From Jacksonville – Dr. Lillpop’s Group
Hello from Haiti! We all made it safely and without incident. We had an early departure from Miami and an easy hop and a skip to Port au Prince in good time.
This was, for many of the group, their first experience in Haiti. Transferring to the little airport, as we affectionately refer to it, was easy and fun… a quick tap-tap ride. It took 3 small plane rides to get us all to Mole St. Nicolas – a small fishing town in the Northwest. We’re hoping that our checked bags make it here later tonight as they have supplies and tents….we’re well taken care of, in the meantime, though.
We’ve got a group of good workers and willing spirits. As I sit here typing this many of us have kids sitting on our laps, some are singing and others are playing soccer in the courtyard. Some of us even had time to get to the beach, a short walk away.
As part of an orientation Jody sat down with us and spoke to the power of Jesus here…explaining that many here, and we, have no hope, except in Him. It’s a lesson that we all need to keep in mind – that the Jesus that’s saved us desires more than anything to bring others into fellowship with Him – we have such an amazing opportunity here to speak Jesus and show Him to people who may have circumstances beyond what we can imagine or believe. Everyone says “ hello “ and we’ll tell you more as more happens!! We’re preparing for worship now and a good night’s sleep!
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From PVBC
Cassidy here! This is nothing like I expected. When our plane finally crossed over land in Haiti I was surprised by the homes. I expected more apartment-style living. What we really saw was what you see in movies: tin buildings with a clothesline as the front wall. The people drive crazy here, too! We spent our evening relaxing and I slipped on the tile around the pool. First night and I was already bleeding. But I’m feeling better today.
We had to fly into the Mole in 2 groups. The first group left around 8 am while 9 of us stayed back at the domestic side of the PAP airport and played card games for 2 ½ hours. They said they experienced quite a bit of turbulence but my group didn’t have much until we went through the rain clouds. We had to take about a 20-minute truck ride to the orphanage and to get across the little stream we drove down beside the bridge and through the water. On the way back up the hill, the truck broke down! The second half of us had to climb around the edges of the (might I add METAL) truck and somehow we all managed to keep from getting too wet.
We got to spend quite a bit of time loving on the orphans and took a walk around the town with Morgan, one of the staff, while she showed us the major buildings. I feel like I could go home today and have plenty of stories to tell and see our American lifestyles in a whole different way.
Alexis and Taylor- your Mom and Dad say hello, we love you, and we are hoping you are having fun with Grandpa and Grandma!
To Cassidy’s family- I finally got over my cold!!
To Elijah’s family- I love you, am looking forward to seeing you Friday. Emilee I can’t wait to talk about it!
Alisa’s family- I was in some pictures today! I made it! Love you all.
Lexie’s Family- I love you all so much! I’ve been able to experience so many cool things (even in one day of being here)! I can’t wait to tell you about it!
Brian’s family- I saw a picture of my new niece, she’s great! Haiti is really awesome, love you guys!
Hey this Nathan. We’ve only been in the mole for 1 day, but it feels like we’ve been here forever. I was with the first group to fly in to the Mole, so I had a lot of free time with the orphans, waiting for the other group to arrive. The orphans reminded me a lot of my little cousins. The orphans knew to feel my pockets for my phone/camera and other items. They loved my wallet, not because of the money that was in it, but because of my permit picture that was in the front pocket. They also liked my biceps. They would role up my sleeve on one arm to feel them and try to pull my arm down or squish it down, and then once they were done with that arm they would role the sleeve down, and start again on my other arm.
I also had, (had; it is currently up in a tree), a hacky sack/bean bag that they liked to throw around. They liked to imitate me when I would throw/kick the hacky sack. If I threw it underhand they would try to throw it under hand, if I threw it up and hit it with my hand like a baseball they would try to do the same, and if I placed on the top of my foot and kicked it up they would have a blast trying to do the same. The orphans didn’t care about what I let them play with, or what I didn’t let them play with; the only cared that I was there giving them attention. The orphans showed me that it’s not what you have that people care about, it’s the kind of person you are and the quality time you spend with them.
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