go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation!: Haiti -- July 2014

I realized there's so much on my mind that I want to write about our Haiti trip that it's a wee bit overwhelming. Which is a good problem to have, I guess. So, I'm going to start with the basic. What our day-to-day looked like.

Day 1 of ministry --
Pastor Steve is pastoring a church in Port Au Prince and he just purchased 1.5 acres of land to build a church. So on Sunday we visited the church and prayed over the land. We know God's going to do big things! There's absolutely no doubt!

Day 2 --
We did a medical clinic at a local school called Belview. Our car had broke down so Pastor Steve got two of his friends to drive a few of us to the school on... motorcycles. First time riding on a motorcycle. It was fun, scary, challenging, exhilarating, and beautiful! The day we did the clinic was report card day for the children so we had about 50 people all who needed some sort of medicine. Most people are suffering from fevers due to the recent outbreak called chickungunya. It's a disease transmitted through mosquitos. Before heading to Haiti, I researched the disease and found the best cure is acetaminophen and lots of water! We probably said, "take two pills every four hours with lots of water" close to 300 times throughout our whole trip. We also gave out lots of prenatal vitamins. I'm thankful we had plenty of those because lots of women were pregnant or nursing and also saying their baby was sick. Prenatal vitamins would help that a lot.

We came home later that day and learned a couple things we could do to make our next clinic go smoother. So we began separating lots and lots of pills into individual bags. Then, we realized we were running out of children's acetaminophen so the guys pulled out their pocket knives and began cutting away at pills to make children's size dosages. You do what you gotta do. And it totally worked!

Then we played with the kids and got ready for church that night. Church in Haiti is approximately 3 hours, 8-11. So we focused on not only keeping ourselves awake, but also the kids. Quite humorous.

Day 3 --
We completed our second clinic in the city of Faligant, which is where we live while in Haiti. We set up 3 stations, a first aid table, a reading glasses table, and a pharmacy table! Pastor Steve did a great job of keeping everyone in line and controlled. It can get really crazy as everyone wants lots of medicine and supplies. I can't blame them though. Pastor Steve joked that we should start charging them 10 cents a pill (it's regularly 25 cents a pill at any Haitian pharmacy)! Obviously kidding, he continued to keep everyone calm.

It was super cool to see the people who needed glasses getting to see so much better. Their smiles were priceless!

Every time we do a clinic we learn more and more of how we can improve and be more efficient and productive!

That afternoon we continued to play with the local kids which involved lots of picture taking, drawing, English lessons, Creole lessons, ring around the rosesies, and soccer.

While we played with the kids, Jonathan and Pastor Steve did pastor training with other local pastors. We weren't apart of that but Jonathan said it went really well and he may have learned more from them than the other way around!

We had the pleasure of seeing a baptism in Bombard! It was beautiful and glorious! One thing I loved is that everyone crowds around the "tub" and sings nonstop hymns as each student was being baptized. Truly a beautiful sight. Jesus was being glorified for sure!

We had dinner and got ready for round two of church by drinking a coke or a cup of coffee! It's necessary, people.

Day 4 --
I woke up feeling bad. My stomach was upset, but that's not too abnormal while in Haiti. So I got ready for the day, had plenty of water and we headed back to Belview to do crafts with the kids! Pastor Steve had a talk with the youth about growing in their spiritual walk with the Lord and learning to stay strong in the hard teenage years! Pastor Steve said they were really receptive and took lots of notes. While he talked with them we did the bible color bracelets with the kids! Really fun and they loved it! We had a translator that explained all the colors of the bracelets to them! Then we got to do the same thing with the youth!

We got back home and I went straight to bed. Things were so busy at the school that I didn't realize how bad I felt. I ended up sleeping the rest of the day. I was so sad to be sick the last day we were in Bombard, but it's just part of the journey.

As my team was at their last church service, I laid in bed hot, sticky, achy and miserable. But the Lord gently nudged me. And then I realized, the Haitians get sick regularly in these conditions but worse. They don't have clean, pure water to drink. They don't have an antibiotic that a doctor prescribed and sent them with for $4. They don't have mosquito nets to prevent disease infected mosquitos from biting them. On days when they're sick, they have to continue working. If they want water, they have to walk miles and miles to get dirty water that makes them more sick. And they have to carry that 5 gallon bucket on their heads up crazy steep hills. God gave me a glimpse into their lives and I was thankful. I am thankful. I'm thankful to have been able to experience that. My eyes are continually being opened. Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to experience all parts of Haiti!

I was so sad to miss the last night of church. And most importantly, I was sad to miss hanging with all my girls that night.

My girl, Claunise, was so sad I wasn't at church. Every night she saves a seat for me. And any time someone tries to sit there she quickly lays down or explains to them the seat is saved. So stinkin sweet. But that night I never came. And I was heart broken.

The next morning Hailey told me that she ran to her mom crying mid-service cause I wasn't there. And then her mom brought her to Pastor Steve's daughter, Jennifer, who explained to her I was sick and couldn't make it. She continued to cry and cry. So Jennifer brought her to my room to let her see that I was asleep and sick. Jennifer said she just sat and stared at me. Oh my heart. I'm so thankful for that little girl and our dearest friendship.

We were in Haiti a total of 8 days, but this was the most of all we did.

More stories to come :)