How Time Flies...

I am sorry that I have not posted in so long... A week has gone by and I can't hardly believe it. So much happens in one week. So much life is lived and days come and go here so quickly, or so it seems. And yet when I think about going home in April it seems a lifetime away. It's quite odd.

So in an attempt to update you all on what the last week has been like, please be patient as I give you a bit of an overview. Now lets see... who knows if I'll really get it in order or not? lol. But then you wouldn't know anyway would you? :P

There was one night that we made cookies at Lisa's house which was quite an adventure! The sad thing was we left the chocolate chips and oatmeal at the property so they were like plain cookies and we mixed in some cocoa powder which made it better but not the same as if we had had choc chips. lol. what do you do though? nothing!

The next day we went for a drive to a nearby town called Petit Goave. We make it a habit to ride in the back of truck. It is a wonderful feeling to be flying down the road in the back of a pickup holding on tightly to the back and having the air blowing you in the wind. I love it! On this same trip we stopped by the first church plant in a neighboring town called Tapion. This is a pic of me and Jen standing at the top of the hill in the church building. Sometimes I am blown away by the beauty that is found in this place. Wow. It was a good day.



Saturday Jen and I got our hair braided by some amazing young women in the church. Now the phrase that continued to roll in my mind during the agonizing 5 1/2 hours it took to put the extensions and braids in my hair was my mom saying, "Baby, sometimes it hurts to be beautiful!"

Church on Sunday was amazing. Being able to share that time with the Haitians. I love watching them worship. It is like nothing I have ever seen or experienced in my life. They are so uninhibited. The care nothing for what people around them think. They give God everything that is in them to give. It is a beautiful thing. I often feel like I don't really know what it is to love God and live for him when I watch these beautiful people.

Then on Monday we went for a long and very neat adventure to visit the community of Vallue. It is an amazing little village/community on the top of a large hilltop area nearby, maybe 10 miles away from Grand Goave. You drive up this incredibly large, long, bumpy, steep mountain. The view is absolutely incredible! at the top you find a school, a hotel and an agricultural site. They have a whole other world up there. It is so neat. We discovered an opportunity to be a part of a festival there and will be participating in it in a couple weeks, selling things and promoting Haiti Arise and the school. It is a very awesome opportunity. We did so many amazing things on this trip. We saw how they made jams and jellies and got to try some awesome fresh grapefruit. We hiked when the truck could go no further on the extremely rutted roads. And let me tell you it makes me wish I had taken the time to really get in shape before I came. Whew. It proved to me how OUT OF SHAPE I really am. lol. They are incredibly patient with me. Thank God! :P It was really just an amazing trip. This whole day I was preparing myself, knowing that it was my last day with Jen before she returned home. I was freaking out inside... wondering what I was going to do when she left.

That day ended wonderfully though. We went for a drive to the nearby beach, Taino, that I will visit every Monday night as our weekly treat. It is incredibly beautiful and peaceful. It was so nice to just float and swim in the warm water with Jen. It was amazing to watch change that had taken place in her life this last week. And then I am reminded about how different I could be when I go home. I don't know what is going on in my heart but I truly hope that I don't hold things back from God. I want to go for it and I want to accomplish what I came here to do, but it is a scary thing... being here for 5 months. It's been 2 weeks and I am excited, but there is a huge part of me that misses home, my family and friends and that life. And yet, here I am in Haiti, trying to live life. And when I feel sad, I look around at a prayer service like last night and I am reminded... these people have cause for overwhelming sadness and low times, I am so blessed... and I know there are people that love me. I am fed and clothed and healthy. And my perspective slowly shifts. I wonder what will happen... I have so much inside of me that I want to say... but I will save that for another day and spare you a whole book! :) Thanks if you took the time to read this. I love that it is a way to stay connected with the rest of my world. Blessings...