A letter Cindy Bither wrote to her daughter today . She arrived with team 1
January 27th

It's hard for me to get over here to the clinic office to check my mail. I was up until 1 am last night and up at 5 this morning. I'm just keeping busy over at the house w/cooking.  Out of 16-17 food tubs, we have only received 3.  We've had sufficient supply for meals so far, and the team arriving today has the rest of our tubs (hopefully!) 

After what I've seen and the immense misery and suffering, I have no right to complain.  The hospital here in Hinche is so sad - so many children with broken legs and fractures and they have to lay in traction w/cast for 6-8 weeks.  These children just lay there all day with flies all over them and no med's for pain.  The family has to bring food so they can eat.  Many are with a relative because their parents perished in the quake.  I was at hospital the other day and wishing I had some toys (coloring books, crayons, balloons, etc.) for the children.
The 2nd team that arrived last night "just happened" to have bags of balloons and a bag of suckers.  God provided!  It would be such a great outreach for a small group of young people to come & spend time in hospital just entertaining the kids and loving on them. 

The most touching thing that I've seen was last night at the hospital I saw an old man asleep with his head resting on an open Bible.  He looked so peaceful.  I don't know his injuries, but his Bible was his pillow.  I can't stop thinking about him.  Brian took a picture of him - I will try to get it forwarded.  You know I can't do that stuff.

Please forward this to rest of family (Andrew, Brit, Glenn & Kathy, etc.) and tell them I said Hi.  I gotta get back to work.
Love you guys.  How are the kiddos?

 

 

 

 

 

Team 2 just arrived safely
All the supplies arrived
January 26, 

Team 2 just arrived safely just a few minutes ago. The road was rough but everything went smoothly. I haven't heard from team 1 today but they are having another busy day I'm sure on the compound and at the hospital. Half of Dr. Ettners team (team 3) arrived in Cape this afternoon and the rest of the team will be arriving tomorrow morning. All 8 of them will travel to Hinche on Wednesday with the supplies.
The supplies that we have been waiting for arrived in Cape today praise God they are finally in Haiti and they will go to Hinche with team 3. Please pray that God will get team 3 and all the supplies to Hinche safely tomorrow and for team 1 and 2 as they serve the wonderful Haitians. Have a blessed evening.

Update from Dave on team 1
January 25,

Hello Everyone,
Here is a little update from Haiti. We left Murrieta Friday morning and Finally arrived Sunday just before dark in Hinche. Everything has been a challenge on this trip but God has protect and provided thru it all. We arrived with 13 out of the 55 plus bins we started with. Our food and med supplies are still in transit. We have been well cared for by UN security details. I have a new friend, Klaus from Austria. He comes by daily to check on our needs and is now bringing us seriously injured patients that can't wait and sit in the hallways of hospital for days. Yesterday was the first day the doctors could go help at the Hinche Hospital. They worked all day till after 10 PM. I went to hospital in afternoon. Almost everyone has severely broken legs the x rays are crazy. Their legs were crushed as the tried to escape the buildings. By afternoon I was gathering power drills from HEF's tool room for orthopedic surgeons to use. This morning we worked with orthopedic doctor to build a special platform support device for operation on child with broken pelvis and legs. The villages and towns are filling up with hundreds of thousands of refugees from PAP. A tiny poor village (Bohac) near hear has 1000 refuges alone. Haitian Churches are trying to mobilize with their limited resources in the area. I have met so many that have lost their homes and entire families. It is so very sad. Many of Haiti's doctors and med students were killed in PAP. The Medical Universities are all gone. Thanks for all of your prayers and support at home and work. We will be very busy the next few days with the rest of our team finally arriving plus new med team from Idaho. So I won't be able to write again for a while.
Thank you all!
Dave