Hello Tim and family and friends, it has taken us several days to get the internet working!  Welcome to Haitian time 🙂  We will be sending you the blog from the very first day and attaching a few pictures.  Later this evening or early tomorrow we will try to add the blog from the other days that have passed.  Thank you so much!  PS we are having a ball!

Love, Bethel Church Group

Tuesday June 25, 2013 

A small storm is brewing over the mountain.  Quiet rolls of thunder are combined with noises, smells and visions never experienced before.  As we flew in over the tent cities of Port-a-Prince David said to me, “It really is like the movies Mom!”  My fingers find Matthew 8:23-27 and God speaks to my soul…  Our group has safely but eventfully arrived in Haiti.  Regardless of a swollen ankle, multiple sore backs, less than 4 hours of sleep, a 3 hour delay while inside the plane, and a 4 hour van ride including 17 (sometimes 18 when riding on the back or top) we are in excellent spirits!  We will have many stories with pictures for our families and friends upon our return to the states.  We will try to add some pictures to the blog. This afternoon we are settling in, unpacking and connecting with the beautiful people of Pignon.  Two hours in and David is below me in the street playing soccer, a universal language!  We are received graciously!  For Cheyenne and I the little children grabbing our hands, pulling on our skirts, and wanting to be held is medicine for our souls.  I refer to the story of Jesus calming the storm because getting to Haiti has been a storm full of snags with the potential for enormous disaster.  In each and every circumstance we called out to Jesus only to find that he was already there… A beautiful woman to play UNO with Cheyenne and Emily for hours while the plane was delayed.  A very late bus driver to pick us up at the airport gave us the opportunity to look for lost items.  A single father caring for his 6-month-old baby shows us how God loves us and cares for us the same way.  For all of you that are praying for us and supporting us know that God continues to calm the storms and we are resting in his peace.  Matthew 8:23-27…  Alicia

There are many things that I could write about and this is only a few.  The first thing that I would like to say is that the reason God wanted me to come to Haiti is because I have a lot of compassion for other people.  I think that my best part about being on this trip is seeing the kids and how happy they are with what little they have!  – Cheyenne 

Our group each gave one word to describe what we thought when we got to Haiti…  beautiful, messy, unique, phenomenal, absorbing, tolerant, eager, colorful, smelly, prison-like, tent cities, motorized, damaged, busy, dirty, unkept, wild beauty, crowded, impatient.  – David

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In front of the new Sewing Center!

In front of the new Sewing Center!