Dear blog subscribers, I’m still here.
As you can tell by the title I am now in Haiti! This blog may feel a bit all over the place and long, but I feel like I have so much to say since I have not been able to blog in over two weeks due to no internet access.
Although I am currently in Haiti, I feel like I can’t quite stop talking about DR just yet. So many things were left unwritten due to limited internet access, so before I move on to life in Haiti let me share one more lesson I learned in the DR.
I entered the Dominican feeling pretty complacent about the country, I had no idea I would fall so completely in love with the DR and in particular my mountain town. God used my remote surroundings to really speak to me as well as to teach me more than I could have imagined a few months ago. One major lesson God taught me was how to be served.
I believe that a central belief in the mind of every missionary is to serve; I don’t think many missionaries go out with the intention of being served. So imagine my shock when the precious village of Los Montacitos did everything in their power to serve us. At first I was anxious and uncomfortable sitting in the homes of strangers as they prepared coffee, bread, and boiled bananas for us. I was under the impression and expectations that I needed to do something. I had a hard time sitting and being served when all I wanted to do was serve. It wasn’t until a few weeks in that the light bulb finally went off in my head that just sitting there was what they needed. God showed me how much it blessed them that we had come all that way to just sit and talk with them. Their worth was being affirmed as we sat there and drank coffee with them, partly because of the encouragement we were sharing, but mostly because sitting there showed we desired to be with them and more importantly God desired to be with them.
Through my DR house visits, God showed me that in the Mary Martha comparison I tend to more of a Martha. I tend to be busy working or anxious to work instead of just resting in the Lord. My heart may be right, but my actions are wrong. By simple spending time with His children, I was in the presence of the Lord, and why would I ever want to leave that? Nothing we can do in our own might can ever have the impact on others like what the Lord has for us to do. I believe the one of the most important things I learned in this past month is to rest where God has me because that is where His presence is at, even if that means being served.
Sadly my time in the DR came to an end, and after a grueling 15 hour travel day with no sleep and one hot crowded bus ride, my squad and I arrived in Grand-Goave Haiti. We are working with Missions of Hope International, mostly doing construction work for their church/school that they are building as well as helping with the construction an Orphanage called Be Like Brit (I highly recommend you check out BeLikeBrit.org you will be moved and blessed by their story).
I’ve only been here a few weeks and my heart is already breaking for the Haitian people. I’ve never been in a place where such despair and such joy collide. I drove through Port Au Prince, I saw the tent cities and the streets filled with trash, I’ve seen dirty naked children and the lack of value the Haitians seem to place on life, yet at the same time I see so much beauty. Those same dirty naked children are never without a smile on their faces as they grab our hands and walk with us all the while saying “you, you”. The Haitian men we work with on the construction site may only get one meal a day, which is the lunch provide by Mission of Hope for the workers, yet they are filled with joy as they dance and sing with us while we pass buckets of concrete for hours on end.
I was shocked by the poverty and state of disarray in Haiti, yet on the other hand I am being continually encouraged by their stamina and joy. I can already tell that I have a lot to learn from these people. The month has just begun and I have a feeling that my heart has just begun to break for Haiti.
