One of the sounds I hear are the crickets. There are windows and doors wide open and we hear the sounds of the outside all day and all night long. There are thousands of stars in the sky tonight. The same stars you are looking up at from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania or Iowa are the same stars we are seeing from Haiti. The beautiful sunset was the same one you all saw. It's like the omnipresent God. He is there with all of us at the same time even if we are in different places.
The next sound I hear is a table full of 20 somethings fighting over spoons in a WILD game of spoons. The laughter and joy of these young people is contagious. Before Saturday I had met only one of these 6 "kids". I have watched them work hard, play hard and sometimes cry hard all week. Their love for God is so present and all they want to do is serve Him. Each of them has followed God's call to come here, New Orleans, Ghana, Indonesia and many other places around the world. They talk about their future work in Alabama and Japan and their past work here in Haiti. Each one loves the one sitting next to them and they even included a gray haired 50 something in a game earlier tonight. Age means nothing to them. All that matters is that God has called them here and they have listened.
The next sound I hear are the soft voices of a team debrief going on on the front porch. This team from Minnesota has worked so hard this week. They, along with some of the above 20 somethings, built 10 homes this week, have cleaned out a huge army tent at the orphanage, played with many orphans and come home with smiles on their exhausted faces. They asked for nothing all week except... what's next for us to do. 4 of the 7 on this team are staying in Haiti until next Wednesday. They they are adopting 5 kids from the OLTCH orphanage between 3 couples. It was their kids that I helped with yesterday. 2 spouses will meet them tomorrow and they all go to court on Monday for the first of a few court appearances in the long process of adopting a Haitian orphaned or abandoned child. The love that these people show to each other and to everyone else is amazing. God shines through each one of these people and I have had the honor of traveling here with them, working with them, crying with them and laughing with them all week. They have truly been a blessing to the people of Haiti.
The last sound I hear is tap, tap, tap on a keyboard. A pastor from the Congo is on his laptop working at a table a few feet from me. He has had visa issues and has been "stuck" here with us a few more days than he had originally intended. He has asked for nothing since his arrival on Sunday night and when he is called for lunch or dinner he is so grateful for whatever is put in front of him. What an amazing man of God to come from the Congo to visit his two compatriots that are living here in Haiti and ministering to the people here. God has created this world wide network of missionaries and pastors to make sure that the gospel is spread to all people before the end of the age.
This trip to Haiti has been wonderful. I have learned so much about crisis response, medical care in a 3rd world country and people in general. God brought me here to experience the sounds of Haiti but to also be a servant to the people of Haiti and those that want to spread the gospel here.
What an awesome God we have...
Jackie
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