special visitors

Two of my boys from the Hospital, Peterson and Frenel came to visit me at my house yesterday. They were actually visiting another missionary, Connie, who lives across the street from me.  I happened to see them en route, on my way to the Guest House for a quick visit, and Peterson asked me to come to Connie’s after I finished so I could help them talk to Connie.  (They needed my translation services, thank you very much!) Frenel (the amputee) was quite proud that he took the crutches all the way from the hospital (I would say probably 3/4 of a mile) down a somewhat rocky dirt road. Connie was ecstatic to see them and she invited them to lunch with she and her husband.  When I walked in the house a few minutes later, both boys were sitting at the table, grinning from ear to ear.  It was quite an honor for them for them to be invited to lunch like that, with a foreign family of blans.  It may have been a once in a lifetime chance for them.  You could see how special it was to them as they just giggled and smiled.  They were both told they would be leaving the hospital Monday so I told them they had to come see me before they left. 

About twenty minutes later I was out in my front yard to run to another neighbors house when I looked out and saw Connie’s husband Dean coming up the small hill separating our houses and Peterson and Frenel, were close behind, still grinning. We had a short but sweet visit in the front yard and I’ve got pictures to prove it.

  

When I arrived at the hospital later in the evening, they were still there.  The hospital director, Dr. Bill, is an American general surgeon, who spends a week each month in Haiti performing surgeries that are otherwise too complex for the Haitian Doctors, had just arrived late Sunday and before he discharged them, he wanted to do a consult with each of the patients that he had previously worked on (this is his third stay since the earthquake so he still knows a good many of the patients still around).  He wanted a consult with both of them before discharging them.  Frenel said he was hopeful to leave today and Peterson said probably tomorrow. 

 

The hospital is emptying fast- at least of the quake victims.  By the end of this week, my guess is that Rita will be the only one left of the friends I have known since the early days of my visits.  I have made other friends since then but I imagine my days of visiting the hospital daily are coming to a close.  That’s not to say the non-quake patients aren’t important, that’s just to say, that its a huge investment of time and as are daily activities return to normal (RMI has a LOT going on in the coming weeks, including a team arriving on April 30) I just won’t have the same amount of time to invest.  I’ll be investing in other ways.  If I can get around to it today or tomorrow, I’ll try to make a complete list of names of friends, both past and present, so that you can continue to pray for them by name.