We are here!
We landed in Haiti Saturday in the early afternoon and after locating our driver were on the road to the compound.
The road leg of the trip was by far the most
interesting one. We were all jammed in this steel cage reinforced straight truck
as our driver weaved and honked his way through literal chaos.
There are no
traffic patterns in Haiti; it's literally the law of the jungle. All you need is
a set of wheels, a horn, and nerves of steel and you can get anywhere.
We were given a reality check as our driver took us through the poorest
part of the city. We witnessed first hand what a 90% unemployment rate looks
like and it is not pretty: mountains of trash all over the road, open air food
markets next to raw sewage, junk-selling street vendors, abandoned parted out
cars all over sidewalks... It literally looks like a war zone.
We even stopped by the presidential palace that lays in ruins since the
earthquake to take pictures. Just as we stepped out of the vehicle, a swarm of
street vendors rushed toward us to entice us to purchase their artwork. It was
overwhelming, but our security escort made sure we were safe the entire time. (Unfortunately, the pictures for that leg of the trip will have to be posted at a later time since I did not take them with my phone but a regular camera.)
On Sunday, we went to church and were introduced to the congregation. I (Stephan) had the privilege of addressing the congregation on behalf of our group and speaking blessing over them in French. We received a warm welcome. Apparently, they really enjoy being addressed by a French speaking white man. (French is the root of Creole, Haiti's main language.)
After the 3-hour long service (Yes, you read correctly: 3 hours! Please
don't let Pastor Chad read this or he might get some ideas...), we went to the boys' home so we could meet them, play with them, and love on them
before going back to the compound for lunch. We brought some soccer balls, and we
aged with them in the courtyard. We had a blast playing with them. I am pretty
confident in saying that we could easily get schooled by these kids. They play
barefoot on concrete and if it wasn't for our size advantage, we probably
couldn't beat them in a 1-on-1. We played hard, snuggled hard, and then made our
way back.
We had a great devotion time in the evening on the hospital roof (where we
are staying) seeking God's face and pleading for the nation of Haiti. God is
definitely working in us and through us, and we can't wait to testify of the
results.
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