Joy & Blessings in Haiti

The first time I went to Haiti, I was on a spiritual and emotional high the whole time.  I was not sure what to expect this time, but I had a feeling it might not be the same mountain top experience it had been the first time.  I struggled a lot during this trip with discouragement- questioning whether this little program is really doing any good.  I was very tired during most of the trip and I  just plain missed my family.  Ten days was a long time to be away from my husband & youngest son.   I also saw many things that just broke my heart.  I witnessed and experienced the spiritual battle in Haiti.  I was and am abundantly thankful for all those who prayed for me and for this trip.  I felt God’s protection surrounding me.

Despite the struggles I experienced, it was really a great trip, filled with many moments of joy!

Loving being surrounded by these beautiful kids!

I loved having the opportunity to spend some “down time” in Carrefour Poy, which I did not get on my last trip.  I had time to watch the children play, to talk with them, to hold them.  These are some of my favorite memories!

It was a huge blessing to meet with all of the sponsored children as well as some of their families and hear a little about how The Bridge is making a difference in their lives.

The family of some of our kids in front of their home.

I loved sharing this experience with my middle son, Brennan.  I loved watching him communicate and make friends with all the children in spite of the language barrier.

Brennan with some of his new friends. 🙂

Seeing all the people I met on my last trip was a treat.  So many friendly faces, and I count it a privilege to get to work with some of them.

It was great driving around with Gilbert.  I received the benefit of his wisdom and learned a lot about Haitian culture & ministry in general.  It was also exciting to brainstorm new ideas of how we can continue to help the school in Carrefour Poy with him & dream about even bigger things for the future of this ministry!  I will be writing a little about some of those things in a future blog post.

In the car with Gilbert… and this time I got to drive!

What a blessing it was to watch our youth group & the leaders ministering to the children of Carrefour Poy.  There were so many little difficulties on this trip (and a few big ones), but I rarely heard complaining but instead witnessed a lot of smiles and the love & joy of Christ pouring through our team to the children they were ministering to.  And in a few of the team, I had the privilege of witnessing the spark of God’s call in their hearts to do more.  I can hardly wait to see the outcome of those sparks!

These are just a few of the great team of youth that ministered in Haiti last week.

So many wonderful and exciting things happened on this trip… too many for this one blog post.   I will be sharing more about those exciting things in the near future.

Stay tuned!

Read more about my trip in this post about The Children and their Families.