At long last - We've Arrived!!

Our first day together is always long and started at 3:45am in the airport this morning after we plowed through several inches of fresh snow and below zero temps to begin the hurry up and wait process that is international travel!  I'm glad I wore socks with my sandals to the airport since my feet were just a little cold in the snow drifts in my driveway.

Thanks to all the family members who got us up and ready on time and to those who drove us to the airport when they should have been in bed like "normal" people!

Our travel was largely uneventful (which is a good thing).  We did get delayed on the ground in Miami for several hours which brought us into Port-au-Prince just as it was getting dark.  That just added to the mysteriousness of coming into a strange land where things are nothing like we normally experience.  However, in a tribute to the Super Bowl, we did have a temporary power failure in the new airport baggage claim area. 

We've already greeted old friends from prior trips who work here on the staff and made new friends with some of the folks who've been hired more recently.  What a great staff - looking out for us as we serve others, translating for us, driving us around, cooking for us, keeping us safe and making us laugh when we feel overwhelmed with all of it.

It's now 10:30pm and some have gone to bed and others are busily preparing for our tomorrow activities.  We are blessed to have a group with a wide set of skills and temperments and experiences (all right, ages).  They are eager to serve and ready to see what God has in store for them as we begin in earnest tomorrow on the water truck making deliveries to the poorest people in our hemisphere.

Submitted by Tom Solberg