Bonjour Friends

Bonjour (good morning) dear friends.  Or, if you’re reading this after the lunch hour then bonswa! (good afternoon/evening.)

I bet a lot of you have been waiting in eager anticipation for this first week’s full update on my life in Haiti…or maybe you haven’t ;)  Either way, I had a pretty amazing week.  There were certainly downers in the week but the Lord is faithful and I was definitely more blessed than anything else.

This week, as you probably could have guessed, consisted of a mish-mash of “firsts”.  I bought my own groceries for the first time.  I rode a Tap Tap (One of the main forms of transportation) for the first time.   I went on a rescue mission for the first time.  I ate a pig-goat-squash-applsaucey-goop for the first time.  And because of that, I spent all night up every hour with the runs…for the first time. (I know some of you didn't want to know that) I played Ninja with a group of Haitian kids for the first time.  I rode a Taxi Moto all by myself, and paid for it with Haitian Gourdes…for the first time;)  I made my own home cooked meal in my own apartment for the first time.  I moved into an apartment for the first time.   I already referred to my apartment as home for the first time.  I played soccer with a group of big and very buff Haitian security guards for the first time.  I thought I was legitimately going to get mugged for the first time.  I had to/ have to plan and create my own after school plans, activities, and bibles stories for the kids for the first time.  I got to ride on the roof of a car for the first time.  I got to be part of a specially selected group to decide which meal would be best for my first meal that I was to make myself on my Hot Plate (which I just used for the first time).  The verdict chosen by the elite group (me, myself, and I) was good ole Ramen Noodles.  And I saved this for last because it is my personnel favorite; I got called a gay witch doctor for the first time. :p  So as you can see I’ve had a lot of firsts this week.  It’s been a great week of learning how to live in a totally different world then the one I’m used to.  It’s a great learning process though.  The more I have learned and experienced the more I feel settled in and comfortable. 

I wanted to elaborate on one of the “firsts” for you.  This was my highlight and just such a blessing to me.  Giving Hope Rescue Mission (the organization I’m with) does rescue missions every so often.  Once in a while they will receive a call asking them to come pick up a kids or kids that can’t be taken care of, or that has been rejected or abandoned.  Sometimes on rescue missions the missionary(ies) have had to pull children out of dumpsters, ditches, and even on one extreme case from an altar.  GHRM has rescued and saved so many kids over the last few years since they've been a ministry.   As I mentioned a few times already I had the privilege of being a part of one of these missions.  Last Monday we received a call asking if we would come to a nearby hospital and pick up two kids.  My thought is, “hmmm…we’re going to a hospital.  This can’t be a good situation.  I wonder what happened.  Did someone try and murder the kids?  Did someone try and beat them?  Did they have some deathly disease?”  These were the thoughts racing through my mind.  So, as we walked into the hospital and I got to see what a hospital in Haiti looks like, my thoughts again were, “Yep!  No one can be in a place like this and be in good health or doing very well.”  It was grungy.  The floor was grimy.  The sheets looked stained.  There were clusters of people everywhere waiting on the one doctor to see them.  It just seemed like a place where germs and disease breed and are not healed.  So after about twenty minutes of waiting the kids were brought to us.  I was so surprised!  Alex and Darlene were two eight year twins who were in perfect health and what was even so much more amazing and filled my heart with joy were their beaming smiles.  From the time we picked them up, to the entire half hour care ride, and even to after we dropped them off at crèche, this boy and girl were just rays of sunlight. Since then, every day when I have been over to the crèche they great me with their radiant smiles and joyful spirits.  They can’t speak English and I can’t speak Creole, but I was so impacted and blessed by these little kids.  I would say that their smiles and delighted spirits blessed me more than any words would have.  So that was my first rescue mission experience and the highlight by far of this week.

I just wanted to thank everyone again for your support…whether it is through prayer or finances.  You guys are what is making this trip possible.  Keep checking in and I’ll keep updating you weekly.  Blessings =)