May 29, 2011
Dear friends,
Easter Sunday morning, Lynn Ann’s beautiful mother was admitted to the hospital. She had been taken there many times over the past 7 months, but this was to be her last trip. On May 4th she was released to go back home; and in the quiet early morning hours of May
5th, the gates of heaven were opened wide for this wonderful child of God to dance into the arms of Jesus. What a celebration I know there was in heaven! Of all the people I have known in this world, I have not encountered anyone who brought more joy to the lives she touched than Marilyn Di Nello. Lynn Ann’s and my parents have been best friends for many years. They are pictured above, left to right, Marilyn, Mario, Arlene and Ira.
Most people do not realize that this multi-talented and extremely intelligent woman gave up a successful modeling career in order to give her full attention to raising her two children and to devote herself to her family and to the Lord. I was very privileged to preside at her funeral and burial, and my reflections about her all pointed to the fact that her life was a life well lived.
As I left Texas to immediately return to Haiti, my thoughts were drawn to the realization that it cannot be said of very many people at the close of their lives that theirs was a life well lived. One of the most profound things that Jesus ever said was,
“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it.” [Matthew 10:39]
There are so many lessons to be learned in Haiti, but one of the most profound is that death is a way of life. Each and every day, the specter of death surrounds every person who lives there. No one never asks for whom the bell tolls. I have a small wooden bell that I bought in Haiti many years ago. Inscribed on it is “No one hears the sounds of our suffering, because no one can hear the ringing of a wooden bell.” I arrived to learn that my dear friend, Daniél, had just lost his 45-year-old sister. She was perfectly healthy but died from an easily preventable or treatable infection that overtook her body within a less than 2-week period.
And yet amidst the great suffering there is still reason for great celebration. And it was for this that Gil Messina (Aslan board member,
legal counsel, all around great guy and one of my best friends) and I had come. Joseph Israel had assured us that we would not believe the 
celebration he had planned for us on May 17th, and he was correct. Three years ago, we started our Right Choices Bible classes in L’Acajou. What began with a handful of children out in the bush quickly grew, within three months, to almost 200 children! Because Joseph started our classes on Flag day, May 17th in Haiti always holds a very special place in our hearts. This was the third anniversary of Aslan’s youth program in L’Acajou! Pictured above is Judesen Jean, whom we’ve sponsored in school for many years and another young woman performing a traditional African dance before the Lord. Behind Judesen, you can see that a large number of the 500 people who attended were children!
Flag Day in Haiti is much like our Fourth of July celebration. There are special ceremonies throughout the country, but this was the first time there had been anything in L’Acajou. And what a celebration it was! 
We began with a beautiful church service, which was followed by a bountiful meal. We served 438 people before we ran out of food, so we know attendance grew to at least 500 people! After lunch the real fun
began, with contests, marching groups, more contests, a boy’s race to Ouanaminthe and back, a girl’s race and then more contests! Whew! Gil and I finally returned to our mission house ~ thoroughly and utterly exhausted ~ before the grand finale.
I’ll write more about our time there, but I want you all to know that our clinic units are now in Miami and will be shipped to Cap-Haitien on June 3rd with the intended arrival date in Cap-Haitien of June 9th! Six men will be accompanying me down to Haiti to place the units together on the foundation, unpack them and ready them for our first medical group to come.
When all is said and done, the accolades and awards of men will mean nothing. All the university degrees you can amass, all the power you can wield over people, all the monuments you can build to yourself or others will amount to nothing more than a pile of ash on the ground. And you and I will be dust in the wind. But if we have given our lives up for His sake, we will have found something that no one can take from us. In the end, only what’s done for Christ will be left standing.
Craig
