Bonjour, last time I told you about a field trip that we had planned for the team from Liberty. Well, because of several things that came up the last minute, mainly the evening just before the trip, we didn't go on Tuesday. We were going to take the group to a place called Wahoo (I don't know if it is spelled correctly) which is a beach area about half an hour to an hour away from the house, North of Port-au-Prince. I have been to a place called Xargura, which is another beach/hotel a little North of PAP. Instead, the team stayed here at the house and just relaxed for the morning and that afternoon, we got some things together and started preparing for another concert at a church in PAP. The church we went to is probably the largest Protestant church in the city. I asked the Pastor how many people come and he said around 4,000 each Sunday. The church is still in construction and doesn't have a roof yet, but when it gets finished it will be a beautiful sight to see.
Some of the group went shopping for paintings with Betty and her brother and the rest of them went with Gersan to the church. Tiffany (the intern) and I waited at the house for Betty and that small group so I could drive us to the place. We ended up having Betty's brother lead me and that was a pretty interesting drive. We went to an area that had some pretty good traffic (I had been there before in January) but we made it to an area and met up with Gersan who lead the rest of the way to the church. The churh has a two month revival each year between July and August. They have a service each night except for two every week for those two months. They have a group of pastors that they ask to come and speak so the main pastor doesn't have to do it each time. This time, it was raining most of the evening but not too hard. The pastor didn't make it because of the rain, so it turned out to be just a time of worship with around 300 Haitians. It then took us almost an hour to drive back to the house because of traffic but that was still good because I got to talk to Jerry Dyke a little more. He led the team and has been coming to Haiti since 1969.
Wednesday, was an early day for the team. Actually, it wasn't too bad getting up and being packed ready to leave by 6:30. I woke up wide awake at 5:00 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. Here I try to go to bed between 9:00 and 10:00. I love the sleep schedule here. Anyway, we were all up and the team graciously donated a bunch of snacks to us that stayed behind. I appreciate them for that because my snack supply ran out after my second week here. We ate a good breakfast and then loaded into Gersan's truck and the Montero. Gersan, Betty and I drove them to the airport. On the way, Jerry and I got to talk a little more and I'm glad that I was here when they were because it was really good getting to know them. After we dropped them off at the airport, we stopped at a friend's house to spend a little time with the family. The whole time I was driving back to the house, I was listening to my iPod. I know you can't do that in the states unless it is plugged into your radio system but I did it anyway. As we were driving past the rubble and driving through one of the tent cities, I was listening to Brooke Fraser's songs "Albertine" and "Shadowfeet." I also listened to Jeff Johnson's version of "From the Inside Out" and his song "Ruin Me." Look up the lyrics for these songs. I have listened to them a lot, but listening to them as I was driving here made me think.
I started to think how resilient Haitians are. How they can go through such a trauma as an earthquake, loose their houses, family members, personal belongings but still be able to live each and every day. I don't pretend to understand what is going on in their minds and hearts, but from the outside they don't really show anything different. One difference that I have noticed is that they are truly grateful when you give them something. Not that fake "thank you" that you would get from a lot of people but when they say "thank you" here, they really mean it. It is so encouraging to hear that and see their smiles and faces light up when you give them something or do something for them. I'm amazed by the people here. I guess that is why Haiti is on my mind all the time.
The rest of Wednesday and Thursday was spend just getting things organized again after the team left. Tiffany had a couple of counseling appointments on Wednesday afternoon. Gersan, of course, always had something to do for most of the day and was go go go all the time. We took a drive with him to go run a couple of errands and that was fun. Gersan and Tiffany were supposed to fly up to Cap-Haitien on Thursday to go out to the camp, then it was moved to Friday, then it was called off completely. He wanted to show her Limbe and the camp. There was also supposed to be the man who donated the temporary houses go with them. I guess he will have to go another time.
Yesterday, Gersan and Betty took us up to the mountain where they have some land. It was a beautiful drive up there and I always love going up to mountains. The area where we stopped was 5,500 ft. above sea level (that beats Denver, CO in altitude). The clouds were a lot lower than usual, so we couldn't see too much scenery. This is where the title of this update comes from, we were literally walking in the clouds. It was amazing. Every so often, there would be a break in the clouds where you could see the mountains on the other side of the valley, but I liked having the clouds blow around us. I experienced something like this on a hike on the Continental Divide in Colorado last May, it was cool then and it was cool yesterday. I will try to upload some pictures later but you won't believe that I took them yesterday. There are actually a lot of pine trees in that area and Haiti has the only pine tree forest in the entire Caribbean. The temperature was also amazing. It wasn't hot and humid like it is everywhere else in the country, it felt AWESOME. Gersan definitely made my day by taking us up there.
Today, Tiffany and I will just be helping out with whatever is going on. Gersan has a prayer meeting at the church for a while. I think we will probably just do some miscellaneous stuff around the house. We might go run a few errands too. Please continue to pray for Haiti and the people. They are in the rebuilding process, but it will take time. Thank you for your prayer support. I have been here for five weeks now and haven't had any major health issues at all. This is great.
I don't know how many of you know this but I wanted to make sure that I told my supporters about it. I know that in the letters that I sent out, it seemed that I would be staying here a lot longer than just two months. It turns out that the Valcins will be coming back to the States a couple of days after I do in early August. Betty called me a few days before I left and told me to get a return ticket for early August and that they will be in the States for about a month themselves. I think this is actually working out for the best because I'm not sure that I would even have the support to stay, at least right now. I also have a college loan that I want to pay off as fast as I can. So, I decided that I will put full-time missions on hold for a while and pay off the loan and any other debts that I have before doing long-term missions. I have a couple of ideas of what I will do but I'm not decided on one thing just yet. I just felt that I should tell you about all of this as you have supported me for this trip and for the previous ones. I hope that all this makes sense and if it doesn't, please ask me and I'll tell you more.
So, I hope that everyone has a splendid day and I will too.
Robert
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