Why Not Today?

I read this e-mail from some friends of ours in Haiti and just had to share it with you. I hope it blesses you, as much as it has blessed me.


Hello Friends,

Well here we are back in Haiti. Only the Lord knew we were coming back and He did not tell us until recently. We are here relieving a wonderful Missionary couple, Wanda and Bobby Temple so that they can get some home time. We plan to return for May and August.

So much has changed and so so much remains the same. We are not doing construction anymore so our teams are just small medical teams. In fact we do not have a team this week. Janet and I did something on Sunday afternoon that we had never done in the two years that we have been coming to Haiti. We took a nap. ( that's sleeping in the day time for you young people). At first the light work load felt good, but after a few days we began to miss the volunteers. Mostly we miss seeing their joy grow each day in the service of the Lord. The weather is cool for Haiti mid to high 80's some days. Very different from the Haiti that I know where you melt away several pounds each day then some more each night. Much of the earthquake rubble has been cleaned up, but there is still trash everywhere and more tent housing along the road from the airport. The poverty, sickness, hunger, lack of education, and neglected children are still as common as the smoke and constant dust of Haiti.

"My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him." 1 John 3: 18-19

While in the US we are sometimes blessed to be invited to speak at Churches about the work of Baptist men. Sometimes the Churches would give us a cash gift. At first this was embarrassing. We did not need the money and were accustomed to giving to the Church... not receiving from it. Then from time to time friends and family would do the same thing. So we realized that God had a plan for these funds. We started taking any gifts we were given along with us on mission and sure enough the Lord always revealed the intended purpose . As we arrived this time in Haiti, we talked with the doctors about any special need that they may know about. We then got busy in the day to day operation and forgot about money that had been given us.

On Friday noon, out of the blue our trusted driver and friend Jude Belzey turned and said to me " When are you going to Emmanuel's (orphanage)?" Now you must understand that I had not planned to go to Emmanuel's Orphanage but the question went so deep to my heart and I felt as if God had just spoken to me. So, I said "When do you think would be a good time?" Jude immediately responded.
" Why not today?" I told Janet what had happened and we went right then to the local street market to buy a lot of rice, beans, oil, pasta,tomato paste, soap, and, of course, cookies. As we moved from stall to stall we made several vendors very happy at their good fortune to make such large sales.

We proceeded unannounced to Emmanuel's Orphanage. Evon (the director) was not there, so about fifty very happy children gathered around us as we unloaded the food. We passed out the cookies making sure each child got a whole package. The children then stood and sang an amazingly beautiful French version of " How Great Thou Art". We stood with tears in our eyes as each one of the kids from two to ten stood and prayed for the people that had provided the food ( in many cases that was you). By then it was late afternoon (supper time) and Jude noticed that there were on cook fires, no cooking pots boiling. So we looked into their store room and sure enough there was no food supplies. Soon Evon returned and we found out that the kids had eaten their last meal that morning and that he had been out looking for a way to get some food. "Why not today", kept repeating in my mind.

Some of you may believe that this incident was just good timing, but I hope not. I do trust that most will see that this was God's hand and nothing short of His good plan. As I finish this story, I feel led to ask each of you " WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO EMMANUEL'S?" When are you going to take that church job, join a disaster relief or recovery effort, or go on that mission trip, etc.. I am convinced Jude has the same answer God would give. "WHY NOT TODAY?"

In Christ's love and service,
Scott and Janet Daughtry
Titanyen, Haiti
2.16.2012