sweaty and tired

it's raining here. POURING. marilyn and i almost got washed away down the street when we were booking it back to our hotel from dinner tonight. we're staying partway up the steep road up the mountain... so all the water sweeps all the garbage down the road to the lower parts.

(ryan must have recorded our brief phone conversation last night, because he wrote it so perfectly! it's amazing to have someone mirror my thoughts and emotions like that.)

one correction: Haiti is currently in the same time zone as MN - apparently they never sprang ahead.

today we cleaned and sanded and painted. very dusty. i'm still picking my nose. just kidding (not really). there isn't as much done in the house as i was expecting. like, there's no toilet. and we were there ALL DAY. use your imagination. no, don't.

it smells like india here. that may be because i haven't been to many other countries. i don't know, but i think i could fall in love. there are so many beautiful people and palm trees and flowers and fruits. but there's so many potholes and trash piles, and i'm not supposed to eat the fruit. a word on the potholes: it's a lie. there aren't potholes; the roads are one big pothole. like, i think many people would be nervous to drive their off-road vehicles here, but pastor dio
said about his compact car's tires (by way of explaining their relative longevity), "the tires know they are in haiti."

thank you for your prayers.

love.

First Impressions

Amy phoned me last night around 10:30 ET from her hotel in Petionville, Haiti, right outside of Port-au-Prince, and gave me a little bit of information that I thought I would pass along:

She has arrived at her destination: safe and sweaty. She said that when they arrived it was about 90 degrees and utterly humid. Pastor Dio picked up Amy and the rest of her team at the chaotic airport and drove them to the hotel. Upon arrival, the concierge informed them that they did not have a reservation for them, but after a bit of a wait they were provided rooms; Amy has a second floor room with one of her teammates. They have standard electricity, which was a mild comfort because she brought a 10-inch fan with her to sleep and a battery charger for her camera.

They were able to leave the hotel to get pizza for dinner. She said that it was dirty and beautiful. So many people. Garbage everywhere. People selling mangoes and shoes and roasted corn. Children in school uniforms and pregnant women.

She is a little lonesome, but is excited to see what God has in store for them today. Pastor Dio will be picking them up this morning and taking them to the Mephibosheth Home to begin their work.

She also let me know that the hotel does have a computer, but it wasn't working on Monday, so she isn't sure when or if she'll be able to post. Although I'm not nearly as interesting to read as my eloquent wife, I'll do my best to post whenever I have some new information to relay.

Thank you for your prayers for both Amy and myself.

Ryan