Haiti - Day 8

July 11 was our departure date from Haiti.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:59am, and our extraction team was scheduled to arrive at 8:39am to take us safely to the airport.   Yes, they told us "8:39"...it was more like 8:45 when they arrived but still they were well armed and there in plenty of time.

The goodbye's were hard.   There were many tears, as this group of amazing people prepared to move on to their next adventure.  We added Lindsay (second from left on the second row) to our group traveling back to the states.  She was scheduled to be in Haiti several more months but her church called her home when the violence started.  She was able to get a seat on our plane, so we got to hang with her a while longer.   Kaitlyn (in orange) had one more week in Haiti, she'd been there since May 31 and decided to stick with her original date of July 17 to head home.  Melania, in the gray tanktop on the left, went back to preparing Lakay Poze for it's next team of visitors.   We headed home to our families, leaving new family behind.

The trip to the airport was a quiet one, other than the sniffling of those who were crying quietly. Olivia had a really hard time with leaving.  The roads were in very good shape and getting to the airport only took us a couple of minutes.  We made better time than usual.   Our extraction team stayed on-site until we got checked in, made it through customs and security and were actually boarding our flight.   The airport was very crowded and very hot.

Once we got on our flight we all breathed a little sigh of relief.   Have you ever watched the movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray?   Well, once we were on the plane we stepped into that repetitive pattern of one thing after the other.   Our plane backed out of the gate and  was preparing for takeoff, when they announced we had to return to the gate, someone had vomited all over the bathroom and the back galley.  It was over an hour before they were finished with cleanup and once again ready to take off.

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale over an hour late, leaving us with just a little over an hour to get through customs, pick up our checked baggage, move to another terminal, recheck our bags and get to the plane.   The line at customs was unbelievably long.   With 15 of us scattered throughout the customs area, there was no way we were going to get through in time.   Thankfully we got an update that our flight had been delayed by several hours.

We finally all got through customs, picked up our checked bags, moved to the new terminal, rechecked the bags, got our boarding passes and made it through security.   The two gals heading to California branched off to go catch their flight, Lindsay went to catch her flight to Jacksonville, and the rest of us went to Chilli's to have our first taste of American food, it was heavenly!

While we were eating, we got notification (smart phones are great) that our flight had been delayed again....and again...and again.  Every little while there was a new delay.  Our original take off time was 4pm....at 10:30pm we were still waiting.   We'd changed gates 3 times and we were beginning to wonder if we were going to get home or not.  A little after 11pm we were called to start boarding our flight.   We got on, backed out of the gate and sat...for a LONG time.   Then the pilot came on and said "Folks, I know you've been sitting here all day waiting to go home...but we have to return to the gate, the plane is having some technical problems with the brakes."   Several of us burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of it.

Once we were back inside, we sat and waited...then we saw our flight crew leaving.  All the places to buy snacks and drinks closed and there we sat.   They finally announced that they had another plane, but that they now were looking for a new flight crew.   The airline personnel brought out warm sodas and bags of snacks.   Warm soda isn't so bad when you're tired.  A few passengers started getting really rowdy with the poor airline personnel, and I sat back and watched, thinking "ooh, dinner and a show".    Tired and punchy are a bad combination, grins.

A little after 1am, we finally loaded our new plane.  It wasn't nearly as crowded at the first time.  Lots of people had already left the airport or got flights with other airlines earlier in the evening.  We backed out of the gate...and sat...for a long time.   The pilot finally announced "We've got some strong winds above us, we're just waiting for those to die down and we'll be on our way."   We all breathed a collective sigh of relief when we were finally in the air.

A little after 4am on July 12, (22 hours after we got up in Haiti), we arrived at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC.   We were the first flight in for the morning so getting luggage was a snap.   Then we had to wait for a shuttle back to the hotel where we'd left the cars.   At 5:15am our tired troupe marched back into the hotel and paid an astronomical amount for 3 rooms so we could all get 5 hours of sleep before making the 2.5 hour drive for home.


Shortly before 3pm we arrived at our church.   We met with the Pastor briefly, then headed to our respective home.   Olivia and I were greeted with this upon arrival.

I'd never been so glad to hear the dog barking in the back yard and to see my wilted flowers in their pots.    Lindsey was at the neighbors house since Tom had picked her up the evening before from his parents, and she didn't want to be home by herself all day wondering and waiting for us to arrive.   Our 84 year old neighbor and Lindsey both rushed out to greet us with hugs and tears.   Tom came home from work while we were still standing on the neighbors porch, and all was right again in my world.


Except...it wasn't the same.  Haiti, and it's people continue to call us back...

Haiti - Day 7

Day 7 (July 10) was a turning point.   The riots had started to die down and the violence started to decrease.   We could hear vehicles moving around on our street, and we knew that the roads were starting to improve.    Tires were no longer burning, but now the debris was an issue.    The smell of smoke had cleared as the remaining winds from what had been a hurricane began to sweep the country.

We got word early in the day that passenger flights were resuming and we confirmed that our flight was on time and that we all still had seats on our flight scheduled for July 11.   Even though we were still ordered to shelter in place by the State Department, we made plans to go to the airport the following day.

After breakfast and morning team devotions we decided to sort our supplies so that we could send things on to the two orphanages with our interpreter after we left Haiti.   This project took maybe an hour possibly longer.   While we were working, we got word that the boys from Revelator were coming to us on foot to spend our last day in Haiti with us.   This really got everyone excited and spirits soared.

The boys arrived late morning and we took them all to the pool for a day of fun and fellowship.   Our interpreter went out to a street vendor and bought lunch (rice, greens and chicken) and we all shared containers of food by the pool.  While everyone was swimming, a couple of people snuck off to bake and decorate the birthday cake.   The surprised look on Lakin's face was priceless.  Unfortunately, all my photos are on Olivia's camera and we can't download to the computer.

The aftenoon was one of smiles, games and fellowship with the two missions teams, and the boys who brought us so much joy.   After they left, we had dinner, showered, packed and prepared for departure the following day.

Haiti - Day 6

Days 4 and 5 were a whole lot of "lets wait and see"....and it was long and boring.   We entered Day 6 with a plan.   We slept in until 8am or so, then had another breakfast of scorching hot eggs and Haitian bread.  We were out of Nutella at this point, but we had peanut butter and jelly, so all was well.

After breakfast we had another time of praise and worship and a devotional.    Then we moved into several rousing rounds of bingo!  Yes, bingo.  We'd brought it to play with the younger kids at one of the orphanages, so why not put it to use, right?

After bingo (shoot me now), everyone spent time swimming and preparing for out variety show!   The swimming was of course fun, but really started getting old when you had no other choice, so we wanted to spice it up.   We scheduled the variety show for 6pm and invited the other team and staff to be part of the audience and to think of their own act if they were so inclined.

Dinner was around 5pm, again we had beans and rice and this time it was served with goat, spicy but really good.  Again our interpreter and the staff did a great job of finding food and bottled water for all of us.   Because of these great folks, and God's blessings, most people probably never realized there was a risk of doing without either.

The variety show was an outright scream!   We didn't want to call it a talent show, because not everyone has a "talent", but everyone has the ability to do something unique.   One guy did some old school break dancing, there were card tricks, really bad jokes, some VeggieTales songs, ballet moves (Olivia), yoga poses, ear wiggling (me), tricks, cartwheels and a crazy song about a dead skunk in the middle of the road.    The absolute best was a mock "strong woman" performance.   The gal broke a "log" (twig), ripped a ream of paper (maybe 3 sheets) and tore a fresh mango in half (she'd already sliced it).   The humor being that her husband really is one of those guys who can roll a frying pan and break bricks....it was just the funniest thing.  

Here comes God's handiwork again.   The young lady who was our "announcer" for the variety show went to get prizes from our stash of supplies, and while she was gone we announced to everyone that the next day was her birthday, and she'd resolved herself to not having a cake this year, but we asked for everyone to sing to her when she got back.   After the singing was over and everyone was doing their own thing, one of the guys from the other team comes over and whispers to me "Um....this is the craziest thing, but.....I have cake mix, and frosting in my suitcase."   WHAT??   How awesome is it, that God in advance had someone we'd never met, bring cake mix and frosting on a missions trip to Haiti??

We began to formulate a plan and just like that the two teams meshed, because everyone had a part to play in pulling off  operation "Surprise Birthday Cake".  

We also saw, for the first time, planes leaving the airport.   These were flying in the opposite directions than usual, taking off away from the city instead of heading over the city, but we were still encouraged to see a few planes taking off.

Haiti - Day 5

Day 5 of our captivity, we were starting to get a bit punchy.   We were getting along well, building relationships within our team and beginning to win over the other team.   Up until this point they'd been very standoffish, but they were starting to see that we were having a lot more fun with our situation than they were.

We spent most of the day by the pool again.  We were still very aware of the gunshots, the thick smoke and the sense of unrest around us, but we were still walking in peace to such an unusual degree that it was really annoying the manager and her minute by minute panic induced updates on the situation.     Although at one point she finally came and said she was so glad we were there and influencing everyone...or else she was sure she'd lose her mind.

We had been in touch with our leadership at home, and had planned to evacuate into the country side, cross into the Dominican Republic and fly home from there.  Mid way through the day we found out that the bridge that would take up into the D.R. was no longer passable, as the violence moved further into the countryside.  We were given strict instructions to stay in place until the State Department gave us clearance or until our flights were ready to leave.

Then God sent us a surprise.   In the middle of this situation, locked down with little food and water a street vendor selling ICE CREAM came to our compound door.   There in the middle of literally all hell breaking lose, we sat down and had some of the best ice cream I've ever had.   It reminded me of that song "Good Good Father", it was one of those moments where God just showed he was Daddy and said "Here, have a treat and relax, I've got this."

The other team made an attempt to leave and go to their original destination.  Within less than 5 minutes they were back at the compound because the roads were totally blocked.   I spent some time chatting with their leader, getting a feel for what was going on in their heads, and outside in the streets.

We had more beans and rice for dinner.   There was more devotional time and prayer time for the people of Haiti, and for our families back home who were just starting to pick up on our situation in the news.   The pool at night is nice, but huge bats come swooping way too close in the dark so we all migrated into various rooms to play cards, read and talk.   Olivia spent some time journaling and drawing some of the things she'd seen and heard.

We realized that going to bed earlier, and sleeping later takes up a bit more time, grins.

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.

Haiti - Day 3

Friday, July 6 was our third day in Haiti.  We got up early to a lovely breakfast of eggs that could burn your lips off your face (ok, not really, but they were seriously spicy) and delicious Haitian bread with Nutella...yes, Nutella for breakfast in Haiti, it's a good thing.   Today was the best day of the trip....and the beginning of the worst.

We headed back to the church yard to work with the boys from Revelator.  This would be our third and final session on volleyball where we taught them how to spike, and then have a scrimmage between the boys and our team.   Again the natural athletic ability of these young men was really impressive.     During the scrimmage, our team had a few "issues"....and at one point one of our gals yelled out "Pastor Ray did NOT send us all the way to Haiti to lose this game!"   It was too funny, and we held on to win by a pretty impressive amount.

Once our volleyball session was over, we went into the church to have our third teaching on how to lead others to Christ.   Once the teaching was finished, we had the boys practice with each other, they were very shy and obviously uncomfortable with this.   However, in the process two of the boys actually accepted Christ, praise God!

When we finished here, we loaded up our team and the boys from Revelator and traveled to the Kkottognae Haiti village.   The village is  predominantly an elderly village, but there are also ill/handicapped children, and mentally ill men and women housed there.   When we visited, there were 281 residents.    We watched a gut and heart wrenching video showing where some of the people came from and where they are now after being touched by God's love through man's hands.

We toured the facility, and spent a lot of time in the children's ward.    Those shy boys from earlier in the day, were no longer shy.   They entered the children's ward and the love of God poured out of them as they swept children into their arms, laid hands on babies and prayed with fire and authority.

 

We moved to another part of the facility and did songs with roughly 100 of the elderly folks and did teaching on salvation, and a skit about how Jesus leaves the 99 and goes looking for the lost sheep.   Isn't this the happiest little lost sheep ever?

Lastly, we told the people we wanted to pray with them.   Our team didn't have to prod the boys from Revelator, they just took off, laying hands on people, praying for healing and they led two elderly people to Christ!

 

The time at the village was the most inspiring and beautiful part of our trip.  We got to see the fruit of what we taught the boys as they just took off praying and being available for God to use.   This two hour (give or take) window of time ranks at the top of my list of great life experiences.

When we left the village, we took the boys out to lunch with us and we sat and reflected over what we'd seen and experienced during the day.   The "little lost sheep" in the photo above (he has cerebral palsy and a speech impediment) said that his take away from the day, was that he realized "Nobody is a nothing."   Cue the water works from our whole team.

While we were still reflecting, the interpreter whispered something in our leader's ear, and the leader quickly announced we needed to leave.  His wife (she's a talker) said she needed just 5 more minutes, and he firmly said "NOW".   I've been around long enough to know that this was the mark of something serious, so we quickly loaded our team and the boys and left for the compound we were staying at.

One wrong turn caused us to have to back up a narrow street and turn around when we found ourselves  going in the opposite direction of the traffic.   Then we got stuck behind a broken down water truck.   The boys from the home, and some of our younger guys quickly jumped into action to push the truck and get it going and we were again on the move.

Then we made the turn onto the main road.   Rioters had already started to block the roads with tires.   To our left men with masks were beginning to pour gasoline in the tires while another man came along and set fire to the tires.   There was just enough space on the far right side for our vehicle to squeeze by and shoot out onto the road before the road was totally blocked.   Had we been 60 seconds later, we'd have been trapped on the wrong side of the fires and rioting.

Our two vehicles were the only ones on the road at this point.  We were able to get back to our compound and the boys safely made it to their compound.      Back behind out concrete wall, we got word that the State Department was ordering all U.S. citizens to shelter in place, we were under Level 4 alert, which means Do Not Travel.

Our evening was spent preparing for the next day's activities and waiting to see what the day would bring.   We could hear gunshots, and see and smell smoke from the fires as we went about our evening devotion and reflection time as a team.

Haiti - Day 2

Our second day in Haiti was July 5.   We got up early and met with our team of interpreters, did a few team building activities together and then headed out to work with the boys from Revelator International.  We met with the boys in the courtyard of a church, and began to work on some team builders/get to know you projects while the volleyball net was being set up.

This group of boys are so much fun!  They were a little shy at first, but it didn't take long for them to warm up.    Like all teen boys, once sports were introduced they were all in!

In addition to volleyball, the ministry focus for this trip was to teach on prayer.   Session 1 focused on different types of prayer and how to pray for others.  Session 2 was how to pray for the sick.  Session 3 was how to pray and lead someone to the Lord.

The four coaches (Molly, Abby, Olivia and I) spent the first volleyball coaching session teaching the boys how to bump and pass the volleyball (photo below).   Once we felt they were all pretty comfortable with this skill we had scrimmages.   It didn't take us very long to see that we have some really amazing, natural ability to work with!

 

 

Once we finished our scrimmages and had a much needed water break, we gathered together for worship.  Lakin and Tre' then did a great teaching on the fundamentals of prayer.    We headed back to our hotel and took the boys with us for lunch and swimming.  Our sandwich making team cranked out sandwiches at warp speed, while the boys and the rest of the team hit the pool.

Once lunch was over we all relaxed by the pool waiting for the hottest part of the day to pass.  Once we got by the heat, we loaded back up and headed back to the church to work on our second session of volleyball.   In this session we worked on teaching the boys to set, and strengthened their passing skills.

 For our second prayer session, Olivia and I taught on ministering to the sick.   After we taught the boys how to pray, we spent time praying for those who needed healing.

We followed up our ministry time with a few fun songs and some dancing.   Late in the evening the team said goodbye to the boys and we headed back to our hotel for the night to rest and get ready for the next day of ministry.

Haiti- Day 1

This trip was Olivia's first experience being in a large airplane (and large airports), and her first time out of country.    She had a window seat in each plane and I enjoyed watching her experience so many firsts.  The twelve us us flew out from Reagan National in DC early on July 4.  We had a lay over in Orlando and met up with the last two members of our team, they had flown in from California.  We arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti late in the afternoon on July 4.   It didn't take long to get to where we were staying from the airport.

We spent our first evening getting settled.    Our focus this trip, in addition to ministering, was to host volleyball clinics at three different orphanages in Haiti.   While the rest of the team went to the nearby market to pick up supplies, Olivia and I stayed behind and got things ready for the next day.   We inflated volleyballs and beach balls, got the volleyball net and cones gathered up and made sure we had everything in one central location to load.

Once the team was back, we had our fist Haitian meal (beans, rice and goat) as a group.   We had a group devotional and then had the evening to relax.    The guest house we stayed at had a wonderful, guitar shaped pool out back, so that's where we all headed.

Thankfully, the place we were staying has added air conditioning to several of the rooms.  The 6 bunk room that Olivia and I were in was one with AC.   Our shower didn't work, so the 14 of us shared the two remaining showers.     A cold shower in Haiti in July is a wonderful thing!

Day 1 was pretty low key.   Don't let that fool you, in less than 48 hours everything changes.

Haiti - 2018

Well the title kind of gives it away, but hey...we're going to Haiti!!   When I say we, I mean Olivia and I.    I guess I need to back up and start from the beginning now that your interest has been piqued.

One of the biggest things I try to teach the kids is to hear from God for themselves.   I don't want them doing this whole "church thing" just because that's what our family does on certain days of the week.

When Olivia said she wanted to discuss something with me, the last thing I was expecting was for her to say she wanted to go on a missions trip.   She's not a moved by compassion kind of teen (she is very much like her mother, ahem).   But she said that she felt like this is what God's speaking to her about doing.   I discussed it with my husband, and seeing as the girl will be 15 at the time of the trip, there's no way in the world we're letting her go alone (even though it's with a group from our church).  He thought it better for me to go with her, she agreed she'd feel more comfortable traveling out of country with me...so yeah, I'm heading to Haiti in July (although March isn't totally out if her passport comes in time.)

We went the last week of December and applied for Olivia's passport.  I have my passport from my last missions trip to Ethiopia.   I was surprised at the differences in getting a passport for a minor compared to that of an adult.     I need to call and make an appointment for immunizations next.

There's lots to be done from scheduling (both for the trip and for Lindsey here at home), fundraising, and working on  getting a plan for what we'll be doing while there.   The group we're going with will tweak the trip for the skills/abilities/gifting of those who are going so that we're all able to be a part of whats being done.

So, be expecting updates along the way.    If any of you would like to donate funds to support the trip financially let me know.    I'd love to have you praying with and for us!  Can't wait to share more!