Where He leads...: Preparing for Haiti

Preparing for Haiti

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In less than a week I'll be on a plane to Haiti! I'm super pumped about this trip and anxious to see what God has in store!

I don't know all the details of the trip, and I won't really find them out until I hit the ground. But our team will likely be serving on a construction project in Léogâne, Haiti, possibly an orphanage. I did a little research on this area, and here's some information from Wikipedia...

Léogâne was at the epicenter of the 7.0 magnitude 12 January 2010 earthquake, and a United Nations assessment team that investigated three main towns near Port-au-Prince found that Léogâne was "the worst affected area" with 80 to 90% of buildings damaged and no remaining government infrastructure. Nearly every concrete structure was destroyed. The damage was also reported to be worse than the capital. The military estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 people had died from the earthquake in Léogâne. People have congregated in ad hoc squatter camps and relief has taken longer to reach Léogâne.

I don't think you can ever fully prepare yourself for a trip like this. I think my previous experiences in poverty-stricken areas will be helpful. But I'm holding little expectations and I look forward to simply going to learn about, live among, and serve the Haitian people. I've tried to spend some time each week learning new words and phrases in Haitian Creole. So hopefully that will give me a bit of a leg up as I dive into a new language and culture.

I'm excited to meet the other members of this short-term team. They are coming together through Samaritan's Purse from all over the United States and one from Canada. And a couple members who are U.S. citizens have roots in other areas of the world. One young man is from Russia and a young lady whose parents are Haitian.

I do have some specific prayer requests and ask that you will begin praying with me as I embark on this journey and throughout the two weeks that I am there.

Please pray for good health for myself and my team members. Risks increase anytime you visit an impoverished nation, especially those who have been recently affected by natural disasters and are operating on even lower health standards than normal.
Please pray that the work of our hands will be productive, but also that our presence and work there will be a demonstration of Christ's love.
Please pray that we as members of a team will be selfless and loving towards each other, and demonstrate unity as the body of Christ.
Please pray for opportunities for us to share the love and message of Christ through both word and deed, and that we will boldly take advantage of those opportunities.