Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Seeing through the eyes of Christ....

Today was an amazing day!!! We visited so many places and met some amazing people today, I think today I saw a glimpse of the beauty of Haiti the way God sees Haiti. Today we got up and went to see some of the places that BGM will brings teams to and work. We went by the Orphanage, the Creche and the beach the we might be staying at. I was able to see my room that I at the creche where I will be for the next 6 months with Tia. We met up with a friend of Brent's named Gilbert and he took us all around Haiti. We went to an oil factory where they take this root and make oil that is used for perfume. They also age this wood for 20 years that is turned and separated into oil for fuel. We also went and visited Charlie at the Mission, we got to see our friends and hang out with them. On the way back around 5 we experienced something we have never done before, we went all the way back in the bark! (in the US driving in the dark is no big deal, but in Haiti there are NO street lights and it was CRAZY and a little scary!!!) We were in a huge traffic jam where Gilbert was weaving in and out like a crazy person, but it was awesome!!! I am back at the guest house and about to shower and hit the sack. This is the last night I will be at the Guesthouse for a while so I will blog as soon as I can. Thank you guys for your prayers. I love you all!!!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I am here!!!

Mike, Missy and I woke up bright and early yesterday morning and headed out. We arrived at the airport in Nashville at 4:30am boarded and headed out at 6. We had a little of a layover so Missy's nephew came down and we were able to hang out a little. We arrived in Haiti at 4:15pm where we were surprised to find out our luggage and 30 other bags were lost(that made for an interesting night, I am such my mother's child because the only thing I was worried about was brushing my teeth)... Because I normally have all my stuff in my backpack when I come to Haiti, the idea of my stuff being lost never crossed my mind so I had NOTHING!!! We all just laughed about it and said well hopefully it will make it here tomorrow. When we left the airport we went to Dr. Bernard's office in Port-Au-Prince (where I will split my time 2 days in his office/ 3 days at the creche.) and picked up two women who were adopting and Dr.Bernard. We went back to the guesthouse(which is AMAZING!!!) and ate dinner. After dinner we played volleyball which was interesting since Mike and Missy were dressed up and I had on a dress.
We got up this morning ate breakfast then we headed out to the office. Mike and Missy were able to go see the judge and some of the other families worked on their adoptions as well. Right before we left the office we joined the workers in a time of devotion which was AMAZING to see workers come together and praise God in the middle of the day. We went to the airport and picked up our luggage and headed back to the house for lunch and some down time.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

T minus 4 hours

Well... it's really here. I am laying in my bed for the last time in seven months. I have a million things on my mind so I thought the best way for all the people in the US to feel included and in touch with what's going on I would write to you.

I can't begin to tell you the things God has already done in my life through this trip and I haven't even left Franklin yet. In June of this past year(2009) I was anxiously awaiting my trip to Haiti the week of July 4th (my birthday.) Our family was and still is in the process of adopting a little girl from Haiti and through the director of the orphanage I found out about the opportunities the orphanage had for interns. Having the heart for Haiti and it's people I immediately started praying about going. Knowing that God was working in me at the time regarding his call on my life the idea that serving in Haiti was a TRUE calling became reality. I emailed Dr. Bernard regarding my interest in interning and he quickly responded with open arms.
This entire experience has been completely ordained by God, from the moment I was given conformation as to go God has literally lined everything up. I have had an overwhelming peace about it all because I KNEW the Lord would not call me to do something and not provide better than I could ever imagine and he has done just that. I don't know that six months ago I could have convinced myself to do this but I know that God has something huge in store and I can't wait to be apart of what He is about to do in Haiti.
I think one of the biggest ways God showed me just how serious he was, was through the financial aspect of this trip. I am a college student who works 10 hours a week. I didn't have a clue as to how I was going to pay for this trip but I knew that I couldn't let money stop me from going. So I sent letter and told myself daily that God was going to provide and boy did he ever...
This was the beginning of December (a month before I was leaving) I was sitting in my room and I was beginning to freak out because I had received some money but I still had a LONG way to go, I was checking the mail daily and it was not looking good. So I decided to take it upon myself to email Dr. Bernard and say that I didn't know if I was going to have the money. I then had a LONG conversation with God where I had to give it up, I knew I couldn't make it work but I was going to try. God was quick to show me that he could when I had received the total $3,500 needed for the trip within 10 days of that conversation!!!

God is all over this trip and I thank you for all your prayers and support updates to come...
~Katie