Journey to Haiti: Part 1

On Thursday, July 12 a group from Shepherd of the Valley will travel to Haiti for a week to serve and become immersed in Haitian culture. The travelers will stop in Miami on both ends of their journey. Here is the first update from Katie Strand, Youth Director: 

Made it to Miami!

Everyone's doing great, though pretty tired from the early start to the day. We had a lively game of Farkle this afternoon in the Sleep Inn's breakfast nook, and some folks even managed to swim in the outdoor pool despite the fact that it rained most of the day. The sun came out this evening, though! We just got back from dinner and are looking forward to a little down time before heading to bed.

The Sleep Inn is an ironic name for our motel, as we look ahead to a 4:45am checkout (yes, that's 3:45am your time) so we can catch the shuttle back to the airport. Then it's a 90-minute flight to Port au Prince, a 50-yard bus ride to the next plane, and a 30-minute flight (in two groups) to Pignon.

We've been told that the scale used to weigh every bag and person being loaded on the plane errs (by several pounds) on the heavy side--just to be cautious--but that the view from our final flight is so spectacular it will maybe help us forget what we weigh in at....also that a feast awaits us for lunch at the Guest House.

After making the first leg of our journey, and talking more with Dale about the history of Haiti and the work Haiti Outreach is doing to help Haiti to become a developed country, I think we're all more antsy than ever to see the place firsthand. Planning to fill you in on first impressions and add some pics tomorrow!



Thank you for keeping all of us in your prayers!
-Katie and Crew


Tyler Aamot, Alyssa Besch, Matt Henneman, Terri Henneman, Tyler Holmvik, Maddy Paulsen, Bill Radichel, Collin Radichel, Jessica Rupp, Kristin Seely, Tom Seely, Lauren Schaffran, Regen Steele, Jaime Tsurusaki