Back to Haiti =)

On March 10, 2012, I left for my second adventure of a lifetime. I got the privilege of going back to Haiti!! I felt like God was calling me to go ever since I saw it posted on facebook from Campus Ministries. I never thought I would be going back so soon, but God had a different plan. I emailed Sarah to get more information about the trip and after realizing I needed the money in by less than a month, my hope of going back dropped. I prayed that if I was meant to go, God would find the resources for me to go. After forgetting about it for a couple weeks, I saw yet another post on Facebook, so this time I decided to message Andrea and see if there was any way I could raise the money after the due date. After no response for awhile, I, again, gave up hope. Little did I know, God would provide the money. I was able to pay the money back as I raised it to Campus Ministries, which was a miracle. When I found out I could do that, I actually cried and screamed in excitement because God actually answered my prayer and found a way for me to go back to Haiti. I was so excited!! With the amazing support of my community, I was able to raise $1,800 ($300 over the amount I needed) in about 2-3 weeks! Yet another sign I was supposed to go.

I knew this trip was going to be different from the very first meeting I went to. Instead of all college students going like the last time, we had a mixture of adults, college students, high school students, and a middle schooler. I only knew one person going into it, but I knew God wanted me to go there for a reason, so I put my trust in His hands.

It was finally time to leave for Haiti and I was more than ready to get far away from Pella and go to Haiti. I got to know my group really well, especially the girls and we definitely had some good laughs in our little Florida hotel room =) Once we got to Haiti, the familiar craziness of the airport flooded our senses. This time, I wasn't freaked out, but yet very calm and excited to get to Jean Jean and Kristie's house! After driving 3.5 hours with beautiful mountainous scenery, we got to their house! There was an Orange City team there just like last time and I got to see Sean G. who I saw the last time I was in Haiti! Small world I would say! The first day was very lazy because we were all so exhausted! Most of us took a nap for a couple hours and then some of us played volleyball, which was fun.

The second day, we went to the market in Boack (sp?) and tried buying certain items. It's so difficult since we don't speak Creole! I attempted at bartering and it didn't really work. The one thing that I remember from the market is seeing these little goats hanging upside down from a motorcycle driving away! For some reason, it makes me laugh which probably is bad =) Also, someone tried to sell me a live chicken haha. We also had some delicious bread from a bakery...I love that bread so much! We also had goat and my favorite, fried plantains. I could eat those everyday and be satisfied. Then we did a flower craft with the kids at the school and then I played with them afterwards. They're so adorable. They were definitely my favorite part of the trip.

I won't explain every single day, but one cool thing I got to do was tell part of my testimony to the youth group. I did this last time at the early morning service and it was so hard for me that I didn't think I would do it again, but I felt that I needed to share it with them. I didn't go into full detail of my entire testimony, but told about my Dad passing away and how it has made me a stronger person because of it. It was really neat after because a few other Haitians shared their testimonies and one guy didn't even know who his parents were and another guy lost his mom (I think) in the earthquake. I wasn't the only one who had lost a parent. Sometimes at college, I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't have one of their parents anymore, so it was nice to know I could relate to someone else in that way, especially because we were from different countries.

I learned a lot about myself this trip, I feel. I've always known that I am an introvert, but God showed me that it was okay to be an introvert sometimes. It allowed me to take everything in and really absorb the Haitian culture. I saw how beautiful the Haitians were inside and out. It still amazes me the second time that they are so joyful. They dance and raise their hands during worship all the time and I LOVE it. They're so thankful for what they do have and I feel like Americans are never satisfied with anything that they have. We always want more. It was a good reminder for me to think about what my wants and needs are. I also learned to be patient on this trip, too. Like I mentioned before, it was a lot different from the first trip I went on, so I had to be patient and realize that God wanted to teach me different things this time.

One really cool thing in Haiti was when I realized that I am actually able to apply my knowledge that I've learned from my classes at Central to Haiti! Imagine that...I'm actually learning something in school haha =) I've taken several sociology classes that talk about people in general, but right now I'm taking intercultural communications and I applied a lot of what I was learning in that class to my experience! That might sound very nerdy, but I thought it was awesome! I found myself being much more culturally aware of the differences and more appreciative of them, too. It was awesome to do that!

Overall, my trip to Haiti was both frustrating at times and absolutely amazing during other times. The country is so beautiful and God amazed me over and over. It always reminds me that I need to be thankful for what I do have and that I am incredibly blessed. It was really hard coming back for me. I wanted to, but once I got here, I kinda started freaking out a little. I was literally shaking an hour after I got back when I was eating at the market. It's just so different here and I didn't know how to deal with that. I finally got back to normal after a couple days, but those first days were a daze for me. It's weird how I can feel like that after only being gone for one week. I hope to go back again one day, so I can learn even more about myself and so I can build deeper relationships with the people there. For now, orevwa =)