Wow. We are back from Haiti. Most of you know that we have been working on this trip since the first of the year. Now, I want to tell you who traveled with us this week before I get started because you are going to hear "Austin and Kellie" a lot. Austin and Kellie Greenhaw are in Lacey's lifegroup, and they have been wanting to go on a mission trip for awhile. When they decided to go to Haiti, I so wanted to go with them, and they graciously invited this old grandma along... then we got such overwhelming support with funding that I was able to take Hallie as well...It was all God. So here we are a mighty group of 5, in a mission full of groups of 10 and more. Most groups were 20 people and up, so we were small and mighty.
Now, there are several things I learned about myself this week.
- I can survive without tea or soda. I like water. Even tepid warm water is amazing when you are thirsty. I know Lacey's video shows me with Coke in like all the pictures, but really, I only drank about 3 times, (clearly every time I drank one it was chronicled) because it was the only thing really cold. I craved water the whole time. It was weird and probably good for me.
-Kip is my freaking hero. How she has done this 11 months through 11 countries, I have no idea. And we had great facilities to come back to every evening. A shower (with cold water, but hey, it was a shower) and toilets (which you couldn't flush tp and the motto was "Let Yellow Mellow, But Brown goes down" you can figure that out)...and food prepared for us by Haitian women (SOOO good)....so Kip living out of her backpack, traveling for 36 hours some trips, I just stand in awe.
-Heat used to be my favorite thing. Not so much as I am a fragile flower of 51 now. In Haiti, it's just hot. Downright freaking hot. Cassie Allgood (Kip's old roommate, who designed the houses for one of the villages) gave us this advice... 95% of the time you are hot, and the other 5% of the time you are ridiculously hot. She was right. I bought a $2 fan to wear around my neck and it was the very best thing in the world I have ever taken anywhere or bought. When I left I donated it to the clinic director, as she coveted it the day we spent in the clinic (you will be reading more of this later). I will NEVER say I'm too cold again. Ever. Ever. Ever.
-I am a spoiled American Turd. Bottom line. I like potato chips. I like A/C. I like stop signs on roads. I like roads. I like houses with windows, and I like 7-11's. In Haiti, you don't get chips, you don't get a/c, there are no stop signs and the roads are mainly gravel and huge potholes. There is massive honking and high speeds (which I probably could embrace, if I lived through the first day of driving in Haiti) and there is nothing, I repeat NOTHING that even remotely looks like a 7-11. I am a spoiled american turd. End of story.
I blogged like crazy while I was there. I wrote constantly, afraid I would forget things (which I would have in that heat)...and I will share those with you, along with pics from the trip over the next few days. I like my title "Heat Spray Love" (taken from Eat Pray Love), as we had nothing but Heat, Bugspray and Ample love for the people of Haiti.
So, here is Lacey's video to start you off, and be looking for my journal as we walk through the week in Haiti..... our Heat, Spray Love week..... what a time I will never forget. (until my alzheimers kicks in)...
Click on this to see our video Lacey put together....then I'll be updating on blogs and taking you on the journey with us.
https://vimeo.com/44192761
God's love is evident.... His power is unmistakable.
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