Look Out Haiti - Here I Come!

I'm going to Haiti.  In June.  On a Mission Trip with Grace Community Church.  

I'm doing WHAT?!?!?!!?!?

Frankly, the only thing I really knew about Haiti was there had been a horrible earthquake there some years back and what little I remembered from watching "The Serpent and the Rainbow" back in the day.  Neither painted a glorious picture of this country - especially that movie!

Never would I have thought I'd volunteer to take part in such a trip.  Especially in my younger years when I cared mostly about myself.  Then a few friends and some family members. But that was about it.

I didn't care about God and frankly, didn't care to know God.  But thankfully, He cares about me and waited patiently for me to make the choice to get to know Him.  Oh how I love my God!

There had been blurbs in the church program about this trip.  I would read them and think, "this is so wonderful of them!"  THEM.  Not me.  Me go to Haiti?  With my back?  No wi-fi or Facebook?  High heat with no AC?  Bugs, critters and the need to get shot up with all sorts of vaccinations?  No way, not me!  Well guess what?  HECK YES ME!

The first thing I felt called to do was sponsor a Haitian child in one of the villages Grace visits each year.  Being unemployed and with over 40% of our household income gone, the timing didn't seem right and I was afraid to accept the responsibility out of fear we might not be able to afford it later on.  I went home and Brian and I agreed to do this and the money would somehow continue to be there.  So we took an envelope.

The next Sunday after one of the big Mega Million jackpots was awarded (and not to us of course) I realized that while we didn't have all that jackpot money we fantasized giving to those in need I had something, perhaps even more important than money.  I have ME.  I have the ability and opportunity to be a blessing to someone else and it was that realization and God's ever so subtle tug at my heart that had Brian and I sitting at the kitchen table discussing whether or not I should go.  That part of the conversation was short - "of course you should go!"

So go I shall!

I'm excited.  I'm nervous.  I'm scared.  I'm going to be changed in ways I cannot even fathom.

Our team consists of about 15 folks - many I had never met and a few that I have been slowly getting to know since I've not yet been at my church a whole year.  Out of comfort zone #1 - being with a group of people I don't know that I will soon be living with in pretty cramped quarters for a week.  Hoping I can go to our next meeting and remember the names of every one I met but knowing I probably won't and hoping it isn't offensive to them if I do.  While new groups of people make me a bit uneasy, I have no doubt it will be a short lived uneasiness and I will make some new, long lasting and wonderful Godly friends.

I will get to travel to the village our sponsor child Edeline and her family live and meet them.  This was one of the things that had first attracted me to this trip and sponsorship.  Countless ads on TV for feeding children in other countries where you blindly sent money and hoped a child actually would see some of it had made me skeptical of helping out kids who need it.  This however is different.  Not only do I trust my church to know this is a legitimate cause but I get to actually meet the girl we sponsor?  FANTASTIC!  I hope Edeline and her family will be excited to meet me too.  I also hope I can learn a few basic phrases in Haitian French Creole before we go.  I'm going to a country where my native language is not theirs and it seems just a proper and respectful thing to do.  Although with my memory I might not get past learning hello.  But I'm still going to try!

I don't know yet the specifics of what I will actually be doing when we arrive and I'm OK with that.  I will do whatever God has planned for me to do.  Could it be something I've never done before and something I am WICKED UNCOMFORTABLE doing?  Yup.  Could it possibly be or involve some really gross stuff?  Maybe.  Will I do it anyway?  YUP!  My personal comfort is the least important thing here.  The people we are going to visit and help and encourage - THEY are the ones that have priority!

I believe God has called me to go on this trip and so far, His reasons for that aren't 100% clear to me. But that's OK.  I know He's got a plan and whatever part I play in it, I will.  I trust Him completely.  I pray that while I'm there I can be a blessing to someone who really needs me.  I also pray that I can be a blessing to my team and be an encouragement to them when they need it.

I want to ask everyone reading this to please pray for me and this team and for the work God is doing and will be doing through us in the months ahead.

We have been encouraged to journal and since my handwriting is kind of icky I suspect this is where I will journal the most and share with whomever cares to read it my thoughts, feelings and more importantly, my faith.  My faith in God.  My faith in my church.  My faith in the team God has put together to do His work. And...

... my faith in myself.