Welcome to Haiti!

Yesterday I left for Haiti. I know that God is on this journey with me. Yesterday morning on my way to pick up meds for the trip a semi nearly killed me; I believe I surely would have died if I would have been driving my car instead of mom’s. Praise God for my life and His daily mercy.

I met my group after packing for nearly the entire day. We left a little late and drove all night to Ft. Lauderdale to fly out this morning. It was really enjoyable to see my teammates and get to know them more through conversation. I ended up riding in both vans, so I got to spend time with all the teammates who rode down.

Now we are awaiting all of our bags at the airport and down one teammate who forgot his passport. Brian will join us soon once he gets his passport expedited to him in the mail. The ones who’ve been before said it took three hours to get their bags last year! It’s due to the lack of infrastructure. Today, it only took half that time. :)

Haiti is beautiful! It reminds me of China. It looks similar ---- the houses, the walls, the trash and people abounding in or near the streets. The walls are filled with colorful slogans/ads, and some of the trucks are even more colorful. I really like to see them! :)

Here at our home, a guest house run jointly by the Florida Baptist Convention and their Haitian counterpart, we have had two wonderful meals. Lunch was a double decker turkey and cheese sandwich while dinner was more elaborate. For dinner we had fried plantains, beans and rice, homemade pasta, pork, Haitian spicy gravy sauce, and a salad with a real kick. It was all so delightful that I wished I had two stomachs so I could eat more of it! A neat fact, today I found out that they eat cat here. We might try it. (I would like to eat it again as I had it in China.)

I am really enjoying my time with my team! :) We have had fun talking pictures, playing Bob (a card game), and making sandwiches to feed 100-200 kids tomorrow. What a blessing to be here!!! Tomorrow is our first day of VBS and construction. I will get to share verbally the Gospel. May the Lord be honored in what I say that His seeds may be planted and that He may be GLORIFIED!

These are the things I appreciate more already: three meals a day if I want them, electrical power that says on continuously, water, fans/AC when it’s hot, orderly airports, God’s grace to me here and protection, and civil peace rather than war and infrastructure problems.