So Far Away, So Close to Home {Haiti 2011 Part 1}

"On the street I saw a small girl cold and shivering In a thin dress, with little hope of a decent meal.
I became angry and said to God: 'why did you permit this? Why dont you do something about it?'
For awhile God said nothing. That night he replied, quite suddenly: 'i certainly did something about it.
I made you.'" -unknown author

I returned from Haiti a few days ago, it was Adam and my's 2nd trip to the country. We went last year, only months after the 7.2 earthquake rattled the devestated country and as we left there, we felt compelled to return. So we did. And this time, we took 5 of our students and 2 of our youth leaders along for an amazing ride. During our week in Haiti, we went to 2 church services, we put on a VBS, we worked at an orphanage, we climbed 2 mountains to pray over Pastors homes, we worked in a tent city, we helped build a temorary shelter for a family, and we ministered on the streets of Carrefour - all for the glory of God..
Rebuilding their City
Adam and I were amazed at the progress of Port-Au-Prince and Carrefour. The people of Haiti have been working very hard to clean up the rubble that ran rampant last April, and rebuild their homes and business'. They have a long road ahead of them, there is still a lot of destruction and too many people still live in tent cities, but there is hope.
One day when we were walking through a community in Carrefour, we stopped near a home where a few people knew partial English. They invited us into their "broken" home and my heart was moved as we saw the cracks in the walls and the rubble at our feet.
They had been living in a tent in their courtyard for a year + 4 months, but that same day a temporary shelter had been delivered to them from a ministry in the USA. Praise the Lord! A couple of our students asked if they could stay and help build - how could we say no to that?! So 3 students and I stayed to help them build, while the rest of the team went on to a tent city to minister. It was a wonderful few hours with the family, a true appointment from Heaven. The following are a few photos from the build:

And the final product:

That day, we were as blessed by them as they were by us. And they sent us home with some delicious Mangos.