You Only Live Once

Esconia, a cutie from the orphanage

One girl's reaction to sour warheads 

recitations in church

playing UNO, they knew the English colors before I knew the Creole ones

Class goes from 7:30 to Noon 

A black cow in Haiti, I don't think he would make CAB :)

Abdus, a fun guy who was a little shy at first

At the beach, it wasn't all work and no play

The village that was home to the orphanage

Before I get thrown under the bus for using one of pop culture's new meaningless phrases, I believe it truly applies here.  The week after finals were finished, I hopped on a plane with 12 fellow college students, 2 church leaders and 1 dentist.  Our flight was bound for Haiti (well not really Haiti, more like Houston then Miami, then Haiti).  It was fun, amazing, eye-opening experience, and because this is a blog, not a novel, I thought I'd share 5 things I learned.

1. When God says "go" you go. I had been rolling the idea of Haiti around in my mind for a few months, but wasn't quite sure I wanted to go.  After all, I'd rather go have fun over Christmas break in Australia on a study abroad trip, I didn't have my summer plans nailed down yet, and my mother wasn't too keen on the idea. It just seemed easier to stay home, but I couldn't simply dismiss this trip. I began to consider what I know about God, so I started praying.  Because I am often stubborn and blind, I prayed, "Lord make your will about this trip so obvious that I can't miss it." The week after I started praying, I saw a friend of mine who was going on the trip three times.  Now this may not seem amazing, but until that week, I saw Andrew maybe once a semester or so.  He couldn't stop telling me that I had to go on this trip.  Well, you don't say no to Andrew, and definitely not to God, so to Haiti I went.

2. The Lord provides.  I'm not a big small child person.  Don't get me wrong, I think they are really cute, and wonderful, but I'm not always comfortable around them.  When we pulled into the orphanage and hopped out of the back of the pick-up, I became a kid person.  Every school child was gathered waiting to greet us.  After about 5 sets of hands reached out to take mine, my heart melted. It's still a pile of mush when I think about those kids.

3. Worrying really is unnecessary.  Haitians live simply.  Their life is about daily doing what God asks of them today.  They trust God fore everything, they never truly know when the next aid is coming, but that's OK.  They keep caring for the kids.  Scary things happened right outside the orphanage in the week, namely, a riot and a shooting, but honestly I wasn't concerned.  God could handle it.  If he can handle all that, then he certainly has control in my life

4. Teamwork is more about attitude than anything else.  The kids at the orphanage truly worked together.  From the oldest to the youngest.  At least once a day about eight kindergartners would carry a bench down the hill into their classroom.  They did everything together, and sure there were disagreements, but it was the result of truly being together.  No matter what the project, the good of the whole was always more important than one person's needs.  That isn't always my attitude.  I see a team as a means to an end, not a way to care for people.

5. Praying is not about "give me that".  We committed a week to kids, took suitcases full of donations, and one of the only English phrases they knew was "give me that."  They would point to watches, sunglasses, and anything else and ask for it.  It wasn't that these kids were selfish or ungrateful, they just couldn't see the big picture of why we Americans were there.  Which my friend and fellow traveler Sarah pointed out as a metaphor for how we pray.  I ask God for a laundry list of wants, while completely missing the big picture of his plan.

So that's my story.  God only gives us one life, and how we spend it is up to us.  I chose to take a leap of faith and serve, and God blessed me greatly through it.  I recommend everyone take a leap!

'till the cows come home,
Ellie