Yesterday was a long day to say the least. We got up at 5:00 and loaded the vans and were on the road to Port au Prince by 5:30. The ride to and from Port au Prince in my opinion was the scariest part of the whole trip. The roads are at times trails through river beds, narrow and many speed bumps, sometimes having big cracks about a foot wide from the earthquake, but the traffic is crazy. People driving on the wrong side of the road at times to get ahead, horns beeping, bumper to bumper traffic and in the city, children coming up to the vehicle when stopped in traffic begging the "blanc" for money or food. It had rained the night before we left so some streets were full of water as they don't have sewer systems to take it away. There was lots of garbage, mud and debris in the streets as people were trying to walk through the streets and keep clean and dry.
We arrived at the airport about 9:00 and flew out about 11:30 to Miami. We quickly made our connection to Toronto as they had to hold the plane for us. We arrived in Toronto at about 7:30, went through customs and had a bite to eat as we were all getting quite hungry. We left Toronto about 10:00 and arrived in Regina about midnight (1:00 Haitian time) to cold and snow. What a contrast from the morning! Gathered our stuff and said some goodbyes then drove back to Moose Jaw and home about 2:00 a.m. My bed felt good to say the least. It is wonderful to see my husband as this is the longest that we have gone without communicating since we've been married.
I have left a piece of my heart in Haiti. I enjoyed the work that we were doing there, but the people really touched my heart. The children are delightful and love to touch us by rubbing our white skin, playing with our straight hair, holding our hands when we are walking or sitting our knee when we sit. We had VBS with them for two days and they loved it as much as we did.
I loved the women's conference and spoke to the ladies about the beatitudes and how they serve God when they serve others with those "attitudes." I gave many hand massages to the ladies on the beach and was surprised to think that most of them cannot swim even though they live so close to the ocean. I enjoyed watching the men cook for the women and hearing the banter back and forth as they prepared the meals for the weekend.
The rice distribution was a awesome experience. To share some food and hygiene bags with them and pray God's blessing upon them on their families was humbling. One lady asked if she could pray God's blessing upon us, because they wanted to encourage us too. What a blessing we recieved by giving to these people. WOW!!!
It was nice to see the progress of the different projects going on in Haiti but the people who live there are the ones who impact you. Not the projects. They do appreciate the effort of the different aid organizations, but they really need a hand up not a hand out so that they can become self sufficient and can provide for their own families. That is what Haiti Arise is trying to do and I really think they are on the right track.
I believe God did open the eyes of my heart and I did see Jesus high and lifted up, shining in the light of His glory. Pouring out His power and love and the people sang Holy, Holy, Holy. What a awesome time and I am so thankful that I got to experience this first hand. If you ever feel God asking you to go on a short term missions trip, be obedient and take the opportunity and privilege to be blessing and be blessed and help those in need who don't have the same opportunities that we have.
Thank you all who were praying for me and our team. I couldn't not have gone through this without God's strength and the prayers of His people to encourage me.
It was wonderful to be together with "Team Haiti" and connect with you all. Especially my room mates Marilyn, Michelle and Kathleen. Good times and great talks. Thanks for putting up with my snoring too.
Blessing
Cindy Knelsen
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