The first summer team has landed. We are in Haiti! On Thursday afternoon BWO kicked off the 2010 summer mission year.  We have 11 individuals that have answered  the call to go to Haiti.  We departed from Miami on Wednesday morning.  After a short flight we arrived in Port Au Prince, Haiti.  The journey was not over yet.  After getting through a VERY busy Main airport terminal we grabbed a taxi van to the charter terminal. That is where we caught our Charter plane headed for Jacmel.  Jacmel is a city 40 miles south of Port Au prince with a large mountains that separate the two cities.  After hearing that the roads where badly damaged by the quake, we decided it best to charter two planes, one 10 passenger Caravan  and small Cessna to deliver us to the Jacmel airport.
Once we were to Jacmel our missionary contacts promptly retrieved us and delivered us to our wonderful “outreach” house.  We have been very blessed to have accommodations such as these for us to recover at after a long days of ministry.
After arrival and lunch our missionary friends wasted no time in getting us started.  Our first stop was a Mother Theresa orphanage with precious babies and toddlers. It was so amazing! These beautiful little people loving and climbing all over us.  Loved it!
Next we took a tour of the city. There are no words to explain what has happened to this country.  Lives lost, children fatherless, families homeless, but they are resilient and hungry for Jesus!
Thursday was our first full day of ministry.  The construction team headed off to Nerland’s house.  Her family had 1/2 half of their house demolished by the two story house that fell on it that used to sit right next to theirs.  They have been waiting nearly 6 months for the rubble to be removed so they could start to rebuild.  Bet you’ve never seen a 100+ lb girl work harder than 6 men.  She did!!
The medical team went to the local hospital where our physical therapist had an unending line of people.  Our nurse practitioner worked in wound care.
The outreach team visited a school in the morning and an orphanage in the afternoon.  The school had been very badly damaged by the quake.  As a result all of the children are forced to have classes under tarps set up into classes around the outside of the school.  We played games,  sang songs, performed a skit, talked to the kids about how they lives are hidden in Christ, then as a representation they all received a brightly colored visor they could decorate and take home with them.
We finished our day with an evening outreach to the community where Nerland lives. As we arrived there we tents set up everywhere.  These are now people’s homes.  As we stood on the slab where Nerland’s neighbor’s house used to stand she told me where she stood during the quake.  She pointed and said, “Over there was a professional school (trade school) where you learn a profession. Everyone died when the building collapsed.This is their reality but we are privileged to be able to offer them hope.
As the sun went down we set up a 10 x 12 foot screen in the middle of the street closing it off to vehicles.  Our missionary contact pulled up his SUV and plugged in a projector & sound system to an inverter to his car battery and made a make shift movie theater in the middle of town.  Two to three hundred people gathered to watch The God Maniac in Creole.  This is a powerful depiction of the Gospel.  Following the movie Pastor Abraham gave a very anointed opportunity for people to come forward.  So many came to know Jesus last night.  It was amazing sight to see.  As we drove Pastor Abraham back to his tent, he was so excited as he shared how the young men that accepted Christ asked him to come back and hold bible studies with them.
WHAT A DAY!
So I leave you with this request.  Please keep us in your prayers.  Not only for this trip but the many that will go out this summer.
THIS ENTRY IS A FEW DAYS LATE AS THE INTERNET WENT DOWN JUST BEFORE WE WERE ABLE TO MAKE IT PUBLIC. Much more has happened and God has moved mightily.  Stay tuned for the next blog.