I just received notice that I will truly be moving to Haiti in a month. Yes I just said the country of Haiti. I will be up and leaving my everything it seems like. I will be selling my car, giving up my job, and moving thousands of miles away from all of my family and friends. I will be leaving what is everyday normal to me to the unknown! When reading that, it might of sounded depressing, but let me tell you its anything but depressing. :) Let me tell you the story of how I got here! :)
HAITI: MAY 6TH- MAY 17TH
It all started at the end of 2011. I kept feeling God tell me that I was going to go on a missions trip. I had no idea where to or when I would be going so I said "Okay God I will go where ever you want me to go" but I just left it at that. A few months later I was feeling a strong pull in my heart saying "Alisha, I want you to go to Haiti!" Well I listened, but I knew that my church team had already went a few months before hand. I jumped online and looked for a few different missions that go to Haiti and behold I found one in the same town I live in that was going to be going in May. Now let me remind you it was already March when I started this searching. I contacted Christian Campus House (Eastern College's Church) and asked them about the trip. I was told, "The trip is already full, but there is an opening on the missions trip to Arizona." I was open to going on this trip, but inside of me I just wasn't feeling Arizona. So I received the application and something told me to hold off on filling it out. I was told all of this and received the application at 8am that morning and with the works of God, at 4:30pm that day I was contacted by the leader of the Haiti trip and told that they had one opening to go to Haiti. I knew right then and there that it was the work of God and that he was having me go to Haiti very soon.
I started preparing myself for this trip. Collecting items I needed: skirts and dresses, snack foods, bug spray, SUNSCREEN, and all the small little things praying that I didn't forget anything. I started to raise support by asking friends and family, throwing a garage sale, selling donuts... anything that I could think of. Then I spoke with my church and come to find out they were supporting the remaining balance of my trip. GOD PROVIDES! I finally received my passport in the mail and finished up the last of my vaccines (my doctor ended up giving me like 8 total, when in reality you don't officially need any to go there, but he wanted to make sure that I was fully covered!)
Besides all of the stuff that I felt that I needed to take (which let me tell you I didn't use half of it probably) :p but God started preparing my heart. I started reading information about Haiti and how they lived over there. I started to read blogs by other Americans that live over there or have taken a missions trip over there as well. I just felt that I had to be knowledgeable about what I was heading into. I didn't know while doing all of this research I was going to get a different outlook on everything then the rest of my group (a good outlook for me.)
May 1st arrived and I realized that I had just a few days until I was leaving. The trip was May 6th (1 day after my birthday so I was saying it was my birthday present from GOD!) - May 17th. I was going to leave May 4th right after work and go up to Chicago and spend the weekend with my boyfriend before I officially left out. I knew that while I was gone for almost 2 weeks that I wouldn't have any contact with my family or friends back in the US. The 4th finally arrived, I had all my bags loaded up in my car and was pretty sure I didn't leave anything behind. My work day finally ended and I was on the road driving to Chicago. I had a wonderful weekend with Vaughn, we threw some meat on the grill on Friday and Saturday he took me to breakfast and a movie, then some time with his family. I could hardly sleep Saturday night knowing that in just a few hours I would be driving to the O'hare airport and jumping on a plane that was taking us to our first layover.
The storms started to hit the chicagoland area while we were driving to the airport. Traffic kept slowing down and my heart started to race. I am going to be late meeting with my group, I am not going to be able to find them, this is going to happen, that is going to happen... let me just say panic sunk in! Well I was late, but no it didn't turn out as bad as I thought! :P The group went ahead and got in line to get their plane tickets, but they were only a few minutes ahead of me in line and we ended up being able to get out of line anyways and go through the express self check-in. So yes that means I truly wasn't late, but right on time! :)
We got our plane tickets and went through security then we had the long walk to our gate. It felt like we were never going to stop walking. We finally arrived at our gate and everyone split up to find food (thankfully I already ate before I got to the airport so I didn't have to spend the $10 on a small personal sized pizza like others did.) :) Waiting at our gate for them to call boarding.... waiting waiting waiting. It was 30 minutes before we were scheduled to board and we hear the horrible words of our flight has been delayed! So now instead of 3:45 it was going to be 4:30. We had to entertain ourselves somehow to a few took naps, a few constantly texted loved ones (that was me), and a few played a few rounds of banana grams. Then it goes off again........ the flight has been delayed to 5:30. It felt like we were never going to take off. Our leader Seth knew that we had a certain time to get to our next airport (Miami) to get a shuttle to our hotel and with all the delays we were going to be cutting it close to making it. Finally! We were called to board and the journey finally began.
To fast forward :) we stayed in Miami over night and would be leaving Monday morning for Haiti. During our stay in Miami one of the guys in our group had to go to the emergency room during the night because his throat was starting to swell shut due to mucus. Everyone finally arrived at the airport again and we were finally in the air on our way to Haiti.
We flew into Haiti and saw an airport that wasn't anything like the two that we just went through. We landed and was automatically shuttled to another building for customs. The shuttle was extremely hot and crowded, but when we got off of the bus we were welcomed by a group of Haitians playing music on various instruments. They were all wearing bright yellow western union shirts so it threw me off a little bit, but I tried to just listen to the music they were playing. We were then quickly put into lines and shuffled our way through. After getting our passports stamped we stopped just behind these booths to find our luggage. Now let me tell you that luggage pickup isn't fancy conveyor belts like it is in the US. Luggage claims there is every ones luggage thrown onto the ground in a pile and you must just dig for it.
We arrived at our next airport and now we were finallyyyyyyy on our last plane to our destination! The flight was actually a lot more smooth then I imagined and so was the landing even though it was on a dirt path. My only problem I had was too much pressure build up in my head on this flight.
We stepped out of the plane and then had to take a 30 minutes journey in the back of a pickup truck to get to Sonlight Ministries. Let me tell you, I am sure that you are thinking by now, Goodness this was a long journey just to get there, well you have no idea :p that was a brief summary!!! :P
We would be in Port-de-Paix, Haiti for a week and then off to Port-Au-Prince for another week.
We arrived at sonlight and found ourselves at the hotel we were staying in. This hotel was right across the street from the school and looked amazing on the outside. When it came to the inside, well we got a bit of a reality check! I bunked with a girl named Courtney from our group and there were two beds in our room (one was a small cot that sunk in the middle and the other one compared to the cot seemed like luxury!) We made a quick decision.... push the beds together and lay across both of them. The room doesn't have electricity during the day and our bathroom didn't have a door on it (come to find out everyone else's did.) The sink was just hooked enough to the wall it wouldn't fall off and the shower well it seemed like a hole in the wall at the moment. There were tiles pieced together in there and the floor didn't look to promising. But it was just moments that all of the worries about the room was taken away by the gorgeous view of the ocean that the hotel was sitting on the shore of.
The week was filled with things that were scheduled for us to do such as assisting teachers at the school, visiting the orphanage/children's hospital, taking hikes around town, visiting the market downtown, and being able to have downtime as well to just take in the beauty that surrounded us and to have time with God.
When I arrived at Haiti, I didn't know that God had a specific purpose he had me there for. I was getting ready to start my day helping the kindergarten class, when Norma (the wife who founded Sonlight Ministries) came over and asked me if I was the kitchen designer. I said yes and she swept me away to a building they were working on across the street. The building was soon to become the soncenter, which would be the new church as well as a cafeteria setting for the children. I was dropped off to a group of contractors that automatically said, "Okay boss what do we do?" I was thrown off and only think I could say was I don't know the dimensions of the room yet or the dimensions of the cabinets. One guy grabbed me a piece of paper and a pen, while another went to get the dimensions of the cabinets. We grabbed out a tape measure and got to work. I sketched out the room and started thinking about a floor plan. It was only about 30 minutes when I said "DONE!" :) We made sure everything was good and knew we would tweak things throughout the install if needed. The guys started to install the cabinetry and a kitchen started to form!
I was then asked by Roger (the husband that founded Sonlight Ministries) to follow him on the rooftop. They were constructing two condos and well he asked me to design the kitchens for them. So currently while I am in the states I have been working on two homes over in Haiti.
That week ended up being amazing! I saw sights that were breathe taking with their beauty. I also saw some sights that broke ones heart and made you desire to do whatever you could to help them. We ate meals with other missionaries, I swam in the Atlantic Ocean with my group of contractors, we sat on the rooftop of the school and had moments of prayer and testimonies, we took rides on a taxi (which let me tell you is not a car.. a taxi in Haiti is a ride on the back of a scooter! but is sooo much fun), I made a banner for the graduating class of 2012 and I even socialized with local Haitians and was even taught some creole by them while I was there.
The flights started all over again. We had to get back on our small plane to get to our next destination. This week was nothing like the first!!!!!!!!!!! We arrived back in Port-Au-Prince, the capital of Haiti and realized that living was a little bit different there. It just like being in a suburb or a large city and then moving into the city. There was traffic everywhere with horns honking, people crowding the streets walking around, building still in despair from the earthquake, tall stone walls separating everything. You could just feel the difference automatically and it was a difference that I can say I didn't prefer compared to where we just came from. I used to live in Chicago, so I had the city living experience, but I think it was just too much of a difference that I didn't know what to feel about it. We made it to our destination of Haiti Outreach Ministries, HOM, in Blanchard, Haiti. It was technically in a suburb but by all of the tall stone walls I just felt secluded.
The next 5 days were to consist of talking with various school children about lessons we had planned and then talking with the adults about our career. Well the first day started out pretty slow. We had intentions on touring the city, which was going to be a blast. We stopped at a pizza restaurant downtown and ate some delicious pizza, then we realized it was already too late to get to mission baptized at the top of the mountain. We decided to go ahead and go to the top of the mountain and go to the lookout view. Halfway up the mtn. the rain started to pour on us and we had to turn around and go back to the compound. This trip we took vehicles that were called tap-taps. What that is is a pickup truck with the canopy in the back of it raised higher up then most truck toppers and very colorful.
I will say there were some great moments on this part of our trip though. At HOM, I grouped up with two other girls, Emily and Emily, and we taught a lesson to the children there. These children were creole speaking, so without the help of our translator and my new friend Jackson we would of had a very hard time teaching our lesson to the children about how Jesus Loves Them. The lessons lasted 30 minutes and we started at preschool and worked our way up to 6th grade. We taught the children a song, had them color a picture of a heart and exchange it with another student, we read them a bible verse which Jackson would have the repeat back to us and we prayed with them. I just want to say thank you God for placing Jackson in our lives that week to help speak with these children. I have gotten to know Jackson and he is a man of God. He absolutely adores the children and completely follows Gods will for his life. Thank you Jackson for all of your help!
The journey started coming to an end, it was almost time to go back to the US. Some of the group was extremely anxious to go home, but something inside of me said I don't want to go back. I journaled the whole trip and I felt God speaking to me the whole time I was there that I was going to move to Haiti. I even had moments where I knew God was giving me confirmation that I was going to move there. Those conformations started with before I left on my trip I was expecting everyone to just say be safe, but it happened to keep hearing "you gotta come home." All I could think was, "I'm going to Haiti, why wouldn't I come home." On Tuesday after I arrived, I was randomly mentioned about a job opening there at the school and on Wednesday I was told about housing coming available. Thursday came and a local Haitian who's family runs the cargo ships told me that he would give me free shipping of my belongs to Haiti if I moved there. Finally, Friday came and I was taught a song:
I'll obey to serve you
I'll obey because I love you
I'll obey, my life is in your hands
Because it's the way to prove my love
When feelings go away
Even if it costs me everything
I'll obey
By this time I was positive God was telling me that I was going to move to Haiti. When the second week showed up and I started to hear negative talk around me, I started second guessing God and I even started to make an excuse of why that wasn't what he wanted from he and of why I couldn't move to Haiti. My one and only excuse was I couldn't leave my boyfriend. I was determined to stick to that excuse and use it to my advantage.
Back to the end of this journey. The day finally came and we said our goodbyes and we quickly found ourselves hustling through a crowded airport and finally on our flight back to Miami.
Now let me tell you, I was still feeling inside of me this feeling that I was going to move to Haiti but eventually I just convinced myself that wasn't what God wanted me to do. I returned with culture shock! I didn't receive culture shock while I was in Haiti that all felt normal to me, I had culture shock from the US. I realized how much "stuff" and unneeded items we had. I realized how grateful Haitians were for what they did have, for what God provided them with, while Americans weren't satisfied with what we did have and continually wanted newer and better and more. I sunk into depression for the next few days. I realized I was isolating myself. I just wanted to get away from this madness. People complained about a pothole in the road, they should of been with me a week ago where the hole in the road was more like a crater in the road. I talked with some friends and read that this feeling was all normal. After the depression passed, excitement kicked back in from telling everyone about my journey. Of course, like most people do life just seemed to start to return to "normal". Its crazy when you sit here and think that it took no time at all to go back to your way of living before you went on the trip. Yes I had a different mindset and different view of things now, but I picked my routine right back up.
Almost 2 weeks after I returned from Haiti, that gut feeling just wouldn't go away. God saying, I want you to move to Haiti. It lingered in my mind, but of course I stuck to my excuse. Well, come to find out the unexpected happened, my boyfriend and I broke up. Then that Sunday morning after the break right before church, God told me "Alisha, I had to break you two up so now you can't hold onto that excuse of not following my will." I went to service and we had a guest pastor speaking about missions and going out into the world and disciple. Wow, if that isn't another round of quick conformation for you. I finally decided it was time. I told God, "Okay, I am all yours! If you want me to move to Haiti, I will move to Haiti." Can you believe right after I said that everything just started to fall into place, any worries or fears just went out the door. I all of a sudden felt calm and relaxed and knew that God was going to take care of everything I just had to continue to follow his will for my life.
I have just discovered that I can and am going to be actually moving to Haiti. It is only 1 month away from when the team takes off and fly back to Haiti. I want to worry and freak out about how I am going to raise the support for this trip, how is my car going to sell, what am I going to do about my student loans and what about this life I have in the US. Thankfully though I am not worrying (which feels strange to me, but a giant relief) :) I know that God has everything taken care of and if I just continue to have faith in him and trust that he will do everything that needs to be done to get me to Haiti then there is no reason to worry at all. :)
So....... that is how I arrived at this moment of saying I am moving to Haiti. I will be a 2nd grade teacher at Sonlight Academy and a designer in Port-de-Paix, Haiti. I look forward to making new friends in Haiti and starting a new life that is according to God's will. I am aware that I will have a few obstacles throughout my journey (speaking creole is one of them), but I know that everything will work out how it's supposed to. :) I will give you an update this week about how this is all going to happen! :)
Thanks everyone for all of your support to me on my decision of moving to Haiti!!!!!!
Yours truly,
Alisha
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