5:45 or so - We have successfully boarded the plane in Omaha. I will say that it was very smooth to check in a mere five people compared to the last group's troubles - they ended up getting delayed and delayed and delayed, and had to spend the night in Miami. I will make sure to include the journal excerpts that were posted on the web - it actually turned out for the best, may God be praised. Jim H kept setting off the metal detector - it was the metal knee. He joked that he could be stripped down to nothing and still set the thing off. Shortly after we found the gate Kevin and I went on the early morning donut run. There was a Krispy Kreme that was actually open at that hour - down at the other end, of course. At least we got our exercise for the morning. I am seeing condensation coming out of the vents of the plane - that can't be a good thing. We did not pray as a group, but I'm sure individuals will think of it. I did a slight variation on the prayer of Jabez - may God increase our sphere of influence as we minister to the people in Haiti. I am confident that God will see us through. Been watching Kevin sort through his backpack - he's a regular food pantry and entertainment guide... so much food and things like Frisbees and such. It is amazing some of the last-moment things that goes through a person's mind before a trip of this magnitude... or this significance. Corey and I have been looking forward to this mission trip for some time, and we know that God will bless us and use our best efforts for his kingdom. We're both expecting a culture shock of sorts - especially after talking with Chuck M at church yesterday. Yet in the early hours of this morning I am excited and nervous, eager and scared. To be 100% honest, I do not really know what to expect. I still cannot shake the feeling that long-term mission work is very much part of our/my future - and I still believe that it will be to Russia. The more I learn about their culture, the more foreign and mysterious the place feels, and yet I feel an uncontrollable drawing to those spiritually and morally poor people, a love for them and a desire to do something to help their situation and change their lives. I get the distinct feeling that the Russia experience would try me and shock me and test me like nothing I've ever done before. YET I still feel it is right - if that is where God is calling me, I will go. Hopefully I will learn many valuable things from the Haiti experience - especially if I may use the things I learn for God's future work.

Made St. Louis about 6:50 and found the Miami gate nearby. (Hallelujah!) Just looking around the airport (and this little concourse) again reminds me of the kaleidoscope of human variety that God has created. Body structures, heights & frames & weights, hair color & type & length, eye color, face shape, race... Not even identical twins are completely alike! Absolutely amazing. Corey has already asked if I'm writing a novel - of course, dear, haven't you figured that out by now? Well, this journal will have more in it than past travel journals I've kept - I've learned that lesson already. How else to remember sights & sounds & smells & sensations... and even individual memories and musings? I really believe that these things will be important to my spiritual growth... if nothing else for my perspective years down the road.

Got to Miami in good time. The five of us should make our connecting flight just fine. I'm not sure... but I think I saw our first example of bias or prejudice against us. Corey & I were checking in at the American Airlines desk, and the lady we were talking to seemed nice. She was from Port au Prince, and her accent was thick. When she tried to check in our bags she had troubles catching on that they were checked in at Omaha. Then she asked where we were going in Haiti, the mountains or what. I told her that we were going down there for mission work... and she hardly talked to us the rest of the time we were there. And it took longer to check us in as well. I am more than likely reading more into the situation than is there, but it is a possibility. And it is baffling.

HAITI - Wow! They can prepare you and prepare you and prepare you - and you still are not prepared for this place. Muggy hot. Large crowds press in on you at the airport hoping to help with your luggage for a dollar (if they so much as touch it with their hand, they want that dollar), hoping to sell you something, or hoping for a handout. Tiny streets and crazy drivers zip in & out with no system that I can figure out yet. Worn stone and metal buildings. At least one vendor on every corner or side street. One van or truck carries six, a dozen Haitians as if they were cattle - a Haitian taxi is like this, called a tap-tap. I even saw a goat rummaging through trash on the roadside for food. Streets are cracked and very bumpy - it has affected the handwriting in my journal.

At the Kinam. The hotel is nicer than a lot of the buildings I've seen here, with its own distinct architectural and design flavor... and a security guard at the gate with his own shotgun. It's kind of an oasis in the middle of a poverty-stricken city of three million people. Corey and I are in Room 23, on the third floor. We have a double bed, A/C, separate toilet and shower (neither which have good ventilation, oh well), both desk and dresser with the trimming resembling something like bamboo, two nightstands, a table at the end of the bed, and even a TV with remote. They wanted to move us to a different room for a while, reasons unknown, but this room is satisfactory as far as Corey and I are concerned. Most of the native Haitians don't even have it this good, so we will be content with it and thankful for it. It's not as if we'll be spending a lot of time here anyway. There's a nice chlorinated swimming pool at the Kinam too, and an open-air restaurant. We will be eating our breakfasts and most dinners there. Corey has already gone swimming. It turns out that I will be doing both of my devotions with the summer vicar Oliver Washington. He seems like a nice guy - we already started planning before dinner since we have tomorrow morning's devotion. The Haitian food is really interesting - lots of spices and hot stuff, and I've been told that the hotel food is pretty Americanized by comparison. Tonight's soup was made of some sort of green vegetable that reminded me a lot of asparagus (good), and the main course was small chunks of goat and beef - with generous doses of pepper. Hot! Their bread is excellent - reminds me of the German bread in so many ways. Delicious. I'm going to have an interesting week with the food - I hope that I brought enough Pepto Bismol and Immodium for my touchy stomach. Pastor W had the first devotion tonight, and then the VBS staff planned tomorrow's lesson on Jonah. We'll plan more of the week's lessons later.