Monday Night Homework

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had homework on Monday night. We were to all listen to or read the lyrics to 'Live Like That' by the Sidewalk Prophets. To make it easy for you, I've included the lyrics:

Sometimes I think
What will people say of me
When I'm only just a memory
When I'm home where my soul belongs

Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of us
Was my worship more than just a song

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back

I want to live like that
I want to live like that

Am I proof
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change our heart
Do I live like Your love is true

People pass
And even if they don't know my name
Is there evidence that I've been changed
When they see me, do they see You

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back

I want to live like that
I want to live like that

I want to show the world the love You gave for me
I'm longing for the world to know the glory of the King

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back

I want to live like that
I want to live like that
I want to live like that 

Now, our homework was to reflect on what these lyrics meant to each of us. So please, feel free to join in and comment. What do these lyrics mean to you? What do they mean for the typical Christian? What is your first reaction, or response?

Foundations Continued

In the evening, we finally watched the ‘Vision Video’ that we probably should’ve watched the night we arrived. I’m not even gunna lie, it made me cry.

One of the very first stories were heard – and watched – was that of Brad and his wife talking about one of their mission trips to Haiti, before MOH was even an idea. Similar to our mission trip, they had gone into one of the villages and gone into peoples’ houses and just generally interacted. They were walking through one day when they came to a house where a large crowd of people were clustered around a sick baby. Brad and his wife had never seen a baby so sick. They decided to take the baby to the nearest clinic (which I believe was like a half hour away, don’t quote me on that though) so Brad, his wife, a driver and the father with the baby jumped into a truck and were off. When they got to the clinic, it was closed and they were crushed. But just as they were staring at the building, they heard a noise – a noise they would never forget: the baby’s last breath.

So they have to take this dead child back, the father mourning as any man would, to a mother who thought that the white people could fix her baby. Later they came to find out that the girl had starved to death because her parents had sold everything they had to a voodoo doctor. The family came to realize the error of their ways, converted to Christianity and were able to have another child. As far as we know, they are all well and healthy to this day.

Then there was the story about Jr. Brad went to an orphanage without his wife one day and was pretty uncomfortable with the kids. He ended up just sitting in the middle of the floor and waited for them to approach him. Humorously enough, the one child that approached him was the kid without pants. We witnessed a good number of kids like this in Haiti, and they are just like the other kids when it comes to being picked up. They want attention just like anyone else. So Brad was holding the kid, much to his distress, but he heard the voice of God whisper in his ear, “This is your son.” Brad didn’t think too much about it, but knew his wife was going there without him the next day and told her, “Whatever you do, don’t pick up the little boy without pants on.”

Sure enough, she came home the next day with the baby in tow. He had had a fever, and she wanted to get him proper care. And that’s the story of their first adopted baby!

So many other crazy things were revealed in that video. I found out the first 20 or so acres that make up the main campus was traded for a grand piano, the army built the first school and promised to build more if MOH could make something out of it, and the entire nutrition program started with the hiring of one woman and the nailing of a peanut grinder to a tree.

You see, when they first opened the school, the teachers were freaking out because the kids would just keep falling out of their seats, feinting. They also had swollen bellies from worms and orange hair from malnutrition. To fix this problem, a woman was hired to grind all day to make a peanut paste. The kids were then given a piece of bread with the peanut paste and a juice for every meal. The results were astounding. They became healthy!

Just all the things that had to line up perfectly, and the ease with which they did is a true testament to God’s power. I loved the video and it was awesome to see how the ball got rolling. But I also realized how much we take for granted on a daily basis. I’m complaining to Mom because I can’t find the remote when there are people starving and living without decent shelter. It’s crazy. Those are God’s babies too. Why aren’t we doing more as brothers and sisters?

After the video, we had team time. Everyone shared and it was awesome. We went around the circle to tell our highlight of the day:

Kathie loved listening to the translators in the church.

 

I couldn’t get over the little boy that got so much joy from taking one picture with my camera.

 

Kevin thought it was awesome to be the source of amusement for the Haitian construction workers. Apparently none of the guys could do anything right.

 

Dave Verville loved that there was always joy here.  

 

Tami thought it was amazing to get to spread the word in the village, especially the way the translators did it.

 

Ed enjoyed locking arms with the fellow group members and laying the foundation (both literally and abstractly) for the pastoral college.

 

Dave Vanepps loved how the village champions were so on fire for Christ.

 

Lexi was having a blast doing handshakes with all the little girls all day.

 

Katie loved washing clothes with the three sisters that she met. She also thought it was funny that they just laughed at her poor creole, but were able to teach her a song.

 

Paige loved the King of the Roads getting stuck and then getting to see the view. It was awesome for her to see God leading and being in control of the situation like that.

 

Kristin felt the hope for change in Source Matelas and thinks it’s so cool that we get to actually watch things happen, like the walls being put up, WHILE we’re here.

 

Macy also liked it when the car got stuck and enjoyed the hike up the mountain, as well as seeing all the people in the village that were happy to see us and getting a chance to hang out with the kids in the park.

 

Anna shared about how she got to talk to one of the translators in Spanish about how and why they know Christ.

 

Haley got to have the same experience but with a little girl, and really got to know her.

 

Mike reflected on how many people are going to learn, get loved on, and praise God in the very building they were helping to create.

 

Geary shared about how God really showed up when we got stuck today and also loved getting a chance to meet each of the young men that were a part of the organization and learning their stories. He also couldn’t forget to mention the father with the nine kids and all the animals and how humbled he was by the man’s total trust in God.

 

Brian talked about laying the foundations for where future people are going to be taught about God. This was especially important to him because of his personal struggle over determining whether or not seminary was the thing for him to do.

 

Haven liked when we played soccer and also loved the beautiful view from the top of the mountain.

 

Naomi joined in with the crowd favorite and commented on the hike up the mountain.

 

Throughout the day, Bruce enjoyed being with his fellow men and pointed out their transformation from the three stooges to the seven dwarves… apparently the looks on the Haitians’ faces when they were bucketing water was priceless.

 

Tim liked bonding with the fellow workers in Christ through labor, camaraderie and just overall building relationships with fellow Christian men.

 

Chip liked playing volleyball and talking to another ‘camper’ from a different group who was strong in the faith.

 

Abby commented on how awesome it was that language didn’t seem to separate us from the Haitians; the way we played soccer together… physical language just worked.

 

Emily talked about the woman in the park who spoke English and how they shared their stories and got to know each other.

 

Danni told a story about a little boy who wanted her to take a picture of him and thought it was so cool afterwards when he got to see it. She also mentioned a little girl who was just THRILLED with a mechanical pencil. The simple pleasures…

 

Finally, Tim Morton talked about Wildem (no guys, I do not know how to spell these names). He was a translator that he met at church on Sunday who remembered and hugged him, and even greeted him by name! Later Tim got to hear his story.

As you can tell, it was a great day for everyone. But it wasn’t over yet! Tim had homework for us! Check it out in the following blog!

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti

Building Foundations

Monday, July 1, 2013

Today was something new and different. Some described it as our “first real day here.” We got the option of spending time in the village or staying on the compound to do some manual labor. Because it’s MANual labor, only the guys stayed. They spent the day laying a foundation for the pastoral college and bucketing water out of… something. They know. It was a hole. Or a trench. It was in the ground, okay?

The rest of us ladies, as well as Geary and Dave, took our first trip to Kensington’s ‘adopted’ village, Source Matelas (pronounced souse-mat-lah). We somehow pulled into a church. There was no parking lot, so we kind of ended up in this ditch area on the side of the road. I’m not gunna lie, it all seemed pretty sketchy. But we had our intern Paige leading the way, so we followed and jumped off the back of King of the Roads.

Through a stone ‘fence’ we walked, following a pathway into this shabby (but beautiful) concrete building. This turned out to be the church where we met our translators (excuse me in advance for butchering the spelling of their names): Eden, Danniton, Joseph and Jeffney. We also got introduced to our Village Champions, Pappitas and Leon, who most just call Lee.

They told us their stories, how they came to Christ, a little about themselves, and then we prayed and were back onto the King of the Roads. So, we’re driving for a while and then the driver turns left onto this questionable-looking dirt road. There are no houses, no buildings… just some prickly brush and rocks everywhere. There’s also the occasional animal tied to a bush, but that is literally it. As we’re driving over this road that can hardly be considered a road, we roll into this dip.

So, on the back of King of the Roads are these metal steps. Somehow, the driver had buried these steps into the dirt trying to get out of the dip. All of our translators and champions hopped out of the back and tried pushing. Nothing worked. We filed off the back. Still no luck. So how do the Americans help? We take pictures of cows and try to untangle their ropes while the Haitians worry about the truck.  

About ten minutes later, the Haitians decide to put us to the test. Can we walk up the mountain? For the record, I really don’t know how the driver expected to get us up there in King of the Roads anyways… There is no road. We were walking through gravel, patches of grass, avoiding cow pies… But there was definitely not a road. There were even these bushes that had thorns and just loved our long skirts. But we all kept our eyes to the ground and kept truckin’.

When we got to the top, the entire journey was more than worth it. I would’ve walked the side of that thing ten more times just to have the same view again. Behind us were dark, majestic mountains. In front of us was the ocean. A delightful breeze danced with our hair and long skirts and for once everything just felt good. I think we were all taken aback. Across the ocean you could even see Port-au-Prince. There were a lot of pictures taken there, let me tell you!

After a good amount of time spent enjoying the view and the fresh air, Lee led the way to the village. We basically walked across the top of the hill and then had to go down the other side to get there. We walked past a huge water hole where Lee snorted back at an overzealous pig. Cracked me up – these Haitian guys are hilarious! I actually talked to Lee a lot on the way down. I asked him about his childhood and what he did growing up.

In Haiti, the sense of community within the villages is insane. Imagine giving your young child free reign over the entire city in which you live. You see them in the morning and wonder where they are until dark. But you’re content because you know basically everyone in the city, and you know someone’s watching over your kid… somewhere. Well, that’s what it was like growing up in Source Matelas. Lee had friends that lived way over on the other side of the village and they would get together during the day to play football (aka, soccer for you Americans). It’s just crazy! Unheard of in the US…

We ended up walking through a large soccer field not long after my conversation with Lee. This was basically our first interaction with Source Matelas.

When we had gotten to the top of the mountain mentioned earlier, the translators had pointed out Cina. Cina is a cement company. And it’s like, a legitimate company. Not too many things in Haiti seem legitimate based on American standards, but this place would fit that bill. Anyway, this company is very generous and has given back a lot to the community. One example of their generosity is this park.

We walked through the village a bit to get there. We picked up some smiling and interested kids along the way. We ended up spending a good amount of time there, playing with the kids and getting to know our translators. So everybody’s story is a little bit different. I ended up standing with Shannon who was having a conversation with Danniton, one of our translators. He told us about his wife, and showed us pictures of her. She is very beautiful by the way. He has a brand new son, who was only 19 days old at the time. Shannon talked about all of her kids – the two daughters on the trip with us, Haven and Naomi, as well as her two adopted sons and another baby girl.

After many good conversations there, we were led to what I would call a ‘watering hole.’ There is basically this cement hole in the ground and there’s water in it. People come from around the village to bathe, get drinking water, and do laundry here. Yes, all from the same water source. Not exactly the most sanitary thing, but hey, it works for them.

On the way there, we walked through more of the village, and numerous kids saw us, waved, smiled, got super excited, and ended up following us. One little boy came up to me quietly and tugged gently on my skirt. I looked down and smiled at him and he pointed to the camera around my neck, saying, “photo?” So I quickly snapped a picture of him, much to his delight. I figured I’d let him try, so I got down on my knee as our line kept walking around us. He put his hand around the camera and I moved his index finger to the button. I pushed down over his finger and *click* the camera snapped a picture.  A huge smiled exploded across his face. I’ve never seen a kid so happy about that noise in my life. I stood back up, he took my hand, and we followed the line, both of us smiling.

Taking pictures became quite the new thing. All the little boys were asking “photo?” and stealing our cameras. We were all a little worried about it, but as many of us soon found out, when the kids are taking pictures, their friends are much more likely to do fun poses and you ultimately end up with the best pictures that way.

I think I speak for all of us when I say we had a great time there that day. We played with the children, talked to the translators, and some of the women actually tried to help the Haitian ladies with their laundry. We ended up going back to main campus for lunch. Surprisingly enough, there was this amazing soup with potatoes, carrots and mystery meat. Most of us thought it was beef, but the secret was later revealed and hey, we ate goat…  

After lunch we had time to go down the mountain to visit Madame Cheap Cheap’s. There is a little woman on the MOH property who basically has her own little flea market set up. And she’ll sell you anything from wooden boxes, to jewelry, to paintings, to machetes for “cheap cheap.” But getting all the way down there – and even worse: back UP – was HOT. Sweat was all over and it was disgusting.

After our break at MOH, it was time to go back to the village. This time we got to walk through the streets and call oo-vlay-juway… I don’t know how that’s actually spelled. I tried to look it up online because I thought we were saying come play with us, but I couldn’t get it to come up right on Google Translate. But that’s what we were saying phonetically. Regardless, we were rounding up the children so we could go hang out with them all at the park.

As we were walking through the village, we came across the house of a father of nine kids. He also had pigs, chickens and goats which a lot of us were overly excited to take pictures with. Because, you know, getting up close and personal with a pig who has been sitting in its own mess for who knows how long is totally the thing to do. But there were also a lot of cute kids there, so it was worth the stop. There was actually this tiny little baby girl sitting against a wall who was eating a mango. She reminded me of the baby monkey in Tarzan that Jane draws a picture of before it starts crying and all the other monkeys attack her… Not that that has anything to do with anything, but I’m just saying. Once again, all the little kids wanted to take pictures too. They remembered…

Naomi also became a star in the village. She was a celebrity for her hair. There were actually two groups of Haitian women that were jokingly fighting over her for a chance to play with her blond hair. If you look at it from their perspective though, our children are probably just as interesting to them as theirs are to us. And I mean, I’m sure it’s not often that someone as young as Naomi comes along, so it was definitely a special treat for these ladies.

Then we finally got back to the park. I was playing with some little girl. I was giving her a piggy back ride, complete with airplane sound effects, when a woman approached me. She was plump in the face and exuded happiness. She just walked up to me and said, “Hello!” It was a shock to me that she spoke English. We talked for a little while and we got to know each other. She was possibly the most friendly Haitian woman I met on the entire trip. She even said that she loved me before she walked away. It was really cute.

After the conversation with her and more playing with little girls, I somehow ended up in a conversation with a Haitian guy who was 28 years old. He spoke no English, but he spoke fluent Spanish, so we were able to communicate with my limited high school Spanish. We talked for at least a half hour. He did most of the talking and I just listened. In the end, I think I was too liberal for him, not ‘simple’ enough. The fact that I had a double piercing in my ear and friends that weren’t Christian made him incredulous. Different lifestyles…

Info on the rest of the day coming to you tomorrow.

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti

Rules of the Haitian Bathroom

Rule #1: If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down. Yeah, that means exactly what you think it means.

Rule #2: Do NOT throw away toilet paper. There is a garbage can in your stall for all toilet paper when you're done using it. You think it's gross? Well, yeah. It is.

Rule #3: Take a short shower! And while you're there, please deal with the lack of temperature control. You get that same chilled water no matter what. Also, there is a complete lack of water pressure, so if you're struggling to get all the shampoo out of your thick hair in the allotted time, figure it out.

Tourists

Sunday, June 30, 2013 9:00 pm

 So… I don’t think I am going to bathe again for the rest of my time here. Think I’m crazy? Well picture me, an extreme bug-a-phobe, huddling against the wall of a concrete shower, trying to avoid three other walls, the main corner, and oh yeah, the floor. There were three huge, serious-looking spider webs this morning in the crook of the wall closest to the shower’s spray. Directly across from the shower head, on the wall at about face level was a large flying ant that kept creeping about. As I’m turning the shower on to avoid these, I notice something dark by my feet. Oh, and hey, it’s moving. Towards me. So there I am, pressed against a wall, trying to clean my disgusting body and I’m fighting for space. Near the end of my shower (you know, all three minutes worth) I think to check the wall that I’ve been huddling against. And oh, wouldn’t you know it, there’s the spider responsible for those webs…

For the record, I did just get out of my second shower here in Haiti. So I guess the intense desire to get off the days’ worth of dust, grime and sweat overcame the trauma of this morning.

Speaking of bugs, tarantula searching is quite the game over here on campus. Kevin got a video on his phone the other night of a large hairy fellow. It was gross.

We had breakfast this morning in the same dome half tube area as we had last night’s worship service. There was some cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on extremely stale white bread, and I heard the pineapple getting rave reviews.

Dave Verville was not at breakfast this morning and did not make it to church. He had a severe migraine but luckily, Ed prayed for him and by the time lunch came around, Dave was back up and running. Amazing what a little bit of prayer can do!

Prior to his return, the rest of us attended church MOH style. The church is completely Haitian-run, and it showed throughout the service. The preachers were boisterous and outgoing in the yell “Praise Jesus!” kind of way. Watching the Haitians respond back to him with just as much vigor was incredible. There was no fear in them when it came to simply throwing themselves on their knees and praying out loud during the sermon. They sang with their hands raised, feet tapping and during one song, even a dance was required. It was beautiful and amazing to watch.

Macy was sitting a couple rows behind me, and when I turned to scan the crowd, I saw her with a little boy passed out in her lap. He didn’t appear to leave once during the service and whenever I would look back, he was always playing with her face. The best part was the joy on her face though. The smile reminded me of how we think that we come here to help them, but in all reality, they give us so much more than we could ever give to them.

Speaking of joy on her face, Geary mentioned to me that he was astounded by the same emotion displayed on the faces of so many others during the service. Even on the people you wouldn’t expect it from. He was particularly awed by an older gentleman with no teeth that just shown of happiness the entire time he was there.

One cool random fact: one of the preachers today was actually one of the very owner of MOH’s gardener prior to his current profession. He just walked up to him one day and told him that God was calling for him to do this. A bit of preacher schooling later, he stands before a church that can fit 1,500 people every weekend. Pretty amazing, right?

Following the church service, which was all in creole - apart from a few of the song lyrics - we went up the hill to the central gathering area for missions groups on the main MOH campus to have lunch. Lunch consisted of salad, shredded chicken and more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! This time there were also chocolate cookie sandwiches and Pringles to add to the menu.

Before lunch, a few of us got the opportunity to go and check out the orphanage. It was amazing. We were at the baby house which basically houses the children ages 2 and under. One little girl stayed in Danni’s arms for a long while, playing with the clip on her water bottle. Another heavy little boy fell asleep in Emi’s arms, with his head against her shoulder. He was so heavy that she had to pass him on to me before her arms gave out. I had to sit on the front door step with the little chunker so I could keep holding him. I wanted to take the little guy home he was so cute! As I sat on the porch with him, I was able to watch two twin little brothers run around. They were light skinned and had curly brown hair. Unbelievably adorable. Me and the chunker also got the pleasure of watching a little girl with braids direct into formation and then conduct a group of our group’s adults in a Haitian rendition of a classic children’s song. Basically this consisted of the Americans clapping along while the little girl sang loudly in creole. She was not shy, that’s for sure.

After lunch and some gap time, it was 1:15 and time for our tour of the MOH campus! This was awesome and a disaster. Well, it was only a disaster for me… But I’ll get to that.

One of the very first buildings we walked past was bright pink and called Maggie’s Kitchen. Maggie was a 12-year-old little Haitian girl who was severely underfed and beaten when MOH brought her in. However, once inside, she discovered a passion. She loved to cook for all the other children. By cook, I mean she used to make popcorn for the others in that very building. It was where the kids could come to watch movies. Sadly, Maggie died of what they believe was leukemia a while back, and so the pink building was dubbed in her name.

We also checked out the clinic on campus. We were told about how they make all these prosthetic arms and legs for all the people that had limbs severed to save their lives after the earthquake. They get them here for free, and have to come in every six months to get refitted. 

But the coolest story came with the ambulance parked outside. So apparently there was a man in northern America who had this ambulance that he felt convicted to give to the MOH cause. So he called up the founder and told him about it. At that time, however, they didn’t do emergency help in Haiti in that way, so the founder thanked him, but politely turned down his offer. Not long after, there was a follow-up call in which the man told the founder that he couldn’t ignore the call from God to give the ambulance to Mission of Hope. So Brad finally took it, although he didn’t know what God’s plan was for it. Soon after the ambulance arrived, a paramedic decided he wanted to move his family to Haiti to help the MOH. Once again, Brad didn’t really see the use, since there wasn’t exactly a strong demand for a paramedic on the campus, but he couldn’t turn down God’s will, so once again, he accepted. About a month later, the earthquake hit. MOH had one of the two serviced ambulances in all of Haiti AND a paramedic. I’m sure you’re as amazed by God’s sovereignty as we were. He’s amazing, isn’t He?

Okay, now I think it’s time for a little tragedy. So we’re walking down this steep hill, and there’s a sidewalk on the left and an unpaved danger slide of rocks and gravel on the right. Well Kevin was walking along the road, so I figured I’d follow him to try to keep up. He kept getting farther though, so I picked up my pace. The smooth moves of grace and elegance that I carry as one of the world’s largest clutzes is quite incredible, I’ll tell you… I knew I was going down (and keep in mind, there was another group along with ours) so I decided to make it as epic as possible. My right leg went straight out, my left leg bent at the knee and I went down on my knee with a lovely arm in the air. Oh, so graceful.

Long story short, I was a bloody mess who, with the help of Tami, Kevin, and a woman from the other team, got quickly cleaned up. It was super embarrassing, but I think I made it look pretty awesome. Let’s just pray that it doesn’t get infected.

After our tour of MOH, we got back on the bus, well… it’s not really a bus. It’s this vehicle called King of the Roads. It’s a beast, and when we’re going too fast on the roads, the metal side start to vibrate and this really loud hum explodes in the ears of everyone catching a ride. But it’s fun! As a matter of fact, we hit a bump today that sent many airborne. And yes, I mean literally. I flew up that it legitimately hurt my butt bones when I came crashing back down. Tammie got so much air that she almost smashed her head on the roof! It looks like army transport vehicle/safari car...

 

We endured this ride for a chance to visit L’eveque. This is another Haitian village, one in which there is a strong focus on the deaf community. As we were driving through, many of us noticed that there were many children without pants on. Imagine that… literally, having nothing, not even clothes to cover yourself.

The church at the top of a very high hill that we got to check out was just recently opened, and was filled with children. Some were playing tag, observing the “white people,” and some were even on the ground with another missionary team’s young men, having arm wrestling tournaments. A little boy came up to me and jumped into my lap as I sat in a pew. He ended up wearing my sunglasses and comparing my facial structure to his own, touching first my lips, and then his, my eyebrows, and then his, as if he obviously recognized the differences, but was excited about our similarities as well. It was truly inspiring. And then, just before I left, I taught him how to fist pound and then “blow it up.” It was such a memorable moment for me. Saying goodbye to him was probably the hardest thing I did all day.

The rest of the day was spent back at Bercy (the name of our campus, pronounced bear-see) playing cards and exploring. Dinner was pretty awesome though. We got take-out! Haitian take-out. I’m not gunna lie, I was kind of unsure about this. I’m a really picky eater, so eating here at all has been kind of a challenge for me. But the really questionable chicken leg in my container was amazing, most liked the pasta salad, and I thought the rice and beans was to die for. Even more exciting was the delicacy known as ice cream! Haitian ice cream is much thicker and richer than ours. It was interesting. The weird thing was that I couldn’t even finish mine. There’s just something about heat that makes me unable to eat a lot, which is too bad, because it was good ice cream!

We closed out the night with team time. This was spent praying together, sharing stories and basically talking about what God was doing in us throughout the day. At the end, Geary told us to get into groups of two or three (making sure that you were with the same gender) to pray. I don’t know about everyone else’s experience, but mine was… there aren’t words. I got the honor of praying with Tami and I don’t think I have ever had anyone pray for me like she did. The closeness that she has with the Lord was palpable and was so spiritually uplifting. I’m not going to play the fraud, so I’ll just be frank and state that being “religious” is extremely hard for me. Prayer has always seemed awkward. But tonight was different. I was getting all choked up while Tami was speaking, and when it was my turn, the words seemed to flow effortlessly. It was incredible. God is definitely working in each and every one of us here, even in the smallest of ways.

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti

Open The Eyes of My Heart Lord

Saturday June 29, 2013 9:35 pm

Backpacks are slung over shoulders, suitcases are all in tow (all marked with matching bright green duct tape for easy recognition) and we step out into the sunlight in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Following a man from MOH – also in a red shirt, conveniently enough – we are led across a busy Haitian street to an old school bus. All our luggage is thrown onto the back and we file in through the front door, rather haphazardly.  

Okay, I’m going to be candid here. I’m a white girl who grew up in basic suburbia all my life. This was a definite culture shock, as I’m sure it was for others in the group. Clusters of dark Haitian natives congested the streets, all speaking a language I couldn’t make out. The heat consumed everything. Within seconds, perspiration was glistening along our foreheads, reaching into our hairlines, soaking through the backs of our shirts as we rested against the brown leather of the school bus. There seemed to be no relief.

And the smell! Personally, I couldn’t decide whether it was foul or just plain interesting. Sometimes it was sweet and smelled like a campfire while other times it was simply questionable. Emily deemed it to smell something like the after-reek of fireworks. Regardless, it was definitely something new and different.

I think that if I tried to drive here, I would surely get myself, and any other passengers, killed. Having said that, I give mad props to our driver. From what I could tell, there seem to be limited, if any, traffic laws. By the sounds of the car horns, you would think you were somewhere in NYC. They were a constant background to all conversations. However, unlike in NY, the horns in Haiti are more of a “I’m here, I’m coming, I’m going to pass you” kind of communication, rather than the rude traffic alerts of the Big Apple. But seriously, it was more like a roller coaster than a bus ride. We were within centimeters of slamming into other vehicles on multiple occasions. Scenery was flying past us on either side way faster than I think it should have and we came dangerously close to the side of the road repeatedly, but hey! We lived to tell the story!

Speaking of scenery… Has anyone ever read Paradise of the Blind by Duon Thu Huong? It’s a translated novel from a Vietnamese author. Throughout the novel, Hang narrates her life story, and as she narrates, readers might pick up on the reoccurring contrast that is produced by her inner conflict. There’s a constant and conflicting amalgamation of the beautiful and the filthy. This isn’t as random as it seems, I promise. I noticed this same confliction as we drove through Haiti. There was trash everywhere, cluttering the streets, the greenery. Shacks were set up out of sticks, straw, sheets of plastic and whatever else could be quickly fastened to erect a dwelling out of the natural-disaster-burdened landscape.

Yet for all of this, it was beautiful. The people of Haiti dress in clothes much like ours, filling the area with vibrant colors. Gorgeous trees with flowers the likes of which I have never seen before are sprinkled everywhere. Intense orange flowers spring out of trees surrounded by poverty and trash while bushes of vivid pink blossoms entwine with the barbed wire at the tops of walls and crumbling buildings. There are little trucks here covered in crazy circus-like decoration with people hanging off the sides- riding like this must be quite the circus act as well, with the type of driving I’ve seen…

Anyways, to quickly wrap up our past couple hours: We arrived at main MOH campus and dropped off all our donations. Talked to some people, took a quick look around, warily watched the guards with the shotguns and then re-boarded onto our crazy bus. Off to the newest campus.

So this is us arriving at the main campus, looking good for the last time, unloading all the suitcases.

This new campus is set between the mountains and the ocean. Beauty is surrounding us on either side. Not that we could really see much as there was a haze over everything, but you can just tell. The dorms (well, at least the girls’ dorm- the guys can speak for themselves on this one, but I think we’re pretty equally housed here) have ten beds in each room, making for twenty bunks. There are also three stalls for toilets, four for showers and four sinks. This might be a miscount on my part, and I am sorry for providing the wrong facts, but I am not getting out of this mosquito netting to check, sorry.

We ate dinner, which was surprisingly tasty, drank from gigantic glass bottles of pop (the amount of Coca-Cola that we’ve seen here is incredible) and then eventually got around to this big plastic bubble tunnel thing (I’ll come up with a better name for it later) in which we had a few praise and worship songs, prayed, and got our orientation run-down. Overall, it was a very long, but very enriching day. I personally cannot wait to see what is in store for us over the next week.

Hopefully the Lord is opening our hearts to the world around us, as we sang earlier. Keep us in your prayers!

-Katie Coming to You from Haiti (Finally)

Sorry People!

To everyone who checked this blog over the past week, I am so sorry! We ended up NOT have Wi-Fi in our dorms, and then the riskiness of bringing my laptop everywhere scared me.... However, don't be sad!

I will still be posting everything that happened. I have lots of stories to share, and I wrote everything down. So, you'll be getting it all a week late.

Better late than never!

So follow along, as if it were in real time. Even though it's not. I'm going to pretend like it is, so relive the experience with me.

-Katie (Not Actually) Coming to You from Haiti