Wow…it’s been a month since I just left from Haiti…and I know I haven’t been able to really let most of you know my experiences, thoughts and reflections from the trip, other than family and CGBC people. Even IF I told you about Haiti, these blogs will probably reveal even more stuff…. So for the next week I will try and post up something everyday that happened a month ago (so I’m not posting a gigantic blog post like God’s Hand is AWESOME!… hehe) starting with today! Everything is still fresh in my head, and just in case… I kept journal of everything that happened while I was there.
So the trip actually started on 4/16 for our 11:45pm flight from LAX. Right when I was dropped off, I immediately saw the team members in front of the ticket counters, because they were wearing the Disaster Relief shirts. God continued to shower us with his blessings as we were able to fit 2 boxes worth of medical supplies in each of the team members luggage’s because the airline wouldn’t let us check the boxes in. On top of that, NO luggage that the team members checked-in were overweight! We took a red-eye flight (super rough, so none of us got any sleep) to Fort Lauderdale, Florida where we met the last team member, and prayed together before our flight to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The flight was pretty packed with a mixture of volunteers (mostly doctors and nurses), but there were a handful of Haitians as well. On the flight, I met a Haitian named Jin (or Gin?), and he lives in Cincinnati, but has a house in Haiti. This was the first time he has had a chance to go back to his house in Haiti since the earthquake.ÂÂ
When we arrived at Port-au-Prince, a SBC representative met with us and once we got all our baggage, we headed out of the airport into a security waiting area, and from there you could see all these people looking through the gates like they were hopeless. While we were waiting for our cars to take us to the place we were staying at, we were approached by a man who was on crutches and on leg was amputated and had a puffy lip. He asked us for some food, and we were warned NOT to give out ANYTHING to ANYONE unless we were told to do so because it could start a riot, endangering our team and any other Disaster Relief teams that would come in the future because of our symbolic Disaster Relief shirts. It was pretty hard to do, and I felt like we were letting that man down, but I think the bigger picture helps remind me that God is moving in BIG ways.
It was about a 20 minute drive to the house we were staying at, and on the ride there I got to see a glimpse of the damage and affects of the earthquake that happened in January. We passed by tent cities, people just loitering on the side of streets, trash everywhere, and of course a lot of ruble and buildings that collapsed. When we got to the house (about 12pm Haiti time) we were briefed on what’s going to happen within the next week, and all of the logistics and such. The management let us rest the day to recuperate from all the traveling. Not much happened the rest of that day as we settled in, and rested up. I had a strange dream while I was napping, and to make the long story short, I felt like I was battling against Satan, like he was in me, and I was rebuking him in the name of Jesus, and every time I would say “Jesus” I would get chills down my entire body (like even though I was sleeping I could still feel the chills). I woke up I think after the third time I rebuked Satan in my dream, and I was sweating (even though the A/C was on) and my heart pounding. I only mention this, because I think a few other teammates also had troubling dreams as the next few nights, I heard a couple of them shout something really loud in their sleep, so I’m not sure if Satan was trying to like do some damage or something, and if he was, it DIDN’T work.
In general, the weather in Haiti was about low 90’s but VERY humid. Nights were high 70’s and still humid, but we had air conditioning in the house we were staying at. The house is owned by the Florida convention and also serves as a headquarters for CMBH (think of it like Southern Baptist Convention for Haiti), so there’s a mix of Haitian and SBC workers within this house. We did have Haitian cooks, which they cooked us breakfast and dinner every day. It was authentic Haitian food, and it’s not too much different from deep south soul type food. I think the weirdest thing I ate was goat, but it tasted much like beef so I was ok with it.
I think being able to stay at that house was a blessing from God, because originally, we were supposed to camp out at the site where we were working at (about 45 minutes away from the house), which meant no showers, running water, clean drinkable water, A/C, or electricity (INTERNET). It would have been a MUCH rougher trip if we had to camp out, and by staying at the house, we were able to eat well, take showers, A/C and electricity to charge camera batteries (I wouldn’t have been able to take 1,300 pictures…), Skype my family letting them know everything was ok, and rest well after a hard day’s work.
To me, everything was still going so smoothly, and I was just moving with the flow. I don’t think it really hit me that day that I was really doing this and I was actually in Haiti, a foreign country 3,000 miles away from home with people I barely knew. You could say I had this deep sense of peace about the whole thing, and knowing that God has continued to show His favor on us and everything that we did really helped a lot.ÂÂ
I remember constantly thinking about what would happen if my hometown experienced a disaster such as this, and what would I do if MY home were destroyed and everything I have was gone at an instant. It really reminded me that things of this world are temporary and can be destroyed at any moment. Matthew 6:19-20 says: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” So I hope this blog of day one in Haiti gets you thinking about what we store here on earth and is it really worth it, because at anytime, it can be destroyed or stolen. What treasures do you have awaiting in heaven?
