Sorry this is so late, but still wanted to post a few blogs that I wrote while in Haiti….internet is too slow to post pictures, but will hope to have some up on facebook soon…. :).
*Written on August 11, 2010
On Tuesday we were taken on an exploration downtown Port-a-Prince. While downtown you see the destruction, the rubble, the poverty, and pain. You feel anxiety, fear, and pain but you also sense a joy and hope as life moves forward. The devestation is unreal I will definitely agree with that. Every time we drove by a pile of rubble or a home, school, or business that had collapsed I just wondered is there someone under the rubble? What is their name? What is their story? Does their family know they are gone? The rubble is everywhere and so are the stories. I can’t imagine being here on the day of the quake, I can’t imagine the fear the people experienced. But life here it is moving forward. Life has seemed to pick up and go on amongst the rubble. I feel like some of the Haitians here just ignore it now. They set up their store or beauty parlor outside the collapsed building on the sidewalk or within in their tent that they now call home. They don’t look back they just look at what is possible. How can they move forward? I had to ask myself too how can I move forward after seeing all of this? After hearing stories? Knowing names, knowing faces, it all hit hard while on our ride. I asked God many times…..what do I do with this? There is so much! So many people!
And in his still quiet voice He just replied, “I want you to see my people. See who they are. See their life. Be a voice. Give them love. Pray on their behalf. Simple love the ones I have sent you to.”
I let out a breath and just said, “this I can do. This I feel blessed to do.” God has gifted me with beautiful children this month. As we drove home I became very thankful for the joy and love that I knew I would be going back to at Foyer Renmen. I knew Daffony and Orpha would come with open arms and smiles giving me a big hug. I knew Wadmine would jump on me like a jungle gym. I knew the music, games, and laughs we would have with the teenagers. I knew MaryFlo’s smile awaited me back home. And I knew my mission….LOVE. Love through time, through prayer, through games, through naps, through French-English conversations, through braiding hair, through me just being an open vessel for what the Lord had. This month is about doing life at Foyer Renmen, that is my mission….
