On Tuesday, January 19, eight parishioners will travel to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where we will stay the night before driving to the town of St. Louis du Sud, where our sister parish is located. The distance, about 60 miles as the crow flies, can take up to six hours to travel.

What will we do there? As can-do Americans we always want to accomplish something. That's not always a possibility; part of any visit to Haiti includes putting our assumptions and expectations on hold. "Ministry of presence" is important even if we don't accomplish many tasks. And for those who are visiting Haiti for the first time, just taking in the atmosphere is itself an accomplishment.

Our potential "to do" list includes painting the exterior of the Church building and running PVC pipes from the rectory well to the parish school. Whether those are the pastor's priorities, whether the materials will be available, and whether we will complete or just start the tasks are a different matter.

Fr. Claude Jean-Charles has succeeded Fr. Marquis Charles as pastor, and our planning for the trip has coincided with the transition, which makes communications a little more difficult than usual. (Fr. Claude has email but I believe he needs to drive to the nearest city (Les Cayes) to send and receive.) However, with face-to-face conversations there and here (if Fr. Claude can come to visit), we hope to build some continuity into our regular visits and make progress in various areas.

We are also looking forward to the construction of a "composting latrine," which helps prevent ground water contamination and also produces organic fertilizer from the waste. (These latrines are also popular because they pretty much eliminate "outhouse odor.") The OLG contingent will not be working on these latrines but we may be fortunate enough to be there during their construction.

Of course, we will also deliver the medicines which parishioners have donated, and for which we are very grateful.

The members of the "2010 Haiti Trip Delegation" are John Ameis, Eric Banter, Sandy Dunbar, Khek Dengmanivanh, Letha Engelman, Bill Woods, Shashank Soni, and I. On behalf of them, I thank you again for your spiritual, financial, and emotional support. We return January 27. Please keep us in your prayers!