Some days there is just too much to say, this is one of those days.

My heart is so full and the memory machine worked overtime today... good day! So let's start actually about a year ago with last year's trip, because that's where the story begins. Pere Bruno took us to a far off village, and when I say far off I mean way far away - 13 miles that took an hour and half to drive. We saw a community hit hard with cholera, 7-8 deaths a week a year ago and one contaminated well that served about 2000 people. Our hearts were moved. Through a facebook campaign and fundraising efforts through the Warrenton Rotary we raised the much needed $5000. Praise the Lord. Today we saw the well and the beautiful people it serves. Today last year's dream was made complete.

But the journey there wasn't easy. Loaded in that old Daihatsu cattle truck we prayed a prayer with Pere Bruno and hit the road... or lack of as it quickly came to be. The rains had taken their toll on the already mud filled roads and our truck got stuck countless times. That truck wasn't going anywhere and how ridiculous we looked standing in the back just rocking away. I imagine the Haitians are still laughing at us "crazy blancos." All hands on deck. A few of our stronger men jumped out while the locals pushed and pulled. One woman was actually on her knees in the knee deep mud digging out the tires with her bare hands. I felt quite trapped. I watched as the young boys on donkeys passed on by. I saw as the young men plodded straight through that mud while we remained trapped in our large steel contraption. Eventually, as you could guess, we were free only to find ourselves stuck once again until finally we found ourselves at the top of the mountain seeing why we worked so hard to get here.

I thought to myself just who are the ones truly stuck here? We are, each one of us, trapped by our own inventions, useful at times, but at others it keeps us from those we serve. We depend on our own inventions when in reality our on two hands and our own two feet are just what God gave us to use. Sometimes it takes strippig it all away to realize that we don't need all that "stuff" in the first place.

We began the garden today. We dug trenches and buried rocks, we used pick axes and shovels to dig out stumps, we carried rocks and we chased away the lizards. Some thought we should pay the Haitians and watch them work, but that's not who we are called to be. Just as we protect ourselves from the real world with our computers and iphones, it's really quite dangerous to protect yourself with your money as well. Sure, money can do great things, but when it pulls us away from those we serve than we have failed miserably. We didn't come all the way down here to watch others work, we came to work ourselves. Sure, we still paid the Haitians to dig and shovel and sweat and work but we poured our own sweat into this red earth of Terrier Rouge as well. Brothers and sisters in service and in Christ.

Give more. Love more. Serve more....

But that's not all. Bill Clinton was just down the road visiting Andy's farm. The President of Haiti and the Presdient of the Dominican Republic will be here tomorrow. Tonight we will pack food for the food distribution and tomorrow will be a really hard day. Tomorrow we will remember that two years ago, the country of Haiti fell to their knees as the earth shook and their world fell. So, tonight we'll keep working hard and tomorrow we'll pray and pray some more, that here in this place is hope and I am honored to be a part of it.

Many blessings to you and yours. "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5