It's Another Day.....in Haiti

The workday has begun again for the team - most of the team. One member is still sick so two are flying out today with the prayers of The Park Church, OMS and the team remaining here.

The first day on the job site is summed up with these words: adorable kids, wonderful breeze, sunburn even with sunscreen, new nickname for Joe Dooley (Lobster Boy). Seems that most everyone missed the right nail at least once while

assembling trusses. But something makes you forget the pain - cute kids with big smiles loving the attention and enjoying the enveloping arms of visitors, who are taken aback by the little surrounding them that leads to happiness.

Coming to Haiti isn't about going home full of guilt about what you have. It's different for everyone but at some level it's about...

- realizing stuff doesn't make you happy

- understanding most of your complaints in life are about 1st world problems (like standing in line at a grocery store full of good)

- deciding that it's not about what you have but what you'll do with what you have that brings meaning and a smile to life

Last night we read in Colossians 3 about what to put off and what to put on, what to put to death (crucified life) and what to make sure lives in our lives. I asked the team a question: "what is the one thing that you could get rid of - stop doing - that would make a difference in your life?" There was a loud thinking silence. God is speaking. We are listening.

Short-term missions can be a not so good thing sometimes but mostly when we think the mission experience ends when we leave. For me the mission is complete only when we do back home

what we did here - sacrificial service that is inconvenient, perhaps unconventional, and isn't necessarily comfortable. I'm not suggesting flagulation mind you. I'm suggesting that discipleship isn't always comfortable or convenient or conventional.

We talked for a bit about what we could do back home. A few ideas were tossed around. We'll see when we meet for a wrap up time after returning. It's a chance for team to change a church (not that it's not already a really good church but spiritual growth and impact is God's goal). And in changing a church we will transform families and therefore neighborhoods and places of business, eventually touching a community and then our world.

I can't tell you how proud I am to be called Pastor @ The Park Church. A team of 16 from a church that saw more than half it's attendance go off to start a different church on their own. It says something when people are learning, attendance is growing, per capita giving has increased and total giving is creeping toward record highs; when gaps are filled by willing servants and people want to know "Where are we going to serve next?"

There is a video of the team's departure this morning posted on the church website "theparkchurch.com" - lots of photos can be seen in Joseph Dooley's Facebook page.

Thank you to each of you who helped us get here, have prayed for us along the way and are anticipating our arrival home. The stories will transform you as they are shared from a transformed heart.