Armed conflict raged throughout the country as supporters of deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide battled police and United Nations peacekeepers.

But the members of the Plant City mission were not deterred.

The leader, Nicole Adams, is the daughter of missionaries who spend 10 months a year in Haiti. She was well aware of the country's problems.

She and her husband, Bob, went to Haiti last year to help her parents, Bob and Joyce Coder, in their missionary work, and planned to return as often as they could.

The Coders, who belong to the Wellspring of Life Ministries in Dunedin, have spent the past six years in Haiti. One of the island's critical needs is clean water, and the Coders dig wells. They have drilled 36 wells, Nicole Adams said.

On her return, Nicole Adams shared her Haitian experience with members of First Baptist Church of Plant City. The church decided to sponsor a mission to Haiti.

Area Ravaged By Storm

This summer, hurricanes that swept through the Caribbean and Florida devastated areas of Haiti. Centuries of slash-and-burn farming have exposed the country's precipitous slopes, making them vulnerable to mudslides.

An estimated 1,500 Haitians were swept to their death in the flooding after Tropical Storm Jeanne. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless.

Nine church members volunteered to join the mission.

They left their jobs, homes and families to spend a week helping villagers in the remote Haitian interior near St. Marc.

They explained they were so moved by Haiti's plight they had to go.

``We had a heavy heart for Haiti,'' said mission member Todd Smith.

On Oct. 16, they boarded an American Airlines jet at Tampa International Airport bound for the storm-battered, violence-plagued republic.

They brought 25 50-pound bags of rice, 100 pounds of black beans, crates of soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, toys and tennis balls.

``The kids really loved those tennis balls,'' Smith said.

Finding Water

Using the Coders' equipment, the Plant City group dug a well for the Maranatha Orphanage north of St. Marc.

They chose a well site pointed out by the people at the orphanage who said they had prayed for guidance.

``We didn't know whether there was water there,'' Nicole Adams said.

After drilling for two days through the parched rocky hardpan, they hit a spring 70 feet down. The Haitian spectators shouted in jubilation as clean, sparkling water gushed out of the ground.

In their eight days in Haiti, the group members were met with smiles everywhere.

``I was surprised at how well dressed the children were,'' said 40-year-old bookkeeper Kelley Freeman. She had expected them to be ragged and dejected, but most were clean and cheerful.

Despite the stories they had heard, the Plant City mission members said they were not afraid.

``We had faith that God would protect us,'' Sophia Dedon said.

All said they would like to go on another mission to Haiti. Adams plans to return next year. But the trip had some unsettling incidents.

As they passed through the capital city of Port-au-Prince shortly after their arrival, they had to make a detour to avoid a dead body reportedly lying among the cavernous potholes in the road ahead.

On another occasion, ``we had to make a detour because Ambush Alley was blocked. Two big dump trucks were in the middle of the road,'' John Willis said. ``We heard they were there to block the path of the [U.N.] peacekeepers.''

He explained that Ambush Alley was a particularly hazardous passage leading to Cite' Soleil, a strife-torn Port-au- Prince shantytown.

Into The Interior

Borrowing a truck from the Coders, the Plant City group headed over the pitted trails to a remote village named Rousseau in the mountains beyond St. Marc. When the motor trails ended, they climbed the rest of the way on foot.

Most of them did, anyway.

``I rode a donkey,'' said Anita McDonald, a 64-year-old great-grandmother.

The group gave some of the rice to an orphanage, which was out of food.

``They didn't know what they were going to do,'' Smith said. ``They said we were the answer to their prayers.''

In Rousseau, villagers gathered in amazement as the visitors arrived. Through an interpreter, the group told the villagers that Jesus had sent the bags of rice.

Voodoo priests hold the Haitian population in a viselike grip, Willis said. He said he was told a slave leader made a pact with Satan, promising 200 years of servitude in exchange for help in overthrowing the French plantation owners.

In 1804, Haiti cast off colonial rule in a bloody massacre and has been an independent republic ever since.

Satan's shadow has blighted Haiti during the past 200 years, Willis said. ``Haiti is 90 percent Catholic but 100 percent Voodoo.''

The Plant City group came to the conclusion that despite the widespread poverty, disease and homelessness, Haiti's spiritual needs are more urgent than its material needs.

``A lot of groups are bringing them food and clothing,'' Adams said. ``But we want to share with them something more precious - and more lasting.''

Reporter George Graham can be reached at (813) 754-3765.