We arrived safely around 11:00 am and were greeted by the local band playing some lively Haitian beats. After an hour of going through customs, we finally made it to our van. If you have ever seen 11 adults, 27 pieces of luggage and 9 backpacks crammed into one van, it was a sight to behold – when we piled out, the only thing missing was the clown makeup. As we drove through the city, I have never witnessed such conditions – piles of rubble, some abandoned cars, road conditions that made Glenwood Ave seem perfect, and trash piles on fire. I thought, “How can people live in such conditions?” Well, my answer came to me. After arriving at St. Joe’s and putting in a few hours on the rubble pile, I was on the upper balcony reflecting on the site and our mission when I felt and saw God rain down tiny flowers from the tree above to bless our site and our work. God is everywhere and the Haitian people know this. They are resilient and have the right perspective on life. Instead of advertisements for car dealers or law firms on the ‘tap-taps’ (local taxis) they got it right by having advertisements for God saying things like, “Jesus loves you” and “God is great.” Truly an amazing sight in such conditions.
To top off our first day and put into perspective how resilient and creative our Haitian brothers are, we were presented with a hand-made coconut shell cross from Walnes – a family member here at St. Joe’s. These were not just any coconut shells, these were shells that had been discarded and he collected them from the trash piles to create us a treasure.
Thank you for your prayers and well wishes.
Jeff Mauer
You are all in our prayers. It is humbling to read of your activities.
ReplyDeleteMay you continue to see flowers fall on your site as you go about doing God's work.
ReplyDeleteMay the people there feel and see the hands and love of God present in each of you.
May the Holy Spirit reach down and touch the hearts of those who do not yet know the Lord - may this happen through all of you.
Becky Balentine