Adventure.: Kapiti 2014

Right after the Awana training ended we drove home. We got home late, got up early and prepared everything for a week on the mountain to build a school and host a medical clinic.

The plan: The pastor was to buy all of the building materials in Port au Prince, drive them to the mountain (about 4 hours), and then drive to Cap Haitien (another 4 hours) to pick the medical supplies up, and then we would drive the doctors in our car. This was all supposed to happen on Sunday and Monday. On TUESDAY we were still sitting at our house waiting. The truck with all of the building materials had gotten stuck in the river, the villagers used a truck (we later found out was stolen) to get our tuck unstuck, and then the both got stuck. In the middle of the river! When the clouds started to roll in the villagers began the 4 hour hike up with bags and other building materials on their heads before the rain began.

We finally found a truck that we were able to borrow to take us to the edge of the mountain. When we arrived we found they had gotten our truck a little closer to the edge of the river and Frantzy and our doctors bought wood and got the truck out, but the "borrowed" truck was still stuck. We unloaded all of the medical supplies and the villagers began carrying them up. We met one group of 3 little girls and a donkey who made the trip THREE time! We were amazed to see the people working together and so hard! We sent the doctors up the mountain to rest and begin preparing for the clinic.

Frantzy and I went to a Dominican construction company to ask if they had any equipment that could pull the truck out. We begged them to come and help us and one nice guy named Emmanuel finally did! Here's the deal - it's a 20 minute drive to the edge of the river and a 30 minute motor cycle ride back through the river to the truck. We may have told them it was just "down the road" so they'd go with us. When we were on the motos for 20 minutes the dominican just looked back and laughed at us. When we arrived he said there was no way we could get his equipment this far back into the river. He tried everything he could to get the truck out and nothing worked! Then the rain started, it POURED. And it seemed like the more we prayed, the more it poured! At one point our friend shared with us that he had been watching one man do voodoo magic to the truck. He had the items in his hands and was getting down and touching the truck and talking to himself. We prayed and prayed and prayed! When we saw that the river was rising we jumped on the moto and started to head to the edge where our new dominican friend was waiting. People were standing on the mountain on the side of the river screaming for us to run! We looked back and the water was washing down the river right at us. Honestly, I have no idea how to explain this...it was just like a movie. Our moto driver threw his moto up on the mountain and started working on it and we ran!

When we got to the edge it was dark and there was no way for us to get up the mountain. Frantzy and I slept in our pathfinder. All of our food and clothes were already up the mountain. We were soaking wet, so hungry, and didn't have anywhere to put the car...so we slept inside right next to a witch doctors house. The haitians were convinced they'd wake up the next morning and we'd be gone...we were happy to share that our God is so much greater :) The witch doctor didn't even knock on our window...and we gave him food and medicine when we left a few days later.

The next day when we finally got up the mountain we began the clinic. In two days we were able to see 452 people! We saw some of the same people from last year and many new ones. We had people who climbed over many mountains to get to the clinic. It was so much fun getting to be a blessing! This was probably our last year up at Kapiti. Last year when we went up the Haitian government heard about what an impact we had on the people and since then has started construction for a hospital on top of the mountain! Praise the Lord, right?! :)

Unfortunately we weren't able to finish the school like we had originally thought. But we were able to help the people and make progress and they're encouraged to keep going!

We share this sweet girl's story last year. She has large bumps, almost cysts, popping up all over her body. We've sent her case to many doctors all over the country and we haven't really been able to figure out what's wrong! For the last year we've been sending money to buy medications for her. The medications have caused one side of the bumps to pop and clear up, she only has scars now. We were so excited to see her this year she looks so much better than she did last year!!