Today started bright and early with an 7:55am
flight to Miami from Atlanta. We then had a five hour layover with time to nap,
eat, get Stew mother's day flowers, and text our last goodbyes to friends and
family. Then we were off to Port-au-Prince, Haiti!! Now God is completely aware
of how tall He made me, and how it is logical that i moved my seat to the isle
for a reason... but He was going to have none of this easiness on His trip, so
I was convinced by a very chatty lady with WAY too much perfume to let her have
my seat while I squeeze in the middle. The guy who comes and sits in the middle
(God Bless him) was an Oklahoma soccer player named Khalil, who had DREDS. So
now I am feeling real stupid for switching my seat away from AUMC people, only
to end up next to a college kid who doesn't shower and an old lady who only
showers in Chanel #5. And of course, God completely washed those judgements
away when Khalil and I had the deepest conversation two strangers could have on
a two hour flight. He is a summer missionary for Missions of Hope, with an
incredible heart for the Lord. It was incredible how many giggles and
stories came out of that plane ride. After our great conversation, I was
ready for Haiti!
I waited for my airport partner (aka battle
buddy), Chase, to get off the plane so we could face the ghetto airport
together.Very quickly we got hit with the heat and disorganization/chaos of
Haiti, and finally made it to Sherrie's truck. I got the privilege to ride in
the air conditioned part of the truck with Sherrie (one of the perks of having
gentlemen on the trip), and she got to tell us a little about Haiti as we were
driving back to Christian Light Ministries. We drove on solely potholes the
entire way passing by pigs eating trash of the road and tent cities/poverty
galore. However, the only problem Sherrie talked about was the education. The
teachers don't have a proper education, so obviously the children will not
either. The kids are extremely intelligent (knowing four languages), but they
just don't have the opportunity to learn as much as they could. Being an
education major, it kills me to hear this and just makes me want to come and
teach kids who appreciate their education more the Americans, even though it is
not as good. When we arrived to Christian Light Ministries, we got to play with
the 38 orphans and the 2 dogs (Snoopy and Shep). It was a lot of love
everywhere, but I could not help but notice the infrastructure of where we were
living. It was completely in construction, rebar sticking out everywhere and
ladders and supplies all about. There is no one who would be allowed to live in
a building like this, especially with children, in America. It was wonderful in
the girls room with new tile and pretty curtains, but with the power going out
every few seconds, it was difficult to stay cool on the top bunk without the
fans going. I'll only say this once, but just know it is VERY HOT in Haiti! We
ate a delicious dinner and met on the roof for a breakdown of the week and
prayer time. Our main prayer was over the spiritual warfare here. Haiti had
been a country of voodoo before the earthquake, when thousands of Christians
swarmed in, but you could still see some of it's effects still today. Sleep was
very welcomed after a long day of travel.
