Day 3. Monday, July 26

Great first day of ministry in Haiti! We had group worship at the base today and then took of to City Solei. This is in a part of Haiti that was actually unreachable before the earthquake, but is an example of how God has worked for the good of these people by making their tent city available to aid and mission post-earthquake. We went to do a VBS for the kids while another team did a discipleship course for the adults. It was a fantastic experience. First, we took a tour of the tent city, and saw the tarp tents close up. Most of us were holding children who had attached themselves to us early on. We learned that each tent held at least 2 families in it, and that these people were told they would probably have to live there for the next 10 years. (what?!) They had a few half-kept gardens with corn and wheat in them, but there is never enough food and water is a long walk away and longer haul back to the city. Then, we played games and taught the kids about Creation. They were incredibly energetic during the games but also attentive during the teaching time.
A sweet girl named Sarah attached herself to me at the beginning, and I carried her for most of the day. (My arms are sore as I write this.) She is about 2.5 years old and full of joy. Her simple desire to be held in my arms was incredibly fufilling. Some of the Haitian women (and teenagers, who are essentially adults here) looked at me with big smiles on their faces and I prayed that they could tell that it was God's love, that I was striving to be the arms of God around this precious little girl.
We left there about lunchtime and ate MRE's on the way to the next tent city. What are MREs? They are Meals Ready to Eat, war-time tested, war-time approved. Haha, For real. They're vacuumed-sealed squares of .... decent lunch. :) Today I had a packet of beef enchiladas, another packet of refried beans, some vegetable crackers, cheese paste (with jalapenos!), and a packet of chocolate chip cookies. It was a good thing one of our guys (BJ) had a knife with him, otherwise I would have been unable to open the hard core packets. If it was nothing else, it was an experience, and very filling.
We then arrived at Del Mar, another tent city in Port-au-Prince. Here, we ventured in and among the tents to pray with people and hear their stories. To be honest, I was unsure of this at best, and unwilling at the worst. But I followed the team in with the translaters, and fell in love with this! The people were so willing to share their stories and their prayers for safety, shelter, and health. Steve, one of our translators, was fantastic at interacting with the people and showing the love of God in his care for their condition. We met one woman named Marimat who looked to be in her 60's who complained of a constant ache that kept her up at night. She didn't ask for us to give her anything, didn't expect us to provide a solution, just wanted our prayers. It was amazing, coming home after that, to feel the heat in our tents (easily 100+), and just the intense desire to get out and go to one of our shady breezy spots. And then to realize that this was the reality that those people were asking us to pray for a reprieve for them. Hot. Unlivable hot.
I thanked God for the shade I sat in and prayed again for the people we saw today.

I'm thoroughly enjoying our time on the base. The staff is wonderful, and the Haitians on staff have been so patient and a lot of fun in teaching me Haitian creole phrases. So far I can say:

• How are you?
• Fine
• And you?
  
• What is your name?
• My name is Aimee.
• What's going on?
• Nothing. (Which, unless I'm mistaken, is basically a nnnhhh-uhhhh kind of grunt)
• 1,2,3,4. :)
• Jesus.
  

Amazing what a weekend in a country can do. If I were in school, I'd be ready for Creole 102. :)

Speaking of languages, my Spanish was revived from near death today when I felt the need to talk to a large Brazilian woman on base. I'm not entirely sure what her story is, but I know she's a pastor from Brazil, and that everyone calls her "Mama." We had a delightful 20 minute conversation, and not only was I refreshed by her smile and consuming laugh, but I felt a surge of joy at the fact that I could still hold a conversation in Spanish. She also seemed very thankful that I took the time (and risk of making a fool of myself) and spoke to her. Many of those on base seem to love her with their smiles and their hugs, but all of our "little bit" of Spanish doesn't do much with the next to nothing English that she knows.

God is blessing me so much through this trip to Haiti. I just hope that in some way I can turn that around and leave someone a little better off here.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your prayers!