It's hard to believe that we're back in Haiti. We haven't even been in the country 24 hours and the experience has already exceeded my expectations. We got into Port au Prince in the late afternoon yesterday and hopped on two mini buses. I must say that the capital looks 100xs better than what I remember from last year. Roads have been built and the streets seem much cleaner. Traffic, however, is the same, as well as the style of driving. Personally, I find it entertaining. We stopped briefly before we ventured into the mountains and at that point Jan said, "Our lives are now in the hands of Jesus and Jimi (the driver)." It was definitely different whipping around the curves on the mountains in the dark rather than during the day, but we made it here safely. This year we're staying much closer to the church and the the work site from last year. The Isaiah 61 House is located in the downtown area of Jacmel. If you're curious, google "Isaiah 61 House, Jacmel, Haiti" and you should be able to see some pictures. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of red beans and rice, chicken, and salad before heading to bed later in the evening. Church was at 8am this morning and we were happily surprised to find a beautiful pavillion-esque structure filled with several rows of wooden benches. This structure is located behind where the "church" was last year (which was made up of 3-4 tents). The service was beautiful as always and we were able to see both the men's and women's choir sing, both of which were excellent. I know I mentioned this last year, but the faith and the passion that the Haitian people have for religion and worship is astounding. Simply listening to them sing still brings tears to my eyes. About halfway through the service I spotted my friend Douge walking up to the church. I didn't think I would run into him at church since we interacted on the work site last year. I couldn't catch his eye during church but after Pastor Kessa introduced us I think he recognized those of us who were here last year. He immediately made his way over to say hi after church was over. It wasn't 5 minutes after seeing him that I turn around and recognize another friend, Antonio, one of my little men that hung around with us last year. I saw him eyeing my nametag and felt like I could see him making the connection. I smiled at him and he immediately exclaimed, "Megan!" We talked for a bit and he said hi to the others before we headed to see the guest house. Last year the house was only in the beginning stages of being built and we were excited to see that it is built, painted, and almost done on the inside. Hopefully we'll be able to stay there next year when we come down. Next we headed to the work site from last year where we saw 15-20 beautifully painted houses, some of which were a product of the work we did last year. I felt pretty distracted the whole time I was at the work site because deep down I was hoping to see more familiar faces. Antonio and all of the boys from last year lived down the hill in the tent city that we visited. Stevenson (the boy my family sponsors) also lives down there. I couldn't help but look closely at all of the people we saw, hoping to see someone I know. As we were standing around admiring the houses and the progress I turned around to see Stevenson walking towards us with Antonio. I think I screamed, to which he responded with something similar. Hugging him brought tears to my eyes. And then my dad saw him. I don't think I've ever seen him happier. Neither of them could stop hugging each other. Then Stevenson said to us, "I pray for you every day. I love you." We asked him how school was, how his family was, as much as we possibly could. We introduced him to Erin and he was equally as excited to meet her. After talking with Stevenson (with the help of Pastor Kessa) we were able to tell him where we will be working and he said he'll be able to come see us in the mornings before he goes to school. I told Douge to tell my other friend Roberto that I said hi. I'm hoping to see him at some point this week. Hopefully word will spread that we're back and we will be able to see our friends.
Needless to say this day has been nothing less that amazing. I can only hope that this trip will bring as much joy, if not more, to my life than it did last year.
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