Adjusted to ANOTHER New Home!

6/17/2012

Well I have officially been in Port-au-Prince for a week now. A new home. A new ministry. A new atmosphere. A new city. A new temperature. After being here a week I am finally feeling adjusted. I feel like I am now adjusted to a new routine. I am used to teaching now. My students know me and I know them. I am slowly but surely learning names and making memories with my students. 

Fridays we don’t have classes which is nice to have 3 day weekends. Friday morning we had a Bible Study...Lauren, Jamie, Cindy and me. We talked through Colossians and all the good things in there. It was a refreshing morning but being around a ‘mom’ figure made me realize just how much I am missing my family back home. The longer I am here the more I am loving Haitian culture. I am loving the relaxed feeling. I love how close I am with God here. I am not ready to readjust to American culture again. I don’t really want to have all the material things I have because I have gotten used to not having them and it was been much nicer than what I thought it would have been. But, I AM ready to see my family again. I am ready to get big hugs and spend time with them...that will come in just a few weeks. 

Saturday we went to downtown Port-au-Prince and went souvenir shopping and saw more of the city. We drove by the Presidential Palace that is still ruined from the earthquake so many years ago. The devastation the building still has is just incredible. After that we came home and Jamie and I baked cookies. Then I got to Skype with my family! Dad figured out how to download and work Skype all by himself and we had a Skype date for an hour. I got to see their faces and hear their voices for the first time in 4 weeks! It was seriously a drink of refreshing water to a super dehydrated body. It made me tear up a bit realizing just how much I miss them but it was so worth it and it was the energy I need to make it through the next 2 weeks. 

This is the outside of the Church building. It reminded me of the
Haunted House at Disneyland! 

Today we went to church at a local church here in Port-au-Prince. This was a very wealthy church with Middle-Upper class attendees. This week there was a choir seminar so there was two large choirs that sang for us. They took offering, then a special offering for the building project. After some announcements, prayer and congregational singing, it was finally time for the sermon. The Pastor couldn’t preach today so it was the Choir Director that preached. After 50 long minutes of fist pumping and nearly yelling into the mike, the pastor said amen and sat down. I have no clue at all what he said, but I could tell the man was incredibly serious and super intense with the message he was delivering. The service was a total 2 hours and 30 minutes long. Later I found out the service was a typical service in terms of length and that the preacher today wasn’t even the screamer. There is ANOTHER preacher who screams even louder and longer than todays! Oh boy, sure makes my Dad seem very passive and mild tempered! :)

This is the inside of the Church building...the LARGEST
building I have been inside during my time in Haiti.

This afternoon I am reflecting on how I even got to Haiti in the first place. Yes, God prompted my heart and got me here but there is more. My Dad has always had a heart for missions and he has always challenged us to be bold with the Gospel and our faith. He has encouraged my sisters and me to listen to and obey God’s word even when it might mean doing something hard. When I first brought up the idea of going on a mission trip to Haiti to work in an orphanage my Dad’s eyes lit up and a smile crept across his face. He said, ‘if you want to do that we will fully support you. If God wants you to go and do this, he will make it happen.’ It was then I knew that no matter what happened with my trip to Haiti, it was all going to be ok in the end. That’s always what my Dad has been, the reminder that even when things are bad and not fun, it will all be okay and soon everything will be better again. I wish I could be spending my Father’s Day with my Daddy. Listening to him preach, taking our traditional afternoon naps, celebrating, laughing and making new memories with him. But I know for a fact that this is where God wants me to be...and I also know that this is where my Dad wants me to be also. 

In just 11 days I will be experiencing my last full day in Haiti. I will finish teaching my last English class. I will be re-packing my bags again to finally be preparing for the long awaited trip home. I will be going to bed in another country for the last time. My time in Haiti is coming to an end and I can’t help but wonder what the rest of my summer and year are going to hold. I am learning to enjoy and live-up as much as I can in each of my days because we never know if this will ever happen again. 

PRAISE God with me for a wonderful Heavenly Father who calls us his children and speaks to our hearts, directing my paths...daily. And PRAISE God for my Earthly Father who is such a great example of a loving parent. He loves me and challenges me to be all that God is calling me to be! I am one blessed child!

Please PRAY that I can remain grounded here in Haiti and focused in my last few days here. PRAY that my teaching continues to go well and that my students can learn from me. 

Happy Fathers Day, Daddy! I love you! <3

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3