We awoke to moist soil
and grey clouds lining the sky.
After eating
breakfast, we strapped on our life jackets and headed over to the dock to take
a boat over to Kappa Fu. Kappa Fu is a small, remote village; it is the poorest
of the poor in the world. Jody explained the poverty of the village as something
you would see in National Geographic documentaries and magazines. I thought the
Mole was remote, but apparently Kappa Fu is way more isolated than the Mole.
In two small
fishing-sized boats, we ventured out into the deep blue sea whilst the choppy waves
rocked us back and forth as the wind blew, and rain sprinkled over us. Before
we got on the boats, most of took Dramamine, which is a medicine for motion
sickness with a side effect of drowsiness; most of us were put to sleep during
the boat ride by the Dramamine running through our blood stream, and the
soothing rocking of the boat. We sailed out for about 45 minutes then had to
head back because the waters were too violent; because of the choppy waves, we
wouldn’t have been able to unload from the boats. So we saw Kappa Fu only from
but a distance.
When we got back to
Jody’s house, the Dramamine was still going strong, so I slept, woke up for
lunch, packed my suitcase, then slept, and woke up for dinner. The medicine
just really got to me. I honestly wish I hadn’t of taken it, but I suppose I
needed the rest. I really wanted to play with the orphans for a little; I felt
like I wasted my last day in Haiti. But I know God is sovereign and working
regardless of if I sleep for a day or not.
As I write this, I
am sitting on the deck where we have our meals and meetings. It is breaching
midnight as I sit and listen to the sounds surrounding me; Jody’s children
chuckle, my friends chatter and laugh, and behind me there is an argument about
the rules of a card game going on.
At 2a.m. we will
leave the Mole, in trucks this time (our bus was too beat up to make it back),
and drive to Port Au Prince to stay the night in a hotel and flight out to
America the following morning. Well, maybe we will leave at 2 a.m. – it could
be more like 3 or 4 a.m.; Haitian time is very difference from fast pace, go,
go, go, American time.
As I reflect on
this past week, I marvel at the work God has done in my heart and in my team
member’s hearts. I praise God for the people on this deck right now; for their
deep love for Jesus, the encouragement they are to me, and how God is making them
more like Christ every day. I could not think of a better team to share my
experience in Haiti with. We are all so different, but the same in that Christ
lives inside us. My heart is soft for each and every one of them.
Regarding going
back to the States, I don’t want to. I love it here. I love the basic living
style, the people, the atmosphere, Haitian time – everything about Haiti. I am
dreading going back to a people obsessed with electronics and continuous communication;
a country that has everything a person would ever need, but so much emptiness.
God has definitely taught me during my time in Haiti that it doesn’t matter how
much or how little you have; it means absolutely nothing if you don’t
have Jesus. Matt Chandler, in his book the
Explicit Gospel, says, “Making people comfortable before an eternity in
hell is wasteful.” However, as much as I don’t want to go back to a nation full
of materialism and consumerism that is where God is calling me in this season
of my life. I will serve Him with joy in Haiti, and I will serve Him with joy in
the States. I am called to be just loving, just as serving, just as
intentional, and just as passionate about sharing the gospel in the States as I
have been in Haiti. If God has the potential to use me in the way He did in
Haiti, He can do it in Lubbock, TX.
“For everything
there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”-Ecclesiastes 3:1
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