Yesterday in Haiti: The Journals of a Missionary Nurse

By Pat Bramhall

This book is a window into a two and a half year period of my life as a missionary nurse in the country of Haiti, during a very unstable time of government there. It was a time of many coups and violence in the country; yet,even with this happening we were still able to have our clinics and help the people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781449713720

Pat Bramhall

As I talk about my experiences in Haiti, it always feels like it happened just yesterday, when in reality, it has been more than twenty years ago that I lived there, in Cap-Haitien as a missionary nurse. Haiti was a much gentler place then, and no one but the police had a gun. My room-mate, Flo, and I lived in a beautiful home out side the city, and far from Port-au-Prince. It was during the exit of Papa Doc Duvalier, and the fighting and chaos were far less where we lived, so we were able to keep our medical clinics going most of the time, with out threat of violence from the many coups that took place while we were there. I am now retired from nursing, though I had an eight year stint of careing for my mother as she was in her nineties. The Lord took her home when she was ninety-seven. Now, I live in the old gold mining town of Tonopah, Nevada. Two of my sons live here, so I am frequently met by children, grand-children, and even great grand-children in the Post Office, the grocery store, or at church.

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Copyright © 2011 Patricia Bramhall

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-1371-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1373-7 (dj)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1372-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011924135

Verses marked (LB) are taken from The Living Bible, copyright [C] 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Ill.

Verses marked (KJV) are taken from New Scofield Reference Edition, Authorized King James Version; printed in 1967 by New York Oxford University Press

Printed in the United States of America

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/13/2011

Contents

Getting There

December, 1984     In California

December 11, 1984

December 13, 1984

December 17, 1984

December 18, 1984

January 20, 1985

January 27, 1985

February 3, 1985

February 10, 1985

February 11, 1985

March 17, 1985

April 14, 1985

April 16, 1985     Prairie Bible Institute

April 18, 1985

April 19, 1985

April 21, 1985     Graduation Day at Prairie

April 22, 1985

May 5, 1985

May 11, 1985

May 21, 1985

May 27, 1985     Memorial Day

August 14, 1985

August 19, 1985

August 27, 1985

September 9, 1985

December 10, 1985

December 17, 1985

December 18, 1985

December 29, 1985

January 1, 1986

January 2, 1986

January 3, 1986

January 12, 1986

January 14, 1986

January 29, 1986

February 11, 1986

February 26, 1986

March 26, 1986

April 7, 1986

April 14, 1986

April 20, 1986     At Prairie

May 24, 1986

June 5, 1986     Father’s Day

June 30, 1986

July 13, 1986

July 18, 1986

July 19, 1986

In Haiti

July 21, 1986

July 22, 1986

July 23, 1986

July 24, 1986

July 25, 1986

July 26, 1986

July 27, 1986

July 28, 1986

July 29, 1986

July 30, 1986

August 1, 1986

August 2, 1986

August 4, 1986

August 6, 1986

August 7, 1986

August 8, 1986

August 9, 1986

August 11, 1986

August 12, 1986

August 13, 1986

August 14, 1986

August 15, 1986

August 16, 1986

August 17, 1986

August 18, 1986

August 19, 1986

August 20, 1986

August 21, 1986

August 22, 1986

August 24, 1986

August 25, 1986

August 26, 1986

August 27, 1986

August 29, 1986

Sunday, August 31, 1986

September 2, 1986

September 3, 1986

September 4, 1986

September 5, 1986

September 6, 1986

Sunday, September 7, 1986

September 8, 1986

September 9, 1986

September 18, 1986

September 19, 1986

September 20, 1986

September 23, 1986

September 24, 1986

September 26, 1986

September 29, 1986

September 30, 1986

October 1, 1986

October 2, 1986

October 3, 1986

October 4, 1986

October 5, 1986

October 6, 1986

October 7, 1986

Back in California

October 24, 1986

October 28, 1986

November 10, 1986

November 12, 1986

November 13, 1986

November 18, 1986

November 22, 1986

November 25, 1986

November 29, 1986

December 14, 1986

December 18, 1986

December 28, 1986

January 9, 1987

January 10, 1987

January 20, 1987

January 24, 1987

January 30, 1987

February 12, 1987

February 14, 1987

February 19, 1987

February 20, 1987

February 27, 1987

March 2, 1987

March 7, 1987

March 10, 1987

March 16, 1987

Back in Haiti

March 20, 1987

Sunday, March 22, 1987

March 23, 1987

March25, 1987

March 26, 1987

March 27, 1987

March 28, 1987

March 29, 1987

March 30, 1987

April 2, 1987

April 4, 1987

April 7, 1987

April 26, 1987

April 29, 1987

May 1, 1987

May 30, 1987

June 3, 1987

June 11, 1987

June 22, 1987

June 27, 1987

June 29, 1987

July 1, 1987

July 2, 1987

July 5, 1987

July 6, 1987

July 8, 1987

July 12, 1987

July 20, 1987

July 28, 1987

August 2, 1987

August 6, 1987

August 23, 1987

September 1, 1987

September 2, 1987

September 6, 1987

September 10, 1987

September 19, 1987

September 20, 1987

October 23, 1987      Tonopah, Nevada

November 4, 1987 Back in Haiti

November 10, 1987

November 11, 1987

November 22, 1987

November 26, 1987      Thanksgiving Day

November 29, 1987      Election Day

December 11, 1987

January 8, 1988      First Entry of the New Year.

January 10, 1988

January 24, 1988

January 29, 1988

February 1, 1988

February 9, 1988

February 12, 1988

February 17, 1988

Later note, February 25

February 26, 1988

February 27, 1988

March 3, 1988

March 5, 1988

March 18, 1988      Tonopah, Nevada

April 4, 1988      Haiti

April 5, 1988

April 7, 1988

April 11, 1988

April 12, 1988

April 19, 1988

April 20, 1988

April 21, 1988

April 27, 1988

May 2, 1988

May 8, 1988

May 20, 1988

May 24, 1988

June 3, 1988

June 24, 1988

July 3, 1988

July 4, 1988

July 6, 1988

July 7, 1988

July 9, 1988

July 10, 1988

July 11, 1988

August 2, 1988

September 4, 1988

September 29, 1988

October 28, 1988

October 29, 1988

November 4, 1988

November 5, 1988

November 6, 1988

November 8, 1988

November 13, 1988

January 12, 1989 Back in Haiti

January 17, 1989

January 19, 1989

January 25, 1989

January 29, 1989

January 31, 1989

February 4, 1989

February 5, 1989

February 6, 1989

February 7, 1989

February 12, 1989

February 13, 1989

February 14, 1989

February 17, 1989

February 23, 1989

February 27, 1989

March 12, 1989

March 17, 1989

March 22, 1989

April 2, 1989

April 4, 1989

April 9, 1989

April 22, 1989

April 27, 1989

April 28, 1989

May 3, 1989

May 5, 1989

May 11, 1989

June 1, 1989

June 12, 1989

What Happened Next?

Lovingly dedicated to

Kathy and Alice

Many special thanks to Mike Vassar for helping this computer illiterate with all the technicalities involved with this project. I could never have done it without his help.

Getting There

After you have corrected me, I will thank you by living as I should. I will obey!

Psalm 119:7&8 LB

No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past, and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to Heaven, because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

Phil. 3:13&14 LB

December, 1984     In California

This journal has been lying in my dresser drawer for a year now, and when I first got it, it was with the idea of writing down My Life’s Adventures (really MIS-adventures), but tonight they seem to have paled in the light of the Light of the World. I can see that they are not, and never have been, anything worth writing about. Rather, things and a life to be ashamed of, rather than to be written about.

Since August of 1983 when I left Northern California, and came to live here in Southern California with my mother, I have had a whole new life open up. It’s been a year of surprises – wonderful things that the Savior has done for me.

It started with my plan of going back to Saudi Arabia. I was, I thought, looking for God’s will. I found a tape of John MacArthur’s titled, God’s Will Is Not Lost. It sounded interesting, so I listened to it on my way to work one day. It surely WAS interesting, and it really hit me, and spoke to my heart. He said, If you want to know God’s will, you first have to know God. He spoke about obedience and purity in a Christian’s life, and I decided for once to really BE obedient.

I began to clean up the dark corners of my life, really seeing for the first time how I had been deceiving myself. I thought I had been a Christian for over forty years, but I had never been willing to be obedient. Instead, I was like Adam, and blamed God for my sin, by saying, Well, God, YOU made me like this. I really saw this for the first time, for what it was, and for the first time, admitted it for what it was – MY sin.

I will confess to you now, what sin that was. I had to tell the elders at Grace Church, that I had been married and divorced four times. I hated to have to do it, but I knew I had to be completely honest with them. I knew that the Lord had forgiven me, but I found it was more difficult to have your fellow man forgive you, or to forget the past, as God is willing to do.

How gracious and how merciful the Lord has been; how patient and long suffering toward me. He should have abandoned me, or slain me, but instead, He was always there, waiting, right beside me. I have tried to get away from Him; I have ‘tuned out’, and quenched the Holy Spirit. His ‘temple’ has been a place I’m sure He has been very unhappy in, but He never left it. I have grieved Him over and over, but still He stayed – wooing and comforting me when I turned to Him in my own sin caused grief. I have been like the wicked, selfish Children of Israel, and like them, I have been wandering in my own self-made wilderness! Forty years lost, that can never be retrieved.

Only God can make something of the years He chooses to leave to me, and those years will be wholly His! For whatever He may choose to do with my life, it is His. I want only His will, as I have discovered the joy unspeakable that comes only with communion that is unbroken by sin. As Jim Elliott, the young man martyred by the Auca Indians in 1955, wrote in his journal, that God would …light these idle sticks of my life, that I might burn up for Thee. So I pray that even though the sticks of my life are much shorter now, so much having been consumed by my own selfishness, I pray that He will light BOTH ends, and let me burn out for Him, for His glory.

I was reading in II Timothy 2:20-21, about different dishes in a home, being made for different uses. What a practical thing, that a woman understands. It speaks of some dishes that are made of gold, and some of silver to be used on special occasions, and for guests. They are things of beauty, and are made to bring praise to the one who owns them. Then, it speaks of dishes made of wood, and some made of clay. They are not expensive, and are used for the kitchen, and to put the garbage in. They are for the menial, ‘every day living’ uses.

I know that my opportunity to be a vessel of gold or silver for special uses is gone. I threw it away when I chose a life of disobedience, but, "Oh, my Gracious Master, just let me be a vessel of wood or clay – at least to be useful and usable for even the most menial of tasks – gathering up what’s left after the meal; it doesn’t matter, Lord. I don’t ask for any fancy task, or one to be seen by men – just to be usable."

The Lord has shown me so many things that I already knew, but I had never applied them to my life. Make me now, an obedient ‘doer’ of the Word. What a joy!

He is loosing, finger by finger, my grasp on the things of this world. I am reduced to one room in my mother’s house; I have been trying for twenty years to make a ‘nest’ for myself –now, it really isn’t important anymore. I have a home in Heaven now, where my Savior sits enthroned, and I am learning, by the presence of the Holy Spirit, to live in the Heavenlys! All the things that I was hanging onto have been slowly slipping from my fingers, and oh, the JOY that He has given in their place! The things that were so important a year ago are becoming less and less important. Oh, for God given priorities!

Take me Lord, to the place where nothing on this earth holds me to it, but where loosing my grip, I am not empty – but conversely – filled by the things that only You can give. Teach me to abide in the Vine, to be a branch that will bear much fruit for Thy glory.

I am going to try to write in this book throughout the new year of 1985, which will soon be upon us. I doubt that I will write anything in here that will be very profound, or that will impress anyone, but I pray, something that will bring glory to my Lord, and perhaps comfort or encourage another who might someday take the time to read it.

I thank God for the teaching ministry of John MacArthur, and for Grace Community Church. I joined the church in the summer and it’s the first time I am proud – poor choice of words – to be a part of a church family. I really feel like a part of a body, and the Lord has given me a ministry there in the tape library, that I love. I mentioned how my walk back to the Lord was begun by the Spirit through one of John MacArthur’s tapes. Well, now I’m working in the tape library at Grace Community Church on Sunday mornings, and it thrills my heart to be able to put into so many hands tapes that I know the Spirit will bless and use to bring honor to the Lord, and joy to the hearers when they apply the Truth that they hear to their own lives. I have listened to tape after tape, and each one has brought me closer and closer to Him.

I thank God every day for John. He is so faithful in teaching the Word, and glorifying Christ. He only teaches the Word, verse by verse, using the Old Testament for illustration, and never giving his opinion, only giving the Word alone, and showing you how to apply it to your own life in obedience. I love it, and I thank God for giving me a part in getting the Word out. I have even been able to share some tapes with some at work.

God has promised that His Word will never return to Him void, but will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent out. I have a great hunger for the Word now, and I could read it and listen to it being expounded all day long.

Thank you Savior, for your blessed Word; I long to know it better, as it is the power of God in our dealings with others. It is the power that leads us to salvation, and I want to be a workman that has it flowing out of my heart and my mouth that others may come to know Him, whom to know aright is Life Eternal.

John read a wonderful poem on one of his tapes one day, and I want to write it in here now. I feel it describes me – a bird with a broken wing.

"Like a bird that trails a broken wing, I have come home to Thee.

Home from a flight and freedom, that was never meant for me.

And I, who have known far spaces, and the fierce heat of the sun,

Ask only the shelter of Thy wings, now that the day is done.

I have written a second verse, because I don’t believe that God wants us to just hide forever under His wing. There is work to be done, so here is my verse:

"Oh, Thou who hast created me, mend my broken wing,

And send me upward again in flight, and give me Thy song to sing.

A song of joy to glorify Thee, with every beat of my wing,

Until in Heaven, I see Thy face, and a new song I will sing!"

Keep me Lord, from flying where I should not, and thus I will avoid meeting the Prince of the Power of the Air – the Hawk, who would kill me with his cruel talons of hate, rending my wings, to send me falling, crippled to the Earth – useless for the task to which You have sent me in flight. Energize my wings by the Power of Thy Spirit, that my flight will be swift and sure! (I’m not used to flying, Lord.)

December 11, 1984

I have been thinking about Prairie Bible Institute, in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada. Maybe going back, and taking all the classes to prepare myself for some type of ministry. I want only what my Master wants for my life, as it is wholly His. I don’t want to jump ahead, or make a mistake. I pray that He will teach me to follow, as He has already promised to lead us. We don’t have to ask to be led, He has already said He would do that, but we do need to ask Him to teach us to follow. He is the Good Shepherd, and I am one sheep He has had to rescue too often. I want to follow Him so closely now, that when His foot is lifted, mine will come down into the print His has just made. I won’t be able to see beyond His back, but praise God, I don’t have to see, I only have to follow! He has traveled the path before, and I will trust Him.

December 13, 1984

I worked last night, and initially wanted to work with Maggie to be able perhaps to speak more with her about the Savior. Instead, she was in charge and sent me to the Preemie room to work with Maria. How absolutely marvelous to be quiet, and know that He – the sovereign God- knows, and has a plan for each of us, every day. I really hadn’t thought much about Maria, it was Maggie I was concerned for, but God was after Maria! I was able to speak much with her about the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, and all that He has done for us. She was very receptive, and I believe she is an honest, seeking soul. The Holy Spirit had prepared her heart wonderfully, and I pray that tonight she may tell me that she has accepted Jesus as her Savior and Lord. God is surely able – praise His wonderful Name! What peace to rest in Him in all things!

December 17, 1984

My mother and I arrived home tonight after driving all the way from Tonopah, Nevada, where my two sons live. We spent a day and two nights with my son Jim and his three little girls. His wife, Pam, had gone to Reno.

I had driven all day Saturday, and just arrived in Tonopah, when it began to snow. It snowed all night, and Sunday morning was beautiful.

Jim gave a good Sunday School lesson in Isaiah on true worship. I am so blessed by, and so proud of my two sons. Praise God, they know and love the Lord, and are living for Him. I pray God will use them mightily in that Tonopah mission field.

Sunday night we went to a community program put on by all of the different churches in Tonopah. Jeff and Jim didn’t sing in the choir as they were uncertain as to whether that should, since it was composed of Catholic, Mormon, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. They felt that since there were those whose teachings were scripturally unsound, that they shouldn’t participate. I said that I felt that as long as the program was glorifying to the Lord, maybe it was OK. Then Jim asked, Would it have been OK for the Children of Israel to call in some of the Philistines to help them sing? Good question!

It was very cold Sunday night, and walking around in the crunching snow brought back memories of Christmases at Prairie Bible Institute in Canada. I am feeling very moved to go there in April for the graduation, to be at the Lord’s disposal, and to be exposed to all of it again, and see what the Lord will show me.

The ride home today was spectacular, as far as the scenery went. Beautiful rugged mountains, white with snow, with a long ribbon of clouds decorating the sloping sides. Along the sides of the road, the sagebrush and grass were encased in ice. The sun was just at an angle to shine through the ice, and on it, to create thousands of brilliantly decorated ‘Christmas trees’, gleaming, and reflecting the light. It was so beautiful! It’s hard to imagine that it will all be even more beautiful, when the curse is lifted from it, than what is was today. And how easy it was for God to decorate His creation as we could never have done, and He did it overnight! Miles and miles of gleaming beauty, just in a moment. Praise His Name!

We brought Jim’s little girl Tina with us, and she was just singing about Jesus in her tiny little voice from the back seat. How precious is this little two and a half year old girl.

December 18, 1984

For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee."

Isaiah 41:13 KJV

I found this verse on a card the other day, and it was so true to what I was trying to say concerning my own testimony. How, even though I wandered away, He never let me go completely, for His hand was holding on to mine, always gently drawing me back to His side. During the insecure moments of my life, when I feel unprotected and defenseless, I fear I will loosen my grip on my Heavenly Father’s hand. As a flash of panic sets in, and my soul grows disquieted within, I hear my Father’s voice speak His soothing words of comfort, Don’t be anxious about how firm the grip of your hand is on mine… . for my hand is holding on to yours, and nothing will cause it to slacken. Even in your most troubled hour, I will not allow you to pull away.

He didn’t, Praise God!

January 20, 1985

We had a great guest speaker at Grace today, Ron Stedman from Palo Alto. He spoke on Romans 12:1-3, and during his message, he mentioned God holding onto our hands, and Jubilant Sykes also sang a song about God holding onto our hands.

Again, the idea of our safe keeping is not dependent on how tightly we can cling to His hand, but rather on the fact that He is holding on to our hand. He will never let go of our hand or let us fall all the way down, or allow another to tear our hand away from His. Instead, He will never let go of us no matter how weak we are, nor how loose our grip upon His hand is – He holds on to our hand forever! Halleluiah!

Saw a film on the Moslem world tonight, and heard there are more missionaries in Alaska than in the entire Moslem world. I can understand this, having lived in Saudi Arabia for two years. The Moslem people have to be one of the most, if not THE most, difficult people in the world to evangelize. For one thing, there are so few men to go to them, and they would never speak to a woman. They are so brainwashed about their religion, and are so afraid to go against their leaders to even listen. No one is allowed to speak to a Moslem about Jesus Christ, even though they consider Him to be a prophet. When I was in Saudi Arabia, one sure way to be deported was to talk to a Moslem person about Christ. I believe that Islam is indeed Satan’s own counterfeit, in direct opposition to true Christianity.

Make me faithful Lord, here, over the small things, or I’ll never know anything more.

January 27, 1985

Oh, Lord, You alone are my hope; I’ve trusted you since childhood.

Psalm 71:5 LB

And, now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t forsake me now when my strength is failing.

Psalm 71:9 LB

I don’t know how old David was when he says he has trusted God from childhood, but I was ten years old when I read about the very thing John preached on today: the illegal, unjust trial, and murder of Jesus. When they had finally gotten Jesus to say He was God, they were triumphant in that now they could kill Him for blasphemy. They pronounced their sentence, and then – they spit on Him! Jesus was executed not for saying He was God, but for being the God He said He was! They called it blasphemy that He said He was God, but they, themselves were the blasphemers!

I realized, even as a child, that He had taken my place there, and that I was the guilty one, as guilty as those who spat upon Him, the beautiful loving Savior, whose only acts were those of tenderness, kindness, and love. Then they hit Him, blindfolded Him and mocked Him. He could have called 10,000 angels to destroy those men, and set Him free, but instead He was silent – for you, and for me. Shall I not fill my mouth with praise for Him?

Then, in verse 9 of Psalm 71 – How I pray that God will not set me aside in my old age, but instead will make me as verse 14 in Psalm 92 says, Even in old age they will produce fruit, and be vital and green. Then, verse 15 gives my reason for desiring this – This honors the Lord, and exhibits His faithful care…

How faithful He has been to me – Oh, that I may bear fruit to honor Him.

"Let me burn out Lord, for Thee, consume my life, engulf it in the flame of Your Spirit! It may not burn for very long, but may it be bright enough to give light to some who now sit in darkness. And how dark is that darkness!"

February 3, 1985

Another wonderful Sunday spent at the Savior’s feet. I wish the weeks were 6 days of Sundays, and one day to work! Both messages were very good today, and the music is soul lifting, and SO beautiful!

I thank God for another chance, every day I go to work, to speak to someone about the Lord. Yet, when I am speaking, I sometimes think about how this must sound to them. I hear myself as they must hear me, and I can’t help but think how foolish it might sound to them. I feel so inept in speaking for the Savior. The things that are so real in my life and heart, I know must seem ridiculous to them. Is it that I am afraid of seeming foolish to them? What a trap that is to fall into. The fear of man! When He has told us to not be afraid of their faces!

How much easier, I think sometimes, it would be to die for Christ, than it is to live for Him. We are so frail, and so easily tripped up. Yet, His word promises that He will catch us, and enable us, and I know that there have been times when I have wondered as I spoke, Where did THAT come from? Those were the times when I knew it was the Lord