Update from Day 2 (sorry its late)

21Sep10 (Day 2)
First, I have to share some thoughts about the weekend.

Traveling was very draining yesterday, especially after having the busiest weekend in recent memory, but it was worth it. Last weekend was epic, I could not have asked for anything more. Our awesome band for the Revive concert, leading worship at “Big Church” at emmanuel, and a great evening at Crucified with such an eclectic group from all over. Plus having it all capped off with a send off prayer from a bunch of close friends.
Then, I got to travel.
It was a very long trip (or at least that’s what my body said), but it gave me a lot of good opportunities. Flights into Port-Au-Prince are great networking opportunities cause you can assume all the other white people on the plane or at the gate are going for missions work. So, I had some great conversations with people from Convoy of Hope (Disaster Relief), ACTS (medical/orphanage ministry), and others.
Next, I got to Port and was picked up at the airport by Will McGinniss (Audio A/H&F), Steve Hooper (Change this World/Stuph Clothing), and Yves, my new house mate/translator. It was great to see Will again, last time we met was in Grand Goave in May. Had some great conversations about God, Haiti, music, and a little of everything. Maybe more to talk about later, but it was very encouraging to share thoughts with these greats guys.
Finally, we got to the house. I had packed not knowing anything about what I was getting in to, so I brought a hand-operated water filter, MREs, and other stuff in preperation to rough it for the next month. Guess that was a little overkill, cause I’m well set here. The house is a fixer upper, but I’m living like a king, literally. King size bed in the master bedroom, and my own bathroom, electricity most of the time, real american toilets, and a decent flow in the cold water showers.
It also means I’ve got a to-do list a mile long, but we got a good jump on things while there’s three of us here. Now we have the washer, dryer, fridge, freezer, toilets, batteries, and inverter all at the house. Got the washer installed, started the 2 toilets and dryer til we needed more parts. And Will just brought up the first load of clean laundry. Glad to see that’s working before I ran out of clothes.
Tomorrow, Will and Steve are heading to Jacmel, so I’ll drop them off at the taxi, then head to the hardware store. Need parts to finish a few projects, plus pricing out materials for bunk beds and electrical work. Then, need to find an internet cafe to post this and find a phone number for Jerome Jeff, my translator and friend from the June trip since he lives in Port too. Hopefully I can get internet at the house soon, but nothing happens quickly here.

Quick Thoughts:
-Any project in Haiti will require at least 2 trips to the hardware store.
-No stop at a Haitian store can be completed in less than an hour.
-There is no need for a house that doesn’t even have hot water to have a Bidet. (Seriously, this place had one. So we put in a toilet instead, so the master bath has 2 stalls now.)

Deeper Thought:
-Only a sovereign God can bring together a musician, an accountant, and an engineer in Haiti and have it work out this well.

***Pause for Power Outage cause I’m writing on paper***

Ok, back, only 10 mins that time.
Anyhow, things are going fantastic so far.

Help would be welcome. H&F may send some teams my way. If you would like to come, let me know any we’ll try to work it out. You would probably need to raise about $1000 for a week. Work would be general household maintenance/improvement. I’m here til 20Oct10.

Supplies that would be helpful if anyone is heading to Haiti:
-My welding stuff (mainly mask, gloves, chipping hammer, and wire brush)
-Cordless Tools (My ryobi set would be cool, but I need a drill too, and mine was lost)
-More Propel Packets

Upcoming Schedule:
-Sat Night or Sunday heading to Gr. Goave to visit Mission of Hope Haiti for church.
-Maybe Monday I’ll head to Cayes to pick up supplies.

Prayer Requests:
-Wisdom
-Staying focused on sharing Christ instead of just my projects.
-Crucified Ministries, lots of good stuff going on there.
-Teresa and her upcoming heart surgery
-Missions International of America, Hands and Feet Project, and F1 Engineering for God’s contuining providence for their needs.

P.S. Happy Birthday Pop-Pop