Day One - Settled in and Ready to Start Serving!

We're wrapping up our first day, and we are so happy to be here!  Traveling went smoothly, and we got through customs easily, even though we had 18 large suitcases FULL of donations. We have had unprecedented donations surrounding this trip. Each bag was tapped out at the maximum of 50 lbs of contents, so that means we brought 900 pounds of donations!  Thank you to all our friends and family who were so generous. We are incredibly privileged to be the messengers of your generosity.  And, we had about $4000 in financial donations (we'll get you the total soon). You, our friends, smashed our goal of $500.

After we landed in Haiti, we loaded the tap tap (covered truck) and headed straight to our guest house. It's a wonderful home for us to stay at. We settled in and then had a great taco dinner together. Elisa, the  Operations Director, shared with us about the ministry of Healing Haiti and her heart for being a missionary here. We're all so impressed by the intentionality and devotion of Healing Haiti to serve the people of Haiti and work towards progress and empowerment of the people.

What did everyone think of today?
Pam - What I liked the best is that even though we don't know each other that well, it already seems like we've known each other a long time. And, I'm so glad we didn't crash and burn. (Pam, we're proud of you for overcoming your flying fears!) I'm eager for tomorrow when we'll deliver water and start really serving.
Jay - I can't wait to play soccer with the kids tomorrow afternoon! (We played soccer with some neighborhood kids this afternoon as a warm-up).
Brian - The ride here reminded me of my off-roading days.
Shawn - First plane rides today, and it was a little rough, but glad it all worked out.
Mark and Jim - we really enjoyed a swim in the rain after a long day of travel.
Mark - There are some AMAZING potholes.
Shawn - Yeah, we have nothing to complain about.
Mark - Minnesota's the land of 10,000 small potholes.
Pam - Yeah, it makes you thankful for how incredibly spoiled we are, and we don't realize it until you see what it's like here.

Tomorrow morning we will deliver water to Cite Soleil, the poorest slum in the Haiti. It promises to be an intense morning where we will be with people who are suffering greatly.  We can't wait to help deliver such a basic need. In the afternoon, we will play soccer with a team of kids, and then head to the Apparent Project, an organization dedicated to employing and training adults with practical skills. We will have so much to serve after tomorrow - our first day of serving.

Thank you for all your support and encouragement.
Here's to a good night's sleep!

The team