Setbacks and Celebrations

Things got off to a bit of a rocky start for the latest mission team headed to Haiti. The night before they left, news came in that the container filled with construction supplies was lost in the Bahamas somewhere. This came as a huge blow, as the whole purpose for 7 members of the team was to begin construction of our new kitchen, and without the container and all the equipment and tools in it, they weren't sure there was much purpose in going.

The team decided to leave anyways and took some money to buy whatever they could in Haiti. Needless to say there was some mad scrambling with banks and exchange agencies, and Albert (the leader of the team), having been to Haiti many times, wasn't optomistic they would be able to find much in Haiti for proper tools, but was hopeful the team could still get some things started.

The next setback came when they got to the Vancouver Airport and were told that strict baggage rules were being enforced travelling to Haiti, and Rubbermaid containers were not allowed to enter the country - they would only go as far as Ft. Lauderdale. Albert phoned our office, hoping Lia could find a place in Ft. Lauderdale that was open late, where they could buy hockey bags. The team was going to have to race out during their lay-over, buy the bags and transfer all the goods from the Rubbermaid containers into the hockey bags.

Things started to turn around for the team the next morning when our office received a call from Albert. On the flight from Dallas to Ft. Lauderdale, one of the team members sat beside a man and told him the whole luggage dilemma. The man happened to be the Vice President of a large sports store and promised to immediately send 13 hockey bags for free to their hotel!!!

This good news was followed by an even greater turn of events......the container lost in the Bahamas showed up at the H2H compound!! Seems like a total God thing to us! What an exciting start to the trip - can't wait to watch and see how the rest of the week unfolds!