An Inside Look 1

Greetings from Haiti! As a part of the blog, we wanted to try and give you guys a snapshot into the lives of some of the team. We wanted another way to share part of our experience here with you, so we're going to highlight and share some of the experiences that specific members had throughout the trip.

So the first person we talked with was Anna V. This is not only her first time to Haiti, but also her firsts time ever leaving the country. She has always been open to doing a  missions trip like this one, and told God that she would be willing to go, if he allowed her to go on this trip. Now that at least 2 days have passed, we  had a  chance to sit down with her and really see what she thinks about the experience thus far.

When she was asked what she thought about the trip in general, she said that she loved the trip and the experience so far, but that it was definitely an eye opener for her. She mentioned that she has loved getting to know everyone on the team better since she is fairly new to the church, and how kind it has been of God to hand-pick all of the members of our team to bring them over to Haiti so she could really bond with everyone over this really exciting experience. She said it feels like Grace Community is very present here in Haiti for her, and that she feels more connected with our Church home back in Kingsville being here with everyone.

As much as she admits bonding over trying conditions has been a highlight of hers, she also said that the hardest part of the trip is seeing all of the Haitian people living in huts and tarps in conditions that seems so severe. As she looks out of the windows of our school bus that we use for transportation, she compassionately mentions how much it moves her to see all of the poverty around us. It is so much worse then you think when you see it in person compared to what you hear or see on TV back home. You can only imagine the feeling. She says it's hard to look into their eyes and not be emotionally moved in what you see. You can just look in their eyes and see the weight of the world weighing on them, especially in many of the little children she has had the privilege of working with at the medical clinic.

She says that after this trip she sees herself being a changed woman even after only 2 days. She describes herself as someone who use to care a lot about "the little things" back home and would get "fussy" when they didn't always work out. She realizes now seeing what the Haitian people go through every day and how little they have, that those things that used to upset her are of very little importance. She feels that this trip has already given her a  new perspective on her life and what really matters for not only here but her life when she returns home. She has been praying for this before this trip that God would meet her in this way and has been so encouraged in what He has already revealed to her in her short time being here.She is excited for all that is to come and for what God will show her next, and prays that God would allow her new vision for her life to last long beyond this trip.

She spends most of her time at the medical clinic interacting with the children there and praying with the people attending the clinic for that day. She has already been pushed beyond her comfort zone in many of the ways she has been able to serve, and has later been very joyfully able to share with our team how blessed she has felt as a result. She is continuing to step out further and further in faith each day here, eager to see how God would use her next, even if it is not what she would consider the most comfortable.

One of the things that has really stood out to her culturally, is the fact that even though the Haitian people are living in a completely different world than us, we are so much alike. She has spent a lot of time talking and praying with people with a translator and has been really amazed and blessed to witness the hunger and thirst they have for the gospel. She would describe the trip so far as physically exhausting, but spiritually fulfilling, and when asked if she would ever come back, she answered without a doubt, yes.

I hope this brief view into one of our team members has blessed and encouraged you all back home and that you will continue to pray for Anna and the rest of the team as we move forward with what God has planned for us here. Please feel free to leave comments that we can pass along to the team, or questions you may want us to answer.

Signed, Lisa Sharpe for the Haiti team