Haiti Relief Trip day 6

Today was our last work day, our extra mile since it was originally going to be our day off, by we’re all happy that we went and finished the project for the Hanson’s.
Got an estimate on the homeless around Haiti from the earthquake, it’s 1.2 million! Not sure how to wrap my head around that number. One of the men who work here at IMO is living in a single room that’s left from his house. His testimony is that when the quake started he huddled his family into that room and started praying and the entire house fell around them except for the room the were in, they were kept safe, wow…
I asked John if the stories that we had heard were true, that the earthquake was causing people to turn from Voodoo and other religions and towards Christianity? He said in ways that we wouldn’t believe. The weekend following the quake they had over 500 salvations and hundreds since then. Another interesting fact is that people are starting to turn to Christianity because the Voodoo priests and temples are doing nothing to help the people while the Christian ministries are spearheading the distribution of aid and helping the communities get back on their feet. At times the Voodoo priests are actually hindering people by telling them not to return to undamaged homes because they are “cursed.” How they come to the conclusion that a home is “cursed” because it is undamaged is a bit daft to me, and I think the people are seeing that contrasted with the faith in action through the incredible ministries here and drawing the same conclusion.
Today we finished early because we had some extra help. We finished around 2pm. We basically did the same thing we did yesterday on the other side of the same building, but this side was a little worse. We had to knock down three more walls whose integrity was compromised through the quake and clean those up as well. We finished three buildings and made them ready for whatever IMO needs to start setting them up to do. John has a vision for the property that he believes God gave him a few years ago even before the land was miraculously given to him. He wants to start a youth outreach program, a facility where he can host youth camps and retreats as well as outreaches focused on the youth of Haiti. It’s a very aggressive vision and it’s a great perfect place to set it up. It already has basketball courts and hundreds of thousands of dollars of buildings on it that have either remained undamaged or merely has cosmetic damaged to interior walls, but the integrity of the building has remained intact.
As I was walking around the building today I saw a paper heart from the school that we had cleaned out laying on the ground among the rocks. It had scotch tape around the edges that had aged to a milky white and faded crayon coloring scribbled on it. It looked so haggard just lying there on the ground, and yet it hinted at it’s original intent: a heart. I thought of Haiti. I took a pic of it and I think it’s one of my fave’s of the week so far.
On the way home we pulled over next the U.S. Military encampment and threw two footballs over the barbed wire to some servicemen that were playing volleyball on a crudely constructed net, they were super stoked when the saw us offering them the footballs! So, we got out of the truck and asked if we could grab some pics of them, they said OK. When we hopped out of the truck we started chatting with them, Andrew pointed out that they seemed starved for interaction with other Americans, I tend to agree with him, they were very eager to just shoot the breeze with us and talk about their deployment. I thought my heart would burst with pride just being that close to them, they are without a doubt the heroes around the globe and I could never express my gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifice they make everyday…thank you, thank you, thank you!
Today we had a moving moment with Frank, our contact, which I won’t share here because it was too sweet a moment to share outside and intimate conversational setting. Needless to say, it was very moving. I only mention it so to remember it when I read this in the future.
The weird thing about reflecting on the past week is that I’m not filled with foreboding or anxiousness at the future of the Haitian people, but rather with hopeful anticipation that this is the beginning of a new day after a very long night.

Until tomorrow…