We have arrived! After many traveling hours, sleep, loss of sleep, talks and drives– we are here in Montrious, Haiti. This will be our hub of ministry for the next month. Montrious is about an hour and a half drive north of Port-Au-Prince, nestled in between the mountains and the sea. It is a beautiful yet disastrous place, and we are excited to begin our ministry here. Case in point: Last night, I apparently slept walked into the girls’ room and said “Why is everyone sleeping?! There’s so much to do here!”
Our team of fourteen shares a two bedroom, one bathroom house without electricity or running water. The two married couples share one of the rooms, the girls the other and the kitchen is now being doubled as a boys’ dormitory. To add to the chaos that is our house, we arrived in Haiti missing our luggage. No luggage. No water. No electricity. Stinky house.
St. Marc, another big Haitian city, is just a 30 minute ride away. We visited there Saturday and honestly couldn’t believe our eyes. Raw sewage littered the streets, huge pigs in the water overthrown with more trash. It has been good to get an idea of the bigger cities which impact Montrious. Both are bustling and heavy with a sense of chaos.
Monday, tomorrow, is our first day of ministry. We will be spending a lot of our time here at New Heart Orphanage. We’ll be there doing mostly water systems and working with the children there. We’re so excited.
In the meantime, please know that we are doing well. Haiti seems difficult, but it is a place that so desperately needs hope. We’ve been asking ourselves what determines success and happiness? Is it really circumstance? Or, is it something more? As we sit here in our room in Montrious, a single headlamp lighting this entry, I have to think it is far more than our circumstances which determines our happiness. I can’t remember a time I felt more at peace or more content.