while standing in line to check in, we met marilyn mcilroy from world partners canada, who lives in waterloo. we also met margaret brown, who trained and served with bruce and helen snyder in nigeria when they first went there many years ago. both of these gals also worked with bruce in haiti many years ago, before bruce and helen were married! imagine that! they will work in haiti with association eglise mission (aem) until they return home march 4th.
we played 'zobmondo' on the airplane with francoise, a haitian man who lives between the states and haiti. his question was 'which would you choose - to change 3 things in the past or 1 in the future?' he said without any hesitation whatsoever - 1 in the past. he spoke with conviction about haiti, his family, etc. he is picking up his wife after 3 years of living apart, to bring her to washington. he feels that he had set some things in motion, in reaction to not being able to school his 4 teenage children for the past 3 years because of unrest in the country. his #1 decision would be to have peace in haiti, so that he and his family could live together there in peace. interesting discussion and prayer time with him.
we arrived in haiti to VIP treatment, compliments of emanuel, my friend teresa's husband. it was quite unbelievable actually. we were escorted to a VIP area where we lounged as our passports and luggage were processed without any effort on our part. the only thing i had to do, besides tell an airport official that i was not a diplomat (even though he treated me like one before and after i told him i wasn't one) was to explain what the medications we brought were for and to identify our bags. it was the most unbelievably easy entry to haiti (or any country for that matter) that i've ever experienced. it still boggles my mind just to think of it!
emanuel is the sweetest guy ... besides my jeff of course ... what a soft hearted man. we met him and some of his tactical/swat team buddies, who escorted us by diplomatic vehicle to our digs at st. joseph's home for boys. he did a huge thing, setting up our VIP entrance to haiti, and we will never be able to thank him enough. he and his friend, evans, could not believe that we were coming to their country without pay to do our mission ... and he said it was the least he could do.
after arriving at st. joseph's, joyce and laura scurried upstairs where the boys were practicing their dance. they had a great time! i went to chapel with the boys before dinner. they do this thing before readings and prayer where they say 3 good things about each person present. it is a way that they celebrate each other each day. it is really quite beautiful. we had a great dinner! no rice and beans for a bunch of bemused team members ... ha! ha!
tonight everyone shared: brigitte shared that we are special. joyce shared about her son sending 10 bible pages from his first bible, and some words for her each day to accompany them. mary shared about her trips to europe and india. joyce and brigitte shared some funny stories about going to baptist churches while they were growing up. some verses that were shared included: 2 Corinthians 5:14 'Christ's love compels us.' 1 John 3 'dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. it is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord, even if our hearts condemn us. for God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.'
there seems to be contentment and wonder in the group. interesting that we have had so many divine encounters already. at the end of this day i journalled 'i feel full but empty, surrounded but lonely, taken care of but that i must take care of others - the children, the women on my team. my heart is full and challenged but 'God is greater than my heart.' i miss james, my former translator who died about a year or so ago. i wept through some of these feelings. what an incredibly wonderful and deep beginning ...
here are pic's from the day
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