Haiti
•It was hot. And dusty.
•The water was ice cold
•Having a fan at the foot of my bed.
•12 girls in a room. 1 bathroom. No privacy. We really bonded lol.
•Watching the sunset on the roof nearly every night
•Having hammock time nearly every day
•Sharing my hammock with Kourtney
•Watching movies in the hammock with Tanja.
•Cards with Savannah and Rick. They both taught me new games.
•Wahoo bay. Kayaking. Ocean trampolines. The Caribbean, dude. So awesome.
•Worship time with Leslie. Praying with her, too.
•Every time our squad got together for a Bible study or time of worship. Especially the night we all stood up and broke chains of addiction and bondage. It was powerful.
•Seeing angels.
•Going into the villages every day. Gosh it was so great.
•We had to wear skirts like every day. Every day.
•Painting kitchens.
•Painting houses for people who have lived in tents for the past 5 years since the earthquake. This was so fulfilling. It was such a blessing to be a blessing. Especially when I was painting next to the deaf man who, unbeknownst to me, was the future owner of the home we were painting.
•Washing the dishes and it turning into an impromptu 2 hour dance party in the staff kitchen. Literally the most fun thing. I’ll never forget it.
•When the guys hosted a Valentines Day dinner for us girls, complete with music, an original song, candlelight, appetizers and desert, and an improv skit. I love them.
•Doing a kids camp for the orphanage kids who lived at Mission of Hope.
•Hannah. Sweet Hannah. My favorite Haitian child. I miss this sweet girl. She would just let me hold her for hours. We colored together. I love her 🙂
•Doing laundry by hand with my team for team time.
•Helping a woman do her laundry. She taught me how to do it more than anything. This moment was beautiful. She shared her story with me… a story of loss and redemption. Her family survived the earthquake but they were misplaced to a village right next door to where we were staying- Titanyen. She later lost her only child- a daughter. We got on our knees amidst the laundry, right in front of the wash bucket, and together with our hands clasped around each others, I prayed that Jesus would bless her with another child, and heal the pain in her heart. But she blessed me more in that moment than I ever could have blessed her.
•Sitting at a sweet woman’s feet and hearing her story.
•Getting water out of the well for a pregnant lady and her family. We had to walk a little bit. This moment was so cool. Experiencing village life first hand in such a tangible way was incredible.
•When I noticed our translator, quietly singing to himself “You make beautiful things out of the dust”. This moment took my breath away. He was kicking the dust of Titanyen with his shoe… Titanyen when translated means “less than nothing”. This summed up Haiti for me… despite their lack- the “nothing”- they had everything because they had Hope. They have Jesus.
•Going to the mountain village of Turpin. An hour long canter ride up a mountain. SO FUN. We had to cover ourselves completely haha.
•Praying with Nikki.
•The time we went to the coffee shop up the road and got icecream. That little place was neat. And they had Diet Coke.
•Learning about Mission of Hope and how their main objective is to empower Haitians to help each other.. the fact that they feed over 92,000 children EVERY DAY through their partnership with Convoy of Hope, and their vision to have all North Americans out of the country by 2020.
Watching How to Train Your Dragon in French with the orphanage kiddos.
•Cake. So much cake.
•The night we had BBQ and I tried not to cry from happiness
•The time we picked up trash all morning for ministry.. it was actually way more fun than it sounds. Its cool to see the many different faces ministry can have.
•All squad talent show. Hilarious. We came in second place!
•When Team Time consisted of practicing for the Talent Show and Liz choreographed What Does the Fox Say for us… One of the funniest things ever.
•Taking our packs off the bus when we reached the Haitian/DR border.
•Sleeping in the Dominican airport.
•Miami layovers! I got a dirty chai latte…so good, even if it was from Starbucks 🙂
•Watching the sunrise thousands of feet over the Atlantic ocean. One of the most breathtaking scenes of my life.
