My Journey to Haiti

A few weeks back i had the amazing privelege of going to Haiti to serve. It was an experience unlike any other.

I have to admit i wondered along the way if it was really what i was supposed to do. I mean i have 2 kids at home and it is far from easy to just up and leave for a whole week. But though i felt doubt along the way God took care of everything. He gave me amazing people who stepped up and took care of my children during the day while Eric was at work. And then there were people who cooked for my family while i was gone. And of course there were the people who prayed for my family and i the entire trip. Never doubt the power of prayer...I have seen it demonstrated too many times to push aside.

Haiti has a beauty to it unlike any other. The skies are almost always blue. The rains come hard in the evenings and they are warm and cool all at the same time. The people are amazingly beautiful despite their hardship and the sweltering heat on a daily basis. The children are happy and have so much love to give that at times it overwhelms you.

But then there is also the sadness. The first realization I had of the state of Haiti was when i looked out to the mountains. I did notice that they had no trees, but i just thought perhaps that was how they were. Until i was informed that they have over many years been completely deforrested. So much so that you could see the massive errosion from the hurricanes that beat them down yearly. This gave me a realization of their situation. They have almost no natural resources, they import just about everything including now wood from the Domincan Republic.

Then there was the tragedy of the earthquake. A people already struggling through their everyday now faced such intense devastation. Why must they suffer so.

The tent cities that we saw were a far cry from the state of the art tent cities we see on TV on the news channels. They are entire towns made of sticks and sheets sitting in massive pools of water, filling higher every day because it is the rainy season. In this water the people as well as sometimes their livestock live. Too sad for words really.

But in the midst of this sadness and tragedy i got to spend a week with a group of people that God has a shield of protection over. They are the people of Light and Peace Mission and My Father's House Orphanage. The people in these communities were fed, clothed, together, and praising God for how he cared for them as they worshipped under a tent in the heat of the day. Their praises were unending...literally. We attended a prayer service; one of many that last for 4 to 6 hours.

So my prayer today is with Haiti...for the people that suffer daily, living in pure desperation. But thanking God for the example of their faith. I learned so much from this trip. True faith is exemplified not through people of plenty, but through people of need. Those who live everyday completely dependent on God to carry them to the next.

I will post more pictures of my journey tomorrow.