What an awesome day it was to be in Haiti today. It rained last night in Port-au-Prince, which created a beautiful cloud-free sky this morning. I awoke to the smell of fresh brewed coffee. After filling my cup, I sat on the upstairs patio and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise complete with good coffee and a view of the city. Adjacent to the patio are mango and palm trees, which added to the beautiful scenery. Oh yeah, our breakfast consisted of fresh mangos and pineapple this morning. That was a real treat.
Later this morning, we went to the Port-au-Prince Fellowship, which is a church north of Port-au-Prince where many ex-patriots (non-Haiti nationals) attend. The worship was conducted in English and the Pastor was from Australia. It was an awesome experience to be in the company of people from all over the world.
After worship, we then went to a Caribbean Market to purchase supplies for the meals to be served this week at the guesthouse where several groups are staying to do various humanitarian projects this week. (If Suzan and I are directed to join Heartline Ministries, our role at the beginning will be to manage the guesthouse.) The Caribbean Market was a welcome sight as we saw several of the amenities that we come to love in the states. While this would not be the store to go to everyday, it would certainly be the place to load up on the American essentials. While Haiti has many of the things we enjoy in the States, it is still a challenging place to be and live. For one, traffic is horrendous. There are certainly more cars in a city like New York, but in Port-au-Prince, there just doesn’t appear to be consistency. It feels like everyone is driving for themselves and trying to avoid hitting a pedestrian or another vehicle. Then there is the electricity. It is a mystery as to when city power will be available. Backup systems like generators and batteries are a must for every household. After that, one must consider the wi-fi. 3G service is a must for computers and tablets as a backup to the wi-fi system.
All in all, it was a good day with a fellowship lunch at the director of Heartline’s home with lots of good conversation.
Tomorrow, we will begin seeing the full operation of the organization in full swing. We don’t know what the future holds for this week or beyond, but we are confident that we will be directed in the way we should go.
