A few weeks ago, I began telling you about our recent mission trip to Ouanaminthe, Haiti. Bear with me as I share a little more...

We had made it to Dajabon, DR after a full day of travel. After spending the night there, we crossed the border to begin the day and eventful week. We had a quick bite of breakfast at the school (our home base for the week) and headed for church.

The church service lasts two to three hours and is mostly made up of singing and prayer. Dress clothes are required. The Haitians have a great reverence for God and never, ever “disrespect” Him by wearing casual clothes or shoes to worship. You are not allowed to cross your legs during service because it indicates an air of comfortable-ness (not a real word) that they do not feel is appropriate.

After church and lunch, we went straight to work setting up the clinic for the week.

Our dental rooms were being used as storage rooms.They had to be emptied out before we could even unpack.

As soon as we got the boxes and excess old equipment out, we realized there was a problem. The last dentist at the clinic had given us a long list of supplies we could count on. None were there. Things we also knew we had packed were nowhere to be found. We set up as best we could and left when the generator went off. We were physically and mentally exhausted. Evening came just in time. We prayed without ceasing as we planned for the next day.

Meanwhile, back at home, flooding was rampant. Homes that had never before been threatened were being ravaged by water. My Mom was surrounded by an overflowing creek. While I was helping set up our dental rooms for the week, my husband and 20-year old son were trekking by railroad tracks to help her any way they could. My son knows when he helps flood victims that he will have to have a tetanus shot. (He hates that part.)

Monday morning: It’s hard to do dental work without all of the necessary equipment. So many puzzle pieces were missing that it was overwhelming, to be honest. Praise God, that our doctor is immensely patient and part McGyver. Most importantly, with God ALL things are possible. With His help we were making headway, seeing several patients that morning.

Others on the mission team began getting text messages from my husband. I was to call home ASAP. Dr. Boyd checked his phone. He had received the text also. The missionary there had received the same message by e-mail. He called the clinic Administrator’s cell phone to speak to me personally. I was to call home right away.

I tried several team members’ cell phones but could not get a call out. My heart was racing. I was trying to slow my breathing and my imagination. I knew if my husband was sending messages HE was alive. That only left one other scenario: something had happened to one of our kids. I was trying not to cry as I borrowed cell phone after cell phone. (I have tears in my eyes just remembering.)

I kept thinking that God could help me deal with anything. God could help me deal with anything.

With still no luck making a call, we got a text saying, “Please pray for my son. He passed out and hit his head really heard. They are doing a CAT scan.” My first thought was, “He’s alive!”

One of our pharmacists suddenly appeared. She had my husband on the phone downstairs.

As soon as I got to the phone I began to cry.

“Is he OK?” I begged. “Is Matthew OK?”

My husband began to cry also. “Dawn,” he sobbed, “they found a mass on Matthew’s brain.”

I was stunned.

“What?!” I asked in disbelief. Our son had never had any health problems!

He told me that Matthew had passed out cold after his tetanus shot at the Health Department. The shot had been given and they were waiting to be released. Without warning, our son became lifeless and fell face forward striking his head full force on the concrete floor. He had a seizure moments later. My husband frantically yelled for help. (It’s still hard for him to talk about it.) Matthew was taken right away to the hospital for a CAT scan.

My husband and daughter were horrified to be told by the doctor that a mass had shown up in the scan. They were referred to a neurosurgeon. My beloved began making calls to Haiti to tell me the news.

We cried together on the phone for a few moments and then I asked to speak to my dear son.

As we shared more tears, I prayed for the Lord to give me wisdom for the right words. I told Matthew the same thing I would tell you in a crisis.

“We know what we know. God is still God and He is still good. There is nothing in this world He can’t help us through. We know He can do anything. He can make this easy and make the mass disappear or this can be really hard and He will help us through every step of the way. No matter what happens, we can get through it together. We have to keep our faith and not be angry. We have to keep believe God and loving Him.” Matthew is an amazing young man and completely agreed. We shared words of love and he put his Dad back on the phone.

My husband wanted to speak to me first before calling the neurosurgeon. He would make the appointment ASAP. With heavy hearts we hung up.

This was a lot to digest. I made my way back upstairs. My doctor asked if I needed to go home. You may never understand this but I told him, “No”. It would have taken two days to get home. That would be Wednesday at the earliest. We were leaving on Saturday.

The God that had allowed it to flood, which necessitated the tetanus shot, had known exactly where I was when all this happened. He knew it was raining when we got on the plane. I had felt absolute peace about going on this mission trip. This difficult news had already rocked my family’s world. We would all have to wait for the appointment with the neurosurgeon...and there was still work to be done right where I was.

To Be Continued...