Heading Home

In just a couple of hours we will start the long journey northward. So many thoughts and memories and lessons will I take with me. Although I can't possibly share them all here, there are a couple that as of right now stand out...

We were unable to obtain the Visa yesterday. Things looked impossible. We didn't even make it through the first checkpoint into the Embassy. Our driver returned and brought us to the bank. It is not like the US. There aren't banks on every corner. This one took us 30 min. to get to. We arrived at 730 AM only to find out they don't open until 830. So we waited "anba pyebwa"... under a tree for shade. We waited until 815, then we walked into the courtyard and found 75 people already standing in line, also waiting to get into the bank. We had to return to the Embassy by 930 in order to get in. Can you imagine how our hearts sank? Without writing a book here, I will tell you that the entire day was like this. One stop after another, waiting outside for hours, looking for shade, from 545 AM until 430 PM. At 2:00 while standing outside of Immigration, not having eaten or drank since 530 AM, I said to myself, I just can't do this anymore. God, please send us help. I looked up and saw a sign on a car: God is my pilot. (more about the significance of this later). Within 2 minutes a man came up to us and told us to go inside and sit down. Thank you God! Once inside a sort of "holding area", another man came to us and asked us where our friends were. He then brought us to them. Angels. Really.

The end of that story is that what seemed impossible is never impossible with God. He is making the way. Once the first major obstacle was overcome, we thought we would never, ever overcome the next two. But God is much bigger than that, and all authority in Heaven and Earth is given by him. Clearing the first obstacle has cleared the last two. Now we just need to wait a little longer, get the new passport, and then return to the Embassy.

God is an amazing, powerful, good good God who loves us with a love we can only partially understand.

Speaking of love, let me share a story with you about the love the Haitian people have shown us these past few weeks. While on the road back from Port Salut, we had a medical emergency. Our tap tap pulled over quickly onto the side of the road. Instantly, there were people around us asking how they could help. One motorcycle gave a ride to one of us to go buy something. Another stood in waiting to see if they could take us to the hospital. They waited until the emergency passed. Others offered whatever help they could give. Total strangers. Love.

Another expression of this love and hospitality came from an elderly woman on the side of the road during our third flat tire of the day on Sunday. Upon seeing us, she motioned for us to quickly come and sit on her bench in the shade of an overhang. She even gave up her seat for us. Then she filled our time with stories of local happenings. During our first flat tire stop, two young men came by and saw the difficulty we were having getting the jack under the car. The two of them lifted the Toyota Roadrunner off the ground enough to get the jack where it needed to be. Once they saw everything was ok, off they went.

How can you measure the love of people who barely have any food, who eat once a day, yet bring you the fruits of the land for you to enjoy? Coconut, kaneps, mangos, cherries, limons... how can you describe that love?

Or how do you explain a love and care from a stranger that takes a hanky and wipes the sweat off your face, neck and arms after seeing your discomfort?

Or the love and care from a group of children when you visit their home who bring you a chair - child sized - for you to sit on under a tree in the shade so that you don't have to sit on the ground... and then climb on top of you... and then seeing how hot you are, begin to make a human fan by altogether blowing on you at once to cool you off?

I always leave here with tears. While I came to share the love of Christ with my Haitian friends - new and old - I can honestly tell you they shared the love of Christ with me. My heart is so full. Thank you Jesus for welcoming me into this place and into this work. Bel Bondye, mwen renmen ou, Bel Bondye, mwen adore ou, Bel Bondye, mwen dwe chante! "Beautiful One, I love; Beautiful One, I adore; Beautiful One, my soul must sing!"