Haiti 2010: Day 1 and 2

Hello All!

We have had a very exciting start to our mission. We left Newark, NJ on time after a little bit of traffic, flew to Ft. Lauderdale and raced to our next flight. When we found our gate, they were just about to close it! They told us that only one out of our 13 pieces of luggage made it to the plane. That caused a little bit of panic but we prayed on the flight and when we landed, our entire luggage came too! Praise God! We were serenaded at the airport which added to our excitement.

The next adventure was finding our leaders, Katya and Miguel. The airport is extremely different than American airports and we were cattle herded through a very small exit, constantly being asked by “workers” if they could help. We found the parking lot, but no Katya and Miguel. We waited about an hour with our total of 17 pieces of luggage. Finally, I saw YWAM and asked to borrow their cell phone. I contacted Pastor Franklin and within minutes, they found us! Apparently the organization of the airport changed from yesterday when they dropped the last team off.
Next, we crowded into a 15 passenger van and started driving. For most of our team, this was a new, scary experience. Judy and Katrina sat in the front with Johnny our driver, and learned the importance of horns and being extremely close to motorcycles. He gave them a new definition of “road rage,” however, for them this is just the way they drive. It was about an hour drive to the guest house and we stopped for gas that was $6.00 a gallon.

The guest house was a pleasant surprise. We were prepared to sleep in tents in the backyard, but were lead to rooms with pre-made beds, fans, electricity, and a marble bathroom with ceramic floors. They had just finished this room recently. Apparently after the earthquake, many organizations were looking for places to house their teams and found many unused nice houses on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. This was one of them and it´s gorgeous. (We can´t add pictures yet because it will take too long, but I will post some when we get home). We ate, showered, had devotions and we were asleep by 9:30.

We woke to the lovely neighborhood rooster at 5am, however, we didn´t actually get up until 6am. We had individual and team devotions. Jason shared the story of Jesus feeding the 5000, specifically Matthew 14:16, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” He explained that we need to have faith in Jesus and he will take whatever we have and multiply it. This was a great word to start our day.

We traveled to the opposite side of Port-au-Prince, through crazy traffic to a community that was hit hard by the earthquake. We passed many tent villages, collapsed buildings and homes, and saw the people still living their normal life. The community was on a steep hill and we were helping to rebuild a church that had completely collapsed in the earthquake. We began by moving rocks for the right side wall and filling in a trench with dirt. We formed assembly lines to move dirt and debris out of the building and to bring concrete into the building. It was extremely hot and we took many, many water breaks. Mario became good friends with the concrete crew having mini Creole/English lessons in between mixing and moving the concrete.

After lunch, we worked for a few more hours surrounded by children that often joined in with our assembly line. One boy in particular, Papouch, learned all of our names and learned to “blow up a pound” (you know, the handshake thing) with me. He was adorable and made us all laugh. We then put on a puppet show, sang some songs, and made “Jezi renmen mwen paske mwen special” or “Jesus loves me because I´m special” on paper plates and we decorated them with flowers, hearts, and crosses.

It´s hard to see the devastation that is here and realize that we can´t fix it all. We are just joining in with the Haitians to put a small dent in the restoration that needs to take place. The people are hard workers, have strong endurance, and are joyful. It´s encouraging to see this and know that the Lord´s will is moving and working.
Our first day was hot, and tiring, but full of blessings. We can´t wait to see what the Lord is going to do tomorrow when we return to the church and continue to move debris, play with children and witness to the Lord´s people.
Please pray for physical strength (there´s no way we could be doing what we´re doing without God), for health, protection from the sun and staying hydrated (we sweat puddles in minutes), Judy´s car sickness and safety while driving, that we will not become cocky and over confident because we had a great day and continued grace, favor, and love from God.

This is the only internet access we will have, so if you are expecting emails from the team members, I´m sorry but you probably won´t get them!

The Haiti Team!