Closing Thoughts

The last day in Bohoc started off a little shaky and to be honest, for most it went downhill fast.  The previous night, it rained very hard and the dirt roads were really rough.  We woke up at the same time as usual and had eggs and toast for breakfast, packed our bags and were out the door.  Zach, Sean and I got in the truck and the rest of the team got in the Coaster.  We left and everything went according to plan until we went up this slightly muddy hill behind the bus.  It got about halfway up and then started sliding right. This happened a few times until they finally got it in stuck by having people push.  Then after they got unstuck, this early 90's red Toyota Hilux full of people comes rolling down the hill at us after going around the bus. He was going a total of like 10 mph but he was coming right at us.  We weren't moving at all.  He stopped and started like 4 times until he hit the drivers side bumper and headlight.  Funky was pissed. He was sitting in the drivers seat with the three of us in the car. He crossed his arms for a second cocked his head to the side and then got out. The accident sounded pretty bad but he was sliding on the mud really slow so we didn't think it was too bad. All of a sudden there was a huge crowd. Angry Creole was being shouted all around in this big crowd outside of the drivers side. Ronald and Blake were there attempting to mediate but a few times the arguing reached a tipping point and people started shoving.  No punches were thrown but I think it was close.  I thought they were gonna throw down and just go for it.  It was totally the other drivers fault. He should have stopped and let us back up so I didn't really know what the argument was about.  Anyway they somehow got it settled and we were on our way.  The bus got stuck again and they pulled out tow straps.  They hooked it to the diesel Frontier and I thought that there was not a chance on God's beautiful green earth that we could pull this 6 ton behemoth out of the rut it was in. Then Funky put it in to 4 wheel drive.  They turned on the air locker that I didn't know the truck had and he got the revs up and dropped the clutch with smoking tires on the bus and a smelly transmission on the truck, it pulled it out easily.  I will have to show the video I took to the guys on the Frontier/Xterra forum that I am on.  This little thing was beast. Then we went to a water crossing. We got stuck in the ruts left by the bus.  About 5 minutes later we somehow pulled ourselves out.  The whole trip after that was just as beautiful as the first time. Some of the landscapes were suissian. the bus only got stuck one more time as far as I know because after we pulled it out we left them in a cloud of dirt and mud.  Our car and the coaster were smoking.  Tony put a rock behind one of the tires to give it traction but this proved to be a poor decision because it just tore the tire up. After we left them I got some absolutely stunning video of the landscape, it was breathtaking every time I turned around.

We got too far ahead of the bus a few times. So we would stop for video. Eventually we turned on to a bridge and the dirt road stopped. I only saw Funky put it in to 4 wheel drive 4 times, he was incredible and would have been a great driver... if he had an automatic.

We stopped for bathroom breaks on the side of the road a few times before we made it to pavement.  At about the half way point we stopped at the same house school thing that we stopped at the first day. The same kids were there and this time there was a dog and a kitten as well.  We played with all of them for a little bit while everyone used the bathroom, and then we took off again.

We again got ahead of the bus and got to see Funky's cousin's "campus" whatever that means.  It was a really cool place. It had a basketball hoop and a volleyball court as well as really nice trucks and houses on property. We left again when we saw the bus pass outside.

 This time we got way ahead of the bus.  Zach, Sean and I were talking about this supposed red bull in a bottle for a long time. Eventually when we stopped because Funky was hungry, we asked him to buy us some of these things with our money. (Un)Surprisingly it was a knock off Haitian red bull called Toro. It came in a clear-ish silver bottle with a blue and silver hatched wrapper with a red bull on the front.  It was made in Haiti and actually said drink responsibly on the wrapper in English. In Creole it had the American alcoholic drink warning but there was no alcohol in it as far as I know.  It tasted like carbonated apple juice and to be honest was not very good.  It was a little sketchy since it was presumably Haitian water in and I had no idea if it was filtered or not.  The ride in to PAP was just as pretty as when we left, words will never do this island justice.  We rode in behind the bus which had it's rear right dually tire smoking. It was only a matter of time before it blew, which it did in the middle of Port Au Prince. For some reason most of the girls were scared beyond all common sense and were in a complete panic. Another 410 Bridge truck came by and picked  them up and the one we were in did so as well.  I would have offered to help change the tire but there were a ton of people around and I figured there were already enough cooks in the kitchen. So I leaned against a pole and eventually we rode back to the guest house where we are staying tonight in the bus.  We watched the U.S. Peru soccer game on tv and ate more awesome Cajun food.

Apparently a bunch of us couldn't handle Haiti judging by everyone's reactions to today's ordeal. I thought it was fine though. It was an adventure that I wouldn't replace for anything.  This week has been the highlight of my summer and I discovered that I am built for this kind of thing.  I loved everything that like everyone else hated, the bumpy rides, the heat, the food, the slight air of sketchy about everything. I could honestly do this all the time.  I wouldn't want to do it for a living or something like that but I will definitely be going on the next mission trip and as many as the church and my wallet allow me to go on.  Hopefully I will find some wifi tomorrow to post this so I can blog about the trip back. The day after tomorrow will feel weird, going back to our real world. Hopefully I'll let it change me. Well hope to write again in Miami if the good Lord allows it, tomorrow we are homebound.

Watch Your Head

Today was way harder than yesterday.  We woke up at 6:15 again to go work.  We didn't know what we were doing until we got there. Turns out we were going to the same place we worked yesterday. And we were pretty much the same split up groups minus Herc and with a few additions.  

We were moving the cacti on one side of the street about 4 feet back to widen the roads.  It was way harder than yesterday because we were in the sun nonstop as well as digging rocks out of very hard ground with pic axes, one shovel and a hoe. We were very unorganized. We really didn't really know exactly what we were doing because only Blake from the 410 Bridge was there to lead us and he really didn't know what he was supposed to be doing there as the whole place was chaos. Now I believe chaos has it's place but this was not it. Well there was an accident here. I won't say any names or exactly what happened because I was asked not to.   Everyone is fine now. But there should have been more leaders there, and there shouldn't have been that many people in a five foot wide alley.  Anyway we saw baseball sized tarantulas in the rocks. After the accident we were leaderless as both Ronald and Blake left with the hurt kid in the truck to a clinic. Eventually the other group came back and we waited there for the bus to arrive as it apparently had smoking dashboard issues. I'll just leave it at that.

After that fiasco we went back to the house. I played keepaway soccer with some Haitian kids and got a little overheated but I was all good after a while. We went to a community center here and played soccer. I watched the Americans get killed by the Haitians. I got some good footage,  as well as a color commentator for the soccer game. He was a goat but it was all good.  After that we came back and we had our final debrief.

Tomorrow we leave for PAP. We get to go back on the awesome road out of the town and get to see those awesome views.

Donkey Drag Races

Today the hard labor started.  We got up at 6:15 to the loudest rooster ever and cold showers but because it was really hot I didn't mind.  We went to this random alley with cactus fences on both sides.  There was a really big pile of sand/gravel on the side of the road. We were to take this stuff from there to this house deep I'm this maze of alleyways that had a 70 ft deep square hole in the back for a latrine.  We were taking this sand gravel mixture to the back to make the cinderblocks that were to line the inside of the hole.    

They split us in to two groups before this. The other group went to go move rocks at a church.  We went back and forth from the pile and the house making several different smaller piles. Along the packed dirt path were large rocks and ruts that made using a wheelbarrow difficult. We also had a few buckets to carry the sand as well but I found that much more difficult. We got the sand over in about 2 hours. We then walked down the road a bit and did the same thing, only this time we knocked it out in less than an hour because this pile was in front of the house that we were putting it in the back.  Then we took a walk to the other group and when we got there I got to talk to the math kid from yesterday.  He passed his exit exam and graduated from secondary school.  Sean came walking toward us with his hand outstretched. He had green gloves on and he had grabbed a tarantula that was about 2 and a half inches around.  He dropped it and we teased it for a while watching it move around but there were kids with bare feet around and it was venomous as well as being really unpredictable. I liked it but I decided the best thing to do was to kill it since we couldn't grab it again as it was alert and really fast.  So I said a small prayer and dropped a big rock on it. I didn't really like killing it but I felt like it was the best thing to do at the time.

We then boarded the Coaster because the truck was nowhere in sight and somehow found our way back to the main road. When we got there the truck was there so I got back in it.  

We then headed to the market to scout it out before we go tomorrow.  It was pretty sketchy to say the least.  We walked through an incredibly crowded street in the middle of a field with vendors on both sides.  There were mismatched sandals and shoes, food, animals, car parts, machetes. Everything. It was chaos. I felt safe but apparently some people knew something that I don't because some people who will not be named were almost in a complete panic. That leads me in to another point. I have stood in the bed of a truck a few times this week while we are going to orphanages or tasks. We are going about 25 miles an hour max. Usually I can run about as fast as our truck is moving.  Safety here is in your own hands and that is why this place is a paradise. However Herc decided that for some reason it was the most dangerous thing in the world when the way I look at it is it's the safest way other than inside the truck. The bus is awfully top heavy and to be honest I don't trust that driver. He has taken some interesting routes and I wouldn't drive the ways that he has with that many people in his hands.  The bed is also safer at those speeds because you can step off if something starts to go wrong.  But that only works if you are standing. Sitting on the bed sides hurts the tailbone when you go over bumps and you can't get out when the fit hits the shan.  Plus we are here for God, and I know that he is in control. Then Herc called me arrogant for saying that I respectfully disagreed with him.  Well I may be a little arrogant but he is too for assuming God doesn't have the power to keep me safe. I figure if it is my time then it is my time and there's nothing I can do about it so why try.

Anyway after the market we went and saw their water supply.  I was the only one to get in the truck full of Haitians that were getting rides back in to town because I didn't want to ride 10 miles in a stuffy loud bus  with no A/C that rocks like a boat on the water over every bump.  It was then I realized that I didn't know the driver of the truck. It wasn't Funky.  It was the right Frontier.  We took off ahead of the bus.  We went back through the road that we took to the market and then I had no idea where we were I was a little sketched out but not that much.  It turned out to be Funky's son who got out at his house, and then Funky got back in the driver's seat and we were off.  We got back to the house and had lunch.  The bus left to get it's muffler welded so we had to wait a bit for us to be able to go to where we were going next.

This is when Stuff got real.  We went to an orphanage back in Bohoc. We rode in the back of the truck standing up and Herc kinda got ticked but he seemed to let it go so it's all good. Anyway we rolled in and did our song for the kids.  Some of the older kids really weren't getting in to it and I found out why later. It turned out that so many churches came through there and promised so many things that the kids just didn't trust us.  I didnt really connect with any of the kids like almost all of the other interns did, but i did really connect with a teacher there with a guitar. He had a B.C. Rich acoustic that at one time had had it's headstock broken apart after the 4th string tuning head.  He was really cool.  We played a few songs and talked music for a little bit, then he started playing a Christian song that I knew but he was singing it in Creole. I thought that was so cool, it may not seem like a very big deal but at the time it was so awesome. I then played amazing grace and he and our guide Ronald sang it in creole as well. He taught me the chords to what I assume is a Haitian worship song and I taught him grace like rain since I thought he could just figure out the lyrics for the chorus since he knew the verses.

Back to the actual orphanage.  The living conditions were deplorable. Some of these kids have a few sets of clothes some have one for the week and one for Sunday, others actually had none.  They had a few twin beds but not nearly enough for all the kids.  Luckily I actually did not see this next part because I would have been livid if I had seen it. Some kids slept on the concrete floor, now while that is a big deal, some of the same kids ate whatever they could find, this included maggot infested rice and trash. And here a few paragraphs ago I was complaining about being told not to ride in a truck bed. I just found this out as I am writing this and I honestly don't know how to feel right now, but something will be done soon. It isn't the orphanage's fault, they are doing the best they can with what they have.  They just really have nothing. And the government is too busy getting rich to care.

The ride home would have been much more quiet if we had known this then but we didn't so on the way back Zach, Drew and I talked for a bit when we realized that we were moving really slowly.  There was a mule walking directly in front of us. Eventually a guy on the road moved the mule to the side and we got past. But then he started running when we passed him.  I realized that we were drag racing a fully loaded mule with no one guiding him in a diesel Nissan Frontier.  We got past him again and he was still running after us.  Zach hung out the window and slowed him down eventually but I have to say that was an interesting ending to the day. After dinner when we got back the 410Bridge council came by to thank us and that was pretty much the day. Tomorrow is more of the same so I look forward to it.

Day Three

Until now the trip has really felt more like a vacation than a real mission trip.  Today though we got to go to church with the Haitians. There weren't enough seats at either church so we split between them. We dressed up to go to church with them and I rode with Funky again in the Frontier and we re-entered Bohoc.  The church building was mostly open with weathered white wooden pews. They had a stage at the front and the band played fairly cheap guitars and basses. The drums were in the worst shape though.  They had no bottom heads, and their cymbals were cracked and had pieces missing out of them. One was even on the bottom part of a mic stand.  The service seemed to already have started when we got there but being that Haitians don't really value time in their culture no one acted like it was any big deal.  They led us down to the 2nd and 3rd rows and we sat down in the order we came in.  The service really started when we got there and got settled in.  Some lady from another church was led up to the pulpit and introduced the members from her church. Then Herc follows suit and we introduced ourselves.  After we said our names a young woman and man came and pinned these orange and white ribbons on our chests. I am sad to say that I lost mine though.  When that was over the same lady came up and assured us that we would know some songs that her church was going to play for the Haitians. None of us knew either one.  They were very very early attempts at contemporary Christian music.  So that was awkward.  Luckily they had the music for awesome God so we did that as well and that one worked much better.  The service lasted about two hours and I couldn't tell you what it was about but the music they played was sure cool.  

When the Coaster and truck came back to pick us up there was a ton of our people in the bed. Naturally I jumped in when they got out to get in the Coaster.  Sean Zach and I had the best ride of our lives, or at least I did, coming back to the house. I thought yesterday's footage was cool, the shots I got from the back of that truck were phenomenal.  I felt really out of place standing in the bed of a pickup wearing dress clothes leaning over the side getting shots.   We ate lunch when we got back, it was really good, and the Cajun food keeps getting better.

After lunch we were briefed that we needed to think up VBS style games and activities we could play with the children that we were going to be visiting at this Sunday school. We had like 15 mins to think of something and while I was getting my camera ready they all decided to do the creation story.  That was fine with me as I didn't really do anything there either except shoot.  Anyway we got this skit version of the creation story all worked out and I got to ride in the bed of the truck again o the way back to the church we stayed at where we would be putting on VBS.  They put on the skit thing there after we played hackey sac with a soccer ball and I got some okay footage of that.  I went around shooting video of other people interacting with the kids and kind of played with some myself, but I'm glad I got to document it.  A couple kids were pointing to me and laughing at what I was doing when they should have been paying attention to the skit but I really didn't know how.  I found that a lot of the kids seemed distracted though that made me wonder if they got it. I did meet an 18 year old Haitian who was better at math than I will ever be.  He had this trig packet that had such advanced math in it, it made me dizzy. It was part of his entrance exam or exit exam for university.  I would not survive if I had to go to school in Haiti.  When we had to leave we said goodbye and it was heart breaking not to be able to give the kids the balls. But it wouldn't be fair so we kept them.  Whether or not fair is right deserves another post so I'll leave it at that. 

We went to this missionary compound next and took a tour. It was a beautiful estate complete with FJ55 land cruisers and land rover defender 100s. It had a school, a farm, houses and a orchard on it and I was taught about grafting plants and how that works. The Bigstuf interns got to go to the top of the highest mountain in Haiti and I'm really jealous Because that thing is beautiful.  Jodi passed out due to heat and that was the end of that trip.  We went back, ate dinner, I found out I got hacked on facebook and here we are! Tomorrow is when we start doing manuel labor though so we will see what happens

Haiti Rally Series Championship

Today was the first full day in Haiti. After I wrote the post for last night I went to bed and went to sleep. Apparently I was the only one though, the rest of the guys couldn't sleep because it was so hot. I on the other hand had no problem sleeping because God had me live in the Joy Hall heat all year last year. I slept like a baby even through Matt waking up screaming about the world's largest tarantula in the room only to find out he was dreaming.

We awoke the next morning to Matt again yelling at us that it was 8:00, but in reality it was 7:00 because he thought we were on eastern time.  So I lay in bed for another hour before I got a shower. To be honest I heard Drew yell my name, but there was no one there... Weird I didn't think about that until just now.

Anyway we awoke to a lovely breakfast of bread, cream cheese, and this really good egg, bacon, onion omelet thing.  The best part though was this pink drink thing they had.  It was amazing and I wish I knew what to was.

Little did I know that because I slept so well, everyone else had already packed their stuff up.  So I was the last one out of the door in PAP. Luckily for me, that meant that I got to ride in the Frontier again.  I threw my stuff in the Coaster and got in the passenger seat. Our driver Funky got in as well and then Tracy and Sean got in the back seats. Funky turned the truck on and then stopped to say a prayer before we took off. I didn't know why he was praying because I didn't see him pray before we left from the airport so I kinda just said amen in my head and went with it. We left our house in PAP and went to a gas station to fill up before the trip. There our driver got something like Coca Cola from a street vendor. From there we went north out of the city to Bohoc.  We left the potentially and incredibly  beautiful city of PAP behind and we entered the outskirts where there was a couple very American looking subdivisions being built. Or that's what I assumed because there was no one working on them.  Anyway ahead of us was a gigantic mountain range with switchbacks zig zagging all across it's face.  As we went up we could really see PAP for the first time from above and it looked awesome.  I also got a chance to see that behind us was another huge mountain range and PAP was set up between them. These mountains are so beautiful and green, half way up the face we got to see lakes and rivers dotting the countryside, and this country's physical beauty astounded me yet again.  We reached the top and turned in to the pass and there was nothing but blue sky and green earth in front of me, save for the pavement ahead.  The tips of mountains were obscured by their distance and the sky. The road was smooth as we carved through the mountains when we were not driving through portions that were being paved as we were driving through them.  We passed a dam that was apparently not too well thought out because it flooded a river so bad that it was eroding away at the hills next to it.  The problem there was that there were houses on those hills above the erosion. It also created islands out of the hills that once surrounded the river.

There is absolutely no concern for the environment here.  The lake that that dam created had just filth lining the coasts. The currents were visible from thousands of feet up due to the dark brown splotches strewn across this otherwise clear mirror lake.  It's just not on their radar at all.  Our driver Funky threw his "Coke" bottle out the window as well as the rest of his trash on several occasions. I would expect the cities to look like this but the countryside would be gorgeous if not for the trash and in most was is still gorgeous in spite of that.

There were a few quarries in the  mountains and that was interesting too, the Haitians just seemed to dig wherever they felt like it. There were a few caves in the mountains that were obviously blown out by TNT or a like explosive. I know they were man made because they were in the place that every cave is in a video game. At like the very top of a mountain.  That and they were almost perfectly circular.

After one of the quarries we came around a bend and I saw a bus stopped with a bunch of people standing around in a large group.  As we got closer I saw what they were standing around.  A black fairly new Mitsubishi pickup truck was laying on its passenger side with it's front facing the cliff wall at about a 45 degree angle away from the wall.  I saw at least 2 people injured sitting on the side of the road.  One man was dressed in a suit with an improvised bandage around his head with his knee up and another person was laying on his back with his hands over his head. Our driver stopped the car on the shoulder and was visibly torn as to what to do.  A beggar walked up to the window and without even thinking gave him some crackers that were in his bag.  He thanked him and then we heard sirens. Two cops in a white Toyota Hilux diesel with blue doors went past us and our driver Funky felt it was okay to leave. I really should have thought about praying but I never did. I was so focused on figuring out how the crash happened that I just didn't think about it. I really felt bad for the people and wanted to help but I really didn't know how. After we left we saw more beautiful terrain but all of a sudden went through a city and stopped at a school/house thing for some reason. I thought it was for a bathroom break but it turns out the Coaster had a flat tire. We hung around and started playing soccer outside. Sure enough a few kids came and played with us as well in a carport. Tony asked one of the owners of the house if he could have a coconut.  The owner got a giant stick out laying next to the wall and just gave it to Tony  and kinda just said good luck. We couldn't get one when we found a low tree in the yard that happened to be in a malaria infested undergrowth. Luckily a kid that happened to be the best coconut getter in the world was playing with us. In 3 seconds he climbed the tree by putting one foot on the tree and one on the wall next to it. When he got to the top of the tree, he grabbed it and shook it with his whole body. Like 6 coconuts fell and Tony got one.

Next came the funniest knife instance since Crocodile Dundee. I had my 3 inch blade and was about to stab the husk with it when Abby stopped me and said I was doing it too dangerously.  When I was about to ignore her and continue, someone brought out a machete that had obviously  been used to do it before. The same kid from before went to town on it after I obviously showed everyone I had no idea what I was doing. I had fresh coconut milk for the first time in my life, and it was awesome. This was when the Coaster got back and we reloaded.  After that we went through more beautiful terrain when all of a sudden the road ended.

Then I had the best time I have had in a long time. We went hardcore off roading for 2 straight hours.  It was awesome I had the time of my life. Tracy and Sean didn't have as good a time as I did but i was too excited to care. Our driver was awesome he took the best lines and was one with the Frontier. Se of the roads we were so crazy, I'm convinced that there could be a special stage of the WRC here in Haiti. I could almost see STIs EVOs and other rally cars flying around these curves. When I get back I am going to send out a few emails to people who I think could make that happen. I think it could really pump some money in to the economy.

We passed people doing laundry in rivers, walking their livestock up hills, and carrying things from A to B. Hours later we passed our drivers house where we got out to stretch our legs and then drove about 15 minutes more to the guest house that I am staying at now. It's basically a hotel. It's got a sweet yard, wifi and some of the best cooks ever. Tonight we had chicken, rice, pasta and this awesome passionfruit drink that was fresh squeezed. We played soccer outside again and more kids showed up. Amazingly the only language we had in common was Spanish so we kind of communicated through that.  Most of the kids spoke really good English though so it was pretty cool. I have yet to really build a relationship with any natives but I'm sure it will happen sometime. We also met this American working for the company that we are renting the guest house from. She's not a Christian but I hope I can be a light to her because I feel like we think similarly. That is pretty much it for today, church is tomorrow so that should be fun...

... Well that was unexpected

I didnt get to see the island as we landed, as a matter of fact I didn't get to see anything from  miami to Haiti.  I sat next to a Haitian woman on the plane who had the window seat.  She was evidently afraid of flying and had the shade down the entire time. Luckily Tony got footage of the approach and landing.  When we landed we were led down some stairs where a Haitian band was playing and then in to busses that took us approximately 100 yards from the terminal from where we were at.  We really could have walked but when we got out of the busses I got my first glimpse of the island itself. It is gorgeous here.  Amidst the chaos and the wreckage I can honestly see the potential this place has.

When we came off of the busses and went in to customs we went through one of 4 lines we handed our passports and visa information to a person working at one of the 4 lines. The guy in my line didn't even look at my passport, he just stamped it and sent me on my way.  After matt had the chance encounter of chance encounters, a Haitian police officer met matt and I and seemed really happy to see us.  He lead us to Ronald.  He is a Haitian guy who will be our guide for the week. Amazingly the Haitian baggage claim people were a picture of efficiency. They already had all of out bags with our tags on them out and ready for us to go.  Unfortunately Brent's guitar didn't make it to Haiti from Miami but he isn't worried about it. 

The same Haitian police officer took us to our van after the baggage claim.  Now matt had explained to us before this that the workers will offer and insist to take your bags but they will want a tip later so don't let them take your bags. Well for whatever reason no one wanted to directly follow the police officer so I was the first one out the door behind him. After exiting the baggage claim there was a long covered walkway that led to the parking lot, and it was absolutely full of men who were all looking at me who I assumed would want to "carry" one of my bags for me. I held both close to me but Dylan didn't have two backpacks, he had a rolling suitcase. Well the police officer apparently told one of the guys to lead us the rest of the way to our van, and he, being a generally nice guy, ripped the suitcase from dylan's hand and smiled and showed us the rest of the way.  In like the middle of the walkway this baggage guy high fives/shakes the hands of two guys, then I see a third guy go to high five him, when he finishes, I see a couple bucks in the guys hand. He immediately hid it from view but I caught a glimpse of it, there was some form of American currency in his hand and I was immediately sketched out. I checked my pockets and I was good so I just kept following him.

Once we reached the parking lot I was in off road truck heaven. Literally every rare or awesome off road truck that I have ever dreamed of was in this parking lot or driving by us. Toyota hilux diesels, Nissan patrols, Toyota fj55 landcruisers, Nissan paladins, even one or two xterras with turbo diesel engines with hood scoops. We were led to a mid 90's Toyota Coaster van with tube bumpers, a snorkel and a brushguard. We waited here for Brent for a while and when he eventually came back without a guitar, there was not enough room on the van. So Drew, Brett, and I were given the option to ride in the luggage truck which I jumped at the chance to.  It was a 5 speed 2nd gen Nissan frontier and I'm fairly sure our driver was named funky.

Eventually the cop came back and got on a Honda dirt bike that was by the van.  He led us and another group out of the parking lot basically giving us a police escort to a gas station where a man offered us a wiring harness as we pulled up to the pump. We were allowed to go inside where I bought a small red bill for 4 American dollars. Turns out I was overcharged by a dollar but to be honest I didn't mind. After a few of us were out of line a man in uniform came in the convenience store carrying a pistol grip shotgun with his finger on the guard...I left. When we were reloaded on to the truck and van, we were essentially taken on a back alley tour of Port au Prince.
There essentially are no traffic laws here people pull out and get within inches of each car and there are horns going and it is chaos. I loved it. We were taken through a rougher area and then we made a couple of turns and all of a sudden there were these big gated houses around with 15 foot walls topped with razor wire or broken glass bottles.  It was here that we are staying tonight and here where I truly saw Haiti's beauty.  I got hints of it when we would drive past a bombed out building or a half finished one but I truly saw the potential of the island when I saw these hostels. With a little A/C and some elbow grease these places would rival the best hotels I have stayed in. And that is just here in PAP, on the coast the only reason this can't be over there is the government and the fact that haiti is dependent on other nations. When this country gets on its feet again this place will be a vacation spot for sure. The place we are staying at has an above above ground pool in an upper deck. It is a beautiful structure and the cooks are incredible.

Last minute thoughts

Right now I am sitting in the oakbridge center and as usual when I leave for a trip or something like that I am sure that I forgot something. I'm not too worried though, it's only a week. I tweeted last last night to Paul Walker's organization Reach Out Worldwide since they got their start in Haiti and I got a retweet.

We showed up at Lampbert airport 3 hours early only to have to wait at least 2 hours to be able to check our bags and go through security. We were in the part of lampbert that was torn up by the tornado a few months ago. It is still a wreck from then. Plywood is still covering at least 2/3 of the windows. I am not trying to read too much in to anything but it really provoked the thought that we are going abroad to serve while there is such a need where we are, especially Joplin. We were the only group there aside from a few soldiers that were trying to get some sleep. When we finally got our bags checked and got through security, the flight to Miami was really uneventful. I'm sure I'll write more later but for now that's pretty much it.

And we're off

I got back from a retreat that the interns had this weekend. It was an overall good experience, and I would like to think that I learned some things. I didn't know we had a ropes course there until like 3 days before we left so that was a nice surprise that I got to look forward to. I left with some road rash on my leg to remind me of it, so it was all in all a good weekend.

The ropes course was the first thing we did when we got there, and it was pretty cool, we divided up in to different groups based on how afraid we were of heights. I don't have any problem with heights so I went in the "not afraid" group and the courses were pretty fun and challenging. The guide guy was obviously used to having groups of much younger kids there though; he did the whole 6th grade camp "if you can hear me clap once" thing and the whole experience before and after the actual course seemed really jr. high. Come to think of it, the whole place did except for the sessions in one of the conference rooms.

The sessions were really good, very informative and insightful. I got some good answers on some issues that I thought up while playing devil's advocate with myself... To explain myself, I was trying to think of different arguments that I may hear against Christianity. Anyway, they were really good and at one point humbling. That's kind of what I want to talk about really quick though. I am really afraid of reading God in to things. I am also conflicted. What if I am reading the wrong things in to situations. What really opened me to this thought was this "picture of the day" thing. When we were asked to come up with a verbal picture of the day, I started thinking about what situations had happened that day and how I could relate God to them. It seemed really forced once I started thinking about it and that's when it hit me, I was trying to relate God to the situations, not the situations to God. I was trying to bend God around whatever situation I had come across instead of making the situation about God in the first place. And I don't think that's how it should be. And to be honest, I don't think that I was alone in doing this, however I do think I was alone in noticing this. I also think its not right that I wasn't being truthful about what I was experiencing.

I really did have one moment where I noticed God speaking to me. Actually it was more like him saying "not so fast". The last night, Herc caught me after dinner and asked if I could find lyrics to 4 songs and put them to music and on a powerpoint in 45 mins. I said let's do it and I got it done with literally minutes to spare. I was feeling awesome about what I had accomplished, and was pretty prideful if I would admit, but I didn't say anything about it. I struggle with being quietly arrogant and cockey, and God certainly decided to shut me up. When I was showing what I had done, when I was helping lead worship, I screwed it up by going too fast, then I went to the end of the presentation which made the program quit. So if nothing else, that weekend, I learned that pride definitely comes before the fall.