Two of Morning Star’s leadership team members, Bob Bixby and Jeremy Scott—along with Jeremy’s wife Anouk, Jack Bender, and Joy McCarnan—left very early on Monday morning March 15th to travel to Léogâne, Haiti, to the FSIL nursing school where Pastor Bixby stayed during his first trip after the earthquake.

Pastor and Anouk talking and praying with one of the nursing students

Our 5 people joined into the work of two other teams who were there already. We spent time talking with nurses, nursing students, and clinic patients who are still dealing with grief, traumatic memories and lingering anxieties. Most of the men and college-aged girls from the teams there sorted through the rubble and hauled concrete at a church, and cleaned at the closest hospital and at the nursing school. A couple of the women we were with were nurses who helped at the hospital. Many played with and cared for the children at the orphanage where Jeremy delivered some supplies back in February. Some spent time beautifying the grounds around the school and watering the garden areas in preparation for a future memorial service, or working on plumbing and water heaters and getting a washing machine functional. Still others poured hours into improving the internet connectivity and installing software on computers for the school’s classrooms.

Pastor Bixby preached a couple of times, and all 5 Global Grace team members were able to make some visits out in the community to see the progress of various efforts in the community and surrounding region (the Charles’ clinic in Léogâne, the construction of a new hospital, a children’s club and discipleship outreach in an outlying village, a mission outreach in a poorer area, etc.) and spend more time talking in-depth about the Gospel and future vision with some of the likeminded local leaders who have been undertaking and overseeing these efforts.

The team arrived home in Rockford early Tuesday morning, March 23rd. God answered our prayers—not always how we asked Him to, but always rightly. Various team members might be posting up their own accounts of how the trip went. It looks as though we have lost most of the photos from the week because of a computer crash, but we are trying to collect a few from other Americans who were there at the same time. Here are a few of the few we have left:

Jack playing with some of the kids at the orphanage

group of about 250 kids gathered in a remote coastal village where one of our leader contacts runs a club

some of the Mississippi College team and Jack work to help clear rubble away from a church

g2pix_rickshawrubble_ds.jpg

Pastor preaching the morning service at Lott Carey Church in Leogane

chapel service - Sunday in a shaken Haiti (1/31)
Two of Morning Star’s leaders, Bob Bixby and Jeremy Scott, will be returning to Haiti on March 15-22. This time they will be taking along Jeremy’s wife Anouk Scott, Jack Bender, and Joy McCarnan.

The team’s work will be divided between crisis counseling and manual labor. Jeremy and Jack will be distributing tarps to church congregation members and helping people clean up debris. Anouk, Pastor, and Joy will focus their efforts on communicating care and lasting Hope to the Haitian students and faculty of the nursing school there in Leogane (where Pastor stayed before as a French-speaking chaplain accompanying a medical/trauma team of Haitians and Americans).

These Haitian nursing students have been working as “first responders” since 1/12 when the earthquake first hit, ministering to people with emergency medical needs in spite of their own devastating losses. What they’ve been experiencing and witnessing has been taking a toll on them, and now is a chance for us to try to minister to these people and lift them up–not just physically but emotionally and spiritually.

If you are able and willing to give financially toward the needed tarps or the team members’ travel costs (approx. $700/ticket), you can do so through Global Grace in one of two ways:
1) Donate via PayPal online; or…
2) Send a check to Morning Star, Attn: Global Grace
3430 Colony Bay Drive | Rockford, IL 61109

Jeremy with children in Haiti (1/30-1/31)

Pastor Bixby with a boy in HaitiOn his Facebook account this evening, Bob Bixby posted an album of 123 photos taken during his time in Haiti serving as a French-speaking chaplain alongside a medical/trauma team.

If you’re connected to him, check out the pictures here:

Bob Bixby’s
“Haiti Memories”

Pastor Bixby got home this past Wednesday night from his time in Haiti serving as a French-speaking chaplain with a medical trauma team. The team found they were able to accomplish their goals sooner than planned, addressing immediate overwhelming needs, laying the necessary foundation for efficient future work, etc.. With more personnel arriving (”fresh troops” as it were) and the situation stabilizing, the team decided it was time to come home. So all of Morning Star’s leadership team members are home in Rockford for the moment, safe and sound, and ready to share what they experienced.

Channel 23 News (WIFR-CBS) came out and interviewed Pastor and Jeremy about what they saw in Haiti and how it’s affected/continuing to affect them(You can also check out the photos from their trips and Pastor’s journal entry excerpts in the righthand sidebar.)

The remaining boxes of formula and medical supplies stored in NY have been shipped out by FedEx. They are en route down to the DR then will be trucked directly to Leogane to be received by the Drs. Charles. The shipping is being graciously financed by Donna Auguste (of the Leave a Little Room Foundation), a contact of Jodel Charles who led the team on which Pastor served. You can see photos of the pallets’ preparation and those who worked hard to get them transported here.

hard-working people!
Pictured here are Rick Bovell’s uncle - Colin Bovell; Larry Morant, a member of Jamaica-Queens Wesleyan (where the items were stored before shipping out); and Lunique Dyl, Jodel Charles’ cousin, who resides in NY. They were all very instrumental in the project’s successful completion.

Pastor talking to little boyThis little boy whose leg was amputated will be using a pair of pediatric crutches we sent from Rockford, but it looks as though he has a little more than just crutches on his mind right now - Bob has gotten to spend some time talking with him and with many other hurting people.

Bob and Jeremy were able to hold a meeting with doctors and nurses in Leogane this morning. More photos from this morning’s order of service and from Jeremy’s time in Leogane are posted here with explanations.

Thank you for praying for Jeremy Scott’s trip to accompany the 2nd drive supplies to Haiti. His hopes were not only to be able to see the supplies safely delivered, but also to be able to spend a couple days with Pastor on-site in Leogane, Haiti at a critical time in the work there. God has made that possible! See photos here.

Pastor Bob Bixby, working in Haiti as a French-speaking chaplain with a medical team there (Jan.22-Feb.8), has had an opportunity to email some publishable excerpts from his journal entries. We would like to make them public for all the team members’ families and friends to read, as well. Hopefully these will give us a better glimpse into what Haitians are facing, and better information for how we can be helping from here and praying for the team.

Vol.I - Introduction & Day 1 (1/22/10)
Vol.II - Day 2 (1/23/10)
Vol.III - Day 3 (1/24/10)

We will keep this post updated with new links as Pastor is able to send more excerpts in the future.

“trail mix”Here is a small album of photos from today’s efforts to ship out as much of the collected stuff today as possible. It took both brains and brawn to combine items like baby bottles, a medical equipment sterilizer, crutches, canes, beef jerky, trail mix, and energy bars into a mere 7 boxes. Check out this album and several others on the Global Grace “fan” page on Facebook.

Jeremy Scott flew out of O’Hare with the boxes tonight (1/28) and hopes to accompany them not just to DR but on into Haiti (by Fri.pm, 1/29) and spend a couple days there with the team.


from Jennie Bixby (Tues.pm, 1/26) - “Thankful for the answers to prayer. My heart is heavy after talking to Bob this evening. Bob’s last 24 hours: he felt a large after-shock that knocked down more buildings, went to see an orphanage, a baby was born at the clinic, searched the village for a baby bottle, and another baby is fighting for her life at the clinic. He said that the team can’t believe it’s only Tuesday. He said, ‘Each day seems like a month.’

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