On the Ground

Saturday came early for everyone on the Haiti mission team. We met at the church parking lot at 2:45am, loaded the church bus and headed to Charlotte. Surprisingly, our team of 18 was first in line at the American counter. In fact, we were there before the counter was open. But promptly at 4:00am, we started checking luggage. We checked and checked and checked some more. As the last person checked in, we had a total of 32 bags headed to Haiti with us.

Both of the flights (first to Miami and then to Port-au-Prince) were uneventful. The best news was that because we were had to purchase tickets in advance, 16 of the 18 were in business class (sorry, Reese and Christi). Once we landed in Port-au-Prince, we were baptized into Haitian culture in the baggage claim area. Men in red shirts were eager to help . . . but (there's always a but) for a fee. But we were told to accept no help and to keep our luggage close.  So we kept one eye on the luggage carousel and one on the bags that we had already gotten.

We came in two groups. The first arrived at 1:00pm and headed to the compound in the bus. The second group arrived at 4:00 and headed to the compound in an SUV and a truck. Jody, Jim, and Pedro had the good fortune of riding an hour and a half in the bed of the truck with the luggage. Needless to say traffic and road conditions in Haiti are very different than in the states. Apparently it's not illegal to ride on the left side of the street. If you blow your horn you have right of way. And if you meet a bigger vehicle coming in your lane you get out of its way.

Once we were acquainted with Haitian traffic rules, we settled into the compound at SMI. Our students went out and played soccer with a lot of the local kids.  Rita is our cook for the week and made rice with beans and sausage for supper. After supper, David led a brief devotion and we headed off to bed.
On Sunday, we will be at two churches (Guitton and Nawash). Please pray for our team this week as we get to work and serve alongside the Haitians.

FBC Haiti mission team
Scott, Vickie and Rebekah Blackburn
Jamie and Victoria Burdette
Jim and Kasi Clark
Terry, Belinda, and Seth Ezell
Christi and Reese Hinchman
David Mitchell
Pedro Pena
Ashley and Madison Rinehart
Jody and Sara Catherine Watts