Everyone Smiles in the Same Language

"Everyone smiles in the same language." This quote was something I thought about a LOT while I was in Haiti. See, most of the people down there speak little to no English. Everyone speaks Creole, a French dialect, so communication was very interesting.

I went down there knowing that we didn't all speak the same language, but not really knowing just how much that would impact our mission trip. As much as I would have liked to talk about God, I just wanted to be able to talk about anything! But that's not the way it worked out. So I got very good at smiling at people.

It seems like I've heard multiple stories of people who were depressed with life and didn't feel that it was worth living, but then someone smiled at them or even just said hi and their perspective changed. So I decided to use the only common language I had: a smile.

On Monday, we woke up and had Mass at 7am, bright and early. After Mass, we ate breakfast and then went to help serve lunch to the children. I guess I should explain more about what the mission does. They run a school for about 800 children, from pre-school age up through 6th grade. School days are from 8am-12pm and each day the children line up in front of the main building to sing the National Anthem and then they proceed to their classrooms, grabbing a piece of bread to eat along the way. And as they walk to class, they sing a song that says "Thank you, God, Thank you."

The kids lining up and singing before school starts.

Grabbing bread while walking to class

Anyway, after we had eaten, we went to help with serving food to the kids. Because the school day is so short and there are so many of them, the men and women making the food begin serving around 9:30/10ish. The next few pictures describe the setup of everything and how it all works. Basically all the food is cooked outdoors in massive quantities, dished up, and served to the kids.

The "fire pits" where the women cook the food

In the middle of cooking

The bowls/food we served the children.

Here are some pictures of us serving the kiddos....as well as a classroom picture.

Mrs. Shoup handing out food

Lauren and Abigail serving food

One of the classrooms....very much like an outdoor pavilion.

Once we were done serving and the children had left for the day, we ate lunch and then went to pick egg plant from the field where the mission grows a bunch of different vegetables. Here is the end result of our picking for the afternoon:

Eggplant!

And that was pretty much the summary of our first day, Monday. I just really learned a lot about smiling and how valuable it is in communicating - especially when it's your only form of communication. Just look at this beautiful child and how can you not smile?

Haiti Mission Trip: Recap and Overview

Dear Readers,

I'm so sorry to have disappointed you last week by not posting anything. :( I had every intention of posting about Haiti while being there. Once I arrived, I did have access to a computer and to internet, but I decided that I really just wanted to give up technology for the week, so I chose not to post anything. However, I plan on using this week to update you on all that happened last week :)

I would like to use this post to give you an overview and explanation of the trip, and then over the next few days, I will go into more detail for each day. For starters, the trip was planned by a friend of mine, who ended up not being able to go, but there were 4 of us who ended up going: Lauren, Abigail, and Mrs. Shoup. On Sunday, March 10th, we flew to the Port au Prince airport in Haiti and then rode 2 hours in a van to get to our final destination for the week: Kobonal, Haiti. Here are a few pictures from our airplane travels.

Abigail, Lauren, and Me...waiting at 4am in the airport

The sunrise from the plane

Then as we were driving to Kobonal, I took lots of pictures. Haiti is beautiful! I couldn't believe how pretty the scenery was: mountains surrounding us; lots of green; gorgeous warm weather. It was stunnning.

Enjoying the beautiful warm weather!

The mountains we drove through

Once we arrived in Kobonal, we went straight to the mission where we were staying. The mission run by SOLT (The Society of Our Lady of the Trinity) and the priest who lives down there has been there for over 20 years. Anyway, we arrived and got settled into the guest house where we were staying. Fr. Glenn said Mass for us a little while later and then we ate dinner and pretty much went to bed after that.

The room where we stayed.

 Well that's all for today's post.....stop by throughout the week to read/see more! :)

The Hands and Feet of Christ

What does it mean to be the hands and feet of Christ? What does it mean to truly love? How can I sacrifice my own pleasures for the sake of helping someone else?

For spring break this semester, I will be going a mission trip to Haiti. We will be there for a week, starting tomorrow, March 10th. Please keep us in your prayers. This is an exciting time. A time to discover what it's really like to be Christ to someone. It's also a terrifying time as this is my first time out of the country. I'm excited to serve, (not gonna lie, I'm psyched about the warm weather), but nervous about what it will be like.

I've realized in the last day or so that I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. I don't know what it's really like to be without food or money or clothes. I don't know what it's like to have poverty in my life. I don't want my own selfishness to get in the way of serving those around me. This trip is going to be a big lesson in trust, love, and self-gift.

As I am there, I will keep all of you in my prayers! Please check back for future posts and updates about our trip - I'll do my best to keep you updated.

And as I'm going, I pray that I will keep this in mind:

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” — C.T. Studd