We really enjoyed having another Hoosier family to travel with throughout the day - Jeff and Chris Love and their son Camden shared our flights as they moved to Haiti to begin work at Cowman School. Chris will be teaching our junior and senior high science courses and Jeff will be helping out with math and technology.
The flight to Miami was smooth (though the flight crew was a bit cranky regarding our 60 pound carry-ons filled with frozen meats) and after a short layover in Miami, we finally felt we were going home.
Retrieving luggage at the Cap Haitien airport is quite the experience, but by 2:00 or so, we were loaded on the back of the cattle truck for the final stretch.
My Haitian sons and the Bundy kids had decorated our front door for our arrival.
So good to be home!
And we didn't just dump the Loves in their new home.
We've tried to do what we can over the course of this past week to help them get what they need to get settled in. Pray for them - it can be quite an ordeal (in a thousand unexpected ways) to move onto the mission field here.
Here Melissa and Samuel are helping Chris and Camden clean some dresser drawers so the Loves could get their clothes out of their suitcases.
Meanwhile, we've kept busy getting our own house back in order after being absent for over two months.
I also jumped into initial preparations for our adult English classes that will start mid-September. Registration for classes gets a bit crazy - especially for Level 1. We only had 100 seats open for Level 1 and well over 200 people showed up. And consider this: we don't advertise these classes in the least. This is all word of mouth.
Yesterday and today we turned our attention to Cowman. I'm sure we'll have more to share about preparations there in the coming days. For now, I guess I can say we're looking for a "Please pardon our progress" sign, and leave it at that!
Hold on to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave is stringing us along
Just know you're not alone
'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home
Settle down, it'll all be clear
Don't pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble - it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found
Just know you're not alone
'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home
I remember hearing this song as I drove alone in my car one day just over three years ago. It is one of a handful of times in my life when I have heard God's voice almost audibly and most certainly clearly.
Melissa and I were neck-deep in preparations to move our family to Haiti at that moment and as the song started, it occurred to me that I needed to make sure I wasn't so self-focused in the process that I would forget my duties as a father to make my kids feel at home once we arrived in Haiti. Maybe you'll understand what I mean when I say the very thought filled me with anxiety. HOW can I make Haiti a home for my kids? Where do I start? And what if I fail?
God cut straight through my anxiety: "You can relax. I am the One who will do this and I will do it for your entire family. Including YOU."
In my gut I believed it and I know that I did because the fear instantly left me. And I can't tell you all the ways my family - my entire family - has seen God work this into a reality in our lives in Haiti.
We are blessed to have two homes - we enjoyed "being home" in Indiana over the summer and we are excited now to be home in Haiti.
In the midst of it all, Melissa and I are constantly grateful for all of you who support our work here through prayer and finances. God bless you!
And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life." Luke 18:29-30
