T minus 25 hours

All my bags are not packed, but I am ready to go...we are leaving on a jet plane at noon tomorrow*

Our team met on Tuesday night and packed about 20 bags (stuffed to 50 lbs each) with donations to bring with us to Pignon to be distributed to those with the greatest need.  

Bags are filled with soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste (some from the Synod Middle School Youth Gathering), we also have diapers made out of t-shirts, canes and braces for the new rehabilitation clinic, a sewing machine, sun dresses made out of pillowcases, and a lot of re-hydration kits to help with the cholera epidemic.

Thank you to all of you who gave donations, you are making an impact in people's lives!

We will fly to Miami, FL via Chicago tomorrow.  Spend the night and wake up early and fly to Port-Au-Prince, where we will then drive up to Pignon on Saturday.

We will do our best to update our blog once we arrive in Pignon.

Kris

*John Denver and Mama Cass singing "Leaving on a Jetplane"

Where are we going?

So, you have heard a lot about Haiti on the news, especially in the January 12th earthquake.  Here is a little bit of information for you.


We are going to Pignon, Haiti which is approximately 90 miles north from the capital city, Port-Au-Prince.


While we are there we will be working with Hosean International Ministries (or H.I.M) staying at Camp De La Grace and working at College De La Grace school, with Pastor Caleb Lucien (click here for a great article about Pignon and Caleb) and his wife Debbie Lucien (her blog here).


For our project, as we have learned in the past, you won't always do what you are planning for, but at this point we will be beginning a warehouse for H.I.M. to store relief supplies, working along side of the people of Pignon.


Kris

I need Haiti more than Haiti needs me...

I have a friend that is currently spending time at an orphanage in Ethiopia, and she posted a "youtube" video on her facebook page before she left that brought tears to my eyes.  
This is why I go to Haiti...I need Haiti more than Haiti needs me.  
Though the images in the video are from Africa, and the political issues are different in Haiti than in most places in Africa, but the words on the screen might as well have came from my heart about Haiti.


The music on the video is by one of my favorite musicians, Katie Herzig (check her out).  


Click here to watch "I Need Africa..." video


I am going to Haiti, because I need Haiti, more than Haiti needs me.


Kris

Why are you going?

I have asked the team members why they are going to Haiti, here are some of their responses...


Since this is my first time to Haiti, I am very excited to be a part of something that is such a special and needed gift to the Haitian people.  My hands doing God’s work is what it is all about!


I am looking forward to returning to Haiti to re-acquaint with old friends and making new ones. I love learning from the people, their culture,  their way of doing things and working side by side as God's children. Being in Haiti also makes me take stock of my life and to realize that people can be happy without all the material goods we have. 


I've been waiting to get back to Pignon since I came back from the trip there four years ago and am excited to see what has changed since then.  I hope to meet the student I am sponsoring at the school and am looking forward to working again side by side with the people of Pignon.


I am going to Haiti for 2 reasons.  Haiti needs help and I can offer them a little...God asks me to do it.  I also am helped by Haiti...joy fills my heart as I involve myself in this community of giving and receiving. I believe each team member's experience is unique in this respect. I am excited about rekindling and establishing relationships in Pignon.  God has a surprise or two in store... 


I really want to pay it forward, I know that this is where God is calling me to go to.


I am going for closure, to finish what I started last year.