June 10, 2009

    Imagine having to be carried to church each Sunday in a wheelbarrow!  For the past thirteen years, Julio, a 52-year old man struggling with the effects of cerebral palsy, has faithfully attended his local church by being carted in a wheelbarrow.  As of yesterday, thanks to the PET project in the US, Julio will be able to ride in his own PET (“personal energy transportation”) to church and other places.  Julio has been home bound  and now has a chance for a wider horizon. About 6 weeks ago while Steve was working in one of the rural clinics, Suze, the clinic’s lab tech, approached him and asked if he knew of any apparatus or wheelchair that could help a man in her church who had to get to church in a wheelbarrow.  Steve immediately thought of the small factory we had toured recently while visiting my parents at Penney Farms Retirement Community in northern Florida.  The PET Factory at Penney Farms has designed and produced, with the help of retired volunteers, this mobile, hand-cranked bike for handicapped adults and young people who live in rural areas all over the world.(for more information go to www.petinternational.org

    What a joy to give a gift someone was not expecting!  Last week we packed the colorful hand-powered bike into our truck to drive to an area on the outskirts of Cap Haitian.  This vehicle is called by the people who make them a” PET”. It is a four-wheeled bike with thick wheels developed especially for handicapped individuals who have use of their arms but are unable to use their legs due to landmines or disease or some other life altering tragedy. It is made to carry loads in rural areas where there may be no roads. Before we arrived at the house we picked up Suze and Rigaud to show us where the man lived.  When we arrived, we stepped onto the front porch where a man in his 50’s was seated.  His legs were thin and wasted, but his smile was warm and gracious.  Julio welcomed us and started talking about the Lord, having no idea why we were visiting him. He was so grateful to God for His presence in his life and all that Jesus had done for him. We told him that some Christians in the US had made a gift for him that would help him to be able to move around on his own.  His eyes lit up and his smile broadened. Steve and Rigaud brought the bike in and we placed him on the seat of the PET.  He immediately started testing it out on the porch where he lived.  Julio’s legs were withered and he had a weakened right hand.  His speech was also difficult to understand.  In spite of these disabilities, his spirit was alive and his mind bright.  Julio was completely amazed and delighted.  He knew that the Lord had done this for him.

   Before we left the four of us gathered around Julio where he was sitting in his new PET and prayed, sang a hymn, and dedicated the bike to the Lord.  Julio couldn’t stop thanking us, and we wished that all the countless people who had helped to make it, who had donated funds, who had arranged for its transport, and the folks at MFI (Missionary Flights International, www.missionaryflights.org) who flew it to Cape Haitian, had been able to witness Julio’s smile of gratitude.  It lifted our spirits that day, those of us who witnessed Julio receiving his new PET, and to know that he didn’t have to be wheeled to church in a wheelbarrow anymore as he had for so many years was thrilling.  Now he will be able to go to church and other places with dignity and joy. 

Thank you for writing us, praying for us and financially supporting the ministry we are involved with here in Limbe.  If you have not been part of our support family you have an opportunity to have your gift matched by the Luther Rice Society Matching Gifts Fund. Gifts of $200-$2,000 from new donors that are sent to International Ministries by June 30, 2009 will be matched dollar for dollar, thus doubling the impact of the your gift. You may also give online at http://www.internationalministries.org/give (you will find Steve and Nancy listed under Iberoamerica & The Caribbean). Your gifts help us bring relief to the suffering and hope to many as we work with our committed Haitian partners in improving community health!

            Thank you for being partners in God’s kingdom,

                                  Nancy and Steve

p.s.  If you haven't already done so, could you copy the address website@internationalministries.org and then paste it into your address book (or the "safe senders" collection in your SPAM filter)?  The good folks on IM staff have arranged for the website now to do email distribution of the updates that I post there, complete with thumbnails of the pictures.   As we begin to use the new function on the IM website, some folks may find that my e-mail messages are shunted into their SPAM folders, due to the website@internationalministries.org.  Sorry to ask you to fiddle with the technology!