We're Here!

Well, we've made it to Gonaives! Saturday night we had a nice group dinner at a Diner in Ft. Lauderdale, then headed early to bed for a 4:30am appointment with the shuttle bus to the airport. Port-au-Prince was a study in contrasts - stepping off a shiny new plane into the airport, where half the building had been condemned due to the quake. Customs was in a former hanger a short busride down the tarmac - it had been hastily converted to replace the terminal. One team member got sent to the back of the line, but other than that it went pretty smoothly. It took awhile to get our rentals, but soon Brian had us on our way up the recently repaved road to the North. For lunch we stopped in St. Marks where we ran into some folks from YWAM that were working there. Somewhere beyond St. Marks, the pavement ended, and the potholes greatly increased. Mopeds, container trucks, and pickups packed with people all vied for space. The scenery got prettier though as we first came along the shoreline, then over some mountains, and finally past the many rice fields and banana plantations where the same water that filled the rice paddies came up between the houses. After arriving in town and settling in at our new home away from home, we headed down to Jubilee to meet some of the people we'll be serving with. As soon as we pulled up, hoardes of kids swarmed us, and we plunged right into playing with them, all hundred or so at the same time. We know that God incredibly values each life, but it is not without some heartache that we walk into this world down here - for many of these kids, its not just about a game or some attention, but many are in life and death situations. It may be easy for some of us to take for granted loving parents, but imagine if you were a kid with a serious but curable illness, and your mom didn't want you or wouldn't take you to the doctor. It's everyday that things are happening like this. One little boy in particular is on our minds. Tomorrow we'll head down and get started on our projects. We want to spread love and hope. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Remember the kids down here.

Blessings, Olin.