Bradenton church group reunites with loved ones after being stranded in Haiti

The Bradenton youth group that was stranded in Haiti over the weekend is safe and sound back home.

Dozens of parents and loved ones awaited the team outside of Woodland Community Church in Bradenton on Monday night.

After safely making it to the Port-au-Prince airport Monday morning, the team of 28 people landed back in the U.S. by the afternoon.

They initially landed in Miami before boarding a short flight to Tampa International Airport. Some of the group had to take a separate flight to Orlando.

By 11 p.m., the first group pulled into the church's parking lot to an eruption of cheers. The second group arrived about 45 minutes later.

Laughter, tears and hugs quickly followed the arrivals.

Then, everyone joined hands in a circle and prayed for their safe return and for the people of Haiti.

"Thankfully God gave us a few extra days so that was great but it feels really good to be home and see our family," said high school pastor Jeff McCauley as he hugged his kids. "We told everybody as we were planning this trip to expect two things: Expect the unexpected and God will show up, and both things happened in abundance."

The group was temporarily stranded in Haiti after riots in response to planned hikes in fuel costs forced U.S. airlines to cancel flights to and from the island nation.

McCauley said that while he was never afraid in Haiti, he was still nervous. But the kids, on the other hand, cheered when they found out they got to stay longer and help more people there.

It was 18-year-old Jonah Mazzone's first international trip and, for him, the delay wasn't a hindrance but instead, a blessing.

"It was just such a wonderful trip and I got to do a lot of village work and serve the community in numerous ways and I could really see God move through everyone there and everyone bonding as a team," Mazzone said. "We just stayed for a few more days and God had a plan for that, and we just loved to get that experience but we are so happy to be home and to see our friends and family."

Jacob Wesley echoed Mazzone's statements and said he can't wait to go back.

"It's been amazing being able to spend a few more days in Neply," Wesley, 18, said. "Personally, whenever I went over there I knew that whatever was going to happen was going to happen, it's God's plan. I might have been a little bit frightened at times but I knew everything was going to be fine because God was in control."

The team, parents say, handled the unexpected 2-day delay smoothly, with the adults keeping the teens out of danger at a nonprofit facility called MyLIFEspeaks, which is located in the town of Neply about an hour and a half from Haiti's airport in Port-au-Prince.

Jacob's mother, Terri, said she was ecstatic to be reunited with her son but that she wasn't worried even though he was gone longer than anticipated.

"I knew that God was protecting them and they did such an awesome job reaching a lot of people," she said. "And even with all that stuff going on, I knew that God was in control."

This story was originally published July 10, 2018 at 12:27 AM.