shopping & driving & church...oh my!

What a busy weekend! (yes, already!) Yesterday we went grocery shopping for the first time. I wish I could accurately describe what this is like! It took around 4 hours to go to 3 small stores that are literally 4 or 5 miles from our house. We went to two "stores" and one bakery. On the way we passed this man, who was, with the help of only one person in the back, pulling all of these mattresses to town!

The stores consisted of a small dark room, with several shelves, and mostly expired products from everywhere BUT Haiti. My "grocery list" quickly became a joke. Instead, you walk around the store trying to think of what you could make with the food items you saw there! Our mayo jar is in Arabic, and we found 10 different spices but no baking soda, and a few old cans of Slim-Fast, but no fruits or vegetables. I will have to start thinking more creatively. I was suprised to find that the prices were the same or higher than they are in the US. A regular can of Crisco was $13 US!

However, the stores were right on the water, and though the bay was filled with garbage, for a moment it was truly enjoyable to feel the breeze and smell the salty air and watch the palm trees sway! The Lord designed that special moment just for us, I think, to keep us from getting too overwhelmed.

Today we picked up our Seminary Director, Dr. Bill Cooper, from the airport and headed to church. The church we attended was in the middle of one of the poorest areas in Cap-Haitien. Once we entered the church, however, we were blessed by the strong choruses of over 300 Haitian brothers and sisters. Church lasted 3 hours, after which we were able to meet up with about a dozen other missionaries and missionary kids for lunch.

Tonight we have dinner with the doctor who runs the OMS medical clinic on our compound. Tomorrow we start staff meetings for the new school year!

We are wishing we could be with family this first Sunday, but are grateful for some new friendships and many new experiences. This journey God has called us on is looking to be an adventure, for sure!

Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, support, emails and love!