May 16th, Day Two of Our S.V.C.C. Mission Trip to Haiti

Today started off with a beautiful breakfast with tastes from home, done a little different by the women of Haiti. Hand squeezed grapefruit juice, not like we're used to, the grapefruit here is smaller and green in color. Tastes much sweeter. Scrambled eggs loaded with spices and peppers, French toast and apple cinnamon oatmeal.
 Then we had a morning devotional and loaded up in the tap tap {Our mission van} and headed off to Cite Soleil, the poorest city in the western hemisphere to help deliver fresh water to the families there.
This is my first mission trip out of the country, let alone out of Minnesota. So to say I wasn't nervous would be a lie! Right away as we come down the street in our van, little kids from all over start running next to us yelling "Hey you" - words they learned over the years of interaction with Americans. We shut the van down and open the doors to get out and the kids stand there with arms extended to be picked up and loved by us and share a new person in their life, whether its for a minute or even an hour. So my team asked me to start pumping water, and I did. Within a minute or two the line for water was a block long, every person had two buckets or more, some with 55 gallon drums. After awhile of pumping we switch and I got to go help deliver the water to the dwellings where the families live. Kids will come up and pick you to help carry the buckets with them. You can see in their eyes, the kids that have a wish to get to know you, and also be seen with you. The kids will ask for a piggyback ride and while ridding on your back they yell to all their friends and family, "look at me". Happy as can be for something as little as just my time. Time..... the thing I'm learning is time is a precious commodity and its free and far more valuable than money. And yet I struggle to give my time away to anyone! And when the truck runs empty, we load up and on to another fill up and off to deliver to another part of the city. As we leave, the kids again run by the truck as they're sad to see us go, but excited to show off to us on the van with their big smiles and how fast they run beside us waving goodbye.
 Next we went to Hope church, and learned they had to dig through 40 feet of garbage to securely build, 40 FEET! But its very important to them to have a place to go and learn about the Lord. Even though they don't have much, they are Christians and have a strong belief in God. Which - think about it for a moment, they have almost nothing yet they're thankful to God for their life. And yet here I am always upset I don't have more! Most Americans make more in one day than the people of Haiti make in a year. Most Americans eat more in a month than the people from Haiti eat in a year, and yet they're still grateful to God!
Last stop today was to a school with a soccer program called Haitian Initiative, where the kids must attend school to be on the soccer team. And soccer is their number one favorite sport. One of the top employees there was Sarah - a young women in her early twenties,and she has been in the volunteer field for 4 years before moving to Haiti from Iowa. I look at her and see how unselfish she is at her young age, and here's me at twice here age still being a taker. I still have so much to learn, but God and Haiti are helping me with that.
 Then we make it home for the night grab a dip in the neighboring hotel's pool, dinner and to bed early.....or so I thought? Well we went to the pool and within 10 minutes it started to down pour, rain hard and fast cooling down the heat of Haiti. So we headed back to our guest house to eat yet another fabulous meal from Haiti and then we gathered around the couch for some devotions and teammate bonding time. Lets just say God was present {where two or more people gather, He is there} and the tears were flowing, and feelings for my team were developing!
 So today was a great day to serve the Lord, acting as his hands and feet. Really getting to know my teammates more, and learning more about myself. Thank you god for teaching me today, and please keep my heart soft, full of grace and mercy tomorrow so I grow even more into the man you designed me to be!