Random Thoughts About Haiti

***WARNING: THIS MAY HURT YOUR FEELINGS***

I have no idea what I'm going to say, so this should be interesting. Here goes nothing.

Haiti is a very different place. Some parts of it are amazing and some parts make me want to scream. Most of it is amazing though :) When I go there I feel so much more at home and able to just be myself. People always talk about how hot it is there, and yeah, it's hot, big whoop. It's not the most important part of the whole mission trip. Get over it. Incredible things happen on these trips, things that make it really obvious that God is there.

In the mountains at Petit Bwa, some of us were tired from the hike and then doing VBS and just wanted to get home instead of going on the prayer walk. But we sucked it up and went. While we were praying with people, we stopped on the side of the road (there was only about 6 people, the ones in front of us had gone to someone else's house I guess) and prayed for this old lady that walked down the mountain everyday to sell stuff at the market. Her foot was frozen in place, so she couldn't even move it to walk down and up. And you should know that that is not an easy hike either. After we prayed with her, a witch doctor that came up when he saw us praying asked if we would pray for him. He was interested in being saved. So the pastors that were with us talked to him (just so happened that all three pastors were with us and hadn't gone ahead...) and he took us to his house. When we got there, they sang 'Power in the Blood' (Tammy has a story about that one). The pastors talked to him some more, and this man fell to his knees while we were praying for him. He was saved that day.

Driving home from Caanan on Friday, there was a storm coming in over the mountains and we thought we were going to get poured on. We didn't. While the storm was coming in with gray clouds and dark skies on our left, the ocean was on our right with white clouds and the sun coming through and reflecting on the water. It was so beautiful.

I was in the games rotation for Bible School. On Tuesday we taught the kids (and our translator) how to play Duck, Duck, Goose. They loved it. It made me so happy to see what simple things could get them so excited. I don't think a single one of them complained about anything. In America, the kids are almost always complaining about being bored or hot or sweaty or tired... in Haiti... always smiles. And that's one of my favorite parts.

In the truck on the way to the airport, I was talking to Tiffany and she said that most of her favorite sounds come from Haiti. Most of her favorite memories come from Haiti. Some favorite smells are from Haiti. And I agree with her completely. Most of my favorite sights are from Haiti too. Everything about Haiti is so different from America, talking about it or looking at pictures of it isn't going to work trying to show someone what it's like there. You can't. It's impossible. You sure as heck can try, but whoever you're trying to tell isn't going to understand. They can fake it and pretend they get it, but honestly they can't unless they've been there. Comparing Haiti to another foreign country works for some things, but not much.

One morning at prayer rock, we were trying to figure out who should talk to the uncle of one of our translators/witch doctor in La Digue. We didn't know if just Pastor Rony should, or if all or some of us should go. Then we went into a silent prayer time. The verse Acts 8:24 came into my head. When prayer time was done, it was still in my head, so I read the verse. Then I closed my Bible and tried to figure out what that verse meant. But I didn't understand what it was about, so I felt like I needed to read the whole section. After devotions were done and everyone was headed back to the house, I showed Nate and Brenda and a few other people. Nate read part of it out loud to the people up there (about 3 people). On the way back down I started crying about it. The section is Acts 8:9-25. I tried to type it all out, but it's way long.

That's probably about all the random thoughts you can take for now. And me... I'm still sorting out everything. My deep thoughts are not working their way through very well. Maybe by tomorrow I will have some more random things to say. I need to go for a run so I can think without being ambushed by American-ness. Sorry if any of this hurt anyone's feelings, but I warned you. Me + America = lots of thinking about Haiti and probably some hurt feelings.

If you read that whole thing, you are amazing :) It's confusing I'm sure.

♥ Love Tori ♥