Unlike Anything I’d Ever Done Before

I’ve been back in Georgia for almost two weeks now, and that’s hard to believe. I feel like just yesterday I had arms full of children, was worshiping on a roof top, and took showers using a bucket.

Being in Haiti was unlike anything I'd ever done before.

Haiti was my third mission trip, others to the Dominican Republic and Romania with my school, but this one was different. I went not knowing where exactly we were staying (which proved to be difficult in customs – hint: find a random address somewhere in Haiti and write it down because if you don’t put anything, they take your passport. I learned from experience), who my team was, or the specifics of day to day ministry. I was simply following a call. Being the control freak that I am, I was quite nervous.

When I finally arrived I was greeted in the airport by the warm smiles of our project leader and on site contact, all of the prayers from people back home hit me and I was free of fear and totally filled with the boldness of Christ. This boldness continued to fill me throughout the week as I found myself praying passionately with people I had never met.

Families would welcome us into their homes like we had been life-long friends. And when I say welcome, I really do mean welcome! The hospitality was unlike anything I have ever experienced. No matter what someone would be doing when we asked to come in and pray for them they would immediately drop everything, pull out everything in site that could double as a chair, and talk with us.

Prayer was the absolute highlight and focus of the trip for me. Weather it was praying for people in their homes (like I mentioned above), working on my own prayer life, or praying for people we had met as a team it felt like we were always praying. I was struck by the power of prayer in Haiti like never before.

We did VBS for the neighborhood kids, including the kids that lived in a local orphanage, for three afternoons during the week. On Wednesday, during VBS, one of the girls from the orphanage was extremely sick and even worse than the day before. She was crying out for water, her dad, and even started to eat the grass. Our team’s heart broke for her. I felt like God was calling us to pray for her, so I spoke up and we cried out to God that night and asked that he heal her. Sure enough, God answered our prayer. Thursday afternoon, little Cory was talking regularly, interacting with the other kids, and smiling bigger than any other day!! The progress was remarkable!

We had the opportunity to bless the community, but more than that I felt blessed by the people we met, by my team, and by God. It was a humbling experience that I will never forget.