Haiti 2017

Haiti! May 2017.  I was originally going with a few ladies who I am in a Bible study with to visit Liz and get the Haitian experience..... Wooooaaaah buddy.  An unfortunate event kept the leader of the Central College team in the USA and I became their leader!  Great!

I was nervous to say the least.  God uses the willing, not the skilled or the prepared.  I was willing and I dove in to becoming more prepared!  In my weakness, He is made strong.  I submitted to being completely out of my element and tried my hardest to trust God for every step of the way. 

 

I climbed the mountain in a little over an hour.  I didn't feel as exhausted as I did last year at the top! 

A VBS for 75 middle schoolers in the neighborhood!

The team prepared a silent skit showing the Gospel.  We sang "No Longer Slaves" in Creole.  One of the guys shared his testimony.  We made a bracelet together as we shared the steps of salvation.  We had a snack and played games!  Each of the members learned a Bible verse in Creole to share with the kids.  It was a beautiful time with these awkward pre-teens.  It's amazing how similar kids are regardless of culture and language.  

 Maaaaaaaaangoes!  We had plenty of mango moments.  It was beautiful to spend so much time with Liz.

Sunday after church, we went to a local restaurant.  That is a loose term to describe where we were.    At church, we sang our song and acted out the skit for the congregation.  I prayed they would understand the Gospel more easily.

We visited these lovely ladies and their housemates at the local deaf school.  Can you believe that they remembered me!  It was great to see their faces.  I hope they are feeling loved and learning.  We performed the skit for them, which was perfect since it was a silent play! 

 We climbed up to see the Citadel and saw this majestic tree being held up by supports.  Caitlyn said it was a good example of how prayer to God holds us up in our lives.

Here we are at the top of the mountain just before entering the castle.  A fog rolled in just after this picture was taken!  We couldn't see anything.  It was amazing to hear the history of the Haitian kings and enjoy some time with the team.  

  Of course, Liz and I were twinning.

Caitlyn ended up getting a severe concussion on the second day of the trip. I was horrified and didn't leave her side the rest of the time.  Although she didn't remember her birth date for three days, she was fun to be around.  As a result, we became good friends!  I don't think she remembers most of our moments though.  :-)  I was thankful my grandma was a nurse, so I knew to write down when she took Tylenol every 4 hours!  I had no idea it would be a useful skill.  

The woman in the blue and turquoise dress has experienced something so horrific in her life.  It's hard to believe it's a true story.  The two young children in the picture are her twins.  When she had them at the hospital, she was drugged by a witch doctor.  She was believed to be dead and was buried in the ground.  They don't bury people in caskets there and I won't go in to detail about what they do do!  The witch doctor dug her up and took her to Port au Prince where she was his slave for two years.  She was not dead, but her heart had slowed so much, they believed her to be.  When he died, she found her way back to Pignon, which is where we were.  She is forever changed from the horrific events she had to endure while being his slave.  We brought her family food and sang our song, "No Longer Slaves."  It had a powerful meaning at this house.

The Central College kids raised so much money for goats!  A few people funded goats individually too!  Thanks. :-) We had enough for 29 by the time we got there!   Caitlyn and I named our goat the first day Martha and the second day Mary.  This was one of the families that we gave a goat to.  So many lives were impacted because of a simple goat.  

I was so happy that I wasn't the only one who needed to use the bathroom multiple times on this trip.  We experience quite a few Haitian bathrooms!  Ki kote twalet?

  We distributed two Personal Energy Transportation carts built by people in Leighton, Iowa. It was beautiful to see two men be mobile again after not being able to leave their house independently.  This was my favorite part of the trip. They had to learn to use the machines and operate the break. They had to sign a contract agreeing that they would only be for their use.  Incredible. 

  This darling boy... I loved him last year and I loved him this year.  Sebastian.  He seemed different this year.  Something was sad about him. I wanted to hug him and tell him loving things.  We had a mango together on this day.  Some of the older boys had been picking on him and he was feeling bummed. 

  

Saying good bye to this sweet best friend of mine was so hard.  Why do we have to live so far apart?  I loved every second I was able to spend with her and seeing her life in Haiti. I am so proud of her sacrifice for living there and serving the Haitians.  I hope I get to go back soon.  

The next step is to focus on Mission Coaching!  Whoop!  

Thank you for your prayers.