Be Grateful not Guilty

Compassion International Headquarters in Haiti

We checked out of our hotel and took the bus to Port-au-Prince.  I rode towards the front of the bus with Jennifer.  We got a great view from the front.  We talked about different things and people we would pass along the way.  We arrived to the Haiti Compassion Office after about an hour and a half.  We then got to listen to different staff members speak.  We listened to the programs director, human resource director, and intervention director.  We also spoke to the Haiti Compassion Director whom oversees all of the Haiti children (80,000 kids).  The Haiti office has 150 staff members.  They are in three different buildings.  We got to take a tour of two of the three buildings.  We got to meet all sorts of different people that work for Compassion -- all of them Haitian.  They even have prayer cubicles that they pray in during work.

Former sponsor child & employee of Compassion International

President of Compassion International Haiti

Compassion International letter translators

After our tour we went to the Best Western hotel for lunch.  We sat outside up high overlooking Port-au-Prince.  Such a beautiful view.  They had a long table reserved for us.  It was wonderful.  We had a long lunch full of great conversations about the week.  The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and the conversation was warm.  As I type this, I wish I was there right now.  It was peaceful and we were all at a table together because we had a common bond -- we all want to release these children from poverty.  We are all broken in first-world poverty and long for the simplicity of third-world poverty.

Lunch with the group

Leadership Development Program (LDP) students

After lunch we went to the "market", which ended up being a supermarket and a store.  We also did some street shopping.  Jennifer and I went around together to talk to different vendors.  We ended up talking about Christ with two different guys.  It was really cool.  We drove to our new hotel which was a really nice hotel for Haiti.  We dropped our bags and then headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner.  We got to listen to three different Leadership Development Program (LDP) students.  Their stories were very encouraging.  We had a late dinner and then Yvonne (our trip leader) sent us out with some things to think about ...

Be grateful not guilty.
Be joyful not judgmental.
Respond, don't react.
Obey, don't obsess.
Thirst for Him.