What a great first day in Haiti!
Our overnight travel to get to Haiti was a long one, but an adventure!
Most of the group was coming from Minnesota. We flew out of Minneapolis, at 7:40 p.m. on Sunday to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We arrived at 12:00 a.m. where we found our gate and set up a location to rest for the evening. As the night progressed, airport security woke us to move everyone out of the terminal because it needed to be sprayed down for cleaning. We ended up having to move out of the terminal and sleep on the cold floor at baggage claim. Not what we had planned, but the team’s spirits were high and adapting to the situation quickly.
The terminal opened at 5:00 a.m. Monday and we were able to find some coffee and board our flight. We arrived to Haiti at 8:40 a.m.
As we approached Haiti, we were greeted with sunshine, calm sky, blue ocean water and beautiful mountains. The beauty of God’s creation was already upon us.
Once we claimed our luggage, we piled them up in carts and made our way to the taxi location where a Tap Tap would meet us. A Tap Tap is similar to a mini delivery truck, except the back is caged in and there are benches to sit on. Our co-leader Smith from Healing Haiti greeted us with a hug and welcoming smile. The laughter began as we bounced our way to the compound on the bumpy and narrow roads of Port-au-Prince. The Tap Tap was branded with Healing Haiti messaging and painted with local art sharing scripture and God’s love.
We piled in and made our way to the compound where we would stay. We claimed our rooms, unpacked our bags and took in the late breakfast that the staff of Healing Haiti prepared for us. Creamy home-made oatmeal, bananas, peppers, hard-boiled eggs, toast and fresh mango juice. We met one of the missionaries Alicia and she shared about her time with us over the past year as she stayed back during the early days of Covid instead of going back home to America. She shared how she has witnessed God’s protection and guidance through it all. Not just for her, but the entire Haitian community. She then gave us a tour of the compound where she shared the big plans of Healing Haiti repurposing an old guest house and opening it up as restaurant to the local community. Another way that Healing Haiti is finding ways to put resources back into the community and create opportunities for employment.
We then took naps and rested up the best we could before our next mission to the Home for Sick and Dying Babies.
Our Bible verse for the week is Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.”
Our team gathered for devotion time, where John and Henry on our team focused on the first fruit of the spirit – LOVE. How Jesus calls us to love our God the Father with all our mind, body and soul and he also asks us to one another. Serving at the Home for Sick and Dying Babies was the perfect opportunity to share the love of Christ to those in need.
We all jumped on the Tap Tap and made our 5-minute adventure ride. When we arrived, we went to care for the toddlers. Our goal was to help give some relief to the hard working staff. We entered a room of about 20 metal cribs that were lined up in rows holding the children. We were each given a bowl of soft food and instructed to each care for one of the toddlers. We also were responsible for changing their diapers and taking them outside to play. Most of the children were quiet and waiting patiently. A couple were fussy with needs. The team responded quickly to love on the children. The somber room immediately filled with sounds of excitement and laughter as we got acquainted. Some of us got messy with the food, some of us were nervous and didn’t know if we were doing it right, some of us were finished with feeding in minutes, some of us were met with cries of need and frustration and responded with comfort and held and soothed the child.
One by one we each carried the toddlers out to the playground where we shared in the joys of being outside and taking in the fresh-air and the world around us. Depending upon where each child was in how they felt, we experienced the stillness of swaying and snuggling with a child, we experienced chasing after and playing with the kids who lit up with the opportunity of playtime. We experienced moments of our Haiti team speaking words of encouragement over the children and praying silently that Jesus will heal and continue to strengthen them. Whatever the situation was, we each responded to what was needed in the moment – LOVE. One of the missionaries that has been helping since January mentioned how thankful she was to see all the children playing outside at once. This is something that rarely happens.
After we played for a couple of hours with the children, we then wrapped up our time with some tough goodbyes as we gently brought them back to their cribs.
Our team gathered for dinner and circle time in the evening. We talked about the “One Word of the Day” that summed up how we felt. Words ranged from Joy to Divided, from Worship to Unbridled and Life… all with various emotions connected to them. We talked about how Jesus is transforming our hearts and it’s important for us have open palms surrendering to what he has planned for us.
So with day-one behind us, we already know God is working mightily in us. Not just as we serve the Haitian community, but as the Haitian community opens our eyes to the beauty around us and what it means to see the world through the eyes of our Lord and say “Yes God, Send me!” when he calls us.
