Tuesday Night, 10pm

Right now I’m listening to the beautiful sound of our much-needed rain. The sound reminds me of my first trip to Haiti, 8 years ago. I was 16, had never been outside of the States and had just made the arduous journey from the airport in Port Au Prince to our destination, a rural village so small that even people who live within 5 miles of it do not know it by name. The roads in Haiti do not make for easy travel, the first 120 miles from Port Au Prince to the city of Les Cayes takes 4-5 hours and the last 30 or so mile stretch takes another 4 hours. We arrived at the village and were greeted with a spread of Haitian food, most likely rice and beans with mystery meat on the side. The village had no electricity or running water. Our bathrooms were latrines not sanitary enough for us to sit on and we slept on cots inside small huts. I don’t remember what was going through my mind as I processed all of this, my strongest recollection from that night was lying down on my cot and being lulled to sleep by the peaceful sound of rain on the tin roof. It was then I decided that I really liked this place.

Now I find myself just a few miles down the road from where I listened to the rain that first night and enjoying the sound of the rain for other reasons. There is no water on this mountain. When the teams were here, every day or every other day David would make the 5-6 hour round-trip drive to the river with the big Deuce loaded with about 16 55-gallon barrels and who knows how many 5 gallon buckets to fill with water for the mission and many neighbors. This rain’s a huge answer to prayer! I can’t help but be concerned though. I’ve seen so many leaky roofs; I hate to imagine how many people are spending this night cold and wet. There is so much I take for granted.

We got back last night from spending Easter weekend down the mountain in Cayes. We drove down on Saturday morning and along the way saw several groups of people dancing in the streets in full traditional costume. RaeLeen said these people are RahRahs who are celebrating the death of Christ. It doesn’t get much clearer than that to show that Haiti is a spiritual battleground! Off and on over the weekend we would hear drumbeats but overall Easter in Haiti was much more normal than I'd expected it to be! On Saturday the kids dyed Easter eggs and had a hunt for them in the yard. The kids had Easter baskets and the girls and I made cupcakes. Sunday morning we went to a sunrise service held on a rooftop with around 30 or 40 other missionaries. It was really a beautiful service, watching the sun rays peaking out over the hills as we sang and a lot of missionaries shared a short message or song. This picture really doesn't do it justice. After a brunch, we spent the afternoon at Port Salut beach. It doesn't get much better than being able to park right on the beach and having the restaurant set up a table and chairs in the shade for us.

On Monday morning RaeLeen flew out to the States, she'll be there for a week. As David took care of things in town, I got to take the girls and Joel over to go swimming at a friend's house before we headed back up the mountain Monday afternoon. As always, it was a tough ride, but the scenery is pretty amazing. This week I am splitting my time between doing homeschool with the girls and miscellaneous healthcare issues that crop up. Everyday there are people showing up with wounds to assess and dress and other ailments of every kind.