Haiti

Well what can I say? You know how it is. You can't describe it. But I'll try to put it in a nutshell. We spent the night in Miami Thursday night and headed down to Port-au-Prince Friday morning. Getting from baggage claim to the car that's picking you up is insane. Smelly people all around trying to "help". If they touch your bag they need a dollar. Went to the smaller airport where I got to see Jean Shilove but only for about 10 minutes. He was one of the boys who stayed with us while he had heart surgery about four years ago. Got on our little teeny bopper plane where we had to hunch over while walking in the aisle because it was so small. Bounced and flew over to Les Cayes. Some of our luggage (including mine) failed to make the trip with us. Went and saw SEED for the first time. Had a delicious meal of pumpkin soup. The idea kinda weirded me out but it was really pretty good. Got settled in for the week at the guesthouse. Saturday was spent mostly trying to get organized and figuring out what we were going to do for the week. We all felt like we really didn't get much accomplished. But the missionaries at SEED (Frantz and Doris) keep insisting that just being there for support and encouragement is what they really need. Went to church Sunday at Chantal and you can read all about that in my last post. Spent a little time Monday morning taking inventory or their pharmacy. Spent most of the day painting a huge shed with Marti. But we got it all done except for a little area where we ran out of paint. The Haitians were really intrigued by white girls. The students came in and out all throughout the day just to watch. And they were very bold about it, having no problem just coming right up to us and stand next to us while we painted. Not the most comfortable situation in the world. Tuesday was my morning at the school. Then that afternoon we had devotion with the students. We sang for them and they sang for us. They sounded better than we did by far. Good thing its a joyful noise we're supposed to make rather than a good one. Tuesday afternoon we went to ladie's tea with Doris. The missionaries in that area have it every Tuesday. I actually had ladie's coke. But it was still a lot of fun. Wednesday we headed out to Ile a Vaches. An island about 6 or 7 miles off the coast of Les Cayes. One of the third year students from SEED is doing his internship there and we went to see his gardens. We got to the dock which was really just a garbage dump a little after 7 when we were supposed to and finally at 8:30ish we got on the boat. We had to take a smaller boat to get out to the one that took us across to the island. But before we got in the smaller boat they had to bail all the water out. So after that was accomplished we made it safely out the the other one which was probably a little bigger than two canoes. 11 of us got in. Frantz said it should take about 35 minutes or so to get to our destination. Approximately 2 hours later we pulled up. He figured out that the last time he went he was on a 40 horsepower boat and this one was only 15. But once we got there it was really a beautiful tropical place. It wasn't trashed like parts of Cayes were. It was really gorgeous. Side note: I was a little nervous about the boat we were in because the waves were starting to get a little bigger. Not dangerously big, but for a sissy like me they were plenty big. Plus I was horribly seasick although I did mangage to keep my breakfast in my stomach where it belonged. But I was just feeling really restless and having some trouble believing that God would protect us. And the song "Peace, Be Still" came to me. It's in the red books and we never sing it. I really felt like it was God putting that song in my head and after I sang through it a few times I really wasn't nervous and my stomach even stopped churning. Until the way home, then I just laid in the bottom of the boat and slept. But I thought that it was pretty cool how that song came to me just then. Wednesday afternoon Steve showed up. He was another boy that we kept right after Shilove went home. We got to spend a couple days with him and his parents which was really good. Wednesday night we went out to eat then had a singing. Thursday we had devotion with the staff then went to visit the nursing home. Normally I don't enjoy nursing homes but this one I did. The residents sang at the top of their lungs for us and they were really happy to have us there. They were really cute. Right after lunch me, Marti, mom and Doris went downtown to grocery shop and just look around for awhile. That was fun. Then we went to Frantz and Doris's house to make supper for the students. I guess it's tradition that the SEED team makes them supper every year when they're there. They were pretty excited about it. It was a mob where we were trying to serve the food. Thursday night we had our last Haitian meal for ahwhile. Pizza with spam. It really was pretty good because we had the sauce and the crust to cover up the spam texture. Got up Friday morning about 4:45 because we had to be at the airport to catch a 6:00 plane. We got there before the workers. The plane didn't show up until 6:50. Then another group that got there after us said the plane was for them so we sat and waited until the 8:45 plane. Got to Port, flew over to the Dominican Republic because American Airlines had cancelled all their flights to and from Haiti that week. So we took the teeny bopper plane to the DR to try and get home. It cost a lot extra but I got another stamp in my passport. That has to be worth something. That flight was delayed so we missed our connecting flight in Miami and had to spend the night again. But there was this big convention thing going on and appartently all the hotels were booked. So we were going to camp out in the Red Roof Inn lobby but someone didn't show up or something so we got their room. All seven of us slept in there a few hours before we got up at 4 again. Finally got home around 4 Saturday afternoon. So yes, it was a very good trip, yes I'm ready to go back and yes, that was a nutshell.