Month 1: Haiti
Here’s a little 411 for all of you who have been patiently waiting for it.
It is currently 1am and I am sitting on the cold floor of the Miami airport freezing my butt off, which is ironic since less than 24 hours ago I was praying and wishing to be cold. In Haiti there is no time spent not sweating, unless it’s a night the washing machines need to be on and therefor the generator has to run. Those nights are the nights you sleep in your room instead of outside. Those mornings are the mornings you sleep in a little longer because you aren’t awoken by the neighborhood church that starts scream worship at 4:30am or the gangs of kids riding their mules through the streets at the crack of dawn or the pigs and goats being slaughtered. Haiti has many distinctive sounds; LA’s got nothing on Haitian honking!
Does it sound like I’m complaining a lot? Yep! It’s definitely my first month on the race! Life on the mission field is not for the weak. Our ministry host this month taught us that. The life of a missionary is hard work, it’s constant change and chaos and discomfort. I have been on many short term mission trips before but I have learned more about being a long term missionary in 1 month in Haiti than all the other trips combined.
When we first arrived, we explored our home for the month where we had multiple bathrooms and a mattress for everyone as well as a nice open living area and balcony and rooftop all to ourselves. We were ecstatic! We sat down with our host to go over the rules and our schedule. He told us that each day we could choose what kind of work we wanted to do and on our off days we could go wherever we’d like. Ummm… Jackpot!? He also said we had no curfew and could take the beds out to the balcony or roof if we’d like to each night.
We got to explore all the ministry projects they had and jump in wherever we felt we wanted to help. So each day we woke up, ate breakfast at the house, walked through the market and across the village either to the school, farm, or to help with construction or carpentry of some kind. At lunch we would hop on a tap-tap to get a gas station sand which or an egg sandwich. At night we would all end up back at the Agape House (the orphanage) to eat dinner and spend time with the children.
We did this everyday until we got into a nice rhythm of teaching or building or gardening. Then, as soon as our host saw we were comfortable, he would start assigning us new projects or ask us to go do something we hadn’t yet done. He would come upstairs to our living area and talk to us about what it takes to live in a foreign country and be a missionary full time. He would tell us how you had to be flexible and willing to work hard but not burn yourself out at the same time. He would tell us we needed to be patient with the ones around you even when they drive you mad. And then he would purposely throw a wrench in things to force us to live out the things he was teaching us.
There were definitely times that we didn’t appreciate his “wisdom” but overall we were blessed to have someone share their experiences with us and give us a little “tough love” that will do us good in the months to come.
I am learning quickly, like I was told so many times by so many alumni racers before launch, to roll with the punches.
I am learning that you don’t always get along perfectly with your teammates because the race is not that different from real life, things get real when women live in close quarters.
I am learning that community is not always fun and games, in fact it is mostly the opposite. It is raw and real and that’s what makes it beautiful.
That’s all I got for now. I’m hopping on a plane to Bolivia!!!
Please continue to pray for me and my squad as we travel that we will all be safe and healthy and we will stay in God’s Will on this amazing race.
Also, by His grace and the generosity of my loving family and friends, I am inching closer and closer to the finish line of my final fundraising total! Please support me by making a donation of ANY amount by clicking the link above!
Love and light to you all!!!!!
