What am I thankful for?

Last week as you already know was Thanksgiving. I was thankful for our pastor and his wife from Florida who came for two days. We got to join them in visiting the orphanage where their daughter’s live. While I was at the orphanage I fell in love with the kids. Each one I met captured my heart, especially little Cindy who has HIV. She is so precious to me. Please keep Cindy and many more like her in your prayers!

We also were able to have a Thanksgiving/ Appreciation staff dinner last Saturday. We had twenty friends and family eating and fellowshipping. It was awesome to be around them. This Thanksgiving was a little different than the American way. We had a live turkey and two chickens that were soon to be our dinner that evening. I got to help prepare them for dinner. That was a sad experience, but it’s a normal way of life here, in Haiti. Something I was reminded of while I was preparing the dinner was our cross-cultural training at MTI a few months ago. We learned there, that sometimes you need to enter a new culture and exit your own.  

I guess there's a first time for everything!

Hey everyone I’m finally here in Haiti. My first time! Also my very first blog post. This has been my second night.  And last night I slept under a mosquito net for the very first time. The weather isn’t that bad here. Today I was able to see my new house that will be ready by next week. It’s different but good. I am able to really see the town from my balcony. By next week I will finally be able to say I have a home. I am excited in what God has in plan for me. Just pray as I try to embrace this new culture.

Olivia

Why I'm Here

Ok, so today I was able to go to Mother’s Teresa’s home for sick and dying children and I would have to say it was the most emotional experience so far on this journey. To be honest I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I that I would love the kids and be sad about their situation. But something was different when I had arrived there. I guess it was because I was able to see the children’s situation through a different set of eyes. If you don’t already know, I was once an orphan too.  What I saw brought back memories from when I was living in the orphanage in Russia. The kids were fighting over who got what and how much food they had each gotten. And I don’t remember that much of the orphanage because I was only 5 but I probably most likely fought over food and worried only about myself. The moment we entered the orphanage kids rushed towards us. In the minute in a half that I had been there I already had a precious little girl in my arms. We walked into a room full of cribs with babies too sick to even move. I wanted to scoop up all of the children and hold them all at the same time. I think my record with scooping up kids was 3, I had 1 on my back and 1 in each one of my arms!

Later on in our visit I was able to spoon feed the little girl porridge. As she hungrily gulped it down I couldn’t help but think that that was me 13 years ago. Except that these kids probably get more love and attention than I ever had at that age. After she had eaten she peacefully fell asleep in my arms. As I sat there, mixed feelings spun in my mind. I didn’t know if I should be jealous of these kids or happy for them. But then I continued to think about it more and it hit me if we don’t go out into the world help these kids then who will? I thought about a new motto for my life that I should live by. The purpose of my life is to give to these children what I didn’t get. I mean that’s why I’m here.

Precious Little Children

Wow! I can't believe that I've only been here for 4 days and I already feel like I'm home. So much has happened in the little time that I've been here. From helping Rosalie and Rosalyn to scooping up precious little children, I would have to say that this is the most fulfilling week of my life so far. Other than having a little trouble being able to communicate, it has been neat to be able to see the joy that these kids have after they had everything taken away from them. I loved how you could just scoop them up and it means the world to them. They just can't get enough! I couldn't help but smile when they press their little lips against your cheek and shower you with kisses. Now I know why God called me here! Tuesday we went to the church that the team is partnering with. The minute we stepped out of the van, a crowd of children rushed towards us. We made pictures frames with the kids and played with them. Later on that night we went to the church. It was amazing! The pastor's wife truly has a heart for the Lord. Even though I couldn't understand a word she was singing I really felt like God was standing right there next to me. But I would have to say that the highlight of my night would have to be watching a precious little girl fall asleep peacefully in my arms. 

Today was the first day of kids camp! We had 3 different activities for the kids; storytime, crafts, and sports. The theme of the whole camp was how Go is our shepherd and we are His sheep. After we were finished we danced to praise music with the kids until sweat was dripping off of our faces. Later on this evening I was able to meet another team that arrived today from Minnesota. And tomorrow I'm going with them to a hospital for sick and dying children. I'm very excited about that! 

I'm Finally Here!

It's finally here! Emma here sharing about my first trip to Haiti! It seems funny how I can wake up to a life of luxury, and then hop on a plane, fly 2 hours away from home, and enter a completely different world! To be honest I've been very nervous about coming to Haiti. I don't know if it's the sickening feeling that reminds me of how spoiled rotten I can be. Or the culture shock that I thought I might get when I arrived here. Or both for that matter! 

It's funny. It feels like I've already been here before. I guess it's because I've heard so much about Haiti and seen lots of pictures. Or it could be that I have it in the back of my mind that I am going to move here someday soon.

So today was the first and probably longest day of my life. I had to wake up at 4:30am, and my mom took my dad and I to the airport for our 7am flight. We had a little bit of panic checking in, but everything turned out to be OK. I was sort of nervous when we went through the Haitian customs, I guess because it's a new country to me (but another stamp in my passport, yay!). But once we go into the car and on our way t the guest house, I started to relax a bit.

As soon as we got to the guest house we were greeted by Rosalie, Roselyn, and Joseph (my Haitian brother). In the afternoon I helped Rosalie & Roselyn clean and make the beds for tomorrow's team. My dad and I then went to the market to buy stuff for dinner. I guess I was sort of surprised. The market that we went to had airconditioning, almost like a WalMart! After that we drove around and saw more of Port Au Prince. There's lots of markets (people selling whatever they can on the side of the road). I took lots of great pictures as we drove by, but then I fell asleep on the way back.

The evening was very relaxing. We had originally planned to make spaghetti for dinner, but we we got back Joseph had already made us rice & beans. I totally didn't mind that! If there's one thing you should know about Haiti, it's that you can't make too many plans, you've just got to go with the flow of things there. Now things are winding down, Ron & Jon have left while Joseph & I watched the movie "Madagascar" dubbed in Creole on TV. It was great! I have to say that it's been the longest, best day!

Here are some of the pictures I took: