Final Thoughts

Where to begin? We have been silent for a few days, somewhat expectedly at first and then unexpectedly as some of you know. Just as the kids said on the plane today “this was an amazing trip until we got sick.” Everyone is okay and recovering as we sit in the Fort Lauderdale airport awaiting our final flight to Dallas but it has been an adventure over the last two days. We contacted only those that needed to be communicated with regarding decisions until now. 

We left Port-au-Prince on Wednesday morning bound for Montrouis. We spent the morning and afternoon with Jhud, a Haitian missionary in Montrouis, his family, and a YWAM (Youth With a Mission) team that is stationed in Haiti. It was a great “down” day to spend time in fellowship and getting to know more about the missionary’s day-to-day life in Haiti. He took us to a neighboring spring that they are working on and revitalizing into a tourist attraction. We prayed over the site and sang worship songs in Kreole and in English. Our own John even led some of the songs.

Late in the day we arrived at our hotel in Montrouis, which was a lovely resort. We enjoyed a swim in the warm Caribbean Sea. It was beautifully refreshing after a hot (97+ degree) day! We enjoyed dinner on a patio on the water and devotions on the beach. 

The early morning hours brought us a surprise. Holly and Courtney woke up with symptoms of either the flu or food poisoning. Nick, Rebecca, and Linda also had minor symptoms but our other team members were fine. After they didn’t improve we decided to return to Port-au-Prince to go to a doctor. Without getting into too many details here, Holly, Courtney, Nick and Rebecca spent the night in the hospital getting re-hydrated and pumped full of antibiotics. Everyone was steadily improving throughout the next day. They released three of us the following evening. Holly spent one more night to regain her strength. We left this morning for the airport with everyone feeling better – Praise God! 

The upside-down turn of this trip has been challenging, and not one we would have chosen, but FULL of blessing. People who go on mission trips often say that they enter in to try to serve others and leave more personally encouraged by those they came to serve. John even mentioned that in his devotion Tuesday night. We experienced this firsthand in the overwhelming outpouring of love and support from our Haitian brothers and sisters. From those that spent the night at our bedsides, made phone calls on our behalf, helped us navigate Haitian procedures, drove us from one place to another, to the students of Good Shepherd that walked miles in the heat to come visit and pray with us in our rooms – we have been blessed.

We prayed diligently to establish relationship with the Haitians for our school program and this set of circumstances made us a family. The students that were not sick inspired us also by their servant attitude and their commitment to carry on the trip. They packed suitcases, held devotions, ate cliff bars for a meal, and spent long, hot hours at the hospital.

  

It was hard to leave Nicole after she spent so many hours caring for us. Please keep praying for her. She spends four more weeks in Haiti. After the experiences of this trip that have brought us closer, I am sure we will all be having a hard time saying goodbye to each other in Dallas. Our first reunion is already scheduled.

We don’t really know how to close this because our experiences have been so vivid, dramatic, and intense in the last day but so has our confidence in the grace of God and His provision. 

Thank you again for supporting this trip and giving us the opportunity to share this experience with your children. We have been blessed by it.

Signing Off,

Linda, Rebecca, and Nick