Haiti!!
So, our team was in Port au Prince for a few days, but there was miscommunication with our contact there and it ended up that the food and lodging cost was more than our budget for the month. Our team leader diligently worked at finding us another place, but no doors were opening.
Then…
He remembered that his grandmother’s good friend, Judy Heady, and her husband oversee Global Outreach International’s Haiti base, a 66 acre campus with a number of ministries inculding Haiti’s main base for Samaritan’s Purse. He called her Wednesday morning to see if there was any opportunities available for us there. She said that a team from Guatemala was supposed to arrive this week, but had cancelled and we could come that afternoon.
We are staying near Titanyen on a beautiful campus, mountains on one side, ocean view on the other. The base is guarded 24/7 by armed guards because Samaritan’s Purse has all of it’s building materials here. We are free to wander wherever we like on the campus, which is a great freedom in Haiti. We stay in a very nice dorm, women prepare our meals and wash our clothes, we have electricity, internet and a pool. Saying all the comforts of home (except hot water) would be a lie, this is more than all the comforts of home…
Which is where letting go of expectations comes in.
When I signed up for the World Race I expected to give up the comforts of home. I expected to have to sleep where I could, eat what I could and live in the poverty that the rest of the world lives in. The Dominican Republic wasn’t that unlike the US, as I mentioned in a prior blog. And this, definitely not what I expected.
I have to admit, I was initially a little disappointed. It sounds absurd, I know, but my expectation was not met, it was far exceeded and although I was certainly enjoying the pool, I was not fully appreciating the blessing that God has given our team this month.
We have been here for 2 days now and I have learned to let go of my expectation. I am thankful for the blessings that our great God has chosen to give to this team. I will rejoice, I will appreciate the gifts our Father gives, for next month or the following month I may not have the amenities that I have now. When that time comes I want to embrace it, just as I have embraced this blessing.
There are so many opportunities here because this is the home base for a number of different ministries. The past 2 mornings I have gone to the burn clinic and helped treat the patients, cleaning and dressing their wounds. We have also helped a medical outreach team from Georgia. Today the women of our team painted our kitchen, while the men did manual labor digging a trench and pouring concrete.
Tomorrow we are going into the village of Titanyen to teach the children’s service at a church that was founded in May of this year by a 22 year old Haitian man who has been discipled and raised up by the Global Outreach ministries and is now pouring into his village.
God is good, all the time. Love and blessings to you all. You are loved and missed.
