Well yesterday after an emotional landing, I just started a conversation with a random stranger while trying to unload from the plane. We ended up finding out that we were on the same mission trip and coming to help out Heartline Ministries here in Haiti. His name was Ron and he is very sweet and funny to be around. He was telling me I needed to get my pillow initialed after telling him it had traveled around the world. Him and I went through customs and met up with a few other people from our trip. We met our trip leader, Dave, who is just awesome. I am really glad that God ordained him to lead our trip. Some of the other people are Sue, Kay, Clair, Michael, and Nicole. Nicole and I have a special bond because she is an amazing young woman who is adopted from Haiti and just had a desire to come back. Michael and Nicole are just absolutely wonderful. Both of them are teenagers who decided to come Haiti and give back. We also met our "house parents" Rebecca and Barry. They are from Australia and have been so wonderfully gracious in allowing us to come in and making us feel like family. I also got to meet John and Beth, the founders of Heartline Ministries. This was a special treat because I have been following what they are doing here in Haiti for years.
So yesterday was quiet interesting. We got to the guest house and I was like wow I am back in Haiti. There is just something about being here that makes me feel alive and like I am at home. I can not imagine there being a time when I do not want to come back to Haiti and work. So after our arrival from the airport we went upstairs and picked out our beds. Then about 20 minutes or so later, we met up with John and he brought in a list of things that needed to be done. This was a list in pretty small font that just seemed overwhelming at the time. John was like well you can go and work or you can stay here if you want to. Almost all of us went to work. Our first place we visited was the teenage mother house. That is just such an awesome ministry. The mother's get to live there for up to two years and are given an education to help them break the cycle of poverty. It was so refreshing to see these young mothers, in Haiti, with their babies, happy and healthy. After this I went to go and help get pillows ready to stuff for the women in the sewing class. This is another of Heartlines Ministries. The women come in and sew and raise money for their families. They make a large percentage of profit off of this, half of which is given to them and half of which is kept in a bank account for them. Well the sewing classes are a bit different, but the women will sew up pillows and be able to sell them and make a little money. Now while I thought this was going to be an easy job, well I was wrong. Haiti is hot and sticky, and add to that shredded cloth flying in the air and well it was a mess. However the company was excellent and we had a blast. Sharon and Karen are two ladies who came in and just loved on Nicole and I. They are grandmotherly types who are just fun to be around. They wanted to make sure that we drank plenty of water and wore our masks while we were working on pulling the cloth giant square apart. I will take some pictures and add them when I get back to the States as the Internet in Haiti will not allow for it.
When we got back to the guest house, which is absolutely beautiful, and the most wonderful place I have ever stayed at in Haiti. We got cleaned up, and then had a nice group dinner. At this time we just got to enjoy each other and relax a bit. I am truly looking forward to the rest of the trip with these people that I am getting to know. After dinner it was time for bed and I will post what happened today in another post.
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