Haiti Trip Update #1

Travels

How to summarize a day like today is difficult, but I a so excited for you to hear about the amazing time we have had on our travel day. The day began early, too early! We met at the church at 3AM, many with little, if any, sleep. We made it to Cleveland airport and made it through security just fine. After arriving in Miami, we connected with Kayla and our team was now complete! For the first time since deciding to go on the trip, we had our entire team together.

We also met Frank, our Heartline guide, in Miami. After a really brief meeting we thought we’d grab a “quick” breakfast. Yet a few didn’t quiet catch the emphasis on “quick” and gave us a scare about losing seats on the plane. Yet, praise the Lord, we all made it safely onto the plane. We ALL had first class seats, which was awesome!

We were thankful, after a nice flight, to land in Port Au Prince airport. International airports are a treat, and an experience you can’t put into words…you’ll just have to come try it out.

Frank was so very helpful guiding us through customs and baggage claim. There was a truck, with a cage on the back, waiting for us. We loaded our luggage and climbed in our first experience on Haitian roads. “I just realized they don’t have driving rules like we have. I didn’t see one stop sign or red light this entire trip!” exclaimed one of our students. Sure enough, the roads here are not what we are used to. I’ll try to capture a good photo of the roads, but I am so very thankful that I am not driving! Isaiah 26:3 is an excellent verse for international travels.

Welcome to Heartline

Praise God we arrived back at the Guest House with more time then planned. This gave us an opportunity to ride to the supermarket for supplies, which was a very nice supermarket…similar to what we are used to. Frank did say this was not the typical supermarket in Haiti. On the way out we bumped into John, the founder of Heartline. I will be sharing more about him later.

From there we went to see the OK site, one of Heartline’s properties. As we pulled in, we had no idea what was in store. Several of our team members were drawn quickly to the goats that were all over the place. Frank gathered us together to explain the site to us.

I was truly blessed by hearing about the ministry. Too much to write, but I will share a little. The career education building was on site. Close to 200 women just graduated from their program that teaches women literacy, craft making, sewing and cooking. Their school is state certified, which helps these graduates land jobs that can help provide for their family. There was also the beginning work of a new Maternity Center.

We met Junior, the man who helps keep that compound together. Junior speaks English very well and shared his testimony and call to ministry with us. I was so thankful for our team to hear how God moved in Junior’s heart from pursuing material wealth to making an eternal impact. Junior had planned to escape Haiti as early as possible, but began to see that God had a work for him to do hear in Haiti. “If I don’t do it, who will?” He felt a deep conviction and has now been serving with Heartline for 15 years. “I have grown to love Haiti!” Tuesday we will be back at OK and get to help out on the premises. There will be a children’s summer school in session and we will get to meet the kids.

We came back to the Guest House and had our “welcome to Heartline” devotions and meeting. Frank is an answer to prayer and is an amazing guide. I am thankful for him and look forward to learning more from him this week.

Dinner was a Haitian dish, which I don’t remember the name of, but it was like fried chick, rice and beans and a spicy coleslaw. Amazing first meal! My fears of living on granola bars this week have vanished! Again, I’m very thankful.

Church Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning we are getting up and driving out into a rural village to attend church. Frank has developed a friendship with the pastor of the village. He said we may be familiar with some songs and some of the worship, but some may be new too. One thing is for sure, we will know the Holy Spirit is working! I’m really excited to see what it will be like.

We will be spending all day in the village with the people from the church and playing with the children. It’s sure to be an exciting day!

Prayer Requests

Frank asked me if I wanted to speak at church tomorrow. Speaking through an interpreter is super intimidating to me. However, I once passed up the opportunity in Paraguay and have regretted declining ever since.

The pastor also wants to invite anyone on our team to share anything if they want to. Pray for boldness that team members will take advantage of the opportunity to share their testimony or glorify God through proclaiming His goodness.

It’s hot here. I am trying to keep a good eye on the water intake of each team member, but please pray for our health and that no one gets dehydrated. We are well stocked with water bottles so there is no reason to go thirsty.

Heartline has an amazing discipleship structure that is feeding into the lives and community of those they reach. Pray for God to continually bless their efforts and deepen their impact.

Pray for our team as they will encounter physical poverty in a new way. This is a challenging thing to work through coming from the prosperity of America to a country that’s average daily income is $1. There is also spiritual poverty that we must consider. I’m praying tomorrow is a time where we see that being poor in material possessions but rich in spiritual faith is captivating and challenging our own faith.

Pray for us as we see the Holy Spirit work in a different culture and a different language. It’s a powerful witness of the power of the Gospel that transcends geography, culture and language.

It’s been a long and wonderful day! I am excited for tomorrow. Thanks for reading!