Faith and Sweat

Final Thoughts

This had to be the best team put together, especially for a mission trip. I have heard many stories about how after about the third day everyone is ready to choke hold each other. Not on this one. It almost seemed as though the longer we were there the more fun we had and the more we connected on our common goal.....LIFE CHANGE. Yes we all missed our families and homes, but we were there to help this orphanage with these kids.

I learned a few things from Siguinde in the many conversations that I had with him. Surprising to me but they are very well dressed. Siguinde said it's because that is all they can control.

He said that drugs and alcohol aren't a problem. This definitely surprised me because where I come from when bad things happen you find drugs or the liquor store. He said they can't afford it and it's really looked down on in their culture. Go to the Lord he said “you will find all you need in Him”. I was blown away to hear this. He taught me a lot. I am thankful for meeting him.

Haiti does not produce it's own power. They share or borrow it from Dominican Republic. Power outages are almost daily because of it. No one seems to mind though. They know it will come back on so they don't worry about it.

The kids desperately want to go to school. They want to have a better life. They want to learn, play games, and see other kids. They don't want to end up on the street in poverty or stuck in a prostitution ring or worse.

I look around and I see devastation and destruction but you would never tell by looking at the faces of the people. You see joy, hope and contentment. The Haitian people are incredibly gracious and thankful. I have a lot to learn from them. To me it seems they have nothing but when you talk to them they have all they need. They also don't expect anything. They seem to know that if they need it, it will become available to them.

In driving through town I also saw a lot of the “tap taps”, (taxis), they were painted beautiful colors with pictures of stories from the Bible. They also had verses painted on them. I saw a lot of “merci Jesus”, which is beautiful anyway but to see it amongst the rubble was pretty powerful to me.

A couple other things that caught my eye were on a wall was painted WE NEED HELP, but in the background was a wooden cross.....wow. The other was in the middle of a turnabout there was this like 20 foot diameter globe with three hands holding it up, that really spoke volumes to me of why we were there. Someone else needed our help and the Lord put it in our hearts to go and help them but also to see so many different countries from around the world descend on Haiti to assist in the recovery of the poorest nation....Thank You Jesus.

As we arrived the words that came to mind were sadness, destruction, horror and heartbreak. As we leave those words have been transformed to love, peace, content and joy.

In the end there are only two kinds of people: those who are lost, and those who have been found.

Everyone asks me “would you go back”? In a heartbeat!!

This experience was incredible and will change my view of people, life and God. Thank you Crossing Church for setting up our orphanage. Thank you to the team for welcoming me into your hearts. Most of all thank you Jesus for allowing me to see and treat people the way You do.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.  Acts 20:24

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.  Romans 13:8