Here on the Race I recently learned a really awesome game called Settlers of Catan. Pretty much there’s a land mass with resources. In the game you have to collect resources to build roads and settlements. Build enough roads and settlements and cities and eventually you gain enough points to win the game. You can also earn points by having the longest road on the game board.
Welcome to day one of Haiti.
Last Tuesday my team and I left at 5 am to drive from Binga to Victoria Falls, the next morning we left for another long drive back to Bulawayo. We had dinner with everyone we had met that month, and then it was time for bed.
Thursday morning we pack up and get on a bus that will drive us all the way from Bulawayo to South Africa.
Friday morning we wake up in Pretoria, South Africa- we lug our luggage into Beam house where a very kind couple and former ministry host named Erica and Louis have agreed to house us for the night.
Saturday, we load another bus to take us to Johannesburg, and finally we all pile onto a plane for an 8 hour flight to Abu Dhabi.
Sunday morning I wake up in Abu Dhabi, I disembark, go through customs, and hop on a 14 hour fight to New York. 14 hours later, it’s still Sunday when we land. A few of us catch an Uber to a nearby mall, I grab a Chipotle burrito ( apparently the United States is out of lettuce????) and 2 bagels from Panera. The kind manager who we’ve been talking to throws in 3 extra bagels and cream cheeses and only charges me 5 dollars total. We head to Target and I stock up on deodorant, bug spray, razor blades, floss and some much longed for Cheez- its. And then it’s back to the airport where I unroll my yoga mat and travel blanket in hopes of some sleep on the floor.
3am Monday morning. A group of men on a big machine wake me. They need me to move so they can pop the balloons that have floated to the top of the airport lobby. I take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit for grace as I forgive all the people who thought it would be a good idea to release helium balloons inside an airport. I don’t go back to sleep, we roll out in an hour to check in and go through security.
1:30pm Monday A big yellow school bus arrives from the airport at the Mission of Hope compound in Haiti. We get a short orientation before dinner. I feel like Marshall and Lily in HIMYM when they first bring home baby Martin and every time someone talks to them an aquarium filter with fish appears, drowning out the speaker. I swear I can see my own set of fish floating around our host’s head as he fills us in on our schedule and important details. The whole team is in bed by 7 pm.
I wake up at 3am when the power goes out and the fans shut off, I wake up at 6 when it all comes back on, I wake up at 7 then 9:30, then crawl out of bed at 10.
I’ve missed 7am breakfast so I grab my Bible, my water and my Cheez-it’s. The blue ocean calls to me so I wander down the veranda of the guest house until I find some wooden benches to sit on. I look out over bare decimated mountains, and the bright blue ocean horizon that ends where it meets foggy gray clouds.
Welcome to day one of Haiti I think to myself. My tenth settlement. The warm Caribbean breeze ruffles the pages of my Bible and cools my face as my mind wanders down the road I’ve taken to all the places I’ve settled this past year: a church in Serbia, a missions house in Romania, a conference center in Bulgaria, 5 cities of Malaysia, a YWAM base in Thailand, a Missions college in Myanmar, an Orphanage in Lesotho, a cottage in South Africa, a tent and a concrete house in a village of Zimbabwe…
I tell the Lord I think I know the road He wants me on next, I know the road He wishes me to walk in July. I tell Him I don’t have money for it, or friends to walk it with, I tell Him I might be too tired to walk it, or that it would be too dangerous to go.
And He asks me if I trust Him. So here I sit,
having traveled what feels like the longest road, as I wrestle with the Lord where He’s calling me to walk next, and deciding as I look out over the sea- if I trust Him.
