Has it been two years?

Driving from the airport in Port au Prince to Gressier (where out mission house is) made me think I'd only been gone 2 weeks instead of 2 years. You think more would have changed...but it hasn't. You can still see all the same signs of destruction present at my first visit 3 months after the earthquake. Rubble, tent cities, burning trash on the sides of the streets, and polluted water channels. It seems that this is just another new "normal" for the Haitian people.

The question missionaries wrestle with is, "With 10,000 religious and other non-profit organizations in the country, why no systematic, country-wide change or uplift of the society?" Even the Haitians I talk to can't come up with an answer to that one.

But God is still at work, building His kingdom and transforming people. I think in Haiti, you gotta look at the stories of success, and leave the big picture answers to God. When I look around, I see many of the things Steve (Spellman) and I got off the ground 2 years ago bearing incredible fruit. Just the stories I've heard in the last couple hours show me that God was at work in those chaotic post-quake days. He was even at work through the "We don't know what we're doing but let's just see where God opens doors and then run through them" attitude Steve and I took back then.

Tomorrow...I'll connect with someone from Samaritan's Purse. I'll coordinate a team laying a concrete foundation at a school we partner with, so that another team can build them a new meeting building next week. I'll spend a few hours at Operation Love the Children of Haiti (OLTCH), an orphanage run by Greg and Jasmine Martinson. (Hey, I just saw a cute little mouse run from under the stove, across the floor, and under the fridge). Finally, we'll take a couple people from the States on a walk up the nearby hill to see a beautiful sunset. When these teams are down in the trenches getting their hands dirty helping people in the midst of all this suffering, it's good to give them a reminder of the beauty that can be found here in Haiti.

Pray for Greg and Jasmine at OLTCH -they are getting attacks from the enemy of God's kingdom on all sides right now. Satan comes to "steal, kill, and destroy" - pray that he won't be successful with Greg, Jasmine, and the orphanage.

Sory no pictures tonight - the connection is so bad tonight, I almost couldn't do this post.