Serpent and the Rainbow

I know, I know......I'll be getting to the mission trip story shortly. I just keep coming up with little items I want to post.

Wade Davis wrote the Serpent and the Rainbow back in 1985 and it tells quite a story. Unfortunately, Hollywood got a hold of it a few years later and ruined it. Nonetheless, the book is excellent. I wanted to share one of my favorite quotes regarding Haiti. Having just returned, it sums up (and confirms) some of the emotion I feel.

"The nation baffled me. Stunned by her multitudes

awed by her mysteries, dumb founded by

her contradictions..........I paced."

- Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow

I love and miss Haiti already. Please pray for Haiti. - Dave

For Haiti and Her People

In pleasure's dream, or sorrow's hour,

In crowded hall, or lonely bower,

The business of my soul shall be

Forever to remember thee!

Benjamin Franklin

A Little Background Information

It'll be helpful if I provide a little bit of background information before I start detailing the journey. Most importantly the who's who. First of all - there are eight of us on the team. Four have been to Haiti before and four will be coming along for their first trip. That said - here's our team:

• Me, Steve, Barbara, Susan, Sarah, Christy, Nicole and Ralph
  

We also met up with six others in Miami who we did not know (yet). That completed our team and made it a nice 14 altogether. They are:

• Richard, Iva, Joseph, Eddie, Christy and Molly
  

There were many veteran Haiti Missionaries on this team. Richard, Iva and Joseph had all been coming for as many as eight years and Eddie was on his fourth trip this year! I knew as soon as we met up with these folks in the Miami airport that we were in for a great week. I was very excited.

As God does He put many different skill sets together on this team and the combination was perfect for the mission. Take a look at these skills:

Richard and Iva - Married couple who run an organization called Hope for Caribbean Kids Inc.

Molly - An ER nurse

Christy - A singer with a beautiful voice

Eddie - All around great guy who exudes joy; handyman and Mr. Fix It

Joseph - Photographer

Steve - Auto Repair, Small Engine Repair, everything repair, musician and a true servant

Nicole, Christy, Sarah, Ralph and Myself - Lovers of kids, uniform fabric cutters and distributors, picture takers, horse puncher (it's a long story - I'll share in another post) and lizard catchers.

Barbara and Susan - Worker bees, organizers, worshippers, bubble blowers, game players, lovers of kids, picture takers, gigglers and maternal figures for the rest of us.

These are not the complete list of skills within the team by any means but as you can tell we had quite the make up and were ready for action.

Disclaimer: Along the way I may skip a detail or not tell a story exactly right. Therefore I encourage comments from team members. If you're one of the 14 above and your reading along - please add comments and details. Get involved and make this blog come alive so we can share our experiences with more than just our loved ones. Sharing will help Haiti as others can be made aware of the great needs in this country we've all come to love so much.

Also, if you're not one of the 14 above and would like to comment - please do. It's how I know your out there and it makes it all the more exciting to know that someone is following along with our story. I'd love to hear from you.

Departure

Good Morning! It's 4:39 Eastern Time and we're getting ready to leave for PAP in just a few hours. I wanted to get on one more time and say thanks to everyone for their support and prayers. The team is excited, our travel day was relatively uneventful (the airline lost four bags but we got em' all back the very same day) and we're ready to go!

I'll be back next Saturday and will attempt to blog the trip journal. While we're gone, please pray we're able to impact people, we're safe and that we grow closer to God as we serve. Your prayers matter. Also, pray Ike goes away and that nothing else forms in the coming week. Haiti doesn't need any more water. We hear it's soggy enough. As Pastor Tim at New Missions says "The storms are a challenge to an already difficult situation for the poorest of the poor".

With love, thanks and tremendous excitement (in doing God's work) - Dave