I'm Back.........

After a couple of weeks of prep work and then ten days in Haiti and a week or so to recoup, I am back.......

I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Northwest Haiti with a group of people from the good ole USA. We worked with a group called the Northwestern Haiti Christian Mission.  The mission has been in this area for around 30 years.  I was so excited about the opportunity to go and experience the culture and needs of a people in a third world country.  I learned so much.......I saw so much............ and I definitely experienced much...... so many different emotions, both physically and spiritually.  I will share more as the weeks go by.

 The one thing I realized is that the people of Haiti regardless of their situation are a happy people!  We tend to believe because people do not have what we have, they must be miserable.  The Haitians have learned to cope with what they have.  Unlike us, they have learn to be content. Sure, they do not have unlimited food and resources.  They have learned that they may not eat every day.  They live in huts and sleep on dirt floors, yet, they are still happy! 

We have so much here in the USA!  One thing I know, I am more thankful for the small things, cold clean water, ice, taking a shower, being able to go to church anytime, using the bathroom in private, seeing a doctor when I am sick.  We take for granted so many things.  Yet, I think God is still saying to my heart, "the people of Haiti are happy"  Why?  You learn to live with what you have and they live a very simple life.   A lesson I think God wanted us to learn!  slow down!  Simplify! Learn to be content!

As Paul said in Philippians chapter 4:11-13

"for I have learned to be content whatever my circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through him who gives me strength." 

let us not forget, Our strength should not come from what we do or do not have but in who we serve and live for!