NWHCM blog too...

For those of you who didn't see it - the www.nwhcm.org site has a travelers blog as well - i know Brendan and Matt G wrote on there (maybe more... not sure) check it out if you missed it.

Home Sweet Home

Winnipeg Airport has never been such a delight! It was wonderful to be greeted by family & friends waiting for us. After what seemed like a long journey - we are all home! Exhausted, but home. I'm sure more and more stories of things that happened will continue to be told, we'll put some pictures sometime soon too.
Continue to pray for us as we process all that we have seen and experienced and what that means for life here.

Welcomed home.

To those of you whom did not have to wait anxiously at the airport upon our arrival, and know not who made it and who did not, this is the update. Sorry to say...we all made it back in tip top condition. Heh heh. Pieces of our group were left in Haiti due to broken hearts and bed bugs but the trip when as well as one can expect with a group of 27 going to a third world country, if not better. Hearts were changed, faith was stretched, bodies were worked, lives were changed. Alelouya. We thank each and every one of you for your prayers, patience, faith, and willingness to let go of those you loved for a mere twelve days.( I'm sure it felt like a lot longer than that for some) As well, thank you for participating in our adventure through reading of this blog. We continue to ask for prayer as each member of this group will be processing what we have experienced over the next few days, months, years. May we be good stewards of what God has given us and not be overly cynical towards this over indulgent culture we live in, and may we continue to be lights for Christ wherever are, spreading the Gospel wherever we go.

Luke 24:46-48: and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of th

ese things."

Glwa o Segne (Praise ye the Lord)

The exodus...

We're back from supper, people are finished showering, and there is a deep drive to sleep being felt by the whole team right now. They have good reason to be tired! Here's how the day went:

3:55 - wake up

4:30 - ship out

7:00 - first small plane carrying half our group leaves for PAP

we wait - it takes longer than it was supposed to for the second plane to come

9:00 - we get on our plane - meaning we have an hour and twenty minutes to cross the island, clear immigration, check our bags, and get through 4 security check points as a large group

10:10 - we arrive and are told we missed our flight - but the first group is about to take off for FL - they do and arrive safely.

- the second group is put on standby - all flights to FL are full - we start praying for seats to appear for us to fill. They tell us that some may need to sleep in a hotel with Mission staff over night in PAP. This doesn't excite some!

12:20 - 3 of our people get on to a flight and we aren't allowed to pick who they are going to be - they just tell us. The 3 people were Ana, Roxanne, and Matt W. They get on a plane with a few final instructions and head off the Miami International airport (different than where we were supposed to go). They arrived safely and did a great job of keeping out of trouble while waiting for the rest in the Miami airport.

3:15 - we are waiting in the airport, sleeping on the floor, wondering how many times we will have to recheck our bag. We get a mumbled call over the intercom where we hear some of our names being called - we all go to the desk and are given tickets for the next flight (which had been full). All 12 of us made it on - the Lord chose to answer our prayers!

6:30 ET - we arrive in Miami, hire a shuttle and move the 15 of us up to Ft. Lauderdale - which is about a 30 minute drive up the coast.  We arrive at our hotel at about 8:30

We spent the rest of our evening eating at a local restaurant, debriefing around the table, and than walking back to our showers and beds - which is where you find me now. 

 God has once again shown His mercy to our team today. We are so thankful. We are longing to see you all (Ezra we're coming home!). See you tomorrow night!

Doug

PS - I'm delusionaly tired - sorry if my writing is indecipherable.

We're in Florida!

Hello prayer warriors! Just wanted to let you know that after a crazy day of travel we are now in the Hilton Garden Inn Ft. Lauderdale! We had serious delays getting onto our prop planes to get across the island - which made our second group miss their flight.  We are now all here - spread over 3 different flights (two into Miami, not ft. Lauderdale). Praise God - its a good story that I will post later tonight. Now its supper time!

Doug

Headin' Home!

Well, it's thunder and lightening in NW Haiti - which makes us feel all the more that its time to get on the move again! Here's the schedule for tomorrow:

4:00 - Wake up

4:30 Leave for Port de Paix

5:30 - get on planes to Port au Prince

10:20 - Leave for Ft. Lauderdale

Lunch and early afternoon - arrive in Ft. L, get to the hotel, take a swim!

5:00 - leave for supper (provided by the giving of the church family)

8:00ish - first debrief session

10:30ish - lights out

 

Tomorrow has way to many variables involved - pray that the Lord will bring together all the details (bags, planes, roads etc.) Pray that God will give strength, emotional stability, spiritual heads-up, and general travel efficiency. Thanks for praying and we'll see you in two sleeps!

Doug

sunday...

Today I thank the Lord for many things.  I thank God He taught me about complete surrender.  I always thought that I could take care of some things but God wants my own heart, completely.  Praise and worship one evening prompted me to make this decision.  2 Corinthians 12:9 was an encouragement to me.  God taught me that miracles are important, but souls for Christ are more important that the bread miracle that God has given to us.  The sunsets are beautiful and remind me of God's creation.

-Andrew

So today we went to church in Bonneau. Their worship service is unlike anything else. We could take a few lessons from them in worship. God has been teaching me a lot throughout this trip, but I think the biggest lesson is trust. Back at home, I was never really forced to trust Him, but here I was kind of forced to, and I am so thankful for that. I am really going to miss Haiti and all the people I've met here, but I'm very excited to see my family and friends when i get home! I'll see you all very soon!! luv you mom, dad, Quinton, Spencer, and Matt, and my prayer warriors!!! 

-Roxanne

hey all you guys! i haven't had a chance to write yet, but now that the trip is almost over they let me post. so i have been having a fantastic time, and have fallen in love with the country of Haiti and the children. the children out here are so beautiful. tres bel. they have such innocence and love for all of us white people. they hold our hands and smile at us. if we are sitting, they will sit on our laps. i had a few children sing me songs in creole that i knew in English, so we could sing together. i have been having a very spiritually strengthening week, as i have learned trust and surrender. the pure praise of the Haitian people in church when they sing is very encouraging. we have all learnt a lot about the Haitian culture, and are all attempting to learn some creole. i have been having fun, but i am almost ready to go home. i would like to have a long shower, and get my hair re-braided by my Isaac mother. i am starting to miss all of you guys at home. i would like to thank everyone for praying for me. i will see you in a few days. i only have one more day to see my little Dudley, whom i have fallen in love with. (don't worry he's in the baby orphanage)  i will be handing out dolls tomorrow, and also working in the clinic for the first time, shadowing Curtis. a little worried about that, but i had to try it at least once. we can do things out here that we can never imagine doing in north America. we also have the market coming to the compound tomorrow, so  that will be fun. ok, i should cut this off as i need to go to bed. i love you all at home, i won't mention all your names, cause that would take too long.

-Kara Reimer

Greetings  

We can't believe tomorrow is our last day. oh wow! The time has flown by so fast. It has been wonderful. Sleeping on the roof, sweating always (but we have adjusted well and don't sweat near what we did the first few days) holding sweet children, meeting new friends, praying together, singing, taking in the sights. Every time we drive anywhere kids come out and yell 'blanc blanc' with excitement. ('white' for those who don't know french or creole) We travel around with too many in one bus, or in the back of a tap-tap which is a truck with a flatbed with benches on the sides of it. The surrounding area is beautiful, and I've fallen in love with the people. Especially Markendy, our sponsor child that i have been able to hold and hang out with every day. (he's 17 months)

Today i was so blessed to be able to worship with the church in Bonneau. They are currently renting a very small space and are hoping to buy a piece of land soon to build a church. It's fun being able to sing along in english or a feeble attempt at Creole, with hymns we know. Such a blessing this morning. Words don't really express it all, not at all, our hearts are very full.

 Tomorrow is our last day at the mission. A few are going to Tortuga Island, others making puppets with the kids in the miriam center, hanging out that the baby orphanage, working in the clinic, going down to the grand moun, we will have lots of ways to serve tomorrow. Our luggage just left tonight, pray it all works out smoothly with our travel and bags etc. Thank you so much to you all for praying - we have felt so carried. Things are intense, we are in the thick of battle, but praise be to God that He has won the battle! 

Good night - 

with love

Janelle

(We're getting really pumped to see Ezra!!)

One more thought on Saturday...

I just wanted to ask more pointedly for prayer.  Our team is getting really tired - emotions are getting a little frazzled, and people are struggling to remain focused. Please pray that God will carry us these last couple of days. We believe He will.  Our prayer is that God will use us as a blessing and a light, and that we would go forward in love. 

Doug

Post Number 2 From Saturday

Kari

This goes out to my family, I love you guys so much. I miss you guys so much also. Today we went to the waterfall. We were anticipating a six mile walk to the waterfall, but it was really only a three mile walk. But I tell you it was BEAUTIFUL! We walked along the river. Like all the way. I just love it. Yesterday we went to Ansefoleur. AKA voodoo mountain. I didn't go but I heard stories. But I had a good day at the mission. Tomorrow we are going to a near by town to teach children's church. Scott is preaching in the sermon. All in all the week has gone by like Zada coming in the house. I really miss you guys so much. There is a lot of southern people here. I think I might come home with a bit of a southern talk. I love you guys. See you on wednesday. And I got a machete today. I will try to get one for you jared on monday at the market that is coming to the mission. Love y'all and good night. 

kari

Saturday Adventures...

Today we decided that it would be a good idea to walk for 3 miles over a mountain to a waterfall. That was about an hour and a half each way! I was so dead. Oh yeah, this is Ana writing. My knees were killing me by the time we got there but it was soooo much fun once we finally got there. The way back seemed much shorter but my knees hurt a little more than they should. After all that we went to the market. Oh yeah... sorry if I say that a lot... Every girl had a "stalker"(one of the boys) for the day for protection from other guys. As we found out it was a really good idea. Mark bought a machete for $5. then we all (well a lot of us) went to go get them to. In the end just out translator went for us all and got a whole bunch of them. In the afternoon we had another mission day. We went around the compound working. Some people washed the Gran Moun feet. I went to the Miriam center and to the Orphanage. It was really hectic and a lot of kids didn't want to sleep at nap time. The evening was pretty relaxed and we had devotions. The people doing praise and worship had a woman who could really sing and a ballet dancer. It was amazing. To my dad's interest and maybe some of you other people out there, one of the songs she danced to was "As I went down in the river to pray" by the "Oh Brother Where are Thou" CD. Anyway I think some other people want to write today so I will say good night. 

Lots of love from Haiti!!! - Ana

Ansefoleur and other happenings...

Greetings! So its been another intense day in Haiti. Today we went to a town called Ansefoleur about an hour from the mission. Ansefoleur is known as the Voodoo capital of the world. The story goes that a cross which is on the hill top over looking the town was hit by lightening (destroying the cross - we saw it up on the mountain), and than a black doll fell from Heaven, basically replacing the cross as the focal point of worship. The place is packed full of chaos and despair.  We did a VBS with about 150 kids in the morning and than did a tour of the Voodoo temple (kind of the mecca of Voodoo). The Lord gave great peace, it is true that "Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world." It was enforced in many of us today that the blood of Christ covers us and Satan is a defeated foe. We were able to tour the temple not in fear but rather compassion for the many people who were there burning candles and worshiping the doll - which is in a box, we thought that was fitting! How terrible is it that we would trade the greatest work of God in history in the death and resurrection of Jesus represented in the cross, for a cheap little doll.  Makes you wonder what we trade the cross in for in Canada. 

After the temple tour we went to lunch at great local restaurant, and than off to a beautiful caribbean beach - complete with warm crystal clear water, and beautiful mountain vistas. It was cool to see that God was using our team even while we were at the beach. Adam and Matt were able to witness to guy through our translator Wilmy, pray that God would save a man named Peter. Praise God for his continued work! Here are some thoughts from the team:

Good evening,

Today has been an interesting day. First we went to a church in Ansefoleur where we did a VBS with some children of the town. After that we went to a Voodoo temple which I can say was a very unique experience. Because I knew what they worshipped there, I was kind of scared going in there, but I was able to control my fear by reminding myself of how much greater God is and that nothing happens without Him having control over it. Praise be to Him. Also, I had a really great experience today in sharing a couple thoughts in front of the whole staff. It was such a great experience because I could really keep my thoughts together and was able to say what I wanted to say, even though I was a bit nervous. - Christian

Good Evening,

To all ya'll out in Canada. Yes I said ya'll, because we are hanging out with a lot of americans and they have a drawl that is really hard to not pick up. We are having a great time and experiencing a whole lot of super cool stuff. God is good there is no doubt about that because he has protected us and blessed us with lots of stuff. Anyways to get to the point, ahem, we went to the beach today and that was new.... we went swimming in the Caribbean sea!!! How many people can say that? So yeah, the Caribbean sea is like our own personal hot tub. It is hotter than most hot tubs in Canada and its much bigger too. So I definitely think that I am going to have a house by the ocean.... back on point.  So God has shown me a whole new piece of Himself to me and now I feel like he is more real than ever before! It has been the most amazing experience for me and I felt peace for the first time. I never want to lose that feeling so please keep praying for all of us to feel that peace and joy that only God can give. Thanks a bunch. - Matthew Wiebe 

the latest...

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Ephesians 6:12

Last night was a treat for all of us, the weather got down to about 20 C which made for a chilly night on the roof of Mike and Teresa Grant's in Beauchamp. In fact most of us woke up and one point during the night because we were quite cool but we did not mind.

Today we spend the day at the orphanage in Beauchamp. The morning began with biscuits and gravy, an American breakfast, which happens to be among our favorite food here so far. After breakfast we prepared peanut butter sandwiches which we were going to give to the kids for their snack. Most of the children do not get much if anything to eat during any given day so to give them a peanut butter sandwich is of great importance for their nourishment.

As the children began entering the church we realized that there were going to be more kids than we had anticipated. Despite the large crowd we still had a great time singing songs with them, and playing other games outside with them in the 40 C heat. We also did a bible story skit for the kids and taught them Colossians 3:13 using actions.

We had prepared roughly 160 sandwiches for the kids at the orphanage for lunch so we did not to have more kids than we had sandwiches. As kids piled into the church we eventually had to shut the doors because there were more children than we had food and craft supplies for. When we finally counted the number of kids in the church there were 180 kids and 20 kids still standing outside. As lunch time came we began to pray because we in our finite minds knew that unless God would provide there would not be enough snack for all the children. Some of our own youth began passing out sandwiches and as they handed out sandwiches I kept watching in faith that God would provide food for all the children. All 180 children inside the church were fed, the 20 children outside were fed and we had 20 sandwiches left over! For those of you who are experts in math, this equation does not add up. We saw God's power and love poured out at the orphanage in Beauchamp. God provided a way when there was no way humanly possible.

I want to take this opportunity to speak on the way in which God revealed Himself at Beauchamp and about miracles. In North America, during the songs we sing at church on Sunday's  or when we speak to God in prayer we tend to ascribe attributes to Him such as Almighty, powerful, Amazing, Sovereign, sustainer, provider, my  redeemer and my all in all. To many, the idea of miracles invokes feelings of doubt and unbelief, perhaps there are some who read the above story and doubt that it really happened. For those who are believers in the one true God there should be no unbelief or astonishment when God does the miraculous. If our God is who he says he is in the bible and he is the God who we boldly sing and pray about, then any acts of God are not miraculous but rather signs of his power. If we truly believe in our God and who he is then there should be no doubt that God can do the impossible.

The act of God that we experienced today in Beauchamp should not be proclaimed merely as "the miracle" but rather as another reason to give glory, honor and praise to our God. Today has again reminded us as a group that our God is so great and that he is to be praised. We our to surrender our lives to God and live by faith knowing that he truly does provide for those who trust in him. Doug and I have been talking today and have realized that often times God manifests himself in the places that the Gospel is being spread, just as Paul healed the sick and blind on his missionary journeys. 

What I want to conclude with is a thought from Jesus. In Matthew 9 Jesus said, "Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk? If you do not know the story please read it. The very fact that God has revealed himself to us by his Son Jesus and offers us forgiveness of sins is a far greater miracle that multiplying bread. All of us deserve eternal death for our sins and God, through Jesus has reversed this punishment. The fact that God allows us to know Him through his initiative is a miracle that we should all reflect on and be in awe of every day. 

Talk to you soon. Keep on praying.

Scott

quick update

We are all healthy and well.  We have now traveled to Beauchamp, which is a new church plant in a town about 26 miles west.  We are all doing well and can't wait to tell you all the things God is doing in Haiti.  Keep praying.  We will update more soon.

The happenings and musings of Tuesday...

Day 5     12:49     Tues, 7/7/09

Turns out hut to hut evangelism is actually, 'go to people's house, talk to them, and pray for them if they want'. We did that until 11:30, then came to the compound to debrief and eat lunch (spaghetti and mini wiener pieces). Now we're planning on hanging out here until 2:00 when we're leaving. I was so hot when we were doing hut to hut that sweat was literally running down my chest and pooling in the dip between my ribs. It was so gross that I had to take a shower, even though I will more than likely get just as, if not more, sweaty this afternoon. If I need one thing from God right now it's positive thinking. Me and Roxanne have this thing where, if one of us is acting grumpy, the other takes her aside, or whispers, 'at least you're not sick', and we're  good. God has really been blessing me with an open mind and a smile on my face, as well as a healthy body. Our whole team has been staying positive and encouraging one another. I feel like every day, I'm getting closer with each one of the them. Kari is no longer sick, so that makes us the only team with no ailments. (Everyone's certain it's because we're the only Canadian team.) I don't think I've prayed or laughed so much in these last five days as ever before. I can already feel God changing me for the better. 

                              Signed, Izzy (Hi Family! Not missing you quite yet.)

P.S. Mark says to say congrats to Scott for holding off on the can for 4 days ....\\

\

\\\

Well, first of all>>>>"Happy anniversary to Viktor from Irene! 19 years!" from Irene

and "Happy Birthday, Mom" says Brendan. :)

What an incredible day. We all spent a lot of time in the villages today. It is sobering and wonderful at the same time. There is sewage and garbage all over the dirt streets here.  Wild dogs and chickens pick through the garbage. The people sleep in little tin shacks with their five, malnourished children. And yet, little children scream "blanc, blanc"( which means "white" in Creole) in excitement to see us here. We got to talk to many villagers today with the help of our translators. One man was sitting on the side of the road fixing old shoes he had found. We talked with him for a little while and he told us that he fixes these shoes and sells them to make a living. He said it is good for him to do this, because it helps him not to steal. He wanted us to pray for him ( as all the Haitians are) and he said it was nice that someone talked to him. Many villagers and their children do not eat for days at a time. The little kids will come up and ask you for food or money. Sadly enough, they really are hungry. And malnourished. But they are a beautiful people and many of the believers are true followers of Jesus,completely grasping what Jesus said when he said "I am the Bread of Life". Maybe us rich North Americans don't completely understand that because we have been given so much, physically?

Our team has had a wonderful trip so far. The staff and translators here are amazing people who have just blessed. Please pray for us tomorrow, we will be camping in Beau champ and doing VBS there in the morning.

Also, for those of you praying....My back has been so good, with almost no pain since we have been here! A complete miracle! When I get back I will let you know more about that story and how it began in Miami.....:)

With love,

Brynn

p.s. Because I can....Jordy, I love you and miss you! :)

Praise God for what He is doing in us!! Praise God. Pray that we have energy and strength. We're getting pretty tired and all of what is around us can be overwhelming. I'm excited tomorrow to sleep in Beau Champ, it's in the dessert so it's supposed to get down to 75 at night. We are a constant sweaty mess! It's wonderful! We are so thankful to have the opportunity to be here. We love what this mission is doing here in the northwest of Haiti.

It has been such a joy to spend time with our lovely little sponsor boy Markendy, so sweet!

Tomorrow we're traveling 3 hours to the orphanage, doing VBS there, then going to Beau Champ (another 30 min away) and then doing VBS there in the morning, maybe a teen thing, then back here for thursday supper.

Continue to pray that God would break us and use us.

~Janelle

ps  - today a rat ran over Irene's arm during a meeting. And her commentary was "oh a very big mouse" and then later "it was kinda cute and soft". We're all doing great!!

monday night...

Hey Dianne here

Today the team spent the day at the mission campus. There are many opportunities to partner with the work that happens here. In the morning I assisted the nurses in the clinic. Patients lined up to see the doctor. While they were sitting and waiting I took their temps as the nurse took their blood pressure. Two and one half hours flew by. I went to the orphange to help the care givers there. Afteroon a number of us spent time "visiting" with the the elderly. The kids sang with them played guitar for them and made hemp bracelets for them, 

I loved the time spent bringing meals to the village to those who could not come up to get their 

portion of rice. So many opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. God is doing good stuff here.

Hi, this is Tyler Voth signing in

While other groups headed off to Tortuga for the day, our group was at the mission campus to help out with the various programs. Personally, I went to Gran Moun which was the part of the mission that housed the elderly.  We spent the morning attempting to converse with them, reading the creole bible and just hangin' out.  The elderly had a complete joy in the Lord and were very happy to see us and enjoy our company.  The time was filled with laughs, worship and fellowship.  After lunch, some compatriots and I went to the on-campus orphanage.  It was a joy to just hold the children who long for attention and watch Alice in Wonderland with them. It is obvious that God is working through all of us to change our hearts.  He is giving us all a servants heart and getting us out of our comfort zones.

Praise God for what He has done - and is doing! It truly has been an incredible process over the last couple of days of God - not so slowly - taking us out of comfort zone and freeing us to go forward in faith. I think we are really starting to grasp what that means. Here are the specific prayer requests for tomorrow:

1.) Pray for our devo people tomorrow morning - they are leading devotionals with the teams, the Haitian staff, the people coming to clinic in the morning, at the nutrition program, and finally at the Gran Moune (Elderly Home). They are definitely stepping out in faith - they are (in order) Brendan, Roxanne, Coltyn, Mark, and Adam. 

2.) Pray for us as we do hut to hut evangelism in the local village. We will connect with them, tell our stories, share the gospel, and pray with them. This is another big step of faith. 

3.) Pray for the youth rally we are leading tomorrow night. We're having a soccer game, and during half time we're doing a drama and giving a gospel presentation. 

Thank you for being on your knees on our behalf. Good night from Hispaniola!

Doug

Some notes....

Good afternoon, I don't really have time right now, but I had a chance to quickly check blog activity.So just a few notes:

1. Thank you for all of your comments, I'm sorry that we can't give you more content, its just the reality of keeping contact from Haiti - time is short, and electricity is down at 10:30 at night. Also, they have very limited bandwidth, so they ask that the teams do not post any of their own pictures - the mission is responsible for that. So please be patient on pics, we have no control over that. 

2. I'm trying to get messages out to people that are left in the comments, but sometimes it just may not happen. 

3. Pray for the medical kids today, they're definitely in the thick of things. Curtis told us at lunch that its been tough - treating kids so malnourished  that they will likely not live in never fun. 

4. It is truly amazing to see how the kids are getting right in with the people. This morning I watched youth singing at the old folks home with the elderly (who are the sweetest people you've ever met!), cleaning the wounds of the people, sitting at bedsides in the birthing centre, feeding bottles to the babies in the orphanage, stacking bricks into a truck while surrounded by commentating Haitians (always a peanut gallery), working in the nutrition program (we're doing 'meals on heals' later today), working with mentally disabled kids in the Miriam Centre, and many other small stories that are being journaled in the evenings.  

Anyway, gotta run, much love from Haiti!

Sunday - Day 3

Hello Friends and family! I am sorry that our blog posts have been somewhat infrequent, but its just the nature of being down here - you just never know what the schedule is going to hold or allow! Quick run down on important points:

1.) Our bus ride from PAP - St. Louis de Norde was nuts! We made it, but the trip was fast, bumpy (a whole new meaning to bumpy), and tight with ravines, trucks and buildings. The driver was skilled to say the least - who knew that a school bus could be used for river crossings and 4X4ing! Thanks for your prayers!

2.)Brynn’s back is holding strong! Wow, back’s that are strong normally are hurting from the jarring of the trip - but the Lord Spared Brynn from any major issues. Truly a miracle. 

3.) We have had significant challenge and growth already - there has been serious breaking in many of us - I’d love to go into detail, but I’ll let those individuals tell you themselves. 

4.) This morning we did children’s church and Curtis preached in La pointe. They started us to early for children’s church and what was supposed to be an hour of children’s church turned into 2.5 hours of improvisation and learning who it means to have faith in God’s provision! Curtis did a wonderful job from what I hear!

5.) Janelle and I got to meet our sponsor child today - he is amazing and adorable. He’s so much the same size as Ezra, and just wanted to sit and snuggle with us. He ended up falling asleep on Janelle’s lap. Joy and stuggle all wrapped into one!

6.) Tomorrow is a day at the mission, plugging into multiple areas of ministry here on campus (old folks (gran mune), orphanage, work projects, Curtis will be in the clinic with youth shadowing him (pray that God will give him wisdom with new issues and the language barrier), cleaning, etc.)

7.) Sorry we didn’t have a chance to get any of the team to write today - we sent them off to bed! They’re sleeping under the stars and a full caribbean moon. This truly is a wondrous place. 

Please continue to pray, the spiritual battles are raging. God definitely wants to do a work.

Doug

more travel pics - no more until we are back to FL next time

In flight travel Commentary...

Well, here we are in Ft. Lauderdale FL, all 28 of us. Praise God! The hotel is wonderful, the weather is hot and sweaty, and we're tired. But extremely pumped to be heading into Haiti tomorrow! The weather forecast is for a temperature feeling like 44 Celsius with humidity. Pray for health, safety and spiritual preparation. The following are some travel notes from several members of our group:

Wow, my first flight was three times more enjoyable than I would have ever expected! We took off and entered into the most beautiful clouds. I’ve always loved to watch the clouds and to see them so close was quite the experience for me. We’ve experienced little turbulance thus far. Many people on our team watch the Discovery Channel. I prefer to read and talk. I can’t wait to see what landing is like._Colton (on flight from Win. - Tor.)

Now its not that bad. I mean - man a living - it was unforgettable, it was better than I thought it was going to be. The flight attendents are pretty shiney. to be honest i was really scared. I can’t stand roller coasters, but this!, It’s beautful.  But in the end it was all good. God took me in and I was fine. Now if you think back to the movie “Airplanes” they were scared. First their pilots died, then the blow up pilot deflated and then a pilot from the war landed the plane - you have to watch it. Its the most random movie that Jenna and I have watched. But all in all it was a pleasent experience!!! _Kari (on flight from Win. - Tor.)

Another taxi down the runway, another take off and another chance to amuse myself by watching the first time flyers. As I sat and read the daily news just before take off Kari remarked “how are you so calm” and I casually replied, “comes from experience.” On the flight so far there has been much excitement, mostly because this trip will mean many new experiences for a lot of the youth. As I watch this energetic bunch while I write I can only hope that thier energy and excitement will continue as we experience all the new and exciting advertures together._Scott (on flight from Win. - Tor.)

I KNEW something like this would happen. Okay, so I get stopped at security because of a pair of scissors in my back pack. I come back and Janelle is looking a little worried, so we book it down the moving sidewalks, and down to that portal thing into our plane. I sit down with Janelle, and Doug leans over and tells us that the check in officer person said we had 30 seconds before that plane was to take off. Wow. PRAISE THE LORD!!! I still can’t believe we made it. Other then that, I plan to get some sleep after 27 hours of awakeness. :) We’re about two hours from Ft. Lauderdale, and we’re going to debrief then have pizza. I’m so excited. :D ...Izzy (on flight from Tor. - FT. Laud.)

The first flight was really exciting. lifting off the ground, hanging out in the plane, and then landing! All awesome. But then in the airport in Toronto...some troubles. First waiting, and wasting time waiting for out luggage to arrive where we were suppose to pick it up, and then once we got our luggage, standing in line for quite a while, and then when we finally arrive at the customs booth, we, being German, had to fill out the green i94 forms.   Those forms are for visas to the United States, and the guy in the booth only had french versions, so he sent us to go to the Westjet booth out in the hallway to get those, and it was getting kind of late. So thankfully this one woman helped us, she went to get those forms and brought them to us, and handed me an extra pen to fill them out. When we finally finished that, we were allowed to go straight to the customs booth, and there we had to get the fingerprints, and our picture taken, and off we went. The woman that helped us before pushed us to go fast, and the rest of the group was already gone, so we raced to through the security check, and found Scott waiting for us, telling us that we have a minute to get on the plane otherwise it’ll leave without us, so we ran down the hallways, and then found Doug there waiting with the officials, and telling us to hurry. So we quickly show the boarding pass and the passports, and leave off on the plane, where Doug told us that in 30 seconds we would’ve been left at the airport. PRAISE GOD!! Now we can finally relax. ...Timo  (on flight from Tor. - FT. Laud.)