become like little children...

    

 I just came back from an orphanage, it was awesome!  Funny how the words orphanage and awesome don’t seem like they should be in the same sentence.  The reason for its awesomeness was that it was overwhelming evident that the kids were loved.  The family that ran it, the children all exuded love on us as we visited no sadness except in my own heart that I couldn't take them all home.  I've been able to visit quite a few orphanages and it’s not always the case, Lord please let this family be an example of how we all should take care and love on the least of us.

                                                 

 a couple of boys from the orphanage

Carrie translating a letter to one of the boy's, it was from his sponsor, loved being apart of this!

     Things are getting exciting around here!  Summer is here and we’re going to start our sport day camps in a week or two.  The camps will be a great way to build relationships with all of the local children and families and a great way to kick off our youth soccer league.  We’re hoping we can get the league started this fall.  Below are some pictures of our first sports camp and community service outreach, can’t wait to be doing these several days a week!

Our Soccer/Futbol Program:

     We will initially have over 1,000 kids, ages 6-16, both boys & girls. Our goal is to make it free but the kids will have to be involved in the whole program, which will include:

•         Community service - teams will work hand in hand with us on multiple projects

•         Each team will adopt a home of an elderly person or family in need & with our help, will provide  them     assistance & care

•         Scholarship opportunities

•         Feeding Program

•         Life skills training, health & hygiene leadership development

     Our Vision is to develop a prototype youth sports discipleship program that can be duplicated nationally & internationally.  Raising a new generation of leaders that will love their fellow man, instill hope in their future & help change the cycle of poverty.

     Thank you to all of you who have supported us with good wishes, prayer and financial support; we can’t do it without you.  We are currently in the need of continuous monthly sponsors and individuals who would like to make one time donations, anything you can do is a blessing.

Please click here to donate

First score of the game!

community service trash pick up

 I'd say we worked hard but it was so much fun it went by fast...building a servant's heart.

the girls weren't going to let the boys win trash pick up

Yes, we introduced the kids to "dizzy lizzies" 

think they we're having fun?

these kids did dizzy lizzies then dribbled a soccer ball down & back, awesome!!

more play!

run, run!!

 time to eat!

my wall guys, finished the wall, now let's plant some grass!

Please click here to donate

You got The Fever?

People are smacking each other left and right to kill these bad boys

You got The Fever?

That is by far the most asked question around here in the last few weeks. Chikunguyna has reached Haiti and it is affecting people here more than the news is reporting. 

http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11224-haiti-health-outbreak-of-chikungunya-gold-business-for-some.html

http://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/pdfs/CHIKV_FACT%20SHEET_CDC_General%20Public_cleared.pdf

While we've come up with some funny ways of saying the name, there is nothing funny about this disease.  It's heartbreaking to see children with temps over 102 coming into the clinic with pain and nausea. There were two young girls with high fevers that walked over with their young brother looking for help because their mom was at home with "the fever".  Almost everyone we know has someone in their home who has it. New born babies are getting it via vertical transmission. 

Please pray for all those who have this painful disease.

The last few months have flown by! Watch for a new newsletter mailing soon and I will get some pictures posted here in the next few days (including a few from our soccer fun day!!)

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement! 

We love and miss you!

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR FOOTBALL!!”

About 20 years ago or so, on any given day I would be lying flat on my back on a green carpeted floor, “the green room" we called it.  It was pretty much a given I was hurting just a little, probably a little tired too and that’s right when I would here it “IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR FOOTBALL!!”.  It was our football coach, Bill Struble.  Coach Struble always entered the green room yelling out the same thing be it sunny, raining, snowing, sleeting, overcast etc... It was always a beautiful day for football.  Until this morning I always thought Coach was talking about the weather.  I woke up this morning a little tired, not excited about the day and with a little pain and those words rang through my mind, “it’s a beautiful day for football”  Coach Struble was close to my current age, he had a family, he had bills, he had alumni pressure to win, he had to be a leader to a hundred young men and coaches, he had to deal with discipline issues (not always me…) bottom line he had hundreds of things on his mind but when he hit that room it all turned off and football turned on.

The reason I’m sharing this is because after I whispered “it’s a beautiful day for football” I realized what it meant, I whispered “it’s a beautiful day to be a husband” “it’s a beautiful day to be a father” “it’s a beautiful day to be a friend, a co-worker, a mentor, a pupil, a listener, a leader, a son of God.”  We all have those days when we wake up and it’s a fight to get your feet to hit the floor but I made a promise to myself this morning that when my eyes open I will whisper “it’s a beautiful day to be the man God wants me to be, today is a day that the Lord has made I’m thankful He’s going to let me experience it.” and of course, I’ll whisper it’s a beautiful day for football.  Thanks Coach for lessons learned years later.

spent the last couple weeks hanging razor wire on top of our wall, I wish it wasn't needed but I also realize we need a safe environment to operate all of our outreach out of, good news is we're almost finished:)

actual conversation "I'm thinking we should put the older razor wire down in the field and the newer razor wire by your house, you know, cause it will look nicer"  decorating Haiti style:)

 Sharing the love of Christ:)

they all think he's crazy, he's trying to get them to play catch with a Frisbee

new dogs is so lazy, eats laying down



Braxton likes to climb things...next American Ninga

when we first got the puppy he tried to hide, guess from who?

yep, you we're right...

 Carrie lovin on one of our patients

a "light load" in Haiti

some of our school kids

one of our 350+ wells

If you are interested in giving a financial gift or becoming a monthly sponsor please visit one of the links below, God Bless!

sponsor by pay pal: http://www.globaloutreach.org/missionaries.html#ToddB

sponsor through checking: http://www.globaloutreach.org/donations.html

Psalm 118:24

 This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.

 

 

Likson

Abbi and I love being extra hands in the burn clinic. 

This is a special story she is sharing today about one special little boy. 

Mwen konton Jezi renmen m'  

(I'm happy Jesus loves me. A song we sang to him)

    We have a story we would like to share with you. It is about a little boy named Likson. Likson is two years old. He was a patient at our burn clinic. His mother was holding him and a kerosene lamp. She accidentally dropped it on him. He got burned on his stomach, top of his left arm, and under his chin. They live up in the mountains, so it takes them awhile to get to the clinic. (They had to stay with family in the mountains because they were from another place in the mountains very far away) But yet they were still here every morning, early, just like they were told, so they could let the medicine kick in while he was still soaking before they started washing and dressing his burns. His burns were third degree. (so they were very deep ) He was also very swollen due to dehydration (3rd spacing). Some days his eyes would be swollen shut. We gave his mother some packets to put in water to help rehydrate him, and told her to really make sure he drinks lots. Everyday he would come back, and every day we would soak, wash, scrape, and dress him. They were very good at coming and he was getting a little bit better, but he was still in very bad condition. They would check his blood to make sure it was still okay. He had been coming for about six weeks.  One day his Dad came with him for the first time since he got burned. He had been at home with their four year old child, he hadn't seen Likson for a long time. The next morning Dad left while Mom and Likson got his bandages changed, then they went home (the house they were staying at). They didn't come back Thursday, so someone called the Dad and he said that Likson was still alive. Today they didn't come. Miss. Sharron received a call when she was with a patient, it was the Dad. He told us that Likson died. We were all heart broken, but had to realize he was with Jesus and wasn't in pain anymore. Please pray for Likson's family and for all those who were close to Likson. Likson didn't laugh or smile all the time, but when he did it just filled your heart up with joy. I remember one of the first times I saw him smile. He was staring at my scrub shirt. It was covered with angles, flowers, rainbows, and sunshine. I look down at my shirt and when I look up he is staring at me with the biggest smile. He is such a sweet boy.
                                                                    ~Abbi

                                                                                 There is no better place to be than in His hands.         



Planting Light

     I went back to Sodo (Saut d'Eau) on Tuesday, the voodoo capital of Haiti and some say the world.   Last time I was there I had a life changing experience to say the least; I couldn’t get out of there fast enough, an evil place.  We don't talk about evil very much back in the states, but here it's out in the open.  Voodoo is evil. I've personally witnessed how awful it is. It's not some "culturally" different ritual or some legitimate form of religion, it's the worship and practice of evil.  The best way I can explain it is by giving examples: children will come for the treatment of cholera but will be beaten from head to toe because their parents took them to the voodoo priest first and he tried to beat the sickness out of them.  We had a mentally ill lady who had been severally burned with a hot iron, they tried to burn out her sickness, unfortunately there was nothing we could do and she passed away. Horrifically, these are not unordinary. The challenge isn't if you or I believe it or think it's crazy, it's that they believe in it and until they stop believing it, this country will never change.

      A few years ago a gentleman came down to Haiti and visited our mission and during his time here he fell in love with the Haitian people.  Tragically that man passed away recently, but his family remembered his love for the people here and has raised the money to build a church and I am honored to help in the process.

    So Tuesday we traveled out to Sodo to drive some stakes and mark where this new church will be planted.  We joined in prayer that it would be a beacon of light in that area, a place where people would be loved, a place of refuge for the hurting and a place of strength to those that are willing to stand and face evil. We'll be heading out there everyday over the next few weeks, please keep us in your prayers and I promise to post some updates.

We also started a new well in a pretty rough place on Wednesday.  A couple weeks ago there were some land disputes, lots of tires burning/gunfire, but we're hoping that's all past.  It's in one of the new villages that have popped up after the earthquake, thousands of squatters move in so fast they kind of take ownership.  There is no water there now for the thousands of people living there so please pray that we get clean water for them.  It's a sad place to be while you are there because it's right next to one of the mass graves located near us, if you look at the picture below you can make out the fencing blocking people from building on it.  But maybe someday soon, with clean water, schools, soccer fields and the love of Jesus Christ ,this can become a welcoming place. 

Grace & Peace,

Barrett

I share the story my experience in Sodo in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGHMuKGD5Ms

 

The old makeshift tent church we are replacing.

 

 

Fellow Missionaries Chris Brumley and David Heady as well as Pastor Kelly 

 

 

 Some of the church members were waiting to meet us

Love that they came to worship regardless of the conditions, soon they will be in their new home!

 

Footers for the new church all dug out!

 

Beginning to Drill

 

the field is one of the mass grave sites

 

loading up to head to church, thank you to all of our sponsors for helping us have a safe vehicle!

 

 

Braxton helping put out the brush fire next door

 



heading back to Sodo up the mountain, no guard rail (only about 1,000 ft. straight down)

 

the fire truck (yes, we have a fire truck, water transport and to help Braxton fight fires) needed a little jump start.

 

 

New blog coming soon with some exciting soccer news!

Hint. It will include the word...bulldozer!

 

 

Christmas Letter, Prayer Magnets and Addresses

Merry Christmas from The Todd Family! 

Below is the Christmas letter and prayer magnets we sent out. 

If you didn't get one, you must not be on our mailing list or we don't have a current address for you! 

If you'd like to start receiving our mailings please email us with your address.

toddfamilyhaiti@gmail.com

One Body with Many Parts - Thankfulness

 

 One Body with Many Parts

 

 

 

This post is about thankfulness.  The pic below is me twisting a piece of wire around a cross section of rebar.   The wire itself isn’t that strong, but once it’s twisted, doing its part in connecting the whole flooring section of rebar and then incased in concrete as part of the floor we just poured in our first of several youth camp dormitories, it became a part of something incredibly strong.  When I’m in the hot sun sweating, seeing the drops fall down on to my glove as I twist another wire I can't help but begin to think about all of the men and women we all need to be thankful for, how many teachers, coaches, Pastors, family members, friends and strangers were and are a part of our lives that have helped us along the way.   More than likely none of the thousands of children that stay a night or a week in one of these dorms while attending our camps will ever think about the sweat and love poured into that building.  They won’t know about my friend, who is pouring concrete for a living back in the states, who is twisting the wire or laying the rebar and at the end of the day is sending financial support so I can do it here.  They won’t know about my friend who is retired military, living on a fixed income, suffering from multiple health issues but still, at the end of the day she sends us financial support so I can get a drink of Gatorade so I don’t cramp up while sweating in the heat.  They won’t know about my great grandparents who prayed constantly for me before I was even born, that I would put God first in my life. 

Yes, this post is about thankfulness, there is so much more going behind the scenes of our everyday life we miss.  I’m thankful for every one of you who prays for us, works hard every day and finds a way to support our mission financially and I’m thankful for every one of you who I’ll never know about. 

God Bless!

Barrett

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 12:12