Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Haiti

 Our week off is quickly passing by and I can't help but notice all of the pretty beach pictures blowing up my Instagram! Hasn't it been so nice to have a break?! Tomorrow, I will be leaving for a girls trip to San Francisco with my mom and I cannot wait!

 Many of my friends are at Beach Reach or scattered various places across the country for spring break missions opportunities and seeing their updates has really go me thinking about my trip to Haiti in 2012. So here it is {because i couldn't stop thinking about it}, a brief snapshot into my time at an orphanage {OLTCH} in Leogane, Haiti. 

It has taken me a long time to process the events that went down during that week. Haiti is harsh country, it is a place of survivors. Not only survivors of the earthquake but these people spend each day surviving the circumstances that they have been given in this life. Nothing has ever impacted me quite as much as Haiti.






During my time in Haiti I met Lauren and Ashli, both incredible women of God that taught me so much in just a week. Without going into great detail, that week held many surprises that changed some of the leadership in the orphanage. These women ran straight to God during their time of hearache and need. During one particularly tough day, several of the girls spent hours gathered in a small room praying intensely. It was a humbling experience and looking back, I know that it impacted the way that I was able respond to challenging times when I was in the Philippines a few months later. 

 My stay in Haiti {for the most part} felt very dark. I don't know if it was the voodoo that surrounded us or the fact that I was terrified but my heart was definitely restless. The eyes of the people in this country haunted me. To speculate what they had been through was unimaginable. My heart was torn, I wanted to leave but I so desperately wanted to make a difference for these people. Looking back at my journal, the verse that I wrote mid-week was one that I prayed over for the people that I encountered in Haiti

Psalm 36:7 "How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings."

My journaling was not the best that week because I simply could not put into words what I was seeing around me; vast poverty that I could not imagine this country being able to overcome. But journaling has been a tool that I have used to help debrief crazy experiences that may take a while to completely wrap my mind around. God uses the words that I did write to help me remember everything that He exposed me to during that week and to teach me new things that I just couldn't process during the actual trip. 

Since returning home, God has continued to burden my heart for the people of Haiti. A country of hope and a country of brokenness. I hope to return to Haiti and I believe that God will give me the opportunity to love on the country that continues to put me at a complete loss for words. I do not think that my work there is done.

There are several Haiti blogs that I love to read: 

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