Looking Forward

Welcome to our Haiti blog!!

This is our first adventure into blogging, but we hope you'll find here one way to journey with us as we prepare for - and ultimately travel to - Haiti March 6-16, 2009. We covet your thoughts and prayers as we eagerly anticipate what God will do on this journey.

First, a little background info: we are traveling to Haiti with a group of local Raleigh/Durham pastors and seminarians from Duke Divinity School. Several have been there numerous times; others, like us, are going to Haiti for the very first time. Our group ranges in age, ethnicity, denomination, and experience -- a real blessing as we are sure to experience and reflect on Haiti through many different eyes! We're being led by the Rev. Sally Bates, chaplain at Duke Divinity School, and the Rev. Lisa Yebuah, associate pastor at Millbrook UMC in Raleigh. Both are "godmothers" for the St. Joseph's Family, the community which will serve as our home for the week.

To learn more about the St. Joseph's community, I suggest you visit www.heartswithhaiti.org. It provides a quick overview of the three homes we'll be visiting and offers an idea of the challenges young people in Haiti face everyday. During our stay, we'll spend time in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city, and in Jacmel, a southern coastal town which is home to Trinity House. I've included a map of Haiti so that you can see where these two cities are located.

Our next blog will include a brief history of Haiti and some more information on why we are traveling to Haiti at this season of our lives. In brief, we believe that God is calling us to a place of deeper awareness as we learn what it means to embody our Christian faith in the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Surely this is one place in need of Good News -- one place where God's command to love one another can be lived fully and vibrantly!

So, pray with us, walk with us, reflect with us. Thank you for being pilgrims on our journey!