The Mystical Body, ORS and Haiti Jan 19, 2011

Jan 19, 2011 Chris in Chula Vista

I've been reading in ! Corinthians chapter 12 about the Body of Christ, and how the Church is mystically and wonderfully tied together for God's Glory. No rock stars, just the Great and Bright Morning Star... Jesus!

We each play a part, small and large. High-visability and low-visability. All important, all a puzzle-piece for a view of the Big Picture of God's Kingdom to the lost and hurting.

The 'anniversary' of the massive Haitian quake brought to mind the number of people we have trained or equipped to go to Haiti and do tangible health-care ministry and outreach over the last year. I've looked to GO to Haiti a number of ways, but they were either merely 'look-see' trips (and no real substantial work to be done) OR too cost-prohibitive in this funny $$$ season we find ourselves in (it's expensive to be missionaries and in-country!).

However, we've been steadily training and teaching people going to Haiti. Our favorite and 20-year project... easily-communicated Oral Rehydration Solution education for diarrheal death-prevention... received a great deal of interest BEFORE the Cholera outbreak. We trained a number of different people in different settings (see Lori's previous Blog). That includes email 'consults' with doctors and nurses involved with on-the-ground Haitian health-care operations.

Feedback is starting to come back to us, including "We taught lots of ORS in light of the cholera epidemic... Thanks for all you did to train the students."

SO, being a part of the Mystical Body, prepping those that are going TO Haiti... may the Lord receive all the Glory in this!

(pray for Haiti, it's going to be a long and complex road ahead...)

your bro, CHRIS

[ps: any interest in the basics of Oral Rehydration treatment, or to access materials developed for training ORS with the poor, contact me at chris@bajmission.com ]

ORT teaching in Hati

Cholera Outbreak in Haiti!!!!!! Yikes!!!!! So, glad that we spent time focused on demonstrating how to make Oral Re hydration Therapy to the health care students during the 2-weeks of training that we did in Sept. We were also able to equip them with a full-color educational chart as well as handouts for outreach. After they spent over a month in Haiti, we received word from Lori Mathias, the schools director, "Haiti was great and exhausting. It was very fruitful and the students did a good job. We taught lots of ORS in light of the cholera epidemic. Thanks for all you did to train the students."

Dec. 3, 2010, "Anxious New Students"

My sewing class has become a magnet for youngsters. Seems that nearly every month this past year has brought the birthday of children of my sewing ladies. It's now commonplace for the beginning of the sewing week to include a request from a little person. My birthday is coming up. I'm going to be "10"! When will you teach me to sew? Well, this month Rodolfo was anxious to start using the sewing machine. He was so excited to create his own Christmas stocking and then continued to sew ones for his whole family during the week. Many of the kids made stockings and other gifts for parents, siblings and friends.

"More School Uniforms"

Thought you all would enjoy seeing more of the uniforms that the ladies have made. The kindergarten required new uniforms this year that included gingham fabrics. Albina sewed the vest for little Daniel while Yolanda made the apron and pleated red skirt for little Mia. Next school year the ladies hope to have perfected their skills so that they can get orders for school uniforms.

Nov. 30. 2010, "Erika's Purses"

Erika is the 3rd lady to take part in building her own small business through the sewing ministry. She has been creating some new designs of purses that are being well received by family and friends in both San Vicente and Ensenada. She is hoping that she can build the business to the point that it can support her and her three daughters. We've had some wonderful brainstorming sessions on how to move forward. Erika is also a wonderful worship leader and spends much of her time blessing the local church with her talents.

Nov. 29, 2010 "More Hats Away"

Today was spent travelling from school to school giving out sacks full of hats. Wonderful FUN just before the holidays. As you can see from the pics winter has arrived and the kids are often bundled up even when they are inside of their classrooms. Cement block buildings just seem to stay cold even when the sun comes out. While making the rounds to give away hats, we're also setting up for more outreaches into schools that will take place in Feb.