Mission trip DR -Haiti 2010 (part 1)

The February-March 2010 Mission trip was a success! We were able to ship and deliver the relief aid to Haiti as well as complete our mission house in Polo. There were many obstacles, but in the end the experience and contacts made it well worth the struggles. There are so many to thank and acknowledge, but we give the honor and glory to God for his goodness shown through so many of you. Immediately following the earthquake, our family began to pray for the people of Haiti and ask God to use us in this catastrophe that occurred on the island where we had spent many years of our life as a family. We decided to coordinate a collection of relief items that many other groups were looking to deliver to the earthquake victims and those helping in the effort. Before the earthquake had occurred, we had already scheduled for a mission group to travel and complete the mission facility in Polo, Dominican Republic. We decided to include another container to ship with the relief aid for Haiti along with the construction materials. Russ Lloyd, a member of Welch Creek Baptist Church, and president of Innovative Research Technologies in Summerville, SC graciously financed the shipment and materials for the building project. Several of his men from IRT, members from the church, and a group from World Changers joined together and completed the construction of the mission facility. During the past months after the earthquake, we offered assistance to several mission groups that travelled to Haiti via Dominican Republic while the airport was closed to traffic. The dormitory was open to many as they travelled the long trip across the country to the border. We visited and transported doctors and relief workers to Port au Prince, Haiti and made contact with groups that could successfully distribute the aid that we had collected. During this time we also realized a need of victims that had been transported to hospitals in the Dominican Republic where we also distributed aid and assisted in care of patients. The shipment ended up being delayed to the following week which caused the 27 member team to have to reschedule there trip almost two weeks later. Even then, the customs broker that the shipping company recommended presented the shipment to the customs department incorrectly and tied up our shipment into a bureaucratic nightmare over two weeks after arriving at the port. During this time we met several other groups that were also going through the red tape of clearing their shipments and arranging transportation across the country and over the border. Our common struggles brought about an otherwise unlikely contact and fellowship of faith during our mutual trials.