Haiti Recap

The high pitch sound of honk, honk repeated over and over again along the dusty highway to nowhere. Or so it seems. One doesn’t take long to figure out why. Here driving rules seem to not apply other than whoever is going faster and bigger have the right of way; road Darwinism at its best. Although driving on the right side of the road is preferred it’s not long before a two lane road is three vehicles wide and near misses are as common as the next breath you take. The restless highway is filled with vehicles filled to overflowing and running over with passengers. If that’s not enough to add to the excitement people walking are walking on the road just inches from passing motorist. Motorcycles that seem built for one may occupy four people. Welcome to Haiti!

Cold is just the absence of heat. If you prefer your heat at minus 30 degrees or 110 degrees is just a selection of where you live unless you have no choice and you get used to it. You might think, “Why in the world would someone live in Iceland”? Or, “Why in the world would someone live near the Sahara desert?” Sometimes it’s not a matter of choice but it’s a matter of where God places you. So why leave the comforts of home (your warm spot) to travel to such extremes? Because the Lord says “Go!” At times it may not be a joy ride – then I found there’s no greater reward than being the “hands” and “feet” of God.. I decided that “miserably happy” best describes my experience.. Early in the morning when the fans quit running to conserve fuel spent to run a generator it was reasonably cool but by mid-day you longed for shade and a breeze. Early evening was relatively pleasant but by ten o’clock at night you felt miserable but “Happy.” If it were not for the fans on the ceiling and the fans littering the floor, sleep would not have existed. Ironically though I never felt like I was totally wasted during the day without energy to perform the task at hand. Probably because we where doing the Lord’s work and when you are engrossed in the Lord’s work – you become energized.

Mission work is so much more than one on one witnessing door to door in the comfort of one’s neighborhood. Missions is doing whatever needs to be done at the time whether you are pouring a concrete slap for a mission house, moving medical supplies for a clinic, loving on orphans or encouraging fellow laborers. Mission work may include helping setup order or sort out chaos. Why – so that one person, one person who matters to God, can be ministered to. That ministry may come in the form of a gentle touch or a lap to sit on, a smile or laughter. Ministry may be handing your water bottle to a Haitian man working along side you without worry of whether he practiced good hygiene. Ministry might be setting a broken arm or bandaging burned flesh, giving someone food to eat or clothing to wear. Jesus said “whatever you do to the least of these, you do unto me.”