Just Like Us

As many of you know I just returned from my fourth trip to Haiti.  I have completely fallen in love with the country, the people, and most of all the precious children/orphans.  I often remember how scared, not even two years ago, I was preparing for my mission trip, and how God has taken that fear and turned it into a love Haiti relationship as Mission of Hope would say!  While many argue that short term missions do not serve the people of a third world country well, and that many times it is more of a reverse mission, I have to say that the work God is doing through Mission of Hope is working and Haiti is changing:)  All four of my trips, I feel as though I have taken home with me a different message; this trip was no different.

The way our trip was designed, we were to have two work days, two village days, and one beach/debrief day.  This is exactly how my trip in November was set up, so I was prepared for this trip and was ready to pray for people in the villages and was ready to paint some houses or do whatever type of work needed to be completed.

Monday morning, our first work day, we were told we would be doing some gardening.  Not going to lie, while I tried not to verbally express my dislike for this task at hand, I was less than thrilled.  I have no green thumb, and have never gardened a day in my life, not to mention, the soil/dirt in Haiti is rock solid, as they rarely get rain.  We were assigned to the AWESOME village of Leveque and they wanted to plant Mango and Avocado trees, so I knew it was for a good cause!  All of the 7 girls in our team of 10 tried to use the pick axe, and all had good fun with it, but even the village champions said, "You are girls, you are not strong enough."  So, most of us girls decided to hold sleeping babies/children, this girl was completely fine with Plan B.  That afternoon when we arrived back at the village, they decided that the roads needed some work, so they wanted us to go and basically move dirt around to fill in huge holes in the ground, we had another church team from Michigan join us, so again we had too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak.  That was okay by me, most of us were still holding kids.  The MOH staff then told us they had some painting that needed to be completed in the deaf village, to which I eagerly volunteered.  Can you tell I was ready to get away from the gardening tools and road work.  We pained two houses or did touch up work, painted windows and trim, and put the second coat on the outside of the house.  Overall it was a great workday.



Susan, Dave, and Haley digging to plant Mango and Avocado trees in Leveque!



working on the windows

My dad said I was holding the brush wrong, ha.. did he look at those windows?

Lynn and Hannah working hard

 Tuesday was our first village day.  On my first mission trip with MOH in November 2012, I struggled with village time, as it is hard to walk up to people's homes/tents with a translator, knowing they are more than likely starving, not knowing where their next meal is coming from, and fully trust that God is going to provide.  That was my huge lesson and take away from my third trip.  Not allowing myself or our team in November to receive the credit or to be the fixers and to pray, trusting faithfully, and fully in that moment that God will provide for their every need.  If he cares for the birds, he cares for the people in the villages of Haiti even more!  I wanted to provide food or to give them things I had in my bag, but we were not allowed.  MOH believes that the glory should always go to God, which I understand fully support, but as Americans and coming from a first world country we think we can fix it all.  I was actually looking forward to village time this year, as I wanted to genuinely listen to their stories and pray for them.

The very first house we approached, we met a lady, Olivia.  This was my only God moment of the week.  We began talking to her via our translators.  We find out she was a Christian (not always the case, as many Haitians practice voodoo).  We find out a little more about her and then we ask if we can pray for anything specifically and she says, she would like for us to pray for her to find a husband.  That's right, you read that correctly.  Our team had decided we would each take turns praying for the people we met that day, and normally I am not the one in the group that would eagerly volunteer to be first to pray out loud, but God had different plans.  As soon as I heard Olivia's request, I turned to the other team members standing there and said, "do you all mind if I pray for her?"  Of course, my team members had no problem.  This prayer is all to familiar for me, personally, and I was so blessed to be praying this prayer for my sister in Christ in Haiti.  After I finished praying, I was completely overcome with emotion.  I had to walk away and gather myself, as I couldn't stop crying.  Here's the thing, I think so many times, we think that our lives are so completely different from others who live in third world countries, but they are not that different in terms of what our heart's desires are or what we pray for.  This was my sister in Christ, and at the end of the day, while the "material things" she has or doesn't have are different, her greatest heart's desire was the exact same as mine.  It was such a powerful reminder to me that morning in the village.  I paid attention to other requests throughout the week.  We had requests for work to continue or for jobs so the family would have food, for health (many requests for good health or for an illness to go away), and for food.  Many of us in our daily lives pray for similar things, while we may not pray for a job in the market, we may be praying for a job in Corporate America or to not be unemployed any longer.  Cancer is everywhere and sadly so many people deal with it, so many of us are asking everyday for healing.  We have better access to healthcare so maybe our requests are more specific as theirs are for general healing as they may not be able to go to the doctor to find out what is wrong.  Regardless, the message I took from this village day was that our brothers and sisters in Christ are the same no matter where you live, no matter what ethnicity, what conditions and we all have similar desires/needs, but they may look a little different.  I was so thankful that God put me in that place at that time.

God answered so many prayers while we were in Haiti.  I think a lot of times when you are on a mission trip or in a third world country, you have less distractions.  At home, we are so busy that I think we miss the answered prayers.  While in the village, one day, we prayed with a lady, Rosemita, and as she was accepting Christ, a huge wind/breeze came through.  It was like the Holy Spirit provided this powerful wind/breeze just at that time, as it was incredibly hot this afternoon.  Another great example, our last day in the villages, after digging many holes for mango and avocado trees, we prayed for rain.  We knew that it would be so crucial that these planted trees get much needed water in order to grow.  Our team prayed a beautiful prayer, but Guy specifically prayed for the much needed rain and that night it rained like I have never seen in Haiti.  So much so that while on main campus, we had a dance party in the rain, it was so much fun.  Like when do we do this at home... NEVER.  We did the Cupid Shuffle in the rain, I felt like I was a kid again.  Susan, Lynn, Hannah, Gabrielle, Haley, Michele and I were all having so fun.  At some point during the rain storm, our whole team acknowledged how awesome it was that God was answering our prayers for rain. 

Before our team joined in on the dance party, but it was so fun!  Answered prayer for RAIN:)

The whole week we spent time in Leveque.  It was so nice to spend everyday in the same village.  There were so many babies and young children in this village.  As everyone knows, I love children and especially babies!  All week, every time we would come up to a house with a baby, I was so excited to hold the baby.  The babies are so precious, so loveable (what baby isn't though), and I think my heart could literally just explode as I am holding these precious little ones.  On Wednesday night, we were sharing our only God moments with our team, and I shared my Olivia story.  I shared that it is no secret that my greatest heart's desire is to be a wife and a mom.  Hannah, Lynn's almost 12 year old daughter, on our team, perks up after we had all shared our experiences so far from the week, and she says, "Miss Kelsey, I think you are going to be a great mom one day."  I am pretty sure all the women were a little teary eyed, if not full on crying like Lynn and I were.  It was seriously one of the sweetest moments.  Hannah, if you are reading this, know that it meant so much to me and I love you so much.  All week I felt as though God was sending messages through people I either knew or had met, reminding me to be patient and wait on His timing.  Our intern for the week, Paige, says to me on our last night, "I bet your husband laughs constantly."  I informed her that I wasn't married.  She couldn't believe it.  She said, "I really thought you were married with kids.  Well, your husband is going to be so lucky and he is going to laugh a lot.  Not to mention what a great mom you will be, you are great with the kids."  This was a girl that I had only known for approximately six days.  I fought back the tears that time.  When I was finally able to post pictures, I posted a few of some of the sweet babies, one in particular that I could have stayed with her family and loved on her the rest of our trip after we met her sweet family.  Many of my friends back home were commenting and saying very sweet things about how I was going to be a great mom some day.  I am not writing this part to praise myself (not my style), but just really to give praise to God and thank him for sending messengers/friends in my life that have reminded me to be faithful and trust in his timing.

Pretty sure she is the cutest little thing, loved her:)

Lastly, my team was such a blessing this trip.  All of my teams for all of my trips have been a blessing, one isn't necessarily better than the other, but I am so thankful for this team.  I got to know more people from my church, formed close relationships with many of them, and was so thankful for how God carefully orchestrated who would be on this trip.  All the laughs, encouragement, tears, and memories were a great experience and I am thankful to have served with them!

Gabby and Hannah with Segline, such a cutie:)

One of sweetest things, Simon cutting bracelets for all the kids in Leveque!

In front of the church in Leveque

Love this shot of our team, LOVE YALL!