oh my!

i have experienced crazy driving, insane traffic, put your life in your hands when you leave where you are staying, but tonight took it to a new level. holy cow. loading 18 white people in a JESUS bus is a spectacle in itself. tonite after church, the lights wouldn't work and so we drove these roads without being able to see. our headlights consisted of people hanging their heads out the windows to holler how many millimeters we were from bus wheels going off the edge into the canal. and turning that beast of a bus from the alley into the compound where we stay....there are no words. the guys literally have to pull their heads in the window (they have to tell preacher/bus driver if he will clear the wall or not) lest getting them knocked off. it is an experience not soon forgotten. it makes china and vietnam look easy :) and if you have ever been to either of those countries, you know that is saying alot. it gives to meaning to "thank you Jesus!!!"

this is only my second mission trip and i can tell you for a fact, they mess you up :) my heart is already feeling the struggle, the conflict, the inner battle of wondering what God wants you to do with an experience like this. one outcome i know for sure is the need to raise an additional $20,000 for the orphanage. for God, that is nothing. for God's people, it too should be nothing. this morning's service was a dedication of the church at the orphanage. it was one year ago that pastor eristead's wife met cathy at the hospital where cathy was translating for doctors after the earthquake. 40,000 made their way from port to gonaives. and many were severly injured or in a fog not knowing where family members were alive or dead. madam eristead asked a haitian who spoke english to ask cathy if she could get her beans, rice, and oil for 'her' kids (the orphanage kids whom they had brought from port to live with the pastor's sister here). they had not eaten for three days. when cathy retold us the story last night, she cried as she said so many people were asking for money and she wrongly assumed this woman wanted money too. she sensed something in this women and called rodney to ask him to check out her story. and one year later, we reflected on God's goodness as we sat on the grounds that now include a church/school building and a dorm for the kids.

please don't get a pretty picture in your mind of what it looks like, because it is not pretty. at home, we would consider the living conditions to be unfit, unsafe, uneverything. but when you start from nothing, you see what an accomplishment it has been! but there is more to be done. pastor eristead, his wife, and two kids live in one room in the kids' dorm that holds one bed that they all sleep in. and one dresser. that is all. they need a separate building to call home. and a generator to pump the new well being dug. and a few other essentials before we can consider them self-sustaining. we also have set the goal of increasing the current sponsorship from $25 per child to $50. right now, they get two meals a day and nothing to drink all day long except at mealtime. and to say it is hot here....uh, yeah!!! without question, the sponsorship has to increase.

if you are a sponsor to one of the kids, i cannot express enough how much they see us as their mamas and papas. we are all they have. cathy had little tomas ask this morning where his mom and dad were. he has their picture and wants to see them in person. i had no idea how important we are to them.

i love claudine and emission and want to bring them home. every child is so stinking precious and they do not know how to take all the love being showered on them. i don't know who will struggle more when we leave ... us or them. my heart hurts thinking about it.

so, another wonderful day here in haiti. we have had an amazing time of fellowship. we assembled a pretty special group. each night, it is peanuts, skip-bo, and euchre. what an incredible week and i am so grateful.

thank you smurf for letting us come. you are a good man :) and i love it that you support me on these adventures. xoxo