We have been gone all day. We dropped our peeps to the airport, then ran a bunch of errands. Hopefully the final result will mean no more trips to Port until Saturday when the next group departs.
There are certainly days here where you feel all of your patience is being tested and everyone is just waiting for you to blow your top. That was the first part of today.
It took 57 minutes to get out of the mission compound. Everybody and their brother needed something at the time we were to be departing. Starting off 57 minutes behind schedule can set the tone for your morning.
The traffic was horrible getting to the airport, everybody seemed to be driving even worse than usual, all the routes had back ups, a semi-trailer with a loooong flat-bed directly in front of us decided to turn around in a spot where a Ford Focus might have had trouble turning around, etc, etc... Chaos, annoyance, madness, dirt, dust, traffic ... you get the picture. We ended up needing to cut out two stops that we had planned, but made it to the airport in time.
Troy had the quote of the day. We were discussing how hard it is to let everything roll off, how a high strung or demanding person would go bonkers in this country ... I said something about how you HAVE HAVE HAVE TO attempt to let Christ control your mouth and temper. Troy said, "Yeah, well today the Christ that lives within me needs to knock me unconscious so we can get something done!"
At the airport we hugged and had our teary goodbye and the airport guys were cranky and telling us to get out of our parking spot .... not in a nice way either. There was no reason for us to be moved out of the spot we were in, it was just an opportunity to posture and throw around some weight. Troy told them to back off and we would move when we were ready to move. They kept crabbing and creating the usual drama and we just sort of ignored them. Then a guy that we often work with at the airport walked up to the men who were yelling at us and said "Hey, He (Troy) is not a blan, you leave him alone, he's Haitian!"
HA. I don't know what Troy did to receive dual citizenship- it was entertaining to learn that somebody (anybody at all) thinks he is not just one of the many clueless blans. He's gaining popularity. `
One of our errands was to replace our dead water cooler. Something about an 88 degree glass of water is just not all that refreshing. We went to buy this beauty to the left on Delmas today. It is a little weird how EXCITING a purchase like this is here. It might as well be some high-end, high-tech, new to the market electronic item ... we are super-psyched. All the cold water you can drink is available to you if you come visit. Free of charge. You can thank us later.
There are all sorts of rumors and reports swirling about. President Preval reportedly has Prostate Cancer and everyone is positioning themselves to have a say in who his successor will be ... And of course, we have no idea how true any of it is. One person told us today that Preval has six months to live and that things will continue to heat up. There is no way to really know what is a load of crap and what is truth. We've never been ones to trust the media, and we certainly don't want to base anything off of gossip and rumors. All of this is just to say that people are cautiously watching the situation right now, for us there is not much to fear, it is simply important to pay attention to your surroundings when you go into town. When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher.
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Thankfully, we're generally calm, happy and safe and life never changes too much in the village. Plus, Jesus commands our destiny just as He did when we travelled around on busy highways and interstates in the dangerous (and lovely) state of Minnesota.
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It is a bummer that things are heating up during a time of year where peace and tranquility and reflection on the Saviors birth is where we want to focus our attention. But He came into a very troubled world, and while it is discouraging that much of the world is stuck in chaos and upheaval, we have hope in the promise of His return. He came for that very reason. To give us hope.
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Our last stop today was to pick up mail at a friends house, they had been to Agape for us on Saturday. We have learned that as of now there is just one more flight coming into Haiti with mail for missionaries. They are working on fixing their issues, but it could be a while. We're checking into other options in the meantime.
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In our stack of mail we had a bunch of fun cards from fourth graders in Monticello, MN. (Thank you Terri and kids! We loved them.) They made for great entertainment on the ride home. Here are our favorites:
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Hey Troy-
youer pictrues is cool. I bet you have a vary nice family. Heres a vers from a bible - for God so loves the wourld that he gave his oley son. you rock.
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Dear Hope, do you like Jupiter? I do! did you now it is the biggest planet. do you go to church? do you like fruit? I do. Do you swim? I can.
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Dear Britt-
Hey Britt you know god and jesus are always loveing you forever you just have love in him and follow the 10 commadments - here they are: (inserted a sticker with the 10 commandments on it) Now about me. I'm 10 years old and I'm in fourth grade and I go to pinewood elementurie. I'm sorry I'm not a good speller.
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Dear Livesay family-
I hope you have a great mission trip in Haiti God blesses you and so does everyone.
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God DOES bless us. Thank you very much for allowing Him to use you to do that.
