Back at Kaliko

If you follow us on Facebook you will know that we arrived safely back in Haiti on Monday.  We do want to express our thanks again to many of you who prayed for our travels back.  Traveling with four kids, the dog and a bunch of luggage can make for some stressful trips.  We are very grateful to report that the day went better than even our best expectations.  The flights were smooth, the kids did great, the dog arrived well and even customs/immigration in Haiti was easy.

Let me also give a brief report on the effects of Hurricane Sandy here in Haiti.  Our home at Kaliko weathered the storm unscathed.  We had a total of 290mm of rain from the storm, that's nearly 12 inches of rain in a few days.  I sat down with Pastor Octavius in Port-au-Prince yesterday to talk about the church there.  Port-au-Prince also received a lot of rain but no one in the church was significantly affected.  God is good.  The main areas hit in Haiti were the southern peninsula and the north.  Trees down, homes flooded, gardens destroyed.  Times are tough and will likely get tougher.

On my return I also began to get reports from Lagonav.  Our missionary friends the Geiszler's, who work as Wesleyan missionaries on Lagonav, sent along pictures of the flooding in Anse-a-Galets.  The ravine in the picture (left) is normally dry.  It cuts right through the middle of town and I drive down through the ravine often to get to the OPC Guest House.  As you can see the unceasing rain from Hurricane Sandy filled the ravine to overflowing.  It is about 10 feet deep out there in the middle.  The saline down hear the ocean was also flooded (above), and the homes of the poorest of Anse-a-Galets were badly affected.  Reports are most of the roads on Lagonav are terrible and some are impassable.  The plan is to travel to the island tomorrow to check things out first hand and visit  the churches.  Reports of damage to homes and flood are widespread.  Keep praying!