Early impressions from the Newark airport en route to Haiti:
How has the trip been so far?
Teri: Exhausting.
Janette: The team gets along really well so it’s promising that we’ll have a great week together. Good attitudes. I think we’ll have a really good week together.
Corrie: I am excited. In the meetings we are doing business, but now we are actually doing work and it’s fun to be with everybody.
Rob: I’m tired. I’m not quite excited yet, but I’m getting there.
Andy: One thing I’ve noticed is I keep wondering why other passengers in the airport keep staring at me. Then I realize we’re all wearing the same red shirt. Everything has gone smooth. Hopefully that will be a sign of what the rest of the trip will be like.
What are you anticipating for the rest of the day?
Teri: Another long trip. Looking forward to getting to Haiti and seeing what I’ve been looking forward to for months and months.
Janette: Mostly I think it will be an adventure to get where we are actually going to be working. If we do anything beyond that it will be a huge blessing and a surprise. Get to our location and get settled and get comfortable.
Corrie: I’m really tired so I anticipate being grumpy but I’m trying not to. A lot of heat and a lot of sweat. And just a huge world we never knew.
Rob: I’m going to be very tired. Hopefully we won’t have a lot of activities today other than getting to the school. And hopefully, we’ll be able to rest the rest of the day.
Andy: I think to be a little bit shocked by the heat when we come out of the airplane. I think just all the people that will be in Haiti. That’ll be a little bit of a shock, too. Just how many of them there are. Hopefully, we won’t do a lot but get back to the place and prepare for tomorrow and get going then.
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Sorry I missed sending a post on T-1 day. Too many other details to think about. Still a few running around in my mind this morning. Now it is our Departure Day and our Double Dedication Day.
Yesterday, we loaded two of our vans with 13 bags of gifts for the Haiti mission. Plus many of us have gift items in our carry-ons, saving us from having to pay $25 for the 14th checked bag we would be allowed with 14 travelers. We hope none of the bags exceed the allowable size. We worked hard to achieve that.
Today, we and our mission will be dedicated at the 10 a.m. service at Memorial and at the 11 a.m. service at Sierra Grace. We will all gather at the William’s house for lunch before our departure to San Francisco to board our flight to Newark — then on to Haiti tomorrow!
We will continue to post to this blog when any form of communication allows us to do it. Please pray for all of us and for a successful mission.
As one would expect, there’s a lot of prep involved with a big trip like this. Even though I’m not going, I want to help. I spent of time getting solar cells, cables, and batteries together to go with the group just to help insure everyone can communicate with home by keeping their cell phones charged. I have had previous experience with that. That stuff will stay in Haiti.
Since I, personally, want to hear as much as I can from the group, and my wife, I set up this blog site for everyone to use. I hope it gets used. It will be permanent, central record of everyone’s experiences, thoughts, feelings, and info for others going to Haiti in the future. I’d like to see short posts, like tweets, and longer entries. And pictures.
There’s going to be a lot to do to keep things going at home and church with the absence of my wife and so many active members. -Ron