First Haiti Trip, 4th Update

Sept. 11, 2004

Greetings all!

As most of you know, I’ve returned home to the US safe and sound. God was so good and blessed my travel with safety and smoothness. Instead of a 15 hour drive, I took an hour hopper flight from northern Haiti to the main airport in the capitol (beautiful views from the air for the whole hour!). Despite Hurricane Francis, which thankfully passed just north of Haiti, my flight to New York was still scheduled and even left on-time. Praise God!

As I write to you from Starbucks this morning sipping my tea and eating a fruit cup, Haiti feels like another world. I can imagine the people there that have been up since dawn. The women begin their daily journey to a well just few miles; the men, those that are fortunate enough to have jobs, make their way to work, and the children put on their smiles despite their empty stomachs. Being back in the affluence of America, I do not pity the Haitian people, but I do respect them immensely. The strength, determination, and joy of the people I saw and met there was amazing. And the sense of community and encouragement within the Christian church was convicting and inspiring.

It was evident from the blessings that God continued to pour on this trip that it was being covered in prayer; thank you all for being diligent in praying for me. We were able to accomplish a lot of surveying and engineering work that we set out to do. We sited a location for a new water reservoir and determined where to place a water pipe that will bring clean water to thousands and save people from walking millions of miles a year for water. We also collected information about a possible dam location that will provide much needed irrigation for croplands. Lastly, we analyzed 6 miles of an existing water system. God kept us safe everyday and all my prayers about abilities to use the equipment there were answered. It was awesome to use the skills and talents God has given me in engineering in order to serve the needs of the Haitians.

Bruce and Deb treated me just like family. The time I spent with them ministered to my heart. Their love of God, commitment to each other, and dedication to their work in Haiti were beautiful. And despite the difficulties of not knowing the language, I was able to build some relationships with a few awesome Haitian Christians, especially Niva and Loradieur. On the last day of our surveying, we were driving back home and Loradieur and I were in the back of the truck. Earlier he had bought some food and something to drink, and as we road back he shared his food and drink with me. The way he shared with me out of the little that he had really touched me.

Thank you all for your support of this trip. God is doing a lot of great work in Haiti, and it was awesome to be used by Him in His work. Your prayers and financial support were an integral part of the great success of our work there. Thank you especially to those that sent encouraging emails. Please pray for Bruce and Deb, the work that continues in Haiti, and for direction as to how God may want to use me there in the future. Thank you again for your support and if you have any questions or want to hear more about my adventure, I’d love to talk with you!

Take care and God Bless,

Ben