10 days in Haiti.

I’ve been in Haiti for 10 days!  My laptop won’t hook up to the Internet at my house, so I apologize for not writing sooner.  Wow, stepping off the plane into Port-au-Prince was incredible.  Just knowing I was back in Haiti brought so much joy to my heart.  I couldn’t stop smiling. 

Our street.  Juenesse en mission.

The view outside our gate.

The only concern that I had while I was preparing to move to Haiti was the airport.  I had heard so many crazy stories about the PaP airport, and flying down alone kind of freaked me out.  While I was in Miami I met a team who was flying down and would be travelling to St Marc as well!  They took me under their wings and helped me through customs, immigration, and baggage claim!  My new friends Kelly and Krystle ended up staying for three months and they’ve come by the base a couple of times for church and to say hello.  They are a HUGE blessing!

Sweet baby I got to hold for hours:)

Here on the base, I was put in the housekeeping department.  I get to work with 3 really awesome Haitian women, already we’re becoming friends and they’re teaching me lots of Creole!
Life in St Marc is much different than anything that I’ve experience in Cap-Haitien.  If we need to go somewhere we flag down a moto-taxi and hop on for only 10 gourdes!  I just giggle when I get on!  I love Haitian culture and life.  The people are so joyful!

New friends!

On Sunday we drove out to a village called Lubins.  It was about an hour or so outside of town.  The people were so hospitable and so excited that we were there.  A small group of us from the base went along with a team of three guys who are currently going around the world for a year, they took video of the pastor speaking about voodoo and other things he’s seen and dealt with in Haiti.  Stories of voodoo and different things that happen in Haiti never cease to amaze me.  In America we seem to be so guarded from what's going on in other countries that when we hear stories, they are almost hard for us to actually believe them!
Being in Lubins was an outstanding reminder of why I’m so in love with this country.  My roommate, Rose, and I walked to the next village.  It was maybe a 15 minute walk, we were carrying babies and were being led by tons of super excited kids.  When we got there we sat in the shade behind a small shack and hung out with the people, held the babies, and played with the kids.  They turned over buckets and put cloth over them for us to sit on. It was one of my favorite moments, ever.  I literally haven't stopped thinking about it.

It was wash day at the prison

When we got back home it hit me, this is my life!  I get to do stuff like this, and be a light for Jesus.  There aren’t words to express how blessed I feel to be a teeny tiny part of what God is doing in Haiti.

Worship.

Wednesday I tagged along with a team to the prison.  This past semester I did a huge presentation for my Globalization class that compared Haitian and American prisons.  Honestly, I’d never been in a Haitian prison and while I was researching I would have to take breaks to cry and pray.  I was hoping that what I read about was an exaggeration and people didn’t actually live that way…but they did.  My heart was broken for the prisoners as soon as I stepped inside the courtyard.  On the outside of their cells, written in chalk, were the amount of prisoners inside.  The majority of them had 37 or 38 people.
My favorite part of the day was when Patrick introduced the team, and they started singing worship music.  Arms reached out from the inside of the cells as the prisoners began worshipping God.  It was incredible; I don’t even have words to describe it.  I get chills just thinking about it.

I will never get over the fact that God is always the same.  He never changes and He is always with His children.
The God who is with me when I’m mopping a floor in the morning is the same God who is sitting with the prisoners in those cells, He’s the same one who hugs orphan children at night, He is even the same God sitting next to you as you read this blog!   How blessed are we to serve such an incredible God who is crazy in love with His children! 

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.  I wish I could bring you all to Haiti so you can see what you are investing in.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

 1 John 3:1