7/5/13

Haiti: chapter I

     I have never personally been one to get all "pumped" and just long to embark on a mission trip. I have never been against them, but have never had a fire lit in my heart, resulting in a burning passion of going on one. Throughout the years, I have seen folks from my church go on mission trips, friends go on them, blogger friends go on them, family go on them. Me? Well, of course I supported them, but I could not comprehend how they were so passionate about them. I knew that God could light that fire in us, but I wondered, "Aren't they worried about getting sick?", "What about the diseases?", "The sanitation level?", "Aren't they nervous about the vaccinations?". That kind of stuff. I even have thought before, "I honestly don't think God wants me to travel to a foreign country..."

Scratch that.

 If God wants you to go somewhere, you will go to that place. Never assume that just because in the moment you don't feel called, that He will not call you. I used to have the mindset of, "I do not feel called there, therefore I will not go there." He has the power to change your heart. He changed mine.

I saw a lady posting photos of her mission trip to Haiti on Facebook and her blog. Actually, it was Rachel at Finding Joy. As I scrolled through these photos, a thought trickled into my noggin, "What if you went to Haiti?" Even though Rachel's photos were taken from iPhone, something about them felt so raw and so deep. Cliche as it sounds, I truly was incredibly moved by these photos. They were so humbling. The thought of traveling to Haiti on a mission trip kept entering my mind, and more specifically, ministering to the orphans of Haiti continually entered my mind. I decided, "Okay, I will pray about it", and pray about it, I did. As I prayed about it, the vision of working with the orphans in Haiti kept popping into my head. Once I even had the thought of going with a dear friend who was going in September, but I knew their mission team was full. Regardless, I was 99% positive that God wanted me to go to Haiti sometime or another.

Now, back up to last Monday with me, will you? My friend Beth (who blogs at More Beautiful You) was pet-sitting for a lady in my neighborhood, so naturally, she stopped by our house. Actually, she greeted me by pouncing onto my bed at 9:30 in the morning. Horrified and rather hazy, I opened my eyes to see a grinning Beth shout, "WAKE UP, ANNA GRAY!" After my mind was clear, we had a good laugh about it and I tagged along with her to go pet-sit. As we were feeding the animals (translate: cleaning dog urine off the floor), we talked about how two dear friends of ours were traveling to Uganda that morning. I got all excited and said, "All of my friends on going on mission trips this year!" Beth's eyes lit up for a second.

"Okay...so I don't know if you would be interested in this or not...or even if you would even able to do this...but my dad and I are going to Haiti in September and we still need 2 more people to be able to make the trip happen..."

They were going to feed and minister to the orphans there.
It was going to be in Haiti.
Beth was who I envisioned going on a trip with, but I assumed the team was maxed out.
It all made sense. 

Beth probably thought I went into psychogenic shock. It felt like a dream. Trying to grasp the words, I explained to her how that was exactly what I had been praying about. A little weirded out in a good-sorta-way,  she said, "Okay, I'm not confirming anything......but I think this is a God-thing!"

And she was exactly right. The rest is history. We now have a saying, "Who knew you pouncing on my bed would result in me going to Haiti?!"

What really surprised me though, was that I did not blink an eye at the thought of any of the negative aspects. I am one to worry about everything. I can come up with the most ridiculous scenarios and scare myself to death (like the quote says so truthfully, "Fear is the mind killer"). However, the vaccines, the possibility of getting an illness, the contamination of certain things...I feel this strange sense of peace. God is in control. As I prayed about the trip, God said this to me: Worrying is not an option. Whatever happens, whenever, wherever on this trip...worrying is not an option. Focus on the ultimate goal, not the "What ifs...". When I begin to let me mind wander, I keep remembering that phrase, "Worrying is not an option."

So I joyfully announce, September 4th-9th, I will embark on my first ever mission trip to Haiti through "Feed the Hunger"! I have never been more excited for a trip. We will be going to the slums and feeding and ministering to the many orphans. We will experience an entirely new culture and what real poverty is. We will learn basic words and phrases in Creole, "M'rele Anna! Komon ou ye?". We will love on the Haitian community. We will feed the hunger. We will be disciples of Christ and we will spread his love. 

I am ready to experience it all. 

3 comments:

  1. I really do love this, and it brought tears to my eyes to think that we are actually going to be doing this together! I can't even believe how good and amazing God truly is!

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  2. wow. this is so exciting.
    I can't wait to hear all about it after you get back. I'm sure God has some really awesome things up His sleeve. ;)

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  3. First of all, can I just say I love your blog design? I haven't caught up on my blogger feed in months, and I feel just a little guilty of abandoning the blogs I follow. Well, this is amazing! I was feeling the same way! I'm kind of interested in going to China on a missions trip, but I haven't felt God call me to do it yet, although I have a friend who's there right now and went last year. But I'll certainly go when I hear Him tell me to! I hope you have a life-changing, miracle-filled time in Haiti! I'll definitely be praying for you, dear :)
    -Gloria
    www.gloria-theblog.blogspot.com

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