Hello from Warren Van Kirk with the Band Strange Arrangement ...safely home from our Haiti mission
"Pine Island Community church and Strange Arrangement" Reporting...

Your Songs filled with love carried our hearts across the Ocean....."Strange Arrangement"

The trek to the airport began with a CRASH! Not a big one…a taxi ran into our shuttle so we had to unload all 7,000 pounds of our luggage from the shuttle and move to a passenger van.

We landed in Port-Au-Prince a little after 3:00 and danced through customs with a live Reggae Band celebrating our arrival. The journey to our Guest House was a maze of dirt roads bombarded with huge holes and craters every few inches.

We all took cold showers after dinner and we are all nested into our bunk beds. The window in our room is open with a screen and bars and the dogs barking and crying children.

The roosters crowed at the crack of dawn and the day began!
People in these communities live in open air cement block huts, one on top of the other all on a hill, with rock walkways in between. Clothes lines are strung from one end to another with clothes drying in the wind as the breeze blew dust and dirt through the alleys.

Heidi said "This baby hung tight to me all morning. My heart breaks" We pulled off the two tin roofs and replaced them with new tin roofs, on for a deaf/mute gentlemen. The roof was an A-frame on a house that was put together 70 years ago and it was held together by wooden pegs!

The team also built a small home for a needy family, and meet some nice people. While the children gathered around watching our every move laughing and dancing we think the noise from the boys may have inspired some future musician and we may not have understood every word, but the smile of a child needed no translation. We thank everyone for all the support.

John Cammick said "Arriving to build houses and repair roofs was a huge thing to them, so there is no sharing our food, water, gifts. What we give them is holding them, giving them attention and letting them hold us and touch us and as much HOPE as we can possibly give them." Pastor, Heidi Grueser, of the Pine Island Community Church replied "I'm having a hard time being back too John! I just feel sad."