Haiti....One Year later

“The poor are very great people, they can teach us many beautiful things” Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa is on my “Top 5 Favorite Saints” list. She is a woman of courage, prayer, impeccable poise, has a humble heart and is a servant of Jesus Christ. As I pray with some of the things that she has said, and the life lessons she has left behind, I can’t contain my missionary heart. I know that God has called me to Haiti and I get to serve the poorest 3rd world country in the Western Hemisphere. But God, through the poor, is teaching me more then I could ever teach the Haitian people that I get to share life with. 

Often times I don’t know how to answer the age old question “How’s Haiti?”  I either clam up, get nervous, explode with some ridiculous story that leaves people confused, or I just respond with “Well, it’s hot.…” But instead, I’m going to share with you a few life lessons that the people of Haiti have taught me during these past 15 months in there. 

TO LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY 

I can’t begin to explain the number of families who I interact with that take care of a child, aunt, cousin, brother, that nobody wanted to take care of anymore. Each and every day I learn about a new family that has brought in another person to love, feed, clothe and send to school. The Haitian people understand the importance of family, and in giving more than you believe your means can allow. They know Jesus will always fill in the spaces where they are lacking. One particular family has six children and has taken in a niece because her mother isn’t able to care for her. This family is only able to send 4 of their children to school while 2 of their children live with other relatives in another part of Haiti. But still, they have said YES to little Bernadine living with them, because they are able to provide a meal for her. 

TO TRUST IN THE LORD’S PROVIDENCE

A few times a week we are blessed to go on home visits. We pack a bag of rice, beans and our bibles, and walk down the road. Some days we leave the base with a plan to visit a particular neighbor we know is sick, and other days we just pray that the Holy Spirit guides us to those who need to know Him that day. On one such day, as the team started down the road in the hot afternoon sun, we came to Francois’ house. Francois is a 17 year old boy that has never been to school, and who lives with his mother, grandmother, two sisters and niece. That day his mother didn't have any food to give to her children, so when we showed up to pray with her she exploded into cheers yelling “MESI BONDYE, MESI JEZI” (Thank you God! Thank you Jesus!) She shares this moment with us when we sit down. She tells us that she had just offered to God all her prayers because she didn't have  a single thing to feed her family that day. She said she trusted Jesus, and that he would not leave her family hungry that day. Through his providence we came to her house that day, shared the Gospel and left her with food. Francois is now an active teen visiting our base daily, goes to school (Praise be Jesus Christ!), and comes over whenever he needs a meal. His family is slowly coming to mass more often, and exploring the Catholic faith. 

TO LAUGH 

Haitians are some of the funniest people I know. They sit around the table, on the porch or in the yard, sharing stories with each other. Yes, there is a language barrier. But we all laugh in the same language. If you can get the slightest understanding of the story and other people are laughing, then you should probably just laugh too. It’s good for the soul, and reminds you not to take yourself to serious. 

TO APPRECIATE LIFE

When I walk into a persons house they bring in chairs from the neighbors, offer you anything they can, and welcome you into their life. There isn’t any hiding behind closed doors, or secrets too shameful to share. God is welcomed into this place of love. The sick and the dyeing are cared for and prayed with, not just tossed aside. The young children are loved, cleaned, feed, educated and hugged. The unborn is given the dignity of life, even though most pregnant women aren’t married or in the financial situation to feed another mouth. The old are treated with respect. Those who are able to work, work with their whole-being and they don’t complain. 

These are just a few life lessons that the Lord has shown me through my Haitian family. I know this upcoming year will continue to be a time of growth, struggle, heart break, grace, and an abundance of trust in the Lord. Thank you for the ways you pray, give and sacrifice with and for me. I pray today to be more like Mother Teresa and let the poor into my heart in such a way that I must be changed. 

God Wins, 

Amanda

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Let's Get Away From This Place

I’m not really good at goodbyes. 

I don’t think I know anyone who actually is. 

They are often awkward, and there are usually some sort of tears. 

We say goodbye to people so often here. 

There are so many people who come in and out of here so quickly. You experience Jesus with them, sometimes it’s for the first time that the familiar light of Christ is reflecting in their eyes. It’s a beautiful, heart breaking week. 

Then there are people who you’ve known for years that God calls away. You deny their next move as the lingering days seem shorter. Before you know it your bags are packed, they are shouting your name for a final boarding call as your best friend stands there in a puddle of tears.  You release the death grip you have on each other and don’t look back. 

NEVER LOOK BACK. 

That only causes more tears. It’s like putting a fresh bandaid on to a wound that’s still gushing blood. You’re just going to have to rip it off again. 

As I get the news that a very dear priest friend is leaving my home parish I found myself in a puddle of tears. I’m simply trying to compose and email to thank him for the man of God he’s been in my life for the past ten years. Know that God is guiding is every move brings peace to my heart. 

He would constantly joke with me that I was going to enter religious life. In a recent conversation with my Mom he told her “No matter where I am I will come to the profession of her final vows. Or if she gets married I will be there. Whatever will make her and Jesus happy, I will support”. 

Gosh, I am so blessed. 

This goodbye seems harder than most because I literally don’t know when I will see him again. He’s moving a few hundred miles away from my home town which adds thousands of miles between us. I pray one day that I can go serve in his home country of Nigera. 

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” Mathew 28:19

If I Were Brave.....

Asia (my best friend, just so we are all up to speed) often has these crazy ideas. Ideas that terrify me, but they bring her so much joy. She has this beautifully radical way of thinking about life. Her basic philosophy is “If you aren’t fully alive, are you really living?”. Now that seems like a wonderful way to live, and a theory that I could really jump on board with. But the questions she asks, and the ideas that she has absolutely make me shake in my flip flops. Hence forth I present you my thoughts on the  the “If I Were Brave” Challenge. 

I have always consider myself to be a pretty brave person. I was 15 the first time I traveled out of the country. I went to Italy, oh and I was alone. I went to Israel the following year with a group of juniors in High School, and college was 1200 miles away from the place I’d called home for 18 years. The distance between myself and “home” continued to grow, and I felt brave. I felt like I could conquer the world, and given a problem I could figure out some sort of solution. Even though sometimes I'd have to call my Dad, or use Google to learn how to change a tire. I did it. With little to no fear. 

When I became a missionary I realized how fearful I was. I could climb to the top of the ladder, or act like a monkey in a tree. I wasn’t terrified to take the garbage out at night, or even inspect the “creepy” buildings around camp (and trust me, there were plenty). I didn’t even mind going into the midget closet, or getting something from our car after the sun went down. But if Jesus wanted to enter a deep, dark, spider web filled spot on my heart I’d flee in fear. I didn’t think he needed to go there. I’d kindly uninvite him, closed my journal, and would just sit. But Asia’s desire to help me seek true healing, has sparked this radical thought to BE BRAVE. How simple, yet it gets my heart racing every single day. 

This morning I was reflecting on the previous days reading. 1 John 4:17 “Perfect love casts out fear”. With this scripture on the front of my heart I start the “If I Were Brave” challenge. The basic concept is that I text Asia in the morning the thing I'm going to do even though I'm scared. Then she tells me hers, and then throughout the day we do whatever we were previously afraid of. Everyday instead of sitting in fear, I will choose to stop hiding behind “if” and instead run into the fear. So I encourage you to follow this journey. Make your own challenges, and find a buddy to hold you accountable.