In Haiti!

I wanted to send out a quick message to let everyone know that after 2 long days of travel I am here in Haiti! Grant is actually in Port au Prince (picking up Pierre Garcon..) so I spend the afternoon with his roommate who picked me up from the airport. His roommate RJ has been incredible and really made things more comfortable for me even though I came here knowing nobody and no Creole.

It was an interesting trip to get here, including just about every method of travel you can think of! I took my motorcycle on Sunday afternoon to Jarabacoa where I spent the night with Brian Veen. He graciously drove me to Santiago in his car where I jumped on Caribe Tours (big charter bus) to take all the way to Cap Haitien. In Cap Haitien I was met by Tom Froese and spent the night with him and his family. I had gotten to know him and his 2 adopted sons on various trips to Constanza and really enjoyed spending more time with them. What a blessing that I had them helping me because I really don't know how I could have done it based on the bus schedules.

After spending the night, they drove me to the airport and we waited together for a bit until their flight for Port au Prince left about an hour and a half before mine. I was pretty nervous, not knowing any Creole and being in a crazy, hot, little airport "terminal." My flight was scheduled for 12:30 and at 12:20 my airline came out and started announcing things and everybody got up and went to the door. This seemed like the right thing to do.....until I had gotten out to the plane and I asked someone (just to make sure....) that it was going to Port de Paix and they quickly told me no no no Port au Prince! So after that close call I went back to the waiting room and waited for about 20 minutes. After that I was feeling very uncomfortable with my situation, so I prayed that God would just help me get to Port de Paix and just lead me on the right plane and help things to run smoothly. As I lifted my head from the prayer a man was standing there and introduced himself in English! He was a pastor in Port de Paix through Baptist International Missions and he had lived in Haiti for over 20 years. Needless to say I stuck by his side all the way until we got off the plane. I don't think I have ever had a prayer answered so quickly, but I sure was grateful.

After a long, bumpy ride in the back of a pick-up truck (tap tap/taxi) I was finally in St. Louis. I then got a tour of the site and went out with RJ and some team members to deliver food to a few houses in the community. It is very different here and the poverty is intense. I think it will be something I will be processing more after I leave. I am trying hard not to compare the DR and Haiti, but it is really hard not to. I am very excited to see Grant in the morning, but the place could be a circus with Pierre Garcon here (as well as CBS, NFL network and possibly ESPN).

It was a long journey to get here, but God has already taught me a ton and I can't wait to see what he reveals to me throughout my time here. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, I will try to get another update or 2 on here during my trip. God is good.

Kyle