By Brian Heerwagen, CEO
Greetings from Haiti,
Well, when you're in the States, and you're running a little late to a wedding, there's "fashionably late" or there's "cleaning crew." Unless of course, you're in Haiti! Then, there is "fashionably later" or even "fashionably very later." Yep, that last option was our van with the four of us and the other folks we picked up along the way.
We left at 6 a.m. in order to attend the 8 a.m. wedding. After four hours of serious traffic, we finally arrived ... two hours late. But we still arrived at the church in time for the 1 Cor. 13 message, lots of special music by one group after another, the exchange of vows and rings, and so on. Yes, it was a four hour wedding. We stayed for some additional video shooting and a couple of interviews. Plus they used our van to transport the newlyweds to their hotel.
What's so significant is that this was the first wedding in Vallue since the earthquake AND it was the pastor's own wedding. The church, that was seriously damaged by the quake, was now completely restored and today, packed to the point of standing room only. What a great celebration!
After leaving the church, we spent another five hours and fifteen minutes on mountain roads, and later in the city in bumper to bumper or stand still traffic. No kidding, the roads are totally crowded with so many cars and trucks - it's an unending traffic jam.
We arrived at the Guest House finally and we so happy to find that the water pump was fixed. So we will be able to flush toilets and we can have our first shower since leaving our homes. Yep, it's true.
Friday and Saturday are jam packed with visits to another completed church, a nearly completed water purification plant, and the new Village of Hope where already 18 of 500 houses have been started. We also have a number of interviews still to go with key Haitian pastors and leaders.
Pray for the ability to accomplish so many things before we head back to the States on Sunday/Monday.
Thanks for praying.