Every day that your in a third world cointry you realize just how much you have. You start to become more grateful for the small things and the big things seem so small. Last night as I laid in bed I wondered what my life would be like if I had grown up here...who I would be...etc. Very quickly I became thankful for having even a simple fan above my head. I am so lucky to be living in the USA. To be given the opportunities I have been given and to have the family I have. I love my home and I have been called to do so much more with my life. Haiti is so beautiful, but as I pray here during my quiet times it makes me realize how much I love Afirica. I have been called to serve internationally this I have known since I was young:) but I truly believe now my calling is Tanzania. I miss everything about it so very much. It makes me laugh how much I do! My mom and dad will always be my number two in my life under God of course, but oh how myheart yearns to return to the polluted loud eroded streets of Arusha!!!
Enough of that:)...
After this mornings work for Souls4Souls we had lunch at HOM them decided to go into the city. We saw what was left of the once beautiful cathedral and Capitol buildig(the white house here). Words cannot begin to describe why our eyes saw. We also walked through one of the tent cities. I gnaw some pictures Please pray for thembut am going to refrain for now.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Haiti day3
Today was amazing and so much fun! I'm am SO exhausted right now so this will be very short and sweet:) I'll add more later,promIse!
We went to the Orphanage today that Nathan and Riley are doing a promo video for! the kids were amazing:) After the orphanage we went to Bassin B. Which was about two and a half hrs away from where we are in Port Au Prince! Loooooooong story about finally reaching the actual waterfall:) but it was so amazing and so worth it! The Waterfall was so beautiul and the water was this crystal blue...one of Gods many wonders!
We even made a few friends along the way:)
We went to the Orphanage today that Nathan and Riley are doing a promo video for! the kids were amazing:) After the orphanage we went to Bassin B. Which was about two and a half hrs away from where we are in Port Au Prince! Loooooooong story about finally reaching the actual waterfall:) but it was so amazing and so worth it! The Waterfall was so beautiul and the water was this crystal blue...one of Gods many wonders!
We even made a few friends along the way:)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Road
This morning when i was reading and doing my devotional I read a great quote that resurfaced this afternoon after driving through the long flooded and eroded roads waving to those smiling back i thought of it again. Haiti is a beautiful place wig the most wonderful loving people. But life is not easy.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where. It began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, I'd I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins larger way.
J. R. R. Tolkien
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sorry mom and dad
Last post tonight...
Mom and Dad I love y'all dearly! Sadly my BB isn't working even to text! I know what your thinking, me NOT texting:)haha, I'll continue to update this and email. Pray for us that the lords work maybe done through us his week and all the weeks to follow! Love y'all! It's 9:12 pm and abbey is on my left asleep and Katie on my right asleep. So here I lay in my bunk blogging away on my first night in Haiti! if you want to know our room is a good size. It's filled with about 9 bunk beds. Each with a huge blow up matress, mosquito net and built in fan! It's SO Hot here:) it's perfect! Tomorrow morning we are finishing a roof on a families house then walking in the city where there is a carnival going on. It's apparently a special holiday/ celebration lasting like four days! I'll blog y'all tomorrow!
Love
Katheryn
Mom and Dad I love y'all dearly! Sadly my BB isn't working even to text! I know what your thinking, me NOT texting:)haha, I'll continue to update this and email. Pray for us that the lords work maybe done through us his week and all the weeks to follow! Love y'all! It's 9:12 pm and abbey is on my left asleep and Katie on my right asleep. So here I lay in my bunk blogging away on my first night in Haiti! if you want to know our room is a good size. It's filled with about 9 bunk beds. Each with a huge blow up matress, mosquito net and built in fan! It's SO Hot here:) it's perfect! Tomorrow morning we are finishing a roof on a families house then walking in the city where there is a carnival going on. It's apparently a special holiday/ celebration lasting like four days! I'll blog y'all tomorrow!
Love
Katheryn
Haiti day1
I feel like my postings have been very informative yet lacking in depth. I believe this is because I am tying to blog for myself and others and I do it so quickly. I'm sure the lack of sleep doesn't help either! I will try to be both for y'all from now on!
Today was my first day stepping foot into Haiti. So many hints reminded me of my beloved Africa, but I seem to have lost the words that could correctly and descriptively describe what my eyes are seeing! There are also many differences which is what makes each place so special.
My first drive through Haiti was today heading to HOM properties. There was a distinct smell in the air of a third world country struck by a horrible catastrophe. It was like tent city in numerous places and when I say tent city I mean it. Numerous make shift houses made from tents held to many families. You could see the damage and poverty still hanging on so tightly in so many places. It broke my heart. I wonder why am I so blessed, why me!? But I can see the joy in the Haitians eyes and their blessing overflowing. The streets are horribly erodeded and full of garbage. At one point while we were driving to HOM in the tap tap(transportation vehicle) we slowed down to drive through a very flooded area in the road where the water was a very dirty color and there was the distinct smell of bile. We also passed a small concrete area where boys girls women and children where bathing with buckets of water. It makes me think about the long hot showers I take for granted or the wasted amounts of water I use every week. I am so thankful for what God has blessed me with in the States but here is so much more to this world than living in the known!
After lunch we visited the new orphanage HOM just built. It's so precious, definantly a work in progress but it's beautiful. The orphanage has only three girls right now that lost their parents in the catastrophe. For thos who don't know I was adopted, so I have a heart for adoptions. I hope to someday adopt many of my own:) if God wills.
Tonight we relaxed and became somewhat accustomed to the facility. It was so much fun siting around just talking and sharing our stories. How HOM is set up is very nice...it's a compound with a church in front and a school in the back wig first, second, and some third floor classrooms! Dorms for staff and visitors and on the second floor for girls and third for staff. Now I will upload a picture tomorrow of this but he kitchen is on the roof which is amazing! It one of the tallest building in his area so you can see for miles looking out as far as he surrounding mountains! At dinner we all sat around a table and ate together as he church choir sang in the background, it was so beautiful. They rejoiced together in a harmony of singing, clapping, and dancing! It was amazing.
Nathan lee has done such amazing things for this organization!!! Here are also other volunteer that have contributed so much as well. So I leave you wiu this... What are you doing wig your life?
I want this. This is me. Serving others even if it means I myself may have nothing, isn't it worth it? I will change the world and I'm starting now!
Today was my first day stepping foot into Haiti. So many hints reminded me of my beloved Africa, but I seem to have lost the words that could correctly and descriptively describe what my eyes are seeing! There are also many differences which is what makes each place so special.
My first drive through Haiti was today heading to HOM properties. There was a distinct smell in the air of a third world country struck by a horrible catastrophe. It was like tent city in numerous places and when I say tent city I mean it. Numerous make shift houses made from tents held to many families. You could see the damage and poverty still hanging on so tightly in so many places. It broke my heart. I wonder why am I so blessed, why me!? But I can see the joy in the Haitians eyes and their blessing overflowing. The streets are horribly erodeded and full of garbage. At one point while we were driving to HOM in the tap tap(transportation vehicle) we slowed down to drive through a very flooded area in the road where the water was a very dirty color and there was the distinct smell of bile. We also passed a small concrete area where boys girls women and children where bathing with buckets of water. It makes me think about the long hot showers I take for granted or the wasted amounts of water I use every week. I am so thankful for what God has blessed me with in the States but here is so much more to this world than living in the known!
After lunch we visited the new orphanage HOM just built. It's so precious, definantly a work in progress but it's beautiful. The orphanage has only three girls right now that lost their parents in the catastrophe. For thos who don't know I was adopted, so I have a heart for adoptions. I hope to someday adopt many of my own:) if God wills.
Tonight we relaxed and became somewhat accustomed to the facility. It was so much fun siting around just talking and sharing our stories. How HOM is set up is very nice...it's a compound with a church in front and a school in the back wig first, second, and some third floor classrooms! Dorms for staff and visitors and on the second floor for girls and third for staff. Now I will upload a picture tomorrow of this but he kitchen is on the roof which is amazing! It one of the tallest building in his area so you can see for miles looking out as far as he surrounding mountains! At dinner we all sat around a table and ate together as he church choir sang in the background, it was so beautiful. They rejoiced together in a harmony of singing, clapping, and dancing! It was amazing.
Nathan lee has done such amazing things for this organization!!! Here are also other volunteer that have contributed so much as well. So I leave you wiu this... What are you doing wig your life?
I want this. This is me. Serving others even if it means I myself may have nothing, isn't it worth it? I will change the world and I'm starting now!
Quick post- we made it
Apologies for being silent! I have two blog Posts I did that are on my blackberry which is not working here in Haiti so I'm very sorry, but I'll have to skip those two posts till I return home. They include our landing from ATL to Miami and our night in Miami which turned out very interesting and my blog post I did while in he plane from Miami to Haiti! I'm sorry, hope you understand!
We finally arrived in Port Au Prince,Haiti. Gosh it is and isn't what I expected all at the same time if that even makes sense?! I think I have missed Africa so much hat I'm comparing similarities to it. Anyway, my flight landed around 9:45am which was so early because we had gotten maybe two or three hours of sleep. Let's just say it's been a long journey since we left the boro:) but in a good way! Katies flight was arriving an hour before and I knew when I landed I would be meeting her and Nathan. The one thing I was told after landing was to not go past the red gate, that's all. HAHa not all apparently the rules have changed since the last time Riley was here and you had to go past the gate to get to where people pick you up! Luckily, I found an official airport man and his help, shortly after I found Katie and Nathan!
The airport was crazy but not so much because of the people but because of the cars. People were honking and rising to get where they needed to be. It was interesting but a good experience. After finally getting abbey and Riley we headed to the HOM head building. To make a long story short we arrived safely!
We finally arrived in Port Au Prince,Haiti. Gosh it is and isn't what I expected all at the same time if that even makes sense?! I think I have missed Africa so much hat I'm comparing similarities to it. Anyway, my flight landed around 9:45am which was so early because we had gotten maybe two or three hours of sleep. Let's just say it's been a long journey since we left the boro:) but in a good way! Katies flight was arriving an hour before and I knew when I landed I would be meeting her and Nathan. The one thing I was told after landing was to not go past the red gate, that's all. HAHa not all apparently the rules have changed since the last time Riley was here and you had to go past the gate to get to where people pick you up! Luckily, I found an official airport man and his help, shortly after I found Katie and Nathan!
The airport was crazy but not so much because of the people but because of the cars. People were honking and rising to get where they needed to be. It was interesting but a good experience. After finally getting abbey and Riley we headed to the HOM head building. To make a long story short we arrived safely!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Haiti Bound
Sorry about spelling...I'm at the airport and I'm blogging from my BlackBerry
"God works in mysterious ways"
I never could have imagined I would be where I am right now, the ATL airport, with a final destination being HAITI! Here's how I got here in a nut shell... Originally I had no plans for Spring break. One Sunday at Church they announced their upcomming spring break trip to La Repressa Dominican Republic! I began praying about making the decision to apply. I really love working Internationally so I got an application as soon as I could. I had been praying for weeks about my sb plans and still felt uneasy. In the meantime one of my roommates Abbey Caroline made plans to go with our friend Riley Vasquez to the Dominican Republic! Riley is a friend of ours from New Vision church! Last year his best friend Nathan Lee dedicated a year of his life to working with an organization called Haitian Outreach Ministries(HOM). Riley does a lot of pictures and Videos and has visited Nathan a few times in Haiti since then to visit and help create some videos! It sounded like an amazing experience to serve for a week! Shortly after my friend Katie Spencer joined Riley and Abbey's team to travel to Haiti! Well, one night abbey and I had spent in the Library we went to meet up with some friends at Chilis. One being Riley who mentioned I should come to Haiti. After some thought, Prayer, and help from my parents I got my ticket!!! Back to the Dominican...I talked to Brian the college pastor and decided the time was not right for me:( but God opened another door!
So here we are! We are now sitting in the Atl airport waiting for our flight to Miami! I am so excited and cannot wait to serve the people of HOM and Haiti! God is so amazing and though it doesn't always work the way we think it should or want Gods always in control and HIS plan is greater:) Praise Him!
So this is post one from ATL:) ill keep yall updated!
Love
Katheryn
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