It all happened so fast — going to Hispaniola sometime after the earthquake in Haiti. The plan was to help in neighboring Dominican Republic (DR), right at the border; crossing over wasn’t on the agenda. But you know how we do on the World Race. An opportunity to visit Haitian Christian Mission in Fond Parisien just over the border opened up, so we went in a couple times.
(in Jimani, Dominican Republic; photo from Stephanie Tyrna)
While still in the DR, I met a couple families who I hope are better than we found them. There’s been a quite a lot of change for each of us World Race alumni who went:
- Steph Tyrna returned to Haiti for a few months. She’s currently spearheading ministry for AIM to fight human-trafficking in Cambodia.
- Jacob Hoyer led the O Squad and got engaged, among other things.
- Sarah Diederich is now Sarah Diederich Barnett, and works in agriculture for the US (or Missouri state?) government.
- Ashley Musick celebrated five years of the World Race as one of the members of the very first World Race. She serves as alumni coordinator and there have been many more alumni since then!
- Tonya Norman continued to coordinate AIM’s presence in Haiti but since has transitioned into coordinating for AIM’s youth/adult/family missions programs.
- Aaron Bruner also returned to Haiti and coordinated ministry on the ground. He saw one of the August 2009 squads through their World Race. Oh, he got engaged, too (sorry, ladies).
During this year, AIM’s ministry in Haiti has changed, too. We’re now focusing on facilitating partnerships between churches in America and Haiti and developing our microfinance projects, while still sending in short-term teams.
Here are past reflections I’d written on getting to and being in Haiti.
And I don’t know if I should be embarrassed or not… but I don’t know still/yet why exactly I was sent to Haiti. I just remember the sense of urgency in my spirit. I wonder if, aside from the people I served and served with, God simply wanted to see how quickly I’d respond?
Like a fire drill, perhaps. Or more like a spontaneous getaway — as His beloved, God simply wanted to show me a place and people who are near and dear to His heart. I don’t know for sure.
What I do know that there are still more people to help. We, along with several other organizations and ministries, are in it for the long haul. You could be a part of that.
Start by clicking at dates for week-long trips to Haiti: you could go with your friends or small group, or you could join a different team. If you can’t go, but you’d like to give toward our ministry, you can do so here. If you’d like to learn more about what we’ve been doing, read our Haiti blog.
