Hey you guys!
I’m in Haiti!
All thanks to you guys!! I’m really thankful for your financial and prayerful
support. I’m doing really well and Mission of Hope is an incredible
organization. I have so much respect for how MOH is doing so much to change the face of Haiti for Christ and I’m truly
honored to be a part of His work here. Along with that, the executive
team was here a couple of weeks ago (or so, days run together) and the interns
had the privilege to sit in on a staff hangout where the President and COO
of the organization talked and we went around and got to say our name, what we
do with MOH and what God’s been teaching us in the past 48 hours. So cool to
see God’s work in each others lives and the humility and obedience in the heart of the leaders.
I’m sorry that it has taken me this long to update
you guys on this journey! I'm so busy here, learning new things all the time, and still processing this transition for myself! The task of telling you about everything that’s going on here is
such a daunting one and the longer I put it off, the further along I go, and
the more there is to share! Haha. I’ve tried a couple of times but Word
crashed once and the internet was down another time. But here we are! I pray
this is a God-honoring update that gives you an idea of what I’m doing and how
you’re impacting the future of Haiti
and its people! It has been an amazing
first three weeks and I’m still processing the transition and all of the
change. As interns we laugh about how drastically our daily lives have changed
and that it feels like we’ve been here for much longer than three weeks because
we pack so much into one day! What a great three weeks it has been. I hope to
write about more aspects of this adventure and post soon.
My first week here, we transitioned into the new lifestyle by learning to
carry around a washcloth for sweat, constantly drink water, not flush
toilet paper, and only drink water from the coolers. :) We did training where we learned about
the organization, the country, the people, the villages, and what our roles
would be. My second week here I had my first team and they were from North
Carolina! What a blessing because no one here is from
anywhere near South Carolina, so
they gave me a taste of home. The team leaders had been to Haiti
before so they were a great first group to have. It’s so refreshing to get new
teams because they’re excited and ready to go which renews my excitement as
well. And I've really enjoyed getting to know Christians from different backgrounds. So not only is this experience broadening my horizon through learning about another country, but I'm also getting to learn about different styles of Christianity, if that makes sense.
During their week, teams do two work projects, two village
times, and a beach day. During the month of September our work projects have
been in the village of Leveque
painting houses for the Blue to Block project and painting the school which
will open in October! (It’s almost time for school to start, which is so
exciting!) MOH partners with eight different villages; Titanyen, Minoterie,
Source Matelas, Simonette, Leveque, Bercy, Turpin, and Cabaret. In the villages
we pray for people, share the love and hope of Jesus, and play with the kids.
This time is a little less structured than a work project as it is a time we
let the Spirit lead.
We go out into the villages with Village Champions and translators. Village Champions are missionaries for their villages and communicating needs of the village to MOH so that MOH can provide resources to the church to be able to advance the churches. Gabriel, my translator during my second week, was
such an encouragement for us that week and has such a hope for his village. He has
complete faith that God is doing work in that village, and He believes without
a doubt God will change it. His faith is such an inspiration, he told me one day that he wakes up at 4:45 to go to the mountain to pray every
morning!
This week my team was from Oregon. They were troopers because they had to spend the night in the airport both ways! This team was the first team to work with food
packing which is such an exciting thing! MOH is taking rice and beans from
local Haitian farmers, packing it using Haitian workers, and giving out the
food packs to Haitians. So that supports the local farmers, empowers the
Haitians, creates more Haitian jobs, and nourishes hungry Haitians! It’s a win
win win! ANDDD my team had the privilege of being the first team to help with
packing! Super cool!
In between having teams, I’ve had the opportunity to work
with other staff around campus and help Brooke with child sponsorship, I got to
help Amanda get her classroom ready for her first day of teaching three
children who’s parents are on staff, and I got to go with the high schoolers of
the orphanage on campus to help put on VBS for an orphanage in another village.I have been so thankful for these different opportunities!
I don’t really remember my expectations before coming
anymore because I’ve quickly adjusted to life here, but something that I wasn’t
expecting is how beautiful it is here. I have gotten to post a few pictures to
social media, but here are a few more. Haiti
is beautiful!
From my backyard:
