Day #3

ON OUR WAY TO HAITI!

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path.”

Woke up & got to the airport early. We slowly worked our way up the standby list as the first two flights headed out.

By the third one, there was still a large crowd & many upset people from being stuck in Miami for three days.

They upgraded the plane to a larger size & Lauren, Chris & I just squeaked on! 

I may not have any communication while in Haiti, so prayers would be appreciated!

We'll be meeting with our contact upon arrival, then comes the 4-8 hour van ride to Los Cayes. There we will be reunited with our group, who have probably been working their tails off helping others! Today we will smile together in Haiti :).

From the farthest back right seat on flight AA 1659, God Bless!

Steven 

Day #2

After a night of many prayers, we woke in the great sunshine state!

Got up & walked about a mile to McDonalds for some quality breakfast!

Got back to the hotel, checked out - got to the airport & tried booking a flight to Port-au-Prince. Today we were helped by the nicest people in the airport.

Five of our group got seats assigned for the next flight out around noon. The rest of us were put on the waiting list.

The first plane left with five, leaving six of us in Miami. Three of our group still in Miami were on the top of the waiting list & made it on the 2:00 flight! The last three of us (Lauren, Chris & myself) were around the 60s on the 70 person waiting list.

Due to three flights to Haiti being cancelled yesterday - there was quite a crowd trying to get back home. We were bumped to the waiting list for the 6:50 AM flight. 

The three of us made our way back to the hotel. Chris & I had some very good conversations. I learned how he's busier now in retirement than he was before. Crazy.

The eight made it to Haiti safe & have all of our luggage. Prayers for their safety & service would be appreciated!

The first shuttle to the airport leaves at 5:00 AM, so we'll be catching that & getting in line for our 6:50 AM flight out in the morning - & if it's God's will, we'll be on it. 

With half the group in Haiti & three of us here; from the hotel bed in Miami, God Bless!

Steven 

Day #1

Up early enough to milk cows, reunited with old friends & making memories with new...

Today we (Zeb, Jordan, Brad, Sarah & I) left the Des Moines airport at 6:05 am. Flying American Airlines, we arrived in Dallas, TX - then made a quick dash to our next terminal where we met up with Chris (an adult from Louisiana) and Victoria (past state president and current national officer candidate from Arkansas).  The flight to Miami, FL was on a HUGE 767 Boeing. It was so big it had two aisles & we had to get going up to 160 MPH before lifting off the ground. 

We arrived in Miami & found out our flight to Port-au-Prince, Haiti was cancelled due to tropical weather.

We met up with the rest of our group (Emma, Mike, Kait & Lauren). 

We grabbed some dinner at Subway, got our luggage from the 'lost-n-found' claim & checked in to the hotel.

Since we're stranded in Florida for a day, what did we do? You guessed it - South Beach! The ocean is very salty & very warm. We swam, napped, grabbed some supper at some nice burger joint & headed back to the hotel.

Tonight a handful of us checked out the hotel gazebo to view the sunset. We decided it was kind of romantical (if you would have been there with your special someone). There was music playing, a warm breeze and some little geico-like lizards! 

Emma taught me how to 'shag dance,' which is very similar to swing dancing.

Now we wait for further news tomorrow. Hopefully we can catch a flight in to Haiti either tomorrow or Friday.

I may or may not have Internet access in Haiti, so updates will depend upon that.

All is well, everyone's safe, we're all smiling & praying we'll be able to make it to Haiti to help our our Haitian friends.

From my hotel bed in Miami, God Bless.

Steven