Counting Airplanes

Thursday, June 6.  The day we leave Haiti and head back to Fernandina Beach.  We will be on the ground at Jacksonville International Airport around 7:00 that evening........well that's what our itinerary said!  It was to be much, much more than that.

The day started as all the other days.  Awaken by our favorite rooster around 6:00 a.m. most everyone started to stir and make their way down to the dining area to get coffee and breakfast before starting to get everything together to leave.  It was already beginning to get hot and we were all looking forward to getting to the airport and starting the trek home.

We spent the morning doing last minute packing and saying our goodbyes to the people we had met during our stay.  Some last minute projects were still needing attention in the sewing lab, but with Linda staying behind a few days longer we were confident this project was going to be left in very competent hands.

About 10:30 we all gathered for one final picture before getting in the tap tap truck to head to the airport.  One more trip down the rough road outside the school and past "Walmart" and the Ravine on onto the craziness that is Haitian driving.  Sherrie followed our tap tap driving the smaller pickup truck, and watching her it was evident she certainly knew how to drive Haitian!

We made it into the airport and through immigration and security with nary a problem.  There is only one gate area for departure and it was filling quickly.  Many of the passengers were just like us, mission groups looking forward to heading back to the states after working in country.

The flight to Miami was uneventful.  We had about a two-hour layover in Miami, and a good chunk of that was taken up with clearing U.S. customs.  It is amazing to see the throngs of people coming to into the U.S. at this immigration point.  The custom's line for U.S. citizens was very long, but the line for non-citizens was even longer, giving everyone a vivid picture of just how many people want to come into America.

We finally cleared customs, got Chinese food for all the youth, and made it to our gate for what we thought would be a short wait for our plane.  The televisions inside the terminal were tuned to CNN, and the scroll at the bottom provided updates to Tropical Storm Andrea.  A few minutes before we were supposed to begin boarding we got word our plane had still not arrived and we were going to be delayed.  About that same time we heard on the TV about a tornado spotted near Mayport and moving north to Amelia Island.  We were beginning to get a very bad feeling about the last leg of our trip.

After several announced delays the flight was officially cancelled around 7:00 p.m.  American Airlines uses an Embraer regional jet for the Miami to Jacksonville flights, so the number of passengers affected by this cancellation was as bad as it would have been had it been a larger aircraft.  Unfortunately that is the only aircraft American uses for this flight, so getting us all booked as a group on another flight was very difficult.

The next scheduled flight that evening, and the last one that day to Jacksonville, was at 9:45 and it was completely booked.  So were all the flights the next day, and our only option for a direct flight to Jacksonville would be Saturday morning.  However the gate agent was very patient and managed to find a way for us to get in that night, so long as the weather would not be a problem.

She booked us all on a flight from Miami to Atlanta where we would change plans and take a Delta flight from Atlanta to Jacksonville.  The Miami to Atlanta flight was supposed to already be boarding and getting ready for departure, but as luck would have it the plane had been delayed and was still waiting to begin boarding.

We all sprinted for the departure gate leaving Forrest and Alex Enlow behind to gather all the new boarding passes for everyone.  The Atlanta flight began boarding and Forrest and Alex were still not at the gate with the new boarding passes.  The gate agents were getting ready to close the doors when the co-pilot came out to see what was holding up the flight.  Sally spoke to him and explained our situation and how we were all trying to get back to Fernandina Beach.  God must have been watching out for us because the co-pilot said he lives on Amelia Island and he would make sure he would hold the plane until we all got on board.

Alex finally arrived with the boarding passes and we quickly ran onto the plane and found our seats.  We made it out of Miami without any further delay and the crew found an altitude with a favorable wind which put us into Atlanta in enough time that we didn't have to run to our next flight.

We made it to the departure gate for the flight from Atlanta to Jacksonville, and boarded with the other regularly scheduled passengers.  We were a bit scattered throughout the plane, but at least we were finally on our last leg to JIA and left Atlanta a bit after 11:00 p.m.

We encountered some very choppy air on the way from Atlanta into Jax, and the pilot kept the fasten seat belt sign on the entire flight and instructed the flight attendants to remain in their seats.  We started our descent into Jax and just as we were about to touchdown, the pilot was forced to apply full throttle and execute a missed approach.  We were told they had to due this because of a separation problem, but it certainly added a tension in the air.  However these guys are professionals and practice this in simulators all the time, and about ten minutes later we safely touched down and taxied to the gate.

Finally back in JIA sometime after midnight, and everyone had just about run out of gas.  Once again Roger Martin stepped up to the plate and had driven the church van to the airport to pick up anyone needing transportation back to the Publix parking lot where we had left our cars a week before.

Our luggage had not followed us and was still in Miami.  The folks at Delta were very helpful and promised to get them to us as soon as they could, which was fine with all of us.  We were just ready to get home, get a hot shower and sleep in our own beds.  It was good to be home.

I will try to post an report on the LaGonove group's activities later this weekend.

Interlude

It seems the comments settings for the blog post were only allowing those with Google accounts to post comments.

I have changed the settings to allow anyone to make comments.  I have a few more posts left to close out the trip, including the youth's trip to LaGonove and the details of a whirlwind of a trip home.

Be sure to look for those posts shortly and please leave comments on earlier posts.

Thanks.

Larry

Time Has Come Today

Up to this point I have tried to stick to posting on a day by day timetable.  I wanted you to give you a sense of how things progressed chronologically.  Today is Wednesday morning and rather than detail the specific projects the mission team is working on that specific day I thought I might discuss some of the broader aspects of what is going on around us.  Time is the theme, and there never seems to be enough time to do everything here that needs to be done.

I know in my first posts I spoke briefly about the Christian Light School, who are our hosts for this trip.  Sherrie Fausey started the school in 2000 and today she has more than 250 Haitian children attending classes on a daily basis.

Students line up before school to salute the Haitian flag and sing the national anthem

Students line up in the courtyard as they prepare to go to their respective classes.

Many of these children would not have had the opportunity to attend school, and the majority of those who did attend would not have continued to complete high school.  Sherrie’s mission is to provide a Christian based education to Haitian children so they can become the future leaders who can work to solve the many oppressing issues facing this country.  You can learn much more about the Christian Light School and the Christian Light Children’s Home orphanage at http://www.clshaiti.com.

In 2004 Sherrie recognized that the most malnourished children were infants and toddlers too young to attend school.  She began the Little Angels Nutrition Program that sends workers out daily to the surrounding community to give these very children food and vitamins as well as weigh them and attend to their medical needs.  The workers go the children’s homes, which is a highly compact area of makeshift structures surrounding an area known as the Ravine.  Below are some pictures of the surroundings and workers providing food, vitamins and care to the children.

Below are some pictures of the Ravine area where school workers take food

Along with the ever present maintenance projects, several of our team members have had the opportunity to interact with the students, and in some cases actually teach in the classroom.

Here you see Janine Cazell teaching the the 10th grade biology class.

Time has passed quickly while we have been here, and our time here is rapidly coming to an end. Today ends the time the youth group is spending on LaGonove Island.  They boarded the 7:00 a.m. ferry to go back across Port-au-Prince Bay and rejoin us here at the school.

Today also marks our last full day in Haiti, and we are hoping we can get the entire group out of the compound for a few hours and visit a few sites up in the mountains just to our southwest.  There are several tourist spots there and we are looking forward in seeing some of the beauty of Haiti to contrast the poverty conditions we have been surrounded by since we first arrived.

It will be good to have the youth group back with us again.  We have missed having them around and the children here have been asking when they will be back.  They should have some great stories about their time on the island, and I hope to get that posted sometime later today along with pictures, and I am anxious to get these stories posted.

Until then, good morning from Haiti.

Interlude

Good evening everyone.

Just wanted to post a quick note about this blog.  While we enjoy providing you with updates on the activity of the two mission teams, your thoughts and comments are important to everyone here.

As you read the posts, please take a moment to comment on what you read.  I will be happy to share these comments with the other members of the mission team.

Thanks,

Larry

They Call Me The Breeze

Monday started with quite a stir, from the wind that is.

Sometime overnight we must have had a small weather system move over us that sent in stronger winds than what we have experienced to date.  We saw some rain in mountains to the west, but that rain never made it down to us.  While the increase in the wind velocity may have helped move air through our sleeping areas during the night, it made it very uncomfortable to be in as the rest of the day unfolded.

There are a few trees here and there, but not ground vegetation.  The main roads are paved, but the side streets are full of potholes and the road itself is composed of a hard packed mixture of sand, rock, and dirt that gets blown around by the wind.

Typically it does not tend bother you much but merely leaves a constant layer of dust everywhere you see.  However today the stronger winds turned the dust into blowing sand and rock and added to the challenge for the day.

Immediately following breakfast the staff and teachers gathered for devotion.  The school focuses on teaching the bible to the children, and the daily devotionals help them with their bible lessons with the school children.

By now we have mostly settled into a routine of breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, devotion, bed.  The work needed around the school is never ending, and the mission teams that come down work alongside staff in a whatever needs to be done.

As with any mission trip, there is always something that needs painting.  Here Doug has heeded the call and got to work to painting the walls along the third story.

Several of the ladies took on the project of establishing a sewing classroom.  They cleaned out and cleaned up a room that was being used to store numerous bolts of material and donated sewing machines.  After moving out everything that did not need to be in a sewing room, they moved in shelves and organized the room so that one of the teachers could hold a sewing class.

As our team works on their projects, the school day goes on.  Classes are taught in small rooms usually with one window that has no screen.  The children all wear uniforms to school each day including shirts that include the school name.  With the classrooms so close together and being as close as they are, and being so open, there are sounds coming from every different direction.  It is a busy place to be so small.

We haven't heard much from the youth team other than they had travelled to La Neuvelt today where they had completed fluoride treatment for 180 Haitian children.  We are certain they are enjoying their time on LaGonove and are doing good work.  Bill Gingrich has promised more pictures and I am hoping to get them posted soon along with details of the work being done on LaGonove.

Tomorrow we have some more folks going to the Ravine to check on the children there.  I hope to bring you information and pictures of these area nearby the school.  We are also looking forward to the youth team getting back here Wednesday and the opportunity to get the entire group out into the country to see some of the areas of Haiti outside of our small compound here in Port-au-Prince.

Until then, goodnight from Haiti.

Easy Like a Sunday Morning

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Sunday is a big day in Port-au-Prince.  The buildings are so close together where we are in the inner city you could can literally jump from roof to roof.  Some of these smaller buildings that surround the school will hold a worship service in the evening, and we can hear praise singing throughout the evening.  However Sunday is still the big church day.

Sherry had made plans for us to attend a small church about 2 blocks from the school.  The church was actually a small upstairs room that seated about 75 people shoulder to shoulder.  There was a makeshift sound system made up of four old speakers, an old amplifier and powered by some very suspicious looking electrical wiring.  There was an electric guitar, an electric bass guitar, an electric piano and one microphone hooked into the system, and the volume was turned up as loud as it could go.  As guests we were given seats right beside the stage, as you guessed it right in front of the speakers!

The service was conducted in Creole so it was impossible for us to understand what was being said, but we could make out a hallelujah Jesus or hallelujah Father as it was shouted in unison.  The hymns were also sung in Creole so we couldn’t recognize the words, but the rhythm and the beat of the music was infectious and it was easy to see that the those who were singing were caught up in the spirit.

Sherry had arranged for Doug to deliver the message using one of the older students here as a translator.  Doug’s message centered around all of us being in God’s firm grip, but he did have a bit of trouble finding the correct translation for fastener.  Some words just don’t go easily from English to Creole.  However his sermon was very well received and solicited a number of amens from the church pastor and the congregation.

After church we walked back to the school for lunch and to unwind a bit before getting back to work.  There are plenty of work projects around, and everyone on the team has migrated into projects that fit their particular skills and talents.   Since it was Sunday there were no school children around so there was much less chaos to deal with.  However there are still many small children who live in the orphanage on the grounds, and they are quite curious about what we are doing and kept wanting to hang around the rooms where we were working.

It was cloudy for most of the day, which did give us a brief respite from the heat.  The predominant southeast breeze was steady throughout the day, but It was still quite warm and humid.  Since we did not have to contend with the sun constantly beating down on the building the rooms on the first floor were relatively cooler than the past several days.  It also made a small difference in the sleeping rooms on the third floor as they seemed a bit cooler by bedtime that they had each of the other nights we have been here.

We didn’t hear much from the LaGonove team other than they had arrived safely and had already started interacting with the local children.

We did get a picture sent over to us from Bill Gingrich entitled, “Street Scene on LaGonove.”  Not exactly the same street scene we have seen over here on the mainland, but these is a more common sight on LaGonove.

We are hoping to get more pictures as well as details on what this group is doing.

As the day ended we gathered for dinner and later devotional.  The main course was BLT’s and pasta salad. The tomatoes were locally grown and sold at the market area on the road outside of the school and were very good. Many of us had them both on our sandwich as well as on the side.  Once again a great job by the staff here.

After dinner we again retired to the Starlight Palace for devotional and to close out the day.  The devotion centered around Ephesians 2:10, we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  We discussed how as God’s handiwork we all bring different talents and gifts to this mission trip, and that God had already made preparations for the work we would be doing here.

Following devotion most everyone drifted back downstairs to start getting ready for bed.  With the cooler day, and hopefully the cooler night, most everyone was anxious to retire a bit earlier than usual to sleep a little more comfortably.

More to come on Monday, so for now goodnight from Haiti.

I'm Moving On

On the PGA tour, Saturday is known as moving day.  So it was with the First Pres mission team as the youth along with Forrest and a couple of other adult team members prepared to leave the main group and head over to LaGonove Island for several days.

The morning started as usual with a wonderful breakfast prepared by the school staff.  Plenty of pancakes and fresh fruit, and some very strong coffee.  The coffee was welcomed as the nights still seem to be restless ones as we deal with the heat of the night and the coming and going of electricity to power the fans in the room.

Shortly after breakfast the LaGonove team gathered their belongs to begin their journey to the island.  Claire had secured a van to take the team and their luggage to the ferry for the trip over to the island.  As we did when we flew over, the group was taking more than just their own personal items as several large suitcases were filled with numerous items needed by the families on LaGonove. This made for one loaded vehicle.

Once the van was loaded up it was time to say goodbye, for now.  This group will be returning to the school Wednesday to talk about their experience and prepare to leave Haiti on Thursday.

This group loaded onto the van and headed for the ferry that would take them to LaGonove.  This ferry looked like it would be able to transport one vehicle in addition to the passengers, but when they put a second truck on the boat it gave a new meaning to the word faith.

But the team had faith and climbed on board for the trip to the island.  The communications from the island over to the school is going to be difficult, and we are hoping we can get an email from them at least once a day with an update on their activities.  I will post their adventures here if we are lucky enough to get updates, otherwise I will get out a catch up post when they return Wednesday.

After the LaGonove team left the compound, Doug began a workshop for the English speaking teachers at the school. Each of the teachers has a responsibility to teach the bible to their students. Doug spent the day focused on the gospels of Mark and Luke. He gave an analogy for the four gospels being like the four speakers in a quadraphonic stereo system. Each speaker is providing a different piece of the music that is able to stand on its own, but only when the four speakers (gospels) are listened to at once can you get the full effect.

During the workshop one of the teachers provided the team with a very personal and deep inside the practice of voodoo. Some of the other teachers in the room also contributed to the discussion with their own experiences and insights. Roman Catholicism is the official religion of Haiti, but voodoo may be considered the country's national religion. The majority of the Haitians believe in and practice at least some aspects of voodoo, and most voodooists believe that their religion can coexist with

Catholicism

. The members of our mission team were quite moved by the discussion and the personal insight shared by these individuals. It provided a very personal insight into the Haitian culture and the people we have been working with for the past several days.

As Doug was conducting the workshop, other members of the team were assisting staff in various projects around the school.  As one can imagine there is always more things to do than there are people to do it.  The staff Sherry employs is very small, but wonderfully committed to the work here.  They do the cooking, teaching, building maintenance, just about anything that needs to be done.  Sherry gave us several projects she asked we help her get done, and we are helping make and hang curtains, make shoulder bags for the school children, rework some plumbing, and other odds and ends around the compound.

After a very busy day, the staff once again provided a wonderful and unique dinner.  The main course was goat (yes goat), accompanied by rice with black bean gravy and plenty of mango.  It was different not having the youth around.  We miss the hustle and bustle that seems to follow them around, and the children are missing the attention from them.  We are looking forward to seeing them again in a few days.

We finished the evening with a devotion up on the Starlight Palace.  A few of us stayed afterward to enjoy the breeze, unwind and wait for the heat from the day to dissipate before heading to bed.  It is quite nice sitting on the roof and listening to the sounds of the city.  There are ever changing sights, sounds and smells (some good and some not so good) that define this part of Port-au-Prince.  We are hoping for a day next week to get out away from the school to see some of the outer edges of the city.  I look forward to writing about that.

Until next time, good night from Haiti.

The Hand That Feeds

Once everyone shook off the overnight cobwebs and had breakfast it was time to get to work.  The team split up for the morning for two very different, but closely related projects.

Four adult team members accompanied Edmond and Mica, two of the school staff, and took the large truck east along Haiti Route Nationale #8 to the Love a Child food distribution center on the Haiti/Dominican Republic border.  We traveled there to pick up cases of food the Christian Light School uses in its school children feeding program.

Love a Child (www.loveachild.com) is a Christian Humanitarian Organization founded by Bobby and Sherry Burnette in 1991 to help reduce the poverty level in Haiti.  Love a Child has several projects, but chief among them is their food distribution program that supports 40 other missionary organizations.  In partnership with Feed My Starving Children (www.fmsc.org), Love a Child distributes cases of FMSC’s MannaPack rice food mixture.  This is a special food product developed by FMSC with assistance from Cargill and General Foods that is formulated to provide substantial amounts of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in a “super charged” package that can feed 6 children or 3 adults.  The Christian Light School uses these MannaPack products for its food distribution program.

While at the Love a Child center we got the opportunity to meet Bobby Burnette and see the distribution center which is the length of a football field.  While we were there picking up our allotment, there were at least 5 other vehicles there from other pickup trucks to larger trucks to tap tap trucks (more on tap tap trucks later) all picking up food to be delivered to other distribution points.  These are people serving God in a big way.

The remaining adult team members and the youth mission team joined the Christian Light School staff and walked to an area nearby the staff refer to as “The Ravine.”  This is an area where many Haitians live in some of the most deplorable conditions.  The ravine resembles what could be a very large drainage area that collects discarded items, refuse and other not so pleasant things from the streets and paths above it.

On Monday’s and Friday’s the CLS staff go to this area to take food and vitamins to the children living there.  The staff mostly focuses on children who are part of the CLS school family, but they also reach out to the very young in need of a nourishing meal.  The team also assisted CLS in taking care of the children needing basic medical attention such s treating minor cuts and lacerations to ward off infection.

After lunch the team reassembled to assist in conducting a workshop for the CLS teachers.  Doug had brought along materials for all the teachers including a bible and study materials for each teacher.  Doug, along with several other team members led the group in prayer and discussed methods for keeping the school kids engaged and motivated.

Immediately after the workshop ended, the mission team and the teachers sat down to fellowship at dinner.  The staff had prepared a wonderful beef stew served over rice with black bean gravy along with a vegetable salad and fresh cut pineapple and mango.  It was a wonderful dinner and a wonderful time talking and laughing with the teachers.  These folks are doing a wonderful job preparing these young people’s minds and putting God in their hearts.

After dinner everyone moved to the roof, which we have now started calling The Starlight Palace.  Here we sang several songs both in French and English with two of the teachers playing guitar to keep us in key.  Forrest then gave a great devotional discussing how God is progressive.

Afterwards many of us lingered on the roof to unwind and talk about the day.  It is the coolest place in the compound once the sun sets, so it has become the central meeting place at the end of the day.  Showers were taken and beds were made ready, but with the heat of the day still lingering we all stayed outside in the breeze as long as we could.

Friday was a day of feeding.  From picking up cases of food, to delivering food to those who do without most days, to feeding minds and hearts with God’s word.  Tomorrow brings a change as the youth, along with several adults travel to LaGonove Island to spend a few days there.  The island is more remote than where we are staying at the school, and communication with this group will be spotty.  However we are hoping they can send an email now and again describing their activities so that it can be included in the days events posted here.

We will see what Saturday brings.  So for now, goodnight from Haiti.

Last Night I Didn't Get to Sleep At All

Today is the first full day in Haiti, and I want to paint a picture of where we are.  Haiti may be located in the tropics but it is far from a tropical vacation.  The days are very warm and muggy, and the nights are exactly the same.  We are fortunate we are not here in July and August when it is even hotter and muggier!  There is a prevailing breeze, and it is a welcomed breeze for sure, but everyone pretty much moves around the school compound with a constant coating of perspiration looking for places in the shade where you can get some breeze and be out of the sun.

The school itself is located in a compound in the heart of a very congested area of downtown Port-au-Prince.  The buildings in the compound are made of heavily reinforced concrete, which really absorbs the heat from the sun.  Fans help a bit, but the power in this area of downtown is sporadic.  On the ground floor level where there is a small courtyard with a basketball goal and an very old and dirty Tyco play set, the heat pretty much settles and sits on you.  There are just a few places where you can get out of the sun and still get a whiff of breeze.

The nights are as warm and muggy as the days, just without the sun.  The concrete walls hold a great deal of residual heat, so even very late at night the dorm style rooms where we are sleeping are very stuffy.  The mosquito nets we sleep under are certainly needed where we are, but they only add to the stuffiness when you are trying to sleep.

As everyone gathered for breakfast this morning, it was clear that even as tired as the group was from the long day Thursday, sleep was a precious commodity that all but a few were able to enjoy.  We had a few grumpy youths from the lack of sleep, but that soon wore off as the day got started and we prepared for what the day would offer our team.

I will break down our Friday’s activities in the next blog post later today.

Good morning from Haiti!

A Hard Days Night

Our trip began early Thursday morning......very, VERY early Thursday morning.  We met in the Fernandina Beach Publix parking lot at 4:00 a.m. to gather the mission team members on the church bus and head for Jacksonville International Airport.  Roger Martin agreed to shuttle the group and all the luggage to the airport so we could catch a 6:00 a.m. flight to Miami then on to Haiti from there.  Thanks Roger for being a good doobie!!

Forrest started the trip off on the right note by telling the group the bus would be stopping at Chick-Fil-A on the way to the airport for breakfast  This caused an immediate cheer from the youth on board who always seem to be in need of food.  Once the cheers subsided Forrest informed the group he then was only kidding, which just about got him thrown off the bus by youth group.  Why do you build me up buttercup......?

As one might expect, the Jax airport was not very crowded at 4:40 in the morning, but that also meant the American Airlines counter was short staffed as well, so it took a little while to get all of our bags checked in.  Each team member was encouraged to pack a carry on bag and/or a backpack with the majority of their clothes and other personal items and take those on the plane with them.  That allowed our larger pieces of luggage to be packed with jars of peanut butter, linens, shoes and other items needed for the children at the Christian Light School (www.christianlighthaiti.org), our hosts during our stay in Haiti.

Our flight from Jacksonville to Miami was on an American Airlines regional jet, and on take off it jumped off the runway like a scalded cat!  We hit cruising altitude quickly and made it to Miami about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.  However this left us with a two hour plus layover in Miami where we could get any last minute items before our flight to Haiti.

Needless to say, getting a bunch of teenagers up at 3:00 in the morning to go to the airport means were traveling with a tired group to be sure.  Many used the layover in Miami to catch up on their beauty sleep, which would come in quite handy once we made it to Haiti.

Around 9:30 we boarded a packed American Airlines 767 for the 1 1/2 hour flight to Port-au-Prince Haiti.  Clearing customs was easy enough, but getting all those pieces of luggage filled with peanut butter, etc. gathered and loaded on the truck to the school was quite an event.  Doug handled it like a pro, but it's still nothing like we are all accustomed to when we fly inside the continental U.S.

We traveled from the airport to the school in the back of a large truck with a caged-in rear area with bench seating along each side.  During the ride to the school we saw many vivid images of the poverty in Haiti.  People everywhere along the edge of the road with stands selling just about anything they are able to accumulate from small electronic devices to cut chicken pieces (without ice or refrigeration).  Small huddles of people over open air fire pits filled with charcoal cooking food alongside the road just next to areas of scattered trash and waste water just a few feet away.  Needless to say that this is far from a tropical paradise and far different than sanitation conditions we experience in our daily lives.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting settled in to the berthing areas and acclimated to the surroundings.  The youth took the opportunity to play with the children at the school, and the squealing and yelling of children could be heard throughout the compound.

Later in the day the school staff served a wonderful dinner of spaghetti, salad, corn and garlic bread.  We all ate on the porch area just behind the kitchen.  The porch has screen windows on two of the four walls, and as luck would have it neither of these windows are able to let in the prevailing breezes which come from the other side of the building.  The Caribbean air is very humid and it becomes quite sticky when you can't get catch a breeze, but everyone on the team handled it well, and thanked the staff many, many times for the wonderful dinner and fellowship.

After dinner we gathered on the roof of the school for a brief devotional led by Claire Berry.  With the sun down for the evening, the breeze made it very comfortable as we sat in a circle, youth and adults, and discussed God's word for us and our expectations for this trip.  The expectations expressed by our youth members were quite profound, and we were all excited about where God is leading us during this adventure.

The evening finally came to a close and everyone got cleaned up and headed for their beds, each equipped with its own mosquito net!  You can't be too careful here, and with so much standing water it is much better to be a little uncomfortable now than suffer greatly later on.

A full first day, but fulfilling for everyone on the team.  Friday will be the last day the youth and adults will be together until we leave from Port au Prince next Thursday.  Saturday morning the youth along with Forrest and Claire will be traveling to LaGonove Island to spend a few days with the people there.  More on their island adventures in the coming days.

Good night from Port-au-Prince!

Getting Started

A mission team from First Presbyterian Church Fernandina Beach embarked on a combination youth/adult trip to Haiti beginning May 30th and continuing until June 6th.  With so many congregation members, family members, friends and others wanting to know what we are doing, it only seemed appropriate to create a blog of our activities while in Haiti.

I will try to summarize each day's major activities and provide some "flavor" to what I write.

I hope you enjoy reading about the work we are doing, and feel free to post comments.

Larry Williams
Mission Team Member