A busy couple of weeks.

Hi Everyone! It has been very busy here the last couple of weeks, thus the lack of updates. Annelies and I took in a couple of HIV patients into the hospital in La Point for the treatment program they have there, then had to admit one of the patients into the hospital because her son was not well enough to make the return trip. In short we have been away from home a lot lately. Annelies has been keeping busy in the clinic and hospital. She is also taking care of a little girl who's name is Teatea. Teatea is one year old but seems only a couple of months old because she did not get much food for a long time. She is looking much better now, when we first got her she looked dried out, her skin just hung on to her.

I have been working on the solar power system for some time now and as of today the operating room 2 is complete. Annelies and her friend Germa from the Netherlands are busy cleaning it right now. It will be used for C-sections. Right now if someone needs a C-section they have to take about an hour drive over very rough roads that are sometimes impassible. The operating room is powered and air conditioned entirely with solar energy. It is not cheep to do so but when you consider the cost of driving to fetch fuel and the problems attaining fuel during unstable times here it is worth it. The system generates between 20 and 30 kilowatt hours of power a day from 39 solar panels which in turn charge several banks of heavy duty batteries and provide power to 3 inverters. Two of the inverters supply 6 kilowatts of split phase 60hz (American) current while the third supplies 2.4 kilowatts of 50hz (European) current. Haiti uses the American electrical system in general but a lot of our medical equipment comes from Europe and thus the 50hz current. To many of you these numbers don't mean much but the system generates enough current to power the average home in America. There are many people who have put a lot of work and effort into making this happen: Jack, Dave, Tom, Larry, Al, and Richard. Most of you guys are from Washington I think... Thanks for your help! The system is not quite finished. There are some cables that need to be replaced and a few other things that need to be brought up to code :]

Anton, Annelies's Uncle has been working on the Land Cruiser and has made a lot of progress, many parts are on the way and it looks like he will have it in top shape soon.

We have been having good rains here and as long as it keeps up the people should have a good crop. We are seeing a lot of HIV patients recently... Many of the men go off to work in the Dominican Republic or elsewhere and end up bringing aids back with them to their families.

Annelies and I are tired but we are well and are enjoying the work immensely. Please pray that God will give us Love, Humility and Patience those are the things we need most at this point.