When I arrived in Haiti yesterday afternoon, Dottie was there to pick me up. She was also picking up some ladies from Myrtle Beach, SC. These ladies have been coming for many years to help Dottie with the school. Most of them go to Ocean Drive Presbyterian Church in North Myrtle Beach. They were already outside the gate with their luggage when I arrived. There was not enough room for all of us and the luggage in the new Ford, so Dottie drove the ladies back to the guesthouse and I waited on Nickson (principal of Dottie’s school) to come with an SUV to load all the luggage. We definitely had too much luggage; we ended up with some of it hanging out the back window, wedged in between the spare tire and the window that is supposed to close. Then we had two large pieces just sitting on top of the SUV (we had nothing to tie it with). We stopped about every ten minutes to see if everything was still on. We definitely looked Haitian. We actually made it to Dottie’s with all of the luggage–a miracle.
Well, it was bound to happen, just a matter of time. Someone ran into the new Ford. I went up to a little market to buy some things and, as usual, I parked far away from other cars–in the middle of the parking lot, with no cars around me for about 30 feet. I went into the market, and when I came out, there was the security guard and another man looking at the front of the Ford. The man began to explain to me that it wasn’t his fault, it was his clutch that had failed. I told him I understood, and I asked him if he was going to pay to get my car fixed. He explained to me again that it was his clutch’s fault. I didn’t know how I could hold his clutch accountable, so I continued pressing him about paying for the damage. I finally got him to agree to meet me at the Ford place the next morning at 9 a.m. I got his tag number, ID, and phone number. This morning I waited patiently, like I thought he was going to show up, for about five minutes, then went ahead and got the estimate–it was $239. I called him several times and he didn’t answer; I’m sure he had an emergency and will contact me later–right!
After this nothing went right. I had nine things on my list of things to do and the Lord only wanted me to do two of them.
Tomorrow is another day, full of grace and mercies; I’ll see what He will have me accomplish. I always say that if I put myself on my schedule I will be stressed out, but if I put myself on His schedule I will be stress-free, because I am assured He will get done all He wants to get done in a day.
Please continue to pray for Haiti. You will see a few pictures that describe Port-au-Prince.
