My return ticket home from Haiti was made for June 13th, 11 days after the Prince of Peace team left, and I didn't know why.
I could have bought the ticket for June 6th.. it would've been the same price. Or I could have stayed longer. For whatever reason I felt a big YES for leaving on the 13th. As the remainder of my time unfolds it will be interesting to see what God does.
I told Mrs. Isbell and Mrs. Weiss on our last day together that I felt my head was bloated. We spent the week gathering information, building relationship, overcoming communication barriers, and trying to grasp the system-of-good that the Lutheran church has dispersed throughout the country of Haiti, that I quite literally felt as if my head would make me topple over because it was so full of thoughts, ideas, concerns, pains, joys... the whole gamut.
Yesterday the team left early in the morning and I stayed with our creme-of-the-crop chauffeur, Leonard. A brief reunion with one of my friends from my Discipleship training school from last year was enough to make my heart flip a little. There's a special bond we all have, all 80 of us, because of the incredibly rich experiences we shared together. It's one of those things where you can be separated for a long time, not talk, and you get togehter and it's as if no time has passed.
Haitian Hospitality makes me feel like a princess. Leonard and his wife Reynia made me sleep in their room, while they sleep in the other room where the kids (grown kids) stay. No matter what you seem to say, they will always give you the best of what they have. It's very humbling. I know Leonard pretty well, but his family I had only met once before. I feel so loved by them all... it's like they've just added me in as the 5th child in the family.
Leonard's grandson, Teo, is my new best friend. He is 3 years old and he's a dezod (creole for trouble maker). He is constantly munching on my hair or hanging off my shirt or shooting me with his leggo gun, but I love him. We connect in some special way that bypasses culture, color, age, language.. everything. He calls me ti nicole (means little nicole) and I call him ti teo.
My favorite story so far....
I was drinking a Toro (Haitian energy drink that's really tasty), and he asked me what I was drinking. I said 'Toro'. There's a picture of a bull on the label and he asked what it was, I said 'bef' (bull in creole). He then asked me if I was drinking ji bef (bull juice). haha. So cute. Then he started crying because he's not allowed to drink ji bef.
Tomorrow morning I'm getting up early to head north with Leonard, where I'll meet up with a friend of mine and continue my journey with Jesus in Haiti. Can't wait to see friends from DTS and hopefully meet some more crazy little kids that touch my heart.
Pray that every heart in Haiti will be set on fire for Jesus. The people here are wonderful. Seriously. If you haven't been, you should come.
One thing that God is teaching me is the importance of making sure people know they aren't forgotten. If it means spending 5 minutes talking with them, it means something. God doesn't forget his children. He puts us in the path of his children. He calls us to love eachother. Let's do it folks.
much love.
ti nicole
Can't wait to have you home and hear all the stories. Keep doing what you're doing--loving Haiti and it's people. God knew what He was doing when He sent you there. :-)
ReplyDeleteLove you, Bebe.
Meems
love it, love you.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah 52:7
all my prayers,
Pita
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Haiti? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Haiti in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez