News! I have been given the position of treasurer for my team. This means training how to handle and manage the money for my team while on the field. So, in order to do this training, we had to get Wi-Fi (our wifi has been down for two weeks), which led to an afternoon at a very fancy resort (really roughing it here in Haiti), aka the only place with Wi-Fi in the area. While here, we did the necessary training, but unfortunately… we also got a stomach bug. The next night was a revolving door to the bathroom with myself and a few other girls who had been at the resort as well. Stomach bugs are never fun, but especially when you’re away from home, in a bathroom you share with twenty other girls. Being sick away from home actually causes home “sickness”, in a sense. However, my amazing team made me feel very loved and comforted. Thank you, semper fortis, you are really great! This bug eventually spread to rest of the twenty girls, except the lone survivor, Paige Thaxter. She has an extremely strong immune system and I am beyond impressed. Good news though, everyone is healed and happy.
Halloween in America is a little different than in Haiti. While it’s a night to dress up and pass out candy in the neighborhood at home, in Haiti, Halloween is a night of welcoming evil spirits into their community and sometimes into themselves. So, our three teams set up what we called “nightwatch”. The whole night of Halloween, while others in the community were welcoming evil spirits, we stayed up and praying for Haiti, welcoming the Holy Spirit, the most powerful spirit, to fill the streets and the hearts of the people. It was a fun night of singing worship music at the top of our lungs, having pancakes at 2 am, and praying praying praying for Haiti. I never will have a Halloween experience quite like it again.
To answer the question of how I passed up on the greatest gifts God has to offer me for so long, here’s what I’ve learned:
I talked with our squad leader, Lucie, about how in the two months I have been on the race, I have read, understood, utilized the word of God more than in my whole life before. Because for the first time, the bible truly feels like the living word of God. It feels like breath. It feels like an extension of getting to know my savior better. I am being one hundred percent sincere, that when I go to bed at night, I kind of smile and look forward to starting the morning with studying the word. What Lucie said is that, “the word of God comes alive when the spirit is alive in you”. Wow. That was ground breaking for me. But it makes sense, doesn’t it? If the holy spirit, the Helper (john 16:7) is dormant inside of you, how could you grasp the importance and gift of the Word? The spirit inside of me is very much alive, praise to the Lord! And because the spirit is alive in me, I am experiencing the Lord in wonderful ways, as well as serving the Lord: )
The second thing I have learned is that if I want to get to know my God, it starts with recognizing Him in my everyday life, not just the big moments. I have fallen into the trap of thinking that nice things just happen to me sometimes. For example, if I have a really good day, my mentality can sometimes be along the lines of, “Wow, that was a good day. What did I do that made it a good day?”. Instead I should acknowledge the role the Lord plays in my day. My thankful through the days blogs have really encouraged me to realize that my days are full of blessings that reflect the character of God. And by understanding that, I get to 1) give him praise and 2) get to know him deeper.
Hope you all enjoyed a safe Halloween back home! Thank you for reading and caring!
God bless: )
