Haiti - Day 4

In case you've missed the other posts in this series, you can catch up by reading Haiti- Day 1, Haiti - Day 2 and Haiti - Day 3 by clicking on each link.   You'll not want to miss Day 3!

Saturday, July 7 was our 4th day in Haiti.  We found ourselves still commanded to shelter in place by the U.S. State Department, and we were still under Level 4 - Do Not Travel alert.   We were supposed to leave first thing to head to our second ministry location in Fond Parisian, so that was put on hold and we were pretty much stuck.    Overnight a new missions team of 8 people were stranded at the airport, and ended up walking part of the way to our compound, in the dark, lugging all their luggage/supplies.   Their presence brought the number of people to a whopping 27 people, not including the 4 staff members who go home each day.   This brought several issues, the biggest being that the hotel did not have food and water on site for that many people since none of us where scheduled to be there at that point.   The second issue being there were not enough rooms, or beds for that many people and team #2 ended up sleeping on the roof under the stars (true story).

We then found out that the airport in Port-au-Prince was closed to incoming and outgoing flights, the U.S. Embassy would be closed through Monday at a minimum, and there was that whole looming hurricane issue as well.     Protests, violence and looting continued to increase during the day.   We could hear gunshots throughout the day, and the air was thick with smoke from the burning tires.   Less than 1/2 mile from us there was a fatality in the rioting.

It's times like this that you really get to see what people are made of, and what an awesome God we serve.   Early in the day we had a praise and worship session, followed by a time of intercession on behalf of Haiti.   Then, we did what any not-so-normal team would do, we went to the pool in the back of the compound to swim and fellowship.

Midway through the day, the manager came rushing out to the pull "You people do not realize how bad things are out there right now!" she exclaimed.  The other missions team were already in panic mode, and this just added to their terror.  We prayed for them specifically for their peace and for their clarity of mind to handle where we were and what was going on.   Our wonderful interpreter and friend secured food from a street vendor for lunch, and the hotel manager came up with beans, rice and chicken (I think it was chicken) for dinner. 

The other missions team were at a complete disadvantage in that they had flown in from all over the U.S. to work together, but none of them actually knew each other, and only one had ever been to Haiti.  One of the team was a 19 year old girl, who was frightened to the point of not being rational.  She devised a plan to get a moto transport (motorcycle with a guy she doesn't know) and have him take her to the airport (it was closed) and she'd wait there(alone)  until she could get a flight out of country.  Thankfully for her, we pulled the "Mom card" on her and refused to let her do something so foolish and made her call her parents back in the states.   Her dad apparently had money and connections, and sent armed guards to take her to another location where there was at least a couple of people he knew...the fact that he sent her closer to the worst part of the rioting was a moot point.

This entire day was spent filtering fake news (it's not just a thing in the U.S. ya'll), getting direction from our Pastor and trying to keep spirits high.   Our team, compared to the other team, was a complete contrast in our approach and handling of the situation.  It was almost like we were experiencing two separate scenarios.  Faith and fear operate so totally differently.

Our evening was spent in praise, worship, prayer and reflection as we watched God be God.