Safe Arrival...

Its official, Cameron and I have been in Haiti for 24 hours. Yesterday morning we woke up after our short nap and left Trish & Dereks house at 3:45 am and headed to the airport with our 10 pieces of luggage. We arrived at the American Airlines ticket counter expecting to eat a large cost for all of our baggage, well that is not what happened. We gave them all of our bags and they said "well we will see what we can do for you" the one ticket agent asked the other one what is the best way to do this...and I said "I appreciate anything you guys can do" He said "you will appreciate me when I get back" he comes back having waived half of our baggage fees and upgraded us to first class FOR FREE! We have been to Haiti four times, and two of the four trips we have been upgraded to first class...how does that happen! We were sooo thankful! We arrived in Haiti at 7:15 yesterday morning and were greeted by "Big" outside of baggage claim, he is our Haitian friend who helps us with our bags every year! Then greeted by Michelle and Travis in the parking lot. I am so thankful for the new walkway and awning the airport has, it helps reduce a lot of the chaos. We greeted Travis, the engineer who helps WHEREVER he is needed whom we met in February, then said farewell, he was off to do another job. We headed to the house in PAP and we were greet by Matt, another intern at HAF who we met in February who I feel like I've known forever! We all hung out at the PAP house for a little bit then headed up to the baptist mission for lunch. This was a part of Haiti I had never seen before...it was gorgeous. It is at the top of the mountain overlooking PAP, beautiful homes, tin houses, tent cities, the ocean with boats and gorgeous trees with bright red flowers on them. It was the most beautiful site I had ever seen. There was a little breeze there not to hot, not to cold. It was perfect, it was a good reminder of when I fell in love with this place. We visited a 'zoo' which consisted of 1 monkey, about 15 bunnies, a couple of goats, chickens, and peacocks, they used to have a gator, but apparently it didnt make it. Then we went to the ONLY museum in the country, it is very 'culturally diverse' it had info on about 15 different countries...It had a section about Haitian voodoo - which was quite interesting...needless to say I learned ALOT yesterday. On the way back down the mountain Matt and I rode in the back of the truck and chatted about HAF and why we love Haiti and what ministry looks like for us, we both still have ALOT of unanswered questions, so I think I can speak for both us when I ask for prayer for guidance this summer. We finally made it back to the house and had a 'going-away' dinner for Matt with a couple of friends from the salvation army since he is heading back to the states to do some fundraising. Damon and Kara taught us how to play "Swiss Uno", it makes Uno fun :o). About 10pm we finally headed to bed, I was also reminded how difficult it is for me to sleep here :o/. We woke up this morning and are supposed to head to Jacmel today, however it is inauguration day in Haiti and the people are partying in the streets, they are happy though, so this is good. We will be picking Stacie up from the airport in a couple hours, spending the night here again and heading to Jacmel tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers, we could definitely use them anytime you think of us. We are excited to be here, and I am thankful for a place that feels like 'home'. Its only day two and I have learned alot and am soo ready for how the Lord will use us in the unpredictable place.

Here are some pics from our view in PAP :o)

-Much Love
Bek