PET – Giving Mobility and Receiving Salvation

After enjoying a beautiful Sunday service, the PET team with Mobility Worldwide make their way through Pignon. As they show Christ’s love by meeting immediate needs, the opportunities arise for them to share about eternal life. Read as Carol Verhey shares the excitement of the day!

To read yesterday’s blog, click here.

We had a very busy eventful couple of days. Sunday we went to church in Lapila.  The message was on waiting at the pool at Bethsaida and the person couldn’t be healed without the help of others to lower the person in.  We felt that was so appropriate to the work God is doing here.  People are being helped into a new life of independence and dignity by getting a PET cart.

After church we went to a restaurant for lunch and then bought food for our distribution later.  We focused on the families of recipients of the carts.  The first one we had to walk almost a mile to the home.  It continues to amaze us how little they have and how appreciative they are.

We also brought some food to a lady with a cart that lives nearby.  We called her “Grandma” and by looking at her we thought she could never use her cart, but did she show us! She had a little trouble getting on by herself but she had no problem to make that cart do what she wanted.  We had to do a bit of a tune up and put on a new seat and she got back on and took a lap around her house!

We made a couple more stops before dark and were well received with huge smiles and hugs.  Each place we prayed with them and praised God together.

We went back to campus and unloaded the rest of the food that still needed to be delivered in the next few days and then got back in the truck to go to a new restaurant in town that makes burgers and pizza!  The whole crew, drivers, interpreters and team enjoyed pizza.  The Haitians ordered rice and beans – go figure!

Monday morning, we loaded 14 PETs on 2 trucks and we were on the road again, peddling our PETs. After a long trip through fields of vegetables, congo beans, and oranges.  These oranges are sour to the taste, so they use the peels to make oil. Our first stop was a home along the road.  An older gentleman received the PET and a young boy walking down the road noticed what was happening and entered the yard where we were.  Pastor S. was sharing the gospel with the family and he asked some questions and before we knew it, the young boy was kneeling down in front of Pastor and was praying the sinner’s prayer.  We again stand in awe of God’s timing and HIS PLAN!

The next stop was Logalite.  This was a difficult distribution! We gave one pull PET and 3 regular adult carts. One young lady had a really hard time understanding the concept. She is mentally challenged and has hearing loss and we couldn’t tell if she could see well enough.  Her mother was adamant that she would work with her and teach her, so we said that someone would come back in 2 weeks to see if she would be able to keep it.  Later in the day, we had to turn 2 others people away because they were not strong enough. That is heartbreaking for them as well as us.

San Raphael was next and there we stopped for lunch and then gave out 2 more carts.  There was a huge crowd of people around us and Pastor S. used the opportunity to share the gospel.  He asked some kids if they went to church and if they knew John 3:16. A couple of them recited the verse and he proceeded to herd them into the church.  He sang “Jesus Loves the Little Ones Like You, You, You with them. Christi then said we would give each child a little gift and we were mobbed.  Our bags of hats, dolls and toys were totally flattened as was Harold and I (Carol). I had a bit of a tug of war with a teenage boy over a doll so I could give it to a little girl. I won!

Then we drove down the road a few miles to a community called Lina. That area was very rocky and difficult for the new PET drivers to navigate but they were determined and received their new mobility.  Pastor Sainphirin shared the gospel with each recipient and again some teenage girls standing by watching this process gave their lives to Christ. The road back gave us time to process our day and we are so thankful for Pastor S and how God is using him and the gift of mobility to write more “names in God’s Book of Life” as Pastor S. says.

During all this, Twyla was busy back at campus working on the Bundled Bottoms project. Liz, Regan, Nic and Twyla distributed diapers to the mothers in the First Thousand Days program.  The moms were thrilled with the new and improved diapers with the moisture shield lining and the terry cloth soakers.

We all enjoyed a great dinner and shared our highs and lows of the day. Now we need to get ready for a new day and wait with great anticipation for what God has planned for tomorrow.

Pastor Sainphirin with the girls on their knees