Shook
After almost 10 years of missions ministry, we were ready to serve as a family. Dad, Mom, 7-year old and 5-year old daughters. We’d been called to an organization that actually encouraged us to go to the field for short-term trips. Compared to the kind of multi-week, halfway-around-the-world, post-war-zone kind of places Cameron had traveled to without us, Haiti seemed just right. It is in the same time zone (half the year); it’s accessible via 3 short plane rides (and one very bumpy truck ride); there would be ways for the kids and I to serve at the mission; and between the other mission family’s kids and the kids at the baby orphanage and Miriam Center, Northwest was a pretty kid-friendly place. Yeah, we could do this.
For the first half of the trip, we dealt with all of what you might expect regarding a typical short-term mission trip. The girls had a really cold bath—no hot water. They had to either eat the strange looking Haitian food—or resort to granola bars and peanut butter. (They chose the latter!) They met kids with physical disabilities who looked different than they do. They made fast friends with the other kids on campus. We were serving side-by-side in a different land.
Then, the earth shook.
We had just finished a belated Christmas party, helping deliver sponsors’ gifts for kids who live at the Miriam Center. We had grabbed a cool drink and settled ourselves to read the girls a quick book before dinner. We were on the top floor of the mission when we heard the loud rumble and saw the concrete posts swaying from side to side. We didn’t know what was happening. It took a moment for us to realize we had better get out into the open courtyard. It sounded like a huge truck had just rumbled onto campus, but when there was clearly no truck, we did what all Americans would do—we Googled it to see what just happened. “That was an earthquake!”
Honestly, at first it felt like that was the end of it. It was Tuesday and we were leaving Friday morning. No problem. Then we started watching CNN. Have you ever been in a disaster zone watching Anderson Cooper arrive? Normally, we are on the other side of the TV. We didn’t have any of that kind of physical devastation up in the north where we were, but almost everyone at the mission had friends, family or both who lost possessions, property, lives or all three.
Did we still think it was a good idea to bring our young kids to Haiti? I’m not sure why God allowed our 10-day trip to include the first earthquake in over 200 years. Perhaps it was because He had some things He wanted us to learn and be exposed to. Perhaps it was to show us that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Perhaps it was only to cause people to do a double-take when we share with them about our trip—maybe it makes it more personal for them, maybe it makes them think about how they can serve, maybe it helps people to not forget, maybe God gets some extra praise and glory.
For better or worse, Haiti’s problems are the same as they were before January 12, 2010. There is still unimaginable poverty. Babies, children and adults still die of malnutrition every day. The government, the economy, the infrastructure, the education system, the voodoo…these are things that Haiti struggled with before the earth shook and now must find answers for in an even more wildly-difficult environment. Recovery is happening, though, slowly and hopefully.
With the social and economical problems in Haiti, there is only one hope for true transformation. Through this earthquake and the many other struggles that our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ face, our hope is that we proclaim the Gospel with more vigor than ever and that lives and communities can be transformed by the Gospel first and foremost! We are honored to partner with them in this struggle to share the Gospel in a real and meaningful way. Tout bagay deja byen (Everything is already good)!
For the love of Haiti,
Jennifer on behalf of Cameron, Anna and Katie
For the first half of the trip, we dealt with all of what you might expect regarding a typical short-term mission trip. The girls had a really cold bath—no hot water. They had to either eat the strange looking Haitian food—or resort to granola bars and peanut butter. (They chose the latter!) They met kids with physical disabilities who looked different than they do. They made fast friends with the other kids on campus. We were serving side-by-side in a different land.
Then, the earth shook.
We had just finished a belated Christmas party, helping deliver sponsors’ gifts for kids who live at the Miriam Center. We had grabbed a cool drink and settled ourselves to read the girls a quick book before dinner. We were on the top floor of the mission when we heard the loud rumble and saw the concrete posts swaying from side to side. We didn’t know what was happening. It took a moment for us to realize we had better get out into the open courtyard. It sounded like a huge truck had just rumbled onto campus, but when there was clearly no truck, we did what all Americans would do—we Googled it to see what just happened. “That was an earthquake!”
Honestly, at first it felt like that was the end of it. It was Tuesday and we were leaving Friday morning. No problem. Then we started watching CNN. Have you ever been in a disaster zone watching Anderson Cooper arrive? Normally, we are on the other side of the TV. We didn’t have any of that kind of physical devastation up in the north where we were, but almost everyone at the mission had friends, family or both who lost possessions, property, lives or all three.
Did we still think it was a good idea to bring our young kids to Haiti? I’m not sure why God allowed our 10-day trip to include the first earthquake in over 200 years. Perhaps it was because He had some things He wanted us to learn and be exposed to. Perhaps it was to show us that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Perhaps it was only to cause people to do a double-take when we share with them about our trip—maybe it makes it more personal for them, maybe it makes them think about how they can serve, maybe it helps people to not forget, maybe God gets some extra praise and glory.
For better or worse, Haiti’s problems are the same as they were before January 12, 2010. There is still unimaginable poverty. Babies, children and adults still die of malnutrition every day. The government, the economy, the infrastructure, the education system, the voodoo…these are things that Haiti struggled with before the earth shook and now must find answers for in an even more wildly-difficult environment. Recovery is happening, though, slowly and hopefully.
With the social and economical problems in Haiti, there is only one hope for true transformation. Through this earthquake and the many other struggles that our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ face, our hope is that we proclaim the Gospel with more vigor than ever and that lives and communities can be transformed by the Gospel first and foremost! We are honored to partner with them in this struggle to share the Gospel in a real and meaningful way. Tout bagay deja byen (Everything is already good)!
For the love of Haiti,
Jennifer on behalf of Cameron, Anna and Katie
