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July 5th 2009

Today seemed like such a long day. We left this morning after breakfast to go to church in An-Son-Flour. We went on a tap tap which is a truck that they use for transportation. They call it a tap tap because when you want it to stop you tap the side of it. The ride was so pretty. I didn’t feel like I was in a third world country. When we got there we talked to the preacher and went up on the roof to look at the view. We were right on the ocean. It was so beautiful. I tried to take pictures of it but no picture could capture the beauty of it. It was too amazing. It’s so cool to think about God creating those mountains and ocean. I went and sat on the wall which separated the ocean from the church and kids came from the near by houses to see us. They wanted me to take pictures of them and they went through my bag asking for everything that was in it. It was really hard not to just give it all to them but I knew we weren’t allowed. It teaches them bad behavior by giving it to them because they will think they can get what they want when they beg. They also don’t do it because they want all gifts to go through the church which I totally understand. They really wanted my water I felt so bad when I had to take it out of their hands. Seven year olds biggest problems shouldn’t be finding food and water it should be how to climb up a tree. I thought of how often I take for granted having running water. They kept grabbing my hands and my arms and they wouldn’t let go until finally I just had to pry them off me and go up the stairs to the church. That broke my heart. Time seems to go slower in Haiti so it felt like we waited forever for the service to start. It was all in Creole so I didn’t understand any of it but it was great to see God’s people worshiping him. Than one of the men from the groups from the mission did a sermon I can’t recall what it was about but it was good haha. Today in church when the young girls were singing I thought of what we were trying to do here in Haiti. I feel like were suppose to share our blessings by giving them food and water but that’s not it. They are very blessed. We all are. Even if we have nothing else on this Earth but God we should be fully satisfied. Earthly needs are nothing but what our job is, is to replenish the needs of their spirit. Well anyone that was my deep thinking for the day. After the service we returned back the compound. Sunday is a day of relaxation so we all hung around the compound. I got my hair braided which is a lot easier than my ridiculous curly hair. Than later in the afternoon they took us on a tour of the facility. There was so many neat things. There was something called the Graun Moun which was where the elderly stayed. There was a baby orphanage. You can take the babies from the orphanage and play with them around the compound. They also have a Miriam center which is a center for special needs children. They have a nutrition center which is where malnourished children are brought with their parents and their parents learn to feed them properly and give them the food they need. They have a clinic, a dentist office, a birthing center and a pharmacy. I really want to spend a lot of time there. After our tour we ate some grub and than did the dishes. We did devotionals after that and people shared their experiences of the day.

July 6th 2009

Today we went out to the bay where to young missionaries named Curtis and Danielle live. It’s about an hour and a half ride. When we got there we got straight to work after setting up camp on their roof. Today what we had to accomplish was we had to pass out tickets to people in the won to come to the church an get seeds to plant. Some of the people in the group stayed back and made the bags of seeds and some people, including me, went to pass out the tickets in the village. We all split up. Another girl and I went with 3 translators to go talk to the people at their houses about what we were trying to do. Most people were outside laying on mats or doing work. The translators would explain and than the girl and I would hand out our tickets until they were all gone. When we ran out we headed back to the church. It was a hot one out today! When we got there people had already come in to retrieve their seed bags. We would pray for them and the seeds they were receiving and than they would leave. We did that with about four groups of the people from the village. We had some down time between this project and the next. We ate some lunch and than headed out to where Curtis and Danielle’s new house is going to be. We moved rocks out of the way for them and built them a garden area. We were pretty pooped after that and were really excited to go swimming. When we got back we put on our swimsuits and hit the beach. It was refreshing. The beach had been hit hard by the hurricane the year before and it wasn’t in good shape. We didn’t really mind though we just needed some relief. After our swim we came back and played a card game called phase ten. Let me just tell you now that I am not good at this game in any way. The goal of the game is to collect a certain thing that they tell you and when you do you can move on to the next phase. So while everyone was on phase 6 or 7 I was still on one. Haha. It was fun none the less. Now I’m lying on my mattress looking at the stars and the moon. It is so beautiful I can’t even describe it. There are clouds but they make the night even prettier. Well I’m so tired I’m headed to bed.

July 7th 2009 Today we went to the orphanage on the way back from the missionary’s house. It was fantastic. We woke up this morning and eggs for breakfast and fresh bananas and headed out. When we got to the orphanage kids swarmed us and grabbed our hands and asked to be picked up. There was this one little girl that I picked up that I seemed to hold on to the rest of the time. I gave her a bracelet that Jess had made for me to hand out to the children. She was so excited she loved it. I began to dance and have fun and felt so comfortable and I knew God was there. It was so great. Than I went and played with all the other children there and the little girl handed out the rest of the bracelets I had to the other kids. When I was sitting on the concrete the little girls swarmed me and started doing my hair. It was so adorable. They put my hair up in pigtails. Then we played clapping games that they tried to teach me in Creole. I was a very slow learner and I could tell they were getting frustrated so I just hummed along. Than the Indiana group that I had tagged along with did a VBS about Moses and the burning bush. The kids were running around like crazy and it was hard to keep their attention but the VBS was good. Then we got to eat some lunch. They had made us Haitian spaghetti which is plain spaghetti with a little bit of seasoning on it. I put Louisiana hot sauce on mine and regretted it later. As soon as I put it in my mouth my eyes started watering. It was horrible. I couldn’t throw it away either. You can’t throw away food in a third world country with starving people all over so I ate it. I was crying and sweating. This was definitely no ordinary Louisiana hot sauce. Some other people made the same mistake. So here we are already dripping with sweat now ten times worse and our eyes watering like crazy. I think I’ll try and stay away from the hot sauce. After lunch we headed back to the mission. My butt is so sore from that ride. Those tap taps aren’t very comfortable. We got back and tons of people were sick. Some sort of flu was going around and Haden (Jodi’s Daughter) got sick. She had to have an IV and everything. I felt so bad because she had been waiting to come to Haiti for so long and than she got sick but she’s being very strong. So something amazing happened today that I still can’t fully comprehend. There had been a little girl dropped off at the gate of the mission by her parents. She was very sick, malnourished, special needs, covered in vomit and she was unconscious. The mission has people drop their children off often but there isn’t anything they can do because they can’t take in everyone. So they asked this man Eli to take her down to the police station to find her parents. He carried her down their and told the police what had happened. The whole time he was walking there he was just praying to God that he would let her live. He was saying he would do anything to save this girls life. Well the police couldn’t find her parents. So they said if Eli could sponsor her that she could stay at the mission. He agreed on the spot and also got to name her. He named her Faith. Now she will be able to live a healthy and good life at the mission all because this man saved her life this day. I can’t believe how God works. Not only did that little girl live but he used her life to grow Eli and all the people at the mission. It just gives me Goosebumps writing about it. They did a sermon at our church a while back about how God always uses the humble. The people that will give him all the glory. I feel so unworthy to be being used by God right now in this country. I’m not humble enough to deserve this. This has been so challenging so far. God has asked me to rely strictly on him and his word. It’s stretching me and I hope that I will get what I am supposed to out of this journey. I miss everyone a lot. I miss having a conversation with someone familiar. God and I have been getting pretty tight though. J Well I’m headed up to bed. Another night on the roof. Goodnight.

July 8th 2009- morning Last night God really provided. This trip has been so rough for me. So many times I just wanted to give up and go home. My glass felt empty and really the only thing keeping me going was God. Last night I went upstairs to go to bed and I started talking to Jodi. We talked for about an hour about everything that I had been feeling. I told her my whole journey towards Christ and than everything that had been stirring in my heart since I arrived in Haiti. She comforted me and said all the things I needed to hear. It was just so great to talk and confide in someone. I’m still unsure of what I’m doing here and how God is going to use me but I’m putting all my trust in God. He clearly knows what’s best.

July 8th 2009- Night Oh my goodness. God is outstanding, phenomenal, extraordinary and any other amazing word you can think of. So I woke up this morning and ate some breakfast. My plan for the day was to hang around the compound and to go to the clinic. So at around nine Jessica took me downstairs to the clinic and we started taking blood pressures and temperatures of pregnant women in the waiting room. That alone was a great experience. There was not much else for me to do when we finished that so Jessica told me to come back a little later. There had been another girl in the room named Shannon and we were both kind of bummed that there wasn’t anything to do. We decided to check out the birthing center and see if they needed us. We got to talking and I found out she was also there by herself. Well we hit it off haha to say the least. She was twenty and from Seattle. She was supposed to come with her best friend to Haiti but than a few months before her friend couldn’t go anymore (like me!). She is staying here for a month and teaching ESL classes. She actually was suppose to teach a class later in the day but didn’t have material ready. So we worked until around three doing things for the class and than we went back downstairs to teach the doctors and nurses some English. The class went really well and we set up dates for other meetings and one on one session. I’m so happy to be involved with something and to be able to help her out. Then we went to the orphanage because we had some down time before dinner. I held this baby named Emanuel that I have fallen in love with. He is so adorable and so smiley. The women in there started talking to us in Creole so we said if they would teach us some Creole we would teach them a little English. It was fun. So we learned some simple things. Afterwards we went up on the roof to do some reading but ended up talking the whole time. She told me about her boyfriend Evan who she really missed. She also told me about when she lived in the Dominican Republic and about her sisters back home. We both talked about how hard it had been to be here alone and what we had experienced. Oh my gosh. It feels so amazing to be able to talk and relate to somebody like that. We hung out for the rest of the day planning what we were going to do for the rest of the week. It already feels like I’ve known her forever. We ate dinners and than heard Devotionsals. Jodi went up and spoke today about her daughter Haden being sick. She said as her mother all she wanted to do was take this sickness away from her child. She made the analogy that that is all God wants for us to. He doesn’t want to see us hurting; he wants to take the pain away. It was really good. Well that was my day. I’m probably going to go take a nice cold shower then go to bed. Goodnight!

July 9th 2009 Today was a rough day. I woke up feeling sick. I was really hoping it wasn’t what everyone else had. Shannon and I were sticking around the compound today. We went down the Graun Moun and sat in rocking chairs with the elderly. They were so happy to see us. They all came and greeted us with hugs and kisses. We sang a couple songs for them including when the Saints go marching in and she’ll be comin round the mountain. We both don’t have a career in the music industry let me add. I was feeling so sick that I fell asleep right in the chair. Shannon woke me up and we went to go see if anything was happening in the birthing center. Shannon and I are so determined to assist a birth. We want to so bad. When we went there was a women giving birth but she still had a while to go. So we stayed in the room with her and tried to help but there wasn’t much we could do. I couldn’t even imagine giving birth in those conditions. There was an air conditioner but it didn’t do much and she had no pain medication except two ibuprofens when she was done. Lunch time came around and I felt so sick so we just went back upstairs. After lunch I went to take a nap in hopes to feel better. I felt so miserable. I was again wondering why I was here and if I could possibly be making a difference. I miss everyone, I’m hot, I’m sick I just feel miserable. I know I shouldn’t get frustrated. God is still working in me and through me. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. After my short nap we went back down to the Graun moun where they were having a party for them. They were painting their nails and we joined in. It was really great they were so appreciative of such a small act of kindness. We didn’t stay very long before I began to feel sick again so we went back upstairs. I helped make blueberry muffins to be delivered to the guard at the police station later that day. We sat around for a while and then Shannon, Erin, two translators and I went to deliver the muffins. It was a pretty short walk to the police station. When we got there Erin told them what we were doing and asked questions about the prisoners. She found out that they are only fed if their families come and give them food. Most families do but if they are transferred to the police station in Port- au-Prince then they aren’t fed because families can’t afford to travel that far. It’s basically a death sentence. We went to talk to the prisoners about why they were in jail. Every single one of them was in prison for fighting. They would only be staying for a couple days. We handed out the muffins to everyone and I had the privilege to read the prayer to them. They thanked us and then we headed back to the compound. Again I was feeling horrible so I went to take another nap and Shannon went and did meals on heels which brought meals to the elderly in town. When I woke up it was dinner time but it was something I couldn’t eat so I just had a small bag of chips. Jodi is leaving early tomorrow morning so I said goodbye to her and Haden tonight. I really enjoyed being able to spend the week with them. I feel so close to Jodi like I’ll always be able to share this one special experience with her. I’m just sitting around talking to the Canadian group right now. I really like them, I feel like a part of their group.

July 10th 2009

Today was a full day. I’m feeling so much better. I think I just really needed to get off the compound. Well first let me tell you what happened to one of the other groups today. The Canada group went to do a bible VBS in a near by villages. They had packed peanut butter sandwiches for about 160 kids. They got to the church and there were tons of kids waiting outside the gate of the church. They were only supposed to let in 160 but they ended up letting in 190. They were really worried but they started handing out the sandwiches and just trusted God. They fed all of the children in the church and still had twelve extra. Just like in the Bible when he fed the 5,000 and had twelve baskets left. It’s one of those goose bumps stories again. We seem to get a lot of those J When Shannon and I were talking she was saying how the work we do here reminds her of biblical work and it is so true. We’re getting the chance to do the things Jesus did. When I think about preparing for Haiti and the days leading up to it, I was so excited. **I** couldn’t believe **I** was going to Haiti. Now that I’m here my reaction to this trip is totally different. It’s not about me at all. It’s not that **I** got to go. It’s that God is using all of these people at this mission. He’s using us and our works to glorify him. I was the sheep, the pawn that he chose to use in this specific place. God is using all of us all the time. You don’t need to be in a third world country to be glorifying God and serving him. It’s not longer “lucky Kelsey” she got to go to Haiti. Its Gods plan for me is to be here but his word and work is being spread everywhere. I got the chance to do a bible VBS today for the children at the church I attended last Sunday. I went with the Canada group which as each day passes Shannon and I get closer to. They did a skit and then they handed out coloring pages. There were so many kids and every kid only got one colored pencil. It was so chaotic but It was fun. I gave some more bracelets to the girls sitting next to us at the Bible VBS. Afterwards we went to the Voodoo temple. We had been preparing ourselves mentally for this all day. The story is that there had been a cross on this mountain and that one day it was struck by lightning and a doll fell from the sky. They keep this doll in a glass case in the city of Aun son Flour. They dedicated the country to satan and worship this doll. So we went to where the doll was to see what we are up against. I didn’t think it would affect me as much as it did. Just being there was really hard. Seeing everyone and knowing they were worshiping something that fits in a box. That all of these people are denying Christ and worshiping a doll and that these children would be raised to believe this is true. There were people standing around holding candles and praying. There was a big cow hanging from the ceiling that had been skinned. They said it was a sacrifice that would later be sold in the market. I’m so thankful I’m a vegetarian. They also have a swamp that they believe to tell you weather you are forgiven of your sins or not. You are supposed to walk through this swamp/pond and if you make it across you’ve been forgiven and if you drowned well than you obviously haven’t. One of the Canadian guys that were there said they just felt like preaching when they saw all this and that’s exactly how I felt. You just wanted to tell them how wrong they were and they could be worshiping something so much greater. When we left we got the chance to go to a beach near by. We were so excited for some cold water because it was so hot. We laid out our towels then hopped right in. It was not cold at all. I don’t understand how an ocean can be hot but it was. It felt like a Jacuzzi. Shannon and I sat with the woman from the Canada group and talked. It was really relaxing. After a while we headed back to the compound. It was overall a really great day. I’ll probably go talk to the Canada group. Goodnight!

July 11th 2009 Today is the day Shannon and I have been looking forward to all week. We went to the waterfall with the Canada group and it was so much fun. We rode to the market and from there we walked 3 miles to the waterfall. On the bus the Canada group started singing their national anthem and than we sang the star spangled banner and than the translators sang the Haiti national anthem. It was really funny. Canada has adopted us into their group and we pretty much go with them everywhere. The leaders of the Canada group made a game out of the buddy system. They assigned every girl a stalker, someone who would watch out for them, and the girls would have to figure out who they were. It was really cute and a good way for us to stick together. So we headed out to the waterfall. Shannon and I had a really nice talk. In fact we didn’t stop talking the whole way there. We talked about what we had learned while being here, how our future plans have changed, what we have discovered about ourselves etc. The walk went by so quickly and it wasn’t to hot. It was so refreshing to swim. It was the most relaxing day I’ve had and I really enjoyed it. They had a little ledge where you could jump from. Shannon and I really wanted to but we were so scared but we finally got the courage and climbed up. Hey you only live once. J We didn’t get to swim very long before we had to start heading back for lunch and the market. So we walked back. Most of the 3 miles back I was trying to guess a riddle. I finally got it after they practically gave it away haha. When we got to the market Brenden, Shannon, Matt and I went to go look at what they had. Most of the things at the market were used clothing that had been sent over from America. There was nothing hand made or any crafts. Everything was used goods. Shannon bought some bananas and Matt bought a Bible but there wasn’t much else there. We headed back to the compound. I joined some of the Canada group in the Gran Moun. They were washing the elderly feet which I was so excited to do. I think this was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had so far. It was so amazing to actually do what Jesus had done. There feet were dry, dirty, tough and worn from their labor filled life. But it didn’t matter at all because their souls were beautiful. I would much rather have a tough body and a soft heart. I felt so blessed to have this experience. After that I tagged a long with some of the Indiana group to go check out the Soccer Arena in the village. It consisted of a big patch of dirt and two soccer goals. A man was flying a kite that had to been at least a mile and a half away. He let me hold it J. Then we talked to the children and waited for the fame to start. Then all of a sudden the children started yelling and going to the fence to look at something down in the street. We went over to see what was going on. These two women had started fighting in the road and than the fight grew until there were about ten people involved. It was really scary I wasn’t sure what to do. I really wanted to yell “Love thy neighbor!” but I decided against it haha. It died down and we started to watch the soccer game. Some of the kids sat and taught me how to count and we threw rocks at a wall trying to make it in a tiny whole. It was getting late so we had to head back. The whole way back I bothered Henry, an interpreter, about how to count to 15 in Creole. After dinner I played Uno with the California group with their “special rules”. It was fun and it was great to get to know another group. I think I’m going to go to Tortuga with them on Monday which is an island near by (it’s where pirates of the Caribbean was based J ). Tomorrow’s church and I’ll most likely go with the Canada group. Only 2 days left : That’s how I feel about that. Goodnight! P.s. There’s not a cloud in the sky. The night is so beautiful I’ve never seen anything like it.

July 12th 2009

// You can make plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. // Proverbs 19:21 This past week in Haiti has shaken me to the very core. I had a plan. I was going to come to Haiti and that would reassure my plans to become a missionary. Simple as that. God had a different plan. It was a rough and challenging and there were many times I thought I wouldn’t make it. I thought I was going to run out of strength I had no idea what kept me going. God would never let go though. He refilled my cup numerous times. I saw a different side of God and I felt so many new things that I can’t even explain in a journal entry. No words can begin to describe how awesome our God is. I went to church today in Bouno with the Canada group. Scott gave the sermon and it was very good. We came back to the compound and relaxed the rest of the day. I got a child from the orphanage and played with him in the commons area. It’s so weird how little time I have here. I thought the day would never come but now I would do anything to be able to stay.

July 13th 2009

Today I went with the California and Canadian group to Tortuga Island. We walked down to the dock from the compound where some of the Haitian men brought us one by one on their backs to the boat. I really did not want to go on their shoulders especially since I was wearing a skirt. It ended up being just fine and really funny. The boat ride was so beautiful. The water was SO blue. The ride was really rough and nauseating. Almost everyone on the boats got sick including me but luckily only one person threw up. When we got there we did a dental clinic right by the beach. There were tons of kids that showed up wit their parents. We taught them how to brush their teeth and than handed out toothbrushes. That was very chaotic we didn’t know we had handed it to and who we hadn’t. It was only a short trip before we started heading back. On the way back I got the chance to talk to some guys from the Canada group. I ended up telling them my journey to Christ. It was a really great conversation. Than we got back there was a market at the compound where only hand made things were sold. I shopped around and got presents for everyone back home :) We’ve pretty much relaxed the rest of the day. I’m trying to prepare myself for leaving. I can’t believe it’s over. Wait yes I can I feel like I’ve been here for months. I didn’t think it would be this hard to leave. I’m going to miss Shannon. I don’t even want to think about that. At devotionals tonight people came up and spoke about there journey there and Haiti. It was so emotional to hear all the transformations that had occurred. Well I’m going to bed for my last time here in Haiti. Goodnight! I can’t wait to see everyone tomorrow.

July 14th 2009 Today’s the day. I’m headed home. I woke up early to say goodbye to the Canada group. I’m gonna really miss them. I said bye to the California group but we made plans to meet up in California in two weeks when my family and I go up. I can’t wait for that! God is doing something great through this mission and I am so blessed to have gotten to be a part of it all. I pray that my trip glorified God and that I may have made a ripple. God’s plan for me in Haiti was so much greater than I could ever imagine. I hope that this journal can give everyone a glimpse into the experiences I had in the past week but I know there are no words to describe how this trip truly was. Well everyone’s getting on the bus headed to the airport so I have to go. Goodbye Haiti.



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