Lot's of Work!

I’m leaving for Lucson’s house today. Tomorrow we’ll be driving in to Port-au-Prince to pick up Cayla, Josh, and Eric from the airport. I’m so excited to spend the week with them!! I’m bringing ten boxes of rice with me so we can distribute it out to the people. I also bought 1000 doses of wormer medicine that we plan on giving the children. I just read a statistic that said 90% of Haitian children will suffer from intestinal worms at least one time in their life. That’s insane!!! And it’s completely unnecessary. It takes one little pill to cure that, and they’re not even expensive. So hopefully we can help some people on this trip. I’m really looking forward to being able to build new relationships with the people in Grand Goave while we’re working. People have to trust us before we can help them, so I’m really going to work hard at accomplishing that.

Please keep us in your prayers this week. Pray my friends have a safe flight here. I’ll keep you updated when I get back.

Next Year

It’s been 7 months now that I’ve lived in Haiti. In a way it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but it also feels like I’ve been here forever. Lately I’ve really been thinking about the future. With my summer break fast approaching I’m wondering what next year is going to bring. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I want to be here. But where at here? And what should I do while I’m here. Somehow teaching English for another year doesn’t seem like enough. I wouldn’t mind teaching English. I just don’t think I want to do it as a full time job. I want to have the freedom to other things too. And what about my living arrangements? Right now, the place that I’m staying feels like The Hilton. I have tile floors and running water. We have a generator here that gives us electricity now almost all day. It makes me question if I could/should handle something a little more difficult. I have the option of living more among the people. Paul wrote in the bible that we should become all things to all men so that we may save a few. I understand what he’s trying to say. If I want to help the Haitians; first I have to become one. But I also fully understand now how difficult that is. Every weekend I’ve been staying  in a town called Grand Goave. There is no running water, no electricity, and no privacy. The privacy thing is the hardest. All I have is a thin white sheet to hide behind while I use the bathroom. Lord help me if I ever get sick there. Every day we have to walk down the road to get water. We fill up buckets and then carry them back. I have a toilet but I have to pour water from a bucket into it to make it flush. I don’t know how I would do that if I was sick! And having stomach problems is just a way of life here. Also the food situation is scary too. Let’s just say Haitian kitchens are a health inspector’s nightmare.  I never cared about that kind of stuff when I first moved here, but I changed my mind a little after I got food poisoning a couple times. It sucks!!

All these things make me question whether or not I can survive getting closer with these people. But Paul’s words always echo in my ear; “we must become all things to all men”.

As hard as it is every time I visit Grand Goave I can’t wait to go back. My Creole gets better with every visit. I’m a little bit more relaxed too. If God is calling me there I know he’ll give me the strength to deal with the obstacles I’ll face. Trusting him, that’s the key. Trusting and obeying….. 

We need healing!

I was sitting in the teacher’s office yesterday and one of my students came in crying. I assumed he had got into a fight or he was in trouble for something, but he said he had a toothache.  We gave him some Tylenol and sent him back to class. Later when I left the office I saw him again standing outside the school. Huge tears were running down his face. He was leaning his head against the wall jerking back and forth in pain. I hadn’t realized how much pain he was in until then. It was terrible. I didn’t know what to do. There was nothing to do. Even if I had the money there isn’t any dentist in Haiti. I prayed for him. I prayed God would take the pain away. That he would give him comfort. I hope he’s better today. God has to heal him because I don’t think toothaches will heal by themselves. It will eventually get infected and after that who knows.

Please pray for this child. He was hurting so bad! The only option we can hope for is super natural healing. I have to give this one to God. It’s his only chance….

Maybe....

Wow! It’s been a crazy week!!

We had a group from Texas come and stay at our orphanage. They had twenty people with them. The best thing about when a group comes to stay is all the great food the cooks prepare for them.  They cook spaghetti, chicken, and goat. It’s really good. Anything different from rice and beans taste amazing to me. 

Two of the days they were here we set up a free medical clinic. The first one was for all the kids that go to my school. The second was in a community about 15 minutes down the road from where I live. We set up giant tents in the middle of a field. The people came in and saw a nurse. Then we gave them a new pair of shoes and some rice. Before they left we had someone pray for them. We ended up seeing almost 100 families. I’ve done clinics before, but this one hit me a little differently. I could understand Creole enough to listen to what the mothers were saying about their babies. I guess it impacted me more to talk with people one on one and not need a translator. So many of them brought babies to us with fevers and stomach aches. Many could not sleep and were in pain. They all needed real doctors but we did the best we could for them. Never again will I complain about anything when I walk into a doctor’s office. Seeing a doctor is such a privilege. I never really understood that until now.

The last day the group was here we spent the morning at the beach.  That’s one thing I’m going to be forever spoiled about. Haiti has the most gorgeous beaches. I don’t think any other beach will ever impress me now..lol.  There is a part of me that gets so aggravated when I see the beaches here. Haiti could have such a wonderful tourist industry if they could get a decent government.  But maybe that’s why I’m here. I have to raise the next president. All it takes is one kid with the right teachings and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to grow up and change this entire country for the better. Maybe that’s why God sent me. Maybe……

That was crazy

For some reason I’ve had horrible encounters with wild animals the last few days. Last night I opened my bedroom door and there was a tarantula crawling down the hallway. Yes! A tarantula. It was big and hairy. I’ve seen them before, but only in cages. I felt so much braver when I was looking at it in a glass box. Everyone kept telling me to kill it, but how?? The thing was bigger than a mouse. It’s not like I could have stepped on it. It probably would have picked me up and threw me across the room!! Then one of my friends told me a story about his dad getting bit by one. He put his shoe on and the spider was down inside his shoe. Oh man, I’m never going to be able to put a pair of tennis shoes on again without looking inside first. And now that you’ve read this you won’t either..hahaha.

Then today after school I was sitting at our kitchen table reading a book. The kids were particularly quiet at that moment. It was a menacing kind of quiet. Three little boys approached me with the grins only little boys can pull off. They said “Miss Carrie for you”. I looked up and screamed. They had somehow managed to catch a live bird and they put it two inches from my face. The poor thing was squawking and screeching trying to get away. Then the little monsters let it go!! It started flying around the room in a total panic. I was hysterical at this point. I leaped under the table narrowly avoiding the bird’s wings as it was frantically flying around the room. Of course the children thought this was the most hilarious thing they had ever seen. After threatened them with every possible thing I could think of they caught it and I made them take it outside. By the end of it the bird and I were equally traumatized.

If God has a sense of humor (which I’ve always believed that he does) I’m sure he got a pretty good laugh out of that J