Mesi anpil

Wow, it's been a whiiiiiiiilllllleee since my last post. I am pleased to say my T-shirt fundraiser was a success. A big "mesi anpil" to those who helped out by purchasing shirt or by praying that it would go well as a fundraiser. It did! I made enough to get me 1/3 of the way to my overall goal. Forget good, God is sooooo great!

"If it's His will, it's His bill."

Our "Death Trip" or if you want me to be an optimist, "The Incredible Journey to Cornillon"!

So, I visited my sister Sallie last week and somehow we got on the subject of Haiti. I don't know why I say somehow, because I can literally turn any conversation into a Haiti conversation like that (me snapping my fingers). One of the parts of my 3 weeks in Haiti that she found the funniest and the scariest to be honest was the trip I took up into the mountains for a medical clinic. She said this was something I should have sooo blogged about, so here we go.
First of all, I have done medical clinics on mission trips before, and really enjoyed them. So when asked if I would like to climb the mountain and help with a medical clinic for some precious people who have most likely never even seen a doctor or been to a hospital, I was all in.
We traveled to an area in Haiti close to the Dominican border called Cornillon. We visited the village of Mr. Madsen, who teachers at Christian Light School. He, of course, had made the trip several times before, as had a couple of the translators we took with us. So, we leave in the big blue truck owned by the school. There were seventeen of us total, I think. Plus a grill, about ten backpacks, a box of groceries, two dozen eggs, and a loaf of bread. Which all made it by the way. ;)
Now, the major part of the story is that we were going up the mountain in a truck and we weren't supposed to take the truck the whole way. The "plan" as we were told was to take the truck as far as it would go, then take motos (motorcycles), then donkeys or mules, and then lastly, we would walk the last part. That was the journey I thought I would be taking!
So, we left with all of our junk at about 7:00 in the morning I guess. Of course, we were on Haitian time so we didn't leave when we planned too. The trip was supposed to take like 5-6 hours. So, it takes us awhile to get out of Port-au-Prince because of traffic and not to mention the "roads" are not the best in the world. And we drive and we drive and we drive some more, stopping a few times to stretch our legs, rest our buts, and hopefully get something cold to drink.

Met this cutie the first time I thought we were half way there. :) 

Jeff handing out gummies to the children. 

They are all about throwing the peace signs at you. :) Notice the kid int he lower right hand corner who can't quite figure it out.. Bless him.. :)

We road past a beautiful lake the was so blue it looked like the ocean. This was when we actually started driving up the mountain. We would refer back to the lake later on in the day/night as something we remembered seeing like a year ago because we were so tired!

So here's the lake, which i got to ride by again as I making my way out of Haiti and into the Dominican Republic.

So, we started going up the mountain and the roads got a little rougher, but it was okay. Nothing to worry about. Then we started to go over bumps that shook the truck just a little bit more, but still, not a big deal, I mean we are in Haiti driving up a mountain. Then David, who drove the truck for us and I love dearly, basically told us the only way we were getting over some of these stretches in the "road" was if we all got out. Especially since the truck had already gotten stuck in the road already! :) So we did and we walked for a little way.

Yeah, I think this might have been when we were "stuck", but before we thought we were going to fall off the mountain.

Now, this is where the story gets good. At a certain point we all climbed back into the truck and would continue on. Then it happened. We hit some very very very rough spots in the "road" and needless to say, the truck was leaning, most of us were freaking out (in two language by the way) and I thought we were going to topple over the mountain like a hot wheels car. And if you know me, you know, I don't do well with heights to begin with, so I can proudly say I was freaking out the most!!!! Now, we did this about 5 or 6 times. Get in the truck, ride, begin to tilt to the side, freak out, get out of the truck. Until we finally just gave up and walked for a good while, or what seemed like it. And remember, it was only supposed to take 5-6 hours. So we are sooooo blowing our schedule all to pieces.

Now another funny thing about this trip is the time it took us to get there. It seemed like we drove and walked and drove and walked forever. And every time we would ask one of the Haitians how close they were, they would say, "We are almost half way there." And this became a running joke, because "we were almost half way there" for a looooooooong time. But the walking did give me the chance to take some great shots of God's beautiful creation.

We eventually did get past all of the really rough parts of the mountain "road" and were able to ride on for a ways without having to get out. Until it happened, we drove over a huge mud hole and we got stuck. Luckily we had a lot of guys with us and David (awesome driving skills) of course and we got unstuck. Let me tell you it was just hilarious because here we are, a bunch of white people in a big old truck and we got stuck in the mud out in the middle of nowhere (literally) in Haiti. And the people came to watch us get stuck and unstuck. And at one point, we all had to climb on the back of the truck and jump up and down in order to get it unstuck, me included, so, no pictures. We had help too from some of the locals. David says you meet the nicest people in Haiti and you really do. Not to mention that at the same time we were stuck in the mud, we realized we had also take the wrong road or turn or something. But at this point, I am just happy I am not in a huge truck leaning over the side of a mountain looking at the chasm below.

Some of our "spectators" who watched us get into/out of the mud. 

Getting stuck gave me some great opportunities to capture this beautiful part of Haiti on camera. 

We eventually do make it all the way up the mountain with all of our supplies and our loaf of bread and eggs (thanks to Micah who carried them every time he got out of the truck).

It was dark when we finally reached the home we were so graciously allowed to stay at. It belonged to Mr. Madsen's father, whom we later had the privilege of seeing/hearing play his accordion.

She shucked that sugar cane like a boss. 

The generosity of this family was simply amazing. They cooked for us, gave up their beds for us. On the final night we were there, they cooked a goat for us. I will spare you those pictures. ; ) We were definitely in the presence of some of God's most precious children. They were such a blessing.

This is the family. :)

De-feathering a chicken for us to eat later.  :)

 And that is one of the things I have learned in the past few months. Most people go on mission trips to hopefully be a blessing to others. I can personally without a doubt say, I was blessed beyond measure by the experiences I had in Cornillon. It might have been a rough trip up the mountain, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Our team began the medical clinic the next morning and we treated and gave medicine to a good 400 people. We began at like 9:00 AM and stopped at around 6:00 I would say. We may never know the outcome of what God was able to accomplish through us, but seeds were planted in people's hearts and pain/discomfort was lessened, even if temporarily. And that is what Jesus did, he treated people physically and spiritually.

A pill pusher. That's all I am.

The worship before the clinic started was beautiful. One of my favorite things in Haiti. 

Several people in Haiti and at home have asked me if I would go back to Cornillon and I paused and thought about it for a moment. I thought about the clinic. I thought about the truck leaning on the mountain. I remembered frankly how sore my butt was after sitting in the truck for that long! And I said, yes, I would. God does not give us many opportunities like that in a lifetime...and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I might walk a lot further next time, to spare everyone my screams of "let me out, let me out!" Nonetheless, it was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. I thank God every single day that we were able to make it there and back safely.
So, if you visit CLS and are asked to go to Cornillon, say yes, but don't say you weren't warned first. :)

Wordle!

So, one of the greatest things about my time in Haiti was and will be spending time with the guys and girls in the Children's Home at Christian Light. I will also refer to it as the orphanage, but technically we call it a Children's Home. :) So, anyway, my favorite thing was to to hang out with these kids. Recently I have been going through all of my pictures and posting some of the ones kids took, because they can be the best sometimes! The videos are extremely special to me though, because they literally take me back to being there...everything but the dust. :) So anyways, I like to think about and pray for the kids (many of which are not kids by some people's standards). Most of them are still very young, but some are approaching adulthood and making important decisions regarding their futures.
The teacher in me loves wordles or word clouds. So, I made this awesome wordle with all of the kids' names in it to keep them in my thoughts and in my prayers. Will you join me as well? Feel free to steal my wordle and pray for each of these youngins daily.

I'm going back to Haiti...so now I need a blog!

I cannot believe I have a blog. It's not like anybody is going to read it right? ; ) I am sooo excited to be planning for this next step in my incredibly blessed life...going to live and teach in Haiti for a year. I will share more information as I go through the planning process, including how God led me to Haiti, missions, etc. It's just hard to know where to start because I feel like for my whole life, God has been preparing me for this. I've enjoyed looking back and seeing how every road I've traveled, every tear I've cried, and every person I've met has somehow brought me to where I am today. So, if you're reading this, please remember me in your prayers. :-)