Bye Bye English, USA, American food, and home :D

Rodrigo & I saw SEAN PENN on our Flight!I said"Hey we're going 2 Haiti, r u going there 2?" he said yes.then I told him he does good work & we shook his hand!

Tomorrow

We're leaving for Haiti...TOMORROW! It feels like I have waited forever & now its happening. Wow. Please pray for the people who are going with us to Haiti. Corine & her son River are leaving this evening. They have never been to Haiti before. Please pray they will handle everything ok the day before I get there to lay out the land :) Please pray for us all to get along well, do great things together, and of course for safety!

On the subject of safety I'm sure you know that there is some "political unrest" in Haiti right now. If you didn't now you do. I will probably have to change my return flight because of this. SO please pray everything works out & that God will guide me every step of the way.

Surprise!

I spoke with one of the translators my friend Fred yesterday. Near the end of our conversation he said to me, "Will you be here the 23rd?" Oh man! I wanted my trip to Haiti to be a surprise. I tried to play it off. I told him that I'd already been twice this year & why would I be coming again already? Then he said to me "Coi-Coo told Kinzey & he told me." I still tried to play it off & replied that I hadn't talked to Coi-Coo so I don't know why he would know something like that. To which Fred quickly informed me, "Gil told him." He had me there. So they know I am coming & that I am bringing my husband. I was the one who ended up with the surprise.

Less than 1 week to go & lots to do. You may be sick of hearing this but I am just completely overwhelmed by everyones generosity. Let me be blunt & say there is NO WAY we could have made it to Haiti on our own.

We are busy planning things to teach the kids about hygiene, relationships, expressing their feelings, and of course about our LOVING GOD! I hope to learn about their Christmas & New Years Traditions, to comfort them on the 1 year anniversary of the terrible earthquake that tore apart their lives, and to show them that they are loved everyday. I really am going to try to connect to the internet while I am there so that I can upload pictures & give you more detail then 1 txt message length. Bear with me...I am not the best writer, editor, or punctuation master, and I dont always express things clearly. I hope that I can give you a window into Leogane with what I say however I say it!

18 days & counting...

Rodrigo & I will be headed to Haiti for Christmas! We haven't raised all the money we need to raise yet, but we are confident in Christs ability to provide. We are very thankful to all our friends & family for your support(with words, prayers, and money). I hope that Rodrigo will love Haiti. I can't wait to see everyone and to start helping to improve some things. Please keep us in your prayers!

HURRICANE TOMAS

Our people in Leogane are safe. The eye of the storm has passed & they aren't having flooding problems at the Orphanage. However, Leogane has had flooding. Please continue to pray for everyone in Haiti. Here are some pics from Brad who is there now.

This pic is in the city

Thoughts..

It's funny I have so much to say about Haiti I could go on for days. Yet when it comes to organized talking about it I get speechless. Last Sunday I visited my family in Idaho & spoke to the church I grew up in about Haiti. Writing a "speech" was the hardest thing I have ever done. My best friend Lauren & I got the slideshow together and then we started writing an outline. Lauren & I were debate partners in highschool so this was pretty normal for us. Lets face it though its been 5+ yrs since highschool & I was a little rusty. I wrote a half hearted outline and went to bed. I woke up the next morning 3hrs before church started & got my butt in gear. My sister told me many times "Amy, God is not going to let you have this incredible experience & be quiet about it." So I just tried to keep that as my focus. I prayed that God would show me what I needed to say. Then the words started flowing. I realized I had a lot to share. I thought talking for 10 would be hard. My husband even said "Will you even be able to fill 10 minutes?" Strangely I felt the same way. Boy were we wrong!

When I got to Inkom Community Bible Church we tested the slideshow to see if it worked. It did. THANK GOD! I then had Pastor Russ Blair pray for me because I was very nervous. I cannot tell you how much that prayer calmed me.

When it was my turn to go up & speak I was ready! It was great because before I went up they were making some announcements & one happened to be about Samaritans Purse. I had seen the church bulletin board in the kitchen talking about Samaritans Purse & was going to bring them up as an organization to get involved with. Then it was my turn. I took Rodrigo's stopwatch with me so that I would talk for 10 minutes. I forgot about it though. Once I started talking I just couldn't stop I didn't say half the things I had planned to say & talked far beyond my 10 min increment. Apparently I also messed up a little. I was trying to describe how in my first week in Haiti baby Charley had BLOODY diarrhea & I thought he was going to die. Apparently I just said diarrhea so people probably didn't understand my concern. I'm sad I didn't share the many miracles I saw & they power of prayer I experienced. I hope that I got my message across. I was so touched after the service when people came up & talked to me about how it had touched their hearts.

I really hope people will get involved. Here are some great places to start:
Extollo International
Kids Against Hunger Pleasanton
Samaritans Purse
J/P HRO