Thank you everyone!

One of the great blessings when you are away on mission is hearing from loved ones back home. The response to this blog has been phenominal, and coupled with the hotmail emails has made me truly grateful. Please continue to respond. It spurs me on to write more.

Because of the cost of internet, please do not be offended, but I cannot personally reply to your emails.

And so today, to the trip which I was most looking forward to. The Rubbish Tip.

I know of no place on earth which can make you so grateful for the riches we all have. A dump is no place for an adult, yet alone a child, and yet, rummaging through that which has been discarded by the rest of us, both adults and children eek out an existence.

Its hot, it stinks (one member of our party retched as soon as we opened the door) there are flies everywhere, and the people are filthy,but somehow it is an edifying experience.

I guess its edifying because it does make you grateful for what we have, but its more than that, as its also that these people are actually so gracious and welcoming to us. We sang, we laughed, we were the same, God's children. Its just that the stork dropped us in a far better place.

There are so many marginalised groups in DR. Haitians as a whole, but the sick, the poor, the prostitutes do have one thing in common: Jesus seemed to spend a lot of time with these people when he walked the earth. I think he would have come to DR if he was around today. I think he would have visited the dump too.

The general consensus is that this was the best day. We had worked hard at Ascention this morning, and then the dump in the afternoon. Tonight we are preparing for the church sermon we have to give on Sunday in the village. I've roped Andy into giving the talk.

Tomorrow, Three of us are off to a medical clinic to work with Dr Bob who is a missionary here. He does a clinic for the poor. He's a trained vet, so I guess they only go see him if they really are sick in case he wants to take their temperature!!

I'm loving the different experiences out here. The needs are so great. It continues to be a humbling experience. Thank you sweetheart for letting me go, thanks partner for holding the fort at work, and thank you to the rest of you who are thinking/praying for me. I can feel it!