Experiencing Haiti

The first week of august was fairly significant in our lives here at the mission. Not only did it signify the last group of short term teams for the year, but it was also when all of our interns from the summer headed home.  It’s kind of bittersweet, it’s a lot calmer around here when all the groups are gone, but it also means that there is a lot less ministry going on. Plus, saying goodbye to a bunch of great interns that you have come to know and love. It’s kind of like losing a whole bunch of your family all at once.

However, I was super excited because my sister Corinna came in with the last group for a visit! Not only was it great to see here and visit, but I also was able to go out with her and experience Haiti. It had occurred to me that other than a coup0le of trips with the Miriam Center kids to Bonneau, I really had not left the Saint Louis campus since I’ve been here in March. Not that there weren’t plenty of opportunities in the last few months, but there just always seemed to be so much to do around here. I had decided that, since I wanted to spend as much time as I could with Corinna while she was here, I would take the opportunity to tag along with her group as they went out around the country.

It was really a great but tiring week! As well as doing all my regular work around campus, I was able to sneak out and do some “hut to huts”, where we just went out into the community, going where the spirit lead, and stopping at homes to talk with the families and to pray with and for them. This was an interesting experience, just walking out through the area around the mission, searching out those that we felt led to find, and praying for them.

We took off one morning for the isle of Tortuga, just about an hour sailboat ride off the coast of Haiti. It was a beautiful sail to the island, although I have to admit I’m not a big fan of the ride J Once we made it to Tortuga, our group split up into two, one providing a VBS and playing with the local kids for a couple of hours, the other group ran a medical clinic for the time we were there. Can you guess which one I was a part of? That’s right! I was blessed to help out the nurse and 2 medical students that were with us that week, to help organize and disperse the needed meds they prescribed. It was very interesting seeing the variety of medical issues coming in, but it was difficult (and I’m sure very difficult for the medical people) to try to help people with the meager medical supplies that we had to offer. But, they did a great job, and before you knew it we had seen around 30 – 40 patients and it was time to pack up our goodies, head to the beach, and wade out to the boat and start the trip back.

The next day we traveled to Anse Lafleur (pronounced Awn-sah-fa-lore), a town on the coast where unfortunately the practice of Voodoo is still extremely prevalent. I was very interested to go to, as I have been interested in trying to learn more about the “religion” of voodoo, and why people would choose to believe in a “faith” based in fear, intimidation and pain. The trip to Anse Lafleur was as uneventful as any other road trip in Haiti, and soon we were pulling over on a side street in town. We got out and started walking up towards a pretty steep looking hill. When asked, our Intern guides said it was an easy 10 minute walk up to the Monument. At this point, I would like to stop to express my amazement at what some people would consider an easy walk. As I clambered up the hill, climbing over rocks and past small Voodoo alters, I began to wonder if this was just some kind of hazing ritual our interns had come up with to torment the teams, but finally, we rounded a corner and were presented with a beautiful view of the ocean and Anse Lafleur, as well as the broken and scorched remnants of a huge cross. The story goes that many years ago, the Catholic Church built an enormous cross overlooking Anse, in order to claim the town for Christ. Sometime later, the cross collapsed in a huge storm, and at the same time a “magic” doll fell from the sky, so everyone in town took that as a sign, and embraces voodoo and the doll as their god. The doll is still enshrined in town, and apparently for the right price, you can get in to see her. Or there are all sorts of comemerative  souvenirs for sale in town J

Anyway, back to the monument. We gathered at the base of the monument and prayed for the people of Haiti, that they would be released from the bondage of voodoo and come to know the love of Christ. Following our prayer, we ventured back down the mountain to a small private beach, where we did a short VBS and spent some time just playing with the kids. A couple hours later, after we were all thoroughly exhausted, we loaded up, stopped for a quick bite at a local restaurant, and headed back toward St. Louis.

One Afternoon we took the walk down through town and to the waterfall, about an hour and a half away. It was a nice, fairly simple walk, and we soon ended up at the waterfall.  The waterfall itself wasn’t huge, but was quite beautiful, and it was really nice to see some of the natural beauty of Haiti, and just relax for a bit.

As we were walking back, I was smacked really hard on the top of my head by something, hard enough to snap my teeth together and stagger me a bit. As I turned around to see who had hit me with what, the people behind were laughing and pointing at a huge mango that apparently had fallen from the tree and cracked me right on the head. The Haitians all assured me that it is a sign of good luck, but the lump on my head said otherwise J (and yes, I did take my vengeance on the mango and ate it)

 One of my favorite activities was to go with the short term group and the Miriam Center kids to Bonneau, a playground about a half hour bus ride away, built for the Miriam Center kids. This was an especially fun trip for me as I got to take Sandley along for his first time. We rode down the slide together; we got to go see a cow and a goat. It was a wonderful morning spent with all the MC kids, but especially great to share with Sandley and Corinna!

 One of the last things we did was to go and spend some time at the nearby city of LaPointe. Right next to the hospital in LaPointe, is a small orphanage that is mainly geared towards helping kids who are rehabbing from surgeries or injuries, but has become

We arrived and set up for a short lesson and craft with the kids, then the fun really began!  We broke out tons of bubbles, jump ropes, balls and other fun stuff and spent a couple of hours just playing with the kids. It was really a lot of fun, and I think that we were as sad to go as they were to see us go.

 This was really a great week, to not only get to see Haiti, but to share it with family as well! I’ll admit, some of the things I am more than happy to say that I tried once, and don’t necessarily need to do again, but some of the experience I hope to be able to do again soon!

I am a Missionary....

One of  my missionary friends here had found this and posted it on Facebook. I liked it and thought I would share it.

My calling is sure. My challenge is big. My vision is clear. My desire is strong. My influence is eternal. My impact is critical. My values are solid. My faith is tough. My mission is urgent. My purpose is unmistakable. My direction is forward. My heart is genuine. My strength is supernatural. My reward is promised. And my God is real. I refuse to be dismayed, disengaged, disgruntled, discouraged, or distracted. Neither will I look back, stand back, fall back, go back or sit back. I do not need applause, flattery, adulation, prestige, stature or veneration. I have no time for business as usual, mediocre standards, small thinking, normal expectations, average results, ordinary ideas, petty disputes or low vision. I will not give up, give in, bail out, lie down, turn over, quit or surrender. I am a missionary. That is what I do.

While I can’t say that I am all that is described here, I do see myself, and I know I am ever growing as He leads.

6/28/12 ~ HARD

If I had to some up my thoughts and feelings about Haiti, “Hard” is about the best I can come up with. As the last two months has crawled by here, I have come to the unerring conclusion that everything about Haiti is hard. Haiti is incredibly hard on everything. The rough roads beat vehicles to pieces. The salt air causes everything to rust in no time. The heat and humidity make life miserable for everyone. The water, when you find it is full of calcium and other assorted nasty things and will probably get you sick.  The ground is thin and rocky, and the only thing that grows the most is mosquitoes, which again, will probably get you sick. Haiti is really hard on the people who live here, making them old before their time, and wearing them down. Everything about Haiti is so difficult, it really makes me wonder if anyone should actually live here, or just abandon the whole country to the insects and go somewhere better. Haiti is really, really hard on missionaries. Trust me, I speak from personal experience. I have been bitten by more mosquitoes then I can count, and continue to be their favorite snack! I have heat rash, I can barely sleep. Most days I’m so exhausted and dehydrated that just making it through the day is a chore. I have several weird sores on my legs that won’t seem to go away, and I have a fungus on my big toe that I think may cause it to fall off soon. The food ranges from bland to scary (if I never again have to eat beans & rice, it would be too soon), and you quickly learn to eat for the purpose of living, not to enjoy.

Haiti is hard, and I can truthfully say that if someone offered me a plane ticket home tomorrow, I would go. I would go back home to Indiana, enjoy some time with all my friends and family, eat some good food, and sleep in my bed. It would be great.

Then, I would re-supply, pack back up and head back to Haiti.

Here’s the thing: No matter how hard Haiti is, no matter how much it feels sometimes like the entire country is trying to kill me, I have seen the beauty here, and I know now more than ever that I have been called to serve here. I have seen the beauty of a people and a country, that no matter how much the devil tries to hurt them, still stand tall and worship the Lord with all their might. I have seen the beauty of lives that have been changed in the Miriam Center, where children with special needs ( who are abandoned and shunned by Haitian society) are growing and flourishing, learning to walk, to talk, even going to school. I have seen beauty as the Miriam center has reached out to parents of these kids, showing them how to love and care for them, changing the attitudes, one family at a time. I have seen beauty in the lives that have been changed through visiting surgical teams, who work tirelessly, helping as many patients as they can, fixing everything from Hernias to Club Feet and anything in between. I have heard beauty in the sound of newborn babies, delivered safely in our Birthing Center. I have seen beauty in the faces of the Gran Moun, the elderly who live on campus. In Haitian society, if you’re too old to work, you’re too old to eat, so many of these people would be left to die. Yet here they have a place, a society, a reason to go on. I have seen the beauty of a church service, filled to overflowing, with praise and devotion so powerful, you think the roof is going to come off the church. And i have seen the beauty in a people, that no matter how hard their life is, that are quick to smile, to tell you hello, to offer a hand in friendship. And I have seen the beauty of God’s love in the passion, commitment, caring, dedication and love of the American missionaries that I am privileged to serve alongside. They are simply amazing people, and I count myself blessed daily to be able to work with them, to help them by supporting their ministries, using my God given gifts and talents to serve our Lord and Savior!

IIn my time in Haiti, I have been broken by God again and again. Everytime I think I have a handle on my life here, God shows me again and again how wrong I was. I have come to look forward to learning everyday what new ways I can be stretched, what new ways God can show me how to truly feel others pain, how to truly love, how to truly serve. I don’t claim to know the future, nor what God has planned for me. I do know that I have been called to serve in Haiti, and I serve with a glad heart, a weary body, and the knowledge that great things are being done for the Kingdom, and I am honored to answer Jesus’ call in Luke 10:2

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Haiti is an amazingly hard, extensively difficult, brutally demanding country. What better place can there be to serve?

4/12/12 ~ A Day in the Life..

Hey all, I just wanted to do a quick update, and share with you a day in the life, so to speak, of a maintenance person in Haiti.

Problem: Need to install a new washer and dryer to be used by the Miriam Center.

Hurdle: Water and electricity already run, appliances moved into place, just need a hose for the washer, a exhaust line for the dryer and a cord for the dryer.

Solution:

In the U.S. ~ Run to Wal-Mart, pick up needed supplies, return home and install hoses, test washer and dryer.

In Haiti ~
1) Talk to plumbing guy on campus to determine we don't have what we need here. Best bet is to find the parts in Port du Paix.

2) Get cash for parts and travel to Port du Paix, walk to downtown St Louis and board a tap-tap to PdP. ( The funny thing about this experience, when me and my guide boarded the tap-tap, there were only 5 people in the bed of the truck. by the time we got to Port du Paix, there were 38 people, 2 boxes of clothes, about 10 cases of empty beer bottles, a ton of bananas and assorted fruit, some empty diesel cans, etc)

3) Arrive in PdP, disembark from tap-tap and begin searching local "hardware stores" for needed parts. Cant find parts, but every place suggests somewhere else to try.

4) No parts at nearest places, so we board 2 moto's (scooters) and widen our search area for parts. (and yes, before you ask, the sight of me hanging on to a small Haitian on the back of a beat up little scooter, flying through the streets did get quite a few strange looks)

5) After about 2 hours, 250 Haitian Gourds (equal to 50 Haitian dollars or about $ 6.25 U.S.) and too many stores to count, we determine that no matter how many back-alley places we visit, they either don't have the parts, or we just can't find them, we decide the parts may be in Port au Prince, so we head our motos back to where the tap-taps gather on the outskirts of PdP, and head home to St Louis. Did I mention that it is raining by now?

6) Pile into a different tap-tap to head for St Louis ( this one is a smaller truck, with only about 17 people in the back, plus cargo. This truck also has the endearing trait of dying every time he stops, and only wants to start back up about half the time, necessitating the driver to get out and whack the starter with a piece of metal to get it started)

7) Return to St. Louis campus with no parts, no hope of parts, and 350 Gourds lighter.

8) New goal is to try and find out tomorrow where they got the parts for the other washers and dryers on campus at the last time, and go from there.

9) Take a shower, call it a night and dream of a Wal-Mart or Home Depot opening up just down the street.

10) Wake up tomorrow and start again!

One undeniable conclusion I have reached about my service in Haiti, is that it will be an adventure, and will most assuredly teach me about patience. thank you God for allowing me to serve your Kingdom, and for all of the great blessing you have shown me!


Good night all, and God bless you all!

Justin

4/1/12 ~ Safe and Sound

Well, after much stress and anxiety, I finally made it here to my new home in St. Louis du Nord Haiti! It's been a long journey to get here, not necessarily physically, but spiritually and emotionally as well. After years of praying for god to show me a place to serve, I am here and ready to go. it has been very bittersweet leaving my friends and family back home, but I (and they) know that this is where God wants me to be, and i know I go with their prayers and support.
I was welcomed to my new home with open arms, much happiness and the promise of plenty of things that need doing. Even though the campus has changed quite a bit since September, it really does feel good to be back, and I'm excited to get to work.

The journey itself was actually pretty smooth, other that a big rain storm that delayed my flight from Indy to Miami. Instead of getting into Miami about 9pm, we ended up getting there about 11:30, which made for a very short night when I had to leave back for the airport at 4am. But that's probably OK, i don't think I could have slept much, even if i had the time :-) I got to meet a lady named Barb on the shuttle to the airport who was also traveling to Northwest. She is from Indiana as well, but her flight schedule had routed her through Cincinnati, so we didn't meet until that evening. She had been to NWHCM several times, and was returning for the week. It was great to have somebody to talk to in the shuttle and in the airport. Once in the airport, we met up with several other groups that were going down, and we all had a good time hanging out in the airport.

The flight to Haiti went without problem, and i was pleased to see that all of my luggage made it to Haiti. After the maddening rush of getting our luggage, going through customs and finding Jacques (the gentleman from NWHCM whose daunting job it is to get all of us off of planes and where we need to go, as well as getting us out when we leave) we made our way outside where we split up. Most of the group would be taking the bus ride to St. Louis and barb and I were flying. We left the group and all our luggage at the bus, and headed to the airport, where we waited several hours for another couple of groups to come in that were on different flights to Haiti. Once everyone was there, we waited for the next flight to Port du Paix, when another small problem presented itself. We had 18 missionaries (including myself) heading to PdP, but the plane only holds 17. So, I volunteered to hang out for the next flight, and let the others go. I figured I'm here for 7 months, i can wait a little bit. About 2 hours later I boarded the plane to head out.
The ride from PdP to St Louis was as exciting as ever, and I finally made it to the campus just in time for dinner (after a round of greetings and hugs), then took a look at my new digs. It was a great blessing that Ed Ginter, who had just left Haiti, left me a bunch of things to help get me settled. It is such a blessing, not only for the stuff, but for the thoughts and care he left to help me feel at home. Thanks Ed, you're a great guy and i hope we meet again someday.
Well, that's all for now. I have a bunch of pictures, but i have not been able to figure out a way to get them from Ipod to computer to Blog. (if anyone has any suggestions, please shoot me a line) But I'm hopeful I will get them up sometime.
Have a great and blessed day, week and Easter, and may God bless you all!
in His name,
Justin

3/25/12 ~ 5 days and counting

The last couple of weeks have been really tough for me. It’s been very hectic, trying to get everything done that I need to get done (packing, re-packing, cleaning, training my replacement at church, etc) and just generally trying to get everything done so that I can head to Haiti and know that everything here is taken care of. Or at least as well as I can be. I’m sure that I haven’t thought of everything, but I planned as best I could. Kind of like my packing for Haiti, it’s really hard to plan what I’ll need for 7 months, as well as what I’ll want, comfort wise. Plus all of the tools that I think I’ll need make for several very full suitcases (I hope American Airlines has a sense of Humor on their weight limit), and a carry-on packed to the gills! I feel pretty well prepared, but I’m sure that once I get there I’ll find several things that I haven’t thought of.

An interesting G.A.W. (God at work) moment = I’ve been trying not to worry (with little success) about my move to Haiti, as well the people and things I’m leaving behind. I know that God has big plans for me, and I know that my life, all of the peaks and valleys, has been in preparation for this missionary journey. I know that, yet still I worry. Anyway, as I was searching yesterday for a particular Bible passage before church, I came across the following verse:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” ~ Matthew 6:25-27 NIV

It still amazes me sometimes how God will give us answers, most of the time before we even ask the question. All we need to do is read the owner’s manual (a.k.a. the Bible) and our problems are resolved. Thank you God for giving us Your word to study and learn from!

Probably the hardest thing that I’ve been dealing with is saying goodbye to all of my friends and family. I’m not really big on goodbyes, I’d much rather just kind of disappear one day. It’s easier to hide your emotions that way. Nonetheless, I was really touched by the friends of mine, saying goodbye and wishing me well. I was even awarded the “Golden Plunger” by the staff at Cornerstone! A truly great honor, reserved for only the best and brightest!

Having such a strong group of family supporting and praying for me is a blessing beyond measure, and I am eternally grateful to all of you, and I look forward to keeping up with you via email, and seeing you in November. Although I may not have shown it much, you all mean the world to me, and I love you all!

Until next time,

BONDJE BENI OU !

3/11/12 ~ Ups and Downs

Hello all, I hope that you are all well, and firstly I would like to apologize for the tardiness of this post. The month of February has been full of a lot of ups and downs for me, and it’s been hard for me to write about. I’m getting back on track, and I appreciate your patience.

February 15^th marked the first anniversary of my sister’s death. Michelle was a great person, with a great heart full of compassion. She spent most of her life caring for others as a nurse, doing pediatrics and home health care. Michelle and I were very alike in a lot of ways, which is probably why we didn’t always get along the best, but I loved her and we all miss her dearly. I look forward to the day when I will again walk with her and my parents on the streets of Heaven someday.

A couple of weeks ago, we held a “Hearts for Haiti” fundraiser and I was overwhelmed by the response I had. The number of people that volunteered, donated items for the silent auction and showed up to eat and wish me well has touched me more than I can say. I’ve wasted  a lot of my life telling myself, and being told by others, that I’m really just not that much of a person. That I don’t really matter. These feelings are something that I have fought with and against for a long time, and the outpouring of love and support I have received from my church family have meant more to me than I can ever say. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful church family, and I thank Him for them daily. As I prepare for my service for the Lord, I know they will be alongside of me, covering me in prayer.

I am truly blessed indeed!

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." ~ Ephesians 2:4-10 NIV