Loads of Love

I have the privilege of working with a group of people who get together on the first Saturday of each month for an effort we call Loads of Love (link goes to our Facebook page -- feel free to "like" the page). I don't post this for publicity, but we're praying about expanding the project to include another day of the month (maybe another location, but most laundromats weren't interested in hosting, for whatever reason); we'll need volunteers for that.

Here's a description of Loads of Love from one of our fliers:

On [date goes here] we invite you to Five Points Laundromat (815 Wellman Ave, 35801) to wash and dry your clothes (up to three loads - for blankets and heavy items, one to two loads) free of charge or obligation. Just show up with dirty clothes and we'll provide detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and the washers and dryers so they'll be clean when you leave. 

Loads of Love happens the first Saturday of every month, from 8:30 until 11:30 in the morning. Coffee, orange juice, water, and snacks are a part of every Loads of Love event!

Yesterday was a great one. We helped about 40 people with their laundry. We have the chance to pray with them, share Christ with them, listen to what's going on with their lives, and let them get to know us better, too.

We're grateful for every donation of funds. Every bit goes to feed washers and driers unless we're told that we can use it for laundry detergent, etc.

If you live in the Huntsville, AL area and would like to help out with Loads of Love, comment below or send me an e-mail! Next one will be February 4.

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Haiti:11 Project

For those who may not know, my son is currently in Haiti on a discipling/construction trip with a group of our friends; some from Wall Highway Baptist Church and some from Summit Crossing Community Church. I encourage you to stay up on what's happening with them at their blog site, http://haiti11project.blogspot.com.

It's incredibly cool to see that Mission of Hope Haiti's long-term goals seem to be having a great impact on the country, even if it's only begun in a small area. Have a look at what my friend Kirk related in his post on July 24:

The village of Leveque is where they are building 500 new 16x20' homes. Also, we visited a 55 acre farm that will become the home of new primary school and agricultural training facility. It's evident that the government of Haiti believes in MOH. They have provided the land for both of these projects. The homes and land will become the property of the Haitian residents after a 5 year "rental" period.

MoH and other organizations in Haiti are fueled by Americans (in large part Christians who are on mission trips) and people from other countries who are willing to freely give of their time and their hard work to help. It honestly is beginning to feel like there is hope for this country that "is ranked 149th out of 177 on the 2009 United Nations Human Development Index." (Statistic via Mission of Hope's website)

Here's a photo of my son that our friend Nancy sent me. Nelson is with "Jedi" Jerkins, whose aspiration is to become a preacher and an actor. (Don't run with that; I was tempted to...)

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Update on the Haiti Mission Team

This is a duplicate post from the Wall Highway in Haiti blog.

This site (WallHaiti.blogspot.com -- not this site) has been seeing a little traffic since beginning to track the number of visitors yesterday. There were 59 visitors yesterday after around 1:00 in the afternoon, and 87 page views, so I know people are interested in a status update. Hopefully one of the team on the ground there will post an update soon. In the meantime, this is general information from a "left-behind" family member.

The team communicated that they landed yesterday afternoon and arrived safely at Mission Of Hope! The hard work will start soon. Please be in continued prayer for the team, both for physical and spiritual strength.

Current weather forecast for Port Au Prince, Haiti (an hour or so away from our team) has the predicted high temperature at 97 degrees this afternoon -- a slight break from yesterday's reported 100+ temperatures. This is the stormy season in Haiti, so cloud cover may be giving some relief this week from the blazing sun.

For a little info on where the team is, here's a photo of Mission Of Hope Haiti's "campus":

(Click the image for a larger view)

This photo was taken from either the living quarters, at the top of a hill overlooking the rest of the campus (that's where the team eats, sleeps, and comes together as a group) or from the food warehouse.

At the upper left of the photo is the church building, where services are held each Sunday. They're open to the community; the mission teams, staff, children from the orphanage (not visible; behind the two story building in this photo), and people from nearby villages are meeting for worship this morning. Haiti is on the same time as the Central time zone, but they don't observe Daylight Saving Time, so wherever the sun is for those of us in the Huntsville area, that's about where it is for the team.

The two-story building in the photo is the school. Children who are able to go to school in Haiti are privileged. There is no government-run school system, and children have to pay for their schooling. As you might imagine, this means that not many are able to go. From Mission Of Hope's site, if you're a Haitian child, "You have a 60% chance of starting school, a 45% chance of making it to the 6th grade and only a 15% chance of graduating from High School."

The building in the center of the photo is the Mission's office space.

Between the office and the school in the photo is the front guard building. There's a large gate that is kept closed and guarded. The entire campus is patrolled and guarded around the clock.

I believe that the building you can see a small part of to the right is the hospital. The Mission is able to provide medical care for those in the community.

Not visible (at least, I don't think it's visible) is the food warehouse. I can't recall the exact number, but the Mission is prepared to provide many, many meals in the event of emergency, and they weekly (daily?) provide meals for many people who are not able to afford it themselves.

Hopefully I haven't misrepresented anything about the mission here. Doing my best to go from memory. Regardless, this should give you some idea of the team's surroundings so you can better imagine where they are and what they're seeing every day.

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And They're Off!

My son left last night (or early this morning, to be more accurate) with a team of 20 or so others from Wall Highway Baptist Church on a trip to Haiti.

Among their tasks will be to complete the rebuilding of a house (or houses?) in the aftermath of January 12, 2010's earthquake ("Tranblemanntè 2010 nan pe Ayiti" in Creole, the dominant language in Haiti). They'll be staying at Mission Of Hope Haiti, the place I stayed last year with four friends. We went with three but quickly began to consider our amazing main guide, Sarah, as one of our little band of friends.

I can hardly imagine a better team of devoted Christ-followers than those who set out last night.

I've added the journal of their adventures, Wall Highway in Haiti, to a new blogroll at the left side of the page. I would sincerely appreciate your prayers for my son and the rest of the team -- prayers that God will fill them with boldness for His sake and that everything that happens, whether it seems good or bad, will serve to point the way to to Jesus Christ.

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Haiti - Photos

Ooo-kay... I wish someone had let me know that the slideshow wasn't happening. Maybe it was? I have had some technical difficulties, so I'm just going to link to the Photobucket photo album that I made of my Haiti photos.

Click on the photo below of Julia with some of the kids in Titanyen to go to the photo album.

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Haiti Day 8

We're back from Haiti now, but I never posted notes about day eight (nor did I do this for day one), so here's the former:

I woke up around 2:30, thinking it was much later than that. I went back to sleep pretty easily but awoke again at 4:30 and slowly realized that the generator apparently wasn't running (it's supposed to run until 6:00). Though our room was pretty well-ventilated, I assume that the lack of fans in the other groups' rooms was noticeable, because I began to hear mattress springs creaking all around the upper floor. People woke up, got up, and went downstairs. This was about an hour earlier than I think they'd have normally gotten up.

Mercifully, the coffee maker was on a live circuit! We had good coffee today.

The departure was bitter. I was going to say bittersweet, but it wasn't sweet to leave Haiti. The reward on the other end of things -- my family -- was phenomenal, but saying goodbye was not easy. I intend to go back to Haiti and see many who are now my friends, and possibly to work with some of the teams who'll go through Mission of Hope, though that's not really a formal desire. It was just nice to interact with teams, see how their trip was impacting them, and encourage them to remember that the trip they took was not about them, but about God impacting Haiti through them. Any personal impact God chooses to make is gravy (that means "bonus material").

The image on the right, as I understand it, is one of the many lottery ticket shops that are dotted throughout most of the cities in Haiti. This one is in the city of Bon Repos, taken as we were driving through on the way to Port Au Prince to catch our departing flight. I've never been a fan of lotteries in the USA; not because they're gambling (similar to the stock market, and I don't have a problem with gambling in and of itself anyhow), but because a lottery typically "takes" money from those who can afford it the least. Rather, it is a huge temptation for the poor that promises them potential huge wealth. And since I think that in the USA, I was even more blown away that they had so many lottery locations in Haiti. I'm not even sure what country or organization is doing the lottery, but I don't believe it's Haitian in origin.

The plane rides home were enjoyable and felt relatively short. On the first leg I sat by a Haitian who'd moved to the US when he was younger and had just completed his second visit back to his home country. His name was "Pastor Paul." I'm not sure if "Pastor" is a literal first name or a title. I'll bet it's a title, eh? The conversation was great. The man loves God.

On the second leg I sat by a lady who desperately wants to market a food product, and she's receiving encouragement from friends and her pastor. It was an enjoyable conversation as well, and I'll refrain from posting the dialog, but the conversation tone changed a little when I asked what part Jesus Christ is playing in her life, seeing as how she was reading a book on success. It didn't change for the worse! No worries.

After landing in Atlanta, we drove home. The end. I'm tired of typing now. (I journaled almost all of the comments from each day's post into Notepad in my iPhone as the events happened, but didn't do so for day eight, so I just had to type most of it from memory.)

I may do a sort of forum post (or maybe an image gallery if I can find a good layout), under which I'll encourage you guys to ask questions about the trip specifically or about Haiti in general, and I'll do my best to answer them, or I may forward them to Mission Trip Coordinator Extraordinaire Sarah. I've added her introspective and very observant blog, my sweet sojourn, to the links list at the right. I know you will enjoy it.

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Haiti Day 7

I woke up today around 4:30 (about the same time I've been waking up other days), asking God to change my thinking and to take away whatever spirit of fear I might have. To be totally honest, I've felt like Americans are generally despised around the world -- blame it on a left-wing press or whatever. For that reason, the poorer the area we visit, the more I'm inclined to think there's negative sentiment for us due to the wider economic gap. I have not seen that played out in real life, but it's very hard to stop thinking a certain way (which is why I was praying about it). We're supposed to be heading to the poorest of the poor areas this morning.

Speaking of morning, every single morning here has been absolutely amazing. Beautiful sunrises, clear skies, the occasional gentle breeze. Haiti is a beautiful place (it just needs more trees! Deforestation is a big problem. I think I've mentioned that already.)

The four of us have packed a large suitcase full of clothing to give away in the poor areas we'll be visiting today. I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Oh, yeah... I've had three or four boys, here at the mission and abroad, ask me if I'm friends with Superman after seeing a couple of my shirts. I thought it was funny at first, until I realized they may have been serious. I told one about a letter I'd written to the Superman comic book a few years ago (but I probably said "A letter to Superman") and won some posters, and the boy asked if Superman wrote me back. Early on in the conversation I said, "Superman isn't real," and one looked at me curiously and asked, "He isn't real??" I immdiately followed up with, "Well, I don't know him."

We went to good Samaritan orphanage again, this time with Tom Osbeck, who runs another mission near Souse Matla. He keeps the orphanage stocked with water and we made the water run with him (in the middle of Cabaret on market day again -- M, Th, Sat). Made me slightly uncomfortable to stand there, to be honest, while the guy in the Culligan franchise storefront filled up the water jugs.

We stopped by Tom Osbeck's mission location, where he told us about the destitution that he and Fondie (a young Haitian gentleman who now oversees the mission) "discovered" in Cabaret several years ago. Homeless, naked people who needed food and clothing. This effort resulted in the establishment of Grace House, a homeless shelter and very soon a free (!) school (Grace Emmanuel School) for its youngest residents. Now the school accommodates 100 students.

The students must be sponsored for $30 a month, which includes school, a hot meal, and a snack. This is very, very similar to the sponsorships at Mission of Hope.

We headed to Grace House and then the dump, with our guides: Widmark, Pierre, Johnny ("Mr. P"), and Wesley Snipes (his name is Wesley, and he looks like Mr. Snipes). We took a suitcase full of clothes and gave the clothes out while there was a relatively small number of people there (so we wouldn't get mobbed).

After Grace House we ate at a restaurant in Cabaret. I had Haitian pork for the first time, and it was very good!

Our next stop was very troubling. We went to a garbage dump near the city of Bon Repos, where Tom Osbeck's team will be installing a cistern for the roughly 90 men, women, and children who either live there or find their meals there. We took the remainder of our clothes into an enclosed area to give to several of the leaders to separate and distribute to the people there. Things started to get slightly out of hand (but were put to rest quickly by older residents) when people started trying to push through the gate of the enclosed area we'd met in. One of the older men from the community grabbed a police billy-club and went to the gate to keep order. His appearance with the night stick worked instantly.

Which leads me to ask... can "billy club" and "night stick" be used interchangeably? I don't feel like Googling for it right now because I'm writing.

After that we went back to Tom's house and got to meet many of his 19 adopted children. His house(s) are *beautful* and we had a fantastic time singing together. We sang some songs of worship, some praise songs, and some generally fun songs. Some words were in creole (by them) and some in English (by all of us). Oh, and Johnny (one of our guides) gave me his shirt!! It was a remarkably cool-looking shirt and I'd offered to trade with him. Instead, he just gave it to me.

After this, Wesley (Altime, as he's known -- his last name), one of our translators, took us to a soccer game in Titanyen. This was played by the teams we'd donated a ball to a couple of days ago, and it was *huge* fun! It was a dangerous field -- trees and barbed wire were there in a few places -- but no one was hurt. We got to see many friends we'd come to know over the past week, and got to see Wesley's house. By American standards, it would be called small. However, not only does it meet his needs, but it allows him to entertain guests, something he'd specifically asked God to provide. Wesley also told us the account of the salvation of his dad and uncle, both of whom were voodoo masters, and his mom, too. Amazing things.

Please ask one of those on our team to tell you about evil spirits here, and about how voodoo is a part of the culture. God is moving here, and Satan is opposing Him at every opportunity.

Looking forward to seeing my family tomorrow!!

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Haiti Day 6

At 8:20 this morning Dave and I headed down to the church meeting house and began to set up sound equipment for the service, which begins at 9:30 each Sunday. There was a good deal of stuff to set up, since the typical Saturday night rehearsal didn't happen due to musician absences.

The service today was beautifully exciting. Can a guy say that and be okay? Although I was very familiar with allmof the sings we sang, they were mostly in different keys; much higher ones! Claudelle is amazing in that high range (he's amazing vocally in general). We sang "Friend of God," "Lord, I Lift Yout Name on High," "Here I Am to Worship," "Breathe," and "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever."

Later we went to the village of Souse Matla again, this time to see the water source and spend time with some of the children in the village. While Stephan, one of the members of the team that arrived yesterday, told a bible story to the kids, I had to say "no" quite a number of times to requests for "one dollar", gum, my sunglasses (one told me he was having problems with his eyes and it was caused by the sun. Only after praying with him did I realize that he wanted my glasses. I'm slow.), and my wedding ring. One eventually felt comfortable calling me "Dad" -- long story, part of an effort to get me to pay for his schooling. This is not unusual at all. After a little while I got to play slap-hands (or whatever) with some of the boys. They progressively got older; one would see me playing with a younger kid and then challenge me. I love that game. I don't know if they expected a tourist to win. It was very enjoyable! We headed back home after spending a little while there (and after I'd stuck my foot in a pig's miry mud/poo(?) mixture).
   
I'm teaching a new friend named Jean Mark, an orphan who came here in 2006 (he'll be 13 on August 30), how to play some of my awesomest guitar chords. He's good! Speaks English very well, too.

We met Kermit Alexander tonight. I believe he's most famous for making a play that ended fellow pro footbal player Gale Sayers' career. The movie "Brian's Song" has actual footage of the play, he tells me. Kermit and his wife Tammy are fantastically enjoyable people to be around, and so are their adopted children, a couple (all?) of whom are Haitian. The Alexanders regularly support work in Haiti through Mission of Hope.

Got to talk with Fearless Leader Sarah about why she's here, what makes her tick, etc., and Dave and I wound up getting to see some extremely funny Vintage21.com videos and I got to hang out briefly with Mango the Cat before we all headed to bed. 

That's about all for day six. I forgot to journal in real time, so this is a bit shorter than usual.  

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Haiti Day 5

I awoke to the now-familiar Haitian smell of burning rubbish heaps. It isn't as bad as it sounds, but it's definitely not a good smell. There are a couple of general smells of burning trash heaps here; one of them carrying the stench of tires being melted and another that's very reminiscent of burning marijuana. It's not the latter. I've asked around to confirm.

Off-topic note: most public (and many private) buildings in Haiti seem, to my observation, to be open-air rather than enclosed structures. This is so that there will be air circulation in the absence of air conditioning. 

After everyone else woke up, we started out the day talking (over a breakfast of banana bread) about whether it is possible for the believer, who has new life in Christ and has died to self, to live without sinning... For one minute... For an hour... For a day...? It was a great discussion that took us through the Word and brought a couple of opinions. If we *just* use the Word as our guide (and not what people have taught), what would our answer be to this?

On the way to do things today we stopped by the office of the mission, and Sarah gave us a short tour. She pointed to a stack of books and told us that a lady from Iowa, Joan Martineau, is writing the first Haitian Christian school curriculum. Currently the first 3 years of kindergarten (they go to K for 3 years) are completed. Currently it is in the process of editing, etc.

After this we drove to Turpin (a farming region) to see the baptist church. 600 kids go to school here. Otis commented that if a group let the people in the area know about it, a "crusade" or a special event like vbs could draw 1500-2000 people (kids and adults together).

It's still interesting to me that everyone has to pay to go to school here the mission offers school at a much cheaper price (visitors sponsor children to go by paying half of their cost), and is recognized as on par with catholic schools, which are the best here.



We walked through a path for a short distance, and stopped at a house where Julia and Tom talked with a lady for a little while. It should be noted that everywhere we go, we're constantly exchanging bonjours and salyes with passers-by, both adults and children. There is always a non-stop stream of people walking, driving, and riding, no matter where we go.

I began to feel light-headed and sat down for a minute. I think this was from lack of enough coffee or food this morning. Sarah kindly gave me a fresh mango to eat as we drove back to town.  That's the first fresh mango I've ever had. Delicious and messy. And I have mango stringy things in my teeth still.

I should note that we go everywhere in a pickup truck (except when we went with a larger group the other day and took a bus). Three or four of us typically ride in the bck while three or four others ride in the cab of the truck. People stare at us as we drive by. My assumption is that this is because we are white people in a decidedly non-white place. As a matter of fact, aside from the mission and in one truck at the airport when we arrived, I haven't seen any other Caucasian people.

I'm typing as we've stopped by the side of the road where some men are working, building a car wash. Otis knew one of the men and stopped to talk with him. This seems a pretty normal thing to do. The pace of life in Haiti seems to be relaxed and enjoyable, just like its people.

More random thoughts on general things... I haven't mentioned Tap Taps. These are vehicles, usually pickup trucks or buses, that are like taxis. They stop to pick people up and carry them wherever for a Haitian dollar or two. They're all around. They are typically decorated in a very colorful fashion. The closest I can come to describing the decorations would be to compare them to carnival rides. Painted multi-colored lettering on wood, etc. Pictures of people that look weirdly scary at times, or just unusual.

At 3:30 we headed to Souse Matla for a church meeting at a mission run by a man named Tom Osbeck, an old friend of Tom Parker. We rode in a Tap Tap! It was weird but fun. There were about 20 people already in it when the eight of us climbed in. I'd given the Haitian money for the cab to JR (a Haitian) so they wouldn't try to short-change an American.

Tom's friend Tom invited me and Dave to lead a few songs with the team at the church we visited. Familiar songs, familiar keys, unfamiliar chord changes, and definitely unfamiliar words. It was great! We have the opportunity to lead tomorrow with the team here at Mission of Hope's service. Greatly looking forward to it. The worship leader here, Claudelle, is highly respected in his talent and love for Christ. He'll be in the US later this year; hopefully we'll be able to host him, or at the very least, hook up with him.

Another group has arrived and Sarah is giving them the ABC's of Haiti. I'm not sure whether to get to know them tonight or leave them alone. Their flight was very late.

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Haiti Day 4

Haiti Day 4

We said goodbye to the group from North Carolina as they left to return home around 6:30 or so. Gonna miss them.

Dave and Tom and I talked about praying over voodoo temples/houses before we left for the village of Titanyen (pronounced "TEE-ty-an" and means "less than nothing" -- dead bodies from Port au Prince were delivered to this village in past times. I'm going to have to dig into this history a bit). Friday is market day in Titanyen, but today we'd be walking around village instead of driving through it (as we did in Cabaret yesterday).

JR, our interpreter, took us past people selling canned goods, shoes, and hundreds of other things (the smoked fish was the first "Wow" thing for me, because I can't imagine buying open-air fish in 90-100-degree heat with dust swirling all around, to take home and eat), while wheelbarrows filled with live chickens were wheeled past us and people walked by with their wares balanced on their heads. It was all pretty unusual. Definitely not the mall. 

JR led us down a side road where we were stopped by a group of guys who wanted sponsorship for a soccer (football) team: balls and shirts. We (well, mostly Sarah) talked to them via JR and after they asked us if we could show up for a game. Not sure whether or not we'll do that, but the games we'd be most likely to make are on Monday at 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM. Ot would be in the village. To be quite honest, I thought they were a gang trying to extort something from the white people; obvious "not from
around here" types. (But I was wrong. They came by the mission around 4:30 today and picked up a soccer ball that Sarah had said the mission would supply.) 

We walked further and JR took us to the home of an elderly lady, "Madame Chief," who lovingly embraced JR and Sarah and then each one of our team. She loves the Lord. Her neighbor (Angeline) was an elderly lady in a wheelchair, sitting in her front door on the adjoined porch. I had the privilege of praying for/with her, that God would give her joy, strength, and physical healing.

Before we left, Julia prayed with Madame Chief, for her son to be able to find work, for blessings, etc. As we exited her house, a man from across the way stepped into our path and knelt down in front of us. Tom and I both turned to JR to ask for his help in translation. JR approached and asked the man what he needed. After an exchange, JR looked at us and said, "He wants to save." He wanted to be "saved". Tom and Dave talked to the man through JR. Tom asked what he wanted to be saved from (to start with a frame of reference -- not to be anal), and Dave asked if he knew anything about Jesus. So, starting from the ground floor, Dave and Tom took the man, named Ricardo, though the story of creation and redemption. The man resolutely wanted to follow Christ, and they led the man in prayer for salvation. The mission will be following up with a Bible and in discipling him.

In the meantime I'd met a 16-year old named Jean Louis, with whom I'll be hooking up on Facebook. His English was excellent. I'll have to say something at some point about my horrible attempts at Creole, which seems to be an offshoot of French. 

We continued through the market area and the village, noticing vendors who were selling some very cool jeans, and right next to them some vendors who were taking a meat cleaver to a freshly-killed (?) and skinned goat. The goat skin was in a pile next to the table. That area didn't smell good.

After walking around the village for a while, we went to eat lunch down the road at Gwo Papa Poul (Big Daddy Chicken) in the village of Source Mayle (pronounced "soo-SMAHT-la" and means "source of water").  

Side note: restaurants sell both Coca-Cola and Pepsi products. Both are bottled at the same place! Every soda seems to be served in a glass bottle, which is odd because so many plastic bottles litter the streets and garbage areas.

After eating, we headed to a village outside of Cabaret to go on what's called "The River Walk." I'm not sure I can describe this well enough. We went to walk on a path around a river -- maybe a couple of miles. Kids play in the river, animals go poo in it, people wash their clothes in it, and I think some people may drink from it. It's shetered by a beautiful, lush vegetation and crops that the locals plant. 

We started the walk and rather quickly a couple of children ran up and grabbed Julia's and Sarah's hands, then Dave's and Tom's and mine. Maybe JR's, too, but I can't recall. We walked through wooded areas with mango trees, banana trees, polo trees, and other vegetation. Along the course of the walk, we picked up probably 30 children who joined us walking. It seems the mission groups that go on this walk usually take candy to give the kids, something that we forgot. I was disappointed that we wouldn't be able to do this for them, but when we got back to the truck, JR began to hand out lollipops.

By the way, Sarah the Haitian Expert says, "Kids here like to lick white people for some reason." That helped make a little sense of the day.

Everyone crashed after we got back from the walk except for me, so I was able to walk down to the front entrance with JR to take the aforementioned soccer ball to the guys from Titanyen who'd shown up to get it. While we were near the mission's orphanage, JR gave me a short tour and I got to hang out briefly and take some photos of the rooms and the courtyard.

Tonight is movie night at the orphanage! I noted with interest that even out here in a rather desolate area with very, very little technology, there were no adults setting up the projector. 10-12 year old boys handled all the tech stuff. They show movies on the outside wall of the orphanage.

Off to try to get some sleep. Hopefully I can quickly summarize the adjustment to sleeping here. It's just hot and humid with no air conditioning. Sleeping in a pool of sweat just takes a little getting used to. Not bad at all. Even helped me the first night -- I'd wake up every hour and a half because of the heat, look at the clock and think, "Yes! I still have HOURS left to sleep!" It was difficult to be as optimistic the second and third nights. We shall see how night #4 goes...

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Haiti Day 3

We had French toast for breakfast today, prayed together with the group from NC and sang a couple of songs ("better is one day" and "come thou fount").

Today was "beach day." I felt guilty at the beginning of the day and feel a little badly still. At 10:20 we arrived at Wahoo Beach. The drive was about an hour long, through Cabaret and many villages. Thursday is market day in Cabaret, and the city/village square was literally packed with people. Thousands (?) in the space of a couple of city blocks.  

There is much less burning stuff on the way out toward the beach than there is in the area in which we're staying and Cabaret.

Wahoo Beach Resort is beautiful. Stone steps lead down to a narrow strip of beach; to the right (further down the beach) the mountains rise high in the background. Not many trees; mostly bushes on the mountains.


Tom had suggested that we take along $5 to rent masks and snorkels for the day, and sure enough, as soon as we hit the beach, not only did vendors immediately set up paintings to display, or walk around with baskets of the same jewelry and wooden carved cups, boxes, etc. as everyone else in Haiti seems to sell, but A boatman we came to know as "Feh Feh" began to ask us if we wanted to go to the coral reef. He held up masks to show what he was talking about. Tom, having been to Haiti 4 times before, was very deliberate and careful in agreeing on a price: $5 for BOTH of us -- "all day". We could eat, sleep, whatever, and come back and there wouldn't be any additional money! Great deal! He even said Dave could ride along for free.

We rode for 10 minutes or so in the boat, along the coast, until we got over the coral. At that point Feh Feh began to let us know how much it would now cost to rent the actual masks. Long story short, we wound up diving around the coral. I never was able to get a snorkel to work before today, and I continued the tradition. I swam only with a mask.

It was breathtaking to look down at the coral and the fish swimming around. I was actually pretty scared... I don't like swimming in the ocean. I was able to get over it and be amazed. It was even more amazing to come up out of the water to see the majestic hills, banana trees, coconut trees, etc. God created some amazing things...

I noticed there were tires along the bed of the ocean and in the coral. Apparently the tires have been put there as habitat for sea life. As I understand it (and I'll need to research this), there has been so much deforestation that erosion has swept earth into the ocean and destroyed much of the habitat there.

Lunch at the resort restaurant was good (but the ladies at the mission cook better!). Stewed chicken in a tomato-based sauce, fried plantains (which I believe we've had every day), beans and rice, and a traditional haitian food: spikliz. It's basically coleslaw, but it is in a vinegar base, and is often *extremely* spicy. The spikliz in our meal was just right. It was delicious.

We're on our way back to the mission now. Dave, by the way, looks like he's wearing a pink shirt with swirly print (sunburned skin with tattoos.

Back at the mission, we had enchiladas and brownies.

I believe that God may have sent me to Haiti to meet Dan Cornelius. The account that Dan gave me and Julia (and Dave and Tom in another conversation) about the turning point Jesus Christ made in his life is amazing. Several times this week I've thought, "Wow, this guy should be a full-time pastor," and almost immediately I think, "Wow, it is so cool that this guy isn't a full-time pastor!" This guy, like many friends at home, is living out "church". He really gets it. He is consumed with Jesus Christ. Others here are, too, but my few conversations with Dan have been just great. His group leaves tomorrow, unfortunatey. We'll be alone for a day, I think, until the next group of white folks arrives.

I anticipate singing and maybe some talking before we go to bed, but I'll wrap up for now. If anything earth-shattering happens I'll write "Haiti Day 3b".

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Blog Sabbatical

This will be my last entry for a little while. I'm traveling to Haiti tomorrow morning with a small group. I'm sure I'll have plenty to post when we return.

Every time you think of it, please pray over those people in Haiti with whom we'll come in contact. Don't pray for our safety, but more for our Godly response to the removal of our comfort zones. Ask God to use every person and situation for His fame and glory.

Thank you!

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