Haiti - Day 1

We made it! But possibly more importantly: so did our luggage!

And if you think I’m exaggerating a very real concern that some of our bags ditched us for Vegas along the way, just ask Kimberly and Toni what happened with theirs.

Our flights were thankfully (mostly) uneventful. Well, except for that fake landing in Charlotte. “We’re landing! Wait! We’re taking off again!”

Second try was the charm. I guess if they ever need a landing re-do, we’d rather them do it before the wheels touch down.

From the moment we stepped out into the hallways of the airport, it was clear to us that we were definitely not in Kansas anymore. The next 15 minutes after we landed were a bit of a blur of grabbing hands, shouts of “I help you! I help you!” and a mad dash through a sea of people. It’s a good thing we stick out.

Mission of Hope snaked through the crowd and pulled us to safety, put us all in the back of a farm truck/trailer, and took us on the wildest ride of our lives. Our bodies were doing their own version of the whip and the nae nae as our driver navigated us through a system where traffic rules mirror the Pirates’s code. “They’re more like guidelines, really.”

It didn’t seem to bother the team much at all. We were all smiles as we got tossed around like human yahtzee barrell.

Why?

Because we were finally there.

(props if you read that line and immediately thought of Fresh Prince)

And the view.

Ohhhh the view.

This place…well there’s not much quite like it. Every view in every direction is worthy of a National Geographic spread.

If you can look past the poverty, that is. 

Unless you're blind, you really can't, though.

No matter which way you look, you can’t turn away from it.

Which is probably why we like it here. Because it seems like a place Jesus would hang.

We came here to impact lives, but after just a few hours, we’re pretty sure that they’re going to be the ones to impact ours.

The team has turned in early tonight. Earliest I’ve ever seen happen on a mission trip. We’re completely excited, and completely exhausted, and simply cannot wait to see what tomorrow holds. So if you’re wondering what to pray for? It’s rest.

Pray we all sleep well tonight under our mosquito tents.

I know many of our teammates have been up for nearly 48 hours, and they could use a good night’s sleep so that they could hit the day at full speed.

Thank you so much for joining us on this trip from afar.

Your prayers and encouragement (and for some: your donations!) have gotten us here. And we fully believe your prayers and encouragement will fuel us on. Your comments will be read to the team at our daily meetings, so if you’d like to give shout-outs, leave a note!

Have a blessed night, friends.

Oh, and if you see DOZENS of giant things crawling all over the wall, don’t worry…they’re just lizards.