Excitement bubbled in my blood to set forth on a journey which would sever myself from the 18 years of life I'd lived, all to immerse each of my 5 senses, my heart, mind and soul into a foreign land for 153 glorious days.
On the map in my mind's eye, this decision caused a sharp 90 degree turn from the direction I had assumed my life would systematically follow.
My senses, my heart, mind and soul were awakened, transformed, redefined.
I TASTED
...the much too malted Malta.
...the strangely human-eske chicken feet.
...the chewy intestines.
...the fish sauce spaghetti.
yet also,
I TASTED
...the perfectly doughy and crunchy, heavenly pates.
...the astounding rice and bean sauce. unlike any other. diri ak sos pwa.
...the 'sugar you up' Couronne soda.
...the gargantuan, flavory savory avocados, coconuts, and mangos.
I SMELLED
...the smoke billowing from dumpsters as trash turned to ash.
...the river ways teeming with heaps of rubbish and pigs rummaging about.
yet also,
I SMELLED
...the salty Caribbean waters crashing to shore
...the fine haitian cooking
I HEARD
...the man speak of the frog living inside his stomach ever since a witchdoctor put a curse on him.
...the pleads for help, for dignity, and unknowingly, pleads for everything that Jesus is.
...the hollers of a man beating his child
...the gunshots late one night.
yet also,
I HEARD
...the coffee-bean-bracelet vendor boldly declare the importance for youth to follow God and serve Him with all that they are.
...the man halt his journey somewhere to lift his unrelentingly beautiful voice in praises to God outside the decimated national Palace.
...the Creole worship songs kicking satan's butt
...the people belly laughing , overcome with the joy of the Lord, for hours on end.
I SAW the torments of suffering.
...the cruel multifaceted presence of hunger. People physically deprived of food. Spiritually unfed. And Emotionally starved.
...the children descend like a flock of vultures on a pile of chicken bones, gnawing for any last consumable morsel.
..the young pregnant girl sprawled helplessly on the hard ground inside a structure of sticks with a tarp draped over it, which they call a tent.
...the sea of women with baskets of fruit on their heads... selling the same thing as the one sitting four feet to their right and to their left.
yet also,
I SAW
...the children living in a tent offer the little bit of food they had to the visitors sitting there in the dirt with them.
...the 19 year old Haitian woman from the biggest slum in the Western Hemisphere, preach for a small church in a country with people who are 'supposed' to hate her, ushering the holy spirit to take over and the fire of God to descend in that place.
...the woman save an unborn life by choosing to adopt, even if it meant relying on God for one more mouth to feed when food for her family was already painfully sparse and infrequent.
...the young teenage boy cling to his faith even after the sudden and tragic death of his younger brother.
I FELT
...the suffocating heat inside of the tents
...the bang on my bones as the machin yo (cars) dipped and dived down and around the countless craters in the roads
...my heart wrench. my heart twist. my heart turn. my heart bleed knowing so many of God's children don't know His love for them. His incredible, unrelenting, overwhelming, consuming love for them... just as they are.
yet also,
I FELT
...the cold one gallon bucket showers refresh my entire being.
...the gentle touch of a tiny child reaching for my hand.
...the stream of tears fall down my face with the slightest hint of God's heart for this beautiful country.
...i felt .... .... so overwhelmingly blessed by Haiti.
DTS. A Discipleship Training School. The spring board into a season of incredible encounters with God.
God is good. God is love. God is real. God is so much beyond what I can even begin to comprehend.
But, Once you've smelt of the sweet fragrance that worship is to God, how could you stop offering praise?
Once you've seen God provide your every need, how could you doubt him?
Once you've felt Him shower you with His love, how could you not love Him, too?
Once you've heard the Word, how could you not carry the gospel to the ends of the earth?
Once you've tasted of life sold out to God, how could you ever turn back?
6 months ago I was Nicole Russell. A high school graduate. A daughter to a mother and a father. A sister to a brother. A close friend to few. And a Jesus ponderer, wonderer, follower.
6 months later... "I" has a new definition.
I am a pursuer, lover, seeker, worshiper, and servant of Jesus. A child of God, designed for relationship with my Creator, to receive His love to the point of overflowing, so that His love can spill out, unable to be constrained.
I'm in this world for the sake of bringing glory to His name.
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