What a day it has been for our mission team! The alarm sounded at 4:00 a.m. and it was off to Tampa International Airport to catch a 6:30 a.m. flight to Miami. From there it was on to the Haitian capital city of Port Au Prince. The team hit their first hiccup while checking bags at the airport in Tampa when they were informed that, despite what we had been told by phone, an embargo was in place which limited each passenger to a maximum of two bags. With all of our supplies and donations we knew we needed each person to carry 3 bags so we had budgeted for an “extra bag” fee but with an embargo in place our budget didn’t matter, no additional bags would be allowed. While this news was disappointing, after more than a decade of doing these trips we’ve learned to roll with all of the unexpected punches so, as they began to unpack the bags to sort out the “essential items” the skycap suggested that they try to squeeze everything into their allotted number of bags and then pay the “overweight bag” fee, but it was determined that this fee would cost several hundred dollars more than the “extra bag fee” we had budgeted for (which we don’t have), so they resigned themselves to having to throw away some items. One of the things they were trying to take were 11 large multi-purpose lighters that were donated to us. These lighters caught the attention of TSA as well as an American Airlines supervisor because they were located in one of the carry-on bags as per the instructions we received from American Airlines over the phone. Both TSA and the American Airlines Supervisor stated that the lighters should have been packed in the checked baggage. This started a conversation about our mission organization and why they were headed to Haiti. Well, to make a long story short, the supervisor disappeared for a few minutes only to return and say “put as much as you can into those 2 bags and we will charge you the “extra bag fee” instead of the “overweight bag fee”, also, take all of the lighters with you. And , by the way… Thank you for what you are doing.” At that, they were on their way, and were able to board their flight just as the doors were being closed! Our trips always seem to be full of incidents like these, and while they are no fun at the time, it is fun to watch God work them out as He always seems to do. Thankfully they moved through Miami with no issues and even made it through customs in Port Au Prince with relative ease. Once in Port Au Prince they met up with Johnson Elioner who has transported our teams to the Mission Aviations fellowships airstrip for the past several years. At the airstrip we received more good news when we found out that one of MAF’s smaller planes had become available which meant we could save several hundred dollars by not using the larger, more expensive plane that we had originally booked when we thought we were going to have a larger team. The flight over to the island was uneventful (which is a great thing in a twin engine Cessna!) and once there they met up with Pastor Pierre and his brother in law (the husband of his wife’s sister) who were waiting at the dirt landing strip in the port city of Anse A Galets. From there they were to head up the mountain to the village of Boucan La Marre. Once they arrive in Boucan La Marre there is virtually no cell signal so we expect that their message from the landing strip in Anse A Galets will be the last one we receive until they have a chance to venture out of the village. Currently, prayers are needed for the health and strength of our team as well as for our women’s conference which will be held on Friday and Saturday. We have women traveling by foot from great distances (including Pastor Pierre’s sister in law) to attend this conference. With the language barrier it’s a very difficult undertaking but we know that nothing is too difficult for God so we are looking forward to seeing what He has in store!