Well, all is quiet at the mission compound here in Les Cayes, Haiti. The team is hunkered up at the hospitality house where the team has retired for the evening (before 10pm), save for one night owl. And he wanted to update... err... I wanted to update you on our biggest travel day so far. As I (John) wrote earlier, this morning we had an interesting travel incident. Our plane from Miami to Port au Prince turned around 20 minutes southwest of Florida and returned to Miami. It was a broken/inoperable/troubling something-er-rather that had the pilot so concerned that he wanted to get the plane down on the ground ASAP. So we landed. Roughly and swiftly. The authorities stopped the airport for us, or so it seemed. I didn't see another plane takeoff or land immediately after we did. Emergency vehicles came rushing down the runway towards our plane and we stopped on the Tarmac for about 15 minutes. Eventually, the decision was made to tow the plane to the closest open gate and transfer us to another plane. Same pilot. Same flight crew. Same flight number. Different plane, different gate. So we took off from Miami twice today. The plane ride into Port is always eye opening. After all, you have the beautiful Atlantic Ocean to gaze at with its vast array of colors, patterns and cloud formations. We passed over Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and then Haiti from north to south. Amazing scenery from 35,000 feet up. We landed and then had the fun experience of going through customs -- Haitian style. A hectic dash with 600 pounds of luggage in the pouring rain (yep. rain.) and eye-closing van ride with the RMI driver later and we found ourselves walking the streets of Port au Prince. Walking? Yes, walking. Apparently traffic doesn't move in Port like it does in Flower Mound. We think we have it bad? A two-lane road was turned into four lanes outside of the airport and, eventually, it just plain stopped. Or should I say "plane" stopped? Because, you see, we were late for our next flight, the one from Port to Les Cayes on Tortug Airlines. So we all bailed out of the van with luggage in hand and made for the Tortug terminal in the rain. Fun! Well, we did miss our flight and had to catch the next one, leaving about 30 minutes later. All was well. The flight to Cayes was actually quite nice. Haiti is a beautiful, mountainous land and the views from above could actually make someone forget the sheer and utter poverty experienced down below. We landed on LJ and Ruth's home turf, the Cayes airport, and Rob Thompson of RMI picked us up. We spent the evening enjoying some Creole cooking and visiting with Rob and wife, Becky, Amy who runs the hospitality wing of RMI, and Marilyn McLaughlin.
So tonight everyone is bushed, even night owls. So good night from Les Cayes, Haiti. Tomorrow we drive across the mountains to Chambellan and get to cherish the amazing reception the church always provides. It will be an amazing three days and, unfortunately, no internet. So the next check-in will have to come Wednesday evening from Zanglais, a mission retreat center. In the meantime we will have a church service Sunday morning and another Tuesday night. I get to preach Sunday and I plan to interview Pastor Benoit one of these afternoons. It will be amazing to get to hear what ministry in like in Chambellan and how the Lord is working through the pastors and church there. We'll do roof repair work Monday and Tuesday and maybe visit a small satelite church on the hillside that we've helped in the past (commuity of Joulee). We'll mix in a ladies tea, led by Ruth, and a deacon meeting led by, I guess, a deacon.
And we'll have pictures, videos and stories to tell when we get back. For now, it's time to rest up. Our love to all back in the Flowerplex.
-- John and the Haiti team
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