We flew out of Haiti on Tues. Feb. 1st. We were really sad to leave but also were glad to be coming home. We flew to Ft. Lauderdale then to Charlotte then Asheville. That made such a long day. The kids were excited at first to go on an airplane, but after the second flight they had had enough.
The first thing we did was eat at Chili's in the airport. Not that we starved in Haiti, I think I gained a few pounds, but it was great to be able to eat out, especially french fries. After we ate we thought we might get some ice cream but we decided to wait until we got to the Charlotte airport because we had a longer lay over. All Ellie wanted was ice cream. As soon as we got on the plane to go to Charlotte she was asking for ice cream. Well about 4 1/2 hours later and after constant asking, we finally got to get her some ice cream. So I need to remember not to mention something like that until we are ready to do it.
We knew that it was going to be cold when we got back home but it hit us like a ton of bricks. To get on the plane to go to Asheville we had to go outside of the Charlotte airport. It was cold and rainy. We thought we were going to freeze!!! We had been used to 95 degree weather.
We finally got to Asheville and had a warm welcome from our families and then went home to go to bed. We arrived to the house only to find out our furnace wasn't working. Nicky worked on it. The best he could but it would only go up to 68 degrees. So we went through 2 more nights of this before we got someone to come look at it and tell us that the computer was messed up and that we would need another one. The guy that came out told us that he would check around to see what the price would be. Come to find out it would be about $190 to fix it and that he would have to order it. This would be okay since we were leaving on Friday to head to Mississippi for Missionary Orientation Traing with Global Outreach.
Nicky and I finally got ourselves packed up to go to Mississippi. The kids had already been picked up early by our set of adoptive grandparents. They have loved our kids since they were born and have loved keeping them anytime we needed them to or they will call just to see if they can come get them. We are so blessed. The biggest thing we will miss in Haiti is not having grandparents there, but we are thankful the Headys can be grandparents to them.
We drove to Commerce, GA for the first night. We got to relax a lot and we got to turn up the heat in our room as high as we wanted. The next day we went to Bass Pro Shops in Atlanta. On Saturday we decided to find a friend's church in Gainesville, GA. Nicky texted him to find out where the church was and they told us we could stay with them that night. Well at their church they introduced us to both of the services and told us they would love to have us back to speak and have teams come down in the future. God has it all worked out!!! All we were thinking about was coming to church. After seeing the many ways God has blessed us, we just keep being encouraged that this is what God has for us to do. If anyone has a place for us to speak we would like to work it out in the future.
So we finally arrived in Tupelo, MS on Sunday evening. It is just as cold here as at home. We are expecting snow tomorrow ( 1-4 inches). After being in training for 2 days my mind is fried. They talked to us about so many different aspects of being a missionary wether it is coming up with your budget, having teams visit us, being prepared for spiritual warfare, and insurance are just a few. We still have three more days. They said it would be intense and it is. I'm glad they gave us a notebook that has all the info in it because I won't remember it. And of course we eat!
We have met so many other missionaries that are going through this training also. Some are going to Ecquador, others to Uganda, Phillipines, South Africa, Zambia, and Romania. Everbody here has a story of how God is working in their lives. God is so much bigger than anything we could ever imagine.
Please be praying that we seek God's counsel on all our decisions and not try to do this on our own. We have to sit down and try to figure out our budget including how much we will need to live in Haiti, wether to buy a vehicle here and ship it down or buy a new one in Haiti, how much it will cost for us to take to do our ministry in Haiti. We believe so strongly in what Global Outreach is doing in Haiti that we feel called to support Global financialy.
After this week of training we feel that it will take some praying and fasting to figure out our budget and things we need to take down with us and whether we will buy a vehicle here to ship down or buy new in Haiti. Global is encourageing us to buy new in Haiti as there are not used car lots in Haiti because import taxes are so high. Then we will be ready to speak at churhes all around the US. For me this is the scariest part. Nicky has to keep reminding me that God has all the money in the world and that we don't have to do this alone.
