Today we embarked upon our second mission trip to Haiti.  We arrived at the Kansas City airport before the break of dawn. Everyone was excited and tired.   On the trip from Kansas City to Dallas most of us slept. Once we arrived in Dallas we found Melissa’s father.  He had flown in from Atlanta to join us.  He had to wake up earlier than the rest of us, but and managed to arrive before us even though he came from a greater distance.

While In the airport in Dallas, most of found something to eat.  You could tell we were starting to wake up finally.  Conversations broke out and people started to talk about the trip.  Min. Tina made friends with fellow passengers on the flight from Dallas to Florida. The rest of us slept a bit more on this flight.

Upon arrival in Florida, we got our first taste of what we might expect in Haiti. The air conditioning in the airport wasn’t working very well and there were lots of people.  Finally we boarded our flight and were on our way to Haiti.  I sat next to Franck, a gentleman born in the Dominican Republic with parents from Haiti.  He currently lives in Haiti and was returning from visiting his children living in Florida for Christmas and New Years.  He was glad because his oldest child was in college now.  Franck owns a small construction business near the Baptist mission. He had quite a bit to say about the corrupt politicians and businessmen in Haiti that were stealing away the aid dollars that were meant to rebuild the country. He was very happy about President Martelly however. Martelly had managed to get funding for 9000 children to get educated and had gotten them in school. He saw this as a first step toward a brighter future for Haiti.

When we arrived in Haiti, we got our luggage and headed out to the Heart to Heart vehicle. The porters agressively tried to carry our luggage. When we arrived at the vehicle, the swarmed us again trying to help with our bags.  LaTonya got upset because she paid a man in the airport to help us with our bags thinking he was from Heart to Heart. Ufnfortunately he was simply impersonating Edwidge from Heart to Heart.  We scrambled to scrape together a few dollar to tip some of men. Thankfully Linda was there to greet us. She explained to the men that they should go find the other guy, he had the tip.

We left the airport and took the main road back to the Heart to Heart facility.  This road was in much better condition than the one we took on my previous trip. We arrived at the facility about 30 minutes later without incident.

Once at the facility, we were given a quick tour and got settled into our dorms. At dinner we socialized a bit and discussed what we would be doing. Our task would be to finish building a storage facility.  After dinner I encouraged the team to blog about our trip so the congregation could keep up with our activities.  Many said they would, but none had been to the blog site yet. I was surprised how much grief people gave about even getting to the blog.  There is a link on the homepage of the church website which I thought would make it easy for people.  I need to pray about this.

Today I was off to an early start. I awakened around 5:30 am. I got dressed and went over to see what Veronique had created for breakfast today. She prepared french toast, fresh fruit, and the best fresh squeezed lemonade ever. After breakfast we had a short devotion led by Jason, then we loaded up the truck and headed off to the Bel-Air clinic.

Upon arrival at the clinic we were amazed at the number of people waiting to be cared for. They seem like they had been there a long time already. At 9:00 am it was already hot and as you looked around the room, the children were silent and very little talking was happening amongst the patients. When you think about hospital waiting rooms, usually if children are present there’s some playfulness, or joy when children see one another, or something. The parents usually interact with one another discussing their children, etc. Here everyone sat silently and just waited.

We brought in the shelves we built, put the backs on some existing shelves, and helped load the medicines on the shelves. so the pharmacy would no longer have medication sitting on pews or tables.

After leaving the clinic, we went to an orphanage. This was one of the most difficult visits for everyone. We saw many kids. I think some of the workers thought we were there to adopt kids because they brought children out for us to look at. We were only there to see the facility. The kids had triple bunk beds, they seemed to fed decently, and generally pleasant despite their condition. One boy really broke our hearts, Ulrick. His eye had become detached and was dangling from the socket. Dr Spalding was with us and said that his eye would need to be removed by an opthamologist, which are few and far between here. Mrs. Hobson wants to make sure she does everything possible to try and get some medical attention for the young man. I wish I knew an opthamologist that wanted to volunteer some time to come down here and help out. Andre said he would be sure to follow up and ensure that Ulrick gets the care he needs.

After leaving the orphanage, we went to drown our sadness in ice cream and milk shakes. We went to a place called Hot -n Fresh. The ice cream was pretty good. I tried grenadine ice cream. After leaving the ice cream parlor, we headed back to the Heart to Heart facility and had dinner.

After dinner, we had devotions. Rev. Sherri asked us to think about scriptures that came to us throughout the day.

Mr. Hobson came up with two scriptures. The first scripture, 2 Samuel 24, made him think of what he could do to bring someone to another mission trip to Haiti.
The second scripture was about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego. This story reminds him of how the people of Haiti have been thrown into the fire, and they get up everyday, brush the ashes off, praise God, and go about their day. He wants to continue to be a blessing and impact Haiti.

Jason went next and shared his thoughts about James 1:27. He thought it was pretty beautiful to see the folks at the clinic and the orphanage caring for the kids.

Mrs. Hobson had two scriptures: The first, Thessalonians 3:17, which makes her think about all the things that the people go through here in Haiti and it just makes her pray continuously about their situation. Then she thought about the scripture, “Jesus wept,” when she saw the boy at the orphanage that was losing his eye and what he must be going through.

Mrs. Smith-Keene also had two scriptures. Her first scripture was something like “even when the least of these…” It made her think about the work we were doing and the people we were helping. Her second scripture was Colossians 3:23-24 which made her think that even though you may not think about doing things, you do them because you need to do them.

Andre’s scripture was Luke 10:1-2. His thoughts were, “it comes to mind that there is no lack of opportunity to do God’s work.”

My scripture was 2 Chronicles 30:18-20. It makes me think about the religious transition that has been happening in Haiti and how God will help heal the people whether or not they are believers.

Rev. Sherri’s scripture was “Jesus wept.” Her thoughts were that Jesus must look out over his people in Haiti and weep. He sees people living better in other parts of the world and not doing anything to help the ones that aren’t. She had another which was Luke 19:40-44.

To close out the discussion, Rev. Sherri wants us to continue to think, “Where are we in all this?” What are we doing after we leave here?

Mr. Hobson had a great quote from Zig Ziglar, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”

After devotion, we sat around listening to Dr. Spalding’s stories and I helped Mrs. Hobson setup Skype on her laptop.

Today started for me around 5:45. At breakfast everyone was much more interactive. We had some lively discussion about how drastically different life has developed in the Haiti as compared to the Dominican Republic even though both countries are on the same island. Everyone seemed to be well rested and ready for the hard day of work ahead of us today.

After breakfast and devotions we headed back to work. I worked on building shelves and moving gravel. During the day, there were a few welcome breaks for lunch and to test the new Mules that arrived. Around 6:00 Mike and I finished up with the last set of shelves we were building, hit the showers, then headed to dinner.

Being a picky eater and being late for dinner is not a good combination. I had a Haitian rice dish and some oatmeal raisin cookies I had brought with me from the states. After dinner I was exhausted and went to bed early.

Today the work begins. Last night, the air conditioner shut off and we had to make it through the night with fans.  It was a little warm in the top bunk, but not unbearable. At least I didn’t get eaten alive by the mosquitos. The women had it a bit rougher, they had no electricity and thus no fans. The generator at the facility only powers some of the equipment and electricity from the city is only on about 50% of the time. Sometimes its easy to forget that everyone doesn’t have access to the things we take for granted in the U.S. How can you encourage business or tourism when you can’t guarantee them the necessary electricity to power their equipment?

At breakfast this morning we met Mislie, a young lady that lives in Kansas City but was born in Haiti. She left Haiti as a child and has returned to volunteer with Heart to Heart.  She is volunteering at the Bel-Air clinic and is currently a sophomore at Spelman College.

After breakfast we headed to Seminaire Theologique Nazareen d’Haiti to inventory a recent shipment of medication.  The goal was to get through all of it today, get it catalogued and ready for dispensing to the clinics.  We were expecting twelve pallets of medicines, but somewhere between the time it shipped and the time it arrived, that number had dwindled to nine.  We attacked the shipment and began to organize it to do a full inventory.  We were so efficient that we managed to get everything inventoried and organized before lunchtime.

We walked from the Nazareen compound back to the Heart to Heart facility for lunch.  Veronique had set out a very nice lunch for us consisting of rice, beef, left over pizza, banana bread, etc.  We enjoyed lunch and rested for a few minutes.

Since we were ahead of schedule, Linda decided to rearrange our workload.  She had the wood brought in to start making the shelves for the Bel-Air clinic and a truck of gravel arrived that had been ordered months ago.  The men headed outside to start building shelves and move gravel.  We spent the afternoon sawing wood, pounding nails, and hauling gravel.  One of the you Haitian men I was working with, Ben, paid me an unexpected compliment. He told me I was a tireless worker, a good quality in a man. I think it is easy to work tirelessly when you see the need here. I would love to see Haiti have the same quality of life that we are used to in the U.S.

The ladies in the group spent the afternoon painting and reconciling the inventory.  We relaxed for a few minutes before dinner, took showers, etc.  Dinner was another good meal…rice, plantain, fruit salad, goat, and au gratin potatoes w/ chicken hot dogs.

After dinner we gathered together to reflect on the day.  Rev. Sherri asked us to come up with one word to describe the day.  Our responses were: awesome, focused, necessary, outstanding, fulfilling, amazing, and extraordinary.

Rev. Sherri then asked what we thought of the government taking their “fair share” of shipments coming into the country.  Everyone was little upset about the fact that government and government workers would take medicines that are going to help needy people.  A healthy discussion then ensued.

Rev. Sherri then asked us where compassion comes in.  Mr. Hobson responded that we  can spread the word of the need by talking with others and letting them know how they can help.  Mr. Butler commented that people don’t know that they can do things local even if they can’t afford to travel to Haiti to help.  One of his goals is to encourage African Americans to do more.  People can go to a store pick up one extra non-perishable item and donate it to Heart to Heart and it will help someone that couldn’t afford it.  In the U.S. we don’t have to worry about drinking water.  In Haiti, the tap water is unsafe to drink and people wait in lines to get drinkable water from trucks that ship it into the tent villages or buy bottled/filtered water.

We need to reach out to the youth and develop an understanding of why missionary work is important and what they can do to help.  The African American community as a whole does not seem to get involved in missionary work.  People are falling behind because they don’t realize we are all global citizens today.  What happens elsewhere affects us.  I think I may just sponsor the airfare for a youth from St. James to go on a mission trip to Haiti.

3 points from tonight’s discussion:

1. Everyone has something to give.
2. Most people are willing to give when they see it and have the opportunity.
3. Everyone can do something for someone right now.

Some words to close out our discussion:

James 1:22-26
New International Version (NIV)

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Today our day started bright and early around 6 am for many of us. We said goodbye to some of the BD people that were leaving for early flights. The chef of the house, Veronique, had prepared a wonderful breakfast of eggs, chicken bacon, sweet bread, and fresh fruit for us. Not eating breakfast was not an option as Rev. Sherri found out. Rev. Sherri asked for coffee and didn’t get any food. About 20 minutes later Veronique came out and beckoned her to the kitchen where Rev. Sherri promptly was handed a plate with a freshly fried egg.

After breakfast we headed to church at l’Eglise Methodiste de Freres, a local Methodist church. The service was 2.5 hours and entirely in Creole. The liturgist told us today was Global Children’s Day and in honor of that the children played a prominent part in the service. There was a lot of singing. (video will be played at a service in the future) Although we understood little or none of what was said during the service, we all enjoyed it. One members of the church translated the pastor’s sermon to Jason. I wasn’t sitting close enough to hear what he was saying however. After church we met the pastor and took a photo.

After leaving, we headed off to have lunch. Lunch was authentic Haitian Chinese food. LOL The food was very good and everyone enjoyed their dishes.

Next we went on a tour to see Port Au Prince. We were amazed at how much devastation there was. There were tent villages everywhere. Some of the nicer tent villages had evolved into permanent tent villages with tent stores and cinemas. We visited a church that had been destroyed by the earthquake. There were a few Brazilian UN peacekeepers there to ensure the safety of people in the area. As we walk around the number of young men, women, and children in the area quickly grew from 3 or 4 to about 25. They were pleading for food and money for the babies. Steve told the women to bring their children to the clinic tomorrow. We were heart broken to see where these people were living and suffering.

We headed back to the Heart to Heart facility after the church. On the way back, we passed through the area that used to be the main drag in Port Au Prince. Most of the buildings had been destroyed or condemned. We discussed how much Haiti needed to develop to begin making progress and wondered what the new president might do.

Back at the Heart to Heart facility we relaxed and unwound from the day. For dinner Veronique had prepared wonderful potato salad, fried chicken, rice, plantain, and banana bread. We enjoyed dinner, then discussed St. James and how to get more people involved at church. Later we broke up into small groups watching Game 6 – Dallas vs Miami, surfing the web, and just general discussions to round out the evening.

The work begins tomorrow!!