Ha!), he always did his work, and was always very respectful.
He is small for his age, so one day, when I saw him driving our big flatbed, I stopped and yelled at him… “Jean Gardy, what are you doing in that flatbed? And who told you, that you could drive?” He politely answered, “Mom, I’ve had my driver’s license for two years!”
He is going to the university to study economics and accounting, and he is “very good at math and very good with money.” He and three of his brothers saved their money, put it together, and started a little restaurant on our property to sell cokes, snacks, “pates” (a Haitian food), spaghetti, etc. He has everything on his computer, but he calculates everything in his head!! He never misses a penny. We love Jean Gardy. He will have a successful life!!!
Sherry
Note: I don’t know where he got that shirt!!! Ha!
What to do with our enemies?
Here is a very difficult scripture, yet we must obey the word of God. His love within us will help us do what the Lord is telling us to do.
“But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Matthew 5th chapter, 44th verse.
Sherry and I every morning, rise up early to pray. Every morning we ask God to bless our enemies. We tell God we forgive our enemies who hate us, despitefully use us, and tell lies on us, work evil against us, even work voodoo against us. There is power in the blood of Jesus!! When we bless our enemies, the Lord will bless us!!! When we forgive them, the Lord will forgive us… The Lord works in strange ways.
Missionary Bobby Burnette
George… His real name is “Georges,” named after Hurricane Georges, which struck Haiti in 1998. George’s mother had a large family and couldn’t care for another child… but she was pregnant. She had told some ladies who worked in a large pharmacy that she was going to abandon the baby at the General Hospital and walk out and leave him there.
When I heard this, the ladies at the pharmacy were begging me to take him when the mother would give birth. But, his mother never made it to the hospital due to the hurricane. George was born during “Hurricane Georges.” We brought him to our orphanage about a year later, his mother got pregnant again, with Stephanie, George’s sister. We took her in and after a little while, their mother died. George has always been small for his age, but when our backs were turned, he was up on the front end loader and backhoe, when he was about 12!
We sent him to the Caterpillar Training School so that he could get his official certificate. George has been working for Love A Child for years now. He is a young man with a future ahead. He has a fiancé and is trying to build his house little by little, so that he can get married! He already has a nice piece of land on which to build his house.
George is always laughing, always smiling, and always so sweet! He loves his dad (Bobby), so much!! We are blessed to have such good kids at Love A Child, Sherry
Two of the 17 missionaries have been released. I have been told that the two that were released were very ill and had to be released. The 400 Mawazo gang (Papaya Gang) still have the 15 missionaries. We cannot begin to imagine what those poor missionaries are going through, including their children… must be a living nightmare. They have all been separated from each other. Please keep these missionaries in your prayers. Now it has been weeks. I’m so concerned for them.
Sherry and I were supposed to fly direct from the Grand Canyon, after being with our children for Thanksgiving, back to Haiti. We were advised to wait just a little bit. We received a phone call three days ago from our Haitian director saying “wait again.” We have changed our ticket again to fly into Haiti very soon, (can’t say the date for security reasons). Now we are being told not to fly into Port-au-Prince, Haiti… it’s too dangerous, but change our ticket and fly into Santo Domingo. Then drive from Santo Domingo to Fond Parisien, Haiti. We are praying for wisdom…. we want to fly directly into Port-au-Prince.
Our road through Croix Des Bouquet, then through Ganthier, then into Fond Parisien is very dangerous with the 400 Mawazo gang… now there is a new gang from Ganthier up in our area of Fond Parisien. The new gang, called “Five Star,” is shooting and robbing people on the road. You see there is only one road in and out.
A bit of good news… Mr. Nixon e-mailed us yesterday saying two of our people went into a village to pick up a malnutrition baby and ran into the 400 Mawzao gang. They knew our guys worked for Love A Child. They told our two men we will not touch or hurt anyone from Love A Child. We love, Love A Child! Thank the Lord for that… We just hope they keep their word.
We are praying they will come to know Jesus. Claiming Haiti for Christ!
Missionary Bobby Burnette
