Day 1:  First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cap-Haitian, Rev. Eliona Bernard

Sunday, January 7, 2018

We worshipped with Rev. Eliona Bernard at First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cap-Haitian today.   The 100% team members tell me they’ve had the privilege of seeing this congregation and sanctuary grow over the years.  The worship used a sound system and microphones, a keyboard, a small group of lead singers and a powerpoint display to facilitate the service.  When the power went out, the congregation continued without hesitation, singing the hymn, waiting for power to be restored.  The service was in French, with some worship songs in Creole, but we readily understood when it was time for the Apostle’s Creed, communion and the Lord’s Prayer.  The sermon for the Epiphany Sunday, was on the Magi coming to Bethlehem to worship Baby Jesus.  And the take away point is that we all have gifts that we need to use to serve God. 

Immediately after the service, we began our set up for Monday’s clinic.  Pastor Bernard generously gave full use of his facility and continued to allow us use of the sanctuary for patient triage.  Under the direction of our “SVP of Operations, also known as Head Honcho,” Margaret Moran plus the leadership, booming voice and strength of Ken Flees, the team readily began the clinic set up.   The “human chain” of volunteers emptied the storage container on the property of all the items was had stored since the 2017 mission trip.  Once the tables, chairs, generator, pop up shade structures and supplies were moved from the pod, we used the same approach emptying the truck.  Margaret has been with the team all seven years.  She and Nancy Perry met many years before, serving in the Dominican Republic.  When the Good Shepherd team formed the first trip, Margaret, an EMT, welcomed the chance to join Nancy in serving Haiti, after the devastating 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010.

We met the translators and security personnel.  Ben Berkel and Victoria Zubiri provided training on the Heimlich maneuver.  Mirdaige, our Haitian partner in Limbe who administrates a school for the children, told a recent story of how her youngest son was choking on a piece of hard candy, and how the stress of the situation did result in a quick use of the Heimlich maneuver, but rather her older son began hitting his younger brother on the back – a method that can make the item more stuck.  She encouraged the group to keep this important training in mind for the health of the next person that might be choking. 

Set up was completed quickly, and thankfully before the rain, that poured in the early evening back at the hotel.  The issue of the evening was finding gasoline for the generator.  The country is experiencing a gas shortage and stations had no supply.  We're thankful for the bus using diesel and thankful that God provided for gas for the generator.