Mark's Trip to Haiti and visit to the US

Hola All,
We just got back from Haiti this am. (January 22, 2010) We were able to enter through the border without problems. It was a 13 and 1/2 hour trip by gwagwita (van) through the Haitian mountains and into the capital of Port Au Prince. We ministered among the Haitians through several churches there, in the "tent cities" (made out of sheets or cardboard), on the street, and throughout the city. We arrived in Port au Prince at about 2pm yesterday and left the city at about 7pm. We arrived home about 4am this morning (9 hour trip home). There were many buildings that had fallen in, and in the center part of the city it was the worst. Many structures had caved in...including the President's palace in one section.

We had complete access to the city and traveled through it looking at the destruction from the earthquake...there was another strong tremor, we heard reported about while we were there but we didn't feel anything inside the city. It was difficult to see so many buildings that had collapsed. But, despite what the news media may be showing and saying...we found the city to be moving about its daily business with the people in the streets not crying or in shock nor screaming. There were people in the tent cities mourning their loved ones who had died.

We went into the worst of the disaster areas but found the people to be very kind, open to us praying with them and receiving the many things that we took with us including bottled water, food, clothes, etc. We found one church there...a Church Of God...which was about in the center of one of the main disaster zones that seemed to be open to helping the people there with the distribution of the water, food, etc. so we gave the majority of what we had to them so that they could help their own people. There were 7 of us in the gwagwita: the two drivers, Isidro, Mey, Candace, Denni (the Haitian young man who was our interpreter), and myself. It was great to have Denni with us who interpreted our Spanish to Creole...this was Maria and Leecien's son from Barrio Duarte here where we built the church with Pastor Elias with the first mission team from Covenant Church from 2005. He is now a Christian and in mission with us. That was great to see him ministering and being in mission with us now. There were not as many buildings that had collapsed as we thought there would have been according to the news. No one was rioting or robbing anyone as far as we could see. They seemed very orderly in the water and food distribution lines throughout the city.

We made some good new friends with Lendee and Andres...two fellow believers from the Church of God where we left our things and hope to be able to establish a relationship with them and their church on an ongoing basis. We also met some of the people from the Haitian Methodist Church there in the disaster zone as well. We will follow up with them too. Fermin Miguel, the District Superintendent from here in La Romana, was taking a team in to Port Au Prince today as well. We spoke before we left the other day and we are going to have a meeting with all of the pastors in La Romana when he gets back with his team so that we can coordinate sending disaster mission teams into Port Au Prince on a regular basis from the Methodist churches here in La Romana.

Candace (O'Quinn- a missionary resident under Mark's direction) did well on the trip...helping with the food distribution. Mey (Mark's wife) was great, as always, and Pastor Isidro was his usual self of talking and praying with folks that we met along our way and in Port Au Prince. The gwagwita was so full of the things that we took that the 7 of us were packed in like sardines in a can...and it made going over the mountains that much more challenging because we were weighted down so much. There were many other mission teams from the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, Spain, the DR, etc. Plus we saw one U.S.ship with soldiers helping the Haitians as well as the U.N. Peace Keeping Troops everywhere.

Thanks to the Seedcasters Team of Covenant Church, the Step By Step With Jesus board, and the individuals who were generous in their giving for food for this trip. It was a success. Jesus was shared with the people there...and we fed and gave water, clothes, etc. to Jesus in Port Au Prince. Thanks for your prayers.

With all of our love, grace, and blessings, Marcos & Mey.

Note: Mark is visiting the US in February. Here is his tentative schedule. We at Step By Step invite you to join and Meet with Mark as appropriate below.

Click here to view Mark's itinerary.