LOVE FIRST.....LOVE ALWAYS!: Haiti: Week 1 - Our Plans Are Not Always His Plans

Our first week in Port-au-Prince we spent in Delmas 19. The city is split into different areas, we were in the Delmas area, in Tent City 19. On Monday we showed up to start teaching, our contact had confirmed with the Tent City Committee Chair that we were coming etc. When we got there, the road was blocked, so we drove around and went in another way. There was a food distribution going on and so we were asked to come back the following day.

Quickly a few phone calls were made and a decision was made to go to Cite Soleil. Cite Soleil was known as the worst of the worst area of Port-au-Prince, it's where drug dealers, gang members, etc lived. I was told that if one wanted someone killed or a crime committed, they would go to Cite Soleil. Our experience quite different then it probably would have been if we had been there before the earthquake. I feel confident in saying it was everyone's favorite place! To know the history and to see and know the people is quite amazing. You can truly see God's love, His character and Hope for the nation of Haiti in the people we met there. When we pulled in, all the kids and people came running to the vehicle, they were so happy and excited to see us. We had no plan, no program so we gave it all to God and asked for His leading. We hung out with the kids, played with them, taught them games, played some music and sang and carried on conversations with people using some sort of sign language (we only had one or two translators and 11 of us that didn't know the language). Our hearts were growing quickly for the Haitian women, children and men.

Below are some of the beautiful children we met and fell in love with in Cite Soleil.

Emily loved being with the kids.

So did Elizabeth.

This kid kept Dani's sunglasses! :)

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went back to Delmas 19 to teach. It was a bit unorganized........God was teaching us a lot about waiting on Him. Often we would hurry up to get ready to go somewhere and then not leave for an hour or even two. We were also learning a lot about following the Holy Spirit and being prepared for the unexpected! It took a while to gather everyone the first day and get setup. We did a few worship songs, taught about the Father Heart of God and prayed for people. We were teaching under a tent and there were a ton of people there so half of us kept the kids entertained while the other half helped with the teaching and worship. My job that day was to care for Tabby, the base director's 6 month old daughter. I found myself questioning why I came all the way around the world to a fourth world country, where there was so much destruction, to care for a child, feeling like I was not doing much. These were the lies that the enemy wanted me to believe. I realized that God had a great purpose in what I was doing. Lucy was translating for us, so with out someone to care for Tabby, there would have been no translation and therefore no message to share. I also found myself in a place of great importance, interceding on behalf of my team and for the Haitian people. And spending time listening to God and what He wanted to teach me.

Hilary playing games with the kids.

Worshipping in the tent.

Garbage was everywhere!

Ministry time....our team praying for people.

Jorn and Dani, our two germans, praying for this guy.

Emily talking with this lady.

On Thursday we were on "Lock Down" and couldn't leave the base because of riots. On Friday we went back to Cite Soleil and played with the kids in the morning and then went to another area of Cite Soleil to do a food distribution. Valternir, our amazing cook from Brazil, cooked and we served over 500 kids.

The kids are patiently waiting to be fed and sang some worship songs while waiting.