Carrefour, Haiti - Day 1

Truth be told, I'm tired. Last night was spent in Miami airport and all told I probably got little more than an hour of sleep. The few winks that I caught were actually right on the floor in the middle of the busy gate area, so I think that counts for double, or something...



Before leaving the US I told a friend about how I have a favorite travel shirt that is always my choice when I fly. It's comfortable, ventilated, and has the perfect pocket for passport and travel documents. I also have the pair of "happy" socks that my little sister gave me. Turns out that it's a very good thing that I chose well in my traveling clothes - I'll be seeing a bit of them. You see, yesterday Air France missed a whole lot of their baggage for P au P, so today much of the luggage space was taken up with yesterday's luggage, leaving today's luggage for tomorrow. Sound a little confusing? Well, it was, and is until... hopefully tomorrow. :) But enough of that. One of the best feelings in the world is the one you get when you emerge from a busy terminal where your language is not the common one and where things have not gone as you would like - when you emerge into a jostling pressing sea of humanity and see a paper held up with big block letters, and your name is written on it! I like that.




And I love my Haitian friends. Even though I was far from the best conversationalist and have wavered between waking and sleeping much of the day, it was SO good to see and hear from these dear people.



The young man who picked me up at the airport struggles with how fast I speak English, but he makes things perfectly clear when he talks about the event of January 12th. "Many things are bad with Haiti, but God has a plan". Just last week the congregation that I'll be worshiping with tomorrow moved back into their building. Overcoming the latent fear of being indoors, they go to worship. You should have heard them practicing tonight.



As pastor Jean says "a worshiper loves every opportunity that they have to give something to God". Met a fantastically cool couple who took a break from their own work in Guatamala to volunteer here in Haiti.



And I got to see my friend Robinson. I just love being around that man. The presence of God just seems to be with him and he projects wisdom and peace in a way that makes me feel better about the world.




Yes. There are tent cities. There is devastation and buildings shattered and crumbled. The roads are lined with the tents and shacks that now house countless familes, and you get to see literal "Save the Children" camps in person instead of on some late night TV spot. But there are also people who are rebuilding. Walls, lives, hopes, dreams, cities.





Note: Click on any of the pictures for a link to my whole album.


-jared