Sunday afternoon - a stroll to the ocean

Sunday afternoon some of the team took a walk through the neighborhood to walk along the ocean.  

Along the way we were met by children calling out to us, some coming to walk alongside us for awhile.  they yell "Blanc" when we walk by, which means "White". We walked through "squatter houses" where people come during the dry season to live in the salt flats and then are driven out by flooding when the rainy season comes.

Once at the ocean we met fishermen and artisans who knew our group leader Diane from her time here. Diane is a pediatrician in Colorado Springs who grew up the daughter of missionaries here on the Island.  Her family returned to the States when she was 12 but many of the people know her from her time here.  She speaks fluent Creole so she is a helpful tour guide as we walk along the rocky path near the ocean.  

Seashells that we might purchase in a shop in America are used to stop the flow of water here, like sandbags are used on flooding rivers,  beautiful shells along the edges of the dirt yards.  As we walked, we went through the slums, the "houses" are made up of left over materials found laying around. Corrugated metal or left over boat sails are hung haphazardly to create some minimal privacy.  Some children wear clothing advertising products from foreign places, an odd image here, Disney princesses on the torn and dirty shirts worn in the salt flats by children.  Some are without clothing entirely, whether by choice or need, I do not know.

After our walk, we had a time of rest in the afternoon.  During that time I found a quiet place to sit and write.  I was fortunate to find a working power outlet, a small table and chair, and a fan!  Such opulence!

After sitting there for awhile, a well dressed Haitian man asked to join me in front of the fan. His name is Daniel-Bertrand and he is the headmaster at the high school and also the CEO of the hospital here. We had a pleasant conversation, thankfully in English.  He wanted to arrange a few Americans to go to the high school and speak English to the students to allow them to practice and learn.  We will do that tomorrow (Monday).

After my conversation with Daniel-Bertrand I was able to join a couple of the people on my team to tour the hospital.  It was an education. The new hospital is still not yet finished so we were in the old building.  There are patients everywhere, more than 60 patients, in rooms and hallways due to the outbreak of Chicamunga, a disease contracted thru mosquitoes which causes high fever, dehydration and body aches.  It is not fatal, but lasts for several weeks and seems quite prevalent here.  Almost every Haitian we meet has multiple family members who have been affected.   Just yesterday 5 children were admitted with fevers over 105 degrees.  When a patient is hospitalized, it is required that a family member care for them and prepare their food.  That means that many family members sleep on the floors or cabinets at the hospital because going back and forth from home is not possible.

We are being well fed and have fans and beds.  The team is getting to know one another better and the Haitian people are gracious and appreciative.

Yesterday we crashed the WiFi because pictures and videos were  too much for the network, so I will refrain from posting pictures until I return.  

Monday promises to be an exciting day as I will be meeting with students at the high school and spending time at the hospital.

More to come.....

Photos from Haiti Day 2

The 'surgical suite' at the Wesleyan Hospital

"Serve with Love to bring, Relief from suffering"

Blooming Flamboyant tree

Deena and sister, Jana with kids 

Baie au Port au Prince

Haiti Day 3

Today came early. 

The very determined rooster walking around the yard near my window crowed about the morning long before it really arrived. 

Breakfast was at 6:30 am and then off to church.  We walked the 2 minutes to the church and entered through the back door because we came later to service than the Haitians.  It is cooler that time of day, relatively.  Church service is a serious business here, lasting hours in duration.  The songs are sung with passion and fervor, the Pastor speaks with strong conviction.  I couldn't understand one word he was saying but that made no real difference.  

Our team was privileged to be asked to sing a song of praise and we did.  The Haitians are a gracious people who have well behaved children who sit in the services with them.  Soon I was pleased to have 2 beautiful sisters sitting next to me on the hard wooden pew, both dressed in clean and pressed brown matching dresses with matching ribbons in their hair.  They appeared to be around 5 & 6 years of age.  The older one smiled widely at the invitation to join me, the younger wasn't so sure.  But the end of the service, which I believe was cut short for us, the sisters were happily holding each of my hands in theirs.  I wish you could hear the sound.  I wish you could see the joy on the peoples' faces as they sing praises to God in the midst of poverty.  Something binds people together when they are in circumstances together out of their comfort zone.  In the middle of the sweat, swaying and singing - I closed my eyes and heard it.  Different tongues, tribes and nations singing to the same God.  It was like a preview of coming attractions.

And finally I felt it- Joy that I had come back to this place.

Oh Praise Him.

Haiti Day 2 - First Day in La Gonave

Psalm 128:1 NIV

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.

I did not want or long to return to Haiti.  But here I sit, on the shore of the ocean in a town just south of St. Mark's, Haiti waiting for a small boat to take me to the island of La Gonave.  I am listening to people on my team talk about how much they looked forward to coming.  Some of these people have been on trips here time and again and look forward with anticipation to their return.  I am not one of them.

Bending my will to God's will is ...well....not a strength of mine.  It has come, like Jacob, with a wrestling- a brokenness that had to occur, not of my hip -like Jacob- but of my heart.  Both spiritually and physically my heart was broken to do His will.  It sounds quite pious when spoken out loud, or written down, but that's just the truth of it.  Obedience is not something most adult Americans do easily. I am not the exception. We are taught from a young age that "we deserve a break".  Just yesterday I heard someone say that we have the "right" to be happy.

That is not what God says.

God says if I do His will, seek His kingdom, feed His children HE can use me to His purpose.  That's a different kind of purpose driven life, indeed.

So this morning I am looking out over an ocean, listening to the waves hit the shore.  Don't imagine sandy beaches or tropical fruit in your mind's eye.  Imagine the Caribbean, pristine and beautiful but the houses dotted in the area are not 4 or 5 star hotels or fancy seaside restaurants.  They are unfinished-rebar sticking from the roofs, cement squares.  Some have roofs, other do not.  Very few have glass or screens in the window openings.

Across the bay, a small boat bounces up and down struggling against the rolling waves to head toward the shore.  Imagine that you've been watching that boat struggle for 30 minutes and still it's so far out that another 30 will pass before you meet the crew.  The sail is a ragged piece of fabric held to the mast by a rope.  Repaired in several places the sail helps move the boat on, along with the motor which is chugging under the strain of the weight of the boat and her passengers.

The trip across the water today took about an hour and a half.  The captain mercifully cut the engine near the top of the waves to help diminish the splash of the waves into the boat.  To say I was drenched does not begin to describe it.  What a great adventure!  

My husband and I have been discussing the possibility of taking a Carrebean cruise later this year.  This is definitely NOT the Princess cruise that I was expecting, but it is the Princess cruise God was set in motion.  This boat is full of Warrior Princes and Princesses of God.   

Oh praise Him and His glorious plan.

Haiti Day 1 - Arrival in Port Au Prince

The team met up at 3 a.m. in the church parking lot.  We had had several meetings during the past months, but I could have only told you 2 or 3 people's names that morning.  Our first flight left at 7 am bound for Miami.  During that flight I was privileged to meet KT and Sherry, who were in their first mission trip bound for Nicaragua.  (More on that later- They are now on my Facebook, say hi to them and say a prayer if you feel lead to.)

The team had a short layover in Miami then we boarded a plane for Haiti.  Haiti is in the eastern time zone and we arrived at 6:30 PM local time. 

After an relatively easy time at the airport we found a porter, gathered up our 27 large bags of supplies and headed to load the bus for the nice air-conditioned ride to the mission guest house where we would stay at for the night. Heading north from the capital city up the coast to the mission house is a site that affirms that you are not in Denver anymore. (Oops, this is supposed to be the facts only post!-more on that later!). We arrived at around 7:30 pm and the gracious staff at the house had prepared lasagna, roasted giant carrots and steamed cabbage for dinner.  We had a time of worship and discussion and off to bed for the travel weary team.

We are a team of mostly medical professionals who will be serving patients and orphans on the island of LaGonave, Haiti. The island is home to approximately 120,000 Haitians who mainly make their living as fishermen.  The island experienced an increase in population of approximately 40,000 people after the capital city of Port-Au-Prince was devastated by an earthquake in 2010.  Haitians were hoping to find safety away from the taller concrete buildings of the capital. The resources in Haiti are minimal.

The infrastructure is dismal, the government corrupt. (More on that later!)

I am traveling this time with a group of people from the church we attend who are affiliated with missionaries who have funded and helped with the building of a new hospital and nursing College on the island.  Both of these new facilities are scheduled to open in the fall of 2014. The weather is hot, humid and there is really no reason to shower other than to get the old sweat off so the new sweat can begin.  The mosquitoes are out this year in full force and sleeping was a bit challenging the first night with the smell of sunscreen and Deet hanging off of us.

The people on the team are gracious, kind and adventurous, a great combination so far.  We are beginning to hear one another's stories and I am excited about that. The pictures will have to wait largely until my return due to the wi-fi situation here.  

Thank you all for the prayers and support, please continue to keep myself and the team in your good thoughts as we begin surgeries and meet the orphans tomorrow.

Now everyone, please go have an ICE cold beverage for me!

Detours

I am on a journey to the Promised land. A place reserved for me before time existed. The road to the promised land is different for each of us and not everyone gets there.  I've come to realize that my life has been an exodus, a journey from slavery to freedom.   Stepping, one foot in front of the other on the road towards my promised land.  Sometimes I complain and grumble along the road not wanting to go where God intends, at other times I sing songs of joy and praise.

The road itself changes, sometimes a fast moving super highway, other times a rocky dirt path, seemingly uphill both ways.   I have detoured so many times.  I'd see something interesting and take my eyes off the road signs to detour to another place, a place of my choosing.  Detours have taken me to all manner of places.  Country bars, hotel rooms, hospital rooms and funeral homes.  Some detours were just little loops off the main road, others took me so far in the wrong direction it took decades for me to find my way back. I learned lessons from each detour and can honestly say that the lesson learned was for my ultimate good regardless of how devastating it was in the moment. Please don't misunderstand, God was not surprised by my free will choices, I chose to take my eyes off the road He had destined for me.

But there is loss in the lesson.

The loss is relationship, through death, division or drought I've lost friendships, grandchildren, family.  It's the regret really that gets to me in the middle of the night. It's the "would have/should have" stories that the enemy brings to my mind.

BUT GOD - He restores when I relinquish my will to His.  So that's the plan, to leave the wilderness of sin and go where He says, moving from one place to the next according to His command.

"The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the LORD's command."  Exodus 17:1

Hearts prepared for Haiti

I have traveled to Haiti before.  What I learned is that I never ever wanted to go back. On June 13, 2014 that is exactly what I am planning to do.

 Haiti is a hot, humid, nearly hopeless place where travel is a bit challenging and cockroaches refuse to die on the first swat.  The food, although tasty is not "usual", spaghetti for breakfast and if you are very fortunate you will be served goat for dinner, at least if you are privileged and North American. Which I am. The language is very confusing and not one word is recognizable to me.  Cement houses, open sewage and rubble in the streets are seen all around Port Au Prince.  There is little beauty in the surroundings, expect for in the faces of the people.  They have a beauty despite their circumstance-that is, at least for me, impossible to describe.It is often difficult for me to grasp the will of God in my life.  He normally calls me to something so out of the box of my comfort that I have to choke back the immediate feeling of panic that happens in the back of my throat.  That is how I am feeling now. 

Two decades ago I was taught to pray the scriptures.  This is done by inserting my name into the scripture that I am reading, and then giving over my plan to God's plan.  Little did I know that doing so would land me in Gonaives, Haiti  during the summer of 2012.The simple scripture I had prayed that got me into this dirty, sweaty, smelly place was Isaiah 6:8.Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? and who will go for us?"And I said, "Here am I. Send Me" Months later I was sitting in the dirt under the only tree in a yard rocking 7 year old Amelita.  She was one of the many true orphans that I had opportunity to meet on my visit to her country.  She grasped my hand as I walked through the gate to the orphanage were she lived and did not let go.  I do not speak her language and she does not speak mine.  She was looking at me with very intent dark eyes as though I had something that she didn't.  She would have been mistaken had that been her thought. At that time in 2012, I was broken, alone, and unsure what the next steps of my life would be.  I expect that precious Amelita and I were in about the same place spiritually, both of us crying out to God for guidance, provision, mercy and love.  I was taught a great deal on that trip to Haiti - I was reminded that people don't have to speak the same language to have the same Spirit within, I learned that sitting in dirt and sweating while holding a child is life changing, I learned that God does not need an interpreter.So once again, I am being called back to the country of Haiti.  I will be joining a medical team that is made up of 15 people of ages spanning decades, past experiences as varied as can be imagined but all with one thing in common.  We all want to effect change in the lives of people who are desperate for help, who long for the guidance of God, who pray for His mercy, justice and wisdom.  

I am not only talking about the Haitians we will serve being desperate for help - I am talking about the Americans also.