Transition Time

One of the best parts about this job is all of the incredible people I get to work with!  The above picture is of Erigeur and Madame Erigeur (I'll try to find her given name to include it here) with their daughter.  They are both very gifted CHE trainers.
“Copyright © 2012 Deborah Carr”

As you will have seen in my latest newsletter and Christmas card, I returned to the United States in late November to discern next steps in ministry with my main sending church, Epic Christian Church. (If you don't get my newsletter, please let me know!)  My mission organization, Medical Ambassadors International (MAI), asked me to continue working with them in a different region. However, the local Haiti team and our American church partners have asked me to continue working with them in Haiti.

Ministry in Haiti has expanded so much over the past two years that I have been there – not due to me but due to the fact that so many people are hearing about the effectiveness of our ministry tools, Community Health Evangelism (CHE), and are asking us to partner with them all over Haiti. In addition, our dedicated volunteer trainers continue to spread the good news of the whole gospel, which in these tragic times of cholera has been recognized for the good news that it is, both physically and spiritually! It is so exciting to be part of a ministry that is bearing so much fruit.

So, after much prayer and counsel, I have resigned from MAI but I will be continuing with the same work in Haiti as a missionary sent out by my Arizona church, which has an account for me and will accept donations for my work (see below for how to do this).  I will be traveling in the US and Europe from January to March, visiting friends and family.  During this time I will work remotely, assisting our American church partners with their communication and plans with the local Haiti team and helping the local team in other ways that they ask.

During my five years with MAI I've met so many wonderful people and seen incredible transformations of both individuals and communities, witnessing God's faithfulness over and over again. Thank you for your support which makes this possible!

Here I am with Erigeur's son on their porch.  He'd exchanged shirts with his little friend this day (she's a girl).  One of the elements of my job that I like the most is interpreting -- here for the photographer of this picture, Deborah Carr, and our Canadian interns at the time, Rick and Rhonda Hamilton.
“Copyright © 2012 Deborah Carr”

To donate for my work in Haiti:

Epic Christian Church

P.O. Box 550

Queen Creek, AZ 85142-1810

Write in memo line: Haiti Mission

To donate to the local Haiti team or to our Area Coordinator, Osse St Juste:

Medical Ambassadors International

P.O. Box 1302

Salida, CA 95368

888-403-0600 x215

Write in memo line: Haiti or Osse St. Juste

Shocking?

The tragedy in Newtown:  people said it was "devastating" and "shocking" and couldn't stop posting about it.  I didn't get it.  I mean, obviously I get that it was horrible, but it certainly didn't seem completely unexpected, given the frequency of mass shootings.  But my response seems so at odds with that of many around me (I am currently in Arizona).  Is that because I've been hanging out with non-American expats (primarily French and Belgian) in Haiti that are not surprised to hear of these things happening in the US, what with our lax gun laws and lack of health care coverage (including mental health care)?

I started to wonder if I was perhaps just getting immune to tragedy, with floods and cholera and other disasters and diseases coming one after the other in Haiti without safety nets or funds for adequate risk prevention.  And those things are happening to people I know personally, to my friends and their families. 

Or was it because I have been living overseas for five years and am more distanced from events here in the US?  Or perhaps was I not so affected because Connecticut is geographically far away?  But I'd just been horrified by the fire in a Bangladesh garment factory that killed 112 people.   Of course, I felt partially involved in that event since I had recently broken my decades-long ban on Walmart (I've always been aware that there's a reason why Walmart can sell merchandise so cheaply, I just tried to push those thoughts aside since the Walmart is the closest store where I'm currently living). 

Was it because I am painfully aware that I pay (via my tax dollars) to kill children overseas?


I don't know.