Haiti Day 4

I have decided there is just too much going on and too many awesome stories to write in a day, from a day.  For now I am just going to give the basics of what we did.  Once we're home I'll start to share some stories and details.

Yesterday I felt sick from malaria medicine and we were up late chasing a rat around the house.  He still eludes us.  (I am a little nervous as I type this right now.)  This is my excuse for not blogging.

During the day yesterday we helped work on the school for Heartline staff's children.  They start school Monday.  It will save the staff a lot of time not having to drive them all over the place for school.  We are going to be doing more of that tomorrow.  

Today was filled with so much stuff/people/stories.  I'm going to bullet point it so I'll remember and then talk more about it later:

-We got a tour of Heartline's sewing center.  You can buy online at www.haitiancreations.com.  

-Rachel and I hung out at the Heartline's maternity center all day, learning how that works.

-Jordanna and Sarah were at some kind of hospital called Medishare all day watching an american couple's newborn baby so they could get some sleep and clean up.
-We had dinner with a bunch of staff, their kids, and the ladies and children at Harbor House.  This was really cool.
-We ended the day watching the documentary Babies. :)  Appropriate.
-I wish I could tell you every little thing I am learning/experiencing right now but it would take the entire night!

Haiti Day 2

CHURCH:  Today we went to church.  It was not that simple though.  While the church is only 4 or 5 miles away, it took about an hour to get there.  The roads and traffic are just terrible.  A pipe somewhere broke in the neighborhood so you drive through water without seeing the potholes or huge ditch on the side.  There was a dump truck that got too close to the ditch and was turned on its side, leaning against the wall.
There are walls everywhere.  This is their security.  Every nice house has their own and every neighborhood too, so even some tent "cities" we saw had walls around them where I guess a neighborhood stood before.  We stopped to pick up some people at the Harbor House, one of the many ministries of Heartline.  We drove in a giant truck with a gate all around us, like a cage.  There was seating on the top too.  We pulled into the gated neighborhood that church was in.  I was told an international school was one of the buildings.  The buildings definitely didn't look like housing but I would have never known what they were supposed to be because everything is just so run down.  
Church was great though.  Sarah actually got to meet up with a friend who had started teaching in Haiti three weeks ago.  Everyone said you realize how small the world is when you start traveling, but come on!  John McHoul, founder and director of Heartline, spoke on following Jesus and not looking behind you.  He first spoke on Luke 9:57-62.  That was the last thing I'd studied on my own.  Kind of like when a professor says something twice you star it in your notes, he (and He) had my attention.  Then he talked about Elisha following Elijah in 2 Kings chapter 2.  He burned his oxen and his plow.  With that gone it was no big deal to leave his field and follow Elijah.  We have to burn whatever it is in the past that we're holding on to and is hindering our walk with God.  Once we do that and completely rely on the Lord it's nothing to go wherever He calls us to go or to do whatever He calls us to do.  He said people will tell him that they feel like God is calling them to Haiti, but (fill in the blank).  How often we say BUT to God.  It's so stupid.  He's God.  He said one person's blank was that they don't like heat, haha.  One of the urgent prayer needs was for the persecuted church.  We really need to pray about this more in the states, y'all.  I got a map from a great organization called Voice of the Martyrs.  (Their website is www.persecution.com.  You can sign up for a free monthly newsletter.)  The map tells you in what countries it can be dangerous or completely life threatening to be a christian.  This is most of the world.  I love that this little church in Haiti kept thanking God that they were able to freely worship Him and remembered their brothers and sisters in Christ who could not.  Another awesome thing was worshipping with so many of other nationalities.  Most of the church was Haitian I think, but we met some missionaries from Australia and evidently there could have been some from Africa.  What a great glimpse of what heaven will be like!  I can't wait!  We sang one of my favorites too.  It was funny looking at all the Haitians dressed up for church.  It was 90 something degrees out and they had long pants and shirts with sweater vests and ties on.  No one was perspiring whatsoever, while I'm in my thin cotton dress going to town with sweat.
TOUR:  After church John McHoul gave Sarah, Rachel, Jordana and I a tour of the city.  Sarah was shocked there really wasn't any prominent begging.  She was in Addis Ababa for a month and said the starving, begging children were everywhere.  My biggest fear coming  here was seeing that, but I haven't seen it.  Maybe it will be different out in Gressier.  We saw the crumbled palace, the market, tent cities, the U.S.S Comfort off the coast.  You'll see when we load pictures the absolute congestion and trash.  John said this was always the case.  Really the only thing different was the crumbled buildings and people residing in places that didn't used to be the "neighborhoods" they are now.  He said most people have heard the gospel, but most people are hardened or apathetic to it.  You know someone is really a christian if they say they are "converted".  Voodoo is very prominent.  Nothing is black and white.  Someone could claim Jesus, believe they got a disease through voodoo, but still believe in the science of medicine to heal it.  (Honestly though I don't think that's too different from us.  I believe in demons.  I believe Jesus can use medicine to heal me.)  Everything is layered and complicated.  When asked what Haiti's biggest need was, he said people need to WANT to care for others, though it may not benefit them (AKA they need Jeeeeeesus).  A gang could be raping your "next door" neighbor, as in, the person a sheet seperates you from, and no one will do anything.  They stay out of the way so it won't happen to them.  This was the saddest thing I have heard all day and my biggest shocker.  Think how many people would hear someone screaming in a tent city.  NO ONE does anything.  He said no one trusts anyone either.  He knows a girl who recently got a promotion at work.  He asked if everyone was happy for her.  She said, "no".  He said, "no one threw you a party?"  She said if they did she wouldn't go.  She'd be scared they would poison her out of jealousy.  This is the culture.  It's very sad.  Rachel said in Uganda it's very different.  Though people are poor they will essentially adopt a neighbor's kid they barely knew.  They look out for one another.  Two very different countries we are working in.  It will be interesting come November when I go to Uganda and can contrast.  Tomorrow I will talk to you about the little boy we watched today.


P.S. I'm trying to get the guys to find me a cockfight to go to. 


Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Luke 9:62

Haiti Day 1

We're here!  It has been the longest day of traveling.  I only slept two hours last night and could not really sleep on the planes.  My body feels so exhausted.  We're staying at Heartline's guesthouse.  It's really nice but there is no AC.  Evidently no where in Haiti really has AC.  Mosquitos get in so we sleep under nets.  Sure enough, we weren't here ten minutes and I got bit three times.  Seeing as to how much mosquitos are attracted to my sweet personality, and the fact that Troy Livesay has malaria.... I decided to take malaria pills.  
Going from Miami's airport to Port Au Prince's is definitely a shock.  No AC and no room for anyone.  When we came out men kept trying to take our bags for us like everyone said they would.  I thought this would be a big deal and I would feel really bad walking by everyone but I didn't because they were just really rude.  I told one guy "no thanks" but he still put his hand on my stuff and tried to walk with me, so I just held on to my stuff and stopped walking and gave him a look.  He left me alone.  Another guy took Jordana's bags even with all her protesting.  Then one man got mad that Jordana wouldn't pay him anything, but all he did was "stop" a car so we could cross.  It was already stopped.  Talking at supper with people here we all remembered that that sort of thing happens in New York and L.A. too.  The short drive from the airport to the house was crazy.  There's pretty much no rules with driving.  The sidewalks were crowded with people and piles of trash and even goats.  What struck me was that everyone we saw was actually dressed pretty nice- like babies had bows in their hair.  I was expecting half naked kids everywhere, but I didn't see one.  Evidently this is a "nicer" area.  There were some vendors selling cool art work from what I could see.  But you have to picture it under booths made of scrap material and all this surrounded by trash and pot holes.  Still, nothing shocking yet.  All the haitians on our flight were really friendly and helpful.  I thought people might look down on us and resent americans but I didn't get that vibe.  Melissa and Ryan run the guesthouse.  They're from Minnesota and have been here a month now.  They said they haven't gotten that vibe at all, however a terrified three year old yelled, "blan! blan!" at them in the grocery store the other day.  They don't know what that was about.  Now I'm going to go cool off in a cold shower.  (No choice but cold.)  Tomorrow we go to Port Au Prince Fellowship for church.  It sounds like a lot of missionaries here go there.  For now, please pray for the Livesay family.  They have a lot going on without Troy getting malaria.  We hope our time here can help ease some of their stress instead of giving them more to deal with.

Leave for Haiti in.... 5 hours

OK.  In a couple hours we are headed to Haiti.  I think we're going to try to blog while we're there.  Enter your email at the top to subscribe to this blog.  Every time I post something you will get an email, however it looks like it's half a day behind the time I posted it.  I always share the links on Facebook too though.  (All this is mostly for my immediate family who still ask why I am going to Haiti every time I call.  So there y'all go.  No excuses now.)  I'm packed and ready but we're leaving at 4:30AM!!!  I would just stay awake, but we live in a one room apartment.  There's not too much I can do in the dark.  Silently.  So I'm going to try to go to sleep and not cry in the morning.  I'm excited, but honestly I'd be more excited if it was Uganda.  I wouldn't change what we were doing one bit, but Haiti's scary.  I'm told that people will be bombarding me once we get to the airport in Port Au Prince, asking to help with my bags, saying I'm so pretty, asking for money, asking for food, and I have to ignore them if I want to make it to the car.  I'm terrible at ignoring the vendors in the middle of the mall!!!  Ugh!  I'm just supposed to ignore someone talking to me?  I am really not looking forward to that.  Is that what Jesus would do?  I was reading today in Luke 8 where Jesus healed the "bleeding" woman.  It says in verse 42, "As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him."  They must have all wanted his personal attention and he knew it was impossible to give it.  I guess this will console me tomorrow.  I may have said this already but I honestly think I'll enjoy not knowing Creole, because I don't know what to say to these people who have known nothing but poverty and suffering their whole lives.  I'll definitely appreciate any time you can take out of your day to pray for me.  For now, here's what I'd ask you to be praying for:


- We'd be smart about what we do.


-Jesus would live through us.


-Our minds would be sponges.


-Our short time with everyone in Port Au Prince and Gressier would be meaningful and blessed.


-God would open our hearts and YOUR HEART to be obedient in however He calls us all to respond post-trip.


Again, thank you thank you to all who have supported me so that this trip is happening.  

Meet Jordana

This is Jordana, the last but certainly not least of the crew heading to Haiti.  It's also her 30th birthday tomorrow!  It will be so fun celebrating with everyone our last day in town.

I'm Jordana - wife to Matt - founder of SafeWorldNexus, mom to 5 kiddos, daughter, sister and friend!  :)  A few things I love: travel, books, nutrition, my husband and kids!  I became interested in missions when I was around 5 or 6 years old, when during a Wednesday night church class we were taught to sing Jesus Loves Me in Spanish.  Learning that song piqued an interest in other people around the world - especially those that didn't have the basic needs that I have every day.  My heart is still drawn to those who live in poverty and I'm so thankful that in my busy life as a wife and mom, I'm able to take time out to minister to those in need.  I've been involved with SafeWorld since it's inception, in one form or another, but only in the past year have I begun taking trips - due to the fact that I had twins in the middle of SafeWorld's first year.  This will be my 2nd trip to Haiti and I'm looking forward to seeing more of Heartline and learning about a possible new partnership.

Meet Sarah

This is Sarah Herbert.  She is also an intern and roomie!

Hi peoples, I'm Sarah, I'm 23 years old, I graduated from Appalachian State University with a degree in photography, and I like being outdoors, artsy stuff, X-men, LOTR and other sci-fi things, singing really loudly to music in the car with the windows rolled down, and general silliness.


I'm from Wake Forest (the town of... not the university which is actually located in Winston Salem), NC and come from a family of 7 where I am the second oldest.  I love my family and miss them a lot.


Over the past 5 years or so my heart and eyes have been opened towards social justice issues and the poor and hurting of the world.  I've been learning about what it means to love others that way Christ did and how that should play out in my life.  In June 2009, I went to Ethiopia and worked with some of the most amazing people and spent time with some of the poorest, most loving children.  This experience helped solidify my desire to be a part of helping others in underdeveloped nations.


I found out about SafeWorldNexus through family friends and remember thinking "Wow, I would love to work for an organization like that.  They sound awesome."  Lo and behold, a year later I am now interning with them!

Meet Rachel

Rachel, Sarah, Jordana, and I leave for Haiti in FIVE days.  I thought it would be good for y'all to get to know each of them leading up to our departure.  Rachel is a fellow intern and roomate.  Here she is:

I'm Rachel Spinks.  Rachel Lane Spinks if you want to stalk me on Facebook.  I'm 21, an Arkansas native, and with a year and a half of college behind me I've decided that was enough for now and am taking a break to intern with SafeWorldNexus.  I like barbecue, am addicted to coffee and chocolate, and think blue jeans were the best invention ever.  Audrey Hepburn is my hero (somewhere down the line after Jesus and my father,) from her style to her heart for people, the lady was incredible.

In 2007 my parents adopted two siblings from Guatemala.  Since then I've spent a lot of time learning about the orphans crisis and about different ways of caring for them.  I've traveled a few weeks out of the summers since then to different orphanages around the globe encountering a lot of needs and realizing a glimpse of the value of each soul I met along the way.  My own siblings and different people's, cultures, and problems I've encountered turned into a desire to help with more than orphan care.  (I still want to see orphans adopted, but the problem of children being orphaned often stems from poverty, injustice, wars and more.)  So in 2010 while in Uganda with SafeWorldNexus, I heard about the intern program they were starting.  I had been impressed all throughout the trip at how well SafeWorld navigated the balance between seeing projects through while always being focused on valuing people first. They are a young organization with fresh, creative ideas and ways of doing things while always making sure that caring for people is the heart of what they do.  I'm very excited and grateful to be part of what they are doing through the internship!

Climbing Mountains

   I created a site to use as a portfolio for my artwork.  If you made it here you shouldn't have too much trouble getting there.  It's katherinehodgesart.blogspot.com.  That's the best I could come up with for now- it's free.  I need to add examples of murals and pottery.  I know there's a ton of pottery I've done out there, so remind me if you have anything.  I don't know why I never took pictures of this stuff.  Probably because I didn't have an eternal perspective, or really, any perspective at all past college.  This kind of goes along the lines of what I want to talk about.
    We leave for Haiti in 17 days.  I've been trying to read up on Haiti and also short term missions.  It's frustrating as all get-out.  Jesus said to treat others as we would like to be treated (Luke 6:31).  If I was a child on the street in Haiti begging for water I would want someone to give me some water!  I'm learning however that if I were to give a child water, two different things could happen.  A: I could be mobbed by others wanting water themselves.  B: When I leave, that child is beaten until it hands over its water to someone bigger who is also thirsty.  The little W.W.J.D. bracelet isn't a comfort to me right now.  What would Jesus do?  He would probably brake the water bottle into 20,000 water bottles.  I used to think those were such lovely stories.  Now I say, "You cheated Jesus!"  Did he ever have to go through that kind of situation?  He experienced the poor.  He experienced mobs.  I wonder if he ever did together.  Should I just have more faith?  I don't doubt one bit that Jesus fed thousands on a couple baskets of food.  I don't doubt he walked on water.  I don't doubt Peter walked on water, so should I doubt I could do the same now?  This is what I'm wrestling with.  I want to do what Jesus would want me to do, but I feel like I have to go to seminary to figure it out.  I'm glad SafeWorldNexus is partnered up with people like the Livesays and Heartline Ministries.  They've been around the block now.  You really need to read the Livesay's post on the trouble they have had with short term mission teams not having the right perspective- CLICK HERE.  All of this is in the book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corett and Brian Fikkert.  If you want to go on a trip with SafeWorldNexus you will be required to read this book.  It's an eye-opener.
   Haiti is an absolute mess.  I'm actually reading the same book I was reading this time, five years ago.  All incoming freshman to USC had to read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.  I think I got a third of the way through and gave up.  I was too excited about Carolina and there were too many words to look up.  Funny what a couple years can do.  It's about Paul Farmer, a Harvard med. doctor who has truly made himself a living sacrifice for Haitians.  He never sees his family.  He sleeps like four hours a night, and from what it sounds like, doesn't eat.  Still, he never can do enough.  There's always crap going on in Haiti.  I'm frustrated and I haven't even gotten there yet!  Farmer said, "After a while I realized I could do just as good a job treating my patients without getting angry."  I don't ever want to get used to seeing the kind of poverty I'm about to see.  I hope it will always shock me, but I don't want to become so consumed with with anger at these injustices, or frustration over what I should do, that I can't stop for a second and get to know a Haitian.  Please pray that I would gain insight through my time reading God's Word and researching.  Then pray that I would love our Haitian neighbors like Jesus.


Beyond mountains, there are more mountains.
-Haitian Proverb

Quitter

   Back from the Quitter Conference!  We got to Nashville Friday afternoon.  We drove through downtown and then walked around the Grand Ol Opry Hotel- very cool.  We got dinner at a restaurant downtown and then went a little south to Franklin.  As Jon Acuff pointed out, the town of Franklin is unaware that we are in a recession right now.  Personally, I think the town is the southern version of Stepford.  It's too adorable!  We were easily able to find free-parking and everything!
   The next morning (if you can call it that) we woke up super early and headed over to LAMPO, Dave Ramsey's building to help welcome/register guests for the conference.  I WAS able to shake Jon Acuff's hand and thank him for inadvertently introducing me to SafeWorldNexus.  We helped with different behind-the-scenes things all day.  The coolest part of the day was our private tour of LAMPO.  I sat at Jon Acuff's desk, I sat at Dave Ramsey's desk... JUST KIDDING.  I did sit at Acuff's desk, but none of us dared to take more than a step into Ramsey's office.  Then we saw a lot of cubicles with the desk's up high because people prefer standing all day.  Who knew that was a thing?  There were also the cubicles with workout balls instead of chairs.  All these things are the least interesting of the company however.  The most interesting is learning how it is run.  Dave Ramsey's new book EntreLeadership talks about this- things like, if you're caught gossiping once, maybe you'll get a warning, but on the second infraction you're fired.  Our "guide" (his actual job was heading live events) had to go through 9 interviews!!!  He had to do different personality tests to see if he would match who he'd be working with; he had to submit a budget (as in, personal budget) to his future "team leader".  It was all very interesting.
   But when we weren't breaking in to millionaire's offices we listened to Jon Acuff speak.  He was very entertaining and informative.  It wasn't a pep talk to give you the courage to follow your dreams.  I mean, it was an ALL DAY event of practical advice.  I am very inspired now to just sell art as my part-time job.  I'm going to go for it.  In a perfect world without poverty and the need for organizations like SafeWorldNexus, I would say my dream job has always been to be an artist.  Another amazing blessing in disguise: I don't get payed at my job.  Because of this I have a boss who understands if I need to take a week off to make some money painting murals or drawing a portrait for someone.  I've been saying I wanted to do this on the side since graduation, but I never had any pressure on me to get it going.  I am just SO thankful to God that I do not make any money right now!  How AWESOME is it that I can even say that?!?!!!!!!!  I have the pressure and HAVE to do it now.  AND I finally have a number of examples from the slate paintings I did to raise support.  So here I go! I am starting a personal portfolio website right after I hit "ENTER". 


Humor is a gift from God and when we refuse to accept it, it makes him want to take it back, like the unicorns.
-Jon Acuff