It’s been a tough day today.  This morning we drove into Carrefour, a section of Port-au-Prince that was the hardest hit by the quake.  They estimate that 85% of the structures in this area were destroyed or damaged significantly.  I would venture to say the percentage is higher than that.  The destruction we witnessed was unbelievable.  It’s hard to even imagine that within just a few seconds the lives of ever person in this city was forever changed – moms and dads killed, orphans left behind, homes and businesses reduced to rubble, disease, physical brokenness.  All in a moment.

We drove and walked past thousands of tent/tarp homes.  In parks, on tops of trash heaps, surrounded by rubble.  Even a row of hundreds of tarp homes erected on a median in the middle of a busy highway.  It just seemed incomprehensible how the Haitians have been able to move on with life in this new, drastic way.  I fear what the ramifications of these new living conditions will give birth to in the coming months and years.

But there was hope.  We met with Pastor Jaques Henry and Pastor Daniel today in their community.  Such good men, leading passionate followers of Christ in the midst of pain, darkness, and brokenness in their communities. They really were an inspiration, not by what they said or shared with us, but by what they were doing.  They took us around their community (by foot in a slow, hot drizzling rain) to visit with different children and women who were the most vulnerable since the quake.  We met grannies who had taken in their grandchildren after the parents had been killed by the quake.  We met moms who were widowed and left to fend for themselves.  And we met one little 10 year old girl who lost both of her parents in the quake and was now being cared for by neighbors.  All these people were connected to and cared for by these two pastors and their churches.

This little 10 year old girl was very special to me.  She had never been to school in her life and now her parents were gone and she was basically staying with strangers.  She looked so alone, so scared, so empty.  But we talked to her about Jesus.  She knew some, but said she did not follow Him yet.  Pastor Daniel prayed with her and promised to spend some time teaching her about Jesus.  Later, I shared a vision I had of her as a grown woman, serving as a strong leader in their church and their community.  It turns out, Pastor Daniel had a similar vision as he prayed for her.  There was hope.

We spend our last morning here tomorrow and then head home.  Many thoughts and decisions to be made for the future.  We are thankful to have been here for this short time.  To God be the glory.

- Nathan

Greetings from the land of Haiti.  God has been so faithful in showing Nathan and I the great need here in Haiti.  The church people we have visited have nothing but their faith in God as their greatest asset.  They love Jesus with a genuine love, and they show it in the way they care for each other!  They have nothing, but they give everything!

- Michael