Hello all. I know you are thinking I'm a blog obsessed person. Really, I'm not sleeping well and so early in the morning or during nap times, I blog. I haven't slept well since I landed Saturday night. First, it was just travel catching up to me. Since Tuesday, it is saddness and worry. Last night Carter dreamt he was trapped in rubble. I've never been a light-hearted, easy-going person. I've always been rather serious and passionate. So, to let this all go and not worry, is impossible for me. I'm currently watching CNN and Ivan Watson is live with men trying to free an 11yr old who is screaming from under the rubble. They may have to cut her leg off. We still haven't heard a word about Immanuel, Nicholson, Markes, and Wilfred. Last night, I was unpacking my Haiti backpack and saw the bracelet Immanuel bought me last Friday. A precious gift and reminder. He has such promise, he has to be alive.
I want to tell you about last Thursday. We began our trek along a dirt road full of huge potholes, way up into the mountains, near Dominican Republic. The village has a new church and school that gvcm.org helped start. We brought our 250 shoeboxes and makeshift medical clinic. The kids streamed in and began singing in Creole. While half the team began distributing the boxes, the medical team set up clinic. We were in a very cute and tiny bamboo hut next to the church. After working about 2 hours, it got noisy outside. I couldn't see what was going on, but Wilfred told us to pack up and leave. We heard drums beating and then firecrackers. It seems our presence had greatly angered the voodoo priest who was standing on the other side of the dirt path, about 100 feet from us. As we began our trek back to the bus, he was standing there yelling and had placed a voodoo doll on the path, hoping to vex us I guess. Thr priest told our interpreter we had to leave because he "felt his power leaving". To this statement, the pastor of the little church shouted "Victory!"
(voodoo priest)
We smiled sweetly and prayed. Once loaded on the bus, we began the drive back. About 30minutes down the road, we got stuck in a deep dip. The back tires weren't touching any road. We all piled out and stood on the side fo the road watching the Haitian young men try various tricks to free the bus. After an hour and a half we were back on our way.
Not 20minutes down the road, we had 2 tires blowout!!! No lie! By this time it was dusk. A very big rule for visitors to Haiti is to be inside by dusk. Well, not gonna happen. We immediately were surrounded by curious village children.
We played little hand clapping games with them, told the story of Peter walking on water, the children sang some hymns for us in Creol. I'm tearing up remembering them singing the praise song "You are my strength when I am weak, You are the treasure that I seek, You are my all in all." Long story short, after 3.5 hours, standing on the side of the road in the dark, we got back to gvcm safe and sound thanks to our tireless knights in shining armour(or trucks!). These men who helped us all week never ate their meals until our team was fed. They carried the heavy supplies up the hills for us. They translated all day. They served and served the Americans. I hated it because it made me feel like a rich white plantation owner with my servants. So, on Friday night, our team leader Christi asked us if we wanted to do a feet washing ceremony to honor the Haitians who had served us all week. We were so happy to do this. Read how Jesus washed his disciples' feet if you don't know what I'm talking about. It was so powerful. Not a dry eye in the place. While some of us knelt and washed feet, the rest of us prayed blessings over the Haitians. I remember specifically asking God to use the bright young men to raise up a generation of mighty men of valor who would lead the people of Haiti. The guys told us that no mission team from the US has ever done that before. I'd say we all bonded in that one week.
The trip all seems a bit silly now. I'm not trying to be melodramatic or discount what we did. But, last week we passed out shoebox gifts to kids and treated minor medical problems in clinics. Today, thousands are dead or buried alive in rubble. My team leader and her husband are flying out in 3 weeks. It was a prescheduled youth camp that has now turned into a relief mission. If money were no object, if I didn't have to work a set number of hours a check to pay for health insurance for me and the kids, if I didn't think my family would have a heart attack at me returning, I'd sign up right now to go help.
How do I put all that aside and go on with the piddly things of life like errands, laundry, watching stupid things like "American Idol"?
(voodoo priest)
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