Returning Home

As of right now I don’t have internet but I figured I could write my blog and then publish what I already wrote. If you’re reading this it means I've already got internet, thank you Jesus!!

I made it to my new home safe. Samson, my German Sheppard, is here with me. He did amazing on the trip. I’m not being sarcastic when I tell you I've witnessed a miracle through my dog! He’s only a 6 month old puppy, so he’s obviously not trained. He lived outside at my Aunts house until I came to Haiti. He came and went as he pleased and went to the bathroom wherever he wanted. He also loved to destroy all my aunts’ yard decorations and dig huge holes in her flower garden. When people would come to the house he would bark hysterically at them ignoring the fact that I was screaming at him to stop. Basically, he was a typical puppy. I very big puppy! Samson weighs 60 lbs already and he’s only half grown.

My dad and I drove to Florida and I got on a flight with a private airline called Missionary Flights International. Samson rode in the back of my dad’s truck the entire way there.  Every few hours we would stop and let him out to pee and then he would go right back in his kennel. We got a hotel room and Samson never had an accident on the floor. He never chewed on anything in the room. He was perfect. Then when it was time to board the plane he seen another dog that was flying with us and he started barking. I started praying, “Dear Lord don’t let this crazy dog bark the whole way there.” It was a very small plane with only about 15 people on board and Samson was right behind me in his kennel the whole time. After we got on the plane he never made a sound. It took us about 5 hours to get to Port Au Prince because we made a couple stops along the way. Once we landed I had to take him out of his cage and walk him through customs. A huge puppy walking through a crowed chaotic airport and he hasn't went to the bathroom in over 5 hours! I thought, “There is no way this is going to end well. “ I was wrong. He walked beside me completely calm. Every time I would stop he would stop and sit down beside me. Everyone kept commenting on how well behaved he was!! I said, “It has to be Jesus training him because he’s only a baby.” It was crazy!!

 When we were walking through customs it got a little scary. The customs officials grabbed me and started asking me all these questions in Creole. They were talking so fast I couldn't understand them. Then they started saying, “$70 tax for dog!” I didn't know what to do. I had never been stopped before and they wouldn't let me leave. I had no choice but to give them the money. Who knows if there is really a tax to bring dogs into the country? But even though I was scared Samson was just fine. When we finally got to leave I found some grass nearby and he went to the bathroom. Then we were in Port Au Prince all day getting supplies and he never bothered anyone. Once we finally arrived at the house it was dark. I put a fan on him and after he drank about a gallon of water he immediately fell asleep. 

He’s still mysteriously house trained and he won’t chew anything lying on the floor unless it’s his toys. He’s sleeping by my feet as I’m writing this now.

There is, however, one small problem. The Haitian people are terrified of him! I wanted Samson here for protection. I figured at night he would wake me up if someone was snooping around outside. I had no idea that he would cause people to avoid my house all together. People walk in and Samson will be lying on the floor panting with his ears perked up. He doesn’t act mean or hostile, but grown Haitian men will freak out and start yelling, “Be careful! Be careful! Put him away!” He’s not even doing anything! I took him for a walk yesterday and a group of children started screaming and ran away when they saw him. Haitian dogs start crying and hide when we walk down the street. It’s like I own a mountain lion! They all stand around amazed at the fact I will let him play bite me when we are wrestling. He is definitely doing his job. Everyone in a 10 mile radius now knows the white woman owns a big black monster dog. Hahaha. It’s Hilarious! I keep telling myself that Samson is probably protecting me in ways I will never know about. God knew though. I prayed for God to protect me and he answered my prayers in the form of a dog. It’s the answers to the little things that I always fined amazing. No request is ever to small or to insignificant for him, as long as you’re praying in his will. Thank you Jesus for providing all my needs.

BGILY

How does he do that?

It rained all day yesterday, and it looks like it's going to do the same thing today. That's unusual for Haiti. Well, I can't really say that. It's the rainy season now and I've never lived here during this time. This is probably normal but it's different then what it has been. Our little school was under water this morning. It took us and hour and a half to sweep out all the water that was on the floor. When we finally got the kids inside I didn't really know what I should be teaching them. My day had been cut short because of the weather and lack of students. (some of my kids didn't want to walk in the rain to school). But being a missionary is all about staying on your toes, I guess. Work with what you got! I rounded up what kids I did have and I taught them the story of Noah and the Ark. Kind of seemed appropriate considering the circumstances. The kids were mesmerized by the story. It shocked me how interested they were. I fight for their attention everyday. They never want to listen to my English lessons! But then suddenly God's word is being taught and they're speechless. I've rarely ever seen my kids speechless. Honestly, I didn't think it was even possible. How does Jesus do that? He's so much more interesting then I am. Lucky for me he's on my side!!

Bahaha

So I’m eating dinner with an old Haitian man tonight and we had a little bit of confusion. He looks at me and says “I have some big problem”. Translation “Mwen genyen kek gwo pwoblem”

I thought he said “Mwen genyen tet gwo pwoblem”. Translation “I have a big head problem”.

I felt so bad for the guy. I told him, “Honey, I don’t think you have a big head. It’s normal size.”

Bahahah…. He was looking at me like I was a complete idiot. Finally, someone came in that spoke English and they straighten everything out for us. I still don’t know what his problem was though.

Cross cultural communication gives me nightmares! Help me Jesus!!!!!!

Obstacles and Opportunities

No school again today! We’ve been on Easter break forever!! Seriously, it’s been almost 2 and half weeks now. These people take Holidays every time the President sneezes, I think. They told me school starts tomorrow, after I woke up at 7:00 and got ready for work….lol

Before I came to Haiti my boss told me a million times “the most important characteristic to have as a missionary is adaptability!” He said it so much it got on my nerves. Now that I’ve lived here for awhile I realize why he was saying that. If you’re the type of person that gets bent out of shape if your schedule gets disrupted then you would never make it here. You can just go ahead and throw any schedule you have out the window as soon as you get off the plane. To say this place is unpredictable is an understatement. Its one thing about Haiti that drives me crazy, but it’s also something I love. I’ve begun to love waking up each morning not knowing what God has in store for me. I never know who God wants me to meet or where I’m going to end up. Once I finally let go and trusted God the uncertainties in my life looked more like adventures rather than obstacles. His plan for each one of my days is always better then what I expected anyway.

Next time you find your schedule has been completely disrupted don’t get frustrated. Try looking at it from a different perspective. What first looks like a road block may in fact be a detour to something better. 

Happy Easter!!

I’m finally back home in Peiti Goave, Haiti. I’ve been staying with a Haitian family in a little town about an hour away from here. No running water and very limited electricity for almost two weeks. I don’t know how people survive without showers!! How am I supposed to get all the shampoo out of my hair with only a small bucket of water? It’s impossible!!! I like living more among the people though. My Creole always improves drastically every time I go there. Living so simply is challenging but very rewarding. I had a lot of time to sit and think about what my next move is going to be. I know I have to work with children. I never realized how much I need children in my life until I went two weeks without any. I was so bored! I realized I do enjoy teaching. I just think I would be better teaching in a one on one setting.  I’ve also been wrestling with the idea of volunteering at a hospital. I don’t know what I could do but I’m sure they could use an extra pair of hands somewhere.

Honestly, I don’t have some big extravagant vision about changing this entire country. I never have. For some reason I’ve always felt that God was sending me here for one child. I don’t expect to develop a huge mission organization that feeds millions of people around the world. Thank God for the people that do that. Maybe I’m not giving myself enough credit, but all I want is to be a stepping stone for someone else. I want to lift a child up and then stand back and watch God use them in a mighty way. I doubt there is going to be any great novels written about my life. But at the end of the day, when my kids lay their heads down at night, they’ll know that there’s some crazy white lady that loves them and would move to the other side of the world to show them that. Achieving that much is enough for me…. 

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…..